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Here in McCarthy we just got a dump of about 8″ of fluffy powder so to celebrate the fresh white stuff we’re having a January White Sale!
We’re offering 10% off on all treks booked between now and Feb 5! So if you were thinking about a trip this summer stop thinking and start planning.
Just mention the blog or Facebook post and we’ll knock off 10%.
http://www.trekalaska.com/trips/
Hope to hear from you soon!
Heading up Canyon Creek
We did the Pyramid Peak route several times last summer. One of those trips was a group of seven which is a bigger group than we usually do but it worked out well in this case. It was an international trip with a couple of Irish lads (Ian and Nial) as well as a young lady, Annie, from Switzerland. Serge and Andrea were a couple from Canada which left Judy and Ann as our token Americans in the group.
It was a diverse group which helped to keep things lively and interesting.
The drop-off airstrip on this trek is very small and very remote, so we had to fly in one at a time in a Super Cub. It’s a dramatic flight in and it was funny to watch each person get out of the plane and the first words out of their mouth was a variation on “that was amazing.” So the flight in definitely got five stars.
Because it took so long to get the group re-assembled on Canyon Creek, the first day was a pretty short and easy one. We hiked a few miles upstream along the creek and then made our crossing of Canyon Creek so we wouldn’t have to start our next day with a cold crossing.
Up the Ridge
We had a great campsite right near the water. At dinner time a rather cheeky ground squirrel came round to see if he could scrounge some food. He was totally unafraid of us and in fact would just not be scared off. He did manage to score a piece of pasta and gave our fettuccine alfredo a two paws up review.
A Well Deserved Break
Day two was a bit more strenuous and featured a big slog up the first ridge of the trip. But it was well worth the hump as we arrived on top to be greeted by clear skies and awesome views all around, especially of the University range.
There is a lot of flexibility in how we structure this route and generally we mix up the longer and shorter days. We got to one spot were we have camped before but it was pretty early in the day so I presented an option that I had always wanted to try.
There is a great spot to camp up on the ridge but the downside is that there is no water, so the only we to camp there is to haul water up the hill. Well Serge and the Milne brothers came to the rescue and volunteered to hump water. It was a great spot to camp for sure with nice views.
Summit Handstands!
The hike up the ridge to Andrus is always a highlight though some find it a little more exciting than they would like. It’s a sharp edge ridge-line that is pretty exhilarating. Ian and Nial had to celebrate our arrival at the top with their traditional summit handstand. The view from the shoulder of Andrus is one of the best of the trek and it’s always a treat when the skies are clear.
One of the big features of the last half of the route is the crossing and re-crossing and more re-crossings of Rex Creek. We had a big group so we split into two teams of four each for the stream crossings: team Mankini and team Magic Spoon. And each team had their own inspirational chant to help fortify and encourage us before venturing into the cold water. It really helped make an otherwise tedious number of crossings a lot easier and even fun.
One of the highlights for me was the last morning when the group presented a thank you gift including a made-in-the-field card. Thanks again guys.
So it was a great trek with a great bunch of people.
Can’t wait to see who shows up this summer!
Annie Enjoying the Spectacular Views on the Way Down.
The snow is really piling up out here in the Wrangells these days. So to warm things up a bit it’s time for a winter reflection on some treks from this past summer.
The fall colors were spectacular.
I’m going to start with the last trip of our season – the Lake Clark, Turquoise Lake High Country Trek. There is nothing more fun than to take clients on an exploratory trip on a route I’ve never been on before. I get to remember what it’s like to be on a route where you don’t really know what lays ahead. Is that stream going to be cross-able? How steep is that pass? Will we be able to find a place to camp along the shore of that lake?
It keeps things interesting.
Part of the reason that we did the Lake Clark trip is that Rick and Janette had already done 3 different treks with me in Wrangell-St. Elias and as much as they love that area they were curious about Lake Clark. They had read Dick Preneckie’s book about his experience living on Twin Lakes and wanted to see his cabin as well has have a back-country adventure.
I had only been to Lake Clark once and that was years ago so I had to pull out the maps and scan for route ideas that would finish near Dick’s cabin on Twin Lakes. I found would looked like a workable high country route that started on Lake Telaquana. There were several spots along the way that I wasn’t sure what to expect but figured we would work it out as we went.
We hop on a commuter plane at Merrill Feild for the flight to Port Alsworth. Wow, what a flight coming in over the Tordrillo Mountains. What a rugged and totally forbidding terrain. I was glad we wouldn’t be trekking through that mess.
In PA we got into a couple of Cessna 206s on float which deposited us on the shore of Lake Telaquana. Fortunately we got some last minute beta about the hike up from the lake. What looked like a quick and easy jaunt up the ridge to some nice lakes proved to take a bit longer and involved some bushwhacking.
The top of the ridge is very indistinctly rolling country and in the thick fog we almost walked right by our half mile long lake.
We wanted adventure and that’s what we got.
One of the highlights was fishing at Turquoise Lake where we layed over for an extra night. We had fresh grayling for dinner both nights.
One of our high ridge camps - amazing!
One of my favorite campsites was this high camp near some ragged peaks. The hike out the next day started in bitter cold rain but by the afternoon turned sunny. A friendly red fox trotted along near us for part of the hike up the next ridge.
Our camps alternated between high ridge camps and lake-side spots. Besides the fish, one of the nice things about the lower camps was the chance to have an evening fire. We always dug a pit in the sand for it and then buried it in the morning to leave no trace of our fires.
We saw a brown bear up really close one day and also some Dall sheep so it was pretty good for critter spotting.
Everyone was looking forward to seeing Dick’s cabin at twin and that did not disappoint. There was a park volunteer who stays at a nearby cabin. He was a friend of Dick’s so we got a guided tour and the inside scoop on ole Dick. The cabin is quite the work of craftsmanship. I do think however, that the gravel floor was probably a tad cold in the winter. Heck it was probably cold in the summer.
All in all it was a great adventure with lots of surprises but none that we couldn’t handle. In fact I liked it so much that I have put the trip on the regular roster for summer 2011.
Dick's cabin on Twin Lakes
A friendly trail companion
Sometimes rugged, always breath-taking
Hey everybody. I just got back yesterday from the first trek of the season – a five day Donoho Lakes glacier trek. It was a great group to kick off the summer with: Ed, Ann, Brian and Morgan. It was a diverse bunch but it turned out that they all worked in health and medical professions so there were lots of interesting conversations.
We had good weather for the most part and except for the last day what rain we got was at night. The first night we camped along the moraine edge of the Root glacier which offered great views of the day’s hike. We could see Kennicott across the ice.
No doubt where you are it’s time to get the garden in and you’ve already had your first backyard barbeque. Well summer comes a bit slower to the north and up here folks are getting in some spring skiing before the big melt.
Here’s short clip I took just last week off the north slope of a ridge above Eagle River. A young couple was taking advantage of the great snow conditions for an easy ski down.
One of the things I love about Alaska is that you can get to a place like this in less than an hour from town. The trail head is a 10 minutes drive and then to get to where this is shot takes about an hour of hiking depending on conditions.
Yeah life is grand.
And just when you think it can’t possible snow again this season… it does. Just a few days ago we got a big snow fall. Went up into the hills for my evening hike and found that there was 4 inches of fresh white stuff on the ground. Whoa.
There were places where the snow was only a few inches deep, but there were also spots where someone (sans snowshoes) had postholed thigh deep!
But don’t worry, if you’re heading to Alaska for a summer trip it will all be gone by the time you get here. No really, it will 
