Still Fat, Still Old, Still Climbing |
| It was a nice day for the 300 mile trip to Valdez to see my daughter. I arrived a couple hours before she was getting off work, so I hiked part of the Historic Valdez Trail. The first section, locally called the Pack Trail, goes up into a beautiful forest that has many of the elements of the Northwest rainforest-- big trees, mosses, and ferns. As it went steadily upward, I had hoped to get above the treeline for some nice vistas, but instead the trail just continued up and down, in the forest. I could hear the 500' Horsetail Falls, but never saw it from the trail. The cascade (below, right) was near the trailhead. |
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| This July has had several record breaking days of high temperatures, including the hottest July day ever in Anchorage, 84F last week. Although we continued to go for evening walks around town, I feared my furry canine companion would overheat on mountain trails. So we waited until cooler weather was predicted. The prediction turned out to be wrong, as the temperature climbed to 80, tying the record for the date. The Hope Point trail has to be the steepest trail I've ever been on. It's very tiring, of course, but this means that we got above the treeline and could see for miles. In spite of the heat, a little breeze kept us fairly comfortable. We always carry plenty of water too. Bluebells of Scotland (Campanula rotundifolia) were thick along the trail, swaying in the breeze. |
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| Another sunny day invited us up our favorite mountain, Flattop. At the bottom of this photo collage, you can see some of the Flattop crowd, carefully picking their paths up through the rocky scramble to the summit. There were high winds on top, so the two makeshift windbreaks were popular hangouts, but Jascha and I took our usual stroll around the perimeter. Along the steep slopes, arctic ground squirrels (inset) pop out of burrows to squeek at my dog, driving him nuts. He keeps his eye out for them, while I look for butterflies, such as the phoebus parnassian (inset). The flowers (glaucous gentian) were among many species decorating the slopes. |
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Click the lower view to be right there with the hikers. |
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