Bear Mountain

 Today was the coldest day of this season. At the Peters Creek Trailhead, my car's outside thermometer read 22 degrees. I worried that I had not brought mittens, only gloves. I put on both my light down jacket and my Gortex jacket over it, and hoped I would warm up on the steep uphill to Bear Mountain. Bella led the way, and I followed right behind her. Our small group really didn't want to climb at breakneck speed so everyone was content with me leading. But I pushed as hard as I could, partly to not slow down the group and partly to keep warm. My hands were freezing until we finally reached the sun nearly at the top. Bella wore her pink sweater again today. It keeps her warm and it also makes it much easier to see her against the brown trail. Once at the top of Bear Mountain, we were in several inches of snow. It was sunny now, but still quite chilly if we stopped moving. We were very surprised to see a bull moose standing in the snow on the top plateau of the mountain. I was happy that Bella didn't see him, and that he lingered long enough for a couple of photos but moved on quickly. Moose can be very dangerous, but he seemed pretty disinterested in us. We walked as far as we could along the ridge until we reached where it seemed to simply drop off, with no more sign of a trail. The view of the surrounding mountains were quite spectacular. Mt. Eklutna is now totally covered in snow. We had great views of the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet and even a clear view of Denali off in the distance. We had a panoramic view of the Talkeetna and Chugach Mountains plus the towns in the distance below. Several of our little Valley Wanderers group lingered for a while to collect high bush cranberries. I found some of the sweetest most delicious blueberries that I've seen all summer. I didn't collect any but I did taste a few. Our steep hike up had been on frozen ground because of the cold temperatures. But on our way down, it was now in the sun and was quickly deteriorating to a combination of slick mud and ice. We all put on our microspikes and kept them on almost back to our cars. The climb was fairly short at only 4.3 miles, but we all felt the 2000 foot elevation gain. The trail up basically just followed the fall line. I suspect the original trail was created by dall sheep or other surefooted four legged creatures. Bella bounced her way down, mostly staying close to us.Occasionally she would find her own alternate route, but she always ended up on our same path. I could tell she really enjoyed the sunny day and all the interesting smells that fascinate our canine buddies.