The Mountains are Calling, and I Must Go

"The mountains are calling, and I must go" is one of my favorite lines from John Muir.  And, fortunately, I'll get to spend plenty of time in them now :)

Today was my first hike into the mountains.  My friend Ginger from work took me down the Seward Highway to do the Bird Ridge Trail.  Here is a brief description of the trail.

http://aktrailhead.com/birdridge/birdridge.shtml

When they say "Pretty much the entire trail is uphill..." they mean it... We didn't make it the entire way because my legs were a little wobbly after the 12 mile run yesterday, but I think we climbed between 1500ft and 2000ft. 

A view back across Turnagain Arm.  (very similar view as yesterday's pictures from McHugh Creek)  If you look to the right of the picture at the bottom of the mountains, you can see the Seward Highway.  That's where we started our hike!

This is the next peak over... I think it's called Penguin Peak, but don't take that as Truth :)

And here I am at the point we turned around :)

I'll have to go back when my legs aren't quite so exhasted, but so many hikes to go on!