Berry Picking on Flattop Mountain

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather (sunny, clear skies, no wind) and climb Flattop. It gets its name for obvious reasons,  it has a flat top. 

For an extremely out of shape person (sadly, like myself) I like to think that climbing Flattop is comparable to having a really bad hang over. It really sucks and you feel like puking your guts out.  You may even let out a "I'm dying!" or a "I'm never doing this again!"in the process. But, when it's all over, everything is better.  You suddenly get amnesia and forget how awful you felt.  

Kind of how I felt Monday.  But, I made it, with minimal to no complaining. I kept up, and surprisingly didn't even fall once. When you do make it to the top of Flattop, you realize all that pain and suffering was sooooo worth it. The views are absolutely breathtaking!

It was such a clear day that we could see Denali in the distance...

Once at the top, we had an impromptu berry picking session. The tiny dark berries littered the mountain side. After much debate, and not wanting to end up like the guy from "Into the Wild", we realized we were safe and so we picked away.  (Note: Don't just eat random berries you find. Do your research first. Flattop does get service, so we googled it.) However, what we thought were blueberries turned out to be crowberries.  Don't worry, still edible, but not as sweet.

The crowberries made delicious whole wheat pancakes (with real maple syrup, the Canadian stuff, obviously).

So, the moral of this story?  
a) I think I need to get back into the gym.
b) Do your research before you just eat random berries.
c) Whole wheat crowberry pancakes are delicious.
and d) I continue to fall further in love with Alaska.