Pioneer Peak and Finding New Campgrounds Close to Home

 Pioneer Peak is described as "unique, a high peak rising with alarming abruptness from the muddy banks of Knik Arm" (50 Hikes in Alaska's Chugach Mountains). They also say "the trail starts climbing immediately from the trailhead and rarely relents" -  and they were right. We had looked at doing this a few times and always put it off - now we want to come back another day, as it was warm and buggy, and poor Kira was being driven mad by the bugs - we got to the first picnic table, had intended to have water, regroup and keep going, and she wasn't having any of it, desperate to get down and away from the pests. She had what we later realized were black fly bites all over her lower belly earlier in the week, and we took her down - it was still a hot and laborious hike, brushier than the hiking book described, but glorious views even from the "grassy slopes" that we got to.  Overlooking the Matanuska River and the Knik Glacier - another view of the Knik Glacier below when Brian biked it (22 mi. round trip) in early spring/late winter (same thing here!) Another day we'll get up to the ridge and the second picnic table - maybe not to the South Summit! 

Story of the picnic tables - there are 3, one at just under 2.5 miles that we hiked to, and the other two placed along the way to the top - is that they were carried up in pieces by the Colony High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp. Wow, that must have been something. 

Knik Glacier off to the right 

Brian's ride into Knik Glacier on Good Friday this year

We got out of there and drove on to Eklutna Lake, napped, took a walk on the beach. We stayed at Eklutna Lake before and have biked there with our fat tire bikes winter and summer, and we had thought about renting a canoe the next morning but got up and went on to Eagle River after sleeping in. We knew we needed to get groceries and regroup for the next few days - can't go home til Sunday, and I have a Board meeting that I have to Chair on Saturday - from either a boat or an RV which takes some planning! 

Eagle River - advertising a canoe portage but this looks challenging! 

We tried to find the campground at Eagle River once before unsuccessfully,  but were pleasantly surprised this time to find this really nice campground on the Eagle River so close to home. After grocery shopping, we grabbed a bite to eat, went back to the campground, and it rained off and on all afternoon and all night. I made salmon chowder and a bake it yourself baguette, which made for a very nice dinner - plus chocolate pudding - I had put a "kit" together for homemade chocolate pudding, which was very easy to do and a good surprise for camping life! 

Then down to Anchorage today for the practical things - dump out, wash the RV and vacuum it out, pick up a couple of things in the garage that we needed, take Kira for a walk and then transfer the dog to a former student of mine who loves to watch her and who is much loved by Kira. We were supposed to be flying to Sitka tonight for that Board meeting, but it was canceled and transferred to Zoom due to the unfortunately very high infection rate of Covid-19 in Sitka currently - and in Alaska as a whole for that matter. Yikes, what are we doing folks - I'm masking again for any indoor shopping and not eating inside anywhere. Now our last few days it will be just the two of us, first hiking Hope Point (we've never made it to the top with Kira dragging her feet, and we've run out of water both times we've tried) and then going out on our boat in Whittier - last phase of our trip! 

One Week Down, One to Go!

 Provisioned with beer and wine at least, we drove to the Little Coal Creek Trailhead, the northern access to the Kesugi Ridge Trail and hung out, took a nap, waited for it to cool off. Busy parking lot, people were dropping a car down the line and coming back here to begin their hike (backpacking overnight or longer down to Byer's Lake.) 

We hiked about 70 minutes after our naps, saw some bear skat on the trail, a little muddy, not too bad. Stayed right at the trailhead (which you're not supposed to do) and drove next morning 7+ miles down the road to the Ermine Hill Trailhead which also heads up to the Kesugi Ridge Trail. It had rained overnight, and we hemmed and hawed about whether we were going - a young couple had hiked out and were trying to hitchhike back to Coal Creek. We finally hiked up beginning 10:30 am, 4 miles to the ridge trailhead and then another 1/4 mile or so up to some incredible rock formations. 

The trail was brushy, steep, and after hiking the 9 miles up and down, I say, why not do the 10 miles open across the ridge next time! Incredible views. Sat in shade for a long time after to cool down. A family from Fairbanks stopped and were getting ready to hike, obviously not knowing what they were in for, so we discouraged them and gave them the milepost markers for two hikes that would work better - they were on their way back to Fairbanks. Then we drove down to Byers Lake, showered, and took ourselves down the road to McKinley's for dinner - kind of a disappointment as they only serve sandwiches and salads, and Denali is hazed in - not visible - maybe from wildfires? Pleasantly tired after that hot and long hike, almost 5 hours and not easy. 

