Fairangel Lakes

 I have tried to hike this trail several times, but twice before I turned back at the creek crossing over Archangel Creek. In the past, the huge rock boulders have been mostly submerged beneath furiously raging waters. Today the water level was much lower, and we were able to fairly easily cross the boulders without getting wet feet or plunging into the creek. I was worried because of my past experiences on this creek, so put Bella into my backpack for the crossing. I found it to be pretty easy even though her weight tended to throw me off balance. There are several trails that access this route. But all of them first require either a ride in a big truck or a somewhat boring 2 mile walk up Archangel Road. As always, I did the walk. The road is extremely rocky, and my Subaru would risk getting high centered on a boulder. We chose the upper narrow trail past the road closure gate. Once across the creek, this trail becomes rather vague, but joins the main lower trail that is shown on the AllTrails iPhone app. The trails cross the creek at different places. I'd like to try the lower route just to see the difference. With the low water, I'm sure both were fairly easy to cross. The trail is mostly fairly narrow and wet in some places. It crosses a rocky valley then starts to climb through various boulder fields. Sometimes it's difficult to see the trail. I had the advantage of doing this hike with Chris, Erin and Jane, all of whom were very experienced at this trail. I'm not 100% sure I could have found my way by myself. But now, I do think I could find it, at least by using my own AllTrails phone track. Much of the trail involved very steep rock scrambles. We circumvented some of the worst spots by diverting through the brush and tundra. It was necessary to use both hands and feet at times when climbing on the rocks. Through the numerous boulder fields, it was fairly easy to figure out the correct route by walking on parts of the rock that were a little dirty from boots of previous hikers. The mountains surrounding us were extraordinary and the scenery was gorgeous. The upper lake was a beautiful deep turquoise, although it appeared to be at least partially frozen. The trail down was easier to see because we could see it below us when crossing over rocky sections. Erin and Chris were a bit ahead of me, and Bella was with them. I worried about the creek crossing, but when they started across, Bella jumped right behind them, bouncing from boulder to boulder. Erin had to lift her over the last jump because she hesitated there and started to turn back. But we all crossed safely. Bella is a better hiker than I am!!!

Once back on the road, Chris led us partway up the Lane Basin Trail to a narrow trail that parallels the road. It gave us a break for at least a little while from dodging big rigs while walking back down the road. I liked that I could still keep Bella off her leash instead of keeping her contained to avoid passing trucks. It was a delightful hike, and I was so happy to finally get across that crazy creek. My knee was still hurting from my fall last month and the hikes since, and the marathon. But it was tolerable pain and certainly worth enduring it for such a beautiful hike.

Lower Lake

Bella and me at the upper lake

Look closely and you can see tiny Bella on the trail
in front of Rosemary in the blue jacket

The Pinnacle from the back side

Jane, Chris, Erin, Rosemary, Kim,
and me with Kim's white dog Sylvia

Gold Cord Lake

 I was feeling so restless, not hiking today. My right knee is still hurting, but not nearly as badly as a couple of days ago. I also wanted to see if there were good fall colors up in the Hatcher Pass area. I was disappointed to see that most of the trees up there have either lost their leaves or have just turned brown without displaying the golden color characteristic of this season. The snow level is still pretty high up there and the gates over the pass and up to the mine are still open. I decided to just drive up to the mine and see how my knee feels trying to hike up to Gold Cord Lake. I took it slowly of course, but I found it really didn't seem to make the pain any worse. Honestly, it feels about the same as it did last week before the marathon. I think any stiffness from the marathon itself has dissipated but the bruising from the fall a few weeks ago still hasn't completely healed. I'm not ready to attempt a long hard climb yet, but this short 2-mile round trip was pretty comfortable. I did need to take Bella off her leash on the way down through the rocks and mud, so she didn't pull me off my feet and cause a new injury. She took off racing down the trail but did come back when I called her. She felt the need to go down and greet a lady who was far down the trail. Once she got the necessary pets from her, she was willing to come back up to me. Bella is a total muddy mess and will be going directly into the kitchen sink for a bath as soon as we walk into the front door. My knee feels pretty good right now.

The creek was barely flowing and there was a little ice here and there along the muddy trail. Up at the lake it was starting to snow so we didn't stay long.

