Bunsen Peak and Christmas

Bunsen Peak - Roundtrip 4.2 miles - Moderately strenuous. The climb is 1,300' through forest to the summit, which features panoramic views: Bob had no problem, I had a lot of stops and starts but as you can see by the pictures below, we both made it. It's quite exhilarating to hike to the peak of a mountain and be able to see 360 degrees around you. This wasn't really a hard hike, but a good one to get in shape with. There was no real surprise of wildlife since the trail is heavily traveled all day. We saw 2 baby chipmunks with mom close by and a grouse family with mom, dad and 7 chicks. Pleasant and not scary. There was a point I didn't think I would be able to make it to the top so Bob went on ahead and was going to take pictures and come and meet back with me to go down. It occurred to me that he had the bear spray so I made the effort to keep going to at least stay in hollering range should something big, black and hairy show up too close!

Also in evidence were thousands of balsam fir trees that look like we (collectively) adorn our houses with for Christmas each year. I couldn't help but imagine if each tree, whether one foot or 12 feet high was laced with tiny, white lights for just a few minutes, how amazing the whole mountain would look. Of course, God does a much better job naturally than we do artificially, but, the thought still played in my mind's eye even after we were driving back to the cabin!

About every 3rd day, we are cleaning cabins and sending groups off and greeting new ones. We are getting settled in and enjoying the view. Next hike hopefully is tomorrow on Mount Washburn :-) Next blog will have pictures of the cabins and views we are enjoying!