Twin Peaks Trail

 I was just looking for a fairly short but significantly steep hike to take today. Conditions on most of the trails are wet, slushy, muddy and even icy. Avalanche danger is present in the higher mountains as well. I was curious to see if conditions had improved on the Twin Peaks Trail since my hike there last week. I got there pretty late in the day, so conditions were very wet and remaining snow was quite slushy. I started up the trail wearing my micro spikes but there were significant areas with no snow, as well as areas with lots of snow and ice. The spikes were nice to have on steep icy sections, but not so much when I hit areas of exposed dirt. In some places the ground was very muddy and even had streams of water running down through it. But generally it wasn't difficult walking. There were no other cars in the parking lot and I was totally alone on the trail except for Baby my dog. Baby enjoyed checking out every bush and twig, and I hiked at a fairly decent pace. I'm always too slow for most of my friends, so was constantly aware of my hiking speed. I'm slow when running and seem to be too slow most of the time when hiking, at least according to my hiking friends. I find that very frustrating. I've been trying to get out every day in hopes of getting stronger and hopefully also faster. I do like that Baby doesn't care if I'm too slow. She enjoys sniffing everything and collecting whatever information dogs collect with their noses to the ground. She marked the trail well also. We spent about 30 minutes at the first bench overlook just enjoying a light breeze and admiring the fantastic view. The lake is still frozen but I could see that in places the ice was looking rather thin. With the recent warm temperatures, it won't be long before Eklutna Lake is open water. Our descent back to the car was easier without wearing the spikes and for the most part I was able to avoid any icy spots.