I recently returned from spending a couple of weeks in Alaska hiking and sightseeing. The main event was a backcountry backpacking trip in Wrangell-St. Elias NP. I had hired a guide based out of Anchorage and along with two other hikers I'd never met, we had a nice little 11-day adventure.
The hiking trip began with the 7 hour drive to the small town of McCarthy inside the park. The next day we were flown in by Wrangell Mountain Air to our starting point at a place called Iceberg Lake. This lake is normally filled with both water and icebergs throughout the spring/summer (and drains late in the summer leaving behind just the icebergs). Unfortunately, we arrived only to find that the lake had never filled this year and was empty. They might have to consider a name change if this continues! We set up camp not too far from the landing strip and, after getting some instructions on how to deal with bears and other important safety issues, spent the rest of the day and early evening hiking around. The area was all sandy moraine and lake bottom - I think we all thought we had been dropped off on the moon...
Day two we continued east and hiked across the first of two glaciers we'd run into. This was a first for me - I've been on snow-covered glaciers, but this was different. Fairly steep climb up on the sometimes-slippery ice, then easy walking. I had brought my microspikes along, but never needed them. Lots of gravel, boulders, pools and crevasses. My point-and-shoot camera found its way into one of the pools
, so I found myself without a way to take pictures conveniently while hiking for the rest of the trip (the camera did ultimately survive, though!). After coming off the glacier, we had a some wicked water crossings to tackle. Not deep, but glacial melt that froze your feet after just a few seconds. That, coupled with the cold temps and drizzle that we experienced all day made for some chattering teeth.
The rest of the trip found us traveling across a variety of terrain...vast talus/boulder fields, boggy valleys, frustrating thickets of willow and alder, many more stream crossings, another glacier, lots of sidehilling and steep climbs and descents...it was awesome! Our campsites were sweet, as you'll see in some of the pictures. The weather, on the other hand, was pretty lousy. We only got about 20 minutes of actual sun in the first week, and rain/drizzle off and on the rest of the time. The eighth day was slightly better and our ninth and last day hiking was gorgeous (of course!). The fall colors were in full swing, as you'll see from the pics. Saw marmots, ground squirrels, heard pika, and saw a variety of birds. The only bears we saw were from the plane, about a mile or so from where we were originally dropped off. While it would have been exciting to see a grizzly, I'm not too upset that we didn't.
The vastness of the place is unreal. You come up through a new pass and all you see is range after range of mountains and more glaciers in the distance. We only explored a tiny part of the park - it was actually embarrassing seeing it on a map after all that effort! The trip wrapped up near an old mining outpost (Bremner) where we decided to forego setting up tents and stayed in a cabin that is inhabited by an "archeologist" from the park service during the summer. We gathered wood and had a fire in the stove - it was nice to finally be warm at dinner time for once!
I also spent two days on either end of the trip doing some other sightseeing from a base in Anchorage. Did the tourist thing and went on a glacier cruise from Whittier. Got a good weather day and drove up to Talkeetna and paid an arm and a leg to take a flightseeing tour around Denali (yes, I am one of those people, Leaf!). Spent a few moments wondering how Mats managed to get lost in the tiny town of Talkeetna earlier this year... Enjoyed one of the most beautiful drives ever between Anchorage and Seward, even though it rained. Visited the impressive Native Heritage Center in Anchorage. All in all, a great trip.
Some photos are at the link. Was hoping to get some more "action" shots from one of my traveling companions, but nothing has come my way yet. Choose "slideshow" from the dropdown in the upper right if that's the way you want to see them. Alaska slideshow
Rebecca
p.s. T & L Rankin - you would LOVE the Midnight Sun Sockeye Red IPA...preferably consumed while sitting at the bar at Humpy's on 6th Ave. I know I did!
The hiking trip began with the 7 hour drive to the small town of McCarthy inside the park. The next day we were flown in by Wrangell Mountain Air to our starting point at a place called Iceberg Lake. This lake is normally filled with both water and icebergs throughout the spring/summer (and drains late in the summer leaving behind just the icebergs). Unfortunately, we arrived only to find that the lake had never filled this year and was empty. They might have to consider a name change if this continues! We set up camp not too far from the landing strip and, after getting some instructions on how to deal with bears and other important safety issues, spent the rest of the day and early evening hiking around. The area was all sandy moraine and lake bottom - I think we all thought we had been dropped off on the moon...
Day two we continued east and hiked across the first of two glaciers we'd run into. This was a first for me - I've been on snow-covered glaciers, but this was different. Fairly steep climb up on the sometimes-slippery ice, then easy walking. I had brought my microspikes along, but never needed them. Lots of gravel, boulders, pools and crevasses. My point-and-shoot camera found its way into one of the pools
, so I found myself without a way to take pictures conveniently while hiking for the rest of the trip (the camera did ultimately survive, though!). After coming off the glacier, we had a some wicked water crossings to tackle. Not deep, but glacial melt that froze your feet after just a few seconds. That, coupled with the cold temps and drizzle that we experienced all day made for some chattering teeth. The rest of the trip found us traveling across a variety of terrain...vast talus/boulder fields, boggy valleys, frustrating thickets of willow and alder, many more stream crossings, another glacier, lots of sidehilling and steep climbs and descents...it was awesome! Our campsites were sweet, as you'll see in some of the pictures. The weather, on the other hand, was pretty lousy. We only got about 20 minutes of actual sun in the first week, and rain/drizzle off and on the rest of the time. The eighth day was slightly better and our ninth and last day hiking was gorgeous (of course!). The fall colors were in full swing, as you'll see from the pics. Saw marmots, ground squirrels, heard pika, and saw a variety of birds. The only bears we saw were from the plane, about a mile or so from where we were originally dropped off. While it would have been exciting to see a grizzly, I'm not too upset that we didn't.
The vastness of the place is unreal. You come up through a new pass and all you see is range after range of mountains and more glaciers in the distance. We only explored a tiny part of the park - it was actually embarrassing seeing it on a map after all that effort! The trip wrapped up near an old mining outpost (Bremner) where we decided to forego setting up tents and stayed in a cabin that is inhabited by an "archeologist" from the park service during the summer. We gathered wood and had a fire in the stove - it was nice to finally be warm at dinner time for once!
I also spent two days on either end of the trip doing some other sightseeing from a base in Anchorage. Did the tourist thing and went on a glacier cruise from Whittier. Got a good weather day and drove up to Talkeetna and paid an arm and a leg to take a flightseeing tour around Denali (yes, I am one of those people, Leaf!). Spent a few moments wondering how Mats managed to get lost in the tiny town of Talkeetna earlier this year... Enjoyed one of the most beautiful drives ever between Anchorage and Seward, even though it rained. Visited the impressive Native Heritage Center in Anchorage. All in all, a great trip.
Some photos are at the link. Was hoping to get some more "action" shots from one of my traveling companions, but nothing has come my way yet. Choose "slideshow" from the dropdown in the upper right if that's the way you want to see them. Alaska slideshow
Rebecca
p.s. T & L Rankin - you would LOVE the Midnight Sun Sockeye Red IPA...preferably consumed while sitting at the bar at Humpy's on 6th Ave. I know I did!
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