No Woman Left Behind

Roadtrippin' again with two of my awesome friends.

    Friday night around 10pm we left for Denali to spend the night with some friends then have a great day of hiking Saturday.

     I have to admit even though I did not want to leave so late it was wayyy worth it. Driving up we got to see the sun setting behind Mt. McKinley and get some great shots.

Along with this midnight sun adventure I had my first experience of staying overnight in a house with no running water or electricity. Have to admit I was intimidated by this at first and thought how am I going to survive the night! How will I wash up for bed or see at night to take my contacts out.

Oh but yee of little faith...

This is where we stayed. It's a work in progress but it is a very nice house. To the left of the front door is a sink area with a bucket system for your "running" water. Also notice the pile of bones next to it. They are from a moose and I did take a bone home for a keepsake.

Oh and the outhouse I was soo scared of was actually kinda cool...if an outhouse can be cool.
It was decorated with all kinds of inspiring sayings and art work inside.
The bone on the door is a moose pelvis...what other way would u mark an outhouse right?..














Ok so back to the hiking. Technically we were in Denali State Park not the national but either way it is ALL beautiful. We set out for our adventurous hike around 11am. Gorgeous sun shinning, nice short weather and loaded on the bug spray. (bug spray is key)
Byers Lake is an 8 mile hike that goes up a small mountain with a fantastic view at the end. It starts out nice and level but very quickly turned into steep, tree routed and loose dirt. IT WAS A HIKE...but the first rule of hiking is never leave anyone alone, especially in Alaska.
After huffing, puffing and some complaining we had made it half way....



Christine, Me and Kelly

Just had to stop to play in the snow

Onward ho we go. Even steeper now and even more complaining. Seriously thought we would never get to the top.

There is always a reward and sometimes the sweetest rewards in life are free...



McKinley poking through the clouds



On the hike down the mountain we got caught in a little rain which of course washed all the bug spray off. Mosquito's suck!!! We were an all you can eat buffet for those buggers. I totally double timed it out of the woods and to celebrate the hike and completing the strenuous journey jumped in the lake with Christine...clothes and all.

It feels so free to just go with it and do something impulsive....







swimming in an Alaskan lake!!!



Honestly even though the lake was freezing and we didn't swim for more then ten minutes it has been one of my top adventures here so far  solely based on the fact that was impulsive.

I can't wait to do it again...next time SKINNY DIPPING