Notes from an East Coaster.

Most of the other contributors on this blog have the good fortune of living in such splendid locales as, well, anywhere in the Western half of the US. Mountains, good snow, mountains, and well, mountains are the supreme benefit of this. For some of us however, we must make use of the (comparatively sized) molehills on the other half of the nifty fifty. Now, these hills are nothing to scoff at; Mt Washington can pack a punch when the breeze is blowing – aka always, and Tuckerman’s ravine offers up some superb spring skiing.

In the summer we must look elsewhere for adventures, and elsewhere is Maine. Our quest led us to the Bigelow Range, a stretch of the Appalachian Trail just across the way from Sugarloaf/USA, one of Maine’s premier ski hills.

The range consists of a series of approximately 4000’ peaks, traversed along the ridgeline. It offers splendid views of Sugarloaf and the lakes and mountains in the surrounding area. It covers 18 or so miles from one end to the other. So in early August my friend Rusty and I set out to hike some AT along the Bigelows.


Rusty near the summit of Avery Peak.


To borrow some words from Summit Post.org:
“In May 2005, Backpacker Magazine named the Bigelow Range Traverse the tenth most difficult day hike in America in an article titled America's Hardest Dayhikes. Backpacker cited the 17 miles of black flies with attitude and 10,000 feet of elevation gain as reasons for inclusion on the list.”

In our infinite wisdom Rusty and I decided to set out at 1 AM in the morning. Our reasoning at the time was that, since we had just one vehicle and didn’t know how long the hike would take us; we needed to budget sufficient time to hitchhike back to the car at the end of the day.
The forecast called for scattered thunderstorms, but as a couple of college kids we were just amped to hike and reasoned that they “would scatter elsewhere.” We set out from a rutted dirt road off Route 27 and into the darkness.

The hike went smoothly until about 3 AM when Rusty’s headlamp battery went. On the drive up we had intended to get fresh batteries, but in our anticipation of a nighttime hike we had completely forgotten. So there we were. Halfway up a mountain in the middle of the woods at 3 in the morning, with one headlamp. Our first strategy was simply to hike close together so we could both benefit from the lamp, but as the terrain got more and more difficult this was less and less effective. Then we decided to scrap the lamp altogether and let our eyes adjust to the low moonlight. This worked relatively well, with only a few real tumbles between us.

As it turned out the hike didn’t take us very long. We emerged into the sunlight where the AT crosses Route 27 after hiking the traverse in about 7 and three quarter hours. This included the distance on the trail itself, as well as the hike up from our launching point.

This left us walking along an out-of the way, 2-lane highway at 8:30 AM on a Sunday morning. Needless to say, we didn’t have very good luck with hitching a ride. After ambling an additional 5 or so miles along the road, a friendly traveler stopped and brought us the remainder of the distance to the dirt road where we had began earlier that morning. All told, we estimated that we covered about 27 miles, a portion of which was in the car that gave us a lift.

We ended the drive home with a stop in at the busiest diner we could find, satisfied with our Maine adventure.

NOTE: Photos taken from separate day hikes to the area. Neither of us remembered to bring a camera that day…





The view.

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Fall is in the air!

I cruised up Timpanogos on Monday with my wife. Her first summit! The day was phenemonal, perfect weather, chilly temperatures, and the colors are beginning to change.

Primrose Cirque, Timpanogos.

Mountain goats in Timpanogos Basin with their fat winter coats from the Timpanogos hike on Monday.

Fall colors from 2007. Good for some fall hiking/climbing stoke.

Timpanogos from Cascade Mountain.

Second Summit, Timpanogos.

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Kesugi Ridge

After a summer of cross-country travel, Sherrie and I decided to check out one of Alaska's most amazing trails: Kesugi Ridge. We chose the 28-mile version from Little Coal Creek to Byer's Lake. The trail climbs and then hits a plateau that offers almost unbostructed view of Denali and the Alaska Range.

Sherrie coming up off the first climb, Denali in the background

What a ridge!
The Alaska Range - need we say more?
A truly amazing trail . . . a bunch of cross country really makes a girl appreciate a good trail!
It even got warm enough to wear tank tops . . . looking toward the Susitna River
The descent to Byer's Lake was, shall we say, direct :-)

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The Sanctuary River . . . an Alaskan packraft classic!

I recently did the Sanctuary River loop with my friend Sherrie. We took 3 days so we could hang out in the high country and explore. The route is from Cantwell to Denali Park, where you catch the bus back to the park entrance. It's about equal parts hiking and floating . . . enjoy the view!

Me hiking up the Windy River. I had recently gotten flowers and had nothing to do with them, so I took them on the trip!

Sherrie hiking up over the pass . . . still enough snow to make some turns, and some great recon for amazing couloirs!

On the other side of the pass, heading down to Refuge Valley . . . just as the sun is trying to decide if it will stay or go :-)

Trudling (? sp) big rocks down sweet coolies on our peak bagging afternoon

The view from the top did not suck :-)

The view from the valley was also quite nice, as was the evening light!

On of our many scree descents . . . I actually felt it in my downhill ski muscles!

On the shore of the Sanctuary River, with what looks to be an amazing ridge walk in the background! We were so happy to be in the sunshine!!!

