Hiking Group

I was asked by the Relief Society Presidency (from church) to be in charge of planning a summer hiking group that included hikes for moms and their kids (of all ages/stroller accessible) and also some hikes that are more challenging (kids welcome, but the trails aren't the stroller friendly kind...)

Relying on the previous summer hike outline, input from friends, some Alaska hiking websites, and a nifty Falcon guide hiking book we have our schedule (for May and June at least...):

Our first "all ages" hike was today.  We went to the river trail at the north fork of Eagle River.

It was a really easy one to start with (only 1 mile round trip).  Where we turned around, there was a huge sand bar in the river and all the kids played there for about an hour.  (Some of them were pretty tired when it was time to finally go back to the cars.)

When we got to the trailhead, we were met by this sign:

The trail wasn't really closed...it was only closed to snow machines.  The big bear sign covers up that part...

Anyways, I guess a brown bear charged a hiker yesterday (thus the bear danger sign).  A few of the moms were concerned, but we went on the hike anyway.  We had a rule that no kids could go in front of the adult leading, and no kids could be behind the last adult in line.

Everyone getting organized at the trailhead

And then we were off.  I was the leader...along with my bear spray (other ladies on the hike had bear spray too), and most of the kids had bells tied to their shoes.  Between that and voices we definitely had the noise factor in our favor...

It is a very nice trail...it's like this the whole way to the river.

The sand bar and river. (Looking East...ish...)

Eagle River (looking West)

Looks like the trail continues on the other side.  But no fording rivers for us today!

Here are some pictures of all the kids playing (there were around 40 of them and 1 puppy) and adults (15 or so) supervising...:

No one fell in the river or got hit by flying rocks, so I count that as a successful trip.

Everyone heading back to the trailhead

It was a beautiful day for a hike!  Here are some other pictures that I took:

It's cool seeing plants and flowers that I have never seen before...this one looks like a feather duster at first, and then it opens up and gets all spiky.  I have no idea what it's called...but it's cool looking!

One kid wanted to drink out of the pipe until I explained giardia to him...

It's so fun having a State Park so close to home.  And not only that--the Chugach State Park is almost the size of New Jersey!  Whoa!

Yay for being outside!  And in such a beautiful place, too!

And after hiking, I saw this young moose on the street behind Walmart chowing down a tree.