Day 15 of Lupe’s 2019 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon & Alaska!
2:31 AM, 30 ºF, Taylor Highway 0.5 mile SSW of Steele Creek Dome – Cold. And deathly quiet. Like a frozen zombie eye, a pale three-quarter moon stared down from space. A faint glow betrayed the sun’s position far to the N as it snuck along well below the horizon. Otherwise still a very dark night. Sniffing intensely, Lupe wove in and out among the bushes along the edge of the big dirt pullout.
10 minutes ago the Carolina Dog had suddenly burst into a frenzied barking spree. No sign out here now of whatever she’d detected. Might have been anything. SPHP never saw it. Perhaps best that whatever it was had vanished? As soon as the American Dingo calmed down a bit, SPHP persuaded her to retreat back into the G6.
9:23 AM, still SSW of Steele Creek Dome (4,015 ft.) – Ugh! Overslept! The sun had been up for hours! Hardly mattered. If the weather held, Lupe still had time enough to complete her adventures along the Taylor Highway today. SPHP straightened out the G6, and the American Dingo was on her way.
First stop was at the South Fork Wayside, right after crossing the bridge over the Forty Mile River. Lupe explored the forest looking for squirrels, while SPHP heated up a can of beef stew for brunch. The brown waters of the South Fork of the Forty Mile River were much lower than they had been a year ago. Loop waded in for a drink.
12:53 PM, 50 ºF, Mosquito Fork Dredge trailhead near Chicken, Alaska – The next stop offered a choice of adventures. A mile or two before reaching Chicken, SPHP parked the G6 at the Mosquito Fork Dredge trailhead. A nice-looking trail disappeared into the forest on its way to an overlook where an old gold mining dredge would be visible down on the Mosquito Fork of the Forty Mile River.
Truth is, peakbagging Carolina Dogs aren’t much into mining or dredges, and while forks are sometimes useful, SPHP isn’t keen on mosquitoes. Right across the Taylor Highway was a better option. Lupe could climb Lost Chicken Hill (2,150 ft.)!
Oh, let’s do that instead, SPHP! I’ll find that lost chicken! It’ll be wings and drumsticks for dinner tonight!
Heavily forested Lost Chicken Hill wasn’t much of a climb, a mere 80 feet of elevation gain or so from the trailhead, if that. Nevertheless, Lupe was enthused by the thought of hunting down that lost chicken. If she could also claim a trivial Alaskan peakbagging success as well, so much the better! After crossing the highway, she passed through a big opening carved into the S end of Lost Chicken Hill and headed up into the forest.
The dense forest was littered with small diameter deadfall, the forest floor thick with soft, spongy moss. Gently rounded Lost Chicken Hill was an easy climb. Before long, Lupe arrived at a large flat region that had to be the summit. The American Dingo prowled this way and that, but the lost chicken did not appear, and no single spot stood out as the absolute highest point.
Lupe sniffed and searched everywhere! She found bright red berries, she came to a variety of mushrooms and fungi, but the famous lost chicken was nowhere to be seen.
I thought this would be a snap. How long has this chicken been missing, anyway, SPHP?
Not exactly sure, Looper. Probably since the gold rush days. 1880’s? 1890’s? Something like that.
So the chicken was here 130 years ago? No wonder I can’t pick up a scent!
Yeah, I’m really not that surprised, to tell you the truth.
The Carolina Dog pondered the situation.
The chicken can’t be too spry now, SPHP, but might have wandered quite a long way in 130 years. The trail is stone cold. Even if we find this chicken, it’s apt to be scrawny and tough. We should have gotten here sooner.
No doubt you’re right, Loop. Don’t worry about it. My bad. I shouldn’t have overslept.
With no chickens and no views, there didn’t seem to be much point in lingering up on Lost Chicken Hill. What the heck, Lupe had plenty of Alpo and Taste of the Wild to eat, anyway! Might as well return to the G6, and carry on. Even so, the Carolina Dog didn’t give up entirely. The whole way back she kept sniffing and exploring, just in case.
The only chickens she found, though, were the big metal ones stationed in the village of Chicken, when SPHP stopped for a quick look around.
Lost Chicken Hill had been a fun romp, but only a warm-up exercise. The big prize of the day was still ahead – a favorite peak, one that Lupe had been to in both 2017 and 2018 – Mount Fairplay (5,541 ft.)!
