Snyder Family Hikes: When Love Looks Like a Frigid, Early Morning Climb

A year ago Paul asked if we could hike up Mount Magnificent together. I acquiesced, out of love. My legs hurt for days. But again, all for love!

Fast forward to yesterday morning. While on a family hike along the Upper South Fork trail I watched as the sunlight slowly spread across the peaks surrounding me. Most notably, I saw it light up Mt Baldy...the one peak that I thought was within my ability to climb during the winter.

So I told Paul, “I want to climb that one (pointing to sunlit Baldy...the mountain in the very center of the picture below)!”

After pointing out the reasons why a person might NOT climb up a mountain in the middle of winter in order to watch the sun rise and still finding me undeterred, Paul agreed to hike with me the following morning....because of love ❤️

When we left the house around 9:00 this morning, our car's thermostat helpfully informed us that it was a balmy -2 degrees outside. Paul looked at me. “Mountain peak sunrises,” I primly stated, “aren’t seen by the faint of heart." It was a good thing we'd doubled our socks and filled our pockets with hand warmers.

When we arrived at the trailhead the moon was bright and beautiful, hanging in the sky above the Sleeping Lady (Mt Susitna.)

After we began to hike, I started to rethink my commitment to mountain peaks and late morning sunrises. My legs protested. My toes were freezing.

But once again, love came to the rescue. “We’re going to the top,” Paul firmly said. “You will be upset with yourself if you quit now.” To drive home the fact that we would not, in fact, be heading back to the warmth and comfort of our car, he started walking past me up the trail. Did I mention that he had the keys?

Well. I wasn’t going to be the one who gave up. Boo for spouses who know you well enough to push when you’d rather they’d coddle : ) But sometimes, loving someone means that we push them to do hard things, knowing that it’s what they truly need.

So we hiked. We followed the packed down footprints of previous hikers, being careful not to stray far. I did that once, trying to get a photo, and found myself almost waist deep in snow! Whoops! But yes, I'm not ashamed to say that I stopped often...to take pictures (ahem, catch my breath!) The lights of our town of Eagle River twinkled below us as the colors across the sky grew and spread with each passing moment. It was difficult for me to focus on the icy path when I could see the golden glow of sunlight growing behind the mountain range. Finally we reached the peak and took in the views surrounding us! Denali, framed with watercolor-like pastels, was particularly gorgeous.

Then we settled in to wait for the sun to appear. We facetimed with parents. We took off our boots in order to shove handwarmers down them, hoping to thaw our toes. And then, finally, we watched as the first rays started to peek over the mountains. It was lovely. Hello sun! We've missed you.

We watched the dawning of a new year together until the coldness reminded us that we should probably head back down the mountain. We'd been told that the easiest and fastest way to descend was by sliding (called "glissading") down. Sounds simple, but the fancy name hides a terrifying activity. Turns out, slipping down an icy slope with little to stop you accept the spikes of your shoes or an errant bush is....unnerving. To say the least : )

And that was that! While the first set of slides were super scary (none of those were filmed!) the lower half of the mountain was nothing but fun runs with only a few bumps along the way. All in all, a pretty amazing way to spend the first morning of the new year.

Love won, again! (And I wonder what type of adventure it will take us on next : )