Tons of wildlife on 10 am Anchorage Day Hike

My clients and I saw 7 Moose of which there were huge Bulls with large racks, 1 Dall Sheep with a coiler for horns, and an arctic ground squirrel with the hugest goiter from packing his jowls with berries for his winter food cache!!! We hiked up to the saddle of little O'Malley Peak and had a great time! It was a bit of a hike for one of the teenagers. But she was really impressed with her accomplishment after the fact--I knew she could do it with coaxing and a comfortable pace!!! We had a great hike-Heather

Anchorage 1/2 Day hike 6pm 8/11/09

Tundra Rose or Shrubby Cinquefoil.

There is always a silver lining in life :)

Fireweed in its fall colors.

White puffy clouds on the south-eastern flank of O'Malley peak.

Moose on Willawaw Trail 8/11/09

The momma moose is checking us out. Wondering if we are a threat or if her and her calf can continue nibbling on the grass. Who is looking at who here? Peek-a-boo.

Not a very good picture of water fowl and ducks.

Power line pass and Ptarmagin Peak lit up in the amazing light.

Flat Top Half Day Hike

Bright and sunny 6pm Hike at Glen Alps trail head to Flat Top. My two clients, mother and son, were from Mexico City. The mom had never hiked before but she was very physically fit. With encouragement, she made it to the upper saddle just below the last 600 ft to the summit of Flat top. Her son and I ran/hiked up to the summit and back down while taking photos of the awesome sunset. It was an accomplishment for the mom that she was marveling about the entire car ride back to downtown, Anchorage. I knew that the mom could do more than she thought. So, it was very gratifying to me to know that she pushed her limit just a little higher. Her sense of accomplishment was overwhelming to her. I love my job!!! I have a feeling she will become a hiker as she loved the bonita vistas!!! They have headed up to Denali and Fairbanks but they might come out on a Glacier Hike or Ice Climbing on their way back through Anchorage :) Yahooo, it is great bonding with clients and having an extraordinary time in the Alaskan mountains. For some, Flat Top is not wilderness but for others it can be the most wilderness they have experienced. They get a taste and then they get hooked :) ----Heather Szundy

Snowshoeing Day Trip from Anchorage

Nice ladies traveling from Wisconsin up for the Iditarod. We Snowshoed up in the Willawaw Lake drainage for a few miles roundtrip. We found sights of recent moose in the area with fresh chew marks on the bark of Alder trees & moose scat. Saw lots of snowshoe hare tracks and even a little fast one that passed through the brush in front of us. The sastrugi was very large in the creek drainage. We even found areas of wind scoured snow that had inches of moose fur in a region where I know they like to den down in the winter. I was wishing I knew some anglers who tied flies for fishing so I could tell them about the moose fur find. Despite the cold we had awesome hoar frost on the trees that made them look as if they were coated with powdered sugar crystals. The sun came out and I feverishly tried to take in every ray as we hiked back to the car. My guests were laughing at me as I was taking tons of photos of them in DIRECT sunlight. They realized that I and many others in Alaska were just receiving some of the first direct and warming sun rays for the first time in months (unless you traveled to southern latitudes, of course). I was ecstatic :) :) Another great day out-----Heather Szundy

Flat Top Glissade with client from Washington

April Hike up Flat Top