Sherrie floating the Sanctuary River . . . what a day!

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A taste of the Brooks Range . . . Anaktuvuk Pass to Wiseman

There is such a crazy story associated with this trip, but you'll have to read the whole deal here.

In summary, Chrissy May, Gretchen Roffler, and I did a trip from Anaktuvuk Pass ($170 flight from Fairbanks into the Brooks Range) to Wiseman on the Dalton Highway. It involved about 90 miles of travel, split almost evenly between floating and hiking. The scenery was amazing, and the options and opportunities for exploration endless!!

Enjoy the view!!

Welcome to Anaktuvuk Pass!

An interesting mix of time and cultures . . .

Heading toward the Anaktuvuk River . . . we walked up the right side of the river . . . I recently found out that this trail continues all the way up the left side of the river! Oh well, I guess we just got a better workout :-)
That must be Fan Mountain . . . I mean, it looks like a fan! Oh the ways you can delude yourself into thinking you've gone much further than you have!

Leaving camp, and heading down Ernie Creek

Gretchen, our wildlife biologist, taught us all a great deal about animals, and we loved it!
And then the sun started coming out - hooray!

Can't miss an opportunity for headstands in The Valley of the Precipices!
And then the world opened up a bit, and the Gates of the Arctic could be seen in the distance - Ernie Creek was starting to look pretty darn floatable, but the walking was really great, so we continued on foot!
For those challenged to discern letters from humans, this is a GOA . . . Gate of Arctic :-)
It was so nice, we decided to go peak-bagging/ridge walking for the afternoon up and around Two Prong Mountain


Heading toward the riverPart way down Ernie Creek - it was pretty fun paddling!
Leaving the shores of the Koyukukand heading overland . . .

A truly amazing moment of natural beauty and great friends!

I feel like this picture says it all . . . downtown Wiseman
Hitching north . . .

One thing that shouldn't go without discussion, especially on this blog, is the wonder of freezer bag cooking (http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/ and http://www.harmonyhouse.com/ are great references). Essentially, you put gourmet "just-add-water" foods into a freezerbag and dinner is prepared in the 3 minutes it takes the jetboil to create hot water. Dinner is super easy, tasty, light, and fast. Skipping dinner isn't really even a consideration! On this trip, we had: Organic real mashed potatoes with sun-dried tomaotes and pine nuts, Mexican night (rice, beans, veggies, burrito seasoning), curry rice & lentils with cranberries and peanuts, pesto cous cous with pine nuts and veggies, and Thai with powdered coconut milk, lemongrass, and peanut sauce. Chrissy made one freezer bag last the whole week for 2 meals/day, and Gretchen re-used the Mountain House bag from dessert on night one. We were so thrilled with this system that we intend to write Ziploc a thank-you note :-) We do wonder if we're all going to get cancer from leaching plastics into our system with the hot water, but maybe it's worth it for the joy and simplicity of freezerbagcooking . . .?!?

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GSI Outdoor Nesting Bowl Mug Combo

Most of the time when camping or backpacking I eat freeze dried meals like those from Mountain House or Mary Janes so the only needs I have for eating is a titanium spork and my favorite stove of all - the Jetboil.

But lately I've been doing more car camping and backpacking with the family and while the freeze dried foods have remained steady dinner options (along with the time proven tin-foil dinners!) we've gone to the less expensive and easy to make meals like instant oatmeal, soups and hot cocoa as examples. So the need to eat from something other than a freeze dried package came up.



After poking around the Backcountry.com site I picked up a couple of the GSI Outdoor Nesting Bowl Mug Combo sets and despite a non-traditional shape the entire powstash clan is super pleased with them!

They are small enough to not take up too much space but ample enough to eat or drink from. The lid on the mug held well despite one reviewer at Backcountry.com who had the opposite result. The neoprene sleeve helps to insulate the mug.

If you're in the hunt for no frills light weight camping bowls or mugs, check these out.

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Good times in Cooper Landing

So, to anyone considering a trip to Alaska, I highly recommend some time in Cooper Landing . . . It's one-stop shopping for so many classic Alaskan activities. Centered in the Kenai Mountains at Kenai Lake and the head of the Kenai River, with the Russian River confluence forming the southern border, it's the home of much hiking, biking, floating, and animal watching (bears!).

Hiking above Kenai Lake

Hanging by the lake - roadside "nature mcnugget" :-)

One of many bike trails takes you to Russian River Falls where you can watch the sundry of the famous Russian River reds come upstream . . . I'm not a huge fishing/fish fan, but you've got to admit it's pretty impressive to watch these creatures swim upstream. The trail actually goes for 12 miles of singletrack, but the falls are only 3 miles from the trailhead.

The falls We also had the chance to float the Kenai River and fish for trout and dolly varden . . . floating the Kenai is a super great experience, especially on the upper river where there's no developments and no motors! Other people chose the more combat style red fishing . . . classic Kenai :-)
Cooper Landing is also a super fun place to hang out - after a day of recreation, there's tons of great frontcountry campgrounds, tons of places to crash up a trail in the backcountry (lots of National Forest cabins too!), and some great places to grab a burger :-)

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