Mt. Baldy

This is by far the hardest hike we've done so far. As we walked up to the trailhead, we saw an old sleeping bag, some blankets and garbage bags. My first thought was that we were approaching a homeless person. Clearly, I have lived in the city too long because a homeless person in Alaska would obviously not choose to sleep up on a mountain where it is cold and there are bears (as evidenced by the big sign with a vicious looking bear on it that read, "Do you really want to gamble?") The trail was steep most of the way, and it had been raining all week so the ground was very muddy making it nearly impossible to get any footing in some areas. (Picture Dan trying to push the stoller from behind as he slips down the trail, me pulling the stroller from the front to keep it from sliding down with him, and Max praying he wouldn't go down with us.) We almost made it to the top, but had to turn around because it became too dangerous. The view was stunning, but of course by the time we got around to taking pictures the clouds had moved in. With all the fresh berries around I was just happy we didn't run into a bear, because on this trail there was absolutely no getting away. It really was a fun trail despite the mud, we'll have to back when it's dry. And not cloudy.

 

See all that mud? Mt. Baldy overlooks Eagle River, and you can (kind of) see Lower Fire Lake and Eagle Bay in the pictures.