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Flattop Mountain

Flattop Mountain is on the eastern side of Anchorage in the Chugach State Park (which sounds like a Klingon name). The trail to the top is 1.5 miles with an elevation gain of 1280 feet, including some rock scrambling at the top. It offers a very nice view of the surrounding area and tends to be fairly popular and crowded.

Click on the thumbnail images to get larger ones (around 100-300K). Click on the "huge" link to get the full size pictures (around 3M). Around 50 pictures included (including a panorama or so).

Almost Moose!

And it stood there. Waiting. As if to say, "Hello. I am a representative of the local Alaska wildlife. I am what is know as a moose." I grabbed my camera and tried to take a picture.

Nothing happened.

Stephanie told me it would be save to get out of the car if I kept the car door between me and the moose (and obviously didn't advance on it). I did. The camera still didn't take a picture.

The moose looked at me, as if to say, "If you wish to take my picture, perhaps my profile will be more majestic and iconic," and then turned to show it's profile.

I realized the battery in the camera was dead. I got back into the car and frantically grabbed for the spare pack and started swapping the new battery pack in.

The moose seemed a bit perplexed, offered a different view of itself. Once I had the battery in, I popped back out of the car, as the moose was indicating that it hoped I enjoyed this Alaska Wildlife Encounter and that I gained a newfound respect for indiginous northern wildlife and if I would be so kind as to excuse it now, it had to pop off to another group of photographers a bit down the road, and then it proceeded onward disappearing through a set of bushes just as I was pressing the fucking shutter button.

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Thus, I have a picture if where a moose had been, literally 1-2 seconds before the picture was taken. I've looked at the larger version of the picture, and not even a hint of brown or blur indicating the moose was there. I believe the word I'm looking for is "d'oh!"

The Climb Up!

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Some signs describing the trails and the park.

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A picture of the hills in the area, with some snow, and a closeup of the snow. And one of the lower part of the Flaptop Mountain trail.

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Another picture as we continued up the trail. There were two flat areas that were kind of stopping points. The second picture is of the second one, where there was a sort of fort made of railroad ties. They used the ties in places to shore up the trail to make steps. The third picture is a bit further, looking down upon th stopping point shown in the previous picture. There were a lot of switchbacks on the trail.

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After a bit of rock scrambling at the end (20-30 feet maybe?) we got to the top. And it is a rather flat area on the top. There was a wooden pole marking the top of Flattop mountain (3510 feet).

At the Top

There were a lot of people up there, and there was some group of like ten or so boys, maybe 12-ish years old, with some chaperones. They had them play catch (with baseballs), probably to keep them busy, as there was much shouting before that. They also amused themselves by throwing rocks at wildlife. (Sigh.) While on the trail, we saw people not minding their kids (the kids were wandering off the trails, picking flowers or just general damaging things while the parents looked on approvingly). Guess that sort of things goes on all the time. Later, back in the parking lot, we talked to a guy who runs bike tours, and he said the rangers won't do much if there's not a significant problem. He's complained before, and it's a matter of time, money, and staff.

But anyway, it was a very cool view at the top.

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This was a 2 picture panorama looking out to the east, just beyond the big wooden pole.

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The view from Flattop Mountain!

I must admit, I'm quite happy with this picture. It's a full 360° panoramic shot from the top of Flattop Mountain. I had no tripod, and really not much of a clue. I just fired off a series of pictures. Then I let Photoshop crunch on it a bit. The pole wound up being in the middle (more or less) of the picture, there is a decent balance between ground and sky, and so on. No, I don't know any of the people in the picture (OK, Stephanie is probably one of the small people in the distance to the left of the pole). I did some photoshop magic to trim things nicely, and I have made this into a rather large photo (8 ft by 1 ft). And yes, the right and left edges are of the same area (there is a bit of an overlap).

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The first picture is looking down on the path that we just climbed up. Anchorage is visible in the distance. THe second and third shots are of Anchorage. The first shows how it's low tide. The Anchorage International Airport (with Lake Hood next to it) is visible in the third picture.

