Ptarmigan Black Rocks Run

Having a Monday off and some time on my hands, I indulged in some grandiose ideas about doing a long-ish mountain run.  We'd had rain the day before, but it was mostly clear and seemed like I should take advantage of the good weather.  The goal was to head up Mt. Baldy, then keep running back until I got tired of it, or until I complete a loop, whichever came first.


The view from the parking lot.  Looks pretty much like fall, right?


The view from the summit of Mt. Baldy looking out towards Eagle River.


Looking out towards the mountains from Baldy.  At this point, I realized that there was more snow up there than I realized, although it wouldn't be until later that I was truly disavowed of the notion of a long run.



I made it to the first significant bump of Ptarmigan Black Rocks before fully realizing just how much snow was up there.  Four inches of fresh snow on an ice crust on top of more inches of snow (knee deep in some spots) made for some pretty sketchy running.


Looking out towards Knik Arm.  The clouds in earlier photos did clear off quite nicely.


The Ptarmigan Black Rocks have some fairly steep spots.  Pretty awesome terrain.


Peaked out.  This was as high as I got before I turned tail and ran back to the parking lot.  Still a pretty good little jog/walk/slog for the afternoon, and always good to be out and about when the weather's good.