Day 25 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska!
2:58 PM, 66°F – Was this the right place? Must be. No one around, but 4 or 5 vehicles sat along a little loop at a dead end in the forest. SPHP parked the G6 off to the side as far as possible, and Lupe leapt out. No trailhead information anywhere, but a trail did head into the forest from the NE end of the loop.
Lupe was back on the Kenai Peninsula not far from Cooper Landing after having spent the night in Anchorage. The whole morning had been chewed up procuring a new camera to replace the one that died in the rain during the journey to Hope Point (3,708 ft.) yesterday. After that, the long drive from Anchorage, followed by a search for the trailhead, had taken more time.
SPHP had found Bean Creek Road 0.2 mile E of the bridge over the Kenai River easily enough. The road to the trailhead was supposed to be an unmarked dirt road just E of Bean Creek Road on the same (N) side of the Sterling Highway. Instead of an unmarked road, a road with a street sign saying “Stetson Circle” left the highway from what seemed to be the correct spot.
Stetson Circle looked like a private driveway, and actually did go past a house or two, before curving R (E) and ending at this loop in the forest not terribly far from the highway.
Lupe was raring to go! Mid-afternoon already on a rare sunny day. The Carolina Dog didn’t want to waste another minute. Two young women were emerging from the forest about the time SPHP was finally ready. They were both quite taken with Lupe, and she was more than willing to delay her departure to bask in the adoration of new fans.
Was this the trail to Slaughter Ridge (3,216 ft.)? Yes! The two women confirmed this was it. A fabulous destination, but they emphasized that the trail was very steep. When the Dingo love-fest finally concluded, Lupe and SPHP set off into the forest.
The trail started off nearly level, an easy, shady hike through the woods. Before long, it passed near a wooden fence marking the edge of private property. A house could be seen beyond the fence. The trail gradually turned L (N), and Lupe started gaining elevation. An initial moderate pace quickly steepened. The forest hid all views, but Lupe was making frequent little stops anyway, since SPHP seemed so inclined to pause to gasp for breath.
For a trail, this was indeed a very steep route. However, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The trail was dry, and footing was generally good. No slippery spots, and hardly any loose rock. Loop would have gained elevation at a tremendous pace, if SPHP could have kept moving. During wheezing breaks, several groups of hikers passed by on their way down. Each and every one cheerfully commented on the steepness of the trail, in case SPHP hadn’t noticed.
After a considerable climb, Lupe came to a clearing. She was already high enough to have a grand view of Kenai Lake and the Kenai River.
Continuing on, the trail re-entered the forest. Openings where Lupe had views became more frequent. She started catching glimpses of a much higher ridge that the trail was apparently destined for.
The trail eventually reached the ridgeline it had been climbing toward. Lupe came to a cairn and an engraved stone at an open spot at the E end of a level part of the ridge. The stone had been placed here in memory of Wayne Fritz Koecher, who passed away at the beginning of 2006 at the age of 24. Perhaps this beautiful spot with its amazing views had been one of Wayne’s favorite places?
Lupe was now up on Slaughter Ridge (3,216 ft.), but toward the far E end at about the 2,000 foot level, nowhere near its highest point. The true summit was still nearly 2 miles W. Even Juneau Point (3,216 ft.) close to the E end of the summit plateau was still a mile away.
From this first cairn and memorial stone, the trail continued NW toward a hill several hundred feet higher.
Reaching the base of the hill took only a couple of minutes. However, the trail divided here without any indication of which way to go. Since the R fork showed the most use, Loop went that way.
Almost immediately, the R branch started angling NNW avoiding the forested ridgeline. Soon Lupe was losing a little elevation. The trail didn’t even stay up along the side of Slaughter Ridge, instead taking Looper out to a flat, swampy area near a pond.
Lupe stuck with the R fork only as far as a small stream beyond the pond before SPHP had second thoughts. This couldn’t be right! The trail kept crossing wetlands heading toward a broad pass N of Slaughter Ridge.
