Andrew Skurka’s office definitely has a better view than mine does. He’s currently in Alaska and recently hiked from Hope to Homer. Then he turned around and headed north through Kenia Fjords, the Chugach mountains, and is currently in the Talkeetna mountains on his way to Cantwell. Check out his Spot page to follow his progress. http://www.andrewskurka.com/
Archive for the ‘Hike’ Category
Professional Backpacker: The perfect job?
Friday, July 10th, 2009Early leader in the clubhouse…
Friday, July 3rd, 2009…for “This Year’s Adventure I Envy Most”: Nabesna to McCarthy bikepackraft
Confirmation Dust
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008Its funny that just last week I made this statement about my results in local fun races:
I could have a great race and finish 15th, and I could just as easily have a bad race and finish 4th, if no one shows up.
Well, in this week’s Tuesday Night Race, none of the fast guys showed up. And I finished 4th. It wasn’t a bad race by any means, but maybe it was a self-fulfilling prophesy. For most of the race, I was in the top three, but faded to fourth with a half-mile to go. I guess I should have written that I could win if no one showed up! Nonetheless, it was fun to run with the leaders and entertain thoughts of victory. Even if those dreams were shattered when the top two guys picked up the pace with two miles to go. TNR Results
After two weeks of finishing the same place in both TNR and cyclocross, I knew I had my work cut out for me going into Saturday’s cyclocross race. If I was going to keep the streak alive, I had a long way to go to reach fourth place. The course was rooty, muddy and very challenging on skinny tires. The course had very little running, so it felt like an ordinary mountain bike race, exept I was on the wrong bike. So I was not surprised when the eventual winner blew past me on a hardtail mountain bike. But it was still fun. I managed to get a good workout and finish 10th. ArcticCross results
And finally the highlight of the week was a spectacular weekend. The kind of crystal clear weekend we’ve been waiting for all summer. I didn’t get away for any adventures, but I did manage to kick-off the weekend with a spectacular run around the Williwaw Lakes – Ballfield loop from Glen Alps with Rob and Chrissy. The evening light lit up the fall colors and contrasted well with the confirmation dust on the peaks.
Normally, the first snow on the mountains is called termination dust because it signals the termination of summer. But this year I’ve dubbed it “confirmation dust,” because it confirmed that the summer of ’08 is never going to happen.
Anyway, a few photos from our run, courtesy of Chrissy…
Hiking the Johnson Pass trail, with a scenic detour
Sunday, September 21st, 2008On Saturday, Toby and I took our packrafts for a long walk on the Johnson Pass trail. The trip we had in mind didn’t work out, because I balked at getting up and over a ridge. Just like the first time Ian and I I tried the Center2 Spencer route, we got cliffed out in an area that probably would have been fine if we had an ice axe and crampons. You’d think that I would have learned from that trip, but no, once again we left the ice axe in the car at the trailhead. The terrain looked fairly mundane on the map, but less so in person.
Even so, we probably could have made it up and over, but I get really cautious in those situations. I guess I’m kind of a chicken, but I start thinking about all the possible ways that it could go wrong and psych myself out. Its a paradox that I struggle with often – I love adventure, but I’m not much of a risk-taker. Anyway, I convinced Toby to turn around.
So what was supposed to be a hike and packraft trip instead turned into a long day of hiking the Johnson Pass trail from north to south, with a detour along the way. We hiked/jogged approximately 27 miles in ten hours. It was still fun, and we got to explore a really cool side valley. My body is nicely beat up today from hours of jogging with a 30 pound pack (in addition to our rafting gear, we also had gear for an overnight). My shoulders, back and hips are all a little sore and raw.
With the equinox upon us, and temperatures starting to get below freezing at night, I think that’s it for the summer adventure season. All in all, it was a pretty disappointing summer. So many things I wanted to do, and I only did a couple of them. There’s always next year!
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Hike up Kanchee and Knoya Peaks
Monday, September 15th, 2008I’ve mentioned a few times that I love having the Chugach mountains within minutes of our house. But never do I appreciate it more than those times, like today, when I have exactly four hours of free time, and I want to squeeze in a three and a half hour workout.
On SUnday I did a hike up Kanchee and Knoya Peak from the Stuckagain Heights trailhead. I’ve been up Knoya before, but never up Kanchee, which is lower and sits just northwest of Knoya. Technically, I don’t think either of these are true peaks because they are both just bumps on a ridge line that descends from Tanaina Peak. But no matter, they still make for a great hike.
I went up over the Dome, dropped down across the streams that eventually become Chester Creek, and then ascended Kanchee. From there, its a short climb to the top of Knoya. I came down the southwest ridge from Knoya to complete the loop back on the Dome. Then back down to the trailhead.
