On top of Max's

Hiking up Max's

In Girdwood we have a tram that goes up the North Face of the mountain. Max's mountain is right next to our mountain and you can climb up to Max's and walk the ridgeline, and then drop down to our mountain and hike to the tram. We are at sea level in town so we go from 150 ft of elevation to 3302 ft of elevation. It was quite the hike with lovely views of the Chugach Mountain range, the ocean, and of Girdwood. We expected the hike to take about six hours and I thought that might be too much for Sadie, so just Kodi got to go.

The first half of the hike was in the trees. We saw a moose part of the way up.

Me and Aimee after just clearing the treeline

There were so many wildflowers along the trail, and once you cleared the treeline it looked like we were hiking to heaven. The trail was straight up but the bees were buzzing, it was beautiful, and we could hear a band playing in Girdwood that took our minds off the climb.

Taking a little break

Checking out the view

When we reached the top of Max's, Aimee and Ciri took a wine break and me and Kodi checked out the snow. Kodi went wild running back and forth and acting like the puppy she is. There was sharp shale hidden in the snow and she sliced open her wrist. She limped to me and I flipped out. Ciri is going through nursing school and had some toilet paper in her bag and Aimee had duct tape wrapped around her Nalgene. So we made her a makeshift bandage and she was a trooper. I thought we might have to call someone to get us and get her stitches but she was able to make it another three hours to the tramway. I put a scouting first aid kit in my backpack as soon as I got home.

Looking at the ridge we had to cross to drop down to the tram. It was straight down on both sides!

Me, Aimee, and Ciri on top of our mountain

Looking at the view of Girdwood and the Arm in the snow

We made it home safe and we cleaned out Kodi's cut. It took weeks for it to heal and Kodi was impatient to get back to playing in the water. I was so glad I didn't have to carry her down and my hiking partners were prepared.