If you are planning on going, and you have not let us know already, please do so TODAY. We will be calling everyone with final details tonight. This is a Friday – Monday hike, Girdwood to Eagle River. We need to arrange transportation from ER back to Girdwood after, or arrange vehicle drop off at ER before.

And If you are NOT planning on hiking, but could help with these logistics, let is know right away please.

So far, we have seven people going for sure! It’s going to be a great experience!

See you on the trail!

Mine Ruins - Crow Pass

We need to start working on logistics for our 4 day hike on Crow Pass over Labor Day Weekend Sept 3-6. If you are planning on this trip please us know immediately.

We get on the trail and hike approximately 6 miles a day and cross Eagle River Crossing at the beginning of day 3. Trip starts in Girdwood and ends at Eagle River Nature Center.  Part of the logistics involve leaving vehicles at both ends.

If you are considering this hike, please let us know immediately via contact form. We will call you back as details fall in place – or sooner if you need more info.

In particular, we need to work out the logistics of (a.) Getting one of our vehicles up to Eagle River or (b.) Having someone in Anchorage/Eagle River transport us back to Girdwood or (c.) pay someone’s gas and dinner meal to drive up and pick us up at Eagle River and transport us back to Girdwood. If you or someone you know would be interested in helping us in this way, please let us know.

Some of our normal crew will not be available for this hike. But the cabin is already reserved. If you are interested, fill out an RSVP here sooner rather than later, via contact form. Plenty of camping around the cabin for those in the same group.

See you on the Trail!

If you are interested in going on this hike, please submit an RSVP form here. If we can make it work, we will. We would be happy to still organize the hike.

It’s a great day hike. You won’t want to miss it.

View of North Beach from Camp Area

We may schedule taxi service to take gear and 1 or 2 people out and back while everyone else hike the 4.5 miles to the North Beach. If so, we can load up all sorts of gear on the Taxi and those who hike can do so with a light load. Split cost of taxi among group.

North Beach has a covered pavilion, good camp sites, a latrine and running water. Site is just a few hundred feet from the beach. Day hike to Fork, along beach, watch the cruise ships come in Resurrection Bay, etc . . .

Depart time is based on Low Tide levels when accessing a certain part of the trail. We need a good low tide. This weekend and this time was chosen by our group with this in mind.

Please consider joining us on this. Because of the added planning for the boat taxi,  I will need you to NOTIFY ME immediately if you are considering going on this hike.  Use Contact/RSVP form and give your phone number. I will get back to you immediately.

See you on the trail!

Six people and four dogs set out to discover Lost Lake, near Seward, Alaska, on Saturday July 3rd. Did they meet their objective? You be the judge.

Other hikers coming off the trail told the first of two groups hiking in on Saturday that Lost Lake was frozen and there was a heavy mist in the air, along with deep snow, up to two miles near the lake on this side (south of Lake). They suggested going up the winter route and not trying to go all the way to the lake.

Group 1 waited for Group 2 (deciding it might be better to go in together as one larger group). After some discussion, we decided to proceed as usual despite the warning, and re-evaluate things as we went along or once we came upon snow. We opted NOT to go the winter route from this south side (good thing we did what we did) and stayed on the summer route until we came to the northern intersection of the Lost Lake Trail and the winter route. It had been raining off and on, and we still weren’t too sure what laid ahead – so we camped there.

Most of our group took a 2 mile day hike to the south from basecamp, visiting the Forest Service rental cabin on the way. There reward was an incredible view of Resurrection Bay.

The next morning, we took a day hike from this base camp out to the Lake. It was an memorable experience. I had been on this trail before in years past, but never without a full pack. I was always either hiking in or out, but never simply as a day hike without all the weight. It was great.

As we approached the Lake, it started getting colder. We stopped at the high ground a mile or so south of the lake, and looked down into another world.

Lost Lake was still completely froze over. And there was snow in the entire valley in which the lake was situated. All around the area, snow was almost entirely melted away. But it was as if the summer had forgot about this part of the world, or like someone had dropped a huge pile of snow in the middle of a summertime landscape.