We like Byer's Lake and took a walk partway around the lake in the morning - one bridge is out, so walked to this one and back, about 3.5 miles, not bad for what we declared as our "rest day!" Took ourselves to Talkeetna for a treat, had lunch at Mile High Pizza Pie (only thing open on Monday) and hung out in park (me) for a Board meeting at 4 pm and a nap (Brian) before continuing on to Susitna Landing. 

Nice campfire at Susitna Landing, but boy were the mosquitos pesky overnight - I don't know how so many got into the camper. Brian threw a pole in the water before we retired for the night but didn't catch anything. Just a boy and his fishing pole on the Susitna River! 

Restless night - and then drove to our next big hike, Pioneer Peak.

Western Portion of Denali Highway

 Friday & Saturday, June 16 & 17 

Started with morning hike on Friday and then drove toward Cantwell, stopping as soon as all of the beeps indicated we were getting cell service again. We returned calls here, and it turned out to be another beautiful place to pull over and stop, with a great hike off to the south. On the other side of the road and all around us really was Ahtna land requiring permission to use those resources, so important to stay on the trail. Very warm day, trail was steep in spots. 

From Ahtna.com: "Historically, the Ahtna people were semi-nomadic and extensive travelers, living in small groups of 20 to 40 people. They continually moved from place to place, following food sources according to the seasons. Annual summer fish camps for the entire family and winter villages served as their base camps. Although most Ahtna are no longer nomadic, historical traditions and ways of life, especially the practice of a subsistence lifestyle, continue to this day. . . The Ahtna region encompasses the entire Copper River Basin and is bordered by the Alaska Range to the north, the Canadian border to the east, Denali National Park to the west, and the Chugach Mountains to the south. Ahtna owns 624,105 acres within National Park Service (NPS) Unit Boundaries (622,000 acres in Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve and 2,105 acres within Denali National Park and Preserve)." 

The next day we headed into Cantwell, expecting to be able to replenish provisions after 8 days on the road - and there was nothing! We did laundry at the Vitus stop, but they don't have their liquor license yet to sell beer and wine and had no fresh food to speak of - more of a convenience store and gas station. While the dryer was going, I found bakery racks out back for the things I like to line dry! 

We decided to go north 21 miles to the Grizzly Bear Resort, which had a liquor store - priorities after all - to get some more wine and beer for the remainder of our trip, since the nearest place south was 100 miles away in Trapper Creek! So 42 miles later, we were headed in the right direction again! 

Kira was mostly comfortable on this trip - she had two spots for riding in the RV, mostly in my lap but occasionally on top of the seat back cushion right behind Brian. After any hike, she could be found on this pad that we brought for her.

We were kind of sad to leave the Denali Highway. It was a beautiful trip, and I think it is one that we will make again, for sure. We know that people come up for blueberries, and we could see they are a couple of weeks away from ripe - and of course for the caribou migration - we heard it is crazy busy then. This was a nice time to be here - lots of space to appreciate on our own. 

Denali Highway - our trip continues!

 Wed & Thurs, July 14-15 

After we left Tangle Lakes (and paved highway!), we tried the Landmark Gap Trail, but 1/4 of the way down the trail, the stream crossing seemed too deep, so we went a little further down to Maclaren Summit Trail at MP 36.7. The Landmark Gap refers to a cut in the mountains to the north that is used by caribou during migration. 

Maclaren Summit is the second highest highway pass in Alaska. We hiked the Maclaren Summit Trail about 3 1/2 hrs. total, but we lost the trail at the end. Beautiful hike with a long ridge trail in open alpine terrain. 

We stopped at Clearwater Creek for the night - we had extraordinary views out our "front window" and all to ourselves almost every night that we were gone. 

From Clearwater Creek we tried a hike that required us again to cross a stream - this time I'd brought my Tevas and carried my hiking boots, but after 40 minutes we gave up - it was such a mud bog from the 4-wheelers. That was something that I felt very sad about on almost every hike. This pristine area and the permafrost is torn up and turned into mud bogs by the Off Road Vehicles (ORVs). I understand that it is another way of appreciating the environment that I don't happen to share, but I couldn't help remembering that old commercial of the American Indian with a tear coming down his cheek. It surely turns the area not beautiful in its tracks. 

We did see a bear print, and of course, there was always that possibility on all of these trails. We always carry bear spray hiking in Alaska (the we means Brian carries it - I really should check on how to actually use it!) 

We're so happy with our 1977 Chinook! It travels well, sleeps comfortably, and we've had everything that we've needed - except very little communication and virtually no cell service - especially on the western end. 

