Day 21 of Lupe’s Summer of 2016 Dingo Vacation to the Canadian Rockies, Yukon & Alaska
Lupe was still in Alaska in gorgeous Denali State Park. Unfortunately, she wasn’t going to get a clear view of Denali (20,310 ft.) today, either. Rain had fallen overnight. It wasn’t raining now, but the morning sky was socked in with clouds. Looked like another morning would be wasted waiting on the weather.
SPHP drove to Byers Lake at milepost 147.0 along the George Parks Highway (Alaska Route 3), and found a picnic ground. Lupe and SPHP enjoyed a leisurely brunch. After Lupe’s long day yesterday spent climbing Indian Benchmark (4,558 ft.) and K’esugi Mountain (4,700 ft.) near the N end of the K’esugi Ridge Trail, maybe a restful morning was a good thing.
Nearby, a man sat under a large canvas canopy. He worked for a company renting out canoes and kayaks for short term use on Byers Lake. The company also offered rafting trips on the Chulitna River. Despite the cool, overcast weather, he was doing some business.
Finally, noon was approaching. Still nothing, but gray skies and the occasional stray raindrop. Was Lupe going back up to K’esugi Ridge, or not? It was a long way to the Golog Benchmark (2,970 ft.). Decision time. Even though Lupe was unlikely to see Denali (20,310 ft.), she would undoubtedly enjoy the trek. Best get going.
Signs said the suspension bridge over Byers Creek NE of the lake was unusable. Lupe would have to go the long way on the Byers Lake Trail around the SW end of the lake to get to the Cascade Trail. The long way added an extra 1.3 miles, but there was nothing to be done about it. So what? Lupe didn’t care.
At the SW end of Byers Lake, Lupe came to a long wooden bridge across the Byers Creek outlet. The smooth flowing stream was very wide and several feet deep.
Three people were standing on the bridge, peering into the water. SPHP asked what they were doing. They were watching salmon swim upstream, came the reply. SPHP looked into the water, but saw nothing. Just wait, SPHP was told. The salmon come swimming up in small groups every 3 to 5 minutes. Sometimes they swim downstream from the lake, too.
Sure enough! In only a couple of minutes, several salmon did come swimming upstream. They passed beneath the bridge, swimming slowly. The salmon appeared tired, perhaps exhausted, from their long migration all the way from the ocean to Byers Lake.
The poor salmon were already starting to disintegrate. They were arriving at Byers Lake battered and scarred from their heroic journey. They bore long white wounds on their backs where scales had flaked off, or been torn away from the flesh. The sight was both tragic and inspiring. The salmon deserved pity, respect, and admiration.
One salmon was all red, except for its green head. That was a sockeye salmon. Lupe and SPHP stayed watching the salmon for 20 minutes before continuing on.
On the SE side of Byers Lake, the Byers Lake Trail was often muddy and slick. A great many tree roots made the trail rough and uneven. In places, large mushrooms grew near the trail. A few of them were brilliantly colored, and quite striking in appearance.
Lupe passed by a small remote campground near the NE end of the lake. No one was there. Lupe was well beyond Byers Lake by the time she reached a junction with the Cascade Trail.
The Cascade Trail connects the Byers Lake Trail to the long K’esugi Ridge Trail popular with multi-day backpackers. Lupe had gained very little elevation coming around Byers Lake. Most of her elevation gain for the day would come along the Cascade Trail.
The Cascade Trail started off rising gently, but that changed pretty quickly. Soon Lupe was gaining elevation steadily at a good clip. The first part of the Cascade Trail was still down in a forest. Ferns grew in great abundance on the forest floor.
Before long, a roaring waterfall could be heard off to the NE, no doubt the cascade the trail was named after. Lupe never had a good view of it, however. The trail never got that close.
The trail passed over a small hill, then lost a little elevation going down to a creek. Lupe was still seeing colorful mushrooms along the way. Once down by the creek, the trail started a more serious climb. There were two creek fords, which were easily passable this time of year using stepping stones.
The trail followed the creek up a narrow ravine for a while, then finally left it and began to switchback up onto K’esugi Ridge. The map SPHP had along showed the Cascade Trail was only 2.0 miles long. Maybe SPHP was just worn out from Lupe’s previous day’s adventure, but it seemed twice that long.
After an endless stretch down in the forest and then among tall bushes, Lupe was finally high enough above the dense vegetation to get a view of the progress she’d made. Byers Lake already looked surprisingly far away.
Lupe left the switchbacks behind. The Cascade Trail began to straighten out, climbing more directly up the slope toward the top of K’esugi Ridge. Gradually the slope of the terrain lessened. There was more good news, too! The sky was getting brighter. The clouds weren’t as gloomy and gray as before. Little patches of blue sky began to appear.
