Chugach State Park Day 5

Day 5: Over Moraine Pass into Camp Creek valley, 6.75 miles

Low: Not sure ... probably beginning the day full of doubt and concern after the rough day before. I also was very low on energy toward the end of Moraine Pass, and actually told Chris I didn't care about looking at rocks! I think our low calorie diet was taking its toll, and probably a bit of stress-related exhaustion. Although I'll take this kind of stress over work stress any day!

High: Hiking through Camp Creek valley. We didn't know what to expect, especially as far as vegetation goes. But the descent was gradual and through a wide valley with a picturesque meandering stream. As Eric said, "This is a magical valley." Waterfalls poured down steep slopes on either side of us, and eventually we had views of some imposing mountains on the other side of Eagle River. I was very tired at that point but was celebrating on the inside.

This day was very scenic, so there are lots of pictures!
Looking up N. Fork Ship Creek valley.

Fresh snow on some of the mountains!

A lot of the rocks around Moraine Pass were shattered like this. I'm not sure why, it looked really neat.

Grizzly Bear Lake

Almost to Moraine Pass (aptly named as you can see from all the rocks, left behind by glaciers).

The view of Moraine Pass, to the left, and Paradise Pass straight ahead-ish. We had thought about going over Paradise but it would have extended our trip. Plus I have heard it is very steep, can you tell??

Looking up valley along Camp Creek.


What's that, sunshine?? Beautiful!

Chugach State Park Day 4

Day 4: Up (north fork) Ship Creek, without a paddle. 6 wet miles

What turned out to be our worst day started with 2 good omens. 1. I had an amazing dream the night before. I was euphoric after our successful hike over the pass and the amazing flower-filled meadow we were sleeping in. I dreamed I was back in Ft. Collins and someone asked me how the trip was. I enthusiastically responded, "It was great! Eagle and Symphony lakes were amazing, the hike over the pass was exhilerating ..." But I couldn't remember the rest of the trip. Then it dawned on me, that was because it hadn't happened yet! I was still in Alaska, and when I woke up, I got to continue living out this dream hike! Omen #2 was a rainbow slanting through Ship Creek valley when we woke up. This was going to be a good day!

Low: the rest of the day. It rained and was windy and cold most of the day. We were bushwhacking so made tremendously slow progress. We didn't make it nearly as far as we wanted to. We stopped by about 6 or 6:30, I was unsatisfied with how far we'd gone but was losing the will to keep trudging on. Eric was done, too, and his knees were causing him considerable pain, as I recall. I felt like we were all at our wits end, being so cold and worn out. Our spirits were as low as were were wet by the end of the day. This nights dreams were filled with concern over the feasibility of the rest of the trip.
A rainbow! This is going to be a great day!

A moose was uphill of us while we ate breakfast.

Sometimes we'd find a great moose or bear trail to follow, but inevitably it would tail off into something like this ...

A rare picture of our photographer.

This look says it all.

Chugach State Park Day 3

Day 3: Over unnamed pass to N. Fork Ship Creek valley (4.5 slow miles)

Low: I was very anxious approaching the pass. One part was very steep (no way to do it without scrambling on loose rock/scree). That made me nervous (I am a wimp), and the fear of the unknown was haunting me as we crested the pass. What if the other side was as steep? Or steeper?? Which brings me to the high - coming over the pass to an unbelievable panorama of jagged peaks, a huge valley, the water by Anchorage, and a gradual, grassy slope to descend on. :)

The coloring of Eagle and Symphony (foreground) lakes will never cease to amaze me.

Lots of rocks to hike over on the way up to the pass made for slow going. We chose to go up to the right of the two tarns above Symphony Lake.

The bump on the ridge is the scary part we had to go over. Steep and crumbly, yuck.

Looking back into headwaters of Symphony Lake.

We made it to the top!

Obligatory couple shot.

This was the other side of the pass. Eric perfected is sliding down heather technique here.

