Hike VI: Mt. Alyeska Ski Chalet

I thought this was hike numero siete, but I was wrong-o. It was Monday, so it was the kid hike, but I was pretty nervous. It was a 'moderate' hike in a hard-book done by un-real people. But it was alright. The drive took about an hour, south of Anchorage to the Alyeska Ski Resort again (remember Winner Creek?.. same place, different hike). 
Sometimes from this highway you can see Beluga Whales with their white backs. I still haven't seen any.. but I'm still hoping!
I thought it was going to be green like this the whole way, but I had called earlier to ask "Is the trail open all the way to the top?" and she replied, "Yes, but there's still quite a bit of snow up there." Yeaaah right. It's mid-July! Just shy of half-way up we stopped here to eat our lunch: 
We also saw two different bear-scats. Yuck! Below, we started to see all the snow! And we were getting closer to the clouds. The kids loved throwing rocks and sticks into the big puddles... ponds?
Right when we hit the snow, we started trekking through it and my "ballet slippers" (as they have come to be known through the ward) started to soak through (fortunately they weren't cold). We looked back and noticed that this sign said "Horror Hill". The kids thought it was a bit scary. Me too. 
Then when I was leading the way over the snow, I was right below the brown part where there are 4 people on it.. you see it? I was on the white snow below that and noticed there was a line of water RUSHING below me... I looked back and said, "There's a river under here! Make sure you guys go up to the rock!" That's when I got pretty nervous. I don't like water!! Unless it's a pool. My family knows that all-too-well. 
The snow-part of the hike was about 1/4 of a mile, but then we almost were to the top, I realized I felt just like Mr. Christian Bale in Batman Begins. oo-la-la! Can you see why I felt like Batman? -->
When I got to the top, I realized just how many ways there are you could die (sorry for the positive note). Enlarge the picture below and read the sign and notice the cute little girl SO close: 
I was glad I made it to the top through all the slipper snow with rivers under it. 
One more way to die? BEARS!! At the top we noticed people pointing to us and then to this black dot on the side of the hill RIGHT below the snowy area we were just on. I guess we had walked right by it and never noticed it. It had been on the snow with us! When I got the picture below, it was actually running across the grass to pass over the hill. Then it disappeared. But it was out there while another hiker was out there (about the same distance away, just farther apart), but it was AS BIG as the hiker! It must have been a HUGE black bear. Sorry for the fuzz, it was zoomed in all the way:  
Then we waited for the tram to come take us down the front of the mountain (we had traversed it): 
Mom, don't enlarge this picture, it might make you a little motion-sick. Even if you're standing still: 
This was the lift-employee that took us down. He said he normally lets out a huge scream to scare the passengers about half way down (you're way high), but he said he didn't because he didn't want to scare all the kids. Thank you, Mr.! I would have probably had a nervous break down, then laughed. But the nervous break down first.
When we walked back to the parking lot and looked back up, we saw where we had gone. This is partly zoomed in so my camera could pick up the tram-station. The tram costs to go up, but if you hike up there, it's a free-ride down. Nice!

Ski Chalet Stats: 

Distance: 1.5 - 2 miles (one way)

Elevation Gain: 2000 feet

High Point: 2200 feet

Hike Difficulty: moderate