THE SCOW'S: Tanate part 2 ( how much hiking is too much????)

We had to plan some of our days around weather when Tannis and Nathan were here. It looked like we had a break in Seward so we went for it. I had been dying to hike the Harding Icefield and talked the White's into doing it with us. It is a pretty tough hike but Cohen and Mason did awesome. I think we made it almost 9 miles total.

It was so neat at the top. The ice went on as far as you could see. There were a few little peaks poking up here and there, it made me wonder what kind of mountain was underneath buried in ice.

The walk down this slippery, slush was the hardest part of the hike for me.

Quick stop in cold Seward to see Resurrection bay. I was sad it was so clouded in because it is really so beautiful here.

Got to snuggle my besties in the back on our drive home. We were all exhausted.

One night Tannis and I decided to make a quick stop at the nature center. It was late and there was only one other care in the parking lot. We were just going to do the Rodak Loop quickly, although we were unprepared and didn't even have bear spray with us. After making it a little past the beaver pond we kept hearing things and were too afraid to go on. Next time we will come more prepared.

For a couple of days pretty much the whole state was covered in rain. Our best chances looked like Denali. We packed up and headed North. We camped a little bit past the park and although we missed the rain we got hit with some bad wind the first night. Luckily all our tents survived.

Camping with a baby is always a special treat. It is even better when you are in Alaska and it never really gets dark. Harper wasn't sleeping in her pack and play so I decided to let her snuggle us. This didn't last long and soon she was crawling up to her brothers and putting her face right next to theirs and saying "HI". Denton and I were trying not to laugh while also feeling so exhausted. Luckily these boys sleep through anything and Harper crawling all over them didn't even make them stir. Eventually we won and she slep

We started off our day in Denali hiking the Savage River. It was a nice little hike and I am glad we did it at the beginning of the day because by the end were were done.

We weren't taking any chances with Harper and the rain.

Waiting to get on the bus. You can only drive 15 miles into the park. After that you have to take a bus. The kids were troopers even though we spent over 6 hours riding a bus today.

It was really windy and the Polychrome overlook

We took a little walk around the Eielson Visitors center. The guide doubted our hiking abilities and thought it would take us an hour. We did it in less than 30. Unfortunately Denali was covered in clouds but the visitors center was nice and we even go to feel a little earthquake while watching a video about the mountain.

We got to see many bears, a caribou, and moose.

Tannis and Nathan got to do another bucket list hike with me. We did the Dew Mound at the nature center. It is a 6 mile mostly flat hike which the boys found very boring. The last half of the hike is definitely better than the first half. The first half is mostly in the trees with lots of mosquitos. There are some cool giant rocks to look at on the way.