Mount Baldy Loop Trail

 A lovely snowy climb up Mt Baldy on the steep trail then down the more gentle other trail. It was cold, in the low 20's with occasional wind. Just a small amount of snow on the lower portion but several inches the higher we went. It finally started getting a little too deep for the dog, so occasionally I would just scoop her up and carry her in one arm for a while. On the top, I finally decided that she looked too cold, so I put her in my pack for the ride down. The view was amazing in all directions. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy so the camera didn't really capture the full beauty. There are mountains in all directions except for looking down on Knik Arm of Cook Inlet, and Eagle River. We were celebrating Jo's 75th birthday, and since it is Halloween, we all showed up in Halloween masks. 

Lisa was hilarious with her dog mask. 

Some of us went to lunch to celebrate with Jo

The views were spectacular.

Baby was all tuckered out!

Twin Peaks Trail

 Once again I was planning a short hie on Eklutna Lakeside Trail, this time with my friend Alice. But Baby seemed to want to hike up Twin Peaks again. The weather was really nice so we decided to follow her lead and do the climbing hike instead. It started out very cold but we quickly warmed up. There were a few areas of a small amount of snow, but for the most part, the trail was frozen ground and snow-free. By the time we got to the first bench at the overlook it had started to snow lightly. It was getting kind of late and we could see the weather was changing, so we headed back down. It's always a nice short climb and the view from the overlook is always amazing. 

 

Bear Mountain to Mt Eklutna

 This was a fabulous hike with the Valley Wanderers and also my friend, Pam. The trail is very steep and we did need micro-spikes because it was frozen ground and icy in spots. Once on the ridge we were in several inches of snow. It was somewhat windblown but still pretty soft. It started to get a bit too deep for my dog, so I stopped and put her in my backpack. The rest of the group pushed on ahead. By the time I caught up they were working their way down a rocky outcropping on the side of the ridge. Pam said it looked a little scary from where she was standing. In the distance I saw that a couple of the others had gone on down that ridge and were heading up another very steep slope in the snow. There was no visible trail at this point, so they were making one based on their past experience on this route. Pam said she felt kind of uncomfortable. I admitted I felt the same way. There really wasn't enough snow that I felt we were in avalanche danger, but I was somewhat concerned with the steepness of the sidehill they were planning to traverse. It didn't look like a good place to slip and fall, without the comfort of actual crampons and ice axe. I'm quite sure it was perfectly safe and I later heard all made it down safely. But Pam and I decided it was a bit beyond our comfort levels so we decided to turn back and go back the trail we had climbed. I never have quite the same balance when I'm carrying the dog on my back, which also figured into my decision. Since Pam came with me, I definitely wanted to stay with her. It was a gorgeous hike and we can't wait to come back and do that loop once all the snow is gone. I want to climb to the top of Mt Eklutna next time I'm up there. It's a beautiful peak and the views up there are extraordinary. I let Baby off her leash part of the way down just because it was so steep and icy and rocky that I didn't want her pulling me over. She was pretty good about staying with us.

Crevasse Moraine Trail

 Nice short little hike with my friend, Pam and our two dogs. It was really cold this morning, 14 F at my house and only 8 F at Pam's house. At the trailhead it had warmed up to 19, so not quite so frigid. The ground was frozen, so we didn't encounter any mud, just the pleasant rolling hills of that trail system. No snow on the ground there yet. This trail system is right next to the Mat-Su Landfill, so it tends to attract eagles.  I saw three in a tree right where I parked my car. I only had my phone as a camera so didn't get an extraordinary closeup picture. But I did get to catch a quick iPhone photo. After the hike I went to Anchorage to buy my new backcountry ski setup. I wanted something that would get me into the mountains off the groomed trails, with the ability to lock down my heel for steeper downhill skiing. Now we just need some snow so I can use them. 

Pioneer Ridge Trail

 Hiked up the Pioneer Ridge Trail today with the Valley Wanderers. The ground was frozen but with very little snow, although it was still quite rough. There were deep ruts where not long ago there was obviously fairly deep mud. So glad it was frozen today. Baby did great for the first mile and a half. But then it got colder and the snow was deeper. We all stopped to put on our micro-spikes and I had to put Baby into my backpack. She was shivering and trying to climb up my leg, her signal for "carry me!" The trail got pretty tricky in places after that, with streams and frozen overflow to deal with. The view across the valley was beautiful but it was still a bit too cloudy to get a view of Knik Glacier. But it was a great workout with 2380 feet of elevation gain and 5 miles total distance. I needed all of my clothing layers because it was only about 25 degrees. At least there was no wind. We all kept our spikes on for the descent because even with them on it got quite slippery. I had a couple of short falls myself. Baby didn't seem too concerned inside of her backpack and neither of us got hurt. She seems to enjoy riding back there and just staying warm and looking around.

