Hidden Creek - Skilak Lake Hike

It's another gloomy day so we head down to Sterling Highway and over to Skilak Lake Road to check out the Hidden Creek / Skilak Lake Trail

 Just over 3 miles and no elevation gain - a good hike for a possible rainy day.  It is misting lightly as we head out

 Its a beautiful trail

 Lots of boardwalks to get through the muddy spots

 The trail goes through a 1996 burn area

 The two sections actually make a loop so we go for the Lake first

It doesn't take long for it to come into view.  Skilak Lake is 15 miles long and 2 to 4 miles wide, making it the second-largest lake on the Kenai Refuge

 More boardwalk

 Then it changes to river rock

 We arrive at the Lake behind a couple vans of guided hikers but we find a separate trail to the Lake

 It doesn't take Tucson long to dive in

 This family of ducks was just milling about

 The lake is very clear

 and so is this Bear paw print

 There's a fishing boat out on the point so head that way to see what's biting

 Tucson has his nose to the ground and is in hot pursuit of something

Another bear paw print

 We pass a beautiful marsh our left.

 and a few bear scat piles along the trail.

 We reach about 50 feet from the fishermen and I was trying to get a picture when Gary yelled - Bear! Bear!  A black bear was trying to climb the tree and slid down getting Gary's attention.  

So we have a bear with the Marsh to its back, the Lake in front, us behind and the fishermen ahead.  It was trying to decide which way to go so we just kept making noise and slowly backed away back to the trail.

 We catch the Hidden Creek trail to finish the loop, hoping it doesn't take us straight back to the Bear.  I sing Amazing Grace as we hike because I read somewhere that it scares off bears.

 We come across a primitive campground with campers who just caught some beautiful Red Salmon - looks good enough to eat.  They had seen a Grizzly with two cubs earlier in the day and had shot a warning shot at the Bear we saw when it wandered in the night before.

 As the next run of Salmon comes in so will the bear.  We continue to head back towards the truck

 Doesn't look like we are out of the woods yet.  Another refrain or two of Amazing Grace.

 We make it back without spotting another bear and stop into the Hidden Lake campground to check it out.  National Forest and only $10/night.

 A quick stop at Wildman's for ice-cream

 Everyone enjoys the treat!

Another beautiful hike.  Weather permitting we will attempt the Harding Ice field since we have recovered from the Lost Lake hike.

Troop Lake Hike

Still recovering from the 12 mile Lost Lake Hike but don't want to just sit around on our days off so we go down to the Troop Lake hike which is only 3 miles round trip

 It is through a spruce and hemlock forest

 and of course rain forest

 a few stairs

 and a nice boardwalk

 or two

 Trail turns to the right - the beginning of the trail and the continuation left are part of the Iditarod trail

 A couple of switchbacks

as always there are fungus among us

 We finally reach the Lake

 Some people are fly-fishing

 There are water lilies around

 plants grow everywhere

 A nice hike and the rain held off pretty good for us.

Number 1 Hike - Lost Lake

We were going to walk up to the Harding Ice Field at Exit Glacier but got there and were reminded - no dogs.  We had Tucson and wanted to take him as he has sat around in the RV all week while we worked.  So we went with our 2nd choice Lost Lake Trail.  The entire trail runs 16 miles. Either end is 7 miles to the lake and the lake is 2 miles long.

As we were heading to the trail head, we heard the bugle of a Moose.

 The dead trees are covered with a thick moss

 The ground is covered in moss, and that wonderful rain forest flora.

 We get our first glimpse of a river below

and Tucson gets his watering holes

 There's some narrow trails along the way

At an opening we see a waterfall across the Valley

 Looking back I think I can see Resurrection Bay but Gary thinks it's just the fog

I spot a black bear across the valley - probably foraging for berries

We reach the turn-off for the Cabin so we are 4 miles into the hike

 

The trail opens up into a meadow but the mist/fog is fairly heavy

We stop at a bridge and sit and have lunch.  The view isn't half bad

 Love this boardwalk made from slabs of tree trunks

 The Mist looms ahead and I think maybe we should look for Gorillas

 It is a fairly busy trail and we get passed by a dozen or so mountain bikers.

 Maybe this is the Peak of the trail at 2200 feet

 Nope still a ways to go

Time to take a break

 Tucson loves the Tundra!

 The fog is lifting a bit and we see this biker heading up the ridge.  We decide to continue on to the end of the ridge and then make a decision whether to continue.  It is almost 2 and we started at 10.

 Tucson is up for it

 A glimpse of the Lake comes into view

 and suddenly the clouds lift and we find we have been surrounded by mountains.

 I want to sing the Hills are Alive from the Sound of Music

 A quick shot of me and Tucson before the fog rolls back in

My favorite shot of Gary and Tucson - Gary had put my coat over him because the flies were bothering him

 We didn't hike the final mile down to the Lake as the fog was coming back in and we have a 6 mile hike back

The return trip we have some sunshine and a view of Resurrection Bay in the distance

 Tucson found a creek to swim in and had a blast running around in circles.

 Wildflowers are out.

Didn't even know this view was there on the way to the Lake - it was covered in fog

 We had to run into over 30 dogs on this hike.  At one point a group of 8 women and 6 dogs passed us the other way - they had camped at the Lake overnight.

 Back to the Truck and Tucson is out for the duration.

When we got into the truck Gary found a voice mail message from our Boss saying he was trying to buy us all dinner from the Trail Lake Lodge and when were we coming back.  We caught him just before his was heading out to pick up the food so we came back home to Burgers and wine - great timing!  Thanks Gary!