Turnagain Arm

On Wednesday we popped out after work for a quick adventure.  Since we basically live on the edge of Chugach State Park (which is enormous) there's always some close-by options if we want to get out and enjoy the weather and the scenery.  We figure we need to make the most of it before things turn into winter around here!

So we drove about 15 minutes south of our house along the Turnagain Arm and stopped at the first interesting trail head we saw.  For reference, we live at the "A" on the map, we drove straight south and then a bit to the east.  The Turnagain Arm is that sliver of ocean that runs south of Anchorage (like an arm, I guess).:

Just off the parking lot was a nice waterfall with people sunbathing and even swimming.  I'm not ready for glacial water, and I'm pretty sure the world isn't ready to see me in a bathing suit ever, so needless to say, I stayed on dry land.

This is the view from the parking lot, looking across the Arm:

When you start up the trail, there's a number of little paths with interpretive signs about wildlife and the native plants:

Ripley enjoyed exploring the river:

After hiking for a short while, we got to the top!  I don't know if we were at the end of the trail or not, but the trail got really steep and turned into shale/gravel and we decided it was a good spot to turn around.

The view over the inlet - so pretty!

The boys:

The tide was really far out - a couple days later we drove down this same road and you couldn't see any of the mudflats.

At the end, Ripley got his reward - swimming!! He really enjoyed himself.

Not too bad for a Wednesday evening!