Fall Hiking in Hope

Facebook is telling me that approximately 100% of my friends who live in Washington and Oregon are upset about the weather.  I would just like to take a moment to point out that the weather in Alaska right now is absolutely incredible.

Minus Monday.  Monday was not nice.  I'm going to pretend that Monday didn't happen.

Thankfully the snow went away and we're back in solid fall mode.  To celebrate the briefest of seasons in Alaska, we grabbed Ann and Steve and headed out to Hope, a teeny town on the north end of the Kenai Peninsula, to go hiking.  Hope is actually just a stone's throw from Anchorage, but it takes a little work to get there.

Hope is "B" - we hiked from the B west to where the Turnagain Arm opens up

Just look at the day we had yesterday.  If people ask me why I live here I'm just going to show them this picture:

As we drove along the Seward highway, we even saw some dall sheep.  You know it's going to be a good day when you see the sheep along the road.

This one was tiny and adorable.  Aww.

After about 90 minutes, we got to the trailhead for the hike to Gull Rock, which is located in the Porcupine Campground in the Chugach National Forest.  We're kind of sad that it's so late in the season (i.e. cold) because camping there would be great.  It's really isolated and, because it's right on the inlet, has amazing views.

Right now everything is totally lit up with fall color, especially the birch and aspen trees.

 So pretty!

The forest on this side of the inlet is very different from Anchorage.  I think it rains more in Hope and is a little warmer in the winter, so the trees grow a lot taller - even the evergreens.  The scenery was very Oregon-esque to me in many places.  None of those little Dr. Seuss spruce trees we have in town.

The hike was great - mostly flat, great and varying scenery, and long enough to wear you out (11 miles round trip).

Andy was excited to get started:

The beginning was pretty thick aspen and birch forest:

Look at the colors!

Every once in awhile, there would be a clearing in the trees and you'd get a great view of the water.

Sometimes only peek-a-boo.

Some parts of the trail were very wooded.

In the wooded parts we saw a lot of mushrooms and weird fungi:

We made Ann put her head by this one for size comparison.  This is a head-sized 'shroom.  And no, she did not eat it.

At times on the hike the trees would really open up and we'd get fantastic panorama views of the Turnagain Arm:

Ann and I were perpetually at the back of the line because I kept taking pictures (and because we were being slow).  The boys were mostly patient with us.

This is them waiting patiently.

We saw a lot of bear scat on the hike, but no bears (thankfully).  Really we only saw a few critters along the way:

Squirrels:

Ripley:

And a sloth:

The end of the hike was the best.  I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love a good scenery payoff. This is why I go hiking:

The end of the hike was Gull Rock - basically a huge cliff with awesome views all the way to Anchorage.  Couldn't have picked a better day for this hike.

Ann and Ripley did some bonding at the end.

Ann and Steve were nice enough to bring beer.  Hiking is always better with beer.

After getting back to town we all went to the Spenard Roadhouse (which is an awesome restaurant in Anchorage) for more beer and a much-needed meal.  What a great day!