Backpacking, Not For The Poor of Pocketbook or Faint of Heart!

Alex, a few friends and I are backpacking Crow Pass the 16th and 17th of June. Crow Pass goes from Girdwood Alaska to Eagle River Alaska. The trail is 24 miles long (add a few miles for sightseeing detours). The first 3 miles of the hike are totally uphill (the last 21 are downhill). I know I'll be hurting when the trip is finished. Just writing this, I'm wondering what in the heck I was thinking agreeing to go! Oh yes, I remember now. It was for the amazing experience I anticipate I'm going to have. Wildlife viewing is a guarantee, with moose, marmat, ground squirrels, mountain goats, bear and beavers along the trail. Glacier viewing is a guarantee; we'll pass Raven Glacier and Eagle Glacier on the trip. There are mining ruins along the way. Wildflowers are in full bloom. We'll see waterfalls, cross a gorge, traverse a river and camp under the stars (for the few hours it's actually "dusky" with the midnight sun in full force). (http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/Hikes/CrowPass.htm)

I found some great websites that I've printed information off of. I'm new to backpacking, so I need all the tips I can get! I've camped before, taken day hikes before, but backpacking overnight is something I haven't done. There won't be any bathrooms, or running water, or restaurants along the way. I won't be wearing makeup, or styling my hair. This definitely isn't a retreat trip to a mountain spa! We are going to try following the no trace principles of camping (http://www.usscouts.org/advance/venturing/LeaveNoTrace.html), and of course we'll be practicing bear safety along the way.

Purchasing items for this trip has been pretty pricey! I had to go get a cold weather sleeping bag for temperatures down to 15 degrees, one that could be cinch sacked down to a very small size to fit in my pack, and one that didn't weigh more than 2 1/2 pounds (and, a sleeping pad for the rocky ground). Since the pass is so high up, snow remains there (deep snow) until well into summer, and I needed a bag that will keep me warm. Hypothermia is the LAST thing I want to have to worry about when we are in a remote area with no phone service. I've also got to pack two separate sets of clothes, at the least. When we went last week to check out the trail, we spoke with someone who said that the pass was still covered with snow, and that we'd need to be prepared to traverse when the river would be about knee to thigh high and COLD, COLD, COLD (it's glacial and snow run off). We'll be crossing the river in shoes other than our hiking boots. Nothing worse than wet socks and hiking boots. I've got to have a set of clothes for warm weather, and one for cold weather, along with extra socks, slick socks, tennis shoes, and all the regular essentials for a trip like this (http://www.backpacking.net/inventry.html#spring-fall-day). We also got bug spray, bear spray, a gps unit and binoculars. I'll also be taking my snow shoes, just in case. The food we got for the trip is all freeze dried. No bringing a cooler on this trip! Alex found some pretty interesting grub. For breakfast, we will be enjoying freeze dried eggs, bacon and milk. Just add water, and PRESTO! we'll be in hog (excuse the pun) heaven. For lunch and dinner, we'll be dining on freeze dried Beef Stroganoff and Chicken Teriyaki. And, the piece de resistance... a dessert of freeze dried Bananas Foster. Snacks along the way will be provided by Power Bar. Water will be provided for by the land (we've got a purifier filter and pump). How's that for living off the land? (I'm almost positive I'll be in gastronomic distress by the time we get to Eagle River, but it'll be worth it). With how much we spent on this trip, we would have been able to fly to Seattle from Anchorage and stay at the Crown Plaza! We will be using the equipment again though when we backpack Caines Head (http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/Hikes/Caines_head.htm) and Caines Head Alpine Trail (http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/Hikes/Caine_Alpine.html) next month when the tide is low (Caines Head can only be accessed at low tide). We'll be using the gps unit when we go geocaching this summer (http://www.geocaching.com/faq/).

I know I now have the utmost respect for "professional" backpackers, those brave nomads who, with packs on their backs and dreams in their hearts, hit the trails of Alaska all summer long. They live off of the land, staying only occassionally at a backpacker's youth hostel. I totally respect them, and their unshowered, unshaven, hippy selves. The next time I see one hitchiking, I am definitely going to offer them a ride.

Reference sites:
http://www.backpacking.net/beginner.html
http://www.backpacking.net/index.html
http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/education.htm#Fording%20Rivers

Afternoon Delights

I have taken afternoon "trips" the past two days. When I got off work on Monday, I decided to take the Arctic Valley exit and head up Arctic Valley. It was too beautiful an afternoon to waste by just going home and sitting around until my karate lessons began at 7 pm.

I love going up Arctic Valley any time of the year. Although, I do believe my car likes it better in winter. When there isn't snow on the road to even out the terrain (the road isn't paved), it's quite a bumpy ride. The views make all the jarring worth it. Around every bend there seems to be more and more beauty to be seen, more mountains off in the distance to be discovered, and more views than my afternoon joy ride afforded me time to enjoy.

