We woke up Sunday to a beautiful, cloudless sky. We had planned on going fishing but chose instead to take full advantage of the sunshine to travel back down the Turnagain Arm to the Girdwood / Alyeska ski area.
The scenery was completely different from yesterday on this stretch of the arm. The tide was out and boy, a 33 foot deferential in water level exposes a lot of tidal flats, stretching almost across the total (Turnagain) arm. Since it was cloudless while driving, I had to stop and take a couple of shots, one of a hanging cloud on the side of the mountain range and the other the fog that formed with all of the exposed tidal flats?
The Winner Creek Trail, in the Chungach national Forest starts directly behind the Hotel Alyeska, under the tram that goes to the top of the mountain. We walked through the hotel and out the back door to catch the trail.
The trail cuts through heavily forested terrain, including loads of ferns and everything green possible. It reminded me of the Suwanee Greenway at times as it was raised and planked to keep it off the mossy, wet soil and numerous creeks and streams.
We arrived at Winter Creek Gorge, a deep cut in the rock that Winter Creek tumbles through. There is a unique hand-powered tram to carry hikers across the span. Cathy and I went first and she took this shot of our shadow in the water, over 100 feet beneath us.
After we got to the other side, my sister Barbara came across. She is in the small suspended contraption and I am pulling the rope to get her across.
Once we got to the other side, we realized we had to come back. Boy, did my arms get a workout. I stayed and helped a couple of other people across before starting back down the trail. We crossed over the gorge, about a quarter-mile upstream from the tram and took these photos:
There were a lot of different colored fungi growing along the trail. One species were disintegrating but I did manage to get a couple of shots on the way back:
This is Cathy on the bridge watching me position for the photos:
I decided to run back to the trailhead so Cathy insisted on taking a photo in case I turned up missing. I am trying to smile, but this is all that came out . . There was a notice of a missing person on this trail from earlier this month. Bears I guess?
We stopped at an outpost for Barbara to try to find something for her motor home. Alas, she found just what she was looking for!
Michael and grandson Jason arrived this evening from Georgia. We will be heading to the Zoo in the morning, back to Alyeska for lunch then probably spend some time at the float plane airport in Anchorage, the largest of its kind. Maybe, time allowing, we will take a side trip to the Alaska Railroad Terminal.
Travelling with the Schinglers 
I like the fungi shots (again- different). Manual powered tram looks like a serious workout!
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