Twin Peaks Trail

 I just wanted to drive up to Eklutna Lake and see how the snow conditions are. I didn't even change into my hiking boots, bring my pack, or food and water. I just planned to walk a short distance on the Lakeside Trail. But once we crossed the bridge, Baby refused to take another step along the Lakeside Trail. Instead, she turned towards the Twin Peaks Trail and pulled me in that direction. Figuring we wouldn't go very far, I decided not to drag her back to the car and change my shoes, get my grippers, and more appropriate gear. But even though there was an inch or more of snow, Baby headed non-stop up the trail. I did find the conditions were still ok with the shoes I had on, but I kept wishing I had my hiking boots. We made it up to the bench at the overlook, to my astonishment! The view was so amazing, that Baby and I just sat on the bench for a while, staring at the lake below. It was chilly, 27 degrees, but the sun made it feel much warmer. I felt like I'd be happy to stay right there forever. Normally, Baby is quite ready to head back down, but she wanted to continue. I knew the snow would likely be deeper as we climbed, but it still seemed ok. We made it about halfway to the second bench when she decided she'd had enough. She turned around and we went on back down to the car. It turned out to be such a wonderful little hike, that I thanked her frequently for making me go there instead of the flatter trail along the lake. 

Ski Independence Mine Trails

 I heard the trail to the mine was groomed, so on a gorgeous day like this, of course I had to grab my cross country skis and go. It was really nice snow and well packed but for some reason, Baby just wasn't interested.  I ended up putting her in my backpack and skiing the entire route with her as a passenger. It was a little cold, but not terribly. 24 when I started but quickly warmed up. There were lots of people, dogs, hikers, and skiers. Maybe just the shear number of other dogs made Baby uncomfortable. I didn't mind carrying her. But on the steeper downhill sections, the weight on my back made me feel a little off balance. I'll have to grow accustomed to having her on my back because she does tend to like to be carried if the weather gets too cold. Maybe I'll try again later this week and see if she feels better with less weekend traffic. It looked like the trail up to Gold Cord Lake was well defined, so maybe we'll try just hiking up there this week. What a beautiful day to be out!

Long Lake Loop Trail

 It is a very gloomy foggy day but at least it's not raining or snowing. Just a short little hike around Long Lake with my friend Pam before helping set up for tomorrow's ski swap with our ski patrol. Pam's dog has been recovering from a broken foot but is now back in service and raring to go. Both of our dogs enjoyed themselves running along the familiar trail. I think Baby was glad we didn't hike up another mountain after the steep muddy trails of the last few days.

Lazy Moose Tree Obsruction

 I've been really scratching my head trying to figure out what might have gone wrong yesterday on my hike down from Lazy Mountain on the Lazy Moose Trail. On my way down at distance post 3800 I had found a gigantic downed tree completely covering the trail. I tried going down around it and up around it, but found no possible method to get past it. Since I had seen a trail leading downhill a few hundred feet back, I had taken that, assuming the old trail was permanently blocked and it was the new trail. It even had a sign that said Lazy Moose. But as I said in yesterday's post, that trail intersected the Morgan Horse Trail which also leads back to the parking lot. So today, I went on a little exploratory excursion up the Lazy Moose Trail from the trailhead at the bottom. I figured I'd find where I had missed an alternate trail that bypassed the tree. What I did find was a rough worn path where other hikers had scrambled uphill around the fallen tree. I followed that and it brought me down to the trail where I had turned back. From that spot though, it was not obvious at all that anyone had attempted to climb up that steep hill to get around the tree. Of course anyone who had simply climbed Lazy Moose from both directions, would have known how to get around the obstruction.  But people like me, who had simply descended the route would have figured the trail to Morgan Horse Trail was actually the correct trail. But they'd be wrong just like I was.

So, now I know about the little access trail from Morgan Horse Trail to Lazy Moose.  I went down it on my way back to my car today. I told the Mat-Su Trails park ranger, who was at the trailhead when I got back, about my trail adventure yesterday. She said she would pass the information on to her boss. So maybe someone with a gigantic chainsaw will go cut a path through the gigantic fallen tree.

I enjoyed satisfying my curiosity with this nice little 1.6 mile hike.

