Day 25 - Nikiski High School Ski Trails

I'm half way through the challenge - yahoo! So I guess this was an OK occasion to slightly break one of my own hiking rules - I went out of the Southern Trek of the Chugach to hike, although my reasoning was noble. Today was the first HS cross country running race of the season and we went to watch all three girls compete - a first for our family.  They did great, all three in different races with Isabel 5th in the freshman/sophomore class, Kenzie 9th in the junior/senior class and Allison a close 2nd in the open race. Meanwhile I hiked (often slowly running with a limp) around the course three or four times. It's a great workout and pretty fun to cheer for the runners way back in back forty hills where they really need some encouragement. The hills at Nikiski are steep and plentiful although none are all that long. For hiking these trails are cool; they wind around several small lakes, have wonderful views of Cook Inlet and often follow ridges above steep cliff drops down to the ocean. Fun day and it didn't start raining until later in the day when the races were mostly over - no downpours thank goodness.