The Denali Highway - Second RV Trip of the Summer

 Once our house was rented out for two weeks and a day, we kind of had to go SOMEPLACE! As it turned out, I had a weekend course that I'd forgotten about, so we were able to stay until I finished on Saturday, cleaning our way out the door for people arriving that evening - and then went up to Palmer to stay in our friend Loogpla's driveway and make use of her internet on Sunday for my course - and she and Brian hiked "The Butte" - up and down from one direction and then the reverse - very ambitious! We had a wonderful visit with Loogpla and I brought dinner on Saturday - chicken and a pasta salad with vegetables and a baguette from Fire Island Bakery - and Loogpla's neighbor joined us with blueberry cake and homemade coconut ice cream for dessert then took us on a 3 mile hike in their neighborhood! Shrimp enchiladas on Sunday night - I prepared a lot of food ahead of time - and Loogpla made a delicious spinach salad. 

                                  Loogpla took this picture of Brian and Kira at the top of The Butte. 

We drove into Lake Louise on Monday, 19.3 miles off the Glenn Highway, having started down it and then turned around because the road was so bad the year before. The road in is rough, but it was virtually deserted on a Monday and very scenic with a great view of the lake. The Point Lodge (private lodge with mainly hunters and locals with cabins on the lake)  is a short walk away, and we went to investigate, then went back for breakfast the next morning (open Tues-Fri) before leaving. We liked #13, and #s 19-30 have to be registered online. 

After breakfast, we left for Paxon (pop. 10) and the intersection with the Denali Highway, only 71 miles but very slow due to terrible road conditions and construction. The first 21 miles of the highway are paved - sort of, lots of potholes, but amazing scenery right from the start - stayed at BLM Tangle Lakes Campground. 

First, a bit about the Denali Highway. It is 134 miles long and links Paxon on the Richardson Highway with Cantwell on the Parks Highway (a bit below entrance to Denali National Park.)  When the Denali Highway opened in 1957, it was the only road link to Denali National Park & Preserve until the Parks Highway was built in 1972. The first 21 miles and last 3 miles are paved, and the rest is gravel with varied conditions along the way - slow going, but that way you get to look around! 

The Tangle Lakes Archaeological District encompasses 226,000 acres with more than 500 archaeological sites documenting prehistoric man's lives. The Milepost Book, a must-have travelogue for traveling Alaska says, "For more than 10,000 years, hunter-gatherers have dug roots, picked berries, fished and hunted big game (primarily caribou) in this area." We hiked up to a knob on a trail here and had a show from two fighter jets -they evidently practice here and fly low to practice bombing raids. It was pretty phenomenal - they really are stealth fighters - you see them first, and the sound follows. They tipped their wings to us on one of their turns around. 

                                          From the top of the knob looking down at Tangle Lakes

More days to come! 

RV Trip to Seldovia: June 25-July 2

 Finally on the road - Saturday June 26! We had a little pressure, as we had reservations on the ferry - Alaska's "Marine Highway" - for Sunday morning and had to be there, 250 miles away, by 9:45 am (ferry left at 11:45 am but lots to get ready and loaded.) The ferry was 1 1/2 hrs. to get to Seldovia. 

From Wikipedia: Seldovia (Alutiiq: Angagkitaqnuuq; Russian: Селдовия) is a city in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. Its population was 255 at the 2010 census, down from 286 in 2000. It is located along Kachemak Bay southwest of Homer. There is no road system connecting the town to other communities, so all travel to Seldovia is by airplane or boat.

and more from Wikipedia: The Alaska Native people of Seldovia make up approximately one quarter of the population and have ancestors of Aleut and Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) descent, as well as some Dena'ina.^[5]

The town's original Russian name, Seldevoy, translates to "Herring Bay", as there was a significant herring population prior to rampant overfishing early in the 20th century.

Until the development of a more complete road system in Alaska, Seldovia was an important "first stop" for ships sailing from Seward, Kodiak and other points outside Cook Inlet. At one time Seldovia was home to over 2,000 residents, but today fewer than 300 persons reside year round.

And now from me: Another interesting fact - at one time, the Main Street of town could only be walked from one end to the other at low tide - by high tide, water was right up to the doorsteps - Seldovia has anywhere from a 15' to 21' tide! The boardwalk was built around the 1920s and enabled people to walk to houses and businesses at any time of day. 

Pictures of us coming into Seldovia on the ferry and of the ferry itself. There is also a "high speed ferry" that we couldn't take our RV on and several "water taxi" companies that ferry people from Homer to Seldovia and back. 

Ferry coming into Homer before we load. 

Our first look at Seldovia. We had a great time there, camping at "Outside Beach, with very few people around and a wonderful view out our very big windows that we appreciate on our RV. The beach is rocky for the most part, gravely, rather than sandy, and with the very big tide, big craggy rocks emerge at low tide. 

