East Fork of the Chulitna

     So it's been some time since I've posted and will likely be quite awhile before I post again due to changes in life.  Every now and then I find the time and desire to put one up.  This time I wanted to packraft something up by Denali, but with Sanctuary River being closed for wolves I had to choose another option.  After researching a bit, the best reviews pointed to the East Fork of the Chulitna River.

     The routes to the put-in were plentiful, but we settled on the one with the least perceived bushwhacking and moraine. Cory Smith had done the route and written about it.  After a drive up to the Denali area, we stashed our bikes where the East fork crosses the highway, drove north, and parked at a construction/mining site where the ATV access trail use to be.  The long Alaskan days allowed for a late start at 6pm.  We hiked the ATV trail up into the valley with no bushwhacking.

     We noted some bear tracks, wildflowers, spruce grouse, eagles, and some caribou.  Sparse snowfields were still present in the river bottom, but overall the valley was green.  Walking was easy and scenery was great, but the mosquitoes were bothersome.  We crested our first pass, hiked to the summit and enjoyed incredible sunset views of Denali and the surrounding mountain ranges.  We also saw a few sheep on the ridgetops.  Despite being close to 6000' with a breeze and cool temps, the mosquitoes persisted.  We proceeded to drop down into the next valley, setup camp, ate dinner and slept.  I slept, but I hear others had more difficulty related to mosquitoes.

     The next morning we broke camp, headed up and over the next pass and dropped down to the East fork of the Chulitna, enjoying blueberries along the way.  The caribou trails made the descent below the treeline easy.  We picked a nice spot on shore, blew up  the boats and started floating.  The river looked bony, but actually floated very nicely.

     After some splashy floating the river mellowed out where Crooked Creek joined in.  After a bit, the gradient increased and it was more splashy.  Then we entered a canyon with several fun class III sections.  The water mellowed out a bit and then we encountered a section that did require scoping.  We established our route and executed with success.  From that point we rode the remaining canyon of clear blue and white water until the river opened up and ran south.  The rest was pretty relaxing given the nice weather and easy floating.  We even got to do some salmon-spotting in  the shallows.  

     Once at the bridge we stashed our gear, and biked back to the car in record time thanks to our pace line leader, tailwind, and overall downhill course.  

     For those of you who don't know, albedo is a non-dimensional, unitless quantity that indicates how well a surface reflects solar energy.  Also, the H&H Lakeview Restaurant near the Talkeetna turn-off has some decent burgers for the hungry traveler, a nice lake out back, original AK paintings, and some scrappy dogs running around in the restaurant.  Enjoy the video.

I know, I know, but it's easier in winter

     So it is easier in winter with colder temps and less daylight to blog.  That being said, since the last post we have been up to more of the same: weekend over-nighters, trying new trails, mountain biking local single-track, trail running, and just now ramping up the packrafting.  Nothing extravagant or super-huge, but it is Alaska so it's still pretty dang scenic.

     I've been making it a point to do new things, even if simple or nearby.  For example, there are a number of excellent trails to run around lower Girdwood including the Beaver Pond trail and the historic Iditarod trail that parallels crow creek mine road: super quiet, soft trail, flow-ey, with trickling waterfalls and streams throughout.  

     I also discovered instagram and have a feed: andy.ress.  This allows me to post my favorite pic of the day without having to write about it because pics are better than words, although seeing in person is even better yet.  

Johnson Pass mountain biking: encountered cowparsnip and it could have been better, but could have been worse.  Wildflowers and views were excellent.  Some hardcore Minnesotan bit it on a slippery downhill, likely separating his shoulder/fracturing ribs but walked out 5+ miles: hard and crusty old guy.  We safely made the whole trip and even found a ride back to the trailhead/car albeit some bumps/bruises/scrapes(ask Sarah what her legs look like).  

Bird Ridge Hill Climb: it's been on the list for awhile, now done.  Close enough to goal for satisfaction but could be improved.  I was ahead of an Olympian for ~35 minutes, obviously that didn't last.

Sarah got a new mountain bike(nicer than mine) so we've been hitting up the single-tracks at Kinkaid and Hillside.

We booked the Crow Pass Cabin(six months ago) for a weekend in July.  It's hard to reserve and had been on the list for some time.  The weather sucked(strong winds/rain/poor visibility) so we bailed after 2 days/1 night.  I was bitter about the lost opportunity to base out of there and bag local peaks, show Sarah the Jewel and Milk glaciers, the money out the window for the last 2 nights, but the rest of the weekend farther west had better weather so we redeemed the weekend.

Redemption: Sarah climbed her 2nd 5000ft peak without planning on it(+some peer pressure), which involved scrambling and exposure, but a great view of the Chugach.  We also Packrafted a creek on my list for some time, and I'd call it a success.

Ran/explored several sections of the national historic iditarod trail which was better than expected with the exception of the Johnson Pass to Eddies turnout due to the lack of bridges.  I saw a bear on the Beaver Pond Trail, a mother/baby moose combo on the Girdwood section of the NHIT.

