Our first hike - Flattop Mountain

A view of the trail form above.

On our first day in Alaska hubby and I went for a hike. This was not just any hike, oh no.  This hike had great significance - it would set the tone for the rest of the hikes on our vacation. It was my time to shine - or not.  For this momentous occasion Steve choose Flattop Mountain Trail in the Chugach Mountains State Park just outside Anchorage. It's not very long - only 1.7 miles each way but it is rated as "moderate to difficult" which immediately put fear in my heart.

Things started out a bit rough - there was no parking available in the parking lot at the trail head so we had to park halfway down the mountain and trudge up the road before we even could begin the hike.  I was spent before we even started.  Stalling in the parking lot so i could catch my breath I went to use the restroom.  When I came out Steve was busy snapping photos of a baby moose.  The mama was right nearby but she wasn't posing for any photos.

  

Of course the park naturalist told us that the moose were hanging around the trail because of the bears in the park.  That really gave me a warm fuzzy as we set out on our hike.

Steve heading up.

 The day was beautiful, bright blue skies and puffy clouds.  The scenery was gorgeous.  The trail overlooked the city of Anchorage.and Cook Inlet beyond.  If only the hiking part wasn't so difficult (at least for me) it would have been a perfect day. 

Pretty view on the way up.

Anchorage and Cook Inlet

 

 

 

One thing that I found very cool was how many people hiked with their dogs.  A ton of them.  After a while I started snapping pics of the "Dogs of Alaska" as I like to call them.  Here are a few:

The end of the hike brought a surprise - a $200 parking ticket for parking in a fire lane.  I, of course, had to rub Steve's face in it since he forced me to trudge up that mountain road!  It became something we laughed about during the rest of the trip.  And, oh by the way, you can be certain we never parked anywhere close to illegally again.

Welcome to Alaska!