Solstice almost here!

Right now we are getting over 19 hours of daylight (19 hours, 20 minutes to be exact) and I'm not going to lie, it's pretty awesome. Summer solstice is June 21st and communities all over Alaska will celebrate the longest day of the year. after that we will start losing daylight again and begin the slow march to a cold and dark winter.

I recall one year when a few of us decided to climb Flattop for Solstice...lo and behold, the rest of Anchorage thought it would be a great night for a climb too. It was so crowded we had to park a mile or so from the trailhead lot. On the way up I saw a man climbing with a CAT perched on his SHOULDERS. I love cats and all, but I would never take one hiking. That is some serious crazy cat person behavior.

Most people think Flattop is an easy in-city, day hike -- it's only about 3 miles round trip from the parking lot and for the most part a trail exists for hikers. The part that scares me is towards the end when you have to scramble up a scree field (loose, jagged rocks on the side of a mountain). Actually, going up is not so bad -- it's coming down the scree on your backside and trying to not freak out when you lose a foothold.

Here are some photos I "borrowed" from this guy's site (http://www.photos.dougdaubert.com/vacations/Alaska-2008_compare.html) which give a good idea of the mountain: