Mount Eklutna in mid-September

The following is a true story and transpired on Sept. 19, 2009.

The beautiful fall weather was holding so we decided to head up a bit north and east of town to hike Mount Eklutna. On this hike we would be joined by Casey, a fellow law-clerk, and her intrepid dog Truvy.

We walked through a forest with aspen's and alder's changing colors.

In this instance the guidebook was right, the walk through the forest was almost pretty enough to put off the rest of the hike. We hiked through and in what is fast becoming a theme in our walkabouts up here, we began hiking up a stiff uphill section.

There was a fair amount of resting...

...and taking in the fall colors.

We made it to the saddle and started up the ridge towards the summit. The ridge had great views in to Chugach State Park to the south and of the Cook Inlet to the north.

I waved at Palmer and Wasilla.

Towards the top of the ridge we were actually walking in the clouds.

Truvy maintained over the entire hike and was rewarded with some great views.

Dog, people, all made it to the top. Truvy had to go back on the leash on the last part because there were some eagles circling menacingly above us, kind of crazy.

Clouds rolling in over the sun.

There are lots of pictures of us on this blog but this one had to go in because our faces are more than an arm's length from the camera.

Neat flowers on their way out.

Taking it easy up top.

We hiked on fallen aspen and birch leaves for the lower portions of the hike.

Artic Valley

When Jes brought the cats up before our drive, she hiked around Artic Valley with Carrie and Mike. She had rave reviews so we headed out so I could see what the fuss was about. Turns out it's quite scenic out there.
Here's a close-up of a pretty hill out there.When Jes was hiking here the first time, the fireweed was in full bloom. This time, only a couple stalks were still in bloom.
After a bit of steeper hiking, we made it up to the saddle with a nice view of Eagle River below.

If you squint you can see Jes at the bottom of the picture, perched on a small outcropping. There is a lot of space up here.

The gentle western flank of Penguin Peak

Labor Day weekend was here and we figured it would be a good time to explore a bit of the Turnagain Arm. So with the help of a hiking guidebook, we picked Penguin Peak. This particular climb was noted for it's 'gently sloping western flank' which lead to the summit and great views of the ocean, the Arm, and a bunch of the mountains in the Chugach Range.
We got up early and managed to catch a pod of beluga's moving eastward down the Arm. We tried to capture these elusive mammoths on film but they would only surface momentarily and then disappear beneath the water.

Luckily, I was able to take a picture when all the belugas were underwater.
We got to the trailhead and made our way to the beginning of the trail, note Jes's smiling face.

Upon finding the trail and beginning the hike proper, we began to understand what the numbers for this trail really meant. We were going to cover 4,000 vertical feet in 3 miles. At home these numbers didn't mean too much, we knew we were hiking up a mountain but the trail was on the 'gently sloping western flank.' However, the experience was more akin to climbing a dirt staircase than a gentle slope.
This picture is an approximation of the steepness of the climb. There were no switchbacks as we were hiking in a narrow avalanche chute.
We made it out of the alders and into an alpine meadow.
Yes, we just hiked up that.Turns out, the views were more than worth the hike.

We figured out that Penguin Peak was actually a rock scramble and a bit of ridge walking away.
For some perspective, the picture preceding the above one was taken at the radio tower that is in the middle right of this picture.
Penguin Peak is behind and above Jes in the picture. The ridge was wide for most of the way but as we got closer to the peak, it got a bit skimpy, at one point narrowing to about 1 foot with huge dropoffs on either side. It's worth noting that the guidebook described this portion as a short hop to the east. Alaskan guidebooks have a gift for understatement.
View of a glacial lake and the Chugach range from the summit.A nice couple picture with the Turnagain Arm in the background.
A view of the hike down the ridge of doom.Hiking back home.

A couple pictures from Wolverine Peak

A couple days after we arrived we headed out to Chugach State Park. The Park is enormous and very close to Anchorage with an incredible amount of hiking. We picked up a hiking guide for the Anchorage area and decided on Wolverine Peak (M Go Blue!) as our first hike.
The hike was steep enough to be noticed. Anchorage is behind me and further in the distance across the Cook Inlet is the Alaska Mountain range.
Wolverine Peak is behind and to the right of Jes.