And lots of hiking here too -  up to their Resevoir, also the Rocky Ridge hike which was a loop back into town and then through town back to our RV on the other side, fairly steep, lovely primitive trail. We drove 10 miles up to Jakalof Bay and met some new people, learned something more about salmon fishing there, and the next day did another hike we found out about from a young woman who'd come over to bike for the day and. was waiting for a water taxi. That hike was about 7 miles, a combination of an old truck road into a mine and a primitive trail over and through a couple of creeks and washed out narrow strips of land. The mining was for chromium at one time, years ago now with some evidence of the abandoned vehicles and structures. Oh - and also a fast-retreating black bear who caught our scent or was alerted by my calling "Coming through bears" and took off before we encountered him - thank you bear. 

and a hike our last day before we left again on the ferry, which I thought was going to be nothing, the "Otterbahn Trail" that started in town and went to Outside Beach and back - it was a fun trail with more up and down, more to it than I expected - we got there at low tide, note the rocks that are usually under water, and we met another interesting couple who talked to us about retirement as they are selling their place in Halibut Cove, a short boat ride away and looking at what's next. 

 

We had a couple of lunches in town and a couple of trips to the bakery - highly recommended. And I found the library, which I love to do in every town that we visit. It's only open a few hours each day, so if I ever move to Seldovia, I'm going to be a volunteer librarian so that it can be open. I was able to circle back and buy 3 books for $1 each. It's a wonderful small-town life, we met lots of interesting people, had a campfire with one group one night, and ran into everyone who we met on the ferry coming over several times - because it's a one-street town basically for businesses, so lots of running into people. Even a family that we met in Jakalof Bay met up with us one afternoon and said, "Wait - we know you!" They were visiting a parent and were from Arizona now, and the parent had a cabin there - "good forethought," I said. It was a beautiful bay to have a cabin on.  

And on the way home - Ninilchik, where we stayed on the beach on the way up at the Deep Creek State Recreational Site - and then on the Skilak Road, which is a 19 mile gravel road that we probably won't take again!  A little too rough and very slow! But a beautiful day hike above Skilak Lake and a new discovery of the Hidden Lake Campground, which thankfully is almost at the end of the Skilak Lake Road! Skilak Lake Road runs through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, and we heard two stories when we got back that testify to the wildlife. One man was on a trail just 2 miles up the road from where we hiked and was attached by a black bear with two cubs. He was slashed on the arm and then bitten in the shoulder but managed to hike out and was ok. Another couple somewhere on Skilak Lake was attacked, I think by a brown bear, while sleeping in their tent and managed to get away by canoe but with injuries. You do have to be careful, as we saw lots of bear skat while we were hiking most days. 

Although the days are getting shorter, the sunsets are getting longer. These two pictures are an hour apart, at 12:30 am and 1:30 am approximately, one night when I wasn't sleeping. 

Kira finds new comfortable riding/sleeping places in the RV besides my lap, which I'm grateful for, and she's glad to be home. It's probably a good thing that she doesn't know we're leaving again on our next trip in a few days! 

Trying to get out of town on RV Trip

 What a start. Thursday, June 24th, we decide to leave early on our trip - we were renting out our house while we were gone, already had it clean, so we might as well go! About an hour or so into the trip south down Highway 1, the RV started chugging if we went over 40 mph. So we turned around and came back, camping illegally at a trailhead so as not to mess up the house again and planning to have it fixed if possible on Friday. Friday came and no solution yet as they couldn't find the right water pump - and our renters let us know that their plane was canceled so they weren't coming in til Saturday. So we came home carefully for Friday night, eating takeout on the deck, changing bed coverings, etc. and trying to have Kira shed as little as possible! A friend of ours watched her the next morning, and by 6. pm we were ready to leave again. 

Moose on the road into South Fork Eagle River Trail 

But . . . on Friday since we had all day and didn't want to be in the house, we started our vacation by doing a 10 mile, 5 hour hike on the South Fork Eagle River trail to Symphony Lake. We'd done this hike about an hour or so out before to the bridge or even beyond up towards the "Hanging Valley" but had never gone in the direction of the lake. Lots of hikers out that day, and a gorgeous trail - and a moose sighting on the road on the way up!

 

This is one of my favorite hikes -  a standby that's relatively flat, not as much elevation gain, but beautiful views surrounding us as the. trail cuts through the valley. And it. is where we can cut up too, if we choose, much more steeply, to do the ridge hike I mentioned in our last entry over to Rendezvous - views the whole way!