We 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.

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.

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.

Toby 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.