Mid-April in Anchorage

What to do on a gorgeous weekend in Anchorage?  Blue skies, 36 degrees, still snowy, but spring definitely in the air.  We threw classical skis and skating skis in the car, 4 sets of poles and took off.  Brian skied on Portage Lake over to the Portage Glacier last week, and I wanted to go there, but when we got down there it was a bit windy.  We decided to go to Girdwood and ski instead.  My neck has been bothering me again after getting rear-ended a couple of months ago, so the skate skiing was over in just a little under an hour.

We'd brought hiking boots and katoolahs too, uncertain what any conditions were going to be, so we stopped at McHugh trailhead on the Seward Highway and hiked for just under 2 hours up toward McHugh Peak.  The trail wasn't too bad, and once more, we were sharing it with . . . a moose!  

We're just about ready now to give up skiing and start hiking!  I'm always a little leery on this trail at this time of year because it's known for bear traffic, and they are waking up SOMETIME around now -- no sign of them today though, thankfully!  There was a convenient limb for stopping and having a snack on the way -- we'll have to try for the top again another day!  We were up here one day last fall, quite a bit further up, and as we started down and looked back, we could see a grizzly bear and two cubs with her.  

Sunday wrap up - back to work tomorrow.  It's 8:15 and broad daylight . . . light til about 10:00 pm now and starting to get light at 6 am -- probably not 16 hours of daylight officially yet, but it sure looks like it to me!  I have to get up earlier to have it be dark . . . and I like getting up when it's dark - it's harder for me to have it light all of the time.