Eklutna Lake

 Our Walkabouts hiking group had planned to climb Rainbow Peak today, but the weather didn't look very good.  It rained hard last night and the snow level was down to about 2000 feet. That would mean mud for the first half and snow for the steep scree slope at the top.  Meera, the hike leader decided it was best to defer that climb to another day.  Only Pam and I had RSVP'd that we were coming, as well. So we elected to meet halfway between Anchorage and the Valley and hike on the Eklutna Lakeside Trail.  It was a good choice because the trail was mostly dry and it was beautiful as always.  We didn't encounter any rain along the way either.  The 3 of us and our 3 dogs, had a lovely hike to Bold Creek and back. We saw a mama moose with a tiny calf in the distance but she had moved on by the time we reached that spot on the trail.

Matanuska Lake Trails

 It threatened rain but Pam and I and our three dogs hiked about 5 miles along the Long Lake Connector on the Matanuska Lake Trail system.  It was cool but not a drop of rain.  As soon as we got back to the car though, it started to rain.  I decided to see how Baby would do off leash, since there wasn't anyone else out there hiking today.  She was great! She followed right behind me the whole way. At first she got kind of scared by Pam's dogs, but she quickly adjusted and mostly ignored them.  I've been afraid to let her run loose because she does tend to chase squirrels and cars, plus bark at strange dogs and people. But she only barked a couple of times at a passing runner and two ladies hiking. I'll still want to be careful where I let her go unleashed, but she seemed to handle it quite well.  

It was really pretty and green out there today after the big rainstorm of yesterday and last night. 

AKtive Valley Trail Race - May

This month's trail race was on the Government Peak Trails.  Since this is a virtual race series, we can do the course any day of the month. Unfortunately the Government Peak Recreation Area trail system has been closed for most of the month.  It finally opened up on May 24th. The race organizers marked the race course yesterday and I decided to take advantage of the good weather and the trail markings and do it today.  I only planned to walk rather than run.  I talked my friend, Mark into going along so I could show him these lovely trails.  The course followed the Fireweed Trail then connected to the Fiddlehead Trail and led back to the starting point at the parking lot.  I did the exact same route early this past winter and was excited to see it again without trudging through snow.  It was beautifully green with many stream crossings. Quite different from my winter trek. Baby, my chihuahua led the way, happily stopping at most of the stream crossing for a drink of water.  We saw one moose, who fortunately wasn't interested in chasing us.

 

 

Twin Peaks Trail

My friend Alice, and I had originally planned to hike all the way to the end of Eklutna Lakeside Trail and back today, for about a full marathon.  But Alice still had sore feet and some back pain from our previous hike, so we decided to do something shorter.  We hiked the Twin Peaks Trail.  She wasn't sure if she felt up to going farther than the first bench, but once there, she wanted to push on.  We passed the second bench and went all the way up to the ridge below Pepper Peak to enjoy the fabulous view from up there.  It is so amazing.  It was also the most perfect day I've ever had up there.  Clear blue sky and only a light wind, and also very warm.  It was over 70 down in town, and not much cooler up on top. The view will always be one of my favorites.   

Palmer Happy Run

 Today was my birthday.  It was a bit of an odd day.  Not exactly a great celebration. I spent about 5 hours splitting wood in my back yard.  Then went down to Palmer for the Monday night Happy Run.  I'm pretty slow, plus I always take the dog, so I leave a little early  because I like to do the 5 mile route. I can't quite make 5 miles in the one hour to get back to the Palmer Ale House before 7pm, if I start at 6 with everyone else.  But they don't really mind if we start early.  Today my friends surprised me with a birthday cake when we got to the finish at the Ale House.  It was delicious! What a pleasant surprise too.  It was 73 degrees and I was pretty warm.  I brought along a small water bottle and collapsible bowl for Baby because I knew she might get hot.  We stopped twice for her to have a drink.  I think she appreciated it.  I had a few sips myself.  She does really well on those runs.  She runs the whole way, but of course, since she is a dog, we have to stop and sniff and pee at every branch, twig and rock.  But we made it before 7.  It was a gorgeous evening.  I liked that I wasn't freezing cold like I usually am on those runs. 

