Himalayas of North America
The weekend after Denali was a 4 day weekend for Memorial Day. Jeff, Stephen, and I went south to do this 24 mile loop in the Wrangell-St. Elias. I think I've heard that park called the Himalayas of North America. I've never been in the Himalayas, but I can tell you that these mountains were absolutely gorgeous.
The loop we were doing was in the eastern part of the park, which turned out to be a long drive. Here's me enjoying the view at a rest break.
The trail started (and ended) following a stream for a while. This is Trail Creek, and we came back on Lost Creek.
Hippies Smell Like Poop. At least, that's what Jeff's shirt says.
There were some stream crossings involved. Stephen gets airborne here.
I'm not sure that this picture turned out as sweet as it actually looked (shocker), but where glacial-fed streams bled into Trail Creek there was this cool dual-color effect.
One we left the main trail, we started a pretty intense uphill.
Here's Jeff and Stephen powering up to the pass we were trying to reach. Most of this valley was formed by a glacier, the moraine of which we were to climb over to get to the pass.
Jeff stopping to take a break.
There were (despite the ranger's assurances) some significant snow fields. Here Stephen's in up to his waist.
As we got closer to the moraine we were funneled down into what turned out to be a stream bed. Lots of snow, bad footing, and eventually I plunged through into the creek up to my knee. Stephen and Jeff scrambled up onto a loaf formed by the moraine.
The snow was at that point pretty demoralizing, so we stopped to cook dinner.
Stephen the Chef.
After dinner, things started to clear, and the sun came out (as seen here). After much in-decision, we decided to press on over the pass.
Starting the push up to the pass, we moved deep into this ampitheater of mountains more beautiful than any I'd seen in a while. I felt like I was in a cathedral.
The hike over the pass was intense...a 40 degree slope on loose scree and snow. It took a bit longer than we thought, but we made it, and the way down was fast.
We camped out that night just below the pass, turning in about 12:30 AM. About 12 hours of hiking in nearly 24-hour daylight...Alaska rules.
The next day validated our decision to make the pass the night. It rained quite a bit. We were able to follow Lost Creek off down the valley for a while before running into this canyon. At that point, we had to climb back up onto the side of the mountains, but after an hour were able to head back down to the creek.
We headed from the Wrangells to Anchorage, where Jeff and I were to mountain bike and Stephen get ready to head to Philmont. Our intent was to camp by the side of the road, but we forgot that Anchorage is a real city, and you can't just pull off to the side of the road. So we had to bend the rules.
Mountain biking the next day was pretty nice. There are approximately a butt-ton of trails right near the suburbs, I guess in the Flattop Mountain area.
The trails were super-muddy, though. I endo'd a couple of times, and we both got stuck in mud up to our chains, but I can't complain. It was an awesome trip.
The loop we were doing was in the eastern part of the park, which turned out to be a long drive. Here's me enjoying the view at a rest break.
The trail started (and ended) following a stream for a while. This is Trail Creek, and we came back on Lost Creek.
Hippies Smell Like Poop. At least, that's what Jeff's shirt says.
There were some stream crossings involved. Stephen gets airborne here.
I'm not sure that this picture turned out as sweet as it actually looked (shocker), but where glacial-fed streams bled into Trail Creek there was this cool dual-color effect.
One we left the main trail, we started a pretty intense uphill.
Here's Jeff and Stephen powering up to the pass we were trying to reach. Most of this valley was formed by a glacier, the moraine of which we were to climb over to get to the pass.
Jeff stopping to take a break.
There were (despite the ranger's assurances) some significant snow fields. Here Stephen's in up to his waist.
As we got closer to the moraine we were funneled down into what turned out to be a stream bed. Lots of snow, bad footing, and eventually I plunged through into the creek up to my knee. Stephen and Jeff scrambled up onto a loaf formed by the moraine.
The snow was at that point pretty demoralizing, so we stopped to cook dinner.
Stephen the Chef.
After dinner, things started to clear, and the sun came out (as seen here). After much in-decision, we decided to press on over the pass.
Starting the push up to the pass, we moved deep into this ampitheater of mountains more beautiful than any I'd seen in a while. I felt like I was in a cathedral.
The hike over the pass was intense...a 40 degree slope on loose scree and snow. It took a bit longer than we thought, but we made it, and the way down was fast.
We camped out that night just below the pass, turning in about 12:30 AM. About 12 hours of hiking in nearly 24-hour daylight...Alaska rules.
The next day validated our decision to make the pass the night. It rained quite a bit. We were able to follow Lost Creek off down the valley for a while before running into this canyon. At that point, we had to climb back up onto the side of the mountains, but after an hour were able to head back down to the creek.
We headed from the Wrangells to Anchorage, where Jeff and I were to mountain bike and Stephen get ready to head to Philmont. Our intent was to camp by the side of the road, but we forgot that Anchorage is a real city, and you can't just pull off to the side of the road. So we had to bend the rules.
Mountain biking the next day was pretty nice. There are approximately a butt-ton of trails right near the suburbs, I guess in the Flattop Mountain area.
The trails were super-muddy, though. I endo'd a couple of times, and we both got stuck in mud up to our chains, but I can't complain. It was an awesome trip.
posted by Slim at
11:39 PM
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