Without snow for skiing, we turn to hiking on the weekends. Cold nights and mostly cold days mean that the areas that are too wet to traverse in the summer are mostly frozen and crossable now. One of our favorite fall hikes is a loop from Hilltop, a municipal park about a mile from our house, up to Prospect Heights, a state park trail head.
We start out on the Spencer Loop trail, going opposite to the travel direction of skiers. In this direction, we won't be surprised by anyone from behind and there are many fine views of the Chugach Mountains beyond. We meet a trio of hikers and one crazy skate skier, who is striding more ice and dirt than snow. After hitting the peak of Spencer Loop, we drop down toward the Campbell Creek Canyon and head off on a single track trail up along the canyon. The canyon trail brings us near Prospect Heights where we pick up the main trail and head to the parking area. As we get there, that same crazy skate skier is schussing along. He has come up the Gasline Trail, which we are about to head down, and it has even less snow than the Spencer Loop. We surmise that he must be on the college team and is desperate to get in his workouts if he'll skate on this base.
In fact, the woods are almost bare of snow and the only white stuff -- ice -- is on the trail. We're wearing studs on the bottom of our boots, so we aren't slipping.
We step off Gasline onto the Llama Trail, a singletrack that is mostly ice. We see a few bike tire imprints but meet no one. The Llama Trail tops out at Hilltop Ski Area, where a few kids are skiing. We walk down a ski run that is still closed due to lack of snow, climb in the car, and drive home.
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