Lazy Mountain Climb

 We had  a pop up hike with the Valley Wanderers today. No official leader, just whoever shows up goes on the hike. We met at the end of Smith Road and hiked the Matanuska Peak Trail up Lazy Mountain. We had Michelle, Hilma, Erin, Lisa , Jo and Me and Bella plus Sasha, Michelle's gigantic beautiful dog to start. Virginia caught up with us at the wooden tripod. At Stonehenge, folks were mostly undecided, but I really wanted to climb to the top, and Erin decided to go with me. Virginia had to go back, but the others ended up following us to the top of Lazy. It had poured rain at my house last night and it was still very cloudy when we started. I hoped it wouldn't rain, and we got lucky, no rain. However, most of the view was obscured by low clouds. Matanuska Peak was totally obscured in clouds and never did pop out of the overcast. There were wildflowers everywhere and we did have a nice view of the valley below. Bella led us to the top as usual. I was really sad to see that the flag was missing on the summit. The pole is still there but the flag is missing. I hope it was taken down for a good reason. I thought that one had been replaced fairly recently too. Bella and I climbed up to the highest rocks, where Bella found a sweet golden dog named Mabel. They sniffed and happily, didn't get into an argument there on the steep rocks. I didn't bother with my usual 360 degree video from the summit because there was nothing much to see because of the low clouds. It was very windy as we started down and I was glad I had put on my windbreaker before reaching the top. Erin, Michelle and I and our dogs, were moving really fast and we headed right down to Stonehenge where we waited for the others. We all took a nice break and had some snacks, then down the same trail we had climbed. Erin, Michelle, and I took the Matanuska Peak Trail down instead of the shortcut to McRoberts Creek Trail. It's a little longer but not quite as steep. We got down before the others. I waited for a while, but the car was really hot so I went on home to feed Bella. She was looking pretty warm now that the sun had come out and heated up the car. Erin is a really fast hiker and somehow I managed to keep up with her. I suppose the others were taking a more leisurely pace. 

Once home, I pulled out my wood splitter and split the logs from the trees we cut down yesterday. Then I took advantage of the sunshine and mowed the lawn. I'm tired after the 6 mile hike and catching up on those chores. Bella is sound asleep. I would like to make a point of hiking up Lazy Mountain once a week this summer to help me stay in shape. It's a really good workout, regardless of the route taken.

Summit View

Note the flag pole but no flag

Government Peak Blueberry Knoll Traverse

 Rosemary was the leader of this hike. It was originally Virginia leading, with a destination of Microdot. But Virginia discovered that there was still too much snow for Microdot. So, she changed the destination to Government Peak and asked Rosemary to lead because she needed to get done early to help Dan who just had a knee replacement. Rosemary really doesn't like the Government Peak Race Trail and turned back in the first half mile. I was worried about Bella because she was really moving slowly at the start. I lagged behind with her until we reached the picnic table. Virgina left later and caught us at the picnic table. From there, Virginia, Erin and Chris took off speedily up the mountain. Bella was no longer feeling slow and took off after them. I had to call her back. I guess she wasn't tired from Lazy Mountain after all! Jane, Judith, Sarah, Machelle and I continued up from there. Jane and Judith had obligations at home, so turned back at the big rock prominence. Sarah, Michelle and I couldn't resist the urge to press on, in spite of the huge black cloud on the summit. We really didn't want to hike in the clouds, but we weren't ready to turn back. Bella tried to chase after runners who passed us heading up. Close to the top, we ran into Virginia, Erin and Chris heading down. They reported that it was clouded in at the top and they decided against the traverse down Blueberry Knoll Trail. I put Bella on her leash, so I didn't lose her in the fog. But I soon discovered the visibility was good enough to let her off, rather than have her trying to pull me off my feet over the steep rocks. This entire trail is very steep, and Bella tries to pull me up at her speed. No way can I travel at speedy dog pace. We pushed on through the fog to the summit. We had almost no view, but we could see the route down the ridge, so elected to head down to Blueberry Knoll. Actually, it was very beautiful with majestic views through the fog into the valley below. Bella bounced through the rock field, showing the three of us the best route. It was windy and I was glad I left my rain jacket on as a wind breaker. Then the rain finally caught us. First it was light, then it got harder. Bella ran faster; I moved faster. Then I looked back and couldn't see Sarah and Michelle anymore. I knew they had stopped to put on rain gear. Now it was pouring rain. Bella was soaked and dripping, and so was I. I tried to wait for them but realized there wasn't much point since they had each other, and I was getting worried about Bella. The rain got worse, and the steep trail narrowed. Through the brush it was only a foot wide, and Bella would disappear now and then. I'd call her back and she would reappear. We finally reached the actual Blueberry Knoll Trail. Then it all got worse. This part of the trail is much steeper, and the heavy rain had caused an actual creek to form on the usual muddy trail. I started to get a little worried, but figured Bella and I would find our way. She disappeared from time to time, avoiding the heavy flow, into the brush. But she would always reappear below me. She was quite the trooper, in water deeper than her body in places. But she was good at navigating through the vegetation. I passed some hikers who had turned back and were clinging to trees. Tree branches were our only salvation to prevent falls on the slick mud and rocks. I fell several times and was basically covered with mud when we finally found our way down past the steepest section. Once on the gravel path, Bella and I ran at my fastest running speed back to our car. We both looked like a couple of drowned rats after making our way through the deluge. I waited in my car with the heat on high for about 20 minutes until Sarah and Michelle finally appeared. It was a crazy adventure, but I sure preferred that route to coming down in the torrential downpour on the much steeper route we had climbed to the summit. It was a really fun adventure, but I'm not sure that's how Bella would describe it if she could speak!

