Days 12 & 13 of Lupe’s Summer of 2016 Dingo Vacation to the Canadian Rockies, Yukon & Alaska.
Lupe’s adventures in the Yukon were done for now. Only yesterday, she’d enjoyed an epic day climbing Mount Decoeli (7,650 ft.) in Kluane National Park. From afar, she had seen Canada’s highest mountain, Mount Logan (19,541 ft.). Today was going to be a well-deserved day of rest for the Carolina Dog. Lupe would spend much of it snoozing in the G6, while SPHP drove N.
Lupe was on her way to Alaska!
Lupe and SPHP made frequent stops along the way. Sometimes Lupe stopped at scenic highlights. More often, SPHP was forced to stop due to road construction. The Alaska Highway had buckled and heaved in many places. Lupe & SPHP spent a good deal of time following pilot cars across dusty, torn-up, sections of road. All the way, fascinating Yukon scenery was right outside the window of the G6.
When Lupe crossed the mighty Donjek River, SPHP was stuck following a pilot car and couldn’t stop. Farther N, she did get to stop and see the White River.
The frost-heaved road, and all the construction made driving slow, but there was no real hurry. By early afternoon, Lupe reached the border crossing from Canada into Alaska. SPHP was disappointed when there was no colorful “Welcome to Alaska!” sign Lupe could pose by, only a dull, wordy, official sign at U.S. customs. Oh well, at least there were no problems crossing the border.
Just being in Alaska was exciting! Lupe had technically already been to a tiny piece of Alaska at Hyder on her way to see the Salmon Glacier, but now she was about to travel hundreds of miles across America’s largest, wildest, and most remote state. The feeling was almost spine-tingling. Who knew what adventures awaited Lupe in the Last Frontier State?
At Tok, Lupe left the Alaska Highway when SPHP turned S on the Tok Cut-off. Near the SW end of the Tok Cut-off, Lupe got to see the Copper River from a high bluff. If there hadn’t been so many clouds, Lupe might also have seen some of the giant snow and ice-capped peaks in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park & Preserve.
Near Gulkana, Lupe reached the Richardson Highway (No. 4). SPHP took it going S toward Valdez. By late evening, Lupe was approaching the Worthington Glacier. It was an impressive sight, even from the highway!
Lupe’s long day of rest traveling through the Yukon into Alaska was almost over. Tomorrow she would have several options, among them the Worthington Glacier Ridge Trail. Where she would go would be decided tomorrow morning. Until then, Lupe and SPHP settled in for the night.
The next morning did not bring good news. The sky was socked in with low clouds. A light mist was falling. Conditions did not seem conducive to a hike near the Worthington Glacier. SPHP drove over Thompson Pass toward Valdez. In Keystone Canyon, many amazing, beautiful waterfalls tumbled down the mountainsides. Lupe stopped briefly for a closer look at Bridal Veil Falls and Horsetail Falls.
By the time Lupe reached Valdez, it was raining harder. The rain wasn’t heavy, but it was steady. With the rain falling, there wasn’t any urgency to do anything outdoors. SPHP dropped by the local Safeway store, and bought a roasted chicken to share with Lupe. Oddly, she wasn’t hungry. She refused any chicken. That seemed strange, but OK. Lupe and SPHP watched the rain fall, while SPHP consumed part of the chicken.
It was soon apparent why Lupe didn’t want any chicken. Without warning, she threw up. Poor, Loopster wasn’t feeling well! SPHP cleaned up her soiled blanket, then took Lupe out for a short walk in the rain to let her get anything else bad out of her system. She seemed to feel better.
There were a couple of awesome adventures near Valdez that SPHP was hoping Lupe might be able to do. One was to take the trail to Shoup Bay to see the Shoup Glacier and Kittiwake rookery. To do the whole trail was a long day hike, but maybe Lupe could do it tomorrow, if the weather cleared up.
The other adventure had been suggested by Richard Baker, whom Lupe had met on Mount Decoeli in the Yukon. Richard had highly recommended taking a cruise on Prince William Sound aboard the Lu-Lu Belle to see the Columbia Glacier, the second largest tidewater glacier in North America. Whales, eagles and other wildlife are sometimes seen from the Lu-Lu Belle, too.
Lupe had to wait in the G6, while SPHP went into the Lu-Lu Belle office to inquire about the Columbia Glacier tour. The receptionist was very courteous and friendly. She said the Lu-Lu Belle goes to the Columbia Glacier every day in season, pretty much regardless of the weather. The cost was $125 per person for an approximately 7 hour long tour aboard the luxury yacht.
