Hike II: Winner Creek

Today was numero dos in my 50 hikes goal. It was the Monday's 'kid hike,' but it was still beautiful and fun. Winner Creek is a hike near Alyeska Ski Resort, south of Anchorage. For the most part, I had only seen 'new forest' with aspens, not pines, but this was an older forest with no aspens, and all I could think about was the Twilight series and the forests that Edward and Bella 'run' through towards the meadow, just lighter than I pictured in the books. So that is what the above picture is for. I still can't believe how green the plants are here, they almost glow. 
I was about in the middle of the huge group, and behind me there were two boys who were trying to "ATTACK!" me. They each had 'swords' and when I hear them shout "attack!" I would turn around, shriek, and then run ahead. They got a big kick out of that, run faster towards me, then stop and pant, and the older boy (in the red) would get out the younger boy's water bottle so he could recharge a bit. It was really cute. 
The mile was only 5 miles round trip - perfect for a kids' hike. Almost there!
There were two bridges you could choose to cross, and we all chose the one with the loud, rushing water beneath it. It was so loud and the water was moving so quickly! After passing that bridge, we got to the end of our hike: the hand tram (you can see it on the wooden sign above). 
Above, we were about half way across the little canyon. It was this steel cage that we rode across in, and the gate-door thing's latch was broken off, so I had to keep my foot in place (with one scary moment when it swung open half way over the river), so it wouldn't budge.
Here is the river as we cross over it. It was a little nerve racking! All it was was rope and steel... 
Here I am with Julie making this difficult task look oh-so-easy. There were a couple of pictures where we really look grumpy, but here is the smiley, happy picture for you. When we got each other's rhythm down, we were actually making some pretty good time. Until the end (it got really heavy) and Julie told the Belgium man (who was taking pictures), "you! Pull!" I was laughing so hard, then she started laughing at how she said that. 
On the way back, we passed over the rushing little river, the water was so blue!
Here is the Alyeska Lodge and tram station. To the left of this picture was the ski-lift, but they were doing some construction, so I'll spare those pictures.

Winner Creek Stats: 

Miles: ~5 

Elevation Gained: not much!