Summit Photo

Bella back in her car bed

Lazy Mountain Climb

 My Facebook friend, Angie invited me to climb Lazy Mountain today with her friend Gloria. I had never actually met either of them, but I really enjoyed their company. We had a great time, climbing up the steep straight up Lazy Mountain Trail and going down the same way. It was a great weather day, not too hot or windy. Just enough breeze to keep from roasting in the sunshine. We took lots of nice breaks and stopped at the picnic tables for snacks. We spent a long time on the summit taking lots of pictures. I took my usual 360-degree video on the top.

I took another one that just showed our two dogs frolicking in the rocks on the summit.

I cut that one short because I almost tripped. That's not a good place to have a stumble. Both dogs had the time of their lives playing together. 

Me at the flag

Bella on top

Angie & Buzz on top

Angie & Gloria at the flag

Little O'Malley Peak

 This was a beautiful hike to celebrate Linda's Birthday. The trail is in perfect condition and has been greatly improved recently. The wettest marshy spots have been covered with a very nice boardwalk and there are wooden stairs up some of the steepest parts, plus a nice switchback route to replace the old straight up trail. It was very green with wildflowers everywhere. Most of the group just went to the top of Little O'Malley, but Rosemary wanted to cross the wide plateau called the Ballpark to the overlook above Williwaw Lakes. Charlie and I went with Rosemary and of course Bella bounced along, chasing ground squirrels across the tundra. There were a couple of wet spots, but it was mostly dry and easy to follow the trail. We spent a lot of time at the final viewpoint above Black Lake, taking pictures. Our hike was a little over 8 miles. It's possible to descend down to Williwaw Lakes from there but it's very steep. I'd like to take that loop one day. But we didn't have time for it today.

Black Lake

Mount Baldy

 The plan was to climb Mt Baldy then go climb Blacktail Rocks. Well, it didn't take much for us to decide to scrap the second part of that trip. The entire hike was in a dense fog. If we got separated, we couldn't even see each other, let alone Blacktail Rocks. I was glad Bella wore her bright pink raincoat because she would have been invisible without it. We did find our way up to the summit of Baldy, then it was even hard to find the trail down the other side, due to the fog. I used my AllTrails app on my phone to finally locate the trail down. We took the Homestead Trail down to our cars. It was a little brushy and had some wet spots, but not too bad. We didn't get much of the nice view, but it was still a fun 3.6 mile hike.

Anchorage Mayor's Marathon

I finished marathon #172 today. It was a tough race for me, because I really haven't been diligently training. My two week hiatus from hiking while waiting for Bella to heal, has not been very helpful either. I knew I was not in tip-top running shape. But I never am lately. I have been worried that it would be too hot, since it's been in the 70's all week. That's hot for Alaska, even in summer. I had to get up at 3:30 am to have time for breakfast, a dog walk, and to deliver Bella to friend, Mark who agreed to watch her for the day. I caught the 6 am shuttle from the finish line to the start line and was freezing cold for an hour and a half waiting for the start. Being too hot was not a big worry at that time. In fact, dark clouds were moving in obscuring what little sun we had. Soon after starting, it began to rain. I hoped I could keep warm by running but I was still a little chilly. By the time we left the coastal trail and reached the lagoon, the rain stopped and it gradually warmed up. By the end of the race it was 70 degrees, but there was enough breeze that it really didn't bother me. However, my feet were really bothering me. Running on the hard pavement of the bike trails seemed to cause sharp pain to the bottom of my feet. I took a couple breaks at the porta potties, just to get off my feet for a minute. That actually helped. I was still mostly able to keep my typical running speed but the pain was definitely slowing me down. At mile 10 I considered dropping out. But I never like to quit. So, I toughed it out somehow. I knew I was going to be very close to reaching the 3 pm finish limit, which gives us 7 hours and 30 minutes. At mile 24 I caught up with a guy named Mike who said he had been using me as an inspiration to push on, when he was getting pretty discouraged. We ran together from that point on, encouraging and challenging each other. In the last 100 yards his wife was yelling at us both over his cell phone to keep running and not walk!  We pushed with all we had and crossed the finish line at almost exactly 3 pm. My finish time according to my chip was 7:29:58. I finished with 2 seconds to spare! We both had gun times of 7:30:30. I still got first in my age group of Female 75-99+ but of course I was the only one in that category. I got a gold medal and still finished last. 

I was so glad to get out of my running shoes after my drive home. I'm not sure if I will register for this race next year when I'm 80. But knowing myself, I'm sure I'll be crazy enough to do it. I will want to be a lot more conscientious about training though.

Finish Photo

Gold Cord Lake

 They finally opened the gate to Independence Mine and we were able to drive all the way up. I tried to hike up to Gold Cord Lake last week but there was so much snow that I gave up before reaching the lake. It really wasn't much better today but Bella and I went for it anyway. It was a definite snow slog up to the old miner's cabin. Bella often fell into the post hole footprints made by previous hikers. But we made it up to the cabin. The tracks are not following the actual trail. It follows a meandering route with a gradual ascent. But folks have been just going straight up to the cabin over the snow. Above the cabin, the route was more defined and packed down. So, we were able to easily make our way up. Near the lake, parts of the actual trail are showing and we could follow it. It was very muddy in places, but not too bad. It was spectacular up at the lake. It is still mostly snow-covered and frozen. But parts of the lake are open and water is flowing from the creek. The water has a beautiful glacier blue color, which I found delightful. We found a nice rock to sit and had some snacks and just enjoyed to cool temperature. I had really wet feet but it was so worth it!