Alaska the Beautiful

Home Sweet Home...

When I moved back up here less than two months ago, I made my traditional summer bucket list. My 2014 list just seems to keep growing despite the fact that I am out exploring something new most days of the week! That's the beauty of Alaska :) No place I'd rather be!

Summer 2014

Instagram (@AlaskanAmber) shots from my last two months of "re-discovering" my hometown. Most of these spots are within 3 hours of Anchorage! More thorough re-caps of my favorite trails/trips to come...

From Left to Right:
row 1- Bird Ridge; sunset from Snow Goose deck in Anchorage; stand-up-paddling at Taku Lake; black bears somewhere on the Alcan; Kesugi Ridge in Denali State Park; Rabbit Lake
row 2- bear-ready at Powerline Pass; Kesugi Ridge in Denali State Park; stand-up-paddling at Jewel Lake; near the summit of O'Malley Peak; small un-named lake off the Parks Highway; Falls Creek Trail 
row 3- Beluga Point; Kinkaid trail system near Little Campbell Lake; stand-up-paddling at Eklutna Lake; old Irish Proverb; Hidden Lake; midnight sun from Anchorage hillside neighborhood 
row 4- stand-up-paddling at Eklutna Lake; Exit Glacier; emergency shelter on Harding Icefield Trail; Kesugi Ridge in Denali State Park; Roadhouse Cafe in Talkeetna; Ship Lake/Avalanche Mountain 
row 5- atop the Ramp summit; Harding Icefield Trail; Kesugi Ridge in Denali State Park; stand-up-paddling at Mirror Lake; Alyeska Tram in Girdwood; stand-up-paddling at Eklutna Lake

Free photo collage: www.photovisi.com

Here's my summer 2014 AK trail running bucket list 

Race courses:
Bird Ridge (race 2014)
Xterra Hammerman (race- triathlon 2014)
Lazy Mountain/Matanuska Peak (race 2014)
Kesugi Ridge (race in 2015)
Lost Lake trail (race in 2015)
Crow Pass (race in 2015)
Pioneer Peak (race in 2015)

Just for fun:
Harding Icefield Trail
Hidden Lake
Williwaw Lakes
Rabbit Lake
Falls Creek trail
Indian to Powerline Pass
Twin Peaks
Resurrection Pass
Arctic Valley (Rendezvous, Gordon-Lyon, etc)
Hatcher's Pass - Government Peak

The Challenge: 
12 peaks near Anchorage Over 5,000 feet: Williwaw, Temptation, East/West Tanaina, The Ramp, Tikishla, O'Malley, Koktoya, Hidden, North Suicide, Avalanche, South Suicide
(Yeah. Need to work on that one. Next year the challenge is to do them all in one day!)

Bolded= check. (What's on yours?)