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.

Floatin' the Wos'

     So Sarah and I have been gettin' out there now that she's full-on summer break.  This weekend, in light of our 6-year, decided to do something.  Sky-diving was our first choice, but for $600+ we elected for something more frugal.  Having been to Homer only once or  twice we headed south and at the recommendation of friends hit up the Kachemak Bay State Park with the goal of some packrafting.
     We headed to Homer, AK under overcast and rainy weather and checked out the town.  It was less-than-thrilling and a major tourist-trap:  Filled with eateries of the average kind and enough galleries to make a hippie or hipster OD. That's all I could find.  That fun lasted less than the time to wait for Mako's water taxi to Kachemak Bay State Park.  We rode that pleasant boat ride with views of sea otters, waterfowl, black bear and humpback whales to the trailhead in Halibut Cove Lagoon.  From there we took to the China Poot Lake trail and camped that night on China Poot Lake-shore with an amazing sunset and the coveted mid-week solitude.  Lucy got a bit seasick from the ride, puking and opting-out of dinner.

China Poot Lake Trail

China Poot Lake camp looking west

Sunset on China Poot Lake

 Descent to the Wosnesenski River

     We woke up the next morning to several sea-plane landings on the lake(irritating break from solitude), and continued on the trial to the Wosnesenski Lake Trail.  Numerous salmon berries and blue berries were a pleasant snack while hiking.  The trail was indeed overgrown and brushy as Homer locals had warned, but not a bushwhack: better than expected for mid-August.  Where this trail took a hard right turn(west) and paralleled the river, we broke down the to Wos' for an easy and incredibly aesthetic ride out toward the ocean.
     Although we started rafting the river about 1/2 way down from the headwaters, we heard of folks flying in to the lake below the glacier and rafting from there with a little more spice to the river higher up(class II?). Nonetheless, our trek was great.  We ate lunch in the river valley, blew up the rafts and hopped on for the ride.  We rode for about 2.5+hours on class I+/II- of fast glacial river, with occasional log jams to maneuver, but no sweepers/strainers/portages or butt-dragging.  We saw bald eagles and salmon swimming upstream as well as incredible valley views with glaciers and a respectable waterfall($cha-ching$).  In fact, one salmon tried to go up under Sarah's boat.

Look! A flying salmon!

She did better on the raft than the boat.

We set up camp just up-river from the ocean on a vegetated gravel bar as shelter from the day-winds and for the sake of fresh water.  The clear skies and cool breeze with up-valley views made for an ideal evening.  We even had a celebratory dessert and hit the hay early.  

Vegetated gravel-bar camp.  Lots of bear tracks.

     After a good nights' rest we rafted the remaining <1hr out to the ocean, with a bear spotting to top it off.  We paddled the short ocean stint with otters and waterfowl sightings and arrived at the Haystack TH, an obvious-looking rock structure on the shore, where our taxi would pick us up in a bit.  We spent our time waiting walking up and down the ocean shore taking in the unique breeze oceans offer, looking at the driftwood, collecting a variety of ocean bounty, admiring the dramatic vistas with volcanoes on the horizon and savoring the successful completion of another trip.  Bam, cat's in the bag.

Morning put-in.

We made it! View back toward river mouth, where the bears catch only the tastiest, most tender salmon.

Haystack Rock and TH.

     To top it off we had another close whale-watching opportunity on the ride back to Homer.  The drive home was just as remarkable.  AK is a special place and I'm reminded of this all the time, but especially on trips like this one.

Humpback whale spotting.

     Shout out to "Gus" of True North Kayak Adventures for beta on the river as well as Mako's Water Taxi with trail info, timely transport and the pause for whales.