Climbed Mt Williwaw, the highest in the Front Range and my 2nd attempt due to poor weather on the first.  Only a few more to go, maybe even this summer/fall?  Camped out at Walrus Lakes that night: I highly recommend it.  

Watched the notorious Mt Marathon race (after seeing the film 3220), which involved Killian Jornet and his GF shattering previous records with apparent ease.  

Summer has been great so far and has more to come.  But I still like skiing and winter best.

Russian River Ride-n-Raft

     So some friends of ours had enough foresight to reserve the Upper Russian and Aspen Flats cabins on a late June weekend and invited us to join them.  These cabins are hard to come by in the summer, we had never been in that area, and with the frequency that mountain biking it popped up in Dante's blog this season it was a no-brainer.  We packed up Friday evening after work and headed down to the Snug-Harbor road TH with the plan to bike into Upper Russian Lake for the first night, about 9 miles.
     The weather was perfect and we were soon enjoying the beautiful ride in.  We made good time on the trail and were soon at the cabin.  It was surprisingly ride-able considering we had 2 nights and 2 days-worth of gear/food with us.  It wasn't so technical that we couldn't take in the scenery which included a variety of forest and vegetation, high-mountain valley/pass views, low/wetland areas, and the interspersed lakes.  The cabin looked brand new and had a row-boat, fishing poles, nice chairs on the deck, and a small creek running right next to it allowed for convenient water access.  I also appreciate the cabin info folder with a log and maps for reading material, some people's entries are interesting to read about.
   
Upper Russian Summer Sunset  

     We tried our hand at fishing, successfully catching a trout from the boat and then we rowed to the mouth of the Russian River where salmon were jumping and swimming up into the lake: so many this far up.  It was incredible to see.  Then we cashed for the night.  The next morning we tried fishing again, unsuccessfully, packed up and made the easy ~3-mile jaunt to Aspen Flats cabin.  It was another perfect weather day.  This was the most over-grown section but was still ride-able.  After fishing some more at the new cabin I headed back to the Upper Russian on foot with my packraft.  I paddled around the lake a bit and at the mouth, watching the salmon, taking in the vistas, enjoying the solitude, before pointing it down-stream.
     It was a nice float, absolutely gorgeous, scenic, mellow, and relaxing.  I was concerned about bears but we saw little signage of them and I figured they would all be at the lower falls where the salmon were fresher (some salmon already had white spots at upper Russian).  The greenery and wild flowers were full on, the river was fast enough to not require paddling to move.  I came across 2 strainers and one log jam, all easily seen and portaged.  Salmon were shooting upstream beneath me, eagles flying over me, and waterfowl floating around me.  The water was crystal clear and I may have butt-dragged once.  This float made my day.  It took about 90 minutes.  I hope to return and paddle the remainder some day minus the falls, when it's not salmon season of course.
  
Floating Russian River from Upper lake to Aspen Flats

The next morning we biked out to the Lower Russian TH, and on the way Lucy-dog decided to play with a porcupine.  She got quilled pretty bad, fortunately they were all smaller quills and not in vital areas.  3 to the chin, 3 to the upper leg, and 8-10 all around her front left paw.  When she came limping up on 3 legs I was not thrilled: we were 8 miles from the TH and there was only one solution.  Fortunately we had a pliers and were able to pull all but one out that the vet found later.  She hobbled her way out to the TH, which was hard to watch, and we took her to the vet once back in Anchorage.  She is almost 100% recovered with some antibiotics, pain meds, and some rest.  I hope she learned.

     Aside from the quilling, the ride from Aspen Flats to Lower Russian TH had great views of the river, valley, and lake below.

ride'n'raft

     With reports popping up that the Kenai was ridable, I wanted to check it out: starting with the Gull Rock trail.  I had no idea this was mountain bikable until I came across it on some forum.  It seemed do-able but not a full-days' ride so we had a plan in case we got done early.

     The trail was just the right level of challenge for me, requiring some dismounts but not enough to discourage, enough smooth-and-easy to make it fun, and pleasant riding in general. I thought it was 7 miles out but after checking a map I now see it is ~5, which explains why it didn't take very long.  The scenery at Gull Rock was great and the trail afforded different views: looking across at the peaks from a distance rather than being on them and it was more challenging to identify which was which.  There were some campsites out there with great views on the bluff, though also evidence of plentiful wind (think flapping tent).  The return ride seemed to be faster and smoother, can't figure out why.

     We indeed had extra time and elected for a quick-and-easy float to try out the new toys.  Sixmile creek above the canyons(not sure where they start) was our solution.  The float took less than an hour, but was convenient as we had time constraints and were able to hitch a ride back to the car.  It was a fun section for this noob.  All-in-all we left 0830 and were back by 1600.  A quick outing but it was great combo-style day.

Riding the Gull Rock trail and rafting part of Six Mile Creek from chugach ress on Vimeo.