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Another picture of Anchorage International Airport. I think Merril Field is the airport in the second shot, it's a mostly general aviation airport that's at the north end of town. Downtown Anchorage and low tide are visible in the third picture.

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Looking out to the west or maybe northwest, here are three pictures of the Alaska Range, cool looking snow-capped mountains. While it is possible to see Mt. McKinley from Anchorage, it wasn't possible when I took these pictures.

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Some pictures of the hills and valleys just beyond Flattop. The "fingers" of snow in the hill looked cool to me.

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I took a few panoramic shots on top of Flattop. The big one is the one that turned out the best. This one...not as much. I took a few shots in a line and then took a couple below to get the area leading up to it. I didn't even realize was I did until (more than a month later), I was looking through the pictures and they looked like they were kind of part of a sequence, sort of. So I threw them into Photoshop to see what it could make of it. I didn't do any further adjusting, color matching or anything. So this is a "ghetto" or "hobo" panoramic shot. It's the same area as the first two-picture panorama in this section.

People

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Three pictures of me, out among the mountains. Standing and sitting, pondering my Grand Plans.

OK, I told Stephanie I was going to go out towards the edge of that path and to take some pictures as I tried to look like I was Contemplating Nature.

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A few pictures of Stephanie, sitting on a ledge. She was looking at some plants, as well as making her plans for conquest of the universe.

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A few more pictures of Stephanie, with Anchorage and Cook Inlet visible in the distance. She was looking at some flowers and lichen in the third picture (and not posing, more like tolerating me taking yet another picture).

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One more picture of Stephanie, with some snow-encrusted mountain in the distance, topped by clouds. The second picture is of a random dude/guy who was sitting on a bench after having made it to the top. He was talking on his cell phone (which is what first caught my attention), saying, "Yeah, uh huh. I'm on top of a mountain. And I can assure you that there's nothing flat about Flattop Mountain until you get to the top. But hey, he made it to the top, so he gets credit where credit is due. Now hang up the fucking phone and appreciate the scenery.

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And two shots of me and Stephanie together, since we were, in fact, on top of the mountain at the same time, and I figured some photographic evidence might help support that statement. This is looking off to the east. I think more of Cook Inlet is in the background.

Flowers on Flattop

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The first picture is of some random yellow flowers. The second and third are of some white ones, with a close up of them and then one showing them in relation to the ground.

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More white flowers. The middle one has a fly in it and the third has grass and lichen in the area.

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Plants, purple flowers, and another white flower with a fly in it.

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More puprle flowers, and white flowers in a somewhat odd looking kind of plant.

The Trip Back Down

We decided not to take any of the other trails, as it was like 1pm or so, we needed lunch, and had like 500 miles to drive.

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A picture at the top (with my shadow in it), looking down at the path. The trails are visible, as is the parking lot at the bottom of the trails, along with various people on the trails. Unlike the shit-rock of Upstate New York (lots of shale), this was very solid stuff, easy to get safe and secure hand-holds. The second picture is of the trails and Anchorage and Cook Inlet in the distance.

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We saw a piper cub flying around the area. It's visible in both of the pictures. The trail down is visible in the first picture and the valley is in the second one. He was below us, though he didn't get that close to the mountain. We heard the plane before we saw it.

Back to Fairbanks

We made quick stops in Glennallen and Delta Junction. There wasn't really a lot in those places, kind of a cross-roads, gas/food/lodging, maybe a post office and one or two other things (sure, I'm selling the places short, but there really wasn't much there).

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There really wasn't much to take pictures of. We stopped at a restaurant and gift shop in Glennallen to take a break (we didn't need gas). I took a picture of Stephanie on the steps of the gift shop playing with a dog that someone had tied up, and a picture of the gift shop.

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When we got back to Fairbanks, around 10:30 or 11pm, we found that Roger and Carrie had a moose steak out on the kitchen counter to thaw. Friends of theirs (who hunt) had given it to them, and we had it for dinner a couple nights later. Finally, a close and personal (and tasty) encounter with a moose.

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