Spectacular views of the Stairway Icefall and more – Donoho Glacier Trek.
Treks are Filling Up!
Just a quick update on trips scheduled for this summer.
If you take a look at our calendar page you’ll see that there are several trips that are sold out.
If you’re interested in a trek this summer book now to avoid disappointment.
Featured Trip – Donoho Glacier Trek
Currently scheduled trips include: June 9-13, 16-20, 23-27
Check the calendar page for availability.
The Donoho trek is one of our most popular for many reasons.
For many folks this trek hits the sweet spot in terms of cost and duration. It’s a 5 day trek that won’t bust your vacation budget.
The reason it costs less than our other treks is that there is no bush flight to access the wilderness. Most of our treks require fly-in access and pickup. But for the Donoho trek we just start hiking out of the historic Kennicott site and just keep going over glaciers and land to some of the most amazing terrain and spectacular views to be found in the park.
Glacier Exploration
The big focus on this trip is exploring the fascinating and varied world of glaciers. Most people are surprised to discover that glaciers are not just flat sheets of ice but a richly varied environment with a terrain all their own. We spend time hiking across the Root, Gates and Kennicott glaciers and exploring features such as melt pools, crevasses, fins and more. Your guide will teach you about how glaciers are formed, advance and ultimately recede.
Overland Travel
But it’s not all ice travel. We cross the Donoho landmass and visit the Donoho Lakes as we pass directly under Donoho Peak. These lakes are filled by melting glacier water from the Kennicott and Gates glaciers.
Bears, Bears, Bears!
Everyone wants to see a bear in Alaska and Wrangell-St. Elias has plenty of them. But the Donoho region has always been on of the best areas for spotting bears in the park. Black bears and grizzlies are frequently seen on this trek. But not to worry – we’ve never had a problem and one of the first things your guide does is teach the crew about bear safety and bear encounters.
Duration – Difficulty
This trip falls right in the range that many people are looking for – a 5 day trek of moderate difficulty. There may be some occasions where you will be challenged but overall the difficulty is moderate.
Early Season
Another advantage of this route is that it becomes free of snow much earlier than some of the more remote, higher elevation areas in the backcountry. Because of that we are able to offer this trek in June and have even occasionally done late May treks for private groups.
Featured Trip – Iceberg Lake
Ridge line campsites in the Iceberg Lake valley.
This is another 5 day trip that is packed with amazing views and adventure.
Iceberg Lake is in the more southern part of the park, and that means glaciers. The Iceberg Lake valley is close to the Bagley ice field which is one of the largest non-polar ice fields on the planet.
This trek is done as a combo type trip – part base camp and part backpacking. We get the best of both worlds on these loop trips. We get to see more terrain than we would if we base camped in the same spot the whole trip, but we don’t have to carry full packs every day.
We begin by heading down the valley towards a glacier. The edge of the ice is always a nice spot to stop for lunch and get some instruction
from the guide on how to put on crampons and travel safely over the glacier. We take our time with the crossing and explore.
Once across we clamber over a bit of rocky moraine and part way up a ridge to find a campsite with great views of the entire valley. We usually spend most of the next three days exploring different parts of this ridge – and it’s not enough to do more than scratch the surface of what this area has to offer.
There are lots of options up on the ridge so we settle on an itinerary that suits the group. Possibilities include heading up a nearby scramble peak, exploring some nearby lakes, hiking along the ridge or if we’re ambitious we could drop down over the other side of the ridge for a look at the next valley.
Bears are frequently seen in the valley and occasionally even wolverine.
Currently scheduled trips include: July 7 – 11, July 16 – 20, Aug 22 – 26
Check the calendar page for availability.
If you want a moderate trek with jaw dropping views this is a good one!
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Trek Comparison Matrix
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Easier to
Moderate
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Moderate to
Strenuous |
Strenuous
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Extremely
Challenging |
| Steamboat Hills | Iceberg Lake | Seven Pass | Wrangell/Skyscraper |
For more on any of these trips click on the links to see the detail page or give us a call. 907.350.3710
Well that’s it for now. See you next month.
Till then.. happy trails!
Greg Fensterman
info@trekalaska.com -
www.TrekAlaska.com – 907.350.3710
Trek Alaska
PO Box 771862
Eagle River, AK 99577
