Alpenglow Again

After rolling out of bed around ten this morning, Steve and I decided to go for a hike rather than a bike ride. We packed a lunch and piled into the Jeep. I couldn't wait to be up on a trail somewhere, eating the turkey sandwiches, apple slices, and chocolate bars that I had packed next to the binoculars in my pack.

We stopped at Middleway Cafe for some coffee (or an Izze on my part) and banana bread, shopped around for a bit at REI, then hit the road. Although I had been up in Arctic Valley yesterday scouting out the lodge with friends for their wedding next weekend, Steve and I decided to head up there together today for some serious hiking.

The view was quite a bit different yesterday in the seventy degrees and sunny skies...
We mostly just walked around the roads by the lodge looking for places to take wedding pictures.

Such a beautiful place, whether drenched in sun or overcast and threatening to rain...

We drove up the winding gravel road to Alpenglow and parked at the day use parking lot. We then walked past chair 2 and up the ridge trail, climbing for about a mile until we reached the top. It was a beautiful hike, and we made sure to stop along the way to take pictures.

Looking out over ship creek, we decided to come back again soon and take the ship creek trail down into the valley. We kept climbing right up the ski hill, lungs and thighs burning as we made our way up the steep slope.
There was a lot to take in and we were glad we brought the binoculars, although we never did see any wildlife through them.
I had to throw in the usual self portrait...

...I couldn't ask Steve to take it in this case since he was already pretty far ahead of me with the dogs.

Towards the top we passed some decrepit wooden structures that marked the boundary between ski club land and military land.

Looking back down to where we had come from was unbelievable. The wide gravel switchback we had driven up on looked tiny from our elevated perch.
Steve stopped at an old cement structure to check out the valley through his binocs, while I caught my breath and took some pictures.

Near the top we stopped for lunch. The wind had picked up and Pepper was looking pretty tired, so we decided not to cross the ridge and come down the other side of the ski trail.
On the way down a wispy cloud formation blocked our view of the trail below us as it flew by at a pretty significant rate.
We couldn't help but stop every ten minutes or so to appreciate the stunning views and majestic peaks rising around us.
It was great to spend some time outdoors together, just the two of us. It's been a long time since we have been able to do so. Maybe we'll be able to go on a long bike ride tomorrow. For tonight we're going to continue taking it easy with some rented DVDs and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Yum.