Finally my friend Alice, and I hiked all the way to Serenity Falls and reached our goal of walking to the end of the Eklutna Lakeside Trail. Nice 25 mile hike on a beautiful day. It started out with a few clouds over the mountains but not a whisper of wind. The lake was totally calm and the clouds quickly dissipated. It was warm, in the 60s most of the day but never extremely hot. I was comfortable in my long sleeve shirt. Baby the chihuahua did very well most of the way to the end. At times she would slow down and I'd just pick her up and carry her in my arms. We took a nice break at Bold Creek at the 5 mile point.
On Sundays ATV's are permitted on the Lakeside Trail. The disadvantage of this is of course, the noise and also the dust they create. But the big advantage is that they also contribute to scaring away the many black bears that inhabit that area. We saw many piles of fresh bear scat, and found that a little unnerving. Around mile 9 a guy in an ATV stopped to tell us there was a bear right on the trail up ahead. We carried our bear spray in our hands after that, in anticipation of having a possible encounter. But the next ATV to pass told us they had not seen a bear and that there were several other ATVs and hikers up ahead. We felt more relaxed after that.
It was spectacular and green the entire way. Happily it stayed sunny and clear with just enough breeze to blow some of the mosquitoes away. They seemed to bother Alice more than they did me. I was fairly heavily doused in 100% Deet. I didn't get a single bite. Once in sight of the falls at mile 12.5 we found a smaller trail that took us right to the stream at the base of the falls. It was spectacular with lush greenery all around it. I've heard about the falls for years but never made it all the way back to see it. The long hike was so worth it. Baby enjoyed a nice drink of the icy fresh water there.
We took some nice breaks at the bridges over the east and west forks of the Eklutna River, and also hiked up to see the Serenity Falls hikers cabin. It would be a lovely place to spend the night and further explore the trail and maybe even reach the Eklutna Glacier. Baby was really slowing down so I put her in my backpack and carried her for a while. At one point she started to squirm so I let her walk for a mile or so. But she quickly tired and let me know she was done with walking. She tried to climb up my leg, then just started barking at me. It was easy to translate her barks into her demand that I put her back in my backpack. I carried her the rest of the way. She only weights about 8 pounds, but by the time we reached the 1 mile marker, my back was screaming that it had had enough. That last mile was pretty agonizing but I didn't feel like taking the time to stop and see if she would walk the last mile. I toughed it out and we made it the entire 25 miles. It took us 13 hours and we reached the trailhead at 11:00 pm, about 40 minutes before sunset. I love Alaska summers with its long days.
Serenity Falls is spectacular!
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| Eklutna Lake |
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| Me and Baby at the Falls |
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| Eklutna Lake Sunset |
Serenity Falls
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