Reflections Lake

 It's been snowing everywhere all night and this morning. I didn't want to spend too much time out on the roads in these conditions. But I had to get out of the house. I walked around Reflections Lake, as I always used to do with Baby. I always feel kind of sad out there remembering how it was almost a daily thing when she was here with me. I always feel like her essence is all over that trail. I always considered it to be her favorite place. She got so excited when she realized I was getting off the highway at the Knik River Access off ramp that leads to the lake. There was some snow on the ground but it was barely snowing there. The lake is partially iced over but I could still see areas of open water. It isn't time to be venturing out onto the lake itself. But the trail was pleasant. I didn't climb up the tower because the entire area was fogged in due to the snowstorm. I took some pictures from the bridge and on the area that goes along the Knik River. It is always beautiful there. even if the weather conditions are not.

Knik River

Knik River

Gold Mint Trail

I had lots of other things to do today but still wanted to get in a little bit of outdoor mountain time. I drove up to Hatcher Pass to check out the conditions. It was foggy and not very inviting since it was actually raining. So I went down and hiked just a couple miles on the Gold Mint Trail. It was still kind of a misty rain but not too bad. The trail was dry until a little past the first mile. Then I encountered glare ice. I wasn't expecting that so didn't even bring my pack or my grippers. Once the trail was too icy to continue, I turned back. Things are not terribly scenic right now because there isn't much snow and things are kind of brown and dreary. I thought the ice formations on the creek were interesting though. 

Blueberry Knoll Climb

It's kind of overcast and dreary but I felt the need to hike uphill somewhere. I figured I would just put on my hiking boots and drive down the hill and see where the mountains looked the best. Government Peak and Hatcher Pass looked a lot more inviting than the Chugach Range, so I decided to go for Blueberry Knoll. I really didn't have time to climb all of Government Peak because I got a very late start just heading out the door. But Blueberry Knoll is a nice steep 4 miles round trip, but so far it isn't covered with snow yet. Happily the ground was frozen and I didn't need to deal with tons of slippery mud, which this trail can be famous for. It was a perfect day to head up there by myself and simply enjoy the view. 

Butte Climb

 It's a beautiful day and I just needed to get out for some sort of a hike. It was pretty late in the day so I didn't have time for anything big. But there's always the short 3 mile 850 foot elevation climb of the Butte. The trail is in awesome condition. No mud, no ice, and no snow. Not many other people either. The views of the glacier were really nice too. It wasn't terribly cold but was still below freezing. A nice workout clears the cobwebs from my brain when it is cluttered with so much nonsense floating around. It was a nice Halloween solo hike.

Mt Baldy

I did a nice leisurely hike with the Valley Wanderers up Mt Baldy then down the Homestead Trail today. The trail up is fairly steep but we took the more gradual route, on the switchback trails. It's a little longer but not quite as strenuous. The trail was totally dry with no snow, but the ground was quite frozen, so we didn't have to deal with slippery mud. It was a beautiful nearly clear day and not terribly cold either. There were 8 of us in our group. We spent a little time on the top admiring the view. Even Denali was visible in the distance. Although my phone doesn't really do justice to it when I have to zoom all the way in. But I'm including the photo in this post just to show how clearly it was visible. If we had more time, it almost looked possible to continue on up Blacktail Rocks. But there is a lot of snow and we might have encountered a lot of ice if we had tried. Instead, we walked down the gentle Homestead Trail. On the lower portion, we did encounter some very long stretches of ice. During warmer temperatures, water had actually flowed down the trail. There was no reasonable way to circumvent the ice so we finally had to resort to wearing our ice grippers. Pretty soon this entire trail will be covered with snow, and we'll need our snowshoes. But today it was a nice pleasant hike. We had a nice Mexican lunch at a local restaurant in Eagle River after our hike.

Blacktail Rocks

Denali

Eklutna Lakeside Trail

Today was an absolutely beautiful day. It was chilly, around 20 degrees, but totally clear and calm. I hiked with my friend Pam to the Bold Creek Bridge and back along the Lakeside Trail. We made a short visit to the spot where my little dog Baby was taken from us. The little butterfly mementos that I left on the trees are all still hanging there. Pam and I plan to come back each year on May 28th to commemorate Baby's short but wonderful little life. I still miss her so much. I'll never be able to hike this trail without thinking of that sad day that I lost her. But I do always feel that her spirit lingers here, as in all of the many mountains and trails where we used to hike.

The lake was so calm and the reflections were amazing. So far there is no ice on the lake. It is usually one of the later lakes to freeze. We walked a total of 10 miles, just past the 5 mile marker at the Bold Creek Bridge, then back to the parking lot. A very enchanting place.

Rendezvous Peak

 Our original plan was to hike the Muktuk-Marston Trail, a gentle trail that starts from the parking lot at the Arctic Valley Ski Area. But some of our little group of Valley Wanderers wanted to do the loop that climbs Rendezvous Peak, then heads down to Hunter Pass, and from there, go down the Muktuk Trail. We knew we would encounter some snow and ice, but felt it might be better to go up Rendezvous first then plan the long downhill descent on the gentle trail. Once we got to the saddle between Rendezvous and Mt Gordon Lyon, we found a lot of snow. We all started up but as it got steeper and more difficult, one of our group decided to turn back. Another joined her and they both climbed Mt Gordon Lyon as the rest of us kept on with our climb. It seemed to get steeper and steeper but was never dangerous. I was glad I had bought new winter hiking boots yesterday though, because they kept my feet nice and warm. We did end up doing a little bit of post-holing, but could often stay on top of the wind packed snow. And, yes, there was wind, lots of wind. It had warmed up from yesterday's teen temperatures, but was still in the low 20's. I kept my face covered with only my nose sticking out of my balaclava most of the time. When we got to the top of the mountain, the views were spectacular. But we found there was no trail leading down to the pass. Only Chris, our adventurous solo male member, decided to head out alone and find his way down to the pass. That route is quite steep even without snow, so the rest of us turned back the way we had come. Not everyone was excited about breaking trail through a couple of feet of windblown snow.

When we got down to the parking lot we walked a mile or two up the Muktuk Trail because a couple of the group had never hiked it. The lower part of that trail was free of snow. But we didn't want to take the time or effort to go all the way to Hunter Pass. It was nice and calm there too. Nothing like the biting winds up high. Our total mileage was 6.8 miles

Me on top of Rendezvous Peak 4084'