Yesterday, we went to Flattop. If you're ever in Anchorage, Flattop is worth the trip. Even if you don't hike. If you do hike, the bottom part of the trail is fairly easy. The top part of the trail isn't as well groomed and can be icy even in June but the main part of the trail is hiked by parents with small children and people walking dogs regularly.. If you don't hike, bring a picnic lunch and enjoy some of the most gorgeous views in the Anchorage area. It's a 5 dollar parking fee, and you drive past the zoo on O'Malley, and keep driving until you start seeing signs pointing you towards Glen Alps/Flattop, then just follow the signs.
After you park, you'll see outhouses, a ranger station and a set of stairs. The stairs take you to the trailhead. Because of the grade, I wasn't able to do it yesterday, my knees were hurting a little too much from gardening. But the Turnip Girl and William enjoyed climbing up on a gorgeous day to a place there was still snow on the ground.
Click the images for larger views!
For me? Well, opposite the stairs, there is a shorter path that's a very easy grade and marked with a log fence. You walk up that path, and there is a spot with a bench. If no one else is sitting there, you can have your picnic there, looking over the whole city. Which was very, very hazy because of cottonwood trees and dust yesterday. Keep walking that path, and you find a big compass rose.
Around the compass rose are wood strips at irregular intervals.
Follow the strips and you find names of mountains, the distance to them, and their elevation. So working around the side that wasn't affected by the haze over Anchorage there was Wolverine Peak.
Ptarmigan Peak (Ptarmigan is our state bird!)
And come fall, this is one of the best places to go blueberry picking. Yum!!
I hope you enjoyed this photo post. It was a really lovely outing with my family.
