Yesterday we (yes, me and my dogs) decided to engage in the Alaskan life style...hiking. I've been meaning to do things that a) I used to do (hiking in mountains) and b) actually doing something physical.
I downloaded an app called All Trails. It has directions to the trails, the location and what it looks like, but the best part, for me, is that it had a filter that I could see what was dog friendly and what trails were not because I like to take my little monsters.
When I got to Flattop, you notice how far up you are on the mountain. The only bad thing is the parking. Granted it was a saturday and lots of people wanted to get out on this beautiful cool day also..so I get it but it didn't stop me from cursing at people who got to good parking spots before me...I am human. There is additional parking north of the main parking lot but that was full as well. I ended up parking along the road that connects to the two parking lots with other cars.
There are bathrooms available before you start hiking which I do suggest doing because I didn't and should of. There is a $5 fee for the day which I didn't know about but fine, I can support our parks and you have to put the ticket on your dash because of parking (I will write an entire post about the parking craziness in Alaska, but that'll be for later.)
Last, all dogs are required to have a leash.
We did go up to the Anchorage Overlook and it was spectacular seeing all of Anchorage and the sea. It was a bit windy so I do suggest a wind breaker but I was fine without it.
There are a couple of trails, Blueberry Loop, Easter Trail and of course, Flattop. The Blueberry loop connects to the Flattop Trail that continues up the mountain. We did the Blueberry Loop, because a) I haven't hiked in forever and didn't want to over do it and b) please refer to "a". After the Blueberry Loop it does get steeper and higher. Later when I looked at the All Trails app to find some other dog friendly trails, it did list this trail as "HARD"...so it does provide that information of level of physical activity. Leave it to me to do the "HARD" first. Needless to say we had fun and I am sore from the hike. If you don't have a lot time but want to do a short hike, definitely come here.
