Lazy Moose Marking & Lazy Mountain Climb

The Valley Wanderers always mark the upper part of the Lazy Moose Trail in fall so it can be found more easily once it is snow-covered. The plan was to meet at the trailhead or at the picnic table at the top of Lazy Moose at noon. I really don't like hiking the tough trail up the Lazy Mountain Trail to the picnic table without going all the way to the top of Lazy Mountain. So I just left early and hiked to the top then back down to the picnic table to meet the others. On my way down from the top near the upper picnic table I was surprised to see Virginia, one of our group, also working her way to the top. She is a much faster hiker than I am, so I figured she would reach the top then catch me on the way down. I got to the picnic table with 10 minutes to spare and Virginia arrived a couple minutes later. I ran most of the way down from the top. The bottom half of the trail was extremely slippery and as always, quite the effort to make it to the table without falling. Bella was on her leash and managed to wrap herself around some fallen trees at one point. So then I unhooked her and she was on her own the rest of the way to the top. That dog is so fast, she ran all the way to the top. I used to worry about her climbing up the rocks, but today, I just let her go and she bounced her way all the way to the highest point. I could tell she wanted to continue on the route that goes down the other side and over to Matanuska Peak. I called her back before she took off in that direction. Normally the most amazing view of Matanuska Peak is from the summit of Lazy, but today the fog rolled in just in time to totally obscure the view. But I did get lovely views on the way up and on the way down. Once down at the picnic table with the others, we took a leisurely walk down the Lazy Moose switchback trail for 3 miles, tying flagging periodically to make the route visible in winter. We only did the top half because after that, there are official markers and the trail is much more obvious. It was a gorgeous day with amazing fall colors.