Ress v Res

     So given the minimal snowpack and long period without snow we thought it would be a good idea to snowbike the popular Resurrection Pass trail.  The plan was to bike into Devil's Pass from the North Trailhead and then out the other side in 2 nights/3 days.  I don't have a snowbike so I rented one from APU.  It turns out they rent a great assortment of gear to the public, including snowbikes, at an affordable rate.  We headed down Friday late afternoon and were on the trail by 6pm-ish.
     We found warm temps getting warmer and a trail that was decreasingly traveled the farther we went in.  The goal was Devil's Pass(15mi?) assuming smooth travel.  We made it about 4 miles in and started to push the bikes given the unpacked and increasingly soft snow.  It was here I decided I am not a night-travel person.  All that could be seen was the few feet my headlight could illuminate which takes away the great panoramas.  After sweating and slogging in soft snow we decided to just stash the bikes at a campsite and hike to the nearest cabin.
     Upon arrival to the Caribou Creek cabin we checked maps to confirm our location and re-evaluate our plan for the weekend.  We would indeed turn back given our lack of optimism on the ease-of-travel.  We attempted to start a fire about five times, each time smoke filling the cabin and no fire.  It had to have been the stove and leaky chimney.  Of the few outdoor things I'm good at, fire starting is one, and this thing would not go.  So now I was cold, no fire, no primary objective met, I carried 1 gallon of stove fuel for nothing and weather is bunk on my long stretch off work again........... 
     Sleep helps a lot, so does food and a good sleeping bag.  I felt renewed the next morning with the sun mostly out and a new day.    Temps cooled off during the clear night and it was refreshing to have watched the stars.  The trail was relatively harder packed so when we returned to our bikes we were able to bike most of the way back to the TH.  It was here I discovered how bad my rear felt from the pack and the hard seat.  It was a miserable ride in that sense, but easy as it was mostly downhill and beautiful because we could see the incredible landscape in the daylight.  I will definitely return, maybe this winter but no doubt next summer.

Dude it is so summer

     So I had 3 days off and the weather was fab: time to get after it.  The first day wifey, tenant, neighbor and myself shuttled a car to McHugh TH then headed to upper canyon road for a through hike past Rabbit Lake.  Probably one of the most picturesque lakes with a backdrop of the suicides.  The flat descent from there down to McHugh TH was also great and I plan to do a trail run back there this season.  The flowers were blooming, river was gushing, view was amazing, just a good mellow hike.  I saw some eagles, some grouse, sheep and what apparently were three black bears.
     The next day I tried to do a local bike race as I had been itching to hop on the road bike and let loose.  Then I got a flat tire at the farthest out point of the loop, 1.5 laps in, and was unable to repair it due to having wrong valve stem length on my spare combined with incredibly ravenous mosquitoes.  FAIL. Having lost the pack with no hope of recovery and the threat of mosquito-induced anemia knocking at my bloodstream I called it, walked back to the car.  Redemption for the day?
     Having failed in the AM, redemption came from a different bike.  I headed down to the Kenai to bike Johnson pass.  The Hardcore Family was heading back from Seward which allowed us to drop a vehicle at the south TH.  We started at the North.  Weather was great, vegetation green but not overgrown, temps and winds just right.  There were a lot of small flying bugs around the lake at the pass but overall it was great.  The trail has a good balance of what I would call blue-square terrain, but mostly green circle.  We made better time than expected, my legs were on the tired side.  The scenery was awesome.  By the end I appreciated the need for full-suspension and would recommend it.  This bike also had a ride-able malfunction on the ride.....maybe I should have tuned both my bikes this spring? 
     The next morning I woke up and had another great summertime event.  Salmonslayer and I were going to run out the Williwa Lake trail, but after seeing a sow and cub in our way we shot over the ballfield down by Black Lake to Williwa Lakes and took the Lake Trail back without incident.  The weather was perfect, again, with a slight up-valley breeze to cool the run back.  Running in the backcountry is so free, fuel for the tired legs.  Dogs in line, we passed a bull moose uneventfully and dodged a few swampy parts.  I need to run more.
     Then we headed to Campbell Creek for a packraft float with a stop for burgers mid-way.  Having never packrafted I didn't know what to expect but it was great.  Those things can spin on a dime.  We witnessed the carnage of 8+ blow-up rafts in log jams along the way.  Burgers hit the spot.  Sunburned neck/arms and a dip in the stream to cap it off.
     That's not all.  Then I went down just past Bird Point to watch one of the largest boretides of the year.  Some surfers caught it, several did not: you get one shot, make it or break it.  I almost feel bad for those who didn't but not really. 
     Super busy 3 days in terms of energy expenditure, but totally worth it.  The way summer up here should be.  I push responsibility aside and procrastinate because it might rain tomorrow or for the next 3 weeks.  Every time I go out I get new ideas or see new places to go.  I'm not overwhelmed, just fired-up and eager to get after it. 
There is a Johnson Pass mountain bike video on my video page.  see link on the left.


one of the bridge crossings on the way up to Johnson Pass

 

A unique grove of trees overlooking the arm from McHugh



Black Lake, Williwa drainage

cell phone video of the boretide.