Skyline Trail

My friend, Jade, came to visit at the beginning of June. We did quite a few hikes together and Skyline was the biggest beast of them all. It's a bit confusing because the trail head signage as well as trail guides say it's a 1 mile hike. However, the trail continues up past that mile to then traverse the ridgeline of the Mystery Mountains and eventually meets up with the Fuller Lakes Trail. Apparently, the "top" of Skyline trail is a view point a mile up but if you keep going, you come to a meadow type area with amazing views, wildflowers, and a cache box with a journal that hikers sign in to and also leave goodies in. We went approximately two miles (Jade was wearing a pedometer) but never reached that alpine saddle. A fellow hiker had told us of the cache box on the way up and I had wanted to get to it, but in the end, not knowing about the view, I decided two miles of nearly straight up hiking was good enough. Now I feel like I might have to do this bitch again, so I can get to the real top and not feel cheated.
The trail is at mile 61 of the Sterling Highway. It begins at an elevation of 450 ft and has a gain of 1800 feet in 1 mile. It is strenuous and one section in particular of wide, steep, loose dirt takes lots of careful navigating. Sliding down that hill would probably mean a trip to the ER. In all, the trail is more effort than I usually like to expend but the views, even at the fake top, and the feeling of accomplishment are worth all the cursing and complaining it takes to get there.

Not even close to the top and we started at approximately the same elevation as the lake.

A sample of the terrain, we had just come over that lip of rock you can see. Jade actually bloodied a finger at one point.

View along the way.

Jade waiting patiently for me to drag my wheezing carcass up another few feet. The man behind helps illustrate the angle. And that was an easy part

Yay! We're doing it!

Another viewpoint.

Another example of the terrain.

Fuller Lakes Trail

Last summer my obsession was fishing. This summer I seem to be turning more towards hiking and have decided to share the trails I tackle on my blog. I recently joined up with the Kenai Peninsula Outdoor Club after finding their card in a coffee shop. This is a great group of people of all interests and skill levels that keep updated through a Meet Up website. Fuller Lakes Trail is the first outing I did with them.
This is a 2.9 mile hike one way with a 1440 ft. elevation gain. It was wet and muddy the day we went. We only went to the lower lake at mile 2 but that was still 1300 ft in elevation gain.
This is a nice hike but has been my least favorite so far this summer. The trail moves through vegetation and tree cover and you don't see much diversity in surroundings or get many good views. I just felt it was somewhat visually boring. This could have been due to the time of year (1st week in June) and the lack of wild flowers and berries. The lower lake was a nice resting and picnic spot. One member of the party opted to stay to fish for Arctic Grayling and camp out for the night.
The upper lake (1 mile from the lower) is said to be a good spot for Dolly Varden Trout and views of the Kenai Moutains. Maybe next time. Remember when looking at these pictures that is was a rainy and kinda gray day.

Mud on a flat trail is fine but at the steep parts it gets a little iffy. Thankful for my manly hiking boots.

The view from a break in the trees (finally). Skilak Lake in the background.

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My regular hiking partners.

Misty Mountain hop

Portrait of a Lady

My favorite student art ever.

Apparently this is what I look like to a preschooler. When his teacher gave it to me, she said,"Hey, at least they're high and perky."

Busy Bee

Ta-DAH!!!

Best part of the day! The "widgin." My adult Peter Pan hideaway fantasy come true.

Imagine the rowdy pirate parties.
The hike. The two streaks in the water are otters.
Beach Treasures
Beautiful table where we ate a delicious lunch feast. Still would have preferred the pirate table.

I have 10 minutes before work and have promised myself I would get something new up here. I've been very busy with summer and apologize for my negligence. We have about 22 hours of daylight right now and with a job (ok, partime job), dogs, flowers, guests, friends, etc, I'm burning them all.
My friend Jade was here to visit and started me out on a summer of local trail hiking. I'm going to post more about her visit and the trails later (I swear!) but for now, I started the story of Tutka Bay a long time ago and should follow up.
So... the city of Homer has an annual Shorebird Festival. One of the outings available through the festival was a Cooking Adventure. I'm all for anything related to food so I signed up. We took a water taxi out to Tutka Bay were there is a beautiful lodge. The owner is a very successful chef and was offering a short cooking class, a prepared lunch and a group hike. It was a beautiful day with great company. Not sure how many times I've said this but one of the things I love about Alaska is that I meet the most adventurous, accomplished women here. Here are some pictures of our day...
HA! Just kidding. The pictures are not loaded to my profile so I'll have to go searching for them later. Just one of the reasons this blog has become a little neglected.
To be continued.

What would you do if I sang out of tune?

Lately, I have not been inspired to do this blog thing. My reader (singular) tells me it's time to post new material so I'll give an update.
I've accepted a job in Monterey, Ca beginning August 8. I have many mixed emotions about this which could be a contributing factor for this writer's block.
Alaska has been my home for 2 years and my friends here have become family. The thought of leaving is hard. On the other hand, it will be unbelievably nice to be close to my immediate family again.
Everyone tells me that Alaska gets in your blood. That once you've lived here, you'll always come back. I believe that to be true and there's already the option to come back next summer and pet sit for theses same labs. But, life has a crazy way of throwing out twists and turns and sometimes it's near impossible to get back to that one sweet spot. Lucky for me it always seems to work out, thanks to the friends who find me along the way.
Anyhow, turns out I'll be making the drive down the ALCAN because the job starts much earlier than anticipated and the ferry is no longer an option. Although everyone and their mother seems to be overly concerned about this, I don't mind. It's going to be long and boring but with a pace set that many people would not want to endure. You can help me out by giving me music and audiobook suggestions. 10-12 hours a day in the car leaves a lot of time for sing alongs.

Scavenger Hunt

I'm back at my favorite house with my favorite boys for the summer. Two weeks ago we took a walk along the river and found some treasures.


What remained of the ice

and what was left in it's retreat. My guys sharing a moose leg

Until Keetah found his own.

And Sabaka found something fishier. The riverbank was covered with various moose parts and fish carcasses. Today, they and the ice are washed away.

Taking The Waters

This image "borrowed" from the Facebook page of my friend and property owner, Debbie Boyle. Taken two days before we jumped in.

I had the best Saturday night! Friend Marianne is house sitting for the weekend at our friend's place with this sauna. We started the fire, made dinner, willed her little one to sleep and then she introduced me to the magic of sauna. Three rounds of serious sweating in 180 degrees, broken up by plunges into the icy lake. Let me remind you that it was 45 degrees out and other lakes in the area still have ice on them. Every time we ran into the lake, I screamed loud enough to wake all of Nikiski, or maybe just the one neighbor within miles.
When we were done, neither of us could stop talking about how wonderfully refreshed we felt. The baby was still sleeping like an angel and we were soon to follow. By the time I go home at 11, the sun was just going down and I fell into bed and slept until 8:30. Welcome back, summer! It's going to be a good one.