Yesterday, after getting my Alaska driver's license (it's official now, I'm an Alaskan by birth, and by choice), I took Kaylee on a trip to St. Nicholas Orthodox church in Eklutna, and to Talkeetna for a view of Denali. St. Nicholas Orthodox church has a wonderful Athabascan cemetery housing a few dozen "spirit houses" on its grounds that dates back to 1650. Spirit houses are small house like structures built over the grave of the deceased in order to give the soul a "house" to live in and a place for personal relics and momentoes of the deceased to be left. They are painted in the traditional colors of the deceased's family. I was sad to see that the cemetery is getting run down, but happy to hear that the church is cleaning up and restoring the area using local caring teen volunteers.

The drive to Talkeetna is not an especially lengthy one. It's only 100 miles from Eagle River, so I knew we'd have time to get back by early evening. The drive to Talkeetna is beautiful. I wish we'd had more time so that we could have stopped and enjoyed the views at the many lakes along the way. There's also a small airport in Willow that I would have liked to stop and take pictures at of the small planes and the float planes.

We got to Talkeetna in about an hour and a half and took a few pics of Denali. It was lost in the clouds. The mountain is so tall, it was hard to see where the mountain ended and the clouds began. Clouds aside, it was a beautiful view. I had to put the size in perspective for Kaylee by explaining that the mountain we were viewing was still almost 300 MILES away. The town of Talkeetna itself is a lot of fun too. It's a quirky little place with a lot of character, and a lot of characters living there! Kay and I went down to the river and enjoyed the views there for a few minutes before heading home. I don't know if I'll be able to talk Kaylee into another road trip for a while though. I think I enjoy them much more than she does!

I have a friend visiting with her kids at the end of the month from Virginia Beach. She's up for anything, and I plan to take her to Talkeetna. Hopefully, we'll get to see much more of Denali than I did during yesterday's trip.

I really love that I can just get in my car, and in a few minutes, or a few hours, be someplace amazingly beautiful and breathtaking. Alaska is an amazing place.

Winner Creek Trail is a True Winner!

I started a group here in Anchorage in February called MEETinANCHORAGE. I saw a need for a group that would bring people together when I kept meeting people who asked me time and time again if I had a hard time making friends here. The group gained membership quickly and continues to grow. It's now up to over 185 members! We do all sorts of events and activities. We do dinners, book clubs, hiking, biking, game nights, movies, walking, you name it, we probably do it. The members choose events and post them, and other members RSVP and attend. It's part of an international group called MEETin (http://www.meetin.org).

This past weekend, the group did a hike of the Winner Creek trail in Girdwood. The trail starts just above the tram at Alyeska ski resort and ends just below Crow Creek Mines at Crow Creek Road. I love this trail. It's one I always enjoy hiking (I snowshoed it twice during this past winter). The area is nothing like any other hiking area around Anchorage. The Girdwood Valley is part of a temperate boreal rain forest. The plants there are more like the ones I'm used to seeing in Virginia. There are huge ferns, moss covered trees, and long moss hanging from the branches of the canopy overhead like the Spanish moss I'm accustomed to seeing in the southern states of the lower 48.

The trail leads to a foot bridge over one gorge and a hand tram over another. The waters that rush through these gorges are glacial melt water. When we were there, the water was rushing so quickly that I ended up with a mist of water on my camera lens while I was taking pictures. The water views are gorgeous. During the hike to the bridge, more water views can be seen off to the right of the trail at different points, through the trees. There is also a wide foot bridge along the trail off to the right that leads to some cabin ruins and more spectacular views of the water. We hiked part way up the trail to the ruins, but decided to save that side-hike for another day and turned around half way up. Another side hike we'll do later leads to a one-man gold panning camp. One of the girls on the hike showed us a path that lead to a rope down a very steep path that took hikers to the water level of the second gorge. At the bottom of that trail is a rustic gold panning camp. We'll be heading back in a few weeks to check out that camp. Maybe we'll try our hand at panning for gold too!

The difficulty level of the trail makes hiking Winner Creek trail a winner. It's not a difficult trail at all, it's relatively incline free (though parts can be steep and slippery), so people of all activity levels can enjoy hiking it. The tourists go on paid tours to do the trail and pay upwards of $120 a piece to take the tram ride at Alyeska and hike to the foot bridge over the first gorge. All we paid for was gas to get there! Well ok, we had dinner at Chair Five restaurant after the hike too (which in my opinion is a must if you go to Girdwood).

Chair Five is a fun little restaurant located near the post office just off the main road into Girdwood. They've got amazing pizza, terrific burgers, appetizers that beg to be main entrees, and the beer really hits the spot after a hike. The locals of Girdwood hang out there, and there are bound to be some pretty interesting characters back near the pool tables, sitting at the bar.

It was a beautiful Alaskan spring day. The temperature was great, the bug level was low, and the company was awesome. There wasn't much snow left on the trail at all, and it was relatively mud and muck free on the path. There are also sections of wood blanked bridges over parts of the trail that are anticipated to be the most muddy which is really nice (beats having to traverse mud like we've had to on the past couple of hikes I've done).

Alaska ROCKS!