June 20 First Full Day in Alaska

Wednesday "dawned" with a bright blue sky. "Dawned" in quotes because it never really got darker than what we would call twilight. Kris says it's very unusual weather for Anchorage so we must get out and do something.

Flat Top Mountain is the most hiked mountain in Alaska, probably because of its proximity to Anchorage. Like a couple of miles outside the city limits. The peak is at an elevation of 3245 ft. Since you can drive part way up, the hike is 1.5 miles with an elevation gain of 1280 ft.

Beautiful views right from the start all the way to the top. Which is a good thing because Carol and Kris stopped about half way up. The last half is a steep rock field that is more rock climbing than hike. I probably would have let Andrew go on by himself but there were too many kids scampering up and down for me to say "I can't do that." So up we went. It was well worth it, first just to accomplish it but also for the 360 degree view of the area - Cook Inlet and the city to the west, and mountains in all other directions.

Here we are part way up.

The view from Carol and Kris' resting spot.

This is what stopped Carol and Kris.

The final stretch

We made it

The views

Reminder - click on picture to open full size in a new page

We took a different route back down.

Near the tree line

Finnegan, "Finn" is Kris' Service Dog and will be accompanying us wherever we go. This was the first day we wore him out. I'm sure there will be more.

Back home and resting.

Tomorrow is Andrew's birthday.

NORTH to ALASKA

Anchorage to start.

More of Alaska in the days to come.

The flights were uneventful and faster than scheduled. We were blessed with an hundred mile plus tailwind from Dulles to Seattle which cut the flight from 6 hours to 5. Even the flight from Seattle to Anchorage had a tailwind. It's VERY unusual to get significant tailwinds headed west but here's a screen shot of the data from the seat      back monitor to confirm it.

I put my pistol in a checked bag and we didn't know how big a hassle it would be to claim it. All we knew was that the bag would not be on the baggage carousel and I would have to go to an office to claim it. It turned out to be no hassle and I got it before our other two bags showed up on the carousel. Because we didn't know how long things would take we told Carol's sister Kris that we would call her to come pick us up after we got our bags.

Here's the view we enjoyed while waiting for her.

A quick ride back to Kris' house and a chance to relax and settle in before tomorrow's adventures. That worked for the night but things started pretty quick the next day. Although Kris lives well within the city limits of Anchorage, she has a little over 2 acres of grass and trees and, it turns out, MOOSE.  Yup, Carol spotted a male yearling just after she got up. No pictures and we haven't seen him again because a Mama and a month old baby came to visit and Mama ran off the yearling.

Kris has a 6' high fence around her compound and an inner fence around the house that is 8' high with barbed wire around the top. There are a couple of low spots in the outer fence where trees have fallen. Mama and baby can get in through/over them. But Mama has been jumping the fence where the baby can't make it and leaving baby inside while she goes outside for some alone time. Always in view of baby, who stands in a corner of the fence and cries for a while, then roams around the grounds munching on newly sprouted grass. Kris and Carol spent an hour or so trying to coax baby out a gate to reunite them. I think I've convinced them that Mama knows exactly what she's doing. Baby is safe, and out from under Mama's hooves. Mama can come back over the fence and stay or lead Baby out any time she wants. So we're enjoying their company and calling Kris' yard the Moose Day Care Center.

One more picture just because he/she is so cute -