Muddy muddy Bella

Equinox Marathon

I drove up to Fairbanks on Friday with Mark for the Equinox Marathon. Mark stayed with Bella and doggie sat while I ran the race. They would frown on me leaving my dog in the hotel room for the amount of time it takes me to run a marathon. Plus, Bella would be irate!  This was marathon #178 for me and also the 7th time for the Equinox Marathon. It's one of my favorite races even though it's probably the hardest one I ever do. There is an elevation gain of about 4000 feet, and it climbs Ester Dome in Fairbanks. The course is a combination of very steep narrow muddy trails, steep narrow switchbacks, and rocky climbs, while often dodging huge puddles from recent rains. I had the misfortune of falling a couple of weeks ago while crossing a creek out hiking. I landed in the rocks and badly bruised my right knee. It was mostly feeling back to normal. But by mile 10 of the race today, I felt more agony than ecstasy! At mile 15 I begged the volunteers at the water station for whatever over the counter medication they might happen to have. They treated me with 4 ibuprofen tablets along with some water. That bit of assistance got me to the finish line. After mile 20 there are some sections of paved road, which seem to make sore feet and knees scream even louder. I ran on the softer shoulder on those sections. It started out raining in the morning and I was pretty worried. But it quickly dissipated into nothing more than some misty foggy clouds and cool temperatures. The fog obscured the view at my favorite spot, the top of 'The Tunnel' a place where the view opens up displaying incredible autumn colors. They were mostly obscured in fog, unfortunately. But the whole course was still quite beautiful with golden autumn leaves everywhere. My time was a little slower than last year, likely due to my painful knee, but I finished over 1.5 hours before the time limit. I even had time to rush back to my hotel, shower, wash my hair, and look presentable before heading back to the awards banquet. I shared the podium for Female 80-89 with a really nice also, 80-year-old lady named Elaine Nelson. She beat me by about 40 minutes. So, this time I got the second-place medal and she got 1st place. I love seeing runners in the senior age groups out there running and staying fit instead of wasting away in retirement watching the world go by. Age is only a number and with the right attitude and mindset, anyone can stay active until well into their later years. I hope to still be hiking and running when I'm 100. I keep telling myself that, anyway.

Start Finish Line from the Nike+ iPhone app

Along the Trail

Top of The Tunnel

Me and my friend Alice before the race

Finishing

Looking ragged after the race!

2nd Place Medal Female 80-89

Finisher Patch

Elaine Nelson 1st, Me 2nd, - Female 80-89 

Lazy Moose Trail

The forecast for today was 100% rain all day. But it wasn't raining when I woke up. Julia texted me and asked if I'd like to hike the Lazy Moose Trail up to the picnic table halfway up Lazy Mountain. It's my least favorite way to climb Lazy Mountain because it's almost 3 miles just to the table. The other route is only 1 mile, but insanely steep. But knowing it might have some nice fall colors and that we'd likely get caught in the rain anyway, I said yes, lets do it. It was a bit slippery from yesterday's heavy rains but since it's not terribly steep, it was quite pleasant. We could see the clouds building but no rain as we hiked the long switchbacks and finally reached the picnic table. I had decided that if it wasn't raining when we reached the table, I'd go on to the summit. But Mother Nature apparently didn't like that idea, so it started to rain just as we got there. We took a nice snack break and fed and watered our 3 dogs, then added raingear and more layers then backtracked down the same trail we had climbed. If we had gone down the steep way, it would have been treacherous with the added rainfall over already wet steep trail. I had a couple of near misses tripping over wet roots but did make it all the way down unscathed. We got back to the cars with 3 very wet and muddy, but happy dogs. Little Bella was shivering and wet, so I wrapped her in her towel and blanket on the way home. It was a nice 6-mile workout with some lovely autumn foliage. It's nowhere near peak yet, but there is a lot of golden color starting to show. By the time we got down it was nearly a torrential downpour. I'm so glad I didn't venture on to the summit. It will still be there the next time I climb there.

Bella with Julia and dogs Trigger and Pumba behind her.

