Bear Point

 I hiked 5 miles today with the Valley Wanderers to Bear Point on the Peter's Creek/Mt Eklutna trail system. We met first in the Trunk Road Park and Ride area. I was a little early and met Jennifer, a lady who was going on her first hike with the Wanderers. We had a nice long chat while waiting for the others to arrive. I ended up driving to the trailhead and Jennifer rode with me. I think we will be great friends one day.
The trail was very muddy in some spots, but at least there wasn't any snow that we had to contend with. It's a pretty steep trail and I was feeling kind of weak, causing me to lag behind a bit. I haven't had much appetite and have lost some weight this week from the stress over the loss of Baby. Again, while hiking, I felt like I could feel her spirit walking along with me. I pictured her pulling on her leash and trying to run up the mountain. She would have loved this trail because she loves to climb. We did climb this trail to the ridge and partway to Mt Eklutna back in the winter. We had to turn back that day because the snow was too deep for Baby and it kind of scared me from the point of avalanche danger as well. But today we hiked all the way to the monument on Bear Point then to a neat outcropping before you would start heading straight down into the valley below. There were beautiful views of Mt Eklutna, Twin Peaks and the Chugach Range. The hike was very therapeutic between the good exercise, and the good company. I felt like there was hope that one day I might be back to normal again. But there were many times when I had to fight off tears. I so miss my little Baby. It seemed so weird to not have her there. On the way down, I really felt she was there in front of me trying to pull me off my feet as she always did on steep downhills.