Two More Challenge Hikes

Three of the Challenge waypoints are in the Matanuska River Park area so I parked at the entrance and hiked to all three. The first two were pretty easy to find, and were fairly close to each other. Both had signs that marked the waypoints. The third one was actually on the Matanuska River Trail and probably would have been easier to find had I started at that trailhead. But I ended up making a very nice loop, finding the waypoint by a huge cottonwood tree that was lying on the ground, then finding another trail back to my car. That whole exercise was only about a mile and a half walk.

Fallen Cottonwood Tree

Sign at the second waypoint

I had plenty of time for another hike so went to the Thunderbird Falls Trail area because I saw that three waypoints were on that trail. That's such a cool little trail and I love hiking it. It's very short. Round trip it is only 2 miles. The first waypoint was a sign telling folks to stay on the trail due to erosion, and the second one warned of a cliff to discourage people from getting to close to the edge. The third point was at the end of the main trail at the lookout platform for viewing the falls. Most of the falls are now frozen, but Baby and I hiked down to the bottom of the falls, where the creek is running and we could see water rushing from beneath the ice. 

Baby by the creek

After the hike to the falls, I tracked to another waypoint in the town of Wasilla. It turned out to be the new Aktive Soles running store that is one of the sponsors for the event. Of course I had to go in and check it out. As usual, I didn't buy anything. I'm not much of a shopper! But it's a nice store.

Waypoint Challenge

The running, hiking and mountain rescue community is offering a challenge where we have to select 20 of 40 waypoints and navigate to them using whatever navigation method or phone app we choose. Then we post on their site as we complete each one. The 20 need to be completed between April 1 and April 30. The challenge site is Spring Shoulder Season Stoke

Today I did the first two of my chosen waypoints of the challenge. The first one was the tower at Reflections Lake, a place I hike nearly every day. I took a picture of the amazing view from the top of the tower.

The second one turned out to be the little bridge on the trail at the Eklutna Tailrace. I even saw a man out relaxing in his kayak on the open water at the tailrace. The water stays open all winter because it is warmed as it goes through the Eklutna Powerplant. I asked him where he had put in his kayak. Now I think I might try to dig my kayak out of the snow and give it a try myself. Here is Baby getting ready to cross the bridge to the waypoint that turned out to be right in the middle of the bridge.

The happy kayaker in the distance

I used my Gaia navigation app on my phone to find the waypoints. 

Rabbit Slough

Today was a perfect day to finally try to see how far we could ski on Rabbit Slough. The ice was still firm and the trail had a little fresh snow on it, making ski conditions ideal. I was with my friend Pam, and our two dogs. We followed the old tracks from some previous skier. We went nearly 7 miles round trip. Looking at the map, I think we still had at least another mile to actually reach the inlet. But as we got farther out, the snow became more and more sparse, and the ice was getting pretty rotten. At one point, Pam was able to break through the ice with her ski pole. The creek is very shallow as it gets closer to the inlet, plus it's very open out there, with no more trees to block the sun. It is melting quickly. At one point we were actually skiing partially on grass through the marsh. It was time to turn around before one of us got wet! I think the trail won't be skiable much longer. My next trip there will be in my kayak.

Independence Mine Back Country Ski

A fantastic little ski trip up at Independence Mine today. I only skied about 3 miles, and Baby ran along with me. The snow was wonderful powder and I managed to not run over my dog on the trip down, with my heels locked down. I had originally hoped to find my way up the closed road to Summit Lake, but still couldn't find the right place to access it. After I got back to the car, I finally figured out where I needed to go. By then it was too late in the day. But if I get some nice days in the next week, I know I will be able to finally ski up there. Today was so beautiful that I am still very happy I came up here. 

