M, the dowgs, and I had a plan to backpack the Pioneer Ridge Trail at the edge of Chugach State Park. However, when we reconsidered the topo map, and the fact that the trail was four miles long in total, and rose over 5000 feet in those four miles, we realized that we could do it in a day and would be best off carrying only a day load rather than also tents, sleeping bags, and additional water. But I kept my stove and mess kit on me because a hot lunch on a day hike? Heck, yeah!
The trail systems in the Southerly lands are paradoxically both more civilized and less civil. There are oddly placed picnic tables along the trails, which are very clearly demarcated, and trail markers placed by folks who apparently have obsessive-compulsive disorder. But there is more evidence of rude behavior: for example, the trail sign is apparently frequently used for target practice:
The mile markers were placed--get this--every two hundred feet. Even California trails don't do that! It was the strangest thing, and completely unnecessary!
Watermelon berries!
They are bland, but full of water.
The view got more and more stunning the higher we climbed:
Linden would like a bite of Pilot Bread:
The treeline and brush line are much, much higher down South. We had trees and scrub the whole way up. Here the Knik River serves as a beautiful backdrop to some fireweed:
The dowgs were very happy:
Awesomest. Lunch. Evar:
Along the highway, when our car had broken down, some Chinese-American tourists who had stopped for gas had given us a five-pack of Korean ramen. It was so random and unexpected, and we were delighted. M, P, J, and I were so hungry from the car-failure-induced travel delay and subsequent lack of lunch that we ate one raw, like potato chips. M and I took the rest hiking and cooked them up for lunch. How perfect with our beautiful Mat-Su Valley carrots and radishes! And from now on, I will take a stove and mess kit for day hikes! That was the best!
The dowgs rest:
The vegetation is so different in the Southerly regions; lush and green:
I believe parts of the region are considered temperate rain forest:
Now finally we are high enough to see the glory of the Knik Glacier:
And how it feeds the Knik River:
Two glaciers feed the Knik, and you can see a dark line of silt where they merge.
Another beautiful fireweed:
The hillside closer to us looked more like the kind of country we are used to around Fairbanks:
Only the mountains in the background gave away our location:
There are houses in the valley--sparsely spread out, but still there:
It's patently clear that the Southerly lands are more populated than the Interior!
Trees grow to their full size when they aren't stunted by permafrost:
There was fungus among us:
A full-sized cottonwood!
The bark looks the same as the ones we know in Fairbanks, only it's scaled up in size:
And that concludes my report on the Pioneer Ridge hike.
2 comments:
So gorgeous! I like the trail advise - plan ahead, be prepared to yield, be self-reliant. Can I post those in my classroom? In our staff room? On my bedroom wall? LOL, love it!
Yup, pretty useful advice for life as well as the trail. :)
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