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 ‘Kenai’ Category
Professional Backpacker: The perfect job?
Friday, July 10th, 2009Sunny Weather Goes Up In Smoke
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009As I was biking home from work today, my lungs were burning, my eyes were squinting, and my nostrils were flaring. Was I hammering? Nope, I was inhaling the acrid smoke that has descended over Anchorage in the past few days. Our long stretch of amazingly dryweather has triggered an outbreak of forest fires around the state. It figures, the sunny skies were too good to last.
I was curious. Of all the fires around the state, which fires are actually contributing to the fact that I can’t even see the Chugach from a few miles away? Is there any hope that the winds might shift? o Or a rain shower will knock down the haze?
Before Mt. Redoubt erupted, NOAA and the Alaska Volcano Observatory had models predicting which way the ash cloud would go. And after it erupted, there were maps showing where it actually went. I thought those were really cool and useful. I thought I could find something similar for forest fire smoke.
So far, this is the best map I have found for smoke (there are plenty of maps out there if you want data on the fires themselves). You can play with the real-time interactive map here.
A Quick Hit At Portage Lake
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009I should have known that one ski trip to Skookum Glacier wasn’t going to satiate my lust for crust this spring. Like any true addict, “just one” fix quickly leads to an overwhelming urge for another. My body may be injured, but my mind still craves copious amounts of sun and snow. No amount of bike riding was going to make the urge go away.
So yesterday I succumbed and headed to Portage Lake. With weekend temepratures hitting 70 degrees in Anchorage, I wasn’t sure the lake would still be skiable, so I had Turnagain Pass in mind as a back-up plan. When I arrived at the lake, it looked perfect. The crust was firm and smooth. There was a bustle of construction activity (lots of people and trucks) at the rock slide site, which led me to believe that there wouldn’t be any blasting anytime soon. So I geared up and headed across the lake.
Its about three miles to get back to the glacier. The first mile was great skiing. Fast and flat – perfect for my leg, which is still in the walking cast. After the first mile, though, the snow started getting punchy. At this point in the spring, the “snow” on the lake is really just a foot-thick layer of slush on top of ice. So each time I punched through, my foot dove into a soggy mess. For the next mile, I did my best to stay on top of the snow. But soon the crust was completely gone and I was trudging through slush. Bummer. At this point, making it to Portage Pass was out of the question, so I decided to trudge ahead until I could see the glacier, then turn around.
Proof that I made it. All 2.5 miles of it.
When returning to the car, I played around on the firmer crust on the north end of the lake a bit, watching the rock slide work. I finished skiing about 9:00 AM. When I got back to Anchorage, I found out that the blasting began a few hours after I left. I wish I’d been able to stay and watch! I found it amusing and slightly aggravating that the last time I was there, there were a bunch of warning signs even though the blasting wouldn’t take place for almost two weeks. Then yesterday, with the blasting only a few hours away, no signs at all!
Apres Ski
Even though the skiing wasn’t very good, it was great to be on skis again. And the trip was worth it for the drive alone – I saw a coyote, a fox, a moose and a bison along the way! (Okay, okay, the bison was at Big Game Alaska. But the others were legit.)
The Last Temptation of Crust
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009Attention: Everyone who selected April 22 in their office pool for “the day that Cory finally ignores Doctor’s (and wife’s) orders and goes skiing,” please pick up your winnings at the front desk.
Monday of this week was the first day of excellent crust ski weather we’ve had so far this spring. Blinding sunshine, frozen snowpack. But I was a good patient and stayed home (well, at work actually).
Tuesday was also an epic crust day and I probably would have given in, except that my son was sick. I figured that if my wife had to stay home with vomiting toddler, I should probably go to work and contribute to the collective family good, rather than go play in the sun. I’m very sympathetic like that.
But when Wednesday morning dawned with clear skies and cold temperatures, well, I think we can all agree that no mortal man can be expected to resist that temptation three days in a row.
