Part 2 of Day 33 of Lupe’s 2017 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon & Alaska!
The drive out of the Kenai Peninsula was lovely, but frustrating. Due to uncooperative weather, Lupe was leaving most of the great adventures she’d had planned here undone. Yet SPHP sensed that maybe conditions were actually starting to improve? Even as the Carolina Dog rode in comfort through a series of rain showers, she could always see patches of blue sky out the window of the G6, too.
The decision had been made, though. Lupe was leaving the rainy Kenai Peninsula. Loopster had limited time left for adventures on this Dingo Vacation. SPHP wasn’t willing to hang around the S Alaska coast any longer on no more than mere hope for a sunny day. No matter where Lupe had gone, she had faced rain virtually every day in Alaska. Seemingly bright prospects had been dashed too many times already.
After exiting the Kenai Peninsula, the drive along the Turnagain Arm was spectacularly beautiful. Rays of sunlight streamed dramatically through holes in the cloud cover to illuminate the sea. However, it was raining again by the time Lupe reached Anchorage.
Beyond Anchorage, the rain ended. The pavement on Glen Highway No. 1 was actually dry. Lupe was only going as far as Palmer this evening, and would arrive with several hours of daylight left. SPHP tried to think of something Loopster might be able to do in these few hours. Suddenly an answer sprang to mind. Why Bodenburg Butte (886 ft.), of course! It would be perfect!
SPHP took the exit for Old Glen Highway. A L turn onto Bodenburg Loop Road appeared 3 miles after crossing the bridge over the Knik River. 0.5 mile farther on the R was a gravel parking lot on the S side of Bodenburg Butte. A big, faded wooden sign confirmed that the American Dingo had arrived at the Bodenburg Butte trailhead.
A wide, well-worn trail left the parking lot climbing aggressively through forest. Lupe and SPHP started up. (7:15 PM, 52°F) At this rate of climb, it wasn’t going to take long to gain the 770 feet of elevation necessary to reach the top.
Situated several miles SE of Palmer, Bodenburg Butte is a lone hill on otherwise flat ground near the junction of two broad river valleys. A few miles to the SW is the convoluted confluence of the Matanuska and Knik rivers. Bodenburg Butte is a mere bump compared to peaks of the nearby Chugach and Talkeetna Mountains, but was expected to provide Lupe some great views of the two rivers, surrounding mountains, and perhaps even the Knik Arm of the North Pacific Ocean off Cook Inlet.
The trail remained quite steep nearly the entire way. Bodenburg Butte is a locally popular hike. While pausing to catch breath, SPHP visited briefly with several people on their way down. When Lupe was more than halfway to the top, she emerged from the forest. The trail became braided here, offering Looper several paths to choose from. Which path she took hardly mattered. They were all going to the same place.
At the top of Bodenburg Butte, Lupe found a ridge of solid rock. This summit ridge looked like it had been scoured by glaciers once upon a time. In fact, Loop could still see the toe of the likely culprit to the SE.
Lupe instantly saw why the hike up Bodenburg Butte is popular. For the amount of effort expended to get to the summit, the visual rewards were fantastic. Looper had splendid views in all directions!
Wearing a wispy veil of clouds, Pioneer Peak (6,396 ft.) in the Western Chugach Mountains was the closest high peak. Between Bodenburg Butte and Pioneer Peak, Lupe gazed down upon forests and green fields in the Knik River valley.
Farther up the Knik River valley, Lupe saw what SPHP presumed were Hale-Bopp Peak (5,800 ft.) and Big Timber Peak (6,772 ft.).
To the W, the Matanuska River was in view. The Matanuska flows SW to join the Knik River shortly before reaching the Knik Arm of the North Pacific Ocean off Cook Inlet. The confluence of the two rivers was difficult to pick out, but Lupe could clearly see the Knik Arm.
Lupe could see the Talkeetna Mountains to the N and NW, where she had recently climbed Hatch Benchmark (4,811 ft.) and taken the Reed Lakes trail to Lynx Peak (6,536 ft.). The sky was quite cloudy in that direction, so the Talkeetnas didn’t show up as well this evening as the closer Chugach Mountains to the E.
The top of Bodenburg Butte included a fairly large area. Although Lupe had met people coming down on her way up, no one else was on top of Bodenburg Butte when Lupe arrived. An empty bench sat near a trail a little W of the true summit.
The sun hadn’t set quite yet, but the sky was cloudy enough so the light was already beginning to fade. The trail to the bench continued W beyond it, and apparently went down from over there.
Why not try an alternate route down? When Lupe and SPHP were done enjoying the views, the Carolina Dog proceeded over to the bench to see if the trail really did go down the W side of Bodenburg Butte from here?
It did! In fact, the trail going down the W side of Bodenburg Butte was far better than the steep route Lupe had taken up from the S. The W route had steps where the trail was steepest and a cable railing. This was going to be easy!
SPHP expected the W trail to loop back toward the S. It didn’t. Instead, it eventually turned N. The American Dingo arrived at a 2nd trailhead N of Bodenburg Butte. This one had a much larger parking lot.
Lupe had made it down, but was now on the wrong side of Bodenburg Butte. She had to follow roads circling around the E side of the butte to get back to the S trailhead. This added more than 2 miles to the return trip, making it a far longer loop than SPHP had envisioned. It was dark when Lupe finally arrived at the G6. (10:31 PM, 51°F)
Other than the assistant manager, who was in the process of getting ready to close, no one else was at Subway in Palmer when SPHP showed up at 10:55 PM. SPHP purchased a footlong sandwich, and was about to leave when the assistant manager offered SPHP unsold cookies that were about to be thrown out. For free! The price was certainly right. Sure, why not?
To Loopster’s delight, SPHP returned with a dozen large cookies. The Carolina Dog’s evening ended with an unexpected Subway cookie feast. A different kind of adventure, but a delicious one!
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