Matanuska Glacier 2009

Last summer Maree and I took a camping trip to the Matanuska Glacier. I hadn't been down on the glacier or a couple of years and i'd never gone camping there. It was a fun trip. We got a spectacular camping spot on a dirt bluff right in front of the glacier. It was nice to be there at sunset and not have to worry about the 100 mile drive back to town.

Following are pictures of the trip. Going back to the glacier is always interesting, as it's always remarkably different every time you go. There's been a lot of melting in the front edge, and now you have to walk much farther on metal planks across quicksand and icy mud to get to the toe of the exposed ice. The lake that's been there for years is much lower now and the impressive seracs above the lake are not so impressive anymore. I'm surprised how long they've endured.

This is the lake, much lower now. Last time Maree would have been underwater.

This "river" comes out of the lake and winds through this canyon.

 This channel blocked us from making any more progress to the west part of the glacier.

 I don't think i'd ever noticed this old boat before.

The next morning we were awakened by C-140's flying low overhead. On the way back to town we stopped near the old Buffalo Mine so i could show Maree where i'd found a bunch of fossils of ferns and leaves and a few summers back. It looked like a rockhound had found the site and had completely excavated the layer of exposed rock out from under the bank where it was located, leaving trees dangling above. It was too bad, especially since the guy probably just did it to sell to shops that sell those kind of things.

This is the view from our campsite at 4am.

Sunset. A good area to train a young Batman in melee combat.

Arctic Valley Missile Base

During the cold war the United States and Canada developed a cooperative defense system called the Joint Air Defense Operation. I don't know much about it, but from what i understand it was a network of radar and missile sites. The idea was to protect our countries from an attack by Russian bombers. I don't know if the sites included nuclear missiles. I was surprised how little information i found online in the time i had to investigate.

 Due to the effects of the cold war the base is eternally shrouded in thick smog.

  A reconnaissance photo of my approach.

The main entrance and guard shack.

There is an old JADO missile site above Anchorage, on the mountain top at Arctic Valley. I had always heard this was a "secret" base, with "secret" tunnels and whatnot. As far as being a secret, it's in plain view over the city and shares the peaks with a public ski slope and some radio towers. It's often a good landmark to let you know when you're getting close to town.

One summer during a week too smokey for hiking i decided i would go check it out and see what kind of "secrets" it harbored. It's on top of a mountain but from the ski resort it's not a long hike, maybe 1,200 vertical feet and less than a mile of walking. Still, the smoke was killing me. I couldn't believe how much it affected my lungs. Everyone i passed on the trail seemed equally surprised. I thought it would be a good way to get some exercise in poor air conditions because it was so short, but once i was there i realized the net effect on my health would be negative.

Most everything of interest had been removed long ago.

Once at the top i noticed two things. What i had always thought were the silos that everyone mentioned were actually radar towers, and after being abandoned for decades there now appeared to be a crew of people working on them. As soon as i set foot on the road a truck was driving by and stopped to yell at me. The guy was very threatening and acting like i was lucky that i was being shot on site. What made me mad about this guy was that he wasn't even in the military. He appeared to just be some painting contractor. So that was annoying, to have hiked all the way up there just to be immediately turned around.

As soon as i started heading back, a mother with her two kids made it up to the road. Yes, the abandoned cold war missile silos are the type of place that moms go with their children to have a picnic lunch. The guys who were working up there were extremely nice to them and seemed saddened to tell them they had to turn around. I guess i should be a mom. Weeks later i read in the paper that North Korea has caused renewed interest in the old base, and there are indeed renovations going on. Just my luck, i decide to go to a popular site that's been abandoned for decades, and the day i get there is the day they decide to open it back up.

 The bay that housed the missiles.

I wasn't deterred, and simply went to another area  of the base where there were no workers and it was easy to stay out of site. This area seemed to be the bulk of the original base, and it was here that i found the actual missile hangers (not silos). The first day by the time i found my way in i got hungry and had to leave. A few weeks later i returned under the cover of fog, so those workers couldnt' even see me at all.

The site up close is generally gutted, with anything of interest having been removed long ago. I did find an interrogation room and a lot of impressive blast doors. And, the rumor of underground passages turned out to be true. I found several tunnels, but they had been plugged with large rocks and dirt. I don't think they were a secret, more likely they were a comfortable way to get from building to building when there were arctic blizzards on the mountaintop.

 The outside of one of the missile bays.

 This is an old steam powered furnace or heat and power.

Winner Creek Pass

It's not every day that you get to hike on a brand new trail, so when i heard that the Winner Pass trail had been rebuilt (after being impassable for a couple decades) i jumped on it. I jumped on it a bit too soon, in fact, because there weren't any trail signs on it when i got there. That meant i really didn't know how far the trail was, and that got me into the dark.

 

The trail starts off in lush rain forest behind Alyeska Resort in Girdwood. After two miles it forks. One side goes to the popular gorge and hand tram that Winner Creek is known for, and the other other fork leads up to the pass.  It meanders around Mt. Alyeska and gradually works its way uphill until emerging from the trees on high slopes. The pass is huge, with numerous tarns and lakes, small groves of trees that provide a bit of shelter from possible winds and many opportunities for further exploration if one had arrived with the aim of camping. Winner Pass also offers a direct view of 20 Mile Glacier, something i've wanted to see for years as i've driven over the river on the highway countless times. From down there you can't see it, and 20 Mile Valley is full of trailless wetlands.

I thought it was cool how this waterfall poured over the side of the cliffs above. Looked like something interesting must be up there, and i'd already come far enough that i was just about to abandon the pass idea and go up here.

There were many side trips to do once at the pass. That's supposed to be a small glaicer up there on the right.

While i was up there i ran into some people with rafts and paddles on their backs. I asked what they were doing and they said they were hiking over the pass and down to the bottom of 20 mile valley. There they would inflate their packrafts and ride the river back down to the road. A pretty interesting idea, and i've learned since that packrafts are a very practical way to get around in wilderness areas of Alaska, like in the Brooks Range above the Arctic Circle.

The pass is occupied by numerous pretty lakes with plenty of room for uncrowded camping.

By the time we were ready to turn back it was late in the day.  Because the trail had no signs i didn't know what i was getting into, and i knew by how long it took to get to the pass that it was much farther than i had reckoned. We were moving quickly on the way back, but we still ended up hiking for two hours in the dark woods with no flashlight. There was not much of a moon, so it became very dark. Even the dog was spooked.

 It was getting late in the day for another 7 or 8 miles of walking. The top pic is leaving the pass, and the one above is turning around one last time before i entered the first patch of forest.

We didn't stop at all for a long time until we got back to that fork in the trail. There i took a much needed break and i could tell the dog was completely worn out as he laid down on a bed of moss. He looked at me like he wanted the day to be over, but he doesn't ever act helpless - he knows it's not over till it's over. We didn't get off the trail until about 11pm. An old couple was hanging out in the dark near the trailhead. They thought it was kind of funny that i was just now coming out of the woods. When asked how far it was i had a hard time saying. I still don't know how far it is (i can't find any info online), but i'd guess it's as far as 14 to 16 miles round trip.

 It got darker and darker, until i couldn't take any more pictures, which was just as well since i needed to get back a lot more than i needed to be wasting time snapping pictures. Still, there's something cool about mossy forest in the twilight, when every silhouette can look threatening.