Hiking

We decided to go hiking on Sunday. It was nice out and I've been wanting to get out take some pictures of the fall colors. The leaves are rapidly dropping, so I knew I didn't have long to get pics. We went to Thunderbird Falls, just north of Eagle River. It was described as an easy one mile hike to a viewing platform. Boo walked and Bit rode in our hiking pack that we got when Boo was an infant. Boo did really good for his first hike in which he had to walk and only got slightly whiny the last 1/2 mile when we had to go up hill. Later in the day, he said his favorite thing was going hiking and that when we go back there, we can hike again.

It was a beautiful fall day and I'm so glad we went. Don't get me wrong, bears were on my mind. But, B-man had us covered (if you catch my drift) and really there were lots of people on the trail, so I was fairly confident that we all would scare any bears away. Nonetheless, we kept a look out and kept Boo close by. Here are some of our photos. Consider yourself lucky, we took 200!

This bark is 'deeply furrowed' per our resident forestry expert!
It was pretty cool to see how hearty this bark was.

I spy with my eye, a little Magpie!



Papa Smurf's house?




Smurfette's?

After hiking, we took a little drive on the Eklutna Lake road and this is what we found...

Ptarmigan!
The Alaska state bird.
It will turn completely white for winter.
B-man spotted this one on the side of the road.

Fall with winter looming in the distance.

B-man spotted these sheep way up on the mountain. In this shot, our camera was at it's max zoom. Do you see them? At the top of the reddish ridge. Two groups of about three each.

It was another great afternoon and the weather was beautiful. And it was the perfect distance for Boo. Check him out here when he went on his first hike in Arkansas. Now, B-man really wants to go camping. I'm not so sure! ha! No, I'm up for it, I think.

Oh, we didn't see any bears!