Lazy Wednesday Friends, Not Quite!

Looking down Lazy Mountain trail - April 15

There's an annual mountain running race in the Matanuska Valley called, "The Crazy Lazy." It's held near the end of March just as the sun is starting to extend over the horizon for a decent amount of daylight and the snow is turning slushy. It rightfully earns it's name.  The race entails a steep two mile trail with 3,000 feet of climbing to the top of Lazy Mountain, then descends down another path and finishes on a slightly uphill single track to make an elongated triangle of about 6 miles. Each year, I think about racing it, but usually I can come up with some reason why I won't be on the list of participants. The best and what most people simply nod their head and agree to is, "Who wants to be hurt racing down Lazy before summer even begins?"

Contrary to what the above statement might imply, I enjoy climbing Lazy Mountain and racing, but putting the two in the same sentence makes me breathless instantly, so I avoided doing so.  Enter August 2019 where I met the Lazy Wednesday friends on a Sunday hike. They invited me to join them at 6:00 a.m. to hike Lazy.

"Every Wednesday, all year round, to the top?" I wasn't sure if I spoke those words out loud, but I sure was thinking them. Casually I asked, but secretly wondering if I had a way out without sounding like a wimp. "And when are you back to the parking lot?"  Before 8:00 and yes they confirmed, it was a round trip, on the two mile trail up, and year-round they hiked. While calculating their pace and intensity, I spun through my rolodex excuse file and said, "Sounds like fun, but I have cyclocross races every Saturday until mid-October and I don't want to wear out my legs."

For my abilities, I wasn't exactly telling them lies. I had climbed Lazy enough to learn what fitness was needed to do what they did.  While I could do it that quickly when I'm in good shape, I didn't hike that hard normally or weekly and probably only hiked that hard two or three times a year when I happen to be feeling good and the trail conditions were just right. Furthermore, those early morning exercise days disappeared when the boys graduated from high school. I hadn't woken up on a school day before 7:30 in years.  Their friendly reply, "join us then" silently beckoned me as the weeks went by.

October - First Lazy Morning Run

In October, the vibrating and buzzing sound of my phone alarm on the bedside stand at 5:15 a.m. awakened me and nervously I wondered what kind of commitment have I gotten myself into this winter. It will be like I'm racing Lazy Mountain every week.

Two cups of coffee and a peanut-butter sandwich later, I'm standing in the parking lot with my headlamp taking up my position at the back of the pack, because I hate feeling like I'm holding others back. Soon I realized if I don't talk much on the way up, I can mostly keep up.

A few hours later, I'm rushing through the door at school, hiking gear on, clean clothes in bag, red faced and soaked in sweat. The first time this happened the ladies in the front office looked at me with the strangest of expressions. I explained how I joined up with a group of ladies who are fast, they made me work hard, and surprisingly, I loved every minute of it.

Fall turned into winter and winter into spring.  Go figure. . . . just this morning, there I was in the parking lot with no flashlight even needed for the first time.  I've concluded: these Lazy Wednesday friends are a group of dedicated Crazies, who I can't help but follow up the mountain each week!

Resurrected Blog Amid Covid-19

Not a track to be seen in the driveway!

An Easter Sunday trip to the cabin, west of Big Lake sparked the idea.  It had been forever since I posted anything on my blogger. The reasons could include any of the following: taking continuing education classes, training for a running race, writing burnout, traveling outside the state much of the summer, or the usual excuse - no time.

Ever since flying home after spring break, it has been an adjustment to find normal. Like the rest of the world, Covid-19 realities and uncertainties have reached Alaska. While I'm happy to be healthy, my usual routines aren't the same. I'm fortunate to be working as a teacher, but doing so from home. Some of my regular exercise partners have bailed, or maybe I bailed on them! Then, there's the wondering and worrying, "When will we see our kids, parents, and extended family members, who all live in the "Lower 48?" Whether it was the trip to the cabin and all its memories or the realization that I'm kind of stuck in Alaska for awhile, I thought why not resurrect "Life and Adventures in the Last Frontier" to occupy my mind and free time these days.

The middle of February was the last time we were at the cabin and it was only to shovel the roof.  We found ourselves going there less often over the years. The snowmachines weren't running, fat biking in the cold wasn't much fun, and there was a series of burglaries. Anything that thieves could carry out disappeared including our wood stove. In the end, a weekend at the cabin became more of hassle than fun. 

Enter Covid-19 and social distancing practices and suddenly a cabin on 21 acres has much more appeal. Soon the truck was loaded with a snowblower, brats were in a bag and an extra shovel was thrown in back the truck. We were off to enjoy Easter Sunday.  

