Reed Lakes Hike - Trail Maintenance Paradox

We had sun, rain, clouds, a little more sun, a little more rain, lots and lots of mud, and stunning scenery. L went with Doug and me on this hike. He's I's grandfather and he and I did this trip last year in May, but we didn't get all the way to the lakes because there was snow and water then.


The 'road' off the Hatcher Pass road to the parking lot for the Reed Lakes trail is something like a video game as you dodge potholes and rocks for 2 miles, lost points are punctuated by a loud thud under the car. The parking lot was packed Friday about noon. It turned out the Colony High School cross country team was up there doing a practice run.




Part of my upbringing taught me that things you work hardest for are the sweetest. So having a hard-to-get-to trailhead, and then a trail that makes the spectacular scenery a job to see makes a certain amount of sense. Part of the charm is that this trail isn't packed - though Alaska has more than enough people who are willing to put up with the driving and walking conditions of this hike. And many, I think, relish the hardships. Besides the mud, much of the trail disappears and reappears along the stretch of boulders you go through.


However, because of the poor quality and maintenance of the trails, they get really muddy. Because they go up fairly steeply, they are very slippery. So people begin to walk off the trail creating new trails. Or they make shortcuts across the switchbacks, leading to places for rainwater to start worse erosion.






Eventually, this spectacular area is going to be badly scarred by an increasing number of cuts through the flowers and tundra. So, putting in decently designed trails and cutting off the shortcuts and educating hikers would serve the beauty of this area much better.












But unlike the trail along Exit Glacier, which is in a national park, Reed Lakes is just part of state land.




Given our oil money surplus, the problem isn't money. It's long term planning and prioritizing how to use the money we collectively have to make our collective lives better.








To do the things that we can't do by ourselves - like save our beautiful land from erosion because too many people want to hike there, but the trails can't support them all.

Hike to Reed Lakes

[For a view of this trail August 8, 2008 go here.]
I hiked almost to Reed Lakes today with Iulian's grandfather, who's visiting for a couple of weeks from Moldova. (I'm not sure how to spell his name, it's pronounced "Lorentine.") If you look at the picture above, there's a big grey rock mountain in the back in the middle (snowy peak just to the left of it.) There's a long green slope from the right side of the pic, across the bottom of the grey mountain. Right in the middle are some tiny white spots above the green. They are rushing water falls. We went up a little ways into the valley at the bottom of the grey mountains. (It would be so much easier if I had a software program at home that let me draw on the picture, wouldn't it?) The ponds in front are beaver engineered, but we didn't see any out.




We didn't get all the way for two reasons. First, the dirt road from Hatcher Pass Road, was barred, so we had an extra 2.3 miles to go each way. Second, after climbing through the rocks - you'll see them below - when we saw the train was still so wet and snowy here and there that it meant more rocks, boulders really, we decided enough was enough.








Those rocks sitting on the tundra are the size of large moving vans.








Didn't get a chance to try to look up what kind of mushroom this is. About 2 inches tall, about three inches across the top (this was the biggest and strangest of the half dozen we saw), and on the edge between the sandy trail and the grass.


















This 'swimming hole' was where we turned around. It looked so inviting - clear, slow moving water, about 6-10 feet deep. Except for the ice chunks still floating here and there.











But that was ok, Lorentine had already washed his feet in equally cold water earlier.















All in all, we did about 10 miles (16km) round trip. If you are wondering why 'mental health' is one of the labels, then you haven't spent a day in the wilderness for a while.

Harding Icefield Trail at Exit Glacier

DZ returns to Beijing today. It's hard to believe it's a month already. He's been such a pleasure to have around. He's smart, funny, never complained, always polite, willing to go along to anything and meet anyone. He's also shown me parts of Anchorage I've never tried - like the drive thru window at McDonalds. I have to say it sure is efficient and easy and the people are invariably nice.

So it's been hard keeping up with the blog. [I did add an interesting link at the end of the post on Scalia from the other day.] So here's another one mainly of pictures. This continues Monday's adventures. After the kayaking, we had lunch then went to Exit Glacier where we climbed the trail to the Harding Icefield overlook.


I know this isn't a great picture, but I saved it big and if you double click, you can see the trail, mileage, etc. I wish I'd taken the picture of the map before we started the hike. It did seem to go on and on. It's 3.9 miles up. A gain of nearly 3000 feet. But the view on top on a good day is worth it. And you get great views at 2.3 miles too.


The trail is different even from last year. Stretches that used to be mud have been replaced by what seems to be new routes with new, easier trail. Other parts just have a lot more rock steps on the same basic trail. But the rocky area with lots of marmots - I'm not sure the trail still goes that way. (We did see one marmot). Does this map reflect the improvements? I'm not sure. And there is much less snow and ice than in past years. So that's a bit disorienting too.