It was cloudy, windy and rainy when I set out, so I didn’t bother bringing a camera. I soon wished I had because the tundra was alive, at the peak of fall colors. I took some shots with my cell phone, which didn’t do it justice. Here they are anyway.
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Bear Mountain in Seward
Monday, September 1st, 2008We went to Seward for Labor Day weekend. When we arrived Saturday afternoon, the weather was spectacular. Not a cloud in the sky. It took me a little while to remember what that disturbingly bright orb in the sky was, but once I was able to dig out my sunglasses, my memory was pleasantly refreshed by the wonderful sensation of sun on my skin.
I had exactly three hours, while Linda watched the kiddo, to squeeze in a hike. So I decided to go up Bear Mountain. It has easy access from downtown Seward, and it looked like a very rewarding peak. I wasn’t sure I could get up and down in three hours, but I was sure I’d get some great views either way.
It took a few minutes to find the trail. I think it is hidden on purpose, so I’m not going to post the access info. Once on the trail, it was steep and in good shape. There were lots of ferns and long grass that sometimes made seeing my feet a challenge, but there was no bushwhacking. At about 1800′, the Spruce and Alders gave way to open tundra. The trail disappeared, but the hiking was excellent and the views were jaw-dropping. It was a perfect day for this hike.
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After another 1000 feet of climbing, the tundra gave way to rock and snow. Route-finding became more critical. I went up through the snow fields in this picture, then stuck to the ridge.
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When I reached the small triangle shaped snowfield about 600′ below the summit, the ridge got pretty sketchy. I had been hiking for an hour and twenty minutes, so I didn’t have much time to find a better route, if I wanted to be back down in time. I turned around, and descended a bit and headed around to the south side of the peak. I found what looked to be an easier route to the top up a scree slope, but by then I was at an hour and 45 minutes, so I had to head down and save the top for another day.
The snow made the first part of the descent go by very quickly, and I made it back to town with 5 minutes to spare. It was a spectacular 2 hour, 55 minute hike. So close to town, yet the only other creatures I saw were goats, a bear and a fox. It whet my appetite to not only complete this peak, but also explore a lot more in this area. It ended up raining for the rest of the weekend, so I was really glad I was able to get this hike in before the weather deteriorated.
Click either of the photos above to see the whole album from this hike, including a great 360 degree view.
O’Malley Peak
Monday, August 11th, 2008Every day when I drive home up O’Malley Road, I look up and see False Peak, with the higher O’Malley Peak hiding behind it. Well, not for this summer, because its been hidden in clouds every day. But in years past I’ve seen it regularly.
O’Malley Peak is a great day hike from Glen Alps, and I’ve hiked and skied on both sides of many times, but never got around to hike it. So when I woke up Sunday morning to unexpected clear(ish) skies, and I had a few hours to spare, I figured it was a good time to give O’Malley a go.
I hiked from Glen Alps up through the Ballfield, took a short detour to look down over Black Lake, then started up the scree gully to get to the ridge. The ridge had some fog on it, so when I got to the top, it took me a few minutes to figure out that I couldn’t go any higher.
Looking east on the ridge from O\’Malley Peak
Yes, that is fresh snow (and some hail) in the photo above. Is it still called ‘Termination Dust’ if its been falling all summer? Is there really a summer to terminate? I digress. My goal was to continue back along the ridge to Hidden Peak. I stayed just below the ridgeline on the south side, since the north side drops vertically for a couple thousand feet. It was good traveling (at least by Chugach ridgeline standards), until I reached the point where I started ascending to Hidden Peak. There was some fog, and I couldn’t see a safe route to the top. I traversed around at about the 4500 contour line, hoping to find a gully to take me up. But I kept getting pushed downward by small cliffs, and eventually I had gone by the peak without seeing a good route up. By then I was running out of time, so I decided to head straight down the scree and snow to Hidden Lake, then run the trail back to Glen Alps. The trip took three and a half hours of hiking and jogging.
Hidden Lake and the scree field I descended below Hidden Peak.
O’Malley ridgeline, viewed from the south. Click for panorama
Chugach State Park is so close to home that I often take it for granted and forget what a spectacular playground it can be. This was a great hike. Many people travel thousands of miles to hike through rugged Alaskan scenery like this. And I was home in time for lunch.
Turnagain Pass to Spencer Glacier Packrafting Hike
Friday, August 1st, 2008Last summer, Ian and I tried to hike from Turnagain Pass to Spencer Glacier Lake, then packraft out the Placer River. I call this trip “Center2 Spencer” (Center to Spencer) because the route is Center Ridge to Center Creek to Spencer Glacier. Its as clever as I could get.
Unfortunately, we had to turn back at the pass near Tincan Peak, above Center Ridge. The cliff was a little too high and we didn’t have the right gear. So its been on my list to complete this summer. Friday was a nice day, so we jumped at the chance to do it again. We also took along Bastien, an orienteer who is visiting from France.
