Days 30 & 31 of Lupe’s 2017 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon & Alaska!
8-29-17, 12:33 PM, at a pullout along N Palmer Fishhook Road – Awake again, surprisingly soon. Lupe was awake, too. Only 3.5 hours gone by since she had returned from her 25 hour “day” hike on the Reed Lakes trail to Lynx Peak (6,536 ft.) and back again.
The relatively short snooze had definitely done some good. Both Lupe and SPHP were feeling better. Better, but still tired. Back to sleep! Not for long, though. The next time Looper woke up, SPHP drove down to Palmer. Having fallen in the mud 4 times yesterday, SPHP searched for a laundromat. The rest of the day was taken up by a shower and adventures in laundry. Loopster snoozed, recuperating in the G6.
The day’s biggest events didn’t come until late evening. SPHP bought a whole roasted chicken at Fred Meyers. Lupe hadn’t eaten much during the day. Now she was famished. The Carolina Dog made short work of the chicken SPHP shared with her. Nothing left, but bones. Then it was a late evening walk in Palmer before hitting the hay again.
8-30-17 – The morning shot by. The weather in Palmer was decent. Overcast, but not raining or threatening to, with temps in the mid 50’s. Lupe and SPHP were sufficiently recovered from the Lynx Peak ordeal to consider something active again. Nothing too strenuous. Anything involving enough effort to get the blood flowing again would do. Crow Pass or Skilak Lookout might work. By noon, Lupe was on her way to Anchorage on Glen Highway No. 1.
S of Anchorage, Lupe and SPHP stopped at Beluga Point along Seward Highway No. 1. A gale was blowing out of the SW, roiling the muddy Turnagain Arm which appeared to be near high tide. The view to the SE in the direction of Girdwood was not at all encouraging. Clouds and mist hung over the mountains.
When Lupe arrived in Girdwood a little after 2:00 PM, a light rain was falling. The wind wasn’t a gale here, but a lively breeze was blowing. The air was damp and raw. Crow Pass was out. Too bad. SPHP wondered about the wisdom of even continuing on to the Kenai Peninsula and Skilak Lookout?
Lupe wanted to go. May as well. No better options came to mind. By 4:00 PM, the Carolina Dog was well into the Kenai Peninsula. Once beyond Cooper Landing, SPHP started watching for a L turn off Sterling Highway No. 1 onto Skilak Road. Shortly after making the turn, Lupe got her first look at Skilak Lake.
The weather certainly hadn’t improved much. The sky was more darkly overcast than back at Girdwood. At least it wasn’t raining, although it looked like it might at a moment’s notice. 5.5 miles from the Sterling Highway, SPHP found the Skilak Lookout trailhead. The parking lot was vacant. Not a soul around.
A small sign on the other side of the road marked the start of the Skilak Lookout trail. The trail immediately disappeared into a gloomy forest.
The trail started off going down a short slope. Near the bottom, Lupe found an information station.
The first part of the Skilak Lookout trail wound generally S through a dense forest. Even though she had no views, Lupe was having plenty of fun sniffing around the forest floor close to the trail.
The Skilak Lookout trail was just the ticket for a first outing after the huge trek a couple of days ago on the Reed Lakes trail to Lynx Peak. Nice and easy. Less than 800 feet of elevation gain over more than 2 miles, most of it near the end.
Lupe trotted happily along gaining elevation slowly. There were no views until she got out of the forest upon reaching the Hidden Creek burn area mentioned back at the information station. SPHP then started to get occasional views, but Lupe still had none. The Hidden Creek burn had occurred way back in May, 1996. An awful lot of vegetation had grown up since then.
The Skilak Lookout trail appeared seldom traveled. Long stretches were overgrown with vegetation. Other sections were quite muddy. Hardly surprising, since it seemed to rain almost every day in Alaska. Lupe was getting sprinkled on every so often here, too. Fortunately, the showers were light and didn’t last long.
Lupe was at least a third of the way along the trail before she caught a glimpse of hills ahead. Skilak Lookout had to be somewhere up among those hills!
Nearing the hills, Lupe came across fresh evidence American Dingoes weren’t the only ferocious predators in the area.
5 minutes before coming to the bear scat, Lupe had found a squirrel to bark at. Perhaps that had been a good thing? Maybe the bear was so frightened by the sound of an approaching American Dingo it had fled? At any rate, SPHP was glad Loopster had given that squirrel a proper barking. No bear was seen, though the lush vegetation could have been hiding one almost anywhere.
