Eklutna Lake

Just a very short hike today with a friend along the Eklutna Lakeside Trail.  We had to turn back because he needed to get get home.  It was probably best that I not make a long day of it anyway because I am running the Archangel Marathon in 2 more days.  But if I had been alone, I would have been tempted to take advantage of such a beautiful day and gone on for more miles.

April Bowl

I hiked the beautiful April Bowl Trail today all the way to the top at Hatch Peak.  I am interested in hiking the route from Hatch Peak to Government Peak, but was not sure how to do it.  It's kind of hard to tell just looking at the map.  So today's hike was just an exploratory hike.  I easily found Hatch Peak.  While I was up there, I saw some hikers come up a ridge in the general direction of Government Peak.  I waited for them and asked about the route.  They showed me which peak is Government and showed me the route that they took.  I would now feel very comfortable doing it. However, I would prefer leaving a car at the Government Peak parking area and one at the April Bowl Parking area instead of just hiking to Government Peak than going back to April Bowl.  So now my challenge is to find someone willing to go with me. Since there is no actual trail, such a trek would be safer with another person than going alone anyway.

The picture below clearly shows the ridge walk that leads from Hatch to Government Peak. The red arrow points to Government Peak and the picture was taken from the top of Hatch Peak. I hope I can do it sometime in August.

Palmer Happy Run

Once again I ran the 5 mile long run, along Outer Springer and the north and south roads along the Palmer Airport.  The temperature was perfect. I left early so I could make it to the Palmer Ale House before 7 and join the other runners and walkers.  I had a nice time visiting with some friends, and we even went over to the Palmer Hotel afterwards and had dinner.  That was my 9th Happy Run.  Next time, I'll earn my T shirt for my 10th run.  I found out that the Green Day Gallop that was scheduled for March, then postponed, has now been moved to August 6th. I was disappointed to learn that the marathon I had registered for will no longer be available and I had to downgrade to the 10K.  Instead of a morning race though, it will be at 5 pm. So maybe a marathon that late in the day might not be that great anyway, especially with my slow running speed!

Girdwood to Bird Bike Trip

I joined my friend Diane for a wonderful bicycle ride from Girdwood to Bird Point and return. It was about 13 miles round trip.  I loved the beautiful views of the inlet.  The trail has sections of gentle up and down hill, but compared to most places, I would almost call it flat. I didn't find that I had to work very hard to get up the long hills.  I managed to have one big mishap though.  I had put my credit card and driver's licence into my bike pack zipper pocket for safety, so I would have them with me.  But at some point, I must have accidentally unzipped that zipper because when we got back to the car, those two cards were gone. I canceled the credit card immediately.  Soon after I got home I got a Facebook message from a lady who found both cards along the trail.  I was able to retrieve them from her in the morning,  I was most concerned about my license, and very happy that an honest person found them.  I will certainly need to be more careful from now on!

Gold Mint Trail

Fabulous 9 mile hike along Gold Mint Trail.  If it had not gotten so muddy I would have gone a little further.  But it got to the point where it was more water than trail.  I really want to make it all the way to the Mint Hut and glacier someday, but I think that would be best done as an overnight backpack trip.  The hut is 9 miles in and today I only went went about 4 and a half miles in before I needed to turn back, partly because of time.  I didn't start hiking until about 1pm.  I think with an early morning start I could do the full 18 mile round trip.  But it would sure be nice and safer to hike it with a friend since it's fairly remote.

Palmer Happy Run

This is my 8th Palmer Happy Run. Two more and I get a T shirt.  I did my usually early start so I could finish in time to visit with the other runners.  Tonight's run went by the Palmer Airport then along the Old Glenn Highway to Clark Wolverine Road and back to the Ale House.  I got rained on a little but at least not soaked to the skin like the Hatcher Pass Marathon. I was really dragging for the first couple of miles.  I think my legs were still tired from yesterday's trek at Twin Peaks.  But the last 2 miles I was able to pick up the pace, as the other faster runners caught up with me and went flying by.  They always make me feel like such a slowpoke.  But I do my best. 

Twin Peaks Trail

My favorite place to get a really good hiking workout.  Twin Peaks Trail at Eklutna Lake.  I hiked with my friend Diane and her dog Tobi.  Tobi was pulling her and giving her a little edge of speed.  I had to push harder than usual to keep up.  It was great though.  It's a steep hike but I love the view at the halfway point where we finally get to see Eklutna Lake.  It's always a breathtaking view, and today did not disappoint.  We only went to the second bench because Diane didn't have time to climb all the way up onto the ridge for the even more spectacular view.  But it was a great day and didn't even rain, in spite of the forecast for it.