Finally, Savage-to-Sanctuary

     So I had made it a point to float the Sanctuary River in Denali National Park this summer.  The planned weekend had come so Sarah and I busted north despite clouds and scattered showers in the forecast.  We were greeted with mostly sunny skies and construction on the drive up, but it was still gorgeous.
     We arrived at the Wilderness Access Center, obtained our permit, bear canister and found the next bus heading to Savage River.  I was unaware, but should you be planning a backcountry trip in Denali they require you to have a bear canister for your food.  This canister was larger than our food, had no tie-downs or straps, and weighs a bunch.  I was less than thrilled having to work this thing into my packing strategy.  In addition, make sure that the wilderness unit you will be camping in is not full as they allow only a certain number of campers each night in each unit.  Luckily ours was not, but had it been a nice weekend we may have been out of luck.
     The green bus gave us a ride to the Savage River bridge.  In hindsight, we could have left from the Savage River campground and saved ourselves about 2 miles, but whatever.  We repacked with the canister and headed upstream on the banks as thunderstorms approached.  Thunder is rare in Anchorage, so the thunderstorm was a treat reminiscent of Michigan.  It rained for a brief period and then became scattered, decreasing as we climbed farther up valley.  We alternated between caribou trials, game trails, and riverbank walking until we were a draw or two deep in the valley where we set up camp.
     The next morning we continued up the valley along the riverbank which carried us most of the way and made for easy walking.  The weather was prime with billowy white clouds in sunny sky and a gentle cool breeze that kept us comfortable.  We spotted a cow and large bull caribou as well as numerous moose and caribou sheds/skulls.  Lunch was on the last bit of the riverbed before we headed up to the pass through grassy fields chuck full of wildflowers.
     The pass proper was unremarkable when compared to views and scenery on either side.  Still interesting, though, was the spring from the top which flowed down to both East and West.  We had an easy descent down into the Sanctuary drainage with the continuously impressive vista of the Sanctuary valley, fields of fireweed, ground squirrels darting and chirping, mountain goats on the ridgeline, and the storm clouds gathering to the north while we still enjoyed sunny ones.
     As mentioned the descent was easy and we arrived at the river, rearranged gear, inflated our packrafts and started floating.  I was worried there wouldn't be enough water given what the upper Savage looked like and having never seen the Sanctuary, but there was plenty.  We didn't drag butt at all and the water level was just right all the way to the bridge(~7ft-ish).  We did the float in about 2.5 hours.  We started in clear/partly cloudy skies, floated through sprinkles with rain elsewhere, and even saw a rainbow.  The rain had enriched the greenery, especially as the river left the valley and into the open.  The river was an ideal float in my mind.  It was just splashy and curvy enough to not be boring, but just tame enough that I could still look around and enjoy the scenery.  It was a good speed and volume with no sweepers or log jams.
     The park bus picked us up from the Sanctuary bridge, we rode back to the care in sunshine with good views of the park.  At the car we encountered an Idahoan who had floated the same but came in from the Calico Creek side(west) and higher up valley.  He said he had been rained on a lot and had poor weather, so I guess we lucked out considering that route was our alternative.  Impressively, he had been touring and packrafting all over Canada and Alaska, managing to do all this from a motorcycle and his raft fit in his saddlebags in addition to all his other gear.
     Anyway, I would highly recommend this trip.  I finally made it to Denali National Park(other than the mountain proper) and it was great. I would go back in a second.

I used the map and route in red from Go Play Outside! blog as a guide but the blue is more like what we actually did.  Major differences include our start point and that we went up the West side of the river the entire time.

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.

Snowbird: checking it off

     So I put a night at the Snowbird Hut in the Talkeetna Mountains on the list this fall as I am on a "start doing it" push for personal goals like that.  I had been to the Mint and Bomber huts as part of a ski traverse this past spring, but we headed out after the Bomber.
     Saturday morning we went to check out the Snowbird.  Based on what I read, it sounded like the best travel conditions over the boulder fields would have been either dry or covered by enough snow to ski/skin.  However, when the mountains got a thin and slick dusting I was too internally committed to wuss-out because of the inconvenient travel conditions.  To Archangel we went.  I was also hoping they hadn't closed the Archangel road yet, and despite the 2-3" of wet snow it was still open.  I brought my ski stuff with the chance that the 'bird got enough snow for the seasons' first turns, if not it would be good training.

Heading up Reed Lakes Trail.

She was not a fan of the pack.

