Looking down on April Bowl from the same spot. Lupe above April Bowl continuing on her way to Hatch Benchmark. She had another 600 feet of elevation gain to go following the high ridge above April Bowl leading to Hatch Benchmark. Photo looks SW.Īt April Bowl, Lupe had gained over 300 feet of elevation from the start of the trail. Lupe at April Bowl with a view of the Hatch Benchmark summit (Center). The trail to Hatch Benchmark continues around the E (L) side of this pond to the ridge beyond it. Lupe reaches the first pond in April Bowl where the stream originates. The trail curved around the E side of the closest pond heading for the long ridge leading to the summit of Hatch Benchmark. A second pond was in view close to the first one. Lupe soon reached the first pond where the stream originated. Photo looks SSE.Īpril Bowl contains 4 separate ponds. The high ridge leading to Hatch Benchmark is in the background. The trail eventually leads to the summit climbing the upper ridge seen here from L to R. As Lupe nears April Bowl, the summit of Hatch Benchmark (R) comes into view. The summit of Hatch Benchmark came into view. Lupe got a drink from this stream coming down from April Bowl.Īs Lupe drew near April Bowl, the trail leveled out to some degree.
The trail began climbing more steeply up the E side of the ravine. The switchbacks soon brought Lupe close to a small stream tumbling down a ravine. The trail to April Bowl and Hatch Benchmark starts out switchbacking up this hillside near the road. Lupe arrives at the start of the April Bowl trail at Hatcher Pass. The trail began by immediately switchbacking up a hillside of light green vegetation. The April Bowl trail started right across the road from the Hatcher Pass monument. (4:37 PM, 58☏)Ī short, dusty walk W along the busy gravel road brought Looper to the official top of Hatcher Pass. SPHP was lucky enough to grab a parking spot for the G6 at the same little pullout where Lupe had started for Skyscraper last year. The pass was packed with people and vehicles. Not everyone had gone to the Alaska State Fair. 19 miles later, Lupe arrived at Hatcher Pass. The trail is only 1.1 miles long, and elevation gain required is only 925 feet, comparable to what Skyscraper had been.Ģ.25 miles N of Arctic Avenue in Palmer, SPHP turned L (W) on N Palmer Fishhook Road (Willow Fishhook Road on some maps). The April Bowl trail goes all the way from Hatcher Pass up to Hatch Benchmark passing April Bowl on the way. She had succeeded then, and Hatch Benchmark should be even easier. In 2016, Lupe had climbed nearby Skyscraper (4,825 ft.) from Hatcher Pass under less favorable conditions. There was time enough left in the day to climb Hatch Benchmark (4,811 ft.) from Hatcher Pass. The fair wasn’t anything Lupe could go see, but another option existed. People were thronging in to the Alaska State Fair.
It was a beautiful day here, 65☏ and fairly sunny. 3 to Wasilla.īy mid-afternoon, after a couple of stops and going through Wasilla, Lupe was nearing Palmer on Glenn Highway No. Lupe and SPHP left Denali State Park taking George Parks Highway No. At the pace things were improving, the Alaska Range would never come into view. No wonder they had retreated back down the trail! K’esugi Ridge had been crawling with bears! Despite roaming around up on K’esugi Ridge practically all day yesterday, Lupe and SPHP had only seen that one.Įven though the fog was slowly thinning, by mid-morning it was fairly certain that Lupe wasn’t going to get to see Denali (20,310 ft.) today. Ollie and his humans hadn’t seen a black bear, they’d seen 5 of them! A sow with 2 cubs, plus 2 more mature bears. That wasn’t so surprising, but what they had written about the bear was. The people had written some comments, surprising ones! Their dog’s name was Ollie. SPHP was curious whether the people had written any comments about the bear in the registry. Lupe had pressed on closer to where the bear was on her way to Peak 3700, but hadn’t ever seen it again. They had been watching a black bear across a small lake, before ultimately turning and retreating back down the trail. Yesterday, from higher up on Ermine Hill, Lupe had seen two people and a big brown dog down on the trail. Lupe welcomed the opportunity to get out and sniff around. When Lupe woke up, SPHP suggested going back to the Ermine Hill trail registration station, which was only a short stroll away through the drippy forest. Loopster catches a few more winks on a foggy morning after yesterday’s adventure to Ermine Hill and beyond on K’esugi Ridge in Denali State Park. SPHP worked on catching up the trip journal.
Loopster was still snoozing after her big adventure going to Ermine Hill (2,700 ft.) and beyond yesterday up on K’esugi Ridge in Denali State Park.
The fog didn’t seem as thick as it had been a few hours ago. Day 28 of Lupe’s 2017 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon & Alaska!ħ:00 AM – Still foggy, but it was light out now.