Monday, April 13, 2015

Termination Point

That was a long walk!  We decided to hike the entire Termination Point trail last weekend, which we've talked about doing since we first settled in here almost two years ago.  When all was said and done we hiked for six hours and clocked 10 miles.  It was a long day, and I'm pretty sure I hiked off more than a few bottles of wine in our travels!

Our hiking buddy, Bobby.

It was around 11:30AM when we arrived at the trail head, and we climbed back in the car with our wiped out, sore bodies at 5:30PM.  Like I said, it was a long walk!

This is more or less the route we hiked. I marked our approximate, round about way on the map with the dotted red lines. We started at the bottom left where it says parking lot, and hiked north on the route on the left side of the map.

There was some meandering around before we finally made it out to the point because the trail gets a little squirrely at certain points.

By squirrely, I mean that we'd be hiking along on a firmly established trail, and then suddenly it would just peter out and disappear on us.

So then we'd be wandering around through the moss and trees heading in the general direction we were supposed to be going in, but not actually on any trail to speak of.  Hubby was completely confident the entire time, meanwhile I was convinced we were wandering lost in the woods every time we would lose the trail.

All we had to rely on - other than the hubby's hiking app - were these inconsistent trail markers along our way:


Just as quickly as the markers & trail would disappear, boom we'd be back on it again.  That happened several times throughout the day, so there was some roaming around that added more time to the hike.  But it was so beautiful!

One of our many moments where the trail disappeared!

One of the memorable experiences from the day was coming upon a working beaver pond.  The beavers were hiding out once we came on the scene, but it was incredible to see the freshly gnawed trees they were nibbling away on just a few minutes before.  What razor-y little teeth they have!

We got to see their damn and beaver den while we poked around, too.  Can't say I've ever seen anything like it in person before.  We've had so many experiences here that are straight out of National freaking Geographic, and this one easily falls in that category!

They were busy little guys gnawing the trees to build their den and dam.  The den is on the bottom right. 

And of course there was no shortage of over the top nature to gawk at throughout the day.  How about these huge mushrooms and beautiful Harlequin Ducks?

How can you not imagine little gnomes living in those mushrooms?

Once we finally made it to Termination Point, the view was worth it!  It would have been truly spectacular if we had a clear sunny day, but even overcast was pretty impressive.


Somebody may have tried to hurl himself off the cliff side while attempting to catch a bird.  The hubby really likes birds.  Just kidding.  It was Cheety, the unsuccessful bird ninja.  Nearly gave me a heart attack. He was promptly leashed up after his unintentional attempt at suicide.



Cheety's a great little trail dog.  He loves getting out with us and rampaging around off his leash in the wilderness. He only gets into mischief with a lowercase m. You know, rolling in gross things and eating bunny poop, which he predictably throws up later.  Mini-mischief!  He's adapted really well to Alaskan life from his drastically different beginnings down in Key West.


This was a terrific kick off to this year's hiking season.  I think I'm going to join the hubby when he tackles the Seven Summits Challenge again this year.  I've got at least 3 mountains I need to knock off my "gotta hike" list.

And the Puggy Boy needs to knock a few rolls off his neck while we're at it. - Let's just say the pup added some winter weight during his many leisurely days napping on the couch this winter!  Hiking off a bottle of wine or two a weekend works for me, too.  Cheers to the 2015 hiking season!

Ta-ta for now.

Love my mossy trees


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