The Dome

 Beautiful hike up The Dome on the Anchorage hillside with the Walkabouts hiking group.  It was a perfect day for a nice steep hike.  I had not been there before so it was a new adventure.  Lots of nice wildflowers.  I didn't even need to carry the dog at all, which was really nice.  On the way down, she out hiked us all, practically pulling me off my feet on the steep parts. I loved getting to hike with the group again.  For most of the last 6 months we had stopped meeting due to Covid 19.  Now we are hiking together again and we are all vaccinated.  

Lazy Mountain

 It was raining this morning and only about 40 degrees. I was still quite tired after the 30 miles I put on over the last two days.  But I had planned to climb Lazy Mountain with my friend Pam, so we met at the trailhead. We planned to hike up the steep Lazy Mountain Trail then take the more gentle switchback Lazy Moose Trail on the way down. The rain had stopped but on the ridge it was very windy. We reached the top after an hour and 30 minutes. It was calm and not terribly cold, although I did see a few snowflakes.  The trail was mostly dry except for a couple of short areas of soft snow.  

Baby did really well and got along with Pam's two dogs.  She took off pulling with everything she had on the way down and we just let her lead. After awhile, I noticed the trail didn't seem to look right.  I mentioned it to Pam and she said she felt the same way.  Then I looked at the map app on my phone and discovered we were way off! It looked like we were actually on the Matanuska Peak Trail.  That seemed impossible since we seemed to have followed the only obvious trail. We did eventually come to the junction of the Matanuska Peak Trail and the McRobert's Creek Trail, and had to return to the Lazy Mountain Trailhead via the Morgan Horse Trail. After I got home, I looked at the Lazy Mountain Trail brochure and discovered the trail we had taken.  We took the Lazy Mountain Southside Trail which connects with the Matanuska Peak Trail.  It was a really nice trail and not nearly as steep the trail we took up, but a bit steeper than the Lazy Moose Trail. The route was definitely a little longer than the other routes and our whole trip was 7 miles.

Note to self: Don't let the chihuahua lead the hike!

View from the top

Trail Map

Eklutna Lakeside to Bold Creek

 I hiked Eklutna Lakeside Trail again today with a friend who wanted to go on a hike on a mellow trail. He said he had not hiked Eklutna Lake so of course I suggested we go there. I figured we wouldn't go very far, but like yesterday, once we had gone a few miles, it was tempting to continue on. We ended up going all the way to Bold Creek at Mile 5. The short hike ended up being a whole 10 miles. I'm a little surprised that I could still hike at all after yesterday's 20 miler. It wasn't quite as nice today because the sun was hiding behind the clouds and the wind was much stronger.  But we both enjoyed the trip.

Baby walked the whole way, but embarrassed me every time we passed another person or worse yet, another dog.  She likes to bark and growl like a regular attack dog. But it's all bark and no bite.

Eklutna Lakeside Trail 20 Miles

 It was a spectacular day for a little hike at Eklutna Lake.  My friend Alice, and I had planned to hike to mile 7 for a total of 14 miles.  We've been adding a mile extra each week hoping to finally reach a marathon distance at Serenity Falls at the end of the trail.  But today was such a nice day that once we reached 7 miles, we thought, why not go one more mile, then one more mile, then... well we finally decided to turn around at mile 10. By the time we were back to the trailhead it was almost 7 pm and we had been hiking for 9 hours. So our next trek on the Eklutna Lake Trail we plan to just go the whole way and make it a full marathon. What's another 6 miles?