Lupe had seen Mount Fairplay on the horizon from Steele Creek Dome yesterday evening. Stopping briefly at the Mount Fairplay Wayside 30 miles S of Chicken, the mountain was now only a few miles away.
Mid-afternoon already, but a decent day. This was Lupe’s big chance to visit the top of Mount Fairplay for a third time. 2,000 feet of elevation gain from the highway, but a fun and easy climb.
3:06 PM, 50 ºF, Taylor Highway pullout at MP 32.8 – Quite a few clouds around, but patches of blue sky, too. Lupe crossed the Taylor Highway and started up an embankment on the other side. Experience gained during her prior ascents from this same starting point would come in handy now. The first goal was to get up on the lower end of the broad ridge leading SE toward the big saddle S of the summit.
The broad ridge wasn’t far from the highway, or much of a climb, but this first zone was full of small trees and dense stands of large bushes. Instead of heading E straight for the ridge as she had done before, Lupe angled NE (L) taking a slightly longer route hoping to avoid the worst of the bushes.
This manuever should have worked. The bushes weren’t nearly as bad this way. Less thrashing about for SPHP ought to have saved some time, but another obstacle presented itself. Blueberries! The slope leading up to the ridge was full of luscious, ripe, wild blueberries. No problem for the American Dingo, but SPHP was quickly hooked.
Are you coming, or not, SPHP? The bushes would have been faster! We’ll never get there at this pace!
Sorry, Loop, but wild blueberries are sooo scrumptious! Just a few more, and I’ll be right with you.
Inexplicably, a few more turned out to be quite a few more. Lots more, in fact, but Lupe finally did make it up onto the broad ridge. Although blueberries were up here, too, there weren’t as many. Overall there was far less vegetation. The long slope leading SE toward the big saddle was now in view.
Staying farther NE than during her prior ascents, Lupe headed for the big saddle more than a mile away. The slope gradually became rockier as she climbed.
It was a little earlier in the year this time around. The tundra was just beginning to change to fall colors.
Before Lupe reached the start of the steeper climb up to the big saddle, she came to a broad expanse of grassy tundra. In prior years, this area had been boggy, full of tiny trickling streams and numerous waterholes. Now, however, the ground was noticeably drier. Hardly any streams, and fewer waterholes. Lupe stayed on or near the rocks as long as she could before entering the wetlands.
With less sogginess to avoid, getting to the base of the steeper climb was easier than ever before. Here the terrain became rocky again. In short order, Loopster was scrambling higher.
After a good scramble, Loop reached an area with more vegetation again above the steepest part. She still hadn’t made it up to the big saddle SSW of the summit.
Lupe never did get to the big saddle. Instead, the Carolina Dog turned NE heading almost directly for the summit. This was a steeper, shorter route than she’d ever taken before. Lanes of tundra provided paths of least resistance between rivers of rock.
The final climb was rocky and moderately steep. Following faint paths, it wasn’t long before Lupe was approaching the summit.
Towers, sheds, and wires came into view. Moments later, Lupe was among them. A big brown shed was close to where she’d come up. Loop headed for a small wall of rock a bit NE of it. This little rock wall still looked like the marginally highest point on the mountain.
The top of Mount Fairplay (5,541 ft.) looked pretty much the same as before. The same towers and sheds were grouped near the S end and along the W side of the big, rough, but otherwise almost flat summit area. However, there was one important difference. Lupe was sad to learn that the very entertaining squirrel that had been up here in 2018 was gone! Not completely unexpected. What had possessed a squirrel to traipse all the way up here more than 1,500 feet above any tree or bush had always been a mystery in the first place.
The entire summit was roughly 300 feet long N/S and 100 feet wide E/W. Lupe’s reconnaissance started with the big rocks at the S end.
After enjoying the views to the S, Loop headed N along the E edge. She got all the way to the N end, and again found the survey marker where SPHP had first learned the name of this mountain back in 2017.
An arrow on Survey marker No. 2 pointed S toward a wall of loose rock partially enclosing a shallow human-created depression several feet in diameter. Going over for her annual check, Lupe still did not see any other survey marker, in or out of the pit. Survey marker No. 2 was the only one she had ever found on Mount Fairplay, and that’s the way things stayed.