Archangel Valley

Just a short hike today.  I really wanted to hike all the way to the Lane Hut, but was with a friend who was not up for the 8 mile hike.  So he turned around at mile 1.5 and I went on to the locked gate at mile 2. Then I ran back to catch up with him.  So I got in 4 miles, and at least part of it was running.  As usual, it was a beautiful place to be.  The light for photography was amazing today.  Always one of my favorite places.

Bike Ride

I finally got out on my bicycle.  My road is really dangerous because it is narrow with no shoulder and in many places has a fairly steep drop off.  So I bought a bike rack for my car and tested it out today.  I drove down from Lazy Mountain and started riding along the bike trails to get my bike legs back since it has been awhile since I've ridden. I had a great ride for 14 miles all along paved trails.  It was very enjoyable.  I want to start spending more time on my bike and hope to ride the Denali Highway again, with my friend Mark, as my support vehicle.  It's such a nice way to travel. I often dream of how nice it would be to bike all the way to California.  Maybe someday.

Palmer Happy Run

Another fun Palmer Happy Run. This one was along the Outer Springer 5 mile route.  I left early again so I could get to the Palmer Ale House before 7pm.  I ran into the same friends I had seen last week and it was nice visiting and chatting with them.  Tonight was great weather and I really enjoyed the run.  It's nice in the summer and mostly along bike trails.  In the winter, I feel a little nervous along Springer in the dark with cars going by because that section doesn't have a bike trail and you do run on the side of the road.

Hatcher Pass Marathon

Finally, a real marathon that I can actually count towards my official marathon statistics.  #154. This one is always very small and they did a staggered start to keep runners separated.  I'm glad they let me start with the first wave since they knew I would stagger across the finish line last as I typically do.  As usual, I was by far the oldest as slowest.  It was a nice cool temperature, which was really nice.  But at mile 10 it started to pour rain. Fortunately that only lasted for a few miles.  Then the sun came out and it was quite beautiful.  The sun also brought out zillions of annoying gnats.  Thankfully one of the race officials drove by and asked me if I needed anything.  She had bug spray and I marinated myself in it.  That kept the annoying creatures away.  Around mile 20 it started to rain again. Almost all of the race is uphill, but mile 20 to 25 is by far the steepest and most difficult part.  It poured rain the whole rest of the course.  I was eventually totally soaked and freezing cold.  But I kept going,  knowing I only had a few more miles to go.  I did finish, last as usual.  But it felt like quite an accomplishment just to finally reach the finish line.  This was my first official marathon since the Los Angeles Marathon back on March 8th.

Palmer Happy Run

The Palmer Happy Runs are on again.  I always like to do the 5 mile option.  But technically since they start at 6pm and you need to get to the Palmer Ale House by 7, that only gives slow people like me, one hour.  In addition, that route is over 5.5 miles.  But they don't really care if you start the run early.  So now I start really early so I can for sure get to the Ale House before 7. Now they are serving food outdoors on the picnic tables, for social distancing which is really nice.  I did get there before 7 tonight and found that I have some friends also doing the runs and walks.  I ended up running alone as usual because the only people who run the 5 mile, are considerably faster then I am.  They all pass me at about mile 4.  But I like that a part of me feels some kind of an obligation to get out there and run at 6pm regardless of the weather.  I had a slow, but still a nice run tonight. 

Eklutna Lake and Pepper Peak

This morning I couldn't even decide what I wanted to do for the day.  But my car just seemed to head towards Eklutna Lake out of habit I guess.  I wanted to get in some steepness since Hatcher Pass Marathon is next weekend and I'm horribly unprepared!  So I decided on the Twin Peaks Trail and passed on by the second bench and went all the way to the Pepper Peak area to get the magnificent views of Eklutna Lake.  That is one of the most spectacular views in this area.  The weather was quite warm and there was a nice cooling breeze up there.  I hated to leave.  After I got down to the upper bench and it wasn't so steep and slippery, I was able to run the entire way down.  I passed quite a few people heading up as I was heading down.  That was not surprising for a beautiful sunny July 4th holiday weekend. 

Blueberry Knoll Trail Run

Blueberry Knoll Trail was the designated trail for the Virtual AKtive Valley Trail Race for July.  It looked like a good day for a climbing hike/run so I drove up to the Government Peak trail site and hiked it.  That was my first time on this trail so I had no idea what it would be like.  I did do the Government Peak Trail about 10 years ago.  This trail does also reach the Government Peak summit but branches off to a rock outcropping called Blueberry Knoll.  It was a rather tough climb through lots of green and huge tree roots that tried to grab me every chance they could get.  It reminded me of the first half of the Lazy Mountain Trail because it was steep enough that grabbing tree branches was often a good idea for stability.  I was happy to finally reach the knoll only to find that there were millions of annoying gnats who got there before me. So I didn't stay very long.  But I did really enjoy the hike.  I'd like to take that trail all the way to Government Peak one of these days.