One reason I hadn’t been skiing (or doing anything mildly active) prior to today was that my ankle has continued to be swollen. Not good for healing. No matter how I try to baby it, the swelling doesn’t go down. But then yesterday, I had my first real physical therapy session. The therapist really stressed the ankle a lot more than I ever had in the past six weeks. At first, the tendon felt extremely tight and weak, but the more I worked it, the better it felt. And then, when I woke up this morning and saw that the ankle was less swollen than ever since the injury, a lightbulb went off in my head. Maybe a little bit of activity is exactly what I need to reduce the swelling, to get the blood flowing and flush out the ankle. That was all the excuse I needed to grab my skis.
So this morning I drove down to Portage Lake. I picked Portage because its a short, flat, easy ski with spectacular scenery. I could get my crust ski fix without pushing my Achilles too much. But when I got there, there were signs saying “DANGER! Blasting in area – Stay off ice.” The lake looked fine and it didn’t look like they were blasting today, so I thought about going anyway. But I was by myself with no one else around, and on a gimp leg, so I decided to play it safe. I drove down the road to the Placer River valley and headed towards Skookum Glacier instead.
The crust was near-perfect: rock hard with no volcanic ash. My technique was a little sloppy, and I fatigued quickly (did I really lose that much fitness in six weeks? Ouch.), but the ski was spectacular.
I knew I needed to be extra careful of my tendon while skiing. So it was fortunate that I had a pair of Salomon’s latest top-secret prototype boots to protect me. Currently I think there are only three pairs in existence. Mathias Fredriksson has a pair, Andy Gerlach had a pair, I have a pair. Check out my photos.
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The whole trip made me so happy. Early morning drive down Turnagain Arm, cruising on top of the firm snow while the crystals sparkled in the sun, feeling my blood pumping again, soaking up the sunshine, and even stopping for a snack at the Tesoro on the way home. It was great to be back in the spring routine again, if only for a day.
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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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.
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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Packrafting Resurrection Creek
Sunday, July 20th, 2008Toby and I decided to go packrafting on Sunday. After looking at the weather forecasts (cloudy, chance of rain, same as every day this summer) and the river levels (high, from rain), and my recent luck (or lack thereof) on new routes, we decided to stick to a known entity. Recently, a number of people have raved about Resurrection Creek in Hope, so we decided to head down there and check it out.
We parked at the Resurrection trailhead and walked upstream past the impressive river restoration project. After scouting a canyon, and deciding that it was more than we were interested in tackling, we put in just below the canyon.
Wow, was it fun! The restored section of the river had quite a few boulders that created big (for a packraft) waves and holes. We had a great time hitting the drops and popping in and out of eddies. After the restoration area, the river eases slightly, and the rest of the run (about 8-9 miles total) is fast and lively but without any major dangers until near the very end. There was very little wood until the last half mile, where we encounted a number of strainers and sweepers. Some were across the whole river and we had to portage around them. I could have done without that part, but it was well worth it for the rest of the run. We completed the loop with a bike shuttle back to the parking lot.
The water seemed to be pretty high. Where we took out in Hope, the river was above its banks and flowing through the willows. There is no gauge on the creek, but nearby Six Mile was at 10.8 feet. My best guess is that the restoration section was easy class III at this level, and the rest was fun class II.
Because the river kept us busy, I didn’t take many pictures. So all I’ve got to show you is this one picture of Toby near the end of the run.
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.
Summit Creek Hike
Saturday, June 28th, 2008My parents are in town for two weeks. Today we wanted to go for a hike, so I convinced the whole clan to try the Summit Creek trail on the Kenai. I’d never been up the trail before, but on the map it looked like a nice gentle grade. Perfect for family fun. It was cold and windy, so we bundled the lil’ dude in all of our extra clothes to keep him warm. It is summer, right? I can’t tell anymore.
But other than the chill in the air and the occasional sprinkle, it was a great hike. We just went up to the first alpine valley, then turned around. Its a really neat area with lots of open tundra and low passes. There are multiple route options connecting with Devil’s Pass and Resurrection Pass. I hope to come back soon, maybe without a baby on my back, so that I can explore further.
