Two More Challenge Hikes

Three of the Challenge waypoints are in the Matanuska River Park area so I parked at the entrance and hiked to all three. The first two were pretty easy to find, and were fairly close to each other. Both had signs that marked the waypoints. The third one was actually on the Matanuska River Trail and probably would have been easier to find had I started at that trailhead. But I ended up making a very nice loop, finding the waypoint by a huge cottonwood tree that was lying on the ground, then finding another trail back to my car. That whole exercise was only about a mile and a half walk.

Fallen Cottonwood Tree

Sign at the second waypoint

I had plenty of time for another hike so went to the Thunderbird Falls Trail area because I saw that three waypoints were on that trail. That's such a cool little trail and I love hiking it. It's very short. Round trip it is only 2 miles. The first waypoint was a sign telling folks to stay on the trail due to erosion, and the second one warned of a cliff to discourage people from getting to close to the edge. The third point was at the end of the main trail at the lookout platform for viewing the falls. Most of the falls are now frozen, but Baby and I hiked down to the bottom of the falls, where the creek is running and we could see water rushing from beneath the ice. 

Baby by the creek

After the hike to the falls, I tracked to another waypoint in the town of Wasilla. It turned out to be the new Aktive Soles running store that is one of the sponsors for the event. Of course I had to go in and check it out. As usual, I didn't buy anything. I'm not much of a shopper! But it's a nice store.