An Early Voting Trip that ended at Crush & Wolverine for a Sunday Hike

Not much to say about the early voting, except that City Hall was closed.  I had invited people to join us for early voting and then an "after party" at Crush -- we stopped at AFN on the way for the best arts & crafts show in the region and got in just under the closing - everyone was wrapping up and getting ready to go home!  I had my eye on a pair of sealskin and black beaver mittens, and I wish that I had brought them home - I could tell they wanted to come with me!

Crush is always a special trip -- great wine, great bites to eat - I love their cheese trays!  And then home for a quiet dinner, "Doc Martin" and an early night.

Today Brian finished painting our guest bathroom - only the floor remains now when the flooring that we ordered comes in - and then we went to Basher Rd. to hike Wolverine.

We knew that we didn't have time to summit, but we were out 3 hrs. and 10 minutes on what still is a significant hike (at least for us!)  The total distance round trip to the peak is 10 miles with an elevation gain of 3400 ft.  They estimate the hiking time as 6-8 hours, and we were close, but no cigar - meaning we were probably another hour from the summit, so 2 hours anyway to go up and back from where we were! Notice the snow!  We took our Katoolahs (spikes!)  and put them on soon after we started - they make such a difference in the footing, especially coming down.

The high point of Wolverine is 4455 ft., but it has a couple of nice things about it - one is that it's 15 minutes from our house, so when time is a consideration, it's a quick hike to fit in.  Also, the route from Basher Rd. is a nice walk in for the first 45 minutes with some elevation gain before it really climbs at the juncture with the Near Point trail.  There are some pretty steep sections on the way up, and I was glad when we reached the cairn, marking a big open area with a sharp left to go up the saddle and on to the peak.

This is the third time that I've climbed up this far - once a little farther, and never had time to go to the top -- the next time, leaving the day for the summit!  Brian has been up to summit - he and Lance road their bikes in one day to the junction and chained the bikes and climbed from there - saves about an hour or so.  Next time!

Hiking on the bluffs at Kincaid

We had a wine-tasting event on Friday night and went to see "The Judge" on Saturday - that's a full weekend for us!  The weekend started with my pulling in the driveway and realizing there was a big bull moose right next to the driveway!  As I got out of the car, he made his way across the street and began chomping on a bush of our neighbors directly across from us.  A few days later, I went out to walk to work - I can walk 40 minutes right to my office on trails!

  

The wine tasting was fun, but I'm a lightweight drinker, so we were finished in no time!  We did order 1/2 dozen bottles to be picked up at the Brown Jug Warehouse this week.  And saw several people there that we knew!

 Sunday it cleared a little (at least it wasn't raining), and we picked up Lance and went to Kincaid, a shorter ride at least to explore the bluffs there again.  We didn't have snow tires on yet so didn't want to drive up in the mountains - they have a fresh coat of snow!  Kincaid has a large network of trails, but we started on the bluff trail that runs along Cook Inlet. 

We were able to make our way down to the beach along Cool Inlet - not exactly a beach I'm more accustomed to on the ocean or even the Great Lakes or Cape Cod . . . and not the kind of beach that you jump in the water from!  A beautiful day though in its own way with the mountains mixing with the clouds.

 

We had a pretty good 2 hour hike with a lot of up and down, and that seemed like enough for one day!  We hadn't seen Lance for a while and really enjoyed hiking with him.  

Moose have been around a lot lately as attested by the two sightings above and then more when Brian was biking this week.  He ran into these two right in the middle of the trail and was forced to stop and wait until THEY decided to move on.  They do take their time.  The week before the encounters above, I was walking home from work and had to slow down behind the biggest bull moose that I've seen in the middle of the trail.  He wasn't in a hurry either, and he kept turning to look at me - not a good sign - I had to wait until he lost interest and moved off the trail into the brush. 

And finally, this weekend was a lot of catching up and cleaning house, plus organizing the garage for winter (Brian!) Bikes are hanging from the ceiling, and THE SKIS are in residence now!  A sign of things to come - and before too long if we have our way.  

Well, you can see where we're headed!  Any day now - I read they've had snow in Hatcher's Pass, so it's only a matter of time.  The first year that we moved here, I think that we were skiing by now!  

More hiking tomorrow until the snow fills in.