Seward Highway and Lazy Mountain/Moose Trail

For the 4th time we passed along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage. The first and second time we were on a train going to Whittier for a glacier cruise. The third time we were actually driving to Seward and today, the 4th time, we were returning to the Anchorage area from Homer/Kenai/Soldotna on the Sterling Highway and then north on the Seward Highway through Anchorage and Wassila to Palmer. We drove most of the way in the rain but the mountains were still beautiful.

Last night in Kenai we had a salmon dinner cooked by the campground hosts. Lots of salmon and fresh vegetables from their garden - especially kale! 

These two young men from Tennessee were in the area playing at the State Fair. They came and sang a few songs for us, too. 

Today's highway pictures:

Thank you Frederick, for the highway pictures. Following are the pictures from the hike we took this afternoon after we arrived in Palmer.

The Lazy Mountain Trail is listed in the Lonely Planet Alaska book as the best hike near Palmer. There are two ways to get to the top - straight up climbing 3,000 feet in less than two miles or the Lazy Moose Trail, a gentler ascent. We chose the Lazy Moose.

The first part took us through cottonwoods, aspen, spruce, birch and tall fireweed. This is a view of the Matanuska Valley and an interesting "bump" in the middle of the valley.

The valley and bump a little further up Lazy Mountain.

View of the Knik and Matanuska Rivers. Maybe you can pick out the Airstreams in the campground in the lower right quadrant of the picture.

Pano of the Matanuska Valley.

Near the top of the trail.

We didn't get to hike to the top because we needed to hurry back to the campground for a presentation on the Matanuska Valley.

Magnificent views of the Chugach and Talkeetna Mountains.

Today's Hike:

Length - 4.62 miles

Duration - 2 hours, 34 minutes

Elevation gain - 1,330 feet (135 floors on the Fitbit