Here's another example of trail improvement. A lot of this was in last year. It looks natural enough and it helps prevent muddy erosion which causes hikers to make new trails to avoid the mud. This is a National Park and I believe a lot of this trail work was done by volunteers. In contrast, the Reed Lakes Trail, on State land in Hatcher Pass, is a growing disaster and the steep muddy trails eat up more and more of the vegetation each year.

Here's DZ at the point where we stopped last year. Mile 2.3.

The mountain gentian were blooming exquisitely in one short part of the hike. This one is worth enlarging for flower fans. The color and delicacy of this plant high up in really difficult conditions is amazing.

Almost at the end of the trail.

DZ said, "If there was a rainbow, it would be perfect."
Twenty minutes later it was perfect.

Finally at a point high enough to see over the top of the Harding Icefield. It goes on for 30 miles and you can see the other end from Homer.

On the way back down.

Driving home near Summit Lake. It's going on 10pm here.

After last week's ADN map of all the traffic fatalities on the Seward Highway between Anchorage and Girdwood you'd think people would start to drive better. This truck without a load passed at a reasonably safe place, but it must have been going 80 mph. Another black SUV passed us going what seemed even faster. About twenty miles later it was parked in front of flashing red and blue lights. I admit, I took pleasure in the fact that I was going to get home before he did.

About 10:30 pm. Almost home.

Alaska's Crumbling History - Independence Mine

We were headed to visit with friends in Wasilla, so we took the opportunity to show DZ, our Chinese houseguest, a little of Hatcher Pass. With the weather questionable, we delayed a lot and ended up with two of us going to see Harry Potter and three of us going to Hatcher Pass.

The fireweed was out in force and while it was cloudy where we were, there was no rain.


We decided to go to Independence Mine. Usually when we go up that way, we end up hiking the Reed Lakes trail, but we didn't have that much time. I hadn't been to the mine in at least 20 years. It wasn't a State Park at the time I don't believe, but it is now, and the state parks sticker on my car saved me $5. (I still haven't made up the cost of the sticker, but I will.)



We missed the last tour, which gets you inside more of the buildings with a guide, but we got our fix just walking around and reading the signs. These buildings have really deteriorated. Kennecott, which we visited last summer, is in significantly better shape. That's part of a national park and this is just a state park. But this is part of our history, a way for us to understand the a significant aspect of our past.



There was one building (not this squashed one) we got to go in and look around. From the Independence Mine page on the Alaska State website:

What is now called Independence Mine was once two mines: The Alaska Free Gold (Martin) Mine on Skyscraper Mountain, and Independence Mine on Granite Mountain. In 1938 the two were bought together under one company, the Alaska-Pacific Consolidated Mining Company (APC). With a block of 83 mining claims, APC became the largest producer in the Willow Creek Mining District. The claims covered more than 1,350 acres and included 27 structures. In its peak year, 1941, APC employed 204 men, blasted nearly a dozen miles of tunnels, and produced 34,416 ounces of gold worth $1,204,560; today $17,208,000. Twenty-two families lived in nearby Boomtown, with eight children attending the Territorial School in the new bunkhouse.

By 1942, the United States had entered World War II, and the War Production Board designated gold mining as nonessential to the war effort. Gold mining throughout the United States came to a halt, but Independence Mine continued to operate because of the presence of sheelite. Sheelite occurs in some of the quartz veins along with gold, and was a source of tungsten, a strategic metal. But because Independence Mine's scheelite production was low, the exemption was short-lived. In 1943, Independence Mine was ordered to close.

The museum is in the old assay office.












After touring the buildings, we went for a hike. Turtle Puddle has a great collection of Alaska Wildflowers by Mary Hopson with names and pictures, categorized by color of the flower. She does have a disclaimer that she's not a botanist, but she has great, clear pictures. So this one seems to be Sitka Burnet - Sanguisorba stipulata.


Here's the creek at just after the trailhead.

We stopped for a some water near this old remaining cabin on the way up to Gold Cord Lake. It's a very short hike - 3/4 of a mile each way and it's a pretty new trail that makes the ascent pretty painless.


And the vegetation is lush with lots of little wildflowers, like this dwarf fireweed, and lots of rocks.

Here's a view of the mine parking lot and the hike to the lake. I spent too much time today relearning how to make curves in Photoshop. It should be simple, but it isn't. The Agave group has a good tutorial and I also found this helpful video. But there were still some issues - like changing the color of the line after it's done - that I'm sure are simple if someone knowledgeable were standing behind me and saying "Do this..."




And here's a view of the mine from the lake.
On the way back to Wasilla there was a fat marmot sitting at the side of the road. I wondered if he was used to getting food from passersby since he just stayed right there.



And DZ got to see his first moose of this visit.









Here's a map I adapted from Google maps: