Day 34 of Lupe’s Summer of 2016 Dingo Vacation to the Canadian Rockies, Yukon & Alaska
Pepper Peak (5,381 ft.) had been a stupendous day and a glorious summit, but Lupe and SPHP hadn’t really recovered yet from yesterday’s huge 4,500 feet of elevation gain. No matter. Feeling it or not, Lupe was climbing one more mountain today. The calendar now said September. After 3 fabulous, unforgettable weeks in Alaska, this was the American Dingo’s last full day in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
Lazy Mountain (3,740 ft.) was destined to be the last peak Lupe and SPHP would climb together in Alaska in 2016, or maybe forever. Tired or not, it was time to begin (9:55 AM, 48°F). At least Lupe had another clear, bright day. She was guaranteed some great views of Palmer, the Matanuska River valley all the way to the Knik Arm off Cook Inlet, and mountains in all directions.
Right away, Lupe had a choice to make. Two trails diverge near the trailhead parking lot. They both go about halfway up Lazy Mountain to where they meet again near a picnic table situated on a point with a view. A single combined trail goes the rest of the way to the summit. The old Lazy Mountain approach was supposed to be the steepest. The newer Lazy Moose trail is an easier climb, but winds around a bunch on switchbacks that add considerable distance.
Even though energy levels were low, Lupe and SPHP started straight up the Lazy Mountain trail. The reports were no joke. The trail started out steep. It didn’t stay that way long. It soon got steeper, and then stayed that way. Whoever named Lazy Mountain must have realized what they were in for, and decided they were too lazy to even attempt it. Otherwise, the name makes no sense at all.
As usual in most of Lupe’s Alaskan trail experiences, the Lazy Mountain trail started in a forest. Gradually the forest thinned, and tall bushes started to dominate. The forest had thinned out considerably, by the time Lupe reached the picnic table near the intersection with the Lazy Moose trail. It had been a long, hard climb with frequent rest breaks, but Lupe was halfway up the 3,000 feet of elevation gain needed to reach the summit.
At the picnic table, SPHP chatted for a little while with a guy who came running (yes, running!) up the same Lazy Mountain trail Lupe and SPHP had just staggered up. He said he lives in Palmer, and runs this far up Lazy Mountain 3 times a week. He plays in a Christian music band, and was very surprised to hear that Lupe lives in South Dakota.
Why he was flying to Sioux Falls, SD tomorrow to play in a big concert there! He had been with his band to South Dakota many times, including Pine Ridge and Lupe’s Black Hills. South Dakota was a hot spot for his kind of music. He wished Lupe and SPHP well, before running off down the longer Lazy Moose trail.
Small world. Sort of. Lupe still had another 1,500 feet of mountain climbing left to do in Alaska. Somehow it still loomed large, not small. Lupe’s trek resumed. Still steep, but perhaps not quite as steep as before. Tall bushes dominated, but most of the trees were gone. On and on. Up and up, for a while longer.
Finally, Lupe was past the bushes. She was up in the tundra zone. Some places were devoid even of the tough, beautiful, little tundra plants. Bare dirt and small rocks were exposed. Lupe had made a lot of progress up the mountain by now. For a while, the trail leveled out. There was even a completely flat section! A high point that might be the summit was in view ahead.
The trail soon started climbing again, but never as steeply as earlier on. Below a ridge, Lupe passed a second picnic table. The built-in benches were in good shape, but nearly all the boards forming the table part were missing. Lupe did not stop. She kept on going. Her final climb in Alaska was dead ahead.
Lupe gained the summit ridge. It wasn’t terribly long, maybe 100 feet. At the far NE end, was a smaller ridge of solid lumpy-looking rock. The true summit of Lazy Mountain was perched at the far end of the little ridge, perhaps an extra 20 feet above the main ridge.
Lupe scrambled up to the highest point at the far end of the lumpy rock ridge. She was done mountain climbing in Alaska! This was it, the true summit of Lazy Mountain (3,740 ft.)!
Lupe could not be persuaded to stay up at the highest point on Lazy Mountain when SPHP tried to back down off the lumpy ridge for a more distant shot of her at the summit. There was quite a bit of exposure up there, and not a lot of room to maneuver.
It was OK, she had made it to the top for a good close up. Not to mention all the many other dramatic peaks she had climbed on her Summer of 2016 Dingo Vacation! If the Carolina Dog felt better a little lower down, she had certainly earned a reprieve from posing at the top of precipices.
Mountain climbing in Alaska was over. Time to take a look around at what Lupe could see from her last Alaskan mountain. Unlike most of the mountains Loop had climbed, where the most impressive views were of other mountains, Lazy Mountain’s most dramatic views were down toward the Matanuska River valley.
More than 3,000 feet below Lazy Mountain, the braided confluence of the Matanuska River and Knik River could be seen to the SW near the start of the Knik Arm of the North Pacific Ocean off Cook Inlet. Bodenburg Butte (886 ft.) rising more than 600 feet above immediately surrounding terrain, looked like a little hill.
The most dramatic mountains Lupe could see from Lazy Mountain were very far away to WSW, in the direction of Mount Susitna (4,396 ft.), also known as Sleeping Lady. (The Legend of Sleeping Lady) Well beyond Mount Susitna were impressive white mountains on the edge of vision.
Considerably closer, it was possible to see several smaller peaks with snow and ice on them in other directions.
Matanuska Peak (6,093 ft.) to the SE was easily the most impressive of the nearby mountains.
Even including the larger summit ridge, and not just the small, final lumpy rock part leading to the true summit, there wasn’t much exploring to be done up on Lazy Mountain. Lupe could see virtually the entire summit area at a glance. However, there was plenty of room to move around some from one end to the other, gaining slightly different vantage points.
Lupe found a shady spot close to the lumpy rock ridge where she could doze a bit. SPHP relaxed gazing off first in one direction, then another, seeing dazzlingly beautiful Alaska, possibly for the last time, from the top of a mountain Lupe had climbed.
Lupe stayed up on Lazy Mountain for 45 minutes. The time came to start thinking about moving on. Despite the rigors of the steep trail up, the perfect day and wonderful views at the top had made Lupe’s final climb in Alaska a lovely, memorable experience. Now only the return trip down the mountain remained.
When Lupe got down close to the first picnic table, she took the Lazy Moose trail instead of the Lazy Mountain trail. The Lazy Moose trail was considerably longer, but not nearly so steep. The trail had markers along it, which seemed to represent feet traveled along the trail, starting from the lower end.
The first marker Lupe came to said 15,800, implying that Lupe was about 3 miles from the trailhead. The markers were about 1,000 feet apart on the higher part of the trail. Lower down, they were consistently 200 feet apart. The Lazy Moose trail had lots of switchbacks and general winding around. The markers told the story of Lupe’s progress down her last Alaskan mountain.
Lupe enjoyed trotting and sniffing along the easier trail. Late afternoon on the first day of September was comfortably sunny and warm. Lupe led SPHP down Lazy Mountain, exploring for only a little longer the fabled Land of the Midnight Sun (4:23 PM, 72°F).
Directions to the Lazy Mountain Recreation Area trailhead: From the Glenn Hwy in Palmer, go E on Arctic Road (Old Glenn Highway) for 2.5 miles. Take a L on Clark-Wolverine Road, 0.5 mile after crossing the Matanuska River. Proceed 0.5 mile to a T intersection. Take a R on Huntley Road, following it to the end. Stay to the R going down to the trailhead parking lot.
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Matanuska Peak, Chugach Range, Alaska (9-5-19)
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