July 11

We started the day today with a steep 1½ mile (each way) hike from the campground up to a lookout over the valley. It took us about and hour to hike up and forty minutes to hike back. The view was very nice. (The trip was up, up, up again. I though that I would have to quit till I put Dad in the back. When I could take my own pace, it was better. I still could only see my feet because I had to watch to keep from turning an ankle on many tree roots. Now you have to know that Dad fell and hurt another rib. I need to make him wear a pillow around him. Even then he is still like a mountain goat the whole walk.) (Thanks Mom) Now on with the story… After the hike we drove down the Tok Cutoff Highway to a brief stretch of the Richardson Highway before turning onto the Glenn Highway to a rest area about 30 miles past the town of Glennallen as we headed toward Anchorage. Along the way we saw more forest, lakes and streams and even some large snow-capped mountains off in the distance. A number of the rivers seemed very brown and muddy, not the milky color of glacier-fed streams we remember from our prior trip. The road has been a real roller coaster all day from frost heaves which keeps speed down to around 45 mph most of the time. We got one little shower but for the most part it has been quite warm the last few days.