Lane Basin Memorial

 This hike has been planned then changed several times this summer. It was originally supposed to be the 10-mile round trip hike to the Lane Glacier. But it was canceled a few weeks ago due to weather. Then it was scheduled for yesterday, but once again it was moved due to the horrible weather yesterday. So today we finally set out on the hike with the Valley Wanderers. It was the fast group leading and of course, I worried that I would be left in the dust because I really can't keep up with their fast pace. Today they were very good about holding up enough that we didn't get separated. First, we walked the couple miles up Archangel Road because only the toughest of vehicles can safely negotiate that rock infested dirt road. That part is always a bit of a drag even though it's a beautiful stretch of road. Our goal was the Lane Basin Trail, but rather than turn off on the official trail, the leaders chose to take a narrow steep winding trail up to the base of the huge rock formation known as The Monument. Once above The Monument we descended to the lake and creeks that flow through Lane Basin. We passed by the beautiful waterfall and jumped over a few creek crossings and finally reached the site of the old Lane Hut at the far end of the valley. I used to love to come to that hut, but it was torn down many years ago. From that spot there is a remnant of a trail that leads to the right up the mountainside to what little ice remains of the Lane Glacier. We did hike up there 2 years ago. Erin and Virginia decided they wanted to forgo the glacier and instead hike up to a memorial they had stumbled upon in the past. There were some rock cairns and some traces of old footpaths leading away from the left side of the old hut site. We followed those for a while. Jane, Kim and I followed Virginia and Erin as we slowly made our way basically straight up the mountainside behind the old hut site. There were plenty of gigantic boulders to negotiate but nothing too scary. Bella was pretty good at leaping from boulder to boulder like a ninja warrior. We tried mostly to stick to the grassy tundra vegetation and gradually worked our way up the very steep slope toward the astonishingly beautiful, jagged ridge far above us. I have to admit, it was very tiring and I sometimes wondered if I would pass out before reaching the top. But I carried on and did fine, although usually a little behind the leaders. The higher we went the steeper it became. But we finally did break out on the narrow ridge and were able to peer into the massive valley on the other side. We were surrounded by gigantic pinnacles and there were significant drop-offs that would be disconcerting to one who has a significant fear of heights. I wasn't too bothered by that except when Bella acted like she wanted to leap off the ridge and determine if she could fly. Fortunately, she did remain on the ridge. The final destination was a small memorial with a couple of metal plaques and some angel statues at the base of a huge pillar. The top plaque was to Hezekiah Kelly, a young man who died in 2005 climbing in this area. Beneath his was one of a Jennie Viola Rhodes with the words Grandmother and In God We Trust beneath her name. She had died in 2015. I would assume she was Hezekiah's grandmother. But of course, I don't know for sure. We lingered in this extraordinary place and had lunch and snacks. Then we ventured down a slightly different way. We climbed up a steep rocky hill to get a better view of the valley below, then went straight down following the tundra grasses once again. Once on the valley floor we had to negotiate a couple of creeks and finally worked our way back to the steep rocky trail beneath The Monument. I slipped and fell twice on that trail but managed to avoid damaging myself. I was actually happy when we got back on the fairly boring dirt road and then back to our cars for a total of 9 miles. It was a truly spectacular hike and, in many ways, even more spectacular and interesting than the Lane Glacier hike from 2 years ago. I'm glad they chose to share it with us. 

Once home, I researched Hezekiah Kelly and found this news story of his tragic death. It's a very sad story about such a young person. Hezekiah Kelly I will think of him every time I visit Lane Basin.

Bella & Me

Purington Creek Ridge

 Julia suggested a short hike today with the Valley Wanderers. No one responded but I had already told her I would be happy to hike somewhere. We met at her house and drove to her friend, Andrea's house. We put Julia's 2 dogs and we 3 ladies and of course Bella into Andrea's big car and drove quite a way down the Glenn Highway past Long Lake. There was a lot of construction happening in the area and we were held up for a while waiting for a pilot car. We were able to pull over into a large turnout and park out of the way of some heavy equipment also parked there. Purinton Creek runs under the road in that spot. But it is not the official Purinton Creek Trailhead. Julia knew of a narrow, likely game trail that heads straight up the ridge. We hiked up there. I was glad I brought my trekking poles because it was a bit steep. It was very beautiful because as we climbed, we had lovely views of the mountains across the highway and the Matanuska River. We found some trees that had changed to their fall colors of bright yellow gold. Once on top of the ridge, we walked for several miles along the top of the ridge, still on a narrow trail. We stayed on it until it finally seemed to disappear into a flat plateau, with views to a wide valley below. The Talkeetna Mountains dominated the skyline on the other side of that valley, while the Chugach Mountains towered above the Matanuska River far below us. Andrea and Julia got carried away picking blueberries and other berries, while Bella and I relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine. I'm not much of a berry picker and didn't have anything to put them in anyway. Since we didn't see any trail signs past the berry picking area, we decided to head back the way we had come. It was a beautiful little hike in a place where likely very few people would ever go. I consider it Julia's little secret hike.