Seward and Lost Lake

Seward is the port at the south end of the Iditarod Trail. Mountains drop to the sea here. On the way here from Girdwood, we stopped off to visit the cabin that Charlie and Kim share with friends as a wilderness skiing base. Sweet log cabin, I think on leased forest service land. Off the grid, off everything, in fact. There are both avid skiers and will put "skins" (now synthetic) on the bottom of their skis to get traction when climbing a mountain to ski down. After a delay from an overturned truck on the busy two lane road, we arrive at Seward in the afternoon and head for dinner overlooking the harbor. Lots of commercial fishing craft,  and many more pleasure craft than I would have imagined.  Fresh halibut on the menu catches my eye.

The next morning we get an early start up the Lost Lake trail, and it should be a gradual climb but it is 2000 feet elevation change and I put on my knee brace on my sometimes funky left knee, just to be sure. It is a stunning hike up to alpine meadows and spectacular views.  The joke is that it looks like Sound of Music landscape, but it is indeed. From the area just above the lake I see back to the sound beyond Seward and on either side up to the surrounding glacier covered mountains. On the way up we see no other hikers, but descending, we run into a number of hikers and mountain bikers and everyone agrees it is a stunning day.