Harp Traverse

 Today we placed my car and Jane's car at the South Fork of Eagle River Trailhead, and all piled into Madeline's car and drove up Hiland Road to the Harp Peak Trailhead. This trail is commonly known as the easiest 5000-foot peak in the Chugach Range, but considering the steep grade, it is by no means that easy. It seems to go up forever over multiple false summits, with increasing loose rock and scree until you finally reach the highest rock pile. We encountered a lone hiker named Mary who ended up joining us up to the summit. When she heard what we were doing she decided to join us. She was quite a strong hiker, having done Reed Lakes, to Bomber to Snowbird a day or 2 before. She stayed with us most of the traverse. We hiked along the long ridge for 4 or 5 miles of scrambling over huge rock gendarmes, a few of which made me a little nervous. Erin was the most experienced at this traverse and was always a bit ahead of the rest of us. I tried my best to keep up with her because, of course, Bella was always right behind her. She tended to pick routes that made me wonder why I had chosen to do this hike! I was still a bit tired from the recent activities and seemed more anxious with the heights and rock climbing than usual. I had to take a few deep breaths and follow my dog who was happy to bounce along over scary precipices that made me cringe. But it wasn't nearly as bad as my mind was making it. I did do it once before and don't remember having that anxiety then. Mary ended up much faster than even Erin and took off well ahead. Her intention was to go to Hanging Valley, walk around the lake then climb the ridge behind it then work her way down to the South Fork Trail. We were all in awe and told her that if she saw a red Subaru with license CAREN at the trailhead, we would be happy to take her back to her car at the Harp Trailhead.

We found the correct trail down from the ridge and worked our way across a couple of small creeks. I had to hand Bella over one of them. She crossed the second one easily but couldn't get up the steep grassy slope above it. I handed her to Ivan, and he fell over, but they both made it up that slippery slope. I grabbed some branches and got myself up there too. We had a hard time finding the actual overgrown trail but eventually worked our way to the South Fork Trail. I had brought a lot of extra water figuring it would be very hot. I was frequently giving Bella water. Now that we had some creeks, she was able to get her own water. Soon after we crossed the South Fork Bridge, Bella started really slowing down. I dumped out some of my water, gave one bottle to Jane, and put Bella into my pack. She got to ride back there for the last couple miles of the 10-mile hike. When I first took my pack off, she knew what it was for and immediately tried to crawl into it. She's a tough little dog and as much as she was running around, she probably hiked more like 15 miles total. 

Finally, back at the cars, Jane took Madeline up to her car and I stayed and talked to Kanaz and Ivan until she returned. We kept wondering how Mary was doing. A couple of guys said they thought they had seen her, so we wondered if she might be coming along soon. But we really didn't know what she might have decided to do. Madeline drove away and I started my car, then Bella was licking her lips. I got out and got my water bottle and gave her one last drink before heading out on the long drive back to Palmer. Then, out of my rearview mirror, I saw Mary crossing the parking lot! It was perfect timing! I had her hop in, and I took her back to her car. She showed me the route she had taken, and it was quite impressive. I was delighted to be able to help her, and we were all happy we got to meet her. She was an inspiration.

Rabbit Slough Kayak

 I wasn't moving very fast this morning. Bella didn't even want to eat her breakfast or get out of bed. I finally got her moving and out for our morning walk. I loaded my kayak into my car and prepared to go kayaking somewhere but wasn't sure where. Mark called me and reminded me it was Friday, which I had obviously forgotten. We often meet at the Friday Fling for lunch. So, I met him there and we had our lunch and walked through the same vender booths we see every week, buying nothing. Afterwards, I decided to keep it simple and close and drove to the Rabbit Slough boat ramp and put in my kayak. Bella and I paddled as far upstream as I could possibly go. I don't think she understands the purpose of kayaking plus it was also quite warm out. I lifted her into the water to cool her off. I'm not sure she liked or understood the purpose of that, but at least she stopped panting. There was a nice cool breeze that kept me from roasting, as we coasted back downstream to the dock. We saw a few birds and Bella barked at all of them, including a few ducks she rousted from the widest part of the slough. It felt so good to be out on the water. It's such a nice, peaceful way to relax on a hot summer day. It's so close to town but you feel like you're way out in the wilderness somewhere. I got home and realized I had left my dog leash back at the parking lot so had to drive all the way back to retrieve it, right where I had folded up my kayak. I stopped and picked up some snacks for tomorrow's hike, so the trip wasn't a complete waste of time.

West Butte Trail

It's such a nice day. I took care of my dental appointment and a little shopping then called Mark and talked him into climbing the Butte. It's only a short hike less than 3 miles round trip, but it's still a significant little workout. At least half of it is on a wooden staircase, without which, it would be a very steep slippery climb. It's a lovely place to get a good view of the valley below and the Knik Glacier in the distance. I think Bella was still a little tired from the Pioneer Ridge hike 2 days ago and was slowing down as we neared the parking lot. But it was also another very hot, by Alaskan standards, 70 degree+ day. Bella loved running up and down the stairs but was panting by the end. 

