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A Fat Old lady Takes Up Climbing
The Year Ten Journal
Summer 2009 

 On to Autumn 2009

 

August 1 & 2:
I took a trip to the Kenai Peninsula a couple weeks ago but had to cut it short when I came down with an amazingly disabling case of labyrithitis. Two weeks later, I was able to keep my balance again, so I tried once more to take that hiking/camping trip to Skilak Lake Park on the Kenai Peninsula. This time, all went according to plan. We camped overnight at the Seven Lakes Trail parking lot and hiked the trail the next day. It's a nice flat trail so Jascha had no trouble with it. I let him set the pace and determine how far he wanted to go. It was a nice hike on a perfect summer day. The three thumbnails have larger versions if you click them, and also check the additional links below them.

 

 

 

 More images from the Kenai trip:

Turnagain Arm scene, with fireweed and mountain, on the way to the Kenai
A river scene in Portage, along the Seward Highway
Tern Lake, seen on the way home, August 2


August 6-9th
Denali Highway is a 130+ mile gravel road through interior Alaska. It's closed much of the year because of the severe weather there. I drove a big rectangle-- Glenn Highway from Anchorage to Glennallen, north to Paxson on the Richardson, then west to Cantwell on the Denali, and finally south to Anchorage on the Parks Hwy. The gravel road (Denali Hwy) was pretty good; we just went slowly and enjoyed the scenery. Jascha and I went for a nice long walk on the Maclaren Summit Trail. As we headed south from Cantwell, we took a sidetrip to Talkeetna. Although I had hoped to see Mount McKinley while driving west on the Denali Hwy, she was hiding in clouds the entire time. Talkeetna has many flightseeing tours that get above the clouds, when possible, for better views of the Mountain, so that's why I visited there. By small plane, I got to see many scenes that you can't see any other way. Click the thumbnails for scenes from my 670 mile Denali trip around the middle of Alaska.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 More scenes from the Denali trip:

Small tundra scenes from our Maclaren Summit Trail hike: blueberry & yellow flower
"Welcome to Talkeetna" sign
Flying over the Susitna River
That's part of Talkeetna, down below
A very heavy haze from forest fires blanket some areas
One of the snowfields around Mt. McKinley
One of many snowy peaks near The Mountain
And here's the summit of Denali herself


 Just a few more August pix:
     

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Enjoy the Flowers Along Alaska's Hiking Trails
Butterflies Along Alaska's Hiking Trails
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