Gold Mint Trail Hike

 I tried going to Gold Mint yesterday but it was so cold that even with Baby in my backpack, we were both freezing.  I gave up after about half a mile.  But today was much better.  It was 10 degrees at home, but down in Palmer it was only 3 degrees.  So I figured there was a temperature inversion and climbing higher would be better than doing anything down in the valley. Clouds were quickly rolling in, but it looked better towards the Talkeetnas than towards Eklutna.  So I gave Gold Mint another try.  Baby just didn't seem into it today.  She was lifting her feet from the cold and trying to go back to the car.  So I put her in my pack and carried her in the front configuration.  That is so hard on my back though.  I like that I can see what she is doing when I carry her that way, but it is so uncomfortable that after the first mile, I gave up and switched it back to a backpack. Suddenly I was enjoying the hike a lot more.  It was getting pretty late so I turned around when I reached mile 2. Soon I felt restlessness coming from my back, so let the dog out to try to walk again. I could tell it was warmer than at the start, but not that much warmer.  She always likes to run all the way back and quickly forgets that she was cold at the start.  She ran us all the way back to the car.  It was a great workout and very pleasant.  There were few people considering it was the tail end of a holiday weekend.  We did encounter a couple of fat tire bicyclists and couple of skiers, and their dogs. But we mostly had the trail to ourselves.   I'm on a roll for making my Alaska State Parks pass pay for itself in the first 12 days of the new year!