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.

since it's been awhile....photoblogentry

     So since it's been awhile and the skiing (for me) stopped, here are a few pics from the transitional season:

Lucy-dog. The one and only.

View from the top. Hatcher Pass, Fairangel area

Same

When it's snow like the 1st 3 pics up high, it's like this down low.

Lucy-dog and a Turnagain Pass view.

The goods being got on a low-snow spring.

Girdwood is still pretty cool.

Portage Valley views

Williwaw Lakes trail run

Flattop-2-3-4-Flaketop traverse with (almost formerly) Ptarmigan Tarn in the background

Hidden Lake on a Summer day.

2nd Packraft of the season.

ER Nature center trail run

Far North Bicentennial trail run, STA Gorge Trail

Deep Lake on the Williwaw Lake trail run, end of May

Williwaw Lakes from Deep Lake

Gull Rock Trail views while mountain biking

That largest snowline is ~3000ft of skiable vert, FYI, and worth it.

Kinkaid singletrack mountain biking on my favorite trail(for obvious reasons)

NOT IN AK.  Hollywood Beach, FL, sunrise.

PWS! National Geographic!

Same.

Center Ridge to Placer: ski and float

     So when you come to the realization that both skiing and rafting are great means of backcountry travel, ideas start forming of places to go using these means.  We were inspired by a trip report from the Endure Fun Blog, but wanted to add a skiing twist.  This idea had been floating;) around and needed to be addressed.  However, due to the precise timing needed related to conditions of weather/snow/scheduling, it remained on the to-do list.

The route by land.  If snow coverage were better I would drop down to the Placer near that tiny lake on the bench.

Views from Center Ridge

     Things like this bring the Shawshank Redemption quote to mind, "Get busy living, or get busy dying."  So we decided to give it a go with less-than-optimal weather/snow.  It was raining in Girdwood, sprinkling and 40 at the Center Ridge TH with obscured summits to the East.  The snow was wet and sloppy.  We toured back Center ridge, crossed an impressive slide-path, and up to the pass that would drop us into the Center Creek drainage.
     The snow got slightly drier as we skinned higher, the lighting didn't improve much, but it did cool down and the precipitation was snow and not rain.  We encountered a corniced pass, which was expected, but had some difficulty getting over/around it.  Once on top, we realized it was not several cornices, but one large cornice along the entire pass with mini(but massive) cornice protrusions.  We were still alive.

The white box at higher elevations

Yikes.

Ahh, the ski down with a view.  It doesn't get much better.

     We skied down the upper elevations in a white box, but lighting improved as we descended and snow quality worsened due to the warming temps.  We skied down to Center creek headwaters and skinned(very short) up to the next pass that would drop us down to the Placer River.  Views of Center Creek drainage and Placer/Spencer area were incredible from up high and the ski lines back there are massive.  We had some wet-snow slide conditions to manage but made it without too much difficulty.  By now the weather was primo: sunshine with scattered clouds, a slight breeze and warm.
     To this point it took us 6 hours.  We skied/bushwhacked/hiked down to the Placer, filled the boats and floated out.  The float took us just about 4 hours.  It was nice to take in the views while resting the legs and enjoy it without the rush of darkness coming.  We only saw birds and beavers, no other wildlife.
     I would like to try this route earlier in the season, at the earliest chance the Placer is free of ice enough to float: get info from someone with a plane.  This would make getting down there from the pass much easier with better snow coverage/consistency at the lower elevations.  I would not like to try this route once things start to grow.

Down the Placer

Spencer Glacier, Placer River.

Center Ridge to Placer 4-2015 from chugach ress on Vimeo.

heeeere moosey moosey moosey

     So fall has been odd with random and new activities.  A five-day trip house-to-house got our our hunting party some moose meat.  Being my first real hunt ever I found it way more enjoyable than I expected.  We had 2 days of sunny weather followed by a partially rainy day, a full rainy day and concluded with a sunny day.  We saw a number of caribou as well as several legal bull moose and ended up shooting one under the >50" category.  We also saw eagles and coyote, but no bears.  The scenery was amazing, and it even snowed one evening.  I learned a fair amount, most notably how large a moose really is.  It was a good time and we plan to repeat next year with experience on our side.

There was evidence we were clearly in caribou country.  Next year I might opt for shooting one of these in addition to the moose hunt.  We'll see.

I have never seen this columnar ice curl like that, usually it is straight.  The frozen ground made for some easier walking than swampy low-land.  Dry feet are a luxury.

Caribou country.  This bunch moseyed on through: 2 bulls of small to moderate size were in there.

This was our measurement method to confirm the spread was >50".  It was.  

Going to town.  I was a noob so took pics and did an occasional slice here and there.  The moose is heavy when you have to carry it.  

Once at the water and floating, things were much more pleasant.  Rafts are and excellent way to transport meat.  

Photo: Adam Baxter