The last part of the Skilak Lookout trail was steep and slick. SPHP had a hard time maintaining traction on the mud. Dense stands of bushes and small trees crowded the trail, so staying right on the path was about the only option. SPHP used branches for assistance, and began to wonder if anything at all could be seen from the top of Skilak Lookout?
The steep section was short. Lupe was soon up above it. The Carolina Dog quickly came to a small, exposed rocky ridge. SPHP needn’t have feared. Lupe had a great view of the E part of Skilak Lake! Now that she could finally see, Looper wasn’t all that thrilled about it. A cold 25 mph wind swept up the ridge from across the lake.
The top of Skilak Lookout was only a few hundred feet away from the first good viewpoint. A small stand of old evergreens stood slightly W of the true summit. Their windswept appearance provided proof positive that the current strong wind sweeping up from across Skilak Lake was nothing out of the ordinary.
At Skilak Lookout’s true summit, Lupe found a small rock outcropping and an unimpressive cairn. Loop didn’t spend much time here. Several rock outcroppings closer to the lake provided better viewpoints.
From the rock outcroppings, Lupe had excellent views of Skilak Lake to the E and S, however the views to the W were disappointing. Skilak Lake is big. Most of the lake was off to the W or SW, yet very little of the western part of the lake could be seen. Other hills were in the way.
A slightly lower hill to the SW was positioned where it might provide a more panoramic view of Skilak Lake. Several different paths started off in that direction. Lupe tried them all, but none of them went anywhere. They all dead ended or circled back into each other.
If a decent trail had actually gone to the lower hill, Lupe would have taken it. However, it was getting late and charging off trail into dense vegetation seemed foolhardy. The weather was questionable, and no telling where that bear had run off to. Lupe and SPHP gave up on the idea. After all, this was supposed to be an easy day!
The wind soon drove Lupe away from the best viewpoints. They were too exposed. Loop and SPHP retreated back to the true summit, at least somewhat out of the wind. In 2016, on a much nicer day, Lupe had taken the Skyline Trail to the Mystery Hills. The views from there had been even better. Could Lupe see the Mystery Hills from here? SPHP spotted a long high ridge off to the NNE.
Yes, Lupe could see the Mystery Hills from Skilak Lookout! It was fun to think about that day over a year ago now. Loop and SPHP sat on the ground at the summit of Skilak Lookout huddled together for warmth.
Clouds and several large patches of blue sky sailed swiftly by. A small flock of crows came flying on the wind. For a few minutes, the crows circled above Skilak Lookout playing games with each other. Together they plunged earthward before soaring and swirling back into the wild blue heavens. The breeze soon carried them out of sight.
15 minutes at the summit, then the sky suddenly looked ominous over by the Skilak River delta off to the SE. Mountains were disappearing in an approaching dark cloud. Time for action! Rain was clearly on the way. Better get with it. Maybe Lupe could beat the rain back to the G6?
SPHP slipped and fell in the mud on the steep part of the trail shortly after leaving Skilak Lookout. No damage done. Puppy, ho! Onward!
Hurry, hurry, all the way. Lupe didn’t beat the rain, but it wasn’t as bad as it had appeared. Showers came and went. Loopster arrived damp, but not soaked, back at the G6. English muffins and summer sausage for dinner, then SPHP drove to the W end of Skilak Road. Due to highway construction, flagmen were preventing traffic from entering the Sterling Highway.
Information posted near the junction showed a map of the area. A fairly good-sized lake was close by. A short side road led to it. It was getting dark. Maybe Lupe could hang out there tonight?
No one here. No facilities, only a large turnaround next to the lake. SPHP parked the G6. Bottenintnin Lake was big, but shallow. Water lilies extended far out from shore. Another side road left the turnaround. The American Dingo and SPHP explored it. Loop sniffed out a few dispersed camping sites. None were occupied. The side road soon ended. Perfect!
Skilak Lookout had been fun! It had been an easy half day, which was all Lupe and SPHP had really been up for. The weather could have been better, but Lupe did get to Skilak Lookout, and she did get to see Skilak Lake. Nature doesn’t give guarantees. You take what you can get.
Tomorrow was another roll of the dice. Maybe Lupe would get lucky? Dark now. Time to rest up. Better be ready, in case she did.
Related Links:
On the Skyline Trail to the Mystery Hills, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska (8-27-16)
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