Time for a break. At the N end, not far from survey marker No. 2, Lupe curled up on SPHP’s lap. The sky had clouded up completely, a nearly uniform indistinct gray, long before the Carolina Dog had reached the summit. Evening now, and quite cool, about 40 ºF with a 5-10 mph breeze out of the SW.
The clouds were fairly high, but the air below was hazy. Looking down Mount Fairplay’s broad N slope, rows of yellow-brown hills and ridges faded into oblivion. The American Dingo could see for miles, but not sharply, details concealed by the horizon-devouring haze.
Three ascents of this overgrown E Alaska hill! Hard to believe it, but Loopster really was back. It all seemed so familiar, yet still incredibly remote. The scene was duller, more somber and serious than before. Not even that peakbagging squirrel to break the solitude. Refuge in the sky, Mount Fairplay stood besieged by a vast, empty unknown.
Lupe got hungry. Taste of the Wild was provided. Ahh, so much better! Energy came surging back. The were-puppy appeared, growling and threatening, and succeeded in snatching away SPHP’s glove.
Hey, give that back!
Keep-away is a delightful game, one the were-puppy knew it would win. Not until SPHP was sufficiently humiliated did the glove lose its strange fascination. Abandoned among the rocks, SPHP finally retrieved it.
Well, thank you so much! Since you’re so perky, why don’t we take a stroll around the whole summit?
The were-puppy was fine with that.
After a leisurely counter-clockwise circumnavigation, Lupe was back where she’d started. SPHP proposed lingering a while longer at the NW end. A bit gloomy up here, but Mount Fairplay was so fabulous! The weather wasn’t threatening, and the sun, though sinking, still gleamed among the clouds.
What are you staring at, SPHP? You going to stand there forever?
No. It’s just incredible to be here again, Loop. Enjoying, that’s all.
Still enough daylight to try something different, if we get on with it, isn’t there?
Maybe, what do you have in mind?
Let’s go down the N slope this time. Looks easy enough, and we’ve never been that way before.
Last year, Lupe had explored part of the S ridge beyond the big saddle on what turned out to be a gorgeous evening spent roaming the blazing, brilliant tundra. Wasn’t going to be like that today, but the Carolina Dog was right. Although longer than going back the way she had come up, the N slope appeared perfectly feasible. Ought to be able to reach the highway before dark. Why not?
I like it! Go for it, Looper. I’ll be right behind you!
An hour and twenty minutes after reaching the top of Mount Fairplay, Lupe charged far down the N slope, greatly outdistancing SPHP. She soon dashed back to encourage SPHP to hurry. Some places it was rocky enough to slow things down quite a bit, but most of the way even SPHP set a fairly lively pace on the long downhill trek.
Exploring a new route took some of the sadness out of leaving Mount Fairplay behind.
0.33 mile down the N ridge, Lupe turned NW descending into the broad saddle region leading to subpeak HP5120. The saddle proved boggy, so she crossed it at the highest, driest part along the NE edge.
Once across the saddle, it wouldn’t have been too difficult to go right up and over HP5120, but doing that seemed an unnecessary expenditure of precious energy. Instead, Looper turned SW along the base of HP5120, angling slowly higher toward a minor pass.
Going through the pass, Lupe came to a steep, scree-covered slope. The small rocks were loose, and often gave way underpaw. A series of faint animal trails provided better support.
The animal trails were fun to follow, and got Lupe all the way around HP5120 down to a lower part of Mount Fairplay’s NW ridge. Ahead, a long level stretch led to a much smaller hill. Approaching the top, a pole came into view. Lupe soon reached a small solar-powered installation, perhaps a weather station?
All downhill from here! From the solar-powered station, the NW ridge sloped steadily down to the Taylor Highway. Still quite a trek, but an easy one practically all the way.
The only tricky part came at the end. Leaving the NW ridge, the terrain steepened as Lupe turned W searching for a way down through forest and dense bushes.
It all worked out! Without getting SPHP too tangled in vegetation, Lupe managed to reach the Taylor Highway. Only an easy 0.5 mile stroll back to the G6 remained.
As she trotted along, the sky was clearing off to the N. Two years ago, the Carolina Dog had seen the Northern Lights for the first time from the pullout at MP 32.8 W of Mount Fairplay where she’d be staying tonight. Maybe she’d get lucky again! (End 9:38 PM, 44 ºF)
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Mount Fairplay near Chicken, Alaska (8-25-18)
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