Gold Cord Lake

 They closed the gate to the road over Hatcher Pass yesterday. That means it won't be long before they close the road up to Independence Mine. It was sunny at home and looked pretty cloudy up at Hatcher Pass, but I wanted to take a chance and get in a hike up to Gold Cord Lake before the gate gets closed for the winter. It was misting and drizzling a little but Baby and I decided to give it a try. At least I did.  She didn't really have much to say about it. But I didn't hear any protests from her either. She loves that hike because there are so many little ground squirrels and marmots running around. She delights in chasing them, even though I keep her on a leash and it's all in vain. Most of the way up it was raining so lightly that my raincoat kept me completely dry.  Baby got a little wet but not too badly. There were very few other hikers so we basically had the trail and the lake to ourselves. The fall colors were gorgeous, especially on the drive up with the golden trees. The trail to the lake is all above tree line but the tundra vegetation had all turned to various degrees of gold and red. I hope we get another chance to hike up there before the road closes. But at least I'm glad we got this chance. 

Portage Pass Trail

 I camped at Williwaw Campground in Portage last night, and had hoped to spend some time in Portage Lake with my kayak. But the wind was at least 40-50 mph, so putting in at the lake was out of the question. I did do a short 2 mile hike on the Byron Glacier Trail, in the rain, while I waited for my friend, Diane to arrive.

Byron Glacier Trail

Byron Glacier

It rained off and on through the night, but looked much better this morning. So after we broke camp we drove through the tunnel to Whittier and hiked the Portage Pass Trail. We were worried at first because the road to the trailhead was closed. But a quick phone call to the Portage Visitor's Center confirmed that we could park on the road and the trail itself was not closed. Sadly, the nice weather on the Portage side was not what we found on the Whittier side of the pass. We hiked to the top of the pass and on up the peak that offers the normally amazing view of Portage Glacier and Lake. But it was so foggy and raining lightly that we didn't get much of a view. With a little straining, we were able to pick out the glacier and lake through the clouds.

Portage Lake from the Portage side after our hike

View from Portage Pass

View down to Whittier from the trail

The official Portage Pass marker

Tern Lake Kayaking

 I wanted to get farther out of town with my kayak so headed towards Kenai. I've always loved beautiful Tern Lake at the junction of the Seward and Sterling Highways, so decided to see if I could find a good launch spot. The regular vehicle turnout didn't seem like the best place, but I discovered the picnic area nearby. I found a short muddy trail there and was able easily to launch my kayak there. I took Baby, the dog with me of course. As usual, she seemed worried, but after a while she seemed to settle down and enjoyed looking around. We paddled through many fingers of the lake and found quite a few birds. There were a number of loons, but one seemed quite disturbed at our presence and shouted her displeasure until we were far away from her. I love the call of the loon. I was happy to be able to catch her on video with my phone. I didn't realize just how big Tern Lake is. A person could spend a few hours exploring this lake with all of its many little inlets. We meandered for 2 hours among the grasses. We saw a few salmon and a few ducks. By the time I decided to turn back, I worried that I may never find my way back to that launch spot. I tried several incorrect routes at first, but did finally see the salmon viewing platform where we had launched. It was a beautiful little kayak trip. It started to rain as soon as I got the boat back on the roof of my car. 

Bodenburg Butte

It's been raining off and on most of the day.  But when the sun finally came out for a few minutes, Baby and I took a nice little steep hike up the Butte. It was really nice up there, just a little breeze and bright sunshine.  The trail is a little muddy in spots but I was able to avoid getting my brand new Solomon hiking shoes all covered with mud. Baby really hates getting her feet muddy so is an expert at avoiding it at all costs. It's amazing how far she can travel in a single bound, just to avoid mud! We had several dog encounters and I had to hold her back from attacking dogs three times her size. As usual, she managed to make a fool out of me, but no one got hurt. As soon as we got back to the car, it started to rain again.  We timed it perfectly. 

  

Gold Cord Lake

It's so cloudy and rainy everywhere. But I just didn't want to hang around in the house all day. It looked the best in the Talkeetna Mountains so I drove up to Independence Mine. Then Baby ad I climbed up to Gold Cord Lake.  I think it might be her favorite place to hike. There are so many ground squirrels and marmots whistling that she delights in trying to catch them, in spite of still being on her leash.  She also likes to stick her nose down in their many holes. I keep her from getting too far into their homes because I don't think she'd be happy if one took a bite out of her nose.  There were some muddy spots and we did our best to negotiate dry paths around them.  The little creek that runs out of the lake was a lot higher than usual, so I had to lift Baby over it. We hiked as far as we could without negotiating the boulder field on the west side of the lake. I saw someone in a pink coat who appeared to be making their way up Microdot, through the boulders.  I'll save that project for another day. I think I'd prefer climbing Microdot up the official trail, even though technically it doesn't really reach the summit. 

Eklutna Lakeside Trail

Raining a little in town but not a lot up here at Eklutna Lake.  I still have a little pain in my leg from my Ship Lake Pass hike, so decided to keep things short today. Baby and I had a peaceful little 4 mile round trip walk along the lake, with only a few drops of rain. There were quite a few kayakers out there on the water. But the oddest thing I saw was two guys actually swimming in that icy lake.  I'm not sure why anyone would want to do that, but to each his own!

Beautiful as always.

 

Ship Lake Pass Hike

 This was a very rainy trail at first, then it progressed into being a very muddy and extremely windy trail.  I hiked with the Walkabout hiking group.  I was wishing I'd worn rubber boots instead of my summer hiking boots because it was really wet and swampy in many places.  When we reached the higher ridge, the wind became so extreme that it very nearly blew me over.  I estimate the gusts to be 50 to 60 mph. It was at that point we all agreed to call it a day and leave the pass for a better day.  There were so many clouds and off and on rain showers, so we didn't get the best view of what is really a gorgeous area. But it was great exercise.  My dog, Baby did great as usual.  Once back down in the lower flat area, we encountered large areas of deep black mud. I was really trying to keep from totally submerging my feet into that black gunk. At one point we were all carefully tiptoeing on wet willow branches across a section of that black slime, when I noticed that Baby was really having a hard time. I didn't want her to end up totally covered in that stinky stuff, so I scooped her up in my right arm and carried my trekking poles in my left hand. I was doing ok when as I stepped on one of those slick branches, my foot slipped off and my right foot plunged into the mud. Simultaneously, that foot caught on the branch and I toppled over into the mess.  I did manage to keep my dog elevated above the mud though. But my left shin smacked either a branch or a rock and I was suddenly in extreme pain. I crawled out and was happy that I hadn't broken anything and could still continue to walk. Farther down the trail I pulled up my left pantleg to see that I now had a huge abrasion that covered about half of my shin, along with a huge lump that was at least 8 inches long. Fortunately it wasn't bleeding significantly. I was so glad I had worn thick leggings and my rain pants, so the mud didn't seep in and contaminate the wound. 

Later, I got separated from the group because I had stopped to take pictures. I no longer could see them so just continued along the trail. I came to a fork in the trail, and being unfamiliar with this trail, I took the fork with the sign that pointed to the parking lot. Unfortunately, there are two parking lots and this trail led to the wrong one. A fellow hiker told me how to get to the other lot, where we had actually parked. When I got there I learned via a text message that the others were waiting for me on the other trail. I texted what happened and started back towards them, and we met about halfway. I think I'll wait for a drier day to do that hike again!