No harm done. The little side jaunt had been a scenic detour, and hadn’t taken long. Lupe turned around and headed back.
Back where the trail divided, Lupe tried the L fork this time. The L fork went straight into the forest, promptly curved N, and in practically no time, joined up with the R fork again returning to the pond.
Hmm. Didn’t seem right, but maybe SPHP hadn’t given the trail enough of a chance? So Lupe visited the pond once again, this time pushing on well past the little stream. The terrain was rising slowly, and eventually flattened out completely. A larger pond, a lake really, appeared ahead.
The trail, or what was left of it, showed not the slightest inclination to turn back toward Slaughter Ridge. Maybe Lupe should just head straight for it, and try to find a way up? The viewpoint back at the cairn and memorial stone might be as far up the mountain as the trail went.
SPHP paused to contemplate the N side of Slaughter Ridge. Forested and steep. No way! The trail had been steep enough without bushwhacking a way up. Must be another way, another trail that split off somewhere between the memorial stone and the fork at the base of the hill. Better go back and look for it.
Sure enough, there was! A missed turn went to the L shortly before the divide that veered off to the pond. Sheesh! A good 45 minutes wasted on the wrong trail! Daylight was burning. Lupe had better get on with it, if she expected to get to the top of Slaughter Ridge today.
Now on the correct trail, Lupe followed it W through a short section of forest. She emerged from the trees in open territory high on the steep S side of the ridgeline. The views were spectacular! The trail continued W making frequent steep spurts higher. Level stretches separated each big burst upward.
SPHP kept expecting the trail to climb back up onto the ridgeline, but for a long way, it didn’t. Instead, the trail stayed high on the S slope, as Lupe bypassed one false summit after another. At last, the trail did climb up onto the ridgeline, but Lupe still wasn’t at the top. Much higher ground was still ahead.
The trail was still pretty steep. On and on it went. Getting to the top of one knob only revealed another higher one ahead. Couldn’t be much farther, though, could it?
A second cairn greeted Lupe at the top of the final hill. This cairn sat at the far E end of the Slaughter Ridge summit plateau, a location known as Juneau Point (3,216 ft.). The ridge was still narrow here, but quickly broadened out to the W. Views from the cairn were stupendous! Lupe could see from Kenai Lake all the way down the Kenai River valley to Skilak Lake. Wonderful mountain scenes in all directions!
According to the topo map, the Juneau benchmark was supposed to be somewhere around here. Expecting to find it easily, SPHP scanned the area close to the second cairn, surprisingly without success.
Despite how fantastic the views were at Juneau Point (3,216 ft.), with the true summit of Slaughter Ridge still more than a mile away, Lupe could only afford to take a short rest break. Soon she was on her way again, heading W across the vast Slaughter Ridge summit plateau.
The plateau was a super fun trek, so much easier than the steep climb to Juneau Point had been! Lupe had a blast sniffing and exploring her way across the open rolling plain, making great progress. The trail faded on the way to a succession of minor high points. Didn’t matter. Even from Juneau Point, a little blip at the far W end, no doubt the true summit, or very close to it, was in sight along S edge of the plateau.
Lupe wandered W, generally staying close to the S edge of the plateau where the fabulous views of the Kenai River valley and the grand peaks beyond it were. After she had already passed a couple of minor high points, SPHP remembered the Juneau benchmark again, and started checking each little rise for it, but still without success.
The American Dingo paused now and then to check out the views.
The Slaughter Ridge summit plateau is divided into two parts – an E half, which Lupe was on now, and a W half, the location of the true summit. The two halves are connected by a narrow corridor, but even along this connecting route, a drop of between 300 and 400 feet separates the E and W plateaus.
This drop had not been visible from Juneau Point where Lupe came up, but as she drew near the W end of the E plateau, it came into view. A faint trail headed right on down to the connecting corridor, which was along the S edge.
