Mt Eklutna Climb

I was disappointed that I had to miss the Mt Eklutna, Bear Mountain traverse by the Valley Wanderers back on June 17th. I was already committed to the Anchorage Mayor's Marathon for that day. But Mt Eklutna has been on my 'Must Do' list for some time. It is also one of the mountains on the 6 Peak Challenge of the Soles in the Backcountry through AKtive Soles Store. Yesterday my friend Pam asked what hike I would like to do for today, and I suggested Mt Eklutna. I was a little concerned that the weather might not cooperate, but we were lucky that it was only cloudy, but nice temperatures and not a drop of rain fell on our hike. We took the Peter's Creek Trail directly to the Mt Eklutna Trail rather than do the loop via Bear Mountain. That takes longer and Pam needed to pick up her dog at the groomers. Neither one of us had hiked the Mt Eklutna Trail before so didn't know what to expect. I had assumed that we would find a very steep trail. But it was actually quite a gentle uphill through beautiful green forest with colorful wildflowers everywhere. The vegetation was dense enough that we were somewhat relieved to finally break out onto tundra, because bears can easily be hiding among heavy vegetation. This is the time of year where sows have young cubs, and there have been some recent charges and even attacks. Once out of the trees we had a good view in all directions. Now the trail started to steepen but was not extremely steep. We hiked up through a valley towards the saddle where the Bear Mountain, Mt Eklutna Loop Trail splits. There was still some snow in that valley and a small amount of mud that we could easily avoid. Once at the saddle, we thought we could see the summit. Of course, we were quite wrong. Mt Eklutna has a series of false summits. I had a granola bar and some Pepsi at the saddle which gave me a spurt of energy. I had been dragging up until this point, but now was able to move quickly up through the loose scree and rocks from false summit to false summit. I finally ran out of uphill and reached the 4065 foot summit. Pam was right behind me. The views were spectacular looking towards Twin Peaks and the inlet as well as Chugach Range Peaks in every direction. We had our snacks, admired the view, took some pictures then started back down the way we came up for a total distance of 6 miles. I loved this trail and will recommend it to anyone. 

Mt Eklutna Summit

Twin Peaks, Gold Star view