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Doppelganger





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PostThu Apr 09, 2015 10:44 am 

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wamtngal
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PostThu Apr 09, 2015 9:40 pm 
In awe...fantastic photos and write ups. Thanks you for sharing all of this great information with us. I bookmarked it! I've always wanted to go to Alaska for some adventuring... You've gone to some pretty great places in your time there. And you saw the Northern Lights! What's the story with the smashed pick-up truck?

Opinions expressed here are my own.
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Doppelganger





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PostFri Apr 10, 2015 7:35 am 

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Mega-Will
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Joined: 22 Dec 2006
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Mega-Will
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PostFri Apr 10, 2015 2:22 pm 
wamtngal wrote:
What's the story with the smashed pick-up truck?
Hit a moose going 55mph. Head on, right up and over the roof; would have landed right in the bed if it were a pickup... In all seriousness, I was lucky to be driving a large-ish vehicle. If it had been a Civic or something, I'd be much worse for wear. No injuries for me, but the moose was gone when it hit the ground. As a side note, we have a program up here where you can get on a call list and have the opportunity to harvest road kill moose when this happens. So, although this was a bad situation, that moose probably fed a family for most of a year. ...And nobody liked that work truck anyway... shakehead.gif

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themadgaffler
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PostMon Apr 04, 2016 12:16 pm 
thank you so much for taking the time to put up this epic post. incredibly helpful to us down here in the lower 48 who are looking to visit. up.gif

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puzzlr
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PostMon Apr 04, 2016 2:40 pm 
Mega-Will wrote:
we have a program up here where you can get on a call list and have the opportunity to harvest road kill moose when this happens.
I lived in a group situation in Fairbanks in the early 80s and we occasionally were on the receiving end of road kill. It's the only time in my life I had some moose head soup. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again.

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Mega-Will
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Joined: 22 Dec 2006
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Mega-Will
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PostSat Mar 26, 2022 1:01 pm 
Well apparently it's been another seven years.. As it turns out, my wife and I have recently made the decision to move back to the northwest to be closer to my aging parents, and it reminded me that I haven't kept up to date at all on here, and I've done some trips since 2015 which would probably be interesting to folks. I don't think I have quite as much time on my hands as I did in 2015 (...), so I won't be so ...exhaustive. Just some route descriptions and eye candy. Denali National Park Backpacking -- Early September, 2016 Although it took me eight years of living in Alaska, I finally got in a backpacking trip in the heart of Denali National Park. Although I know there are similar opportunities available all around the Alaska Range with much less red tape, hunting season seemed like a good time to hang out in the national park. The way backpacking there works is unusual. You show up at the ranger station the day your trip starts (or the day before) and see which "zones" have permits available to start that day. It's sort of nice that you don't have to plan out your summer in January hitting refresh on the recreation.gov website or whatever, but the downside is that you won't know exactly where you're going until you're about to set off. Route planning happens very quickly at the ranger station. More on the results of that in a moment.. After taking the shuttle deep into the park, I got off and started hiking up the west fork of Toklat River. Hiking isn't bad at all on the hiker enlarged game trails through sparse riverside willows and dryas and I made pretty quick time 10 miles or so up valley to my first camp. The second day was challenging, climbing 2500 feet up to an unnamed pass, including quite a bit of scree at the top. The way down looked simple enough -- scree slope into a creek valley which I assumed would lead me back to the park road. Unfortunately, the valley tightened up more and more until I found myself looking over the edge of a waterfall. Some backtracking and steep dirty hiking eventually got me around the gnarliest part of the canyon. Just when I was going to camp though, I came across a sow and two Grizzly cubs. They were well behaved, pretty much ignoring me, but I was still motivated to keep moving. Climbing again, I cooked dinner where a stream emerged from the hillside, and then booted up onto a ridge where I set up camp with a killer view of Denali. The third day was just a quick drop down to the park road, a long drive, and excessive calories in Fairbanks. Overall, it was absolutely worthwhile to backpack in Denali, though it's not something I've found the need to do every year or anything. I can see how it would be a good introduction for people new to off trail hiking, because the rangers really do have a high level of knowledge about the area and navigation back to the park road is generally pretty simple.
Along the Toklat
Along the Toklat
First night's camp
First night's camp
Starting the climb on the second day
Starting the climb on the second day
Not Denali
Not Denali
The top of the pass at 5600 feet or so
The top of the pass at 5600 feet or so
Grizzle Bizzle
Grizzle Bizzle
One of the best camps I've ever had
One of the best camps I've ever had
Found it
Found it
From the top of the waterfall
From the top of the waterfall
In the death canyon
In the death canyon
Steep country
Steep country

