Beyond Dogsled Pass

A long time ago i was browsing some topo maps and noticed a chain of lakes in the Talkeetnas that all looked to be in tailless wilderness on the north side  of Dogsled Pass. I took Fisher with me and we made it almost to the last lake which was the biggest in the chain. The hike was seriously unfun for a dog, consisting of one large field of boulders after another. By the time we'd gone 4 miles Fisher'd had enough. I left my pack with him and continued on up the side of a rock glacier until i started to worry that he might wander off. He had stayed put on the side of the mountain for nearly half an hour.

Looking down valley from just below Dogsled Pass. Last time i'd had to walk most of that distance on a hot day. This time i was fresh and alone.

The first of many lakes, this one is right at the pass and there is a mine somewhere around here on the slopes.

This summer i was looking at the same area on google earth with a higher than usual layer of data and that last lake, which i never saw, looked from the satellite image like it might actually have a nice beach around it. I also figured i might as well take what i didn't have the first time, my ATV. That shaves off a good 6 miles; you can ride almost all the way to the very top. After that the trial ends and it's a cross country hike.

Doing the hike again i couldn't believe how rough it was for dogs. Fisher is too old now and missing a leg but i felt kind of guilty about the rough terrain. I wouldn't bring a dog there now. He was a real athlete.

From the pass you pick your way westward through a long boulder field. After that heading west you climb a ridge to this point. Crossing this valley to the next mountain ridge brings you to a third hanging valley where you ascend towards the hidden lake. The menacing rock wall on the left may be a rock glacier. There is certainly a lot of water coming out the bottom of it. As the crow flies it's about 1.25 miles to that next ridge but it can easily be two on the ground.

Behind the menacing rock wall is lake number three. It's a lot larger than what's pictures here. About the same size as the first lake.

Another half mile brings you to the fourth lake. I missed it my second time around so i've posted this picture from my first trip with Fisher on a hot July afternoon when the cotton grass was in bloom. I think this lake is the prettiest of the bunch. The channel here is actually the inlet where water flows out of one of the rock glaciers and into the lake.

As it turned out Fisher had made a good decision. Just after the area where he refused to go on the route involves a steep ascent for a few hundred feet up an unstable boulder slope. It doesn't look like it will lead to anywhere you'd want to be but at a point where the ground momentarily turns into tundra instead of stone you can climb over a small pass and find yourself in front of the largest and final lake.

After passing two more lakes you arrive at the final obstacle, this unattractive crumbling basin. Looks like a dead end but after climbing 300 feet you'll see a way out to the right.

This is what the final lake looks like from space. I thought the nice white ring around the north shore was a beach of some kind.

This is what the 7th and final lake looked like in person. The beach was just bleached boulders marking a high water point.

The lake was hidden in a basin that doesn't appear to be visible from anywhere else. I walked to the opposite shore to get a look at way lay beyond. The ground quickly dropped about 1,000 feet into another valley 2 miles wide. I called it a day, happy to see something new.

The hidden lake as seen from the west shore. It was bit breezy around here and definitely looked like it could rain at any moment.

My first Caribou antler! This is right where i found it and looking around didn't reveal any other bones.

I was dismayed that the "beach" i had seen from space was actually just a high water mark of bleached boulders around a lake that had no shore at all. I did get a nice surprise in the form of a caribou antler. It was the first one i've found, so i brought it back with me after i walked to the other side of the lake to have a look at the next valley.

This is pretty much the way you get down from the hidden lake.

Lake number 6 had a cool kinda mythic look going on.

On the way down from the pass i came across an interesting area where a lot of mud and sand had recently moved around. In some places it looked like it had boiled up out of the ground. Also, the rocks were white up to a level above my head like the high water line at the lake but there was moss all over the ground where it wasn't sand.

I should have taken a picture of lake number 5 on the way up when it wasn't so gloomy. The views are nice from there. Not  pretty picture but i wanted to include every lake.

There's some pleasant walking between stretches of boulders.

I didn't take may breaks on the way back because of the threat of rain and darkness but i stopped here for some snacks and fresh water.

I tried a slightly different route back which didn't pay off because i ended up in a boulder field that was half submerged in water.

The final lake may have been an inhospitable letdown (at least on that gloomy evening) but the hike itself is a pretty neat cross country trek that ends up feeling very remote. Afterwards i felt the satisfaction of finishing something that had been nagging at me for years.

It was about 10pm when i got back to the ATV, and it was a sight for sore eyes. Little did i know i was so tired that the rocky ride would be excruciating.