My (Brent) brother, Quay (from Pennsylvania), came to visit us during the second half of September. It was great to see him again and show him around Alaska. We had lots of adventures with him during this time. In 2007, my family (parents, sister, brother-in-law, niece, brother, Liz and I) came to Alaska as tourists. We had a great time and saw Homer, Seward, Anchorage, Chugiak/Eagle River and Denali. Though we drove past Girdwood twice, it was on long-haul days and we didn't make seeing Girdwood a priority. Had we known that we would eventually live in Girdwood for a year, we would have done things differently and made seeing it a priority. Because Quay had never seen Girdwood, we wanted him to experience it for himself. We picked up Quay from the airport and drove to Girdwood, where we stayed with our friend Donna. The next day, we strapped on our hiking shoes and climbed the north trail (a first for us) up Mt. Alyeska.
As you can see, it was a perfect day for hiking. Blue skies and short sleeves in the sun.
The trail was great, but toward the top of the mountain, there were a series of switchbacks that made virtually no sense. On at least one occasion, the trail went downhill and zig-zagged several hundred feet with an elevation gain of only a few feet. These added a couple minutes to the hike but didn't dampen our spirits.
When we arrived at the top of Mt. Alyeska, we were rewarded with an excellent view of Girdwood and the Turnagain Arm at low tide. Notice the paragliders in the right half of the picture. There must have been some good thermal currents, because at one point, they glided to a higher elevation than they started.
We took the tram down the mountain overlooking Alyeska resort. It was an enjoyable day.
Hiking Alyeska, WOW! We really enjoyed taking the tram to the top. The view took our breath away. So glad Quay got to experience Girdwood/
ReplyDeleteAlyeska first hand.