Baby, the chihuahua was amazing and walked about 12 miles.  She was still moving along with no problems, but I could tell she was slowing down. So, to avoid pushing her too hard, I let her ride in my backpack for the next 5 or 6 miles. When she started to squirm, I let her out again to walk and chase squirrels.  She and I ran most of the last mile because my phone was about to go dead. I wanted to get back to the car before we lost our GPS and no longer had confirmation of our 20 mile hike.  We made it and so did the phone battery.

Little Campbell Lake Hike

 Today we had our summer planning party with the Walkabout hiking group.  It was great to get so many of us all together again after so long being away from each other due to Civid-19. We have our tentative hiking schedule planned for the summer now.  After our meeting we went to Kincaid and hiked the trails around Little Campbell Lake.  A lovely place where I had not been before.  There were 17 of us and 5 other dogs besides my Baby.  Baby was quite freaked out over both the number of people and especially all those loose wildly running and playing dogs.  I ended up carrying her in my arms for most of the hike.  Every time I put her down, she would jump up and try to get me to pick her back up. She finally consented to hike the last mile or so.  

The Fish School Bus was at the lake stocking it with 2000 Rainbow Trout.  I suppose fishing might be quite good in that little lake this summer.

Knik River Trek

 This turned out to be a fabulous hike. My friend Mark suggested taking a little walk from his house to the river bar since the water is quite low right now.  We crossed the old bridge then just kept walking until we came to one of the many islands. It was so nice and wide open that I was able to take the dog off the leash and let her run along with us.  Most of the time she stayed right behind my feet. But a couple of times she got distracted and ran off after something of interest.  The first time she was rolling on something that looked like a stick.  That stick turned out to be a dried out old moose leg! I dragged her away from that artifact.  We encountered another one on our way back.  I wonder where the rest of the moose is! On the island we left the endless glacial silt and wandered along small tree covered ridges. We met a couple of young guys on small fat tired motorbikes. They looked like they were having lots of fun.

We had nice closeup views of Pioneer Peak and the snow slides from this winter. The new leaves on the trees are a welcome sign of spring.  We walked over 5 miles, just exploring the river bar.

Palmer Happy Run

 It's Monday night, time for the weekly Happy Run. It was starting to rain at my house so I wasn't sure if I would do the run or not.  But I did drive down to town and found it wasn't raining.  So off we went, Baby and me.  We ran the 5 mile airport route. Tonight's theme was spring cleanup so I brought along a couple of my dog poop bags. I quickly filled up the first one. It was hard to run while carrying it, so I stashed it in a hole under a light pole, figuring I would just pick it up on my way back from the bike trail.  At one point Baby got so excited over a passing dog that she got under my feet and I stepped on her foot.  I felt so bad when I heard her squeal.  But, happily, she continued running along, apparently not injured. He feet are so tiny that I feel horrible when I step on one. She did great the whole way, running and of course, stopping to sniff every bush, rock and twig along the way. She has to stop and bark at the statue of Balto, the serum run dog that inspired the Iditarod sled dog race. She always acts foolish when she realizes it isn't a real dog! On my way back along the bike trail I found that my stashed trash bag was gone.  Someone found my stash and cleaned it up. At least I assume they cleaned it up.  As soon as we got back to the Palmer Alehouse, it started to rain.  I was glad I wore my raincoat because it got pretty wet during the announcements and raffle. 

Balto Statue

Matanuska Rail Trail - Moose Creek

I really want to walk the whole Palmer-Moose Creek Railroad Trail someday.  It's 6 miles one way and quite possible to leave a car at Moose Creek Campground and another at the Palmer Trailhead.  So far, I've always turned around when I start facing all the rock slides along the way.  I know they're passable but since a slip could send me sliding down to the Matanuska riverbed, I hesitate to cross them while hiking alone.  I've only walked from the Palmer side.  But today I decided to see what the trail is like from the Moose Creek side.  I only hiked in about 2 miles, but I can see that it's a very nice trail.  The first mile follows Moose Creek itself until just above the junction with the Matanuska River.  At that point you are walking on the old railbed.  I did encounter some slide areas but nothing as intimidating as what I have seen from the other direction.  I passed a couple who had hiked from the Palmer side and they confirmed that it is possible to walk the entire way.  They were pretty tough and planned to turn around at the Moose Creek Trailhead and return along the trail back to Palmer.  I passed them again on my way out. The man reminded me of pictures I'd seen of John Muir, with his long gray beard and matching long hair.  Perhaps he was John Muir reincarnated.  I hope I run into them again one day.  They seemed like really nice folks.  I joked to myself that I should go to the Palmer trailhead, hike in and, meet them again. I bet they would be quite surprised to encounter Baby ad her barking, once again.  But I really didn't have time to do that. 