Foist, meck, hikerbiker, reststep  jaysway  geyer
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RichP
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PostSun Mar 27, 2022 7:36 am 
The PNW area has grown population wise in the past 14 years but the mountains are still the same. All the best in your move back to the lower 48. Alaska looks awesome!

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Mega-Will
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Mega-Will
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PostSun Mar 27, 2022 5:58 pm 
Wrangell-St. Elias, Lakina - Hidden Lake Traverse, Early July 2016 Although I had done quite a bit of flying around remote areas for work, this was the first purely recreational fly-in trip I ever did. A buddy of mine from Vermont flew in to join me on this one. After flying in one at a time in a little two seater, we spent the night along the Lakina River. The following day featured the most difficult part of the whole trip, getting through the steep brush up out of the valley bottom into an alpine hanging valley with a string of small lakes. We were far from sure that we took the best way, scrambling up a steep loose talus slope and then through some moderate brush, but we made it and the lake basin made a beautiful camp. The following day took us up to a pass on the Lakina - Hidden Lake divide, and then down to Hidden Creek, where we made a slightly less spectacular camp. The next day, we followed Hidden Creek Valley nearly to the lake, crossing the creek several times, and then fortunately found a small game trail which climbs surprisingly high above the lake in order to turn the corner north into the Kennicott Glacier valley. The climb is necessary to avoid cliffs along the lakeshore. The top of this section was maybe the most spectacular viewpoint of the trip. Although we planned to hike all the way out to Kennicott the next day, when we arrived at the Fosse airstrip we started crunching the numbers how much it would cost us to fly out from there, called up the air taxi on the Sat phone and they were able to pick us up the next morning. Sell outs, I know.. But it was really nice to fly over what would have been a long and fairly tedious day. All in all a highly worthwhile trip.
About to get very isolated
About to get very isolated
Looking up the Lakina
Looking up the Lakina
Waterfall draining out of the lake basin
Waterfall draining out of the lake basin
The lip of the basin has some of the most spectacular views of the trip, about half visible when we were there
The lip of the basin has some of the most spectacular views of the trip, about half visible when we were there
Lakina Glacier
Lakina Glacier
The lake basin
The lake basin
Just over the pass
Just over the pass
Looking down Hidden Creek
Looking down Hidden Creek
Much of upper Hidden Creek hidden under avy debris
Much of upper Hidden Creek hidden under avy debris
Hidden Lake
Hidden Lake
The game trail around the cliffs
The game trail around the cliffs
The cliffs
The cliffs
Hidden Lake and Kennicott Glacier
Hidden Lake and Kennicott Glacier
Kennicott Glacier
Kennicott Glacier
The last night's camp.  Big country.
The last night's camp. Big country.

reststep, hikerbiker, geyer, meck
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jupsal
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PostThu Jan 26, 2023 11:28 pm 
Wow, I’m so happy to have stumbled upon this magnificent, giant thread. Thank you so much mega-will. My wife and I are driving up to Alaska starting early May and don’t need to be back in the PNW until December. I have a question about seasonality I hope you can help with. My understanding is basically this:
  • June is awesome
  • July is buggy
  • August is rainy
  • September is nice but short.
This is at least what I gathered from talking to some folks in the Skurka camp, especially with regards to the Brooks range and other places in the tundra. What do you think? Is there any particular place it’s better to be in July when it’s more buggy and August when it’s more rainy? We are living out of our car so we are super flexible and not planning much but it’s nice to have a general idea of where we’d like to be at certain times. Any help is appreciated, I’m just beginning to dig through this amazing post!!

