Gold-Mint Trail

Last Sunday (9/16), a group of us clerks headed out to the Hatcher Pass area north of Anchorage for a hike. Lila, Callie and I went with MK, Mike, Katey and Lara.

Our original plan was to hike to Bomber Glacier, where a B-29 bomber crashed back in the 50s. The wreckage is still there. However, the road into the trailhead just closed for the season, so we decided to do this alternate hike.

We met up at MK's house in the morning and then drove up past Palmer and into the mountains. The hike left from the Gold-Mint trailhead and followed the Susitna river up the valley. The day was cool and drizzly. But, the leaves had just begun to change, so the bright yellow on the hillsides provided the color that we missed from a normally blue sky.

MK had brought her dog, Jackson, and he showed boundless energy. He would run about 20 yards ahead and then turn back and sprint to us. Overall he probably covered twice the distance we did.

Our group wound its way up the trail, passing beaver ponds and through brush. We had to jump a number of puddles and mud pits. In fact, it was a generally squishy hike and none of us kept dry feet for very long. Luckily it wasn't too cold and the scenery distracted us from our soggy socks.

After skirting the west wall of the valley as we headed north, the valley veered northwest and we dropped down next to the river. At times the trail turned into a creek and we had to pick our way through the low brush on the side of the path. At one point, the local beavers had enlarged their dam over the summer and inundated the trail. We were forced to bushwack and rejoin the trail (after leaping across a stream) some ways up the valley.

Our lunch stop was on a gravel bar and shortly after some of our group decided to turn back so that we could make it back to Anchorage in time to get ready for work on Monday. MK, Lila, Mike, Callie and I decided to press on just a bit further. We eventually decided to make a try at getting to the top of a ridge to our south and get a view into a hanging valley.

We bushwacked off the path, over fields of blueberries and lingonberries. Threading our way up a tumbling stream, we had great views up and down the valley we'd been hiking up. Eventually we made it to the top, more than slightly damp from the brush. The top was a playground of moss and lichen covered boulders. MK's dog, Jackson, was in heaven running around and checking out each crevice.

Mike and Lila headed back down while Callie, MK and I decided to walk along the ridge and then angle back down to the trail. Our path back down was a bit treacherous and we all ended up taking a few slides on our backside. But we made it down safely (and even more wet), met up with Lila and Mike, and headed back to the cars.

All in all it was a great hike, and I'd love to go back to this area to check it out in sunshine.

PICTURES:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jack.r.mckenna/GoldMintTrail

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