Today Sasha took us on a couple short hikes (we stayed with Tom and Sasha in Anchorage). One hike was quite beautiful, the other was striking and a bit painful. Tim called it the "Mountain from Hell".

      Just north of Anchorage is Ft. Richardson. Right next and somewhat behind the fort is a Ski area. Actually there are two of them. One for military training and the other half of the mountain for us civilians. Of course winter's snow had mostly melted and we were just here to hike. What a hike that was. Not very long, but hard uphill for us so out of shape. After trudging up through 40 degree sloping tundra I took a photo of one of the ski lifts. They also had some old snow fencing which was weathered and somewhat more picturesque looking.

     It was overcast and would have rained on us if it was warm enough. It was not. We actually got snowed on a bit. I think the temperature was just around 30. Actually, considering the amount of work it took to walk up the mountain, this was a very comfortable temperature. I was really glad in fact that I had NOT worn any thermals.

     The fog enshrouded mountains on the early spring tundra (yes, June up here is very early spring if you gain any elevation at all) brought out some really neat colors. There were also some left over snow banks. Made the scene look quite wintery.

     Sasha then took us to hike a much easier, lower elevation hike a bit further north still. Thunderbird Falls is a very pretty hike through mixed deciduous woods. Sasha had not been here for 10 years and it was somewhat disenchanting to see all the encroachment. What was a remote area, was now all built up. Houses were practically right on top of the trail. Even in Alaska, well at least around Anchorage, the encroachment of civilization is infringing on wild areas.

     Despite this, the area was still quite nice. The river was the blue/gray color of a glacial stream. This really contrasted nicely with the lush green foliage (drop just a thousand feet or so and you advance a month in growth up here). Had we not gone on the previous hike, I think we might have walked down to the river, but as it was, our legs had other ideas...

     I can't remember the name of the mountain, probably the source of the river, but at an overlook, the view was quite beautiful. Aspen and spruce mostly grew here. There is a nasty outbreak of spruce bark beetle which is killing nearly every spruce tree in the area larger than about 14 inches in diameter. Many of the trees here looked OK, but that may not last.

     We then made out way to the falls. It was only a mile walk or so, quite easy to do. The falls were small, but very pleasant to look at all the same. They cut right through the metamorphic rock of the mountain. The entire river valley was more a gorge, cutting deep in the rock. It has probably been eating away here for quite some time. A hundred thousand, a million years, I don't know. This is tough rock for a river to work at.

And now...
     For something completely different!

Sidra is a fun animal to be around. She is now six years old I believe and quite mellow compared to her obnoxious two plus year puppyhood...

     She is obviously quite gorgeous, striking silver color black ear rims. If patient, she will even pose nicely. She is also good at making really obnoxious expressions on command....

     Here we have Tim getting her to make her face. I think she would have been great for movie work :-) You do have to be kind a careful. She does not always inhibit her bit completely...

     I sometimes like to say that a photo is worth a thousand lies. "Here in Alaska, people get quite close to wildlife. See, they come right inside ;-)" Actually, it took years of work to get her to be 'good' in the house, and even now, she has to be constantly supervised. Like followed and never left alone. She seems to like to take things and chew on them just to get a strong reaction out of people.

     Of course there are a number of things which she can have to chew on. This kiddie plastic snow sled makes a great chew toy...