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Mega-Will
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Joined: 22 Dec 2006
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Mega-Will
country bumpkin
PostSat Jun 10, 2023 12:03 pm 
Hey jupsal, sorry I missed your post. If there was a notification, I totally spaced it. Sounds like you're already up there and figuring it out, but for what it's worth: - First, no part of the snow-free season has weather as reliably good as July - early September in the PNW (or as reliably bad as November - March), so any generalizations come with a big grain of salt. - That said, it tends to start sunny and settled in May and slowly get more rainy and cloudy right on into early winter, although in recent years peak rainfall in the northern part of the state has switched from August to July. - I would say that June is at least as buggy as July, but I have heard that it takes longer to ramp up in the arctic. We had a great solstice trip up the haul road (as far as the northern Brooks range) a few years ago with no major bug problems. - Also concerning bugs: the steeper the country the better. The steep mountainous areas are little worse than the PNW mountains in my experience -- it's where things flatten out and get boggy that it becomes a problem. - June is generally awesome, although high country near the coast is still snowy for sure. I would usually hang out in the Chugach and the Eastern Alaska Range around that time, though north facing slopes and sheltered basins are still likely to be snowy. - July is probably the best overall month for ambitious trips in the high mountains (excluding the Brooks Range, due to bugs), for a combination of favorable weather and lack of snow cover. You'll be there long enough that you can be more spontaneous all the way through August though. - August does tend to feel pretty gray and drizzly, particularly closer to the coast, but there's usually some great windows in there where it's still full-on summer. It's also possible to do some ambitious glacier traverses light and fast since the seasonal snowline is as high as it gets. - September is the month to start north and slowly head south. Peak fall colors in the tundra (both Brooks and Alaska Range) right around the turn of the month, then in the interior forest around the middle of the month, then southcentral closer to the end of the month. Weather wise, there are a lot of gray and drizzly days, but the clear windows (more common away from the coast) are absolutely as nice as it gets. - First snow dusting is usually early October in the interior and mid October in southcentral, with season ending snow a couple weeks later. Driving the Alcan past the middle of the month is likely to be snowy. I hope that helps answer your questions.

