It is the first of September and summer is ending in Alaska. Time to wrap up the season with a series of posts from some of the best hikes of the summer.
For our first trip out to the Nabesna Road since moving to Tok, in July Dash and I decided to hike the Lost Creek to Trail Creek loop. The trail is about 20 miles long and took 2 days to hike. Trail Creek crosses the road about 2 miles from where we began our hike, at Lost Creek. Hiking up Lost Creek, you have stunning views of Melting Brownie Sundae Mountain.
We had a late start and didn't begin to climb up into the alpine until about 7 pm. Plenty of colorful rock and scree above the bright green tundra.
We found large caribou antler sheds scattered around the tundra. There must be a large group of males that frequent this valley in the fall.
A group of about 20 Dall Sheep ewes and young.
Approaching the pass, the last bits of green give way to crumbly rock. The pass had a sharp divide between the black rock on the right and the orange-y rock on the left.
At the top of the pass, we were overshadowed by forbidding mountain ridges.
We climbed up above the pass to get a better view of the awesome mountains around us.
Rain showers came and went all day.
The moraine from a retreating glacier is characterized by swirls of rock. We hike down this valley along Trail Creek to complete our loop.
We navigated the undulating moraine of upper Trail Creek before dropping down in to the creek bottom and following it all the way out. Walking on the rough stream cobbles for about 6 miles at the end of the day was the most tiring part of the hike.
Trail Creek valley also has colorful scree and rugged ridge lines.
The creek was lined with fireweed in bloom.
Because we started so late in the day on Lost Creek, and made camp well before climbing to the pass, we had a really tough second day of hiking. Luckily, there was virtually no bushwhacking required on this trip but there were lots of stream crossings at the beginning of Lost Creek.
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