It all sounded wonderful! Time for the big question. What about Lupe? Bad news. Lupe couldn’t go. They had dog-sitting services available, but the tour was a no-go for poor Looper.
No doubt it would have been a fantastic excursion, but if Lupe wasn’t going on the Lu-Lu Belle, neither was SPHP. This isn’t The (Mostly) True Adventures of SPHP, you know! So that was that, but before leaving the Lu-Lu Belle office, SPHP asked about the weather forecast.
The receptionist looked up the Valdez forecast on her computer. 100% chance of rain today and each of the next four days, then dropping to only 80%, 70%, and 40% for the three following days. She then said it had already been raining in Valdez for 3 straight weeks.
Yikes! That changed everything. Lupe and SPHP were willing to wait out a day or two of poor weather, but sitting around for more than a whole week of rain made no sense. SPHP returned to Lupe with the glum news. No Lu-Lu Belle, no Shoup Glacier, no Worthington Glacier. What to do?
If the Alaskan coast was going to be socked in with rain for another week or more, the only thing SPHP could think of doing was to head back inland. It meant Lupe wouldn’t get to do any of the cool stuff near Valdez on this trip, but Alaska is a huge place. There were other adventures in store for Lupe elsewhere.
Unfortunately, there was no point in hanging around Valdez. Amid rain and mist, Lupe and SPHP left town to start the long drive inland again on the Richardson Highway. Once again, Lupe traveled along the Lowe River, up Keystone Canyon, past Horsetail, Bridal Veil, and lots of other gorgeous waterfalls. She crossed Thompson Pass, and took a last glance at the Worthington Glacier as SPHP drove on by.
Wait a minute! The sky was still completely overcast, but only the tops of the mountains were in the clouds. The Worthington Glacier was in view. It was barely misting here. SPHP turned the G6 around. Lupe was going to get to see the Worthington Glacier after all! If the rain would hold off for only a few hours, a little mist wouldn’t stop an American Dingo!
SPHP drove back to the Worthington Glacier State Recreation Site. A dozen other vehicles were in the parking lot. People were coming and going. Nearly all of them were taking the short nature trail down to a viewpoint where the toe of the glacier could be seen. Nice, but not what Lupe had come for.
Lupe was here to take the much longer Worthington Glacier Ridge Trail, which goes W for a mile and a half, or more, on a ridge S of the glacier. Lupe and SPHP could see a couple hikers coming down the ridge trail. When they got to the start of the trail at the parking lot, SPHP talked to them. How were conditions up on the ridge? How far had they gone? Was anyone else up there right now?
Conditions were cloudy, a bit damp and rainy at times. They had made it all the way to what they considered the end of the trail. The glacier views were spectacular. Not another soul was up on the trail now. They were the last ones down.
Wonderful, that settled it! Lupe and SPHP started up the ridge.
The Worthington Glacier Ridge Trail began climbing along the top of a very narrow ridge with steep sides. To the S (L) was a very green valley of mixed alder and tundra. To the N (R) was the valley the Worthington Glacier flows down. The trail followed the ridgeline W. As Lupe gained elevation, the views of the Worthington Glacier up ahead became progressively more impressive.
The ridge trail left the ridge temporarily to bypass dangerous cliffs. It entered the green valley of mixed alders and tundra. There were a few mosquitoes down here to deal with, but they weren’t too bad. They were pretty much limited to the valley on this day. A breeze kept them from being much of a bother up on the ridge.
Lupe loved the green valley! SPHP thought it was great, too. The valley was full of wildflowers. The tiny, delicate plants growing on the tundra were fascinating. They were so incredibly varied and colorful!
Before long, the trail left Lupe’s lush, green valley and returned to the ridge. The Worthington Glacier was always in view from here on. The trail headed up toward a high, barren, rounded mound of dark colored soil and rock. It looked like that hill might be the end of the trail. The climb up to the top was steep!
Lupe reached the top of the high, barren, rounded hill. The trail leveled out and went right on over it. At first, SPHP wasn’t certain if the trail continued or not. Lupe and SPHP left the ridgeline to explore farther W along the N side of a mountain. Others had been this way, too. The terrain was rocky and uneven. There was no longer a distinct, continuous trail, but now and then Lupe came to cairns along the way.
Part of the time, Lupe was traveling over relatively level, wide, rock shelves. Other times, she had to climb steep slopes. Lupe passed by occasional bright patches of wildflowers. Some places bright green moss clung to dark rocks next to trickling waterfalls. To the S was the mountain. To the N, Lupe looked down upon the Worthington Glacier. And to the W, Lupe’s route rose toward a white, gray and black world of clouds, snow, ice, and dark earth.
