hiking partner for the summer, and I decided that we wanted to hike up Flattop as our first official hike. We had a shuttle scheduled for about 2 hours after we made our decision.First of all, the shuttle was great. The driver is a local named Pete who is a total character and the people on the shuttle were great too. Roll call: 3 brothers from Jersey who teased each other mercilessly but successfully entertained the rest of us; a girl from Switzerland; a guy staying in a hostel who take an insane amount of pictures; and a guy who planned to camp overnight at Flattop.
The hike was beautiful - especially the views. The hik
e was supposed to be excellent for beginners, a category that I firmly place myself in. It was a lot more challenging than I expected (take a look at Amanda's blog to see one of the paths we went on) and, unfortunately for us, the intense wind really increased the difficulty level. There were a few spots where I could lean almost completely against the wind, something I haven't been able to do since the 2nd grade. As a result of the wind, Amanda and I didn't make it to the top. However, every year a big group of Anchorage hikers go up Flattop for the summer solstice and watch the sun not go down. We plan to make the solstice hike - hopefully the weather will cooperate!
e was supposed to be excellent for beginners, a category that I firmly place myself in. It was a lot more challenging than I expected (take a look at Amanda's blog to see one of the paths we went on) and, unfortunately for us, the intense wind really increased the difficulty level. There were a few spots where I could lean almost completely against the wind, something I haven't been able to do since the 2nd grade. As a result of the wind, Amanda and I didn't make it to the top. However, every year a big group of Anchorage hikers go up Flattop for the summer solstice and watch the sun not go down. We plan to make the solstice hike - hopefully the weather will cooperate!These two pictures make up a more or less panoramic view of the view from Flattop. On the
top (left if you are looking at the view)are the mudflats, of which I have been warned of 25 foot tidal differences and instant quicksand - beautiful but dangerous, don't worry I'll keep my distance! I was able to get a great view of them on the flight in and that's enough for me. The picture on the bottom (on the right side of the view) is Anchorage. The buildings in the center are "downtown" Anchorage, the rest is sprawl. Downtown is pretty small, as you can see but the city has about 300,000 people but 
it is spread over about 2,000 square miles.
This hike was a major
success and a perfect introduction to Alaska hiking - snow, wind, and amazing wilderness!
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