McRoberts Creek Trail Matanuska Peak Trail Loop

 It was a bone-chilling morning, of 9 degrees at home. Even to take Bella for her morning walk, I wore my heaviest down coat and dressed her in botties and a winter coat. I kept all of her warm stuff on her until we drove down to the Smith Road Trailhead. It was only 6 degrees when we arrived. I was really having second thoughts about joining the Valley Wanderers for this hike, but I figured I could always turn back if conditions were too abominable. I kept Bella on her leash most of the way up to the metal tripod at the junction of the 2 trails, because I didn't want her to lose one of her booties if she got into the deep snow. They stayed on amazingly well until soon after I took her off her leash, her left bootie fell off. She didn't seem to be particularly bothered by it though. We had to cross several small streams, and her booties got really wet. When we got to the junction of the Matanuska Peak Trail, it seemed to have warmed up. I tried replacing her bootie, but it was frozen solid, and I couldn't get it on. I noticed the others were also frozen solid. Since it was now warmer, I decided to remove the others. They were almost frozen to her feet, and it was hard to remove them. I hoped she would be able to walk without them, but almost immediately she started lifting up her feet one after the other showing that they were too cold on the snow. So, I put her in my backpack and carried her. Once we finally reached sunshine, I tried letting her walk again, but it was still too cold for her. I put her back in the pack for the rest of the trip down. I must have dropped her leash on the trail when I put her in the pack the second time, because it was missing when we reached the bottom. She rode happily back there as we descended on the winding trail. My back wasn't quite as happy as she was, but it wasn't too bad. She was bundled into a thick fleece bag inside the backpack, so I'm sure was quite warm. Today was gorgeous with bright blue skies and distant fog down in the valley. I was so happy to be back hiking with the Valley Wanderers again. I have really missed our hikes. But at least our month off has enabled Bella to heal. She did great except for the extreme cold. Back at the car, it had only warmed up to 12 degrees Fahrenheit. At least I stayed warm with all of my many layers. We hiked a little over 5 miles and close to 2000 feet of elevation gain.