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Getting Organized
Most of our trips originate in McCarthy which is more or less the defacto gateway to the interior of Wragell-St. Elais National Park. But this trip starts in the Mt. Wrangell area which is a ways from McCarthy, so we all met in Chitina at the Chitina House B&B. We reserved the whole place for ourselves and so had plenty of room to spread out the gear in the common room.
The crew consisted of Rick and Janette (an adventurous couple from Minneapolis who were taking their third trip with Trek Alaska) Kim who hails from Florida and Scott from my old stomping grounds in the Seattle/Puget Sound area.
After sorting all the gear and distributing food, Rick hoisted his pack and announced that it was lighter than he expected. Janette gave it a tug and asked, "Rick, do you have a bear can of food in there?"
"Bear can?"
Geez, ya gotta watch that guy every minute.
Next morning it was up bright and early for the short drive to Chitina International. We were flying in on a Cessna 185 so we had to make two trips. Scott and I went in first and waited in the drizzly rain for the rest of the gang.
We landed on a plateau just off Mt. Wrangel with jaw dropping veiws all over the place. We just couldn't see them for the rain and fog. I wanted to give everyone chance of seeing Mt. Wrangell up close so our first day was a short one and we camped on the plateau hoping for a break in the clouds.
We headed up the plateau to a spot where I found a small lake the summer before. It was dry. Hmmm. Okay I knew there was a stream a little farther on. And there it was - also dry.
"Ha ha, boy it looks like it's been a dry one here this summer eh. Don't worry, we'll find water, no problem"
I ducked my head and mumbled to myself , "I hope."
Sure enough we found a small pond that suited our needs. We set camp and I treated everyone to the traditional Trek Alaska, first night fare - Fettuccini Alfredo with Copper River salmon. No complaints.
Long Glacier Fun
The Wrangel plateau drops about 2000 feet to the Long Glacier which promised to be a fun crossing. But we had to get down there first. It was a steep scramble at times down a rock filled gully and Janeete started wondering what she had gotten herself into. Till we got out on the glacier, and then she stopped wondering, she knew for sure.
The Long Glacier is more challenging and more fun than some of the other glaciers we cross on other treks. The routefinding was a bit circuitious as we woond are way between crevasses and steep fins and ridges. It was a bit overcast but we had fun taking pictures anyway. The edge of the glacier was very dramatic with 60 foot high cliffs, one of which towered above a deep pool of water. I had a couple guy on an earlier trip this summer (Jason and Scott) who would have jumped in whitout a second thought.
After our first (really cold) stream crossing we humped it up the ridge to look for a campsite while munching on blueberries as we went. Some of the crew were a bit tuckered out after the hard day on the ice and more than ready for camp and another great evening meal.
Up and Up
Next day everyone felt fresh and ready for action. Our hike started as a gradual, angled ascent to the pass and got steeper and steeper the higher we got. There were a few tough spots but those were soon forgotten as we topped out on the pass! Wow, the views were just great. Fantastic views looking back at Wrangell especialy. We took a well earned lunch break and soaked it all in. This was the first of three ridges we would cross on the trek.
The rest of the day was a bit mellower as we travelled down the much easier grade on the other side. We followed along Fall Creek and found a nice place to camp.
Whackin and Hackin
After continuing on down Fall Creek, we came to the spot that I had been aiming for, more or less. Now we faced on of the challenges of the trek - a steep scramble down a brushy slope. There were a few spots where we had to skirt over the top of some drop offs until we finally found the gully that ran all the way to the bottom. The brush came in handy and made better hand holds than the trekking poles.
Once on level ground we pushed on a bit farther and arrived at the shore of the Kluvesna River. We had hummus on Pita bread with chocolate for dessert - and then spread out our pads for a bit of a siesta in the warm sunshine. There was definitly some snoring going on.
After a nice hike along the river we made camp near the terminus of the Kluvesna River. We had some nice light that evening and Kim was out with his tripod taking lots of photos as the light came skimming over the water.
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