Before reaching the top of K’esugi Ridge, the Cascade Trail ended at an intersection. Lupe avoided taking the Upper Troublesome Creek Trail, which turned S (R). Both of her peakbagging objectives, Whimbrel Hill and the Golog Benchmark, were to the NE. Lupe headed ESE (L) on the K’esugi Ridge Trail.
The top of K’esugi Ridge wasn’t much farther. Lupe gradually gained another 200 feet of elevation. The trail had nearly topped out by the time Lupe reached a barren hillside overlooking Mini-Skinny Lake to the S.
The K’esugi Ridge Trail gradually turned NE as Lupe continued on past Mini-Skinny Lake. For a while the trail was nearly level, passing over open tundra. Large boulders dotted the landscape, especially toward the NE end of the hill Lupe was on. With encouragement from SPHP, she got up on one of the biggest ones, which was sporting a cairn. From the boulder, Lupe could see her two peakbagging objectives for the day, still miles away.
Lupe had reached the NE edge of the big hill she was on. Ahead, K’esugi Ridge was miles wide, all wind-swept tundra. Lupe saw scattered lakes and ponds. A few trees struggled for survival. Bushes several feet high clustered near some of the creeks and wetlands. The terrain was undulating. From here on, all elevation changes would be gradual.
Whimbrel Hill (2,645 ft.) was the closest of Lupe’s objectives, still a couple miles to the NE. Lupe started down the hill, following K’esugi Ridge Trail toward it.
After losing a fair amount of elevation, the K’esugi Ridge Trail disappeared as Lupe reached a marshy valley full of bushes. A stream with significant flow weaved through it all. Water seemed to be everywhere. Right next to where the trail had been heading, there was even a small pond with a couple of ducks on it.
Lupe had no problem leaping over the stream, but SPHP went upstream, hoping the flow diminished in that direction. The stream was only a few feet wide, but it was fairly deep. Swampy ground made it hard to even get close to the stream’s edge, which was often poorly defined.
What SPHP didn’t realize was, this stream comes from the largest of the small lakes in the area. The flow wasn’t going to diminish upstream. Nevertheless, SPHP finally found a way across. Lupe continued NE on the K’esugi Ridge Trail, which reappeared on drier ground about where it could have been expected, if SPHP had simply splashed directly across the marsh.
The K’esugi Ridge Trail brought Lupe fairly close to the largest lake in the area, passing to the NW of it. N of the lake, the trail reached its closest point from Whimbrel Hill, which was still almost 0.5 mile farther N.
Lupe and SPHP left the K’esugi Ridge trail, and made the easy trek across the tundra to Whimbrel Hill. At the summit, Lupe found a rock shaped like a pedestal, or very flat mushroom. Rocks piled on top served as a rough cairn. Lupe jumped onto the pedestal to claim her first peakbagging success of the day! She graciously received congratulations from SPHP.
At Whimbrel Hill, a decision had to be made. Due to Lupe’s very late start, it was already late in the day. Golog Benchmark was still a long way off to the NE. Going all the way to it clearly meant getting back to the G6 well after nightfall. Was Whimbrel Hill the end, or should the American Dingo forge on ahead to Golog?
The weather was basically good and seemed stable. Off to the NW, Denali and the Alaska Range were still cloaked in dark clouds. Rain showers could always be seen drifting NE along the Chulitna River valley in that direction. Over K’esugi Ridge, however, the clouds weren’t nearly so dark. Occasionally, Lupe basked in sunshine.
The terrain was easy, and Lupe would have trails to follow all the way back. This was probably Lupe’s only chance to ever get to Golog. If she left K’esugi Ridge now, who knew when, or if, she would ever return? The sun would still be up for another couple of hours.
Chance of a lifetime! If the Carolina Dog was ever going to see Golog Benchmark, she had best get going. Lupe and SPHP headed SE down Whimbrel Hill angling to meet up with the K’esugi Ridge Trail farther NE than where Lupe had left it.
Lupe had a blast on K’esugi Ridge! She displayed enormous energy racing across the tundra, sometimes so far from SPHP that she had to be called back to make certain she didn’t get lost. The distant tiny Dingo always returned at top speed, full of enthusiasm. It was still disappointing to SPHP that Denali wasn’t going to make an appearance, but that was the hand that had been dealt.
Lupe wouldn’t have changed a thing. Of all the grand adventures Lupe had on her Summer of 2016 Dingo Vacation to the Canadian Rockies, Yukon, and Alaska, Lupe might well rank this day roaming free on K’esugi Ridge as the best.