After traveling a considerable distance along the mountainside, Lupe reached a really big cairn at a high point. SPHP thought maybe the big cairn meant Lupe was getting close to the end of how far she was going to be able to go W.
This wasn’t the end yet, though. Onward! The slope of the terrain lessened. Lupe still had to climb some, but gained elevation more slowly than before. The bold, damp Carolina Dog went on and on. Small cairns marked the route. The farther Lupe went, the more streams of rain and meltwater she encountered pouring over the rocks.
At last, it could be seen that Lupe was nearing a point where she would be surrounded by snow and ice on 3 sides.
Lupe reached the end of how far she could go W. The view was stupendous, even on a cloudy, drizzly day. Beneath the misty clouds, the sense of grandeur, solitude, and isolation was supreme. Snow, ice, mist, and dark rocks comprised the whole visible world.
To the SW, a big patch of pink snow was close at hand. SPHP was chilly enough, but the hot-blooded Carolina Dog thought a frolic on the snow would be fun!
After the Carolina Dog had cooled down sufficiently, Lupe and SPHP stood at the final high point Lupe reached, contemplating the Worthington Glacier and enjoying this rare, exquisite moment.
As SPHP looked around, it looked like Lupe might be able to go back to the SE, and climb 200 feet higher on the mountainside above. Any higher up than that, the mountain was buried beneath deep, pristine snow. Lupe might have seen more from up on the mountainside, but SPHP decided against it.
On a clear, bright day, the additional climb would have been worth it, but everything was wet and slippery now. A cold, light rain was falling. Even if Lupe had climbed higher, clouds and fog might easily have negated any benefit. In truth, Lupe was lucky the weather had cooperated enough to let her get this far. She’d had an unexpectedly wonderful day.
There was only one way back, which was to retrace Lupe’s entire route up here. Of course, going in the reverse direction provided a different perspective. One thing didn’t change. Lupe continued sniffing and exploring. Even SPHP stopped to examine a few details along the way.
Four or five hours after she’d left, Lupe was back at the G6. Her adventure on the Worthington Glacier Ridge Trail had been a very worthwhile success! SPHP was so glad she’d done it!
The long trek had cured any remaining queasiness from earlier in the day. Lupe was famished! She made up for having missed breakfast by doing more than her fair share helping SPHP devour every last bit of the leftover roasted chicken. Once full of chicken, Lupe felt a tad sleepy.
Digesting all that chicken took awhile. Lupe had a nice long Dingo nap. By the time she woke up, it was evening. There was still time, though, to take the short nature trail to the viewpoint looking up at the S toe of the Worthington Glacier from below.
The trail to the viewpoint took only a few minutes. There were, however, unofficial trails that people had made going closer to the glacier. Naturally, Lupe and SPHP thought it a good idea to go find out what could be seen along them.
The unofficial trails were wet, muddy and slick. They climbed an incredible jumble of rocks. The terrain looked like an explosion had taken place. Of course, there hadn’t been any explosion. The rocks were just as they had been unceremoniously dumped at the not-too-long-ago terminal moraine of the Worthington Glacier.
After scrambling over the jumble of rock close enough to get a good look at the S toe of the glacier, there was one more thing to go see. Earlier, on the way back to the G6, while Lupe was still way up high on the ridge trail, SPHP had noticed a very long stream of water cascading down the lower N side of the Worthington Glacier valley.
From above, the stream of water had presented a rather bizarre optical illusion. It looked like the water cascaded up and over a ridge of solid rock! Simply impossible, but that was how it had looked to SPHP. Lupe wasn’t far now from the bottom of that stream. Time to go take a closer look!
When Lupe got to the base of the falls, everything was normal. The water fell down, not up. Which is how it should be, and always will be. The mystery wasn’t completely solved for SPHP, because the part of the long stream that had seemed to cascade uphill was out of sight much higher up. Illusion that it no doubt was, this stream had earned the nickname “Anti-gravity Creek” as far as SPHP was concerned.
It had been quite a day at the Worthington Glacier for Loopster, but it was getting dark. The rain was starting up again. Almost back at the G6, SPHP thought of one more thing Lupe might want to check out. When SPHP turned and headed toward the glacier once more, Lupe let out a single, no-nonsense woof!
She’d had enough! Time to dry off and get some shut-eye! Meekly, SPHP obeyed. Back to the G6. Sometimes Dingoes know best!
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Lupe is a pretty tough adventurer for making it all the way up the ridge trail. So is her paparazzi. That’s an aggressive trail.