On the way up, we stopped to get some supplies at a Fred Meyer store in Palmer. I have done most of my shopping during my time here at Fred Meyer, mostly because it's like a Target Greatland or a Walmart Supercenter--more than just a grocery store, it sells electronics, appliances, clothing...everything. I also soon discovered (which was then confirmed on Wikipedia) that Fred Meyer not too long ago merged with Kroger. I was wondering why all of the logos and names ("Kid-Os") looked familiar... One item bought by Tyler was a can of bear spray. Apparently bear spray is a kind of highly-powered pepper spray. The canister is slighly smaller than a bottle of water and has a nozzle at the top. In theory, if a bear decides to charge you, you can point this thing at it and spray it (up to 30 feet!) and the high-powered pepper spray will deter the bear. The entire thing was supposed to discharge in 4 seconds. Potent stuff. In Alaska, there are no native snakes, no poisonous spiders, no ticks, no poison ivy or oak, no mosquitoes away from the low lands...really the only things you have to worry about in the higher country are bears and moose--very large things that you can usually see very well. But, short of carrying a firearm, bear spray was the best we could do. So we set out.
The trailhead is well-maintained by the Alaska Bureau of Land Management (they have a BLM whereas back home we have the DNR). Nice parking, restrooms, a pump with drinking water, the $5 fee again...typical for a trailhead, or so I've learned. The valley is straight ahead, going between the mountains.This trail, in Tyler's guidebook, was rated "moderate to strenuous" and is 8 miles long with an elevation gain of around 3000 feet total. We started around 10 in the morning. At first, the trail was fairly nice--well-maintained, gravel-covered, nice wooden bridges over the various stream crossings--as it wound through low trees and brush. We immediately started following the Little Susitna River, which the trail claimed to follow to its source.
The rushing sound of the river was always present, even when the trail meandered away from it. After the first mile or two, I really started feeling the effects of walking uphill for so long, just like I did the last time I hiked. This wasn't even sharp uphills. Just a simple, gradual, uphill slope. Still started feeling it. After the first two miles, we came across two round beaver dams in a pond. This photo was taken while I was standing on top of one of them.
The very industrious beavers in this area made a whole lot of dams, and we saw many on our trek. The trail, as it went on, became less well-maintained, becoming more of a well-worn dirt track through the brush. Still, it was very easy to follow and we pressed on without really getting lost. As we rounded our way into the valley, the view opened up far more and we were awed by the towering mountains on all sides of us. The Talkeetnas, while not a particularly tall range, rise up from the tidal flats at the end of the Cook Inlet north of Anchorage, so they more or less rise right up from sea level. This makes them an impressive site from any point of view. Here we have Emily and Tyler adjusting their cameras to take full advantage of this view...
And yes, the view opened up...
Of course, by the time we got to mile 5, the trail had really wound down until it came out on this kind of sandbar in the middle of the river. Gone were the nice river bridges and gravel trail; from here on out we had to pick our way up narrow dirt tracks embedded with stones up and down, but mostly up. So many little runoff streams coming down from the mountains made their way across the trail and we had no option but to leap over them or try to pick our way across the rocks in the stream. With my tennis shoes, this wasn't exactly a picnic, though my height and longer strides definitely helped. Part way down the valley we could see the "ruins" of the old mine on the opposite hillside. There is a run-down shed in the middle of this picture and we were told in a guidebook that that was all that remains of the "Lonesome Mine" that once operated in this valley. The trail we were on was part of the original trail made by the miners to access the mine. Apparently it was also noteworthy because it was started as a gold mine, but produced far more silver than gold. The entire Talkeetna range is littered with these abandoned mines and there are dozens of trails open to the public leading to the mine sites. No one ever recommends entering these mines, but a lot of people find it fun to explore. I almost wanted to try and head over there to see what we could see (not go into the mine, but just to see the entrance) but with the way I was feeling...no way.
Deeper into the valley, the terrain started getting far rougher, as boulders appeared in the middle of the trail and we had to navigate around or over them. After a time, we stopped and ate lunch, shortly after coming across this beaver dam. This was amazing...the dam retains a pond that is almost ten feet above the river running next to it. Not a leak in sight...
Also in this photo, you can see this ribbon of white ice and snow running across the mountains at the end of the valley. Was this the glacier? We couldn't tell. It was the most glacier-looking thing we had seen yet. Still, those mountains were spectacular.Finally we reached a point near the end of the valley, after gaining almost 2500 feet in elevation, where I felt the effects of my altitude sickness coming on. I have known since I have gone to Colorado that I can get a decent amount of altitude sickness, but those occasions were upon driving to the top of 10,000 plus foot peaks. I assumed this was way too low. But the symptoms with my pounding headache and slight nauseousness seemed exactly the same. After a long break at the foot of a talus slope (a slope covered with broken rocks) at the far end of the valley where the trail really began doing a lot of winding around boulders, Emily and I decided that this was as far as we wanted to try and go (Emily wasn't feeling too well either). Tyler, who is on a mountaineering club at his school and has gone on hundreds of hiking trips said he would just scout the trail up ahead while we waited there to see if he could see the end of it or what. 45 minutes later, Emily and I started getting terribly worried about him, since we assumed he was just going around the corner and he still wasn't back yet. Deciding to assume the worst, we continued on the trail looking for him. About five minutes later we spotted him up ahead scrambling back our way. Apparently he had made it to the end of the trail, which was high up on the slope of one of the mountains. There was a "hut" there with some supplies in it for people who decided to camp in the area to use. No glacier though. Apparently there was some snow, but that was expected. No glacier. Perhaps global warming has claimed yet another victim.
So then we started back. Going back was a lot easier and far faster. Downhill always is. Still, my feet were killing me for most of the hike back. We ran into a few other hikers on our way back, but that wasn't until we were back near the parking area again. Very little wildlife was seen on this trip, which kind of surprised me. Obviously we're rather fortunate we didn't run into a moose or a bear, but otherwise all we saw were some ducks in the river. On Tyler's scramble up to the hut, he saw a marmot which is like a squirrel, but otherwise...that was it. Unless you count the dog that some people we passed had with them. Kind of a shame.I survived this hike, but it left me far more sore and exhausted than the Flattop hike did. Round trip it was over 14 miles and it took us 8.5 hours, so it was an all-day sort of thing. I got slightly sunburned, but it really doesn't look bad at all...it actually may not even be sunburn, just a "little sun". My legs and feet feel like they've been run over by a steamroller, and I'll be quite happy to just sit at my desk tomorrow and not move around much at all. All in all, I really enjoyed the trip. Great scenery, great friends, great memories, good conversation, exploring, and being out in the middle of scenic nowhere in Alaska. Even if I don't want to walk for the next week, it was still good. The altitude sickness cleared up as we descended, no problem. I believe it will take a bit of scrubbing, though, to clear up my mud-covered shoes...
After reading your story today, I came across this. Thought you might be interested...
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