Hiking in Moose Pass!

It stays light in Alaska quite late into the night! Not quite 24/7 anymore, but at 10pm at night it was still very light out! We pushed dinner a way back, to make good use of the daylight, and Nikki and her boys took us on a hike outside of Moose Pass.

The rain had stopped, it was cool, but we felt comfy in sweatshirts, jeans and running shoes.

The scenery was spectacular, and Nikki kept saying “I wish it was a better day for this, you can’t see through the clouds” or “We should have taken this OTHER trail, it’s much more scenic” and I was so blown away by what was in front of us I didn’t care!

This was the Alaska I wanted to see. The get off the highway, get away from civilization, blaze a trail kind of Alaska adventure.

I mentioned earlier about the color of the water….it’s a milky silver, due to the glacial silt. The water is almost the same color as the clouds! I’d love to see it on a sunny day, but we haven’t had any luck with the weather so far.

The wild flowers are EVERYWHERE! This is fireweed, and it grows plentiful and beautiful!

We were watching a float plane taxi and take off on top of the lake, and I had to take a picture of these lovely flowers….I just love the color!

This pretty purple flower is Monk’s Hood, and we were told that although it is pretty, it is extremely poisonous…good for pictures, not for picking!

Watermelon berries ARE edible! They don’t taste like watermelon, but they do hold a lot of water, so look for these if you are a survivalist ;c)

I’m trying to remember the exact ages of Nikki’s boys, but my closest guess is 9 & 11! And just as boys do, they took off way ahead of us, while us old folks lagged behind!

The trails were steep and muddy….we had to choose our footing carefully, and I still ended up sliding into a mud puddle. So much for clean running shoes! But I guess if you don’t get dirty, you aren’t really living it, right?

This sign cracked me up:

Glad to know that we wouldn’t be stepping into traps on our way up the trail! How far would YOU consider a "fair distance"?? I want them as far away from me as possible!

Boys will be boys and mud puddles still hold lots of interest for curious young minds!

Up and up and up we hiked! The trails were pretty steep in parts, but the pay off was worth it!

OH isn’t THIS attractive? hip bag under the hoodie, and hoodie pocket full of bags…we were looking for berries! We didn’t find any, the bushes were already picked over, but I’m still glad we went!

Back down to the bottom of the trail, this was the view of the lake!

And yes, we crossed the bridge! We had to to get to the trail head and back…and if there is a trail head across the bridge, and it is the only way to get TO the trail head, I guess the signs aren’t working…lol! I RAN across the bridge, I didn’t want to risk trains coming…but here is DH taking his own sweet time…

SPEECHLESS!!

We stopped here below the fish hatchery to see if we could see salmon in the water. And we did! We also watched these guys in the little inflatable boat fishing…..it was SO scenic and SO isolated out there!

After our hiking adventure, we all bundled off back to Nikki’s and she cooked us a terrific dinner of halibut that she had caught herself. It doesn’t get much better than that!