Eklutna Lake upon arrival, about 9:30. The sun doesn't even come up until about 9
on my bike. ready to ride to the other end of the lake
The fit really needs a car wash
Twin Peaks
swans in the mist
The trail is actually a road, but no cars or trucks allowed. the bike trail follows the shore though and meets up with the road when its relatively flat
Bold Peak. my destination
the sun creeping down the hillside
in the sun finally at 10:30
The Bold Airstrip
ice crystals on the branches
a campground at the end of the lake. It would be a much better trip to bike and camp here and then do the climb the next day
Then I finally made it to my trail.
Biking stats. I didn't go terribly fast but did 10.5 in about and hour and a half
everything is icy. good icicles on that log. there were three big ones left when i returned
East Fork Eklutna River
everything is icy. my water tube actually froze for a bit too
I bushwhacked for a 1/4 mile off of the river to finally reach the base of Stiver's Gully.
It was so shear on both sides and seemed to go up forever
The river below
so much loose rock. i stuck to the bigger ones on the way up
purple rocks
it was sunny and warm
I finally made it to the fork in the gully
this is where the creek actually showed up, at about 3000'. It disappears under the rocks in the gully and reappears at about 1000'
the route takes the right hand fork, which gets steeper
and has a little bit of vegetation
near the top of the gully there some scrambling, I would say loose 3rd class...not fun. There is a rope that has been there quite a while, which I didn't want to use. I figured I might just knock a rock down on me
Instead I scrambled up to the right and ended up on top of a knife edge. over by the rope it looks pretty easy. after a sketchy downclimb i decided to just head back down because it was already 2:15. Can't do much with only 11 hours of daylight. the valley below probably only gets 9 or so of decent light
Looking out of the gully. The Mitre on the left and Bellicose Peak on the right
Bellicose Peak
I only made it to about 3500' The peak is 7522'
Had a leftover brat from dinner last night and then a peach
I half scree surfed half rock hopped down...tough on the ankles
unnamed peaks
everything was still icy when i got down at about 3:30
Bashful Peak hiding in a little cloud
Baleful Peak
back at my bike, did about 7.5 miles on foot
on the bike at 4
The Mitre from the far end of the Bold Airstrip
Bold Peak...I'd like to do it when i have more time
the airstrip has a log bog. the last entry was two days ago on the 16th but i think i heard one taking off today too
Bold Peak
The Mitre in the middle and Benign and Bellicose peaks on the right
Eklutna Lake Panorama
This is my drinking water (and power supply)
Bold Peak looming over Eklutna Lake
29 miles total, a long day
The Chigmit and Tordrillo Mountains across Cook Inlet
Matanuska Peak on the left as I get back on the highway
