Mound?

I did not have to go into work until 10 o'clock this morning, so I 'hiked' up Bear Mountain at 6:30 am with two of my friends and 2 German shepherds, in case there were bears. I always thought I was a pretty good hiker...until this morning. It was a hiking experience like no other. Instead of a trail that spirals up the mountainside, the trail at Bear Mountain goes straight up, literally! The shortest path between two points is a straight line, I suppose. It was by far the steepest slope I have ever climbed. In fact, at the steepest parts, the slope looked almost vertical! My calf muscles were on a constant stretch for 30 minutes (1800 ft)...not a pleasant sensation at all! All that and the mud...yeah!

What further complicated the hike was my fear of heights - which was fully realized this morning, 3000 feet up in the air. I very well could've had an asthma attack...if I had asthma. What amazes me is that my friends usually RUN down the mountain. "You bounce, and skip, from side to side," they would say. They also reassured me that this was a good 'training mound' to begin with. The view was absolutely wonderful, though, but only if I could've fully enjoyed it! On my way up, I did not bother to look behind me and just climbed and climbed. However, I foolishly decided to look back 200 ft short of the summit, and realized how high up I was. There were no trees or tall brushes to block the view, but only short patches of wet grass...and the vertical path to my death! :-) I could only pray, and breathe, and try to not cry. I was so overcome by my fear that all my leg muscles seemed to have been paralyzed. I could no longer continue. I thought I would have to spend the rest of my time in AK on that mountain. I definitely have a newfound respect for those 'mountains'. Thankfully, I did make it down - Praise the Lord!!!


I will be spending all day in Anchorage tomorrow (Wednesday) - scrubbing in on surgeries and exploring downtown Anchorage in my limited spare time. Stay tuned...


P.S. Many of you commented on the pictures I put up. So, I'm putting up more. I drove around for fun the other day just to explore... A picture is worth a thousand words, indeed. I certainly cannot take credit for being a wonderful photographer - it is easy to capture beautiful sceneries when you're surrounded by them. What is more amazing is that they are only small glimpses of the Creator of the heavens and earth and everything under the sun!

Mirror Lake

Really cool tunnels/underpass

Knik River

Another look from my backyard - gotta love the clouds!