Bodenburg Butte Hike

 Today I hiked up the Butte with Pam. We usually hike on Fridays because she doesn't work that day. I haven't done a lot of hiking lately because I've been tied up with some major projects at home. I spent two weeks building a small shed to house my snow blower, plus major landscaping projects. I've been mostly working non stop. It finally caught up with me and I was really exhausted when we started our little climb up the Butte. It's a steep hike but really quite short. At times, I almost felt like I wasn't going to make it. So we just took our time and enjoyed a sunny day. It was quite crowded with kids and dogs. So we had to keep our dogs on their leashes. I mostly always do that anyway, but Pam likes to let her dog run loose. It was busy up there but still a nice day for a hike. I think I need to take a couple days off yard work and sleep in tomorrow. Bella enjoyed herself though!

Arkose Ridge

 I've been wondering for a few years how people access Arkose Ridge. It's a long ridge that separates the Little Susitna River drainage from the Matanuska River drainage. I've seen a skier trigger an avalanche from the top one winter, and seriously wondered how on earth they ever got up there in the first place. Virginia and Dan from the Valley Wanderers had decided to do an exploratory trip to see how far they could get towards the top of the ridge today. There are likely numerous approaches but we followed the most likely and easiest route, up the ATV trails off Murphy Road, off the Buffalo Mine Road. This is the opposite access to the Matanuska Moose Range trails from the place I usually go, on the opposite end of that area on Wendt Road. We followed the extremely muddy ATV trails until we were high enough and above most of the brush then turned up through the tundra, cross country towards the top of the ridge. Some of our group had been up there before so they knew the general route. That was basically simply keep going uphill. We had to cross numerous small revines and did a bit of bushwhacking as we made our way higher. Since this was only supposed to be an exploratory hike, no one had planned to actually reach the top of the ridge, so we didn't have enough time for that. However, we did get much higher than most of us expected. There is still considerable snow up higher and we did start encountering significant snow patches. We didn't get to a spot where we could actually see over to the other side, but we still had a lovely view of the valley to the north and east. We took a different route going back down, and it was not nearly as nice. I had tracked our route with the AllTrails app on my phone. I made a note to not take that route back down to the ATV trails. It was through lots of heavy brush with significant stream crossings. We were all happy to be back on the muddy trail again. The plan is to make a trip up the ridge later this summer when things have dried out and the snow is gone. I look forward to joining that trip.

Today is my 78th birthday. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend it.

Eklutna Lakeside Trail Hike

I hiked the Eklutna Lakeside Trail today with my friend Pam and our two dogs. The snow is finally all gone and there are only a few small mud patches. We went all the way to the little cabin just past the 3 mile marker. It was a little sad because we passed by the spot where my dog, Baby was killed and found that we could no longer find the little memorial we had set up. It looks like the tree where I hung the tiny butterfly house had fallen. The tiny house is likely buried beneath it. It looks like it came down naturally and not intentionally by the park service. The other little butterfly ornaments might still be there somewhere but they have always been difficult to find. I have always had to locate the little house on the tree first. I'll try looking there again the next time I go there. It's been almost a year since that tragic day. May, 28, 2023 was the day I lost her. Bella has been a wonderful companion and is doing a fine job of easing my broken heart. I couldn't find a sweeter dog buddy than Bella has become. As usual, it was a lovely little hike along the lake and the cabin is always a nice place to stop and take a little rest.

Bodenburg Butte Hike Again

Today Bella and I hiked the Butte again. This time we went with a small group of the Valley Wanderers. We climbed to the top along the West Butte Trail up the stairs then down the other side like we did yesterday. But this time when we reached the road on the east side, we hiked right back up to the top then went down the West Butte Trail again. It was just as windy as yesterday or maybe even a little worse. But it was a little more fun going back up the trail and down rather than walking the road and bike trail. We found a better route down the east side today. We didn't need to do any rock scrambling like yesterday. It was fun and slightly shorter than yesterday's hike. About 4 miles. Bella enjoyed befriending and barking at other dogs we encountered along the trail. 

Bella on the top

Knik Glacier view from the top

Bodenburg Butte Hike

 I've been doing major yard projects all week but finally took a break to hike the Butte with my friend Pam and our dogs. We almost turned around when we got to the parking lot because normally there are only one or two other cars there. But today it was so full that there were only a couple of available parking spots. I couldn't imagine hiking this trail with such a huge group of other people. I asked a young girl who had just come down and she said it was a huge school outing and the trail was full of young kids. We decided to go ahead and hike there since we were already there. The trail was in great condition with only a couple of small snow patches and occasional muddy areas. I was tired from all of my yard projects but we easily climbed the stairs to near the top. At the top we found a couple hundred kids. They were pretty noisy and not under very good adult control. They kept trying to pet our dogs and were all blowing whistles and many were flying kites. I managed to worm my way around them to get to the high point to take a couple of pictures. It was very windy and chilly, which is typical of the place. Pam reluctantly followed me through the gang of kids. We didn't linger very long. We decided to hike down the other trail with the intention of turning around at the bottom then retracing our steps and going down our original trail to our cars. But we found the trail somewhat difficult to find and had to do a bit of rock scrambling. It was also extremely dusty. We weren't sure if the school kids would still be up there so instead of climbing back to the top, we just followed the road back to our cars. The distance is about the same either way. Right around 5 miles. Generally I would prefer climbing back to the top. But, like Pam, I wasn't looking forward to sharing the trail with that mob of unruly kids. I enjoyed the route back, mostly on the bike trail. Our dogs certainly loved the whole trip. I'm going to do the same hike tomorrow with the Valley Wanderers. I hope we can hike both routes like we had planned today. It's always a beautiful view and a very nice workout.