Hike It Baby Baldy

I've joined another group here called Hike It Baby Anchorage (there's other chapters around the US). The first hike we joined in on happened to be at Mt. Baldy. We had a lot of fun and I met some moms that also like to hike with kids! We just went up to the pond again along the lower trail and turned around. At least this time it was by choice and not because my back hurt to the point of not being able to stand up straight. :) It turns out that my manic love for hiking with the girls has made me pretty knowledgeable about kid-friendly options in the area and so I'm going to lead some hikes soon myself!

I can't wait to get out there again!

Lower Baldy

The plan was to hike Baldy as far as we could. I wasn't planning on summiting this time or anything but I figured we could get to the pond or high enough up for some good views. Well, we definitely hiked as far as I could at least.

It was great day for hiking. It was cold but the snow was packed to sledding and traction device perfection. About a 1/2 mile in Kit insisted on pulling the sled herself. I stopped to fix Andi's shoe and heard a quiet, "uh oh. " I looked up to see Kit watching the sled with my pack, camera, and keys on it rapidly disappearing back down the trail. I had to run at least 1/4 mile to catch up with it! Then we got about 3/4 mile in and I was fixing Andi's boot again and I stood up and OOF. I threw out my back! I was seeing stars and couldn't even stand up straight. I panicked and texted Andrew. I had no idea what to do.

Of course Andrew wanted to come rescue us but I figured the girls and I could get into the sled and just scoot back down to the parking lot. Scoot? We FLEW. We screamed, we laughed, we panicked. It was the fastest, longest sled ride I've even done in my life. The other hikers, alerted by the sound of 4 scream-laughing sledders, scattered out of our way and were cheering us on. I had both cleated feet dug into snow, BARELY slowing us down. The sled was weirdly easy to steer and the edge of the trail was tall grass so it didn't feel too dangerous or anything but HOLY COW was that a ride. We're planning on taking Andrew back next weekend to try it. :)

Eklutna Lake In Winter

We thought we'd hike the Edlu Bena trail since it was a two-mile loop with only a 150 foot gain in elevation. We thought it'd be easy. It probably would be if the trail wasn't covered in 1 1/2 inches of ice with a dusting of snow on top. We earned every inch of the 150 feet of elevation gain (and loss)! :)

The lake was very pretty, almost otherworldly. Definitely worth the views.

We were all wearing our ice cleats which helped tremendously. Andrew had brought his crampons just in case and he ended up wearing them since he had Kit on his back and it was even icier than we had anticipated.

Seriously. The last bit of the actual Edlu Bena loop is a steep downhill trek. You can see the places right in front of Andrew where previous hikers had slipped and fallen. There were sections where we were surprised that they didn't just sit down and slide to the bottom. It would have had to been more pleasant than falling every few feet! Andrew in his crampons walked confidently downhill (lucky guy!) and pulled the girls. They thought that was the best! I exercised every muscle from the waist down staying upright. Holy moly.

We had a lot of fun and it was our first time out hiking since the 12-mile slog that I forced everyone on in November. Even with the ice this one was fun and we will definitely be getting out again!

From The Phone

Kit loves to take pictures on my phone. She's even figured out how to get to the camera from the locked screen. Kids are so quick when it comes to technology! At first she just liked the sound the "shutter" made but now she's become more interested in actually photographing things and people.

The rest are by me. Lots of fun this winter!

Chasing Sun to Girdwood

We got in the car with no specific destination, we just wanted to get outside and into the sunshine.  Andrew knew I was eager to take some photos so he was sure to pull over a lot for me. :) This photo was taken on the Turnagain Arm.

We ended up in Girdwood. Andrew spotted a frozen-over marsh to pull over at and we "skated" in our snow boots. Here's Andrew showing us how it's done:

Keep in mind this is the guy that should be resting his sore back.

Sliding Arlie around in a circle.

Kit thought that was pretty funny.

Andi showing us her moves. She's been practicing at home so she was excited to show us what she had on the ice.

The light was exceptional. I took over 300 pictures!

After we were done playing we stopped at a bakery in Girdwood for some hot cider and some humungous pastries. It was some good fuel for the road.

Sunset along the Turnagain Arm.