Whenever we pull up, I always get this antsy, nervous feeling to see how the cabin has fared in our absence.  I stepped over the plowed berm and instantly my leg dropped, crotch deep into snow.  There was no shortage of snow!  I soon learned if I avoided the old moose track and I stepped lightly I could walk at least 10-15 steps on the hard crust before I fell in again.  While I made my way to the cabin, Bryant took on the arduous task of snowblowing a real path. 

Seeing nothing amiss in the cabin, I proceeded to gather wood for a campfire. This was no small task given the large volume of snow blocking the wood stash and the need to carry it a 100 feet across the fragile crusted surface to the firepit, which is now buried 3 feet down, somewhere?  I guesstimated accurately and hit a rock the first try.  Before too long, I had a hole dug and fire blazing.

In the meantime, Bryant managed to wrestle the blower 3/4 of the way up the drive.  Where at this point, he needed my help to soften the snow in front of it due to increased snow depth and the slight uphill angle of the path.  

While he finished blowing snow himself, I crawled back into the woodshed for another load of wood, cut us some hotdog sticks, and settled in to roasting a brat. Shortly thereafter,
Bryant joined me.

We were probably sitting about five minutes when it started to drizzle. But being good Alaskans, we sat there unfazed and watched the cheddar cheese melt from the brat into the fire. 

Everyday Life . . . .

Pioneer Peak from the top of Bodenburg Butte -
Always a nice hike this time of year!

 Once school starts everything in life seems to flip into overdrive.  I told my neighbor just before school started that the fun Jill is going to soon be replaced by the working, scheduled, busy, and structured Jill.  We try to take advantage of our weekend time and get in some sort of activity, but other than that it often feels more like playing catch-up from the week if there is nothing specific planned. 

Top of Bodenburg Butte



At the end of the Equinox Marathon - a rainy and
slimy trail slowed me down a bit from last year,
but good enough for 1st place in my age group.

Gus's Swim Meet at Bartlett High

At the top of Bingham's hill, looking at the
subdivision on a late fall morning.

Lost Lake Trail . . .



. . . . is no longer on the lost list.  William Edward Hickson says, “If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.”  Well, trying and trying again seemed to work for us.  Twice we brought our bikes down to Seward to bike the Lost Lake Trail and twice we returned with our mission unaccomplished.  I have a pretty clear memory of the bolt on my seat attached to the post breaking about 2/3 of the way up to Lost Lake.  And the next time, the details are unclear, but I know the bikes and us came back home after a weekend in Seward not ever coming close to Lost Lake.

 But we tried again, and I finally got to top of the trail via bike.  This was a trail I backpack on when I first came up here and I remember the weather being horrible as in not being able to see 5 feet in front of myself because the fog was so thick.  So, it was definitely one of those places I was happy to finally revisit and enjoy the spectacular views the area offers. We started from the trailhead closest to Seward and instead of riding all the way down into the steep sections of the Primrose campground, we turned around for "one of the best down hills ever."   

I have many happy and soggy memories of Seward both in the campground and from during the time when we had the boat in the harbor.  So it wasn't surprising at all when our sunny Saturday skies turned drippy over night, but at least we left Seward knowing that we found Lost Lake. 

For a few more pictures of the Lost Lake Trail: 
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/108360286648812110649/albums/6140424956184501457

Southcentral Alaska 2014 Summer Hikes

In the Summer of 2014, I accumulated some miles on the trail.  Some of them were spent hiking, some running, and others feeling like I was dying from exhaustion.  All the hikes were day trips that I was able to do from the house.

Bird Ridge is just south of Anchorage.  It is a short, but steep climb from Turnagain Arm up to 3,505 ft.  I was easily able to convince our visitors that it was a great hike to do before bringing them to the ferry in Whittier.  We were fortunate to have a dry conditions and get some great views of the Chugach Range and Turnagain Arm. 

Hiking up the last section of Bird Ridge

 Matanuska Peak: - Every time I leave the house I can see the 6,1119 ft. Matanuska Peak, but until July 15, 2014 I had never made it to the tip, top! My usual running partner convinced me that not only should we climb Matanuska Peak but we should do so via way of Lazy Mountain, which is the Annual Matanuska Challenge Course. I've always had a healthy respect of the athletes who run this race, and now having completed the course, I am even more impressed by their times.

Matansuka Peak - 6,119 feet

There is over 9,000 feet of elevation change in each direction on 14 miles of trail.  Near the top of Matanuska Peak it is a bolder scramble and there are some smaller sections of scree, but mostly it is the steepness and the constant up or down that beats up on the body by the end of the day.  By the end of the day, I felt I had accomplished something!

Flattop Mountain: On the hillside of Anchorage is the most summited peak in Alaska, Flattop Mountain, which is accessed by the Glen Alps parking lot. I brought Autumn and a friend up Flattop the first year I lived in Anchorage, but hadn't returned again until I picked up one of our visitors from the airport.

