My 30th birthday is on Friday, and I decided that I needed to celebrate it in a huge way! My actual birthday is going to be an incredible adventure (which I’ll reveal later in this post!) but it will be out of town and my friends really wanted to celebrate with me before I left. So on Saturday night, five of us headed out to Eklutna Lake for some amazing mountain biking!
Eklutna Lake is one of my favorite year-round places to hike. Although most Alaskans wouldn’t consider this a “hike” at all because it’s so flat! The trail is flat and wide and borders the left side of the lake for 13 miles. On certain days of the week the trail allows ATVs to ride, so be aware of that if you want to avoid those. In the winter I love to walk Ridley and ski, and in the summer it’s perfect for a nice, easy walk with immediate views. I’ve always wanted to bike the trail, so I was really excited to get out there with my friends and my mountain bike!
Honestly, this was almost the hardest trail I’ve ever rode for one reason: I was having a lot of trouble watching where I was going because the views were insane! My friends and I kept screaming, “How is this real?!” as we swerved all over the trail. I was going much slower than I should have been going for how flat and easy the trail was! We stopped a lot for pictures and just to soak it all up.
At 4 miles in it started to rain. We could see that the trail behind us was still sunny, and it was getting late, so we decided to turn around. We stopped at a gorgeous overlook by the cabins for some birthday treats and to stare at a rainbow.
Because the midnight sun is crazy right now, we got back to our cars and realized that it was almost 11:00 pm! It was good that we turned around early, but now I’m dying to get out there to do the whole thing. Apparently the trail goes all the way back to Eklutna Glacier, which is what feeds this lake, but it has receded so much that you can’t see it from the trail anymore. My goal is to get all the way back there – with a lot of photo stops along the way of course!
And now for my big giant birthday news: I’m heading down to Seattle on a work trip for the next few days, and while I’m down there I might as well travel somewhere exciting to celebrate, right? So I will be spending my 30th birthday in YOSEMITE!!!! It’s the number one thing on my bucket list and I can’t believe I’m finally going to go! I’ll be there from Thursday night through Monday, and then will be traveling around San Francisco for the following few days. If you have any suggestions on trails or destinations around San Francisco let me know!
What’s the coolest way you’ve ever celebrated your birthday? If you could go anywhere for a birthday trip, where would you go?
Mom in the Mtns 
Have a great time at Yosemite! I don’t think I’ve ever gone out of town for a birthday. I do like doing active things though. I’ve done archery tag and laser tag with friends. 🙂 I’d probably go to Japan for my birthday one year. It falls on the same week as the Tokyo marathon so it’ll be a nice racecation one year. 🙂
Thanks! And you should totally do the Tokyo Marathon – that sounds like the perfect birthday present!
I absolutely love Yosemite and San Francisco. Even though it’s super-touristy you have to go to Fisherman’s Wharf and just wander around the food stalls there; get the chowder in a sourdough bread bowl (yes, it’s a cliche, but it really is good); check out the seals. Take a boat tour around the Golden Gate Bridge, for sure, that’s my favorite thing to do there. For my last birthday we were at Zion National Park, which was awesome. Probably any national park would be great on my birthday!
Thanks for the tips! Zion would be an amazing place to spend a birthday, I might have to steal that idea!
awesome!!! Looks like a great place to bike & that sounds like an awesome upcoming adventure to Yosemite!
Thanks!