Fletch comes to visit!

 

Finally! Someone with whom to share the scenery!  I picked Fletch up in Anchorage and we spent the weekend camping and hiking our way back to Soldotna.  Our first hike was out of Girdwood, a town with a Rocky-Mountain-ski-resort atmosphere nestled in a very lush, wooded nook between mountains.  But we got up above the treeline in no time:

 In between the long, green U-shaped valleys ran Crow Creek, which tumbled through a massive gorge of red rocks:

We crossed snow melt, passed an alpine lake, and arrived at Raven Glacier.  We camped on a "grassy" knoll of cushion-y tundra plants.

 

The caption to this photo is "Look, Mom, I can't feel my numb fingers."  It was very frigid when we were setting up the tent, trying to cook our mac 'n cheese dinner in the wind, and taking down camp the next day.  After we hiked out, we watch the World Cup in an apres-ski bar/restaurant with a group of German tourists.  That night we car camped (so easy!) beside a river that fed into Kenai Lake:

Our second hike: we started early and walked through mossy forest with only fog on the other side of the trees.  But the sun burned the fog away to reveal jagged peaks, low clouds, and rolling meadows with lakes, birds, and wildflowers:

 

 

God sure put on a show for us-- world full of wonders!