The Sunny Side of the Mountain

Here’s one of the hikes we did in Anchorage—Flat Top’s Sunnyside Trail.

Luke and Justin (and sometimes Hannah) wake up really early and hike Flat Top on Friday mornings before work with a group of guys. Luke said one time he was hustling up to the top, trying to beat the 30 minute goal. It’s not a super long hike but it’s over a thousand feet of elevation gain (I think), so that is a very impressive time. He got to the top and tagged the flag at 29 minutes and change, and as he sat down his watch beeped at him: “Heart rate in distress–notifying emergency services.” Oops.

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When we attempted it on a sunny Monday evening–possibly the warmest day of our visit–we were not going for any time goals. I took no pictures on the way up because I was dying, but all six adults and six kids made it to the top–success! We packed our dinner and loads of water up to the top for a breezy picnic. Someone let their dog run into the middle of our circle and nose around knocking the kids’ dinners out of their hands and offered a half-hearted “dogs will be dogs” apology. This made my dad really grouchy which was kind of funny. After shoeing flies and dogs off our dinner, we headed back down.

THIS is where the real magic was–as we slipped and slid down the soft hillside, the sun dazzled off downtown Anchorage and the Cook Inlet. On every other side rose peak after peak, mountains and water as far into the distance as you can see. Dude. Alaska is powerfully in the middle of nowhere. It really does feel like the Last Frontier!

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