Top of Flattop looking toward Anchorage

When I asked if he'd rather stroll around downtown until Bryant got off work or go climb a mountain, he picked climbing a mountain, and I didn't complain. The hike takes about 1 1/2 - 2 hours round trip.  There is a bit of scrambling at the top that made me too nervous to bring the boys on it when we were young and lived in Anchorage.  And seeing that it is such a busy trailhead, I never saw any reason to go back again until that day.  There were thin high clouds and visibility wasn't that great, but it was fun to get on top of that famous peak once again.  What I didn't realize when I took the picture up the valley is that Powerline Pass would end up on my agenda a few weeks later.  Maybe the hike up Flattop replanted that trail idea in my mind. 

Top of Flattop Mountain looking up Powerline Pass

Powerline Pass - Glen Alps to Indian:  There are also less popular trails that leave the parking lot and we decided that to do just that.  Powerline Pass is a trail along a set of electrical wires that head from the Anchorage side through a valley and end up on the Turnagain Arm side in the small town of Indian. To the pass, the trail is wide, easy to follow, and affords great views of the city of Anchorage down below.  Most people turn around here and now I know why. 

The Indian side is steep and overgrown with alders.  That isn't so bad with hiking/running but I'm glad Bryant and I never followed through with any ideas of biking this same route.  Down wouldn't be much fun at all on a bike and coming back up I suspect would be a hike and bike for almost anyone. 

Powerline Pass - Looking down the Indian Side at Turnagain Arm

When we reached Indian, we had a snack at the Barbeque Pit and then headed back to Glen Alps.  It was an almost marathon day at 25.4 miles and 5,500 feet of elevation round trip.  Neither Kari or I thought it mattered that we didn't reach the magic 26.2 marathon number.  We'd had a fun and fulfilling day. 

 

Bold Ridge Trail - Eklutna Lake:   Through the month of July and early August it became a weekly event for my running partner, Kari, and I to conquer the different trails in our area.  On all the trails we'd done so far there were sections that were runnable, but the steep sections we would hike. Bold Ridge Trail is a nice combination.  The first and last five miles are an easy trail that runs alongside Eklutna Lake.  Then the trails heads up and then down the mountain ridgeline.  

View of Eklutna Lake from the Bold Ridge Trail

We just kept following the trail and ridgeline until we couldn't go any further.  As we moved closer to Bold Peak, we scared quite a few Dall Sheep and they looped away ahead of us around the next bend in the trail. After 3.5 miles the uphill trail stops. Experienced climbers carrying loads of gear may choose to go beyond our turning point and conquer the actual peak. Even if we had gear we couldn't have gone further, because clouds moved back and forth over the top of Bold Peak.  It was also good we didn't dilly dally any longer than necessary because the raindrops chased us back to the parking lot the last 2 miles. 

Johnson Pass:  Johnson Pass is the perfect long running trail.  It is 23.5 miles long, but there isn't much elevation gain and the entire trail is runnable(or bikeable). The problem is that the trail either requires driving 2 vehicles down and running a shuttle between trailheads, or an extra long day of round trip running back to the car.  Neither situation appealed to us, so Johnson Pass remained on the "would like to do list."

When Bryant started talking about heading to Seward for the weekend one Friday after work,  running the Johnson Pass Trail popped into my mind.  Luckily Kari was willing and available to run.  She drove us down to the south end of the trail and we spent all day running to the other side.  At the top of the pass are several lakes with good spots for a lunch or camping if someone were backpacking.  The cow parsnip along the trail can get pretty thick and high in places, but we were fortunate enough to have arrived only a few days after the Forest Service had cleared it away from the trail.  Everything was smooth sailing for us.  Along the way we came across tons of blueberries and salmonberries.  We gratefully grazed upon them talking loudly to keep the bears from invading our find of berries. 

It wasn't long before we made it to the other side and we were waiting patiently with the little biting flies for Bryant to pick us up.  Running Johnson Pass is now on the "done list."

Summit Lake Hatcher's Pass:  I was able to convince Wyatt and one of his friends to join me on a short day hike in Hatcher's Pass. 

At the very top of Hatcher's pass is the Summit Lake parking lot.  There is a short, steep and beautiful trail that wraps halfway around the ridgeline above the lake.  From the top are great sweeping views of Pioneer Peak, Palmer, Wasilla and down the Knik Arm.  We explored a little beyond the top of the ridgeline peak where the trail is a little less defined and eventually petered out completely,  Maybe next summer I'll go back and explore the connecting ridgeline to Government Peak.

For more pictures from Alaska Summer of 2014 Hikes:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/108360286648812110649/albums/6139704843905819649