Knowing that it was going to be a pretty good weather day, Saturday we ventured out on our first real family hike on one of the more popular kid-friendly Chugach State Park trails... the Thunderbird Falls Trail. Suited up with hiking backpacks, water and a picnic lunch for all, we hit the trails looking forward to more gorgeous Alaska views & fun with the kids.
The trail has an initial uphill section and then skirts the edge of a canyon {where we then saw this sign} that takes hikers along a 1-mile trek to a recently refurbished viewing deck. From the deck you can see the picturesque Thunderbird Falls.
No worries, we kept a close eye on all the chitlins as we walked on the safe side of the trail!
Enjoying the forest air & chitter-chatter of Thomas & Abby
1st over look deck that plummets down to the Eklutna River below.
As we approached the end of the trail, the rush of water on the falls was loud enough to even catch the interest of the kids.
View from up above
We then decided to hike down the more steep trail to the bottom of the river and get a close up view of the water and the falls. After running into some muddy spots & being bombarded by the mosquitoes, we arrived on the banks where it was even more lush & beautiful.
Side note: As I was downloading and viewing all of these pictures, it occurred to me that Brian is looking especially serious & constantly looking around in all areas surrounding us as we were enjoying mother nature. I asked him "what's up?" and he told me that he was just watching out for any bears that could be looking for food {and then would then run into us}.
Yes, we did have our bear spray & bear bells as well as Brian did have his pistol packed on him.
Exploring
Fascinated
Thunderbird Falls behind us
Confirming that the water is indeed cold.
Brrrr!!
Marilyn just couldn't make it the whole hour long hike.
We finally woke her out of her slumber once we had the picnic ready to enjoy.
I'm sure her 20-minute power nap did her some good because she was refreshed & ready to go for a few more hours after this.
We decided to eat our lunch on a pedestrian/bike bridge that sits atop of the Eklutna River (near the trail head). With lots of curbside seats and a water view, who could ask for anything better when it comes to eating in the woods.
Our lunch view
Lessons learned on this hike:
- Even though the mosquitoes weren't apparent at the trailhead, APPLY mosquito spray before leaving the car. APPLY rigorously on all uncovered body parts!
- Wear a hat (I probably won't be able to get the girls to keep one on but the boys & me certainly will). Mosquitoes will bit you on any exposed body part... including your head!
- Don't wear a fleece... hiking with Marilyn in the pack (25+ lbs)... I got pretty warm by mid-hike.
- Make sure I have the mile marker off the highway (exit) instead of just depending on the GPS. The GPS has been wrong before, was wrong today, and most likely will be wrong again in the future. Thank goodness I remembered "roughly" where a friend had said the trailhead was.
On the drive home...
guess who is still awake & kick'in?
Before we headed home, we decided to check out one of our next hiking spots (which was only about 15 minutes north) - the Eklutna Lake Trail.
When we pulled into the trailhead area, it was a flurry of families enjoying every bit of the outdoors. We saw folks loading up their kids on bikes getting ready to bike a few miles along the lakeside trail; putting their kayaks into the water; setting up tents and/or RVs in the campground area; starting up their ATVs to ride the backtrails. And of course, many more were setting out to do what we will do soon... do some hiking and exploring along the old road bed that follows the shore of Eklutna Lake.
Who wouldn't want to enjoy some of this?
Until next time...
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