Twin Peaks Trail Hike

Today has been pretty gloomy but at least it's not raining or snowing. I wanted to do something that involved hill climbing so decided to drive up to Eklutna Lake and hike the Twin Peaks Trail. It was fairly warm at 32 degrees and very calm. The trail was hard packed snow and very easy hiking with micro spikes on my boots. Baby really likes this trail and much prefers it to the flatter Lakeside Trail and the frozen lake itself. I guess there are more interesting doggie smells along that trail. She was very happy to race all the way up, stopping at every tree and bare spot to sniff. I think it was almost easier climbing on the snow than on the bare trail in the summer. We started pretty late in the day so realistically only had time to go to the first bench with the beautiful lookout over the lake. I considered continuing on to the second bench, but it looked like the trail might not be quite as hard packed. The first part is the most traveled, so was in excellent condition. We turned back and ran the whole way back down to the car. In the parking lot we ran into the park ranger and he enthusiastically thanked me for having my dog on a leash. Loose dogs can be quite a problem on some of the most popular trails. I do always keep Baby on a leash. She is very small, and has a tendency to run off after the first person, squirrel, dog or moose she happens to see. Also, if she gets tired, she would likely make a sudden about face and run back to the car. 
Twin Peaks Trail is one of my favorite trails and I love the views from the overlook and from the ridge above the second bench. It's also great hill training.

Run to Wolverine Creek and Back

 I was still a little tired from yesterday's rather exhausting trek up McRobert's Creek Trail. So didn't figure I would do anything too strenuous today. It was also kind of cool and snowing lightly on my morning dog walk. I went to Walmart with my friend, Mark, then while we waited for his photos to be printed, we took the one mile hike around Reflections Lake. The Wetlands side trail looked fairly solid so we walked out there as far as the trail was walkable. It eventually reaches the confluence of the Knik and Matanuska Rivers. But today the packed snow had deteriorated before reaching that point. When we got back to the car, we drove over to the Wasilla Creek Boardwalk Trail because I wanted to show it to Mark. A few weeks ago I skied from Rabbit Slough to the platform at the end of the boardwalk and thought he would enjoy seeing it. It is elevated because it is very marshy in that area. It's less than a mile round trip.

Later when I got home, I felt like I now had a second wind and wanted to get in a run down to Wolverine Creek. Baby didn't seem quite as enthusiastic, but she reluctantly ran along with me. I need to get in more actual running in addition to hiking and skiing, since I do have a few upcoming marathons later this year. It was nice and warm at 45 degrees and I felt quite comfortable. Baby was anxious to turn around so once we got to the creek I turned back instead of running up the hill to the big carrot sign. I noticed she ran a lot faster in the direction towards home. We ran 4.75 miles, just short of the usual 5 miles up to the carrot sign. It felt great.

McRoberts Creek Trail to the Tripod

 Interesting snowshoe trek up the McRoberts Creek Trail with the Valley Wanderers to the tripod that marks the halfway point to Matanuska Peak. The snow was fairly hard packed until the point where the trail starts steeply up the mountainside. At this point we switched from our ice grippers to snowshoes. At first, my dog, Baby wasn't interested in walking through the deeper snow. I took a few minutes packing her into my backpack. The extra weight and the time consuming effort to get her in the pack, made me fall behind the rest of the group. This group is always faster then I am, so now I was really behind. After a few minutes, my back started to really hurt from the extra weight. I decided to just stop and take her out of the pack. I figured if she was then willing to proceed up the trail, I would continue. If not, I would simply turn back. To my delight, she started to bound right up the trail. I wasn't able to catch the others but figured I could just follow their tracks. Holly called me on the phone and told me about a spot where they had diverted from the original route, and had marked it with a couple of sticks. Very soon, I was at that spot, so knew I wasn't terribly far behind them. They had turned up a ravine to avoid unstable snow, a ravine they call the chute. It was steep but very straightforward. At the top of the chute, I saw them far up the hill working at the tripod. The goal was to replace a weather beaten flag on top of it. I was so happy that they stayed up there long enough for me to reach the tripod. Soon we started back down after a brief rest and a few photos. I have always loved the view at this spot between Lazy Mountain and Matanuska Peak. I made it all the way to the bottom, still with Baby running along, and I didn't even stop to take off the snowshoes. I'm hoping in time I can improve my speed so I can keep up with the rest of the group. They are quite a hardy bunch. But they're keeping me in shape plus introducing me to some magical places.