I believe we had made the right call the night before. The snow looked deep, and the mist that we saw from time to time was probably at the lake, too. It would have been an interesting time navigating without winter gear, in deep snow, with no real visibility.

We ate lunch at this higher vantage point and enjoyed the the show – the sun popping in and out from behind the clouds, teasing us with its warmth.

That night, part of the group went on back the winter route, from north to south while others of us stayed at the base camp site and welcomed one more night on the trail.

We had a fire. But it started raining pretty hard in the evening and the night ended with everybody retreating to the warm coziness of their tents.

We slept the next morning until the rain stopped (sort-of). We then got up, packed up and headed up and out, along the winter trail back to the southern trailhead.

All the rain the night before made it painfully obvious that this trail was designed for snowmachines and winter conditions, and not for foot traffic. Past the cabin, the trail got steep and slippery. It was a bit hairy for a time, but we made it out OK. Out to our vehicles and a great breakfast at Alaska Nellie’s in Seward.

It was a great time. Maybe next time we do this wilderness hike, with a goal of camping at Lost Lake, we will wait until later in the season! Then again, maybe not.

See you on the Trail!
Wanderer

It’s looking like rain! Well, we’re going to give it a shot none-the-less. We all need to get out and away for a while. It’s like a computer that has a hard drive being defragged to make it run better. Extended time away is our “defrag time”. Hope you have a chance to defrag this weekend, whatever your plans.

See you on the trail!
Wondered

Some of us went up, and some went out – but we all had a great time in Hope, Alaska Saturday hiking either Hope Point or Gull Rock Trail.

Once again, we found that the best thing to do with the weather reports was to ignore them. It was rainy in Kenai and they were calling for rain in Hope as well. But long about Wednesday earlier in the week, I had decided that we would “do it no matter what.” Well, we did – and we weren’t disappointed.

Not a drop of rain fell on us while Hiking Gull Rock, and the Hope Point trio dealt more with cloudy mist than they did rain.

The next big event is a two nighter at Lost Lake near Seward. We will hike to the lake mid-morning on the 2nd of July and back out Monday the 5th. This is an incredible destination. One of my most memorable hikes was doing this hike yeas ago and sitting out one entire day, dozing in the warm sun.

Let us know if you are coming. Tent, sleeping bag, stove, meals, all that stuff will need to be toted along on the 9 mile hike in. But we will stay for two nights and enjoy it all!

And be thinking seriously about two weeks following Lost Lake when we will set out on Caines Head Trail in Seward – another two nighter. But the water taxi will deliver all our gear and we hike in with no weight at all. So pull out that air mattress and that old Coleman Cook stove. Weight will not be a factor.

More details on Caines Head will be put out over the next few weeks. But if you are planning on joining us for either of these upcoming events, please let us know soon. See the Schedule 2010 calendar fir all the dates and times.

See you on the Trail!
Wanderer

Note:  For Caines Head, we will have most of our gear ferried out for us by boat.  This is the one multi-day hike where we can really live it up in luxury (because we don’t have to carry it out or back!)

Please let us know just as soon as you can about both of these overnight hikes. Caines Head,  in particular, will take a bit more planning and we need to have a good idea of numbers. So, just as soon as you determine you can go, let us know via Contact/RSVP form.

And there’s still time to decide to hike Gull Rock or Hope point with us tomorrow. Meet up at FM at 9 AM.

See you on the trail!

• Hope Point – 5 miles total – very steep elevation (Think Skyline, but twice as long with no switchbacks). You will need to be in shape for this one.
• Gull Rock – 10 Miles total – not much elevation, travel  “at sea level” near the  inlet.  Still a pretty good hump.

The two trails start out near each other. We will divide up vehicles based on who is going to which trail.  Come prepared to pitch in some gas money.

We have changed the start time to 9 AM.  That’s right. 9 AM Meet up at Fred Meyer.

See you on the trail!