Hiking?.......Me???

I've never considered myself a "Hiker". In fact, I would go so far as to call myself a "Hike Hater". I remember as a child hiking up Mt. Ranier and loving it. I even have picture evidence that at one time in my life, I hiked and was smiling about it. More recently in my early teens my older sister thought it would be a good hobby to pick up and ever since has remained an "Obsessed Hiker". She convinced me and my little sister to go on this (In her words) ".......easy hike, once you get to the top there is this beautiful lake you can swim in and it's so amazing...." All that I remember were three bullet points...Mosquito swarms that kill
switchbacks that make you WANT to kill, and a dirty lake that had no access to swim. That's all. I haven't been since.,
Since I've moved up to Alaska, that seems to be one of the more popular things to do being that the Mountains are all around us. I'll admit the scenery is exquisite, beyond anything I can describe but Hiking?? I have a boyfriend who loves hiking and several friends who love it. I don't want to acquiesce....but it's not looking promising. This holiday weekend I was supposed to go clamming over at Kenai with friends. That didn't pan out and at first I was sad because how much fun is that!? Well, it's so rare that I do NOTHING and I thought this would be a great opportunity to do just that. I slept in, stayed in Pajamas all day Saturday and then most of Sunday until......my friend Becca called. She talked me into an "easy" hike up the power line. I would be lying if I said I was thrilled but I was excited to hang out with her. By the time we met up, we changed gears...headed for the Farmer's market downtown and then went to Kincaid Park for a walk to the beach. It's the start of the Coastal Trail. It's downhill for the first two miles so guess what that means? UPHILL all the way back. We actually had a really great time and saw four moose along the way. The beach was so amazing and it reminded me of home...one of the things I miss the most. I will say that similarily to the trip that permanently left damage...there were swarms of mosquitos. I will go again but not without kicking and screaming on some level...that's a promise.