Lazy Mountain Climb

 I thought yesterday was muddy on Blueberry Knoll, but today was 100 times worse! I took the old Lazy Mountain Trail because it's the shortest and most direct way to climb Lazy Mountain. But it is extremely steep and if wet at all, it can be almost impossible. It was incredibly muddy and I ended up finally putting my micro spikes on my boots after sliding about 10 feet down one of the steepest slippery slopes. I thought today was going to be a perfect day for the climb, but when I set out for the trailhead, the clouds rolled in and obscured the peak. I considered abandoning the idea, but then decided to go for it anyway. It was quite a relief to finally reach the picnic table and stop for a snack. I ran into my friends from the Valley Wanderers who had climbed from the Southside Trail and were headed down Lazy Moose. After my steep slippery adventure, I momentarily considered descending with them. But I hate to quit, so continued on to the top. It was getting colder as Baby and I climbed, so I put her coat on her because she was shivering a little. The cooler temperature kept the ground fairly hard, so it was much easier climbing than the first part had been. We also encountered quite a bit of snow, which was also easy climbing since I was still wearing my spikes. We didn't hit the fog until right before the summit. Sadly we didn't get to see any of the view I had hoped for. But it's always nice to reach a goal. It was windy and cold so we didn't linger for long. The trip down was great until the last of the false summits before the junction of the Lazy Moose Trail. The temperature had warmed up and the mud was horrifying! I had 6 inch clumps of mud and grass built up under my spikes. It was almost impossible to maintain any kind of footing, so it was an easy decision to take the gently but 2 miles longer Lazy Moose switchback trail instead of the one I had climbed. It was still muddy but quite nice until I encountered a gigantic tree that had fallen across the trail. I tried several methods of getting past it then decided it didn't look possible. Shortly before the tree I saw a side trail heading down that had a sign indicating it was joining Lazy Moose.  I had no idea where it went but felt it must be the alternative to the obstructed trail. At least it was heading down. It came to anther trail with a sign that said it was access to Lazy Moose. I took it to the right, hoping that was the right direction. On my GPS map I saw I was parallel to Lazy Moose but heading in the right direction. It connected to the Morgan Horse Trail and led us back to the parking lot. I'd like to walk Lazy Moose from the bottom and see what happens from that direction when you reach that fallen tree. This was one of my more interesting climbs of Lazy Mountain.

Blueberry Knoll Hike

 At least it wasn't raining. Hoping to hike up to Gold Cord Lake on the snow, I drove up to Hatcher Pass. Last week, Baby was delighted to walk on the snow. Not today though. We only walked a few feet before she declared that she was not going another inch. So we went back down and tried the Rae-Wallace Trail. Once again she made it clear she wanted no parts of it either. I gave up and drove down to the Gold Mint Trailhead, hoping the lack of snow would be more to her liking. It was dry and warm, but nope, she wanted no parts of that trail either. I really wanted to hike somewhere so on my way back home, I thought I'd see if she would be interested in the trails at the Government Peak area. Suddenly she was all excited and I could hardly hold onto her long enough to attach her leash. What I thought might be a 5 minute attempt at the Blueberry Knoll steep trail, turned into a fast moving slippery climb almost 2 miles up to the knoll itself.  It was so muddy and slippery that I frequently ended up with muddy knees as Baby pulled me off my feet in her exuberance. Apparently she prefers mud to snow, at least today anyway. It was 3 pm when we started up so I figured there was no chance we would actually reach the knoll. But we did slip and slide all the way up to the top. We got there by 4, which for me was pretty fast, especially in those conditions.  The trail is quite steep and is mostly composed of muddy hills and tree roots. It's a miracle I managed to avoid tripping over any of those. But the steep hills were more challenging as I slid down, gaining one step up and two steps down. I love the view up there. I was really worried about the trip back down. I have to keep Baby on her leash because I know she would race right back to the car and leave me there, wondering if she really made it to the car. I spent the whole trek down shouting SLOW DOWN to Baby, as she totally ignored my pleas. I was a muddy mess by the time we reached the car, but felt a sense of accomplishment that we got there by 5pm. 

I really wish my dog could explain why she loved that muddy trail and had no interest in the others that are usually her favorites. 

Twin Peaks Trail

It's been rainy and cloudy and miserable for days. I started out intending to just do a little shopping, but the mountains were calling so I had to go. I had tossed my cross country skis into my car in hopes of finding enough snow to ski somewhere. It has been kind of warm so I wasn't sure what I would find up higher. I drove up to Eklutna Lake, hoping maybe there would be enough on the Lakeside Trail. I found absolutely none there! My dog seems to always prefer climbing to walking on flat trails so I decided to head up the Twin Peaks Trail. We didn't have much time since I had started out rather late this morning. It was cloudy and threatened rain but we made it up the steep trail to the overlook by the first bench. I took a few pictures and took a little break. Then I felt a few raindrops. Baby really wanted to continue climbing, but I decided that might not be fun in the rain. Also, I didn't bring any water or snacks because I had originally figured we would just walk a short distance on the Lakeside Trail. I turned back and Baby tried desperately to pull me up the hill. She finally gave up and headed back down with me. She was on her leash so really wasn't going to win that argument! It was a really nice hike and the views were spectacular as always, in spite of the cloudy weather. Once to the car, it started to pour rain. Descending had been the best decision.

Independence Mine Hike

 It snowed yesterday so I wanted to go up and check out the new snow up at Hatcher Pass and Independence Mine. I was contemplating possibly hiking up to Gold Cord Lake again. But when Baby and I got to the trailhead, after walking the mile to reach it, we found it disappeared into the new snow. I was hoping someone had walked it earlier so I could follow their trail. I'm sure, given extra time, and using my AllTrails iPhone app, I could have found my way. But Baby stopped and indicated that she was done with that idea once we crossed the two bridges over the creek. That was where all signs of the trail disappeared. She enjoyed the walk to that point because she was able to walk in old foot prints and ski tracks, avoiding the 4 inches of new snow. I think the deeper snow didn't interest her anymore. But she enjoyed running back down to the car. It was so beautiful. I wish I had been able to get up to the lake. Maybe tomorrow I'll come back with my skis and see if we can get up to Summit Lake again. There appears to be enough snow to do that.