Lupe came to many little streams and ponds. The K’esugi Ridge Trail had lots of mucky, wet sections, and minor creek crossings. SPHP soon learned how to tell where the wetlands were by the appearance of the vegetation in the area. Lupe climbed rocks and hillsides. She investigated holes in the ground. She sniffed everywhere, discovering whatever mysteries float in the Alaskan breeze.
The tundra was alive with brilliantly colored low-lying plants. Crowberries and other berries were in great abundance. Beauty spread from beneath Lupe’s paws as far as the eye could see in every direction. What a fabulous place and wonderful day to be alive! The trek to Golog was long, but easy and magnificent.
At last, Lupe drew near Golog. The trail rose steeply, twisting to avoid boulders. The climb took only a few minutes. Lupe arrived up on a fairly level summit area perhaps 60′ x 100′ in size. There was little vegetation. Most of the area was exposed bedrock. A huge boulder coated with light green lichens, was perched at the very top.
A chill and rather strong breeze was blowing. Although it had been sunny out not long before, the sun had sunk into the storm clouds to the NW hanging over the Alaska Range. Lupe took a break and had some Taste of the Wild, partially sheltered from the wind by the huge boulder. Meanwhile, SPHP searched around for a survey benchmark, but found none.
Lupe climbed to the top of the crowning boulder, to see if the actual survey benchmark was there. No, not here either, but Lupe had made it to the top of Golog Benchmark hill! Congratulations were in order once more. SPHP shook her paw, praising the energy, endurance, and enthusiasm she had displayed coming all this way.
Lupe jumped down off the huge boulder to escape the cold SW breeze. SPHP searched the larger summit area again, but never found the actual survey benchmark. That was a bit surprising. There was no question that Lupe was on the highest point around, and the trail had come right to it. This had to be Golog!
For 20 minutes, Lupe and SPHP remained on Golog. Lupe had seen only one person on K’esugi Ridge all day. In the chilly breeze, beneath the cloudy sky, the beautiful, vast, wild tundra felt desolate, forlorn, forgotten. The K’esugi Ridge Trail went on past Golog continuing NE for miles. Lupe could see Skinny Lake ahead (the big Skinny Lake, not Mini-Skinny), hundreds of feet lower than Golog.
Somewhere out there, miles beyond Skinny Lake, the N end of the trail passed near K’esugi Mountain where Lupe had such a good time yesterday. Wouldn’t it be fun to backpack the entire trail someday? Yes, someday. A someday that likely would never come. Yet Lupe was here now, still young, strong and happy. A moment to be cherished and enjoyed.
Lupe’s time on Golog passed quickly.
After Lupe left Golog, the sun managed to break through the clouds. Briefly, the tundra glowed, illuminated by weak, slanting rays. Earth’s star was fighting a losing battle. Gloom swallowed it whole a final time. Shadow spread over K’esugi Ridge.
For a while, Lupe resumed her energetic forays racing over the tundra, but even Carolina Dogs eventually tire. After two long days exploring the glories of K’esugi Ridge, Lupe was out of gas. She returned to SPHP on the trail. She begged SPHP to carry her, or stop and rest.
SPHP was close to being played out, too. There was no way Lupe could be carried any significant distance. There wasn’t time to take long rest breaks, either. Lupe needed to make it back to the junction with the Cascade Trail before it got too dark. It was important not to miss the turn. Lupe got a few short rest breaks, but that was all she was allowed.
Lupe arrived at the Cascade Trail while there was still enough twilight for SPHP to spot the junction. Lupe made the turn. The Cascade Trail hadn’t gotten any shorter, even though Lupe was now going downhill. When the American Dingo reached the black forest, the headlamp had to come out.
On and on, in the dark. Lupe seemed to have gained a second wind. SPHP, on the other hand, was dragging. By the time Lupe made it back to the Byers Lake Trail, each step was painful. Tree roots on the trail didn’t help.
Finally, it was over. SPHP limped back to the G6. Lupe jumped inside, anxious to lay down. Gads! 3:37 AM. No wonder. A piece of paper was under the windshield wiper. A reminder from officialdom that the $5.00 parking fee for the new day was already due. Splendid.
Well, Loop, we should get our $5.00 worth tomorrow. I doubt I’ll be able to budge from this spot. No response. Lupe was gone – still running joyful and free across the Alaskan tundra in Dingo Dreamland. Run, Loop, run!
Links:
Next Adventure Prior Adventure
K’esugi Ridge: Ermine Hill & Peak 3700, Denali State Park, Alaska (9-4-18)
K’esugi Ridge: Ermine Hill, Denali State Park, Alaska (8-26-17)
K’esugi Ridge: Indian Benchmark & K’esugi Mountain, Denali State Park, Alaska (8-18-16)
Map & Guide to K’esugi Ridge South Trail System
Map & Guide to K’esugi Ridge North Trail System
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