Day 29, Part 2, of Lupe’s Summer of 2016 Dingo Vacation to the Canadian Rockies, Yukon & Alaska
Plans for a return visit to the beach at Ninilchik on Cook Inlet were quickly dashed when Lupe and SPHP stopped to help a woman hitchhiker along the Sterling Highway (Alaska Route 1). Turned out she needed a ride to her landscaping job, well beyond Ninilchik, clear over in Soldotna. She was already late and needed to get there quickly. Her car (nowhere in sight) had broken down, and no one else had stopped to give her a lift.
Jane was a friendly, plucky gal. She introduced herself to Lupe and SPHP, and immediately launched into her life’s story. Some of it made not a lick of sense, but it was an entertaining tale nevertheless. Lupe and SPHP listened in silence as the miles flew by, and Jane related her only-in-Alaska monologue.
Jane had moved to Homer, Alaska from California years ago. Naturally, she loved Alaska. She had made some money back in California in real estate. Jane used part of the money she’d saved to make a great purchase of 40 acres near the edge of a development somewhere around here, the particular parcel having been carefully selected by closing her eyes and putting her finger to a map.
The land wasn’t even for sale at the time, but when Jane approached the owners, they thought she was so wonderful, they promptly agreed to sell it to her for a song. She lives off-grid in a cabin on this beautiful property, where she and her dog manage to avoid being eaten by grizzlies by sticking close to either the cabin, or her ATV, on which they zoom away to safety at a moment’s notice.
When you live off grid, you have to create your own entertainment. Jane kept chickens to produce eggs. A pure white rooster served as head of the flock. For fun, Jane used a water pistol to paint the rooster with bright colors so he was more of a fancy rainbow rooster instead of a boring pure white one. The rooster didn’t object in the least. Instead, his reaction was to put on a Mick Jagger style strutting performance to impress his harem, which Jane found endlessly amusing.
Sadly, tragedy struck. All but two of her chickens and the beloved rainbow rooster passed away very recently when her pet wolf broke its new chain after only 2 days, and did what wolves like to do to chickens.
With the wonderful, balmy climate Alaska now has due to global warming, it’s getting harder and harder to keep the riff raff out. The Kenai peninsula is filling up with people. Living off the grid here is no longer the hardy pioneering existence it once was a few years back. Fortunately, Jane’s 24 year old son took pictures of a mind-bogglingly beautiful little town, with a name that SPHP has since forgotten, but it started with a “U”.
U-ville is located on Spruce Island, near much larger Kodiak Island, and can only be accessed by boat or the air. The few pictures Jane’s son took were enough to convince Jane that U-ville is the place to be, so she is in the process of getting ready to sell her 40 acres and move. People in U-ville, who have never met Jane, but have advanced word of her interest in living on Spruce Island, are falling over themselves offering her good jobs, and encouraging her to join their community ASAP.
Jane related all this, and a good deal more which now escapes SPHP, in the time it took to reach Soldotna, where she promptly exited the G6, cheerfully bidding Lupe and SPHP a fond farewell. Clearly there had been much more to come, time permitting, so it was with a mixed sense of reluctance and relief that Lupe resumed her own adventures, though they may pale in comparison to Jane’s.
Lupe’s next adventure started E of Soldotna near milepost 61 of the Sterling Highway at the trailhead for the Skyline Trail to the Mystery Hills (12:03 PM, 68°F). The trailhead parking lot was on the SW side of the highway, but the actual trail started over on the NE side, a bit farther to the NW.
A sign near the start of the Skyline Trail provided general information. Lupe could expect a steep 1,800 feet of elevation gain over 1.25 miles.
The Skyline Trail is somewhat oddly named, since it officially ends at a saddle between mountains, before ever getting up to any of the peaks of the Mystery Hills, or even following any portion of the ridgeline. Skyline Access Trail would have been a better name for it.
The sign did show a trail continuing on up from the saddle. On the topo map SPHP had along, a pack trail goes on for miles all the way from the saddle up to and over a series of peaks in the Mystery Hills.
Just as the sign had promised, the Skyline Trail was steep. There were no significant switchbacks. Up and up. SPHP was soon pausing frequently to let heart, lungs and legs catch up with the demands of the trail. Lupe, of course, wasn’t fazed in the least.
For a long way, the trail was in forest. Little could be seen. After quite a climb, the forest finally started gradually giving way to tall bushes. Lupe started to get glimpses of the progress she was making.
The trail’s rate of climb didn’t diminish until Lupe was getting fairly close to the saddle. Then things started to level out rapidly. Where Lupe first reached the saddle, she came upon a final big stand of gnarled old pine trees. The day was warm and bright. The shade provided by this last clump of odd old pines was welcome. Lupe and SPHP took a break.
As near as SPHP could tell, Lupe had reached the official end of the Skyline Trail.
The Skyline Trail may have officially ended, but the sign and maps were right. A good trail continued on across the saddle toward the mountain to the E. (Note: As far as Lupe was concerned, this continuation of the trail going on up to the Mystery Hills was all part of the same Skyline Trail, and will be referred to as such for the remainder of this post.) When Lupe’s break under the gnarled pines was over, Lupe and SPHP pressed onward.
Not far from the pines, Lupe passed by another trail branching off to the N on its way through the saddle. The American Dingo ignored the side trail and started climbing the mountain to the E.