Pioneer Ridge Trail

 Today was not the best of days to hike up Pioneer Ridge Trail. The weather wasn't too bad but there were lots of clouds obscuring the view of the summit. But even worse was the smoky hazy air from many fires happening in Canada. That obscured even the view that was not affected by clouds. I hiked with a small group of the Valley Wanderers. Our destination was only to the second picnic table, if we found the trail had been brushed out sufficiently to that spot. It was in great condition to the first picnic table. They have put nice wood bridges over the worst muddy spots. It is greatly improved from my last trip up there. Several of the group turned back from the first table for various reasons, but Jane, Charlie and I continued on to the second table. Conditions were pretty good and we had no trouble reaching it. We encountered a young woman lone hiker on her way down from the upper ridge who said she had turned back due to heavy fog. So, we turned back after a break at the second table. Even in the smoky conditions it was still a beautiful hike. It was also very hot. 70 degrees is a heatwave with high heat weather alerts for us Alaskans. I'm sure the rest of the country sweltering in triple digit heat would be laughing at us and calling us a bunch of wimps, but we're not accustomed to comfortable room temperature weather! One of these days I hope to get an early start with some ambitious companions and make my way to the summit of Pioneer Peak. I've been saying that for many years, but so far, it obviously hasn't happened. I was delighted to get out even for this fairly short climb of 5 miles and 2700-foot elevation gain. Bella had a great time too.

Pepper Peak Climb

 This is one of my favorite hikes. We started out with 4 of us Valley Wanderers, Meg, Jane, Charlie and Me. Virginia, Chris and Dan had started earlier with plans to climb to the summit then descend via the ridge, through the brushy obscure trail and across the creek, finally connecting to the Twin Peaks Trail. We considered taking that route but no one in our group of 4 felt competent to find that trail down. I was concerned about the creek crossing, with my little dog, Bella along. We took the standard Twin Peaks Trail up past the second bench to the beautiful overlook on the ridge below Pepper Peak. Charlie decided that was a good enough destination for her, so she turned back at that point. It was a very warm day but there was enough breeze to keep us from roasting. There were a lot of clouds drifting around and we hoped the peak wouldn't be obscured. We followed the obvious trail until it more or less disappeared into the loose shale and scree. We followed a couple of young people ahead of us for a while. Looking at our path on my AllTrails iPhone app, I could see that we were slightly right of the actual trail. Meg and I diverted to the left and connected to the trail, while Jane managed to find her own way and rejoined us up on the ridge. It's very rocky in places along the ridge but can be climbed safely if one is careful. The first time I climbed this peak I would not have known when I reached the peak because there are several false summits and they all look like they are higher than the actual summit. But we all knew which peak was our destination from our past experiences on this mountain. There are some spectacular views of Eklutna Lake far below us, made more interesting by the multiple layers of clouds drifting around below us. I identified Salt and Shaker Peaks by using my Peak Viewer phone app. I'd love to continue on and climb those 2 peaks and go on to Yudikench and down to the Pioneer Ridge, a traverse that appears to be a very difficult task. But I still dream of making that Eklutna High Ridge Traverse one day. By the time we reached the top of Pepper Peak, we were all plenty tired and not unhappy to be descending and only logging 9 miles. We were able to connect with Virginia by phone and see how they were doing. Even 87-year-old Dan was doing well.  He is my hero! We wondered if we would run into them on our way down. I pushed faster on the downhill to keep up with Bella and was the first to reach the lower bench and overlook. I was delighted to find the 2 people sitting on the bench were none other than Virginia and Dan. Virginia filled us in on the brushy trail finding challenge they had making their way down, and we were happy we had chosen to simply return the same way we climbed. Our group of 3 continued on down to our cars, happy we had made the summit and had not lost the view to the accumulating clouds. Bella was really getting tired and I scooped her up in my arms for a short distance until she squirmed her way back to all 4s. She's a tough little yorkie, but I knew she would sleep well tonight. I'm so happy I got the chance to do this awesome hike again. I'll keep dreaming of one day hiking all the way across to Pioneer Ridge. I suspect it might be a 2-day trek for me though.

