South Fork Eagle River, Muktuk-Marston Trail Hike

 I hiked 12 miles today with the Valley Wanderers. We started at the South Fork Trail off Hiland Road and hiked the straight up old trail to Hunter Pass. Once there, we turned right and hiked up Rendezvous Ridge through the clouds and fog until just before reaching Rendezvous Peak itself. From there, we took a narrow trail down along one of the ski lifts at Arctic Valley Ski Area. It was very green with wildflowers everywhere. But we never did get to see the wonderful view of the surrounding mountains because we never did really break out of the clouds. It stayed pretty cool also. Fortunately it never did rain on us. We walked all the way down to the upper Arctic Valley parking lot then crossed the road to the Muktuk-Marston Trailhead. We followed this 4 mile long gentle trail as it meandered back to Hunter Pass, with very few steep areas. It's a new trail that is wide and easy to walk on. The clouds and fog still followed us, but they didn't detract from the fields of colorful wildflowers that were all along the trail. It was really amazing how many colorful flowers were blooming on both sides of the trail. It was also so green from the recent rains. We did encounter a few other hikers passing us in both directions. But it really wasn't very crowded considering it is a weekend day. But I suppose the heavy cloud cover had kept a lot of people away. Once back at the pass, we had two choices. We could either go straight down the very steep old trail that we had climbed, or take the much longer switchback trail that had recently been built. The builders really got carried away when they made the new trail. The switchbacks were ridiculously long and it was likely at least one or maybe even two miles longer to get back to the parking lot. But it was a pleasant gentle walk, especially for those of us who have knee problems and don't enjoy steep downhill trails. I think I would prefer the steep trail, but this route was certainly relaxing and pleasant. Not much of a view today, but still a lovely hike with great friends.