     We left the cars beneath overcast skies and trekked down a snowy trail with increasing snow depth and sunshine as we gained elevation.  As we ascended we came across a pair who were at the hut, they reported ~6" fresh and dry which increased my stoke with the possibility of rewards for my work.  The boulder fields turned out to be as inconvenient as I expected, but the group handled it well.  As we crested the pass it started to snow and it seemed there was enough to ski.  We descended down the glacier then up the boulders to the hut, fixed dinner, dried out and warmed up.  I would attempt to ski the next morning with hopes of more snow at night.


View of the Snowbird Glacier from the hut.  Note the former 'nunatak'.

     It didn't snow much, but there was enough: about 6-8" of fresh and dry.  The sun was trying to poke out and not another track on the glacier was visible: I was so stoked.  Lucy didn't know what we were going to do yet as I busted out the skis and skins.  It has been awhile and I felt like someone in a movie picking up a lost and cherished object they hadn't seen in years as I put the skins on.  We traversed the glacier and ascended.  I was pleased with the lack of rocks I heard could be there.  Skinning to the top I caught glimpses of Denali and Foraker.  The views of the Talkeetnas continue to amaze me with their ruggedness which was emphasized by the hint of snow illuminated under that typical Alaskan fall sunlight.  The stillness of being solo in the mountains, noise-dampening snow, untouched snow-fields, the ravens, the expansive views, it was all great.  Ski season started today.

     My party wouldn't want to wait for me to lap it to exhaustion, so I knew this ski of opportunity had to be savored.  I forgot to freshly wax my skis so they were a little slow, but I didn't have to work for it on the way down.  There was just enough snow to get a little bounce in there but not so much that a harder turn wouldn't scrape crustiness.  There was enough sun so that it wasn't flat but not so much that it was 'sunny'.  It was a plenty good run for October 5, my earliest.  I am not a year-round skier so this is a super-early preview.  I'm still getting use to the new(ish) boards I got at the end of last season.


Ascending next to the no-longer nunatak.

Pristine.  Stoke meter is up.

Views of Denali and Foraker.  

Nothing more, nothing less.

   I met my group at the pass, we descended back to the car, down into the socked-in valley.  It was mostly clear up high: one of my favorite rewards for climbing mountains in any season.  You don't know unless you go.

Vista Peak

     So ants-in-her-pants-Lucy-dog and I headed out on another perfect fall day.  I needed to do something new, I had to be back by dinner, and it should be something that takes advantage of the mountains before snow comes.  I'm not in tip-top shape but I'm trying to increase my vertical and back-to-back days in prep for ski-season which I hope starts any minute now, like tomorrow.  I looked at a map and Vista was the highest, closest, and un-bagged for me.  In addition, I had been eyeing it's slopes as a possible ski run for some time and had read about one ski report on it here.  I would go up Mt Baldy in Eagle River, follow the ridge to Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks, possibly tag Round Top on the ridge back to the summit of Vista.
     Again the weather was great.  It cooled enough at night to freeze the muddy trails but the temps weren't harsh on the body.  A crusty dusting of snow was left over on the Northern aspects and shadows which made me thankful I wore my thicker smartwools.  I ran the flats and mild inclines, hiked the steeper and slippery slopes.  I hadn't been to Blacktail Ptarmigan or beyond in about 2 years so the new-ish scenery was nice.  We saw an already white ptarmigan up on there with just a few hints of gray in it.  I then traversed the ridge and decided to focus on Vista rather than Round Top.  The ridge afforded views of a drainage I had not yet seen, the one north of Little Peters Creek but South of Peters Creek proper.

     The white, shadowed valley below was littered with sheep/goat trails, but I saw none.  About 300 feet below Vista's summit I saw a single bear track.  I always find it odd why they come up so high: seemingly un-traversable cliffs to the north, mostly rock and no vegetation all around, not crossing to another drainage, perhaps the views?  I would think I would have seen something back here like a black bear or sheep or goat.  Anyway, the summit was a short and easy scramble.  Despite being in my light running clothes the wind was calm enough to allow for a rest and take in the views and scope the line which looked good aside from funneling into a terrain trap.