This time we made it. It was a great trip, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that some parts sucked. The bushwhack up to the top of Center Ridge wasn’t fun, but it was only half an hour. And after that, the walking on Center Ridge was great. Going over the pass was a challenge, but was made much more doable by good snow conditions and the fact that we had ice axes. The walking on the other side of the pass was easy-going with spectacular views, except for one steep bushwhacking section just before Center Creek Pass. And then, of course, the descent from Center Creek to Spencer Lake was awful. Some of the nastiest bushwhacking I’ve done. If they ever build the proposed whistle-stop trail down this slope, this could become a classic packraft trip. But not until then.
The trip took a total of 11 hours. We hiked quickly, but didn’t push the pace, and we stopped for a few snack breaks. We had a great time and made the most of a rare sunny day. Check out the photos for more details. Thanks to Bill for giving us info from his ski trip on this route in June.
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Swing and a miss
Saturday, July 5th, 2008Many of the outdoor trips I do are fairly standard. They are on well-defined trails, doing routes that many people have done before. But the best trips are always the ones that are unique. In Alaska, a land with an infinite number of outdoor opportunities, it always seems like a shame to do the same old, same old. So I constantly have the urge to step out and do something a little different. Sometimes these ‘different’ ideas turn into successful trips. Other times, not so much.
Recently, my batting average on successful trip ideas has taken a nose dive. I’m hitless in my last three attempts. I think part of the reason is that I am searching for adventures closer to home. With greater family responsibility in the past year, my windows for play time have become shorter and less frequent. The problem with this strategy is that I live in a city of almost 300,000 people, many of whom are avid outdoors men and women. Chances are, if there is a great trip to be found within an hour’s drive of Anchorage, it has already been discovered. But that doesn’t stop me from searching. It just means that my failure rate goes up. Way up. Maybe someday I’ll learn to stick to the tried and true, but it hasn’t happened yet.
The unsuccessful trips rarely make it onto this website, especially when they get stymied in the first few miles. But I am making an exception for this one, for two reasons:
1) Its the only thing I’ve done recently
2) It was supposed to be the first ‘adventure’ that Linda and I have done together (just the two of us) since our son was born. So I felt added pressure to make it successful.
But alas, it was not. My plan was a day-hike/packrafting route on the Kenai Peninsula. I estimated about 6 hours of hiking and two hours of rafting. The area is not remote by any means, but I did think I had selected a unique route that could potentially become a packrafting favorite. I’m not going to tell you where, but maybe you can figure it out from this photo…
… or maybe not.
I knew there would be some nasty bushwhacking, which I thought we could handle for a mile or two. But the vegetation was even worse than I expected. Additionally, I hadn’t planned on dealing with a steep side-hill while bushwhacking, and the fact that the creek was raging, which prevented us from being able to cross in search of easier terrain. Plus, it was raining. Eventually, I admitted defeat, and we pulled the plug.
As a consolation prize, we went to the Johnson Pass trailhead in Turnagain Pass and hiked into the bridge over Center Creek, and rafted out to the road. I did this a few years ago as part of another trip, and it was a fun, relaxed float with a few sweepers to keep us on our toes. But today the creek was raging (Six Mile was at 11.4 ft, ‘action’ stage), and there were a lot more sweepers, especially in the first mile or two. Center Creek, usually on the easy side of class II, seemed closer to class III. But after three portages in the first mile, it opened up a bit and we enjoyed a nice run to the road.
So not exactly what I had planned for the day, but it was still nice to get out and about with Linda for the first time in forever.
Penguin Peak
Sunday, June 29th, 2008The rest of the family got their weekend fix of hiking yesterday at Summit Creek. But I wanted to do a little more. I had a few free hours this morning, so I headed down Turnagain Arm for a hike up Penguin Peak.
One thousand vertical feet into the climb, I encountered snow. From there on up (another 3000 feet) it was all snow fields, which made for good climbing, albeit a little slow. When I reached the ridge line just below the summit, the ridge was still covered in snow with a nice cornice. The pitch was a little steep, and without any poles or axe, I didn’t feel like pushing on to the top. So I turned around and enjoyed a 3000′ glissade back down. It took me an hour and thirty minutes to get up, and only thirty minutes to get down! At one point, I had been in my glissade stance for so long (probably about two minutes), that my legs seized up and I had a spectacular face-plant. After I picked myself up off the snow and untangled my calf muscles, I limped down the dirt section of the trail and back to the car.
It was an energizing way to spend a Sunday morning. My knees aren’t what they used to be, so I love hikes that offer a strenuous uphill and a snow (or scree) descent. Click the picture below for a 360 degree panoramic from the ridge below Penguin Peak. Penguin is in the far right of the photo.