Chugach State Park Day 2

Day 2: 5.25 mile hike from base camp along Eagle Lake almost to Flute Glacier.

Highs: Hiking near an idyllic waterfall and enjoying the wonderment of our first full day in the Alaskan backcountry. If this waterfall was closer to a road or in a national park, it would be world famous. (Funny thing is, we soon learned there are dozens of waterfalls in Chugach SP, each one as incredible as the last!)
Low: We chose a poor route to get to Flute glacier and decided to turn around at the top of the waterfall. We hiked along the side of the valley but hiking in the bottom, along the river, which we did on the way back, was much much better! If we had done that both ways we probably would have made it to the glacier :(

It was not easy walking along the sides of the valley:

But we did find an awesome stream flowing from the glaciers and rocks above. Eric and Chris filled their nalgenes up directly from the stream - yum!


View above the waterfall. The valley we didn't get to explore :(

Eric alongside part of the waterfall. We found a slight trail just to the right of it which made me nervous but was passable (we elected to leave our packs behind though).

Chugach State Park Day 1

I am going to try to only post the high and low of each day, to try and capture as much of our trip as possible without boring you to tears. Also I'll have a few pictures from each day.

Day 1, 6 mile hike to Eagle Lake
Highs: Nap on the boulders next to Eagle Lake. Also the view from our campsite! Here's what I wrote while sitting outside my tent that night:
At the head of Eagle Lake is a much narrower valley, with steep mountains on either side. The valley curves to the right, but from here it looksl ike it deadends into the Matterhorn-like Eagle Peak. We might scoff at its height in Colorado (6900') but this mountain is really badass. The summit is most often shrouded in clouds, and its steep slopes have some very serious looking snowfields. Climbing this beast, at least from this side, would NOT be an easy feat.
Lows: I can't think of any!

I will also put a few pictures from each day. Chris picked out his 200 favorite (out of 700!) on his flicker account (he is Choice City Chris) if you want more.

Amazing colors from the flowers along S. Fork Eagle River.






Eagle Peak:

Alaska Trip Overview

I brought paper and pencil on our hike but rarely had time to write. But here are some thoughts from the night after we emerged from the mountains (Friday July 24).

The trip is over and we survived! I am happy and sad that we're done. It was very rough - mainly bushwhacking for 4 days wears you down! It is constant work and can be so slow. Even beyond the physical work is the constant searching for trails/routes and being as aware as possible of potential bear or moose around. So this was not like the usual backpacking trip when I have lots of time for reflection or good conversation with my fellow hikers. The brain and body were either completely engaged or shut down. We slept about 10 hours a night, if that is any indication of how exhausted we were!

Today we were on a trial that was mostly easy, and I had some time to think about why I like backpacking so much when it is so hard?! I decided the main reason has to do with accessing places you can't see from a car. And not only that, it's experiencing the landscape instead of just viewing it. Now I know a little bit about what the Alaskan wilderness (or at least this small part of it) is really about. It is rough and tough and wild! It tried it's best to beat us down, and sometimes it succeeded.

Another spectacular thing about backpacking is getting lost ... lost in the routine of just living, day to day, hiking, eating, sleeping, gawking, joking about summer sausage. Life might be harder but in many ways it is also simpler in the backcountry.

We saw 5 black bear, 4 moose, 32 ptarmigan, 1 dall sheep or mtn goat, seagulls (strange), and 1 unidentified gray ferret looking creature that made whistling noises (plus we heard the whistling a few other times). We also saw grizzly fur on an island between Raven Creek and Eagle River, and a lot of poop (everywhere), so we named it Grizzly Island and were very noisy as we walked across it! Chris and Eric even had their hands on their bear spray like gunslingers, ready to fire should anything brown and large cross our path.

..............
The rest of the trip was spent exploring the Kenai Peninsula and eating. I have never been so hungry before - we ate HUGE meals and then were ravenous a few hours later. This continued until Sunday when Chris and I ate 25 wings and a 1+ pound salad. :)