Alaska #6

While in Alaska I went on a couple hikes, but the hardest one by far was when we did Wolverine Peak.  It was 5 miles straight up a mountain and then 5 miles back down.  I think the hike took us about 4 hours, but that is just an estimate.

This hike was very different then the hikes I am used to.  Most hikes in Washington are beautiful wooded trails.  This felt more like just walking up a mountain.  The first part was in the trees but we got past that quickly and just walked on a mostly empty hillside.  If you make the next picture big you can see Anchorage.

Once we got over the first ridge there was this big rock pile.  I think you are either supposed to bring a rock from the bottom or from the top and put it in the pile.  I wasn't sure which so I picked up a rock right there and made my contribution.  So here's a funny story, if you look right in the top middle of the pile you can see the top of a jar.  I was interested and picked it up, I saw a note and started to unscrew the lid.  Luckily before I touched anything in the jar I could see that the note had a persons name and dates on it... yep, it was someones ashes in a spaghetti sauce jar.  After looking closer we found a few of them.

One cool thing about the picture above and below are the clouds.  It was a cloudy day so for a good part of the hike we couldn't see through the clouds high enough to see the top.  But once we got through them it was really neat to look down and see the clouds.  The weather was pretty good for hiking.  It got windy at the top so I put my sweatshirt on, but once we started walking again I wasn't too cold.

The next stop on the hike was a plane wreckage.  It is the hunk of metal in the middle of the pic.  We were almost to the top when we saw this.  I guess a plane couldn't make it over the mountain and crashed right there.  No one cleaned it up.  Five people died (no jars with ashes in site).

The view at the top was amazing!!!!  It was so pretty!  If I wasn't cold I could have stayed all day.

One neat thing is that we had a complete 360 degree view.  My pictures don't come close to doing it justice.

I took this next picture from the park by my brothers house.  The mountain we climbed is the one I am pointing at with a dot of white at the top.  I walked over that snow, and it was one of the only times I touched snow in Alaska.  I think it is the highest peak but I'm not positive on that.

Later that day we walked over to the chocolate factory.  They had a huge chocolate fountain and a giant candy bar.

I wanted to try something so I got chocolate covered bacon.  It wasn't great.  It was edible but the bacon was soft and chewy.  I will not get it again.

Outside they had this cool rock monster and a sign explaining them.  They were used a long time ago as landmarks for directions.

I have more picture from the chocolate factory but I won't burden you with them all.  I think one of the coolest things about Anchorage is all the hikes they have.  There were several all about 30 minutes away.  Where I live we have one that close and the rest about an hour and a half away.