     We descended down and along the ridge out.  I was too fatigued to tag Round Top, however it would have been the icing on the cake if there were more gas in my tank (ER's afternoon linkup of Baldy-Blacktail-Rountop-Vista and out, akin to the front-range loop of Flattop-Peak 2-Peak 3-Flaketop and out.  I took the creek between Blacktail and Rountop down and traversed below the Blacktails.  I found pristine ice already choking out the creek in that drainage.  I wish my phone hadn't died because creeks in winter/frozen are a favorite of mine.  The rest was uneventful.  I did see the local coyote and a pond I didn't know was there.
     Lucy-dog struggled on the way up and in, concerning for what winter holds for her.  She did fine on the way down and out though.  She loves the open tundra, the closest thing to what I would think of as a pasture, and reflective of the herding dog in her.

packraft crow pass

     So there are several local floats I had yet to do, sometimes being limited by logistics, starting in one place and finishing in another.  Waiting for it doesn't get it done, so the next time the Crow Pass float opportunity presented itself I pounced, and it paid off.  Crow Pass is about a 23 mile trail connecting Girdwood to Eagle River(ER).  It starts at the end of a mining road, goes up through a valley with an obvious mining history, over a pass with views of high mountain lakes, glaciers, streams, you name it.  It then traverses down to the valley bottom, crossing the gorge a few times before dropping down to the Eagle River, crossing it, paralleling it out to the Eagle River Nature Center.  It can be done in a long day hike, a few-hour run or multi-day hike.  It turns out it(the river) can also be packrafted.
     We took advantage of the incredible fall weather we had been having and started hiking from the Crow Pass Trailhead.  The weather held: sunny, cool, calm.  Less than 1/2 mile from the pass we thought we heard a jet, which was unusual as not many flight patterns go over this area.  Nope, not a jet.  We noticed alders quivering in the windless valley and the rumble was steady.  While scratching our heads about it the whole ground began moving back and forth and we realized it was an earthquake.  My first thought was rockfall.  We were right in the fall-line should anything large break loose.  The sound of all the loose rocks bouncing down the valley walls was both incredible and slightly unnerving.  It continued for some time, the longest one I have felt and the only one in the backcountry.  I wondered if we would come out of the backcountry to civilization in chaos.  It was recorded as a 6.2 with a deep epicenter in nearby Willow, AK.

Down in the valley headed to ER.

     We continued on, taking in the always amazing views on a clear day in Crow Pass.  We saw some sheep up high, moose down low, and some tracks we didn't know for sure but could have been wolverine.  Fall is a great time to hike muddy areas when they freeze over, it was easy-going down to Eagle River's edge.  We gambled with the water level a bit thinking that if it was too low we would just hike the trail out. It was about 3.5ft at the ER bridge at Glenn Hwy and looked low for this far back.  Were it higher we would have hiked upstream a way but we put in right where the trail first sees the river.

The descent to ER.

     The fall colors were in their prime and reached up the valley walls in streaks of yellow and orange and some green hanging on for a super-vibrant effect.  The sun was still high enough to warm the valley bottom despite the tall mountains on either side.  We did a fair amount of butt-dragging and had to walk one 100ft section, but it was do-able and I wouldn't try it any lower.  We saw plenty of sheep and goats, bald eagles including one that was eating a salmon.  The salmon were still running but not looking good.  I had no idea there were so many large waterfalls back there until I saw them from the river.  From the trail they are shrouded by woods or bad angles but from the river their full height and width can be seen much better.
     As the day went on, the sun got lower, the feet and hands got colder.  We had to portage one log-jam lower down, easily seen and avoided.  We stopped and pulled out before Echo Bend rapids and hiked out to the nature center to warm up.  I would definitely recommend this float, especially with slightly higher water, but the pleasant weather and fall colors redeemed that.  We concluded with some beer and food at the ER alehouse.  Another hash on the tally-board of great AK outings.  Can't beat it.

 Photos: Adam Baxter

Backpack Thompson Pass

     So this weekend on the calendar was a trip to a part of AK that neither of us had been but was definitely on the to-do list.  The plan was to backpack a few days out in Thompson Pass toward Marshall Pass, swing by Valdez and check out the summer-time scene, then hit up the Copper River for some opportunistic dip-netting.