Going down to the connecting ridge was easy. Not too steep, and even once at the bottom where the ridge was narrowest, it was plenty wide and smooth. No jaggedness at all. Lupe was soon across the saddle and on her way up the SE slope of the W plateau. This was a much steeper climb, the ascent made even slower when SPHP realized the tundra was full of ripe blueberries.
SPHP was immediately ensnared in the, oh, so delicious blueberry trap! Progress slowed to a crawl. At first, Lupe tolerated the situation, but when SPHP quit moving entirely, the were-puppy appeared to threaten SPHP, and demand a speedy return to action.
Freed from the blueberry trap by the ferocious were-puppy, SPHP kept heading higher. Finally, after gaining close to 300 feet of elevation, the rate of climb began to lessen. Lupe emerged from the shadow of the W plateau on terrain beautifully illuminated by the slanting rays of the early evening sun. As SPHP slogged on after her, Lupe pranced toward the high ground still ahead.
On the W plateau, Lupe continued W from high point to high point. At last, only two more could be seen ahead, the most distant being the true summit of Slaughter Ridge (3,216 ft.). It wasn’t much farther, or even much higher, than where the Carolina Dog was already.
The American Dingo visited both of the last two high points. On the final little slope leading to the true summit of Slaughter Ridge, the Alaskan wilderness rolled out a crimson carpet of surpassing beauty for Lupe.
The summit rock was light-colored, nearly white, and quite large enough to serve as an excellent Dingo display pedestal. Views were, of course, splendid, but basically the same as those Lupe had been seeing all the way here. The far W end of the W summit plateau was a bit farther. Lupe could see a third cairn over there, clearly at a slightly lower point.
After a look around from the white summit rock, Lupe ventured over to the third cairn at the W end of Slaughter Ridge.
N of the third cairn, there was quite a lot of territory that could have been explored, if it hadn’t been so late in the day. Lupe did spend a few minutes sniffing beyond the cairn, going far enough to get to where the mountain started dropping off more steeply.
The sun was sinking. The Carolina Dog returned to the summit rock. Glories of the Kenai Peninsula were on display in all directions. Even a sliver of Cook Inlet of the North Pacific Ocean was in sight. For a little while, Lupe and SPHP remained at the summit, taking it all in. Such a gorgeous evening!
The lateness of the hour prevailed. Loop was soon forced to abandon her peakbagging success. The long return trek back the way she had come began.
The return trek was a beautiful time. So much fun! Once Lupe made it back to the E plateau, SPHP resolved to check every high point along the way for the Juneau benchmark. The first high point Lupe came to on her way E was the true summit of the E plateau. Not right at the high point, but 20 or 30 feet farther S, near the edge where the views were best, Loopster made a discovery.
Nope, not the Juneau benchmark, but something else. Laying among the rocks was a stone 2″ long. A Bible verse, John 15:5, was painted on it.
Whether the stone had been left here intentionally, or simply forgotten, was unknown. SPHP picked it up. Lupe could keep it as a souvenir to add to the small rock collection SPHP had started for her last year with a stone taken from the Beaufort Sea near Deadhorse. Dated 2018, the stone couldn’t have been on Slaughter Ridge too long.
At the very last high point prior to reaching the second cairn at the E end of the E plateau, Lupe found it. The Juneau benchmark!
As Lupe paused for the last time at the second cairn high on Slaughter Ridge before beginning the steep descent to the trailhead, far to the SW she could see something she hadn’t been able to when the sun was higher. Beyond Cook Inlet was the unmistakable outline of the Iliamna Volcano (10,016 ft.). Awesome! How cool was that?
And then it was down, down, down! Never stopping, except as caution dictated. 30 minutes before reaching the trailhead, the flashlight had to come out. Lupe arrived at the G6 famished and tired. She wasn’t alone. A quick dinner, then lights out. (11:10 PM)
What a tremendous day Slaughter Ridge had been!
Links:
Next Adventure Prior Adventure
On the Skyline Trail to the Mystery Hills, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska (8-27-16)
Skilak Lookout, Kenai Mountains, Alaska (8-30-17)
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