Matanuska Peak Trail

 Another beautiful sunny day hiking with the Valley Wanderers. We started with just me, Jane and Chris, but Virginia caught up with us along the way. We hiked with only micro spikes to the Lazy Creek Bridge that the Wanderers put in last summer. After that, we switched to snowshoes because the boot trail we were following had become deep and not well packed. It's always kind of nice to take the snowshoes out of my pack and lighten my load. But they can still be kind of cumbersome things for walking. Before the bridge, there was an area that was very narrow with a steep drop-off that was also glare ice. I had to drum up a bit of courage crossing through that. I tried to sneak up onto little patches of dirt and grass where I couldn't find actual snow. Spikes were totally essential through that section. Bella mostly followed close behind Chris who is always the leader. She likes to be first! The snow got deeper as we went, and snowshoes were essential to keep from post holing up to our knees. Once we reached the tripod, we followed the boot packed McRoberts Creek Trail all the way back to the parking lot. It was pretty easy going but a little scary on some really steep downhill sections. Even the snowshoes with their claws seemed to slip a little in places like that. We took turns going down the steepest sections to prevent falling into the person in front. Bella scampered along as usual. We ran into one lone hiker who was on his way tup, checking out the trail for his planned climb of Matanuska Peak in a few days. He plans to camp one night and climb the next day. That's something I'd like to do in the summer. I would be hesitant to climb Mat Peak in the winter. Although, avalanche danger is fairly low right now. One our way down, we stopped at the spot where we could access McRoberts Creek. The water was still flowing under and through the ice and creating amazing ice formations. We could have taken off the snowshoes at that point, but it was easier to just keep them on all the way to the car. It was a beautiful and invigorating 5-mile hike. I think we will all sleep well tonight.