     We bopped out of A-town Thursday evening and enjoyed the beautiful ride under sunny skies to Valdez.  We arrived late that evening and camped at the hair-pin pullout in Thompson Pass.  We set out the next morning toward Marshall Pass, initially ascending with minimal bushwhacking to cross a stream/gorge, and proceeded to traverse East.  We hiked about 2+ miles with some side-hilling: enough to insight the fear of a blister but not enough to distract from taking in the prized sunshine, cool breeze, plentiful streams/waterfalls, grand vistas with glaciers and pointy peaks and thousands of almost every Alaskan wildflower you can think of.  Lucy was in heaven chasing squirrels and smells, she wore herself out on day 1.

  We camped somewhere along that slope about 3 miles or so in and spent 2 nights there with equally impressive weather.  The second day we day-hiked to what was a lake on the map, hoping for a swim in the warm and sunny weather.  The lake turned out to be dried up with streams running through, but still a gorgeous oasis.

     The third day we woke to rainy skies which parted way to occasional drizzle then mostly cloudy.  We chose to take a lower and flatter route on a low bench toward the car but weren't sure if the gorge was passable or if we would have to ascend to cross again.  As we neared our decision point, we saw a flood of outdoorsy people coming from our hopeful gorge-crossing site.  We attempted to ask route info but they were in too much of a hurry......to get to McCarthy(what?!?).  Turns out it was the start of one of the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic races up here and from what I gather it is pretty much a long distance, hardcore backcountry race with an open route by means of human-powered travel where people wouldn't normally choose to travel.  Here are some pics and a write-up from last year.  Finally a less hurried group just said the gorge was passable: we should have asked specifics.  If you do this hike cross the gorge up high.

   We found their trampled path down the gorge to the stream without too much issue but then saw the slope they came down (fell/slid?) and realized it wasn't happening.  Being in too deep and too close to turn back, we proceeded downstream to a more approachable slope-angle and bushwhacked our way up a steep, muddy, wet, heavily vegetated(devil's club/alder/briar/fern/cow parsnip) route with clumsy packs for too-long before popping out near the highway.
     After collecting ourselves we drove down to Valdez for an over-priced shower, ate an over-priced lunch of OK food and drove around a low-key fishing town.  Then I realized Valdez is not a destination for the town, it is for the scenery around the town, and well-worth it.  I need to see this place in winter with my ski stuff.  We headed to Solomon Gulch to check out the Pink Salmon that had returned to the hatchery to spawn, which, in addition to the phenomenon of spawning being incredible, was awesome to see it in action.  We also had the opportunity to see a brown bear feeding on the salmon at a road-side tidal-pond.  I need to see this place in winter with my ski stuff.  

     The drive in and out of Valdez is just as incredible as the scenery around the town.  The canyon's steep cliff walls sandwich the road and the Lowe River, funneling them toward town.  There were plenty of cascading waterfalls emerging from the verdant slopes as well as pullouts to view them.  The remaining debris pile from the slide that shut the highway down this past winter was also still hanging around.  We managed to swing by the convenient Worthington glacier on our way to the Copper which was cool but not stand-out.  I need to see this place in winter with my ski stuff.

      We pulled into Chitina with just enough time to make a trip down the trail worth it that night.  We had already got our Salmon for the season, so we were more along for the ride with our trip-mates.  I should have sent them this link (copper dipnetting 101: minus the bike since we were already full on gear).  I usually underestimate the time/effort involved in the process after landing and stringing the fish and was tempted to keep dipping for more.  The fishing for foot-access people was slow but sufficient for an opportunistic excursion (~12 fish in ~4hrs, plus 3 or more we lost to a hole in the net).  The weather was pleasant with mild wind and a great alpenglow sunset on Mt. Drum(?).  We encountered bears at the cleaning creek and mountain goats up the road there for the first time, although given the salmon I'm surprised it took this many visits before dealing with bears.  We concluded with enough fish and a late night, we camped at the parking lot and headed out under rainy skies the next morning.

Another sweet trip in AK...............