We didn't make it to the top but got high enough for some good views.

Long Journey North - Day 7

We were so close. Only one day of driving, a mere 322 miles separated us from our new home. We hit the road early in an effort to get to Anchorage mid-day to meet up with Carrie and Mike. This portion of the drive was arguably one of the prettiest, spectacular mountains rising up on either side of the road. Glaciers were halting their progress mere miles from the road. We saw all of this and were impressed. Sadly, our fatigue and general delerium stopped us from taking many pictures. Below is our paltry offering.Clouds rolling off the top of the Chugach Mountains.We were pleasantly surprised by how green everything is.

The colors were just beginning to change.

Lucky for us, when we arrived in Anchorage, Carrie and Mike had bought us growler of porter from Moose's Tooth and were willing and able to help us unload the trailer.
We also had other help unpacking.

Long Journey North - Day 6

After a delicious breakfast at the Kluane B & B, we hit the road for Alaska. At this point, not only had photo fatigue set in but also travel induced delirium. We weren't sure how many days we had been driving or what had happened on what day and early in the day, one of us asked what day it was. However, one thing did keep us on our toes: the road.
The portion of the Al-Can that stretches from Haines Junction, Yukon to just past Tok, Alaska is beset by frost heaves. Due to the freezing and thawing of the seasons and the resulting expansion and contraction of the moisture in the soil, the road took on a very ocean-like quality. For the most part the waves were moderate but at points there were some sharp swells. All the undulations required attention to the road and a typical speed of about 35 mph. We saw a couple spots were motorists had driven a bit too fast and their hitches bottomed out and left grooves in the pavement.
We maintained our vigilance and soldiered on. Soon, we began noticing signs proclaiming 'Welcome to B.C.,' that were then followed by another sign reading 'Welcome to the Yukon.' We thought were going batty and driving in circles until we consulted a map. It turns out that the portion of the Al-Can we were driving straddles the provincial line between B.C. and the Yukon, hence the multiple crossing and resultant welcome signs.
At about lunch we made it to the United States/Canada border.
We were sad to see the Yukon go......and we lingered a bit, straddling the line between nations.
Canada, while a great country full of pleasant people and courteous drivers, didn't get us very excited.But we were very excited for our return to America.
Back to America and on to Alaska.The rest of the drive to Tok passed without much incident. We arrived in good time and had reserved a room at the Mooseberry B & B. We had some time to kill and noticed that there was a Thai 'restaurant' in Tok. We called up and order some take-out, hopped in the car and made our way to the 'restaurant.'
Upon arriving at the designated address, we discovered that the 'restaurant' was more of a residence (see photo).
And that rice was not included with our curry. Interesting.

Long Journey North - Day 5

We hit camera fatigue on Day 5 of our trip--the drive to Kluane Lake had more sheep, buffalo and caribou and great scenery. We arrived at a bed and breakfast right on Kluane Lake mid-afternoon and enjoyed a break from driving. The woman who runs this B & B married into one of the families who settled the Yukon. Her place is down the road from historic Silver City, which is now just ruins of cabins built for miners, fur trappers and a police barracks. She had great stories about her family and knew everything about the Yukon, it was another highlight of our trip.
The lake historically has been as much as 30 meters higher than it is now, you can see old terrace lines in the side of the mountain across the lake. The lake also used to drain the opposite direction, south to the Pacific Ocean. In the 1600's a glacier blocked the flow of the Slims River, and the lake reversed drainage, it now drains north into the Yukon River System. The glacier has receded and continues to recede, so it could reverse again at some point. When the owner was a little girl the cabins were literally on the lake--now as you can see from the pictures they're about 100 yards from the lake. She was joking that she'd have to change all the advertising to "lake view" instead of "lakeside" in another twenty years.

This is taken from right in front of our cabin, to give some perspective on how far the cabins are from the lake.