Day 90: North Face Trail in Girdwood

July 13, 2014

Today we woke up to clouds but no rain. YEA!! Of course by about 8:00 am it was raining. However, it only lasted a few minutes and the rest of they day we have just had clouds. We actually had a few minutes of sun as well. Hopefully we are now going to see an improving trend in the weather. From talking to others, the weather for the past week has pretty much stunk all over the state.

We went to church at Girdwood Chapel again today. It was another good service and we enjoy these people and community so much. They have been so welcoming. It would be nice to just come spend the summer right here. Of course, experiencing the winter at the ski resort would be nice too. (Well, at least one of us thinks so for maybe a week or two.)

After church and lunch, Pastor Sandy joined us for a hike up the North Face Trail on Alyeska Mountain. Elevation increase of 2,300 ft over about 2.5 miles. We had seen the top end of this trail when we rode the Tram up the mountain with Barry and Donna and didn't think it looked like too hard of a hike. It was a bit more challenging than we thought it would be, but it was a great hike. The views change as you climb higher and higher and it is just beautiful. Scout got to go with us, but by they time we got to the top he was pretty tuckered out. If you hike up you get to ride the tram back down for free – Scout, too. They didn't mention it when we called to ask, but they have a crate and made him ride in the crate. Since Scout has never been in a crate we really didn't know how he would do with that, but he just walked right in and stretched out for the 7 minute ride down. As long as he could see us he was fine. When we got back to Fred the poor guy just crashed. I think he will sleep well tonight – along with the rest of us.

Starting out. The building on top is our destination.

 

About 1/3 of the way up, but our destination does not look that much closer.

Getting closer - and tired.

Just a few more steps.

The tram operator said he was a good tram dog.

Back home

By the way – if anyone is trying to call Anne's phone, it is sick again. The battery will not take a charge. Yes, this is the phone we just bought 2 ½ months ago. Yes, we are frustrated again! We will be addressing that in Anchorage tomorrow and hopefully get it resolved. In the meantime, please use email or Max's phone to contact us. Hope everyone has had a great weekend.