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Mega-Will
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Mega-Will
country bumpkin
PostSun Jul 16, 2023 2:00 pm 
Well, I'm in Covid jail again with a little time on my hands, so I'll share a few more Alaska memories. This trip took place during the third week of August, 2020. A buddy and I met up along the McCarthy Road and car camped under the Kuskulana Bridge, maybe 40 miles short of McCarthy itself, but already in the middle of nowhere. In the morning we finished the drive and met up with our pilot at Wrangell Mountain Air. Originally we had planned to just explore the Iceberg Lake Valley, which is what most people do who fly in here but aren't doing the Seven Pass Traverse. At the last minute though we asked around among the pilots to try and find out if a loop was possible, taking advantage of late season with the possibility that the big glaciers were melted out enough to get through with only mirco spikes. It sounded promising, so we decided to go for it. We figured we had enough time to backtrack if we found snow or too many crevasses. Anway, the flight in was uneventful, and the weather was fantastic aside from one rainy evening. A moment of pause here, considering this is Alaska and well into the rainy season. We had originally wanted to do the Goat Trail up in the northern part of Wrangell-St. Elias, but were talked out of it because there were too many people in there. As it turned out, we found out later that area was getting cold rain and snow all week, ruining trips and making landings difficult. Lucky us! You land in a beautiful spot near a string of small lakes with hanging glaciers draping down jagged peaks in the background. Even less ambitious hikers could make a basecamp here and have a great time exploring for several days. Our route though took us northwest up onto a glacier lobe, which allowed us to cross the valley without a difficult creek crossing. At first, we would be on the same track as those doing the Seven Passes route. Getting off the glacier took a bit of poking around and I can see this becoming a problem spot with enough glacial recession. We pitched camp at the top of the moraine and made a quick side trip up to the ridge and a lake at the divide. Day 2 was pretty uneventful although we did have to cross a substantial creek (nothing too crazy, just wet feet) and we saw a mama grizzly and two cubs. We were at a respectful distance and they seemed to be going the other way, so no harm done. More on them later. We made camp overlooking a glacial lake with the enormous Bremner Glacier in the distance, as well as the smaller outflow glacier we'd be getting on the next day. We approached this glacier too high and had to drop down a rather treacherous lateral moraine to get on it. It would be better to follow the valley down to the lake, and follow that to the glacier. Maybe more time on annoying glacial rubble, but not so steep. Not knowing what to expect (and in the fog at first), we headed up the glacier into the unknown. Travel turned out to be easy as far as these things go, and we ended up doing the whole 12 glacial miles in one long day, camping in moonscape just off the glacier near Iceberg Lake. Having made excellent time, in hindsight we should have used the next couple days to explore more of the main Iceberg Lake Valley, but as we crested a ridge leading back into the valley, we decided we liked the look of the place and plopped down to camp in mid-morning. Much lounging ensued and it was in fact an exceptional camp. The next day we just wanted to get to those lakes near the airstrip to camp, and we ended up coming across those same grizzlies, who were still heading east towards the Tana Glacier. This time we were in a bit of a narrow spot and they popped up right in front of us. We kind of scrambled up a talus slope to get out of their way, and got pretty nervous as the cubs seemed a little too interested in us. Of course I was too dumb to take photos.. Anyway, they lost interest before too long. It was berry season and we were too much trouble.. Still, it was a bit hard to relax at the last night's camp since it was only a couple hundred yards from where we saw the bears. No incidents and the same pilot picked us up the next morning. All in all, this may have been my absolute favorite Alaska backpacking trip and I'm very glad we prioritized making it happen despite all the Covid nonsense. We were happy to find The Potato in McCarthy open despite having very few visitors, although the yellow jackets were outrageous, and it was tough not to bite down on any..
General Area
General Area
Route
Route
Camping under the impressive Kuskulana River bridge, on the way to McCarthy.
Camping under the impressive Kuskulana River bridge, on the way to McCarthy.
Flying in.  Unnamed peaks, lakes, and glaciers.  That's how you deal with bear spray..
Flying in. Unnamed peaks, lakes, and glaciers. That's how you deal with bear spray..
Just about to feel very alone.
Just about to feel very alone.
Looking back at the airstrip (on the plateau)
Looking back at the airstrip (on the plateau)
Near the airstrip
Near the airstrip
Beginning the hike.
Beginning the hike.
Approaching the glacier which allows you to avoid a major stream crossing.
Approaching the glacier which allows you to avoid a major stream crossing.
Crossing the glacier.
Crossing the glacier.
Side trip up to a pass on the ridge above first night's camp.
Side trip up to a pass on the ridge above first night's camp.
From camp the first night.
From camp the first night.
A more friendly valley for day 2.
A more friendly valley for day 2.
From second night's camp, looking down at the glacier we'd be ascending the next day.
From second night's camp, looking down at the glacier we'd be ascending the next day.
2nd night.
2nd night.
Some cool lighting at the toe of the big glacier on day 3.
Some cool lighting at the toe of the big glacier on day 3.
At the edge of the largest glaciated area in North America.  The scale is bonkers.
At the edge of the largest glaciated area in North America. The scale is bonkers.
Weather coming in.
Weather coming in.
But nice the next day.
But nice the next day.
Fourth night's camp.
Fourth night's camp.
Near fifth night's camp, just wandering around.
Near fifth night's camp, just wandering around.