Hatcher Pass Marathon

 This was my 10th time to run this tough race up the Willow Fishhook Road from Shirleytown Road up over Hatcher Pass and down to the Hatcher Pass Lodge, 27 miles later. My friend Diane stayed at my house last night. She was visiting from New York after her move there a year ago. We did a short hike of Gold Cord Lake yesterday and she agreed to get up very early this morning and drive me to Willow to the marathon start. We left my car up at the lodge near the finish line last night so I could have a way home at the finish. Logistics are always a problem with this race since they don't have a shuttle and it's a long gravel road that takes over 1 hour to get back to the start line. My friend Alice also raced today. We both felt a bit intimidated by the hot sunny temperature and planned to take our time to avoid heat exhaustion. It was in the area of 75-80 degrees most of the way. At times we were blessed with a light breeze, but it was really hot. We stayed together and spent a lot more time fast walking than running. Every time we broke into a run, we quickly slowed down to the fast-paced walk again. This was my slowest Hatcher Pass Marathon yet. They do give us 9 hours, and we both came very close to not making that limit. We stayed together until right at the very end when Alice got a second wind and beat me by 2 minutes to the finish. I took 8 hours and 58 minutes to her 8 hours and 56 minutes. There were still a few hardy folks behind us who were just finishing up the 50-mile race. Close to half of the runners registered for the 50-mile race didn't even start and many of those who did, dropped out, likely due to the heat. I had forgotten that I had replaced my trail running shoes and, in my confusion, couldn't find them. I ended up using my street running shoes instead. They turned out to be a wise choice because they were very comfortable. I had no foot pain the entire way. Even though it is gravel, it's a very hard packed road so street runners were just fine even though I had always used trail runners in the past for this race. We couldn't have picked a more beautiful day and in spite of the heat, the sunshine was wonderful. We ended up simply turning it into a lovely 27-mile hike. We both enjoyed it more than any of the times we had pushed hard to try for a good finish time. It was the most fun I have ever had running a marathon. Alice is a great marathon partner. At the finish, I drove her back down to her car. Then she drove home to Anchorage, and I drove to Mark's house to pick up my dog, Bella and I finally got home at about 9:30 pm. It was a very long day. But so worth it! Marathon #177 for me.

Alice and me 

at the pass, about mile 24

McRoberts Creek Headwaters Hike

 This was an extraordinary adventure, especially since I was the official leader. I felt like it was the blind leading the blind. I have only done it once and without my AllTrails app, I doubt I could have found my way. Fortunately, Virginia and Cathy showed up and caught up with us by the time we reached the tripod at the junction of the McRoberts Creek and Matanuska Peak Trails. Virgina was the true leader. The McRoberts Creek Trail was somewhat overgrown and slippery and muddy in places. We stopped for pictures at the new bridge Virginia and Dan had put in over one of the bigger creek crossings. I did step into one hole that was obscured by vegetation, causing quite the bruise and scrape on my right lower leg. We took a short break at the picnic table. I was starving at that point and really wanted to have a bite to eat. But everyone took off, leaving me to scramble to get my pack on and gobble down one granola bar. I caught up with the others before the spot where we turned off the Matanuska Peak Trail and headed down towards McRoberts Creek. That spot is just past the first rocky gully beyond the picnic table. Virginia pointed out a circle of rocks from an old campfire well below us near the creek. That was the landmark we needed to head for. It was mostly soft tundra with a few brushy spots but no actual trail down to that rock circle. Soon after, we were walking along fhe creek through a combination of thick brush, boulders, soft tundra and steep side hills. Soon the beautiful waterfall came into view. Erin decided to jump across the creek at this point. It was moving far too fast for me to consider it, especially since I would need to get Bella across it somehow. I held her back with her leash, so she didn't try to negotiate it on her own. Most of the group stayed on my side of the creek. We hiked on up around a steep rock face to the area above the falls.  We gathered again by the creek above the falls and did finally discover a spot where we easily crossed the creek. From the other side of the creek, we wandered up towards the hills and the upper reaches of the creek. There are several tributaries that ultimately flow into McRoberts Creek. We followed the main one until we found where the water burst directly out of the ground. The map indicates that the creek continues further up the mountain, but it must be mostly underground from where we stood. Cathy and Virgina kept climbing up towards the clouds, and the rocky peak ahead of us. We wondered how far they intended to go. The rest of us were simply content to watch them and wait for their report before pushing up behind them. They soon returned with nothing to report that made us feel like continuing to scramble up there. The clouds were very low and were obscuring the peaks. Sadly, that did detract from the view that a clear day would have provided. Even Matanuska Peak never showed her face. After our exploring, we meandered down towards the Matanuska Peak Trail and eventually found ourselves back on it. Rather than tackle the steep muddy McRoberts Creek Trail again, most of us chose to take the Matanuska Peak Trail all the way down to the trailhead. It was a strenuous but very interesting and beautiful 10-mile hike. Now if I'm ever asked to be the leader again, I think I could find my way even without my faithful iPhone and the AllTrails app. But I'd for sure bring it with me just in case. It was very helpful especially in finding our way back to the main trail. 

Pam & Julia on Dan's new bridge