Lupe still had nearly 1,000 feet of elevation gain to go in order to reach her first peakbagging goal, North Mystery Hills (3,284 ft.). She encountered a short stretch of rock climbing near the base of the mountain, but was soon easily past it. Lupe came to no further complications along the trail, which now worked around to the S side of the slope, as it continued E. Another higher saddle could be seen ahead.
On the way to the next saddle, Lupe already had some splendid unobstructed views.
The path up to the higher saddle was a long, steady grind, but the pace of elevation gain wasn’t bad, certainly nothing like Lupe had faced on the way to the first saddle. Upon reaching the higher saddle, the trail turned S, climbing more aggressively up the mountain.
When the Skyline Trail finally started leveling out, a rock outcropping larger and higher than any other nearby point was a short distance ahead. Lupe went over to it. She had reached the N end of the North Mystery Hills summit ridge. The views were fabulous!
Right away, Lupe discovered a metal box tucked among the rocks on the E side of the rock outcropping. The box contained a register. SPHP entered Lupe’s name on it to secure the Carolina Dog’s place in North Mystery Hills history.
Although it had been a warm, calm, sunny day lower down, a fairly strong, cool E wind was blowing up here. While SPHP was entering her name in the register, Lupe found a big rock to hide behind. She curled up on the W side of it to escape the wind.
Lupe had seen a number of people along the Skyline Trail, but hadn’t come across anyone since leaving the first saddle. However, while she was still curled up out of the wind, and SPHP was busy gazing off into the distance, a young man showed up. His name was Patrick Metzger.
Patrick was quite friendly to Lupe and SPHP. Soon, Patrick and SPHP were engaged in conversation. Patrick wasn’t an Alaskan native. He moved to Soldotna a few years ago, where he works for Univar, a global chemical distribution business. Like Lupe, he enjoys the outdoors and climbing mountains in his spare time, so there was a lot to talk about.
Patrick shared his love of Alaska with Lupe and SPHP. He recommended several places Lupe might want to consider visiting while she was here. By the time Patrick needed to move on, nearly an hour had gone by. The visit with Patrick had been fun, but Lupe needed to get going, too.
Technically, Lupe still hadn’t reached the true summit of North Mystery Hills, but it wasn’t far away. A short, windy stroll to the SE brought Lupe to the NW end of a small hill on the broader ridgeline. The small hill proved to have two high points on it, one at each end of a little ridgeline, sort of a minor summit ridge up on the greater summit area. Lupe visited both high points. It was a close contest, but the true summit seemed to be at the SE end where Lupe found a small cairn.
The trail didn’t even go to the likely true summit at the SE end of the minor summit ridge. Instead, the trail skirted below it to the SW. Lupe left the trail to make the short side trip to the true summit. A pitifully small cairn was the only indication Lupe had finally reached her North Mystery Hills (3,284 ft.) peakbagging goal.
Having finally reached the summit of North Mystery Hills, Lupe’s next objective was Mystery Hills Central (3,291 ft.), still 1.25 miles away to the SSE. Getting there was simply a matter of following the Skyline Trail on a beautiful, fun ridge hike. Lupe had splendid sweeping views along the entire route. She passed over a series of rocky highpoints, as well as lower, gentler terrain, on the way.
When Lupe arrived at the top of Mystery Hills Central, she found a roomy, nearly flat, summit area. It also had two candidates for true summit, separated by only a short distance. Lupe found a survey benchmark at the E high point, and a modest cairn at the W one.
Despite the still rather annoyingly strong E wind, Lupe and SPHP paused on Mystery Hills Central for a while to appreciate the grand 360° views.
The topo map showed the Skyline Trail continuing on from Mystery Hills Central, looping around for miles, still following the ridgeline. Eventually the trail goes all the way to Mystery Hills East (3,478 ft.). Lupe could see part of the trail from above.
One look was enough to convince SPHP that Lupe didn’t have the time, and SPHP didn’t have the energy, to press on to Mystery Hills East. That part of the trail had some serious elevation gains and losses along the way, in addition to being nearly another 3 miles long.
So this was it, Lupe had come as far along the Skyline Trail as she was going to. Mystery Hills Central was the end of the line. The sun said Lupe would soon have to start back. Lupe and SPHP lingered a little while longer together on Mystery Hills Central.
The time came to say good-bye to Mystery Hills Central. Lupe started back the way she had come.
As the sun sank lower toward the horizon, the E wind finally began to relent, losing some of its strength. Lupe had a wonderful time exploring the ridge along the Skyline Trail. It was a relaxing evening trek, surrounded by beauty on all sides, high in the Mystery Hills.
Lupe returned to the true summit of North Mystery Hills. From there, she went on to the NW end of the broad summit ridge, back to the high rocky point where she had first discovered the metal box containing the register, and met Patrick Metzger only 4 hours ago.
Although Lupe hadn’t seen anyone on the Skyline Trail after Patrick left, once Lupe began her descent from the Mystery Hills, she met a few hikers on their way up. They were hoping to catch the sunset from North Mystery Hills. To SPHP, it looked like the sun was going to sink into a cloud bank. The sunset was likely to be more silver and gray than colorful.
What those hikers actually saw at sunset, Lupe never knew. By then she was far down steep Skyline Trail in the encroaching gloom of the dark forest at the base of the Mystery Hills. (8:49 PM)
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