kite, Anne Elk, reststep, Prosit  meck  geyer
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Mega-Will
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Mega-Will
country bumpkin
PostSun Jul 16, 2023 3:39 pm 
This hike I did on my own over 4th of July weekend, 2019, with two nights on the trail. It's located in an exceptionally remote area about 300 miles north of Fairbanks, along the Dalton Highway. The distance wasn't far (about 6 miles each way), but the terrain was rugged and I've never heard of anyone else going up there, so I had to figure it out as I went along. How often can you honestly say that in the 21st century? I had simply driven by here a couple times, thought Snowden Mountain looked cool, saw some tight contours on the map, and decided to check it out. Aside from the beautiful high alpine / arctic scenery, the slot canyons, red rock formation, and cave were really cool, and very unusual for Alaska. The following is a color coded description referring to the topo map. This is one area where I don't think I need to worry about contributing to overcrowding... Check it out if you want to get way far out, but don't want to get on a bush plane. Red: Park out of the way at the nearby pipeline access road and hike up the creek bed. Creek is small, but you criss cross it a bunch of times, so I wouldn't go after heavy rain. Easy, no brush. Blue: Creek bed dead ends at a waterfall. Climb up a steep, shallow, dry gully to the right of the waterfall, maybe 2-300 vertical. Trend left as it peters out and through a bit of open spruce to the edge of the canyon above the waterfall. Climb steeply up a sheep trail along the canyon rim, up through the subalpine. Surprisingly little to no brush through here. Once you can see the pass at the head of the valley, you can either sidehill straight for it through relatively thin brush, or continue climbing up a broad ridge, and sidehill less steeply across tundra, above the brush. Either way works. Yellow: From the 3700+ foot pass, you can see the second, higher (4300+ft) pass. Contour towards it, crossing two gullies along the way, which both require a bit of descending and climbing. A bit of rocky terrain here, but still mostly tundra. From the pass, drop down and sidehill as necessary to get onto a broad tundra ridge. Purple: I camped here, and found a trickle of water, around the corner to the south, though it looks like it could dry up. On the satellite imagery, there's a clear sheep trail leading down to the bottom of the gully to the north, and then up the inviting valley to the pass just east of Snowden Mountain. It looked too sketchy for me though, crossing a snowfield over the creek right at the bottom, plus cliffs and very steep ground. So I followed tundra down to a crossing of Snowden Creek at roughly the 2900 foot level. There is a good campsite down there that would probably be a better base for exploring the area, with more reliable water. There's a cool slot canyon just upstream too. Easy creek crossing, and then climb a tundra (and thin brush) ramp up onto the canyon rim, and around a corner leading back down into the creekbed above the canyon. This is the fork of Snowden Creek running due east-west. Purple: There's a cool red-ish rock pinnacle on the north side of the creek here, and it has a cave in the base of it. You may be able to keep following this creek, but it would require a steep bouldery climb out on the south side onto another tundra bypass around a waterfall and slot canyon. Instead, I cut up to the north along a tiny drainage just before the red rock pinnacle, following about the only tundra in sight up onto a broad south facing rib of Peak 6280. This slope gets a bit scrambly in places, and has a bit of scree, but not as bad as it could be. The actual summit block has maybe a couple class 3 scrambling moves, but nothing crazy.
General location = middle of nowhere.
General location = middle of nowhere.
Route detail
Route detail
Color coded route (see text)
Color coded route (see text)
Heading up the creek
Heading up the creek
Dead end waterfall.  Go up the gully on the right.
Dead end waterfall. Go up the gully on the right.
Kinda hard to convey how steep the terrain is here
Kinda hard to convey how steep the terrain is here
Getting into the alpine
Getting into the alpine
"Improbable" camp location
"Improbable" camp location
Looking up the valley I'd explore the next day.
Looking up the valley I'd explore the next day.
More steepness.
More steepness.
Slot canyon!
Slot canyon!
Utah?
Utah?
From the top.
From the top.
Snowden from the summit.
Snowden from the summit.
A cave!
A cave!

kite, geyer, Anne Elk, Kim Brown
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Kim Brown
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Kim Brown
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PostSun Jul 16, 2023 9:48 pm 
Wow, incredibly beautiful. More please! Good to see a post from you, Mega. Interesting, as always.

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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