 

Matanuska Railroad Trail

It was raining and cold this morning so I figured I'd likely hang out indoors and accomplish next to nothing.  But I quickly got bored with that idea so drove down to town. By then, the rain had stopped so I decided to go for a little walk along the Palmer Rail Trail. I didn't figure I'd go very far, but once Baby and I started walking, we kept going.  I did want to see how the rock slide areas looked now that the snow is all gone.  In the winter, it was treacherous and impossible to negotiate them safely. After the first mile, the trail is no longer maintained and we encountered many areas where the trail has eroded away or huge rock slides have taken out whole sections of trail. We crossed several of them, and although it made me nervous, we really didn't have any trouble crossing them.  But then we came to a huge double rock slide area and I decided that I preferred to not try to cross that alone.  So we turned back.  One the way back I saw a thin trail that went straight up the side hill.  I wondered where it went and was thinking maybe it went back to the highway.  So we ventured up it.  I decided about halfway up that there was no way I was going to try to get back down it.  It was very steep and I was depending on grabbing trees to keep from slipping. Once we got to the top I was disappointed to find that it just led to a hayfield, that was likely part of someone's yard.  We skirted along the edge of it and tried a couple of different little game trails hoping to find our way back to the rail trail.  But they all led to straight down cliffs.  So then we just followed along the edge of the hayfields hoping to find a way to the road or back to the trail.  We finally found a jeep trail through the field and followed it back to Eagle Street.  I guess it wasn't a good idea to follow a game trail that leads straight up a side hill, when you have no idea where it goes! But it was kind of a fun little adventure anyway.

Eklutna Lakeside Trail

 What looked like a very cloudy day with a good chance of rain, turned out to be a perfect day to hike Eklutna Lakeside Trail.  My friend Alice, and I have a goal of working up to hiking the full 12 miles to Serenity Falls and back in one day.  Last Tuesday we did 10 miles, to Bold Creek and back. We pushed on and added two more miles today and covered 12 miles.  We're hoping to add a couple miles each week until we reach our "Alice & Caren Eklutna Lakeside Trail Challenge." Our challenge also includes Baby the chihuahua.  Today, Baby rode part of the way in my backpack though.  I'm not so sure she was tired so much as tired of the continual wind in her face.  We humans were also getting a bit tired of that. But at least it was to our backs on the return. We were lucky that it never rained on us, but the clouds had certainly rolled in by the time we were back to the car. 

Next week, 14 miles! 

Palmer Happy Run

 I was thinking of wearing my running skirt and maybe a windbreaker since it was 61 degrees at my house.  But I decided to add my flowered running tights because tonight's Happy Run had a flower theme.  I'm so glad I wore those because it was only 51 in town!  It was bitter cold the whole time because the Knik Wind was blowing about 25 MPH.  It was brutal, especially running along the side of the airport where there is nothing to block the wind.  I actually won something at the raffle tonight.  A cute little flasher and a nice reflector that I can clip onto my clothes, or maybe my dog!  Baby ran the whole 5 miles.  I ran faster than usual myself, knowing the faster I ran, the sooner I could get out of that wind.  I'll sleep well tonight because after flying for an hour this morning then hiking the one mile around Reflections Lake, I split wood for two hours.  Then I added the five mile run. It's definitely been a very busy day. 

Baby sprinting out ahead on the bike path