Alaska - Day 7

When we very first started researching for our trip to Alaska, I came across this hiking trail on a website and decided we had to do it.  It was in Hatcher Pass and started at the Gold Mint Trailhead and we hiked up to the Gold Mint Glacier.  The trail started out as a wide and practically wheelchair accessible dirt road that ran next to a large river.  It turned into singletrack the further up we went (there were in fact mountain bike wheel marks for a few miles up the trail). Then the trail kept getting lost due to beaver dams and then the trail was mostly mud.  Finally, it turned straight up the mountain side, we sloshed through more mud and scrambled up a bunch of bolders, and finally after 10 or so miles we looked up and saw the Gold Mint Ski Hut, the Gold Mint Glacier, and behind all the clouds I'm sure there were stunning snow dotted jagged peaks.  It was incredible.  The whole hike up the valley was more or less along the river, the wildflowers seemed to be at their peak, the beavers had created so many large and small dams, there was green everywhere, the clouds even kind of lifted off the peaks once, and overall it was just an awesome hike.  I don't know as though there is anything I love more than just hiking with Brent and discovering such incredible places.  The pictures tell the story best.

  After our long hike and a restocking stop in Palmer, we headed south of Anchorage down to the Kenai Peninsula. The drive was awesome along the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet and as we headed toward the Kenai Peninsula and saw the ice fields, glaciers, and snowy peaks, we knew we were in for a real treat.
Lastly, let me just add how much I love the Chugach National Forest and the Chugach Mountains.  In fact, I'm not really into naming cars or having a dog. However, if I were to name my car, it would be Chugach and if I were to have a dog, it would be named Chugach. Maybe I'm obsessed. Maybe I don't care.