Foggy Independence Mine

We walked the hillside trail which goes up and over the mine. I'm sure the longer views are amazing when the fog isn't as thick as pea soup haha.

April Bowl Hike At Hatcher Pass

The view from the parking lot

Walking up the trail 

View of Summit Lake from the trail 

Views in the April Bowl of the two lakes

 The trail continues but we didn't go onto the narrow and steep portion of the trail that leads to Hatch Mountain. We did walk a little farther which are the above views.

Emerald Cove To The Beach

 Emerald Cove trail is in Whittier at the end of Shotgun Cove Rd. It's a beautiful hike with great views of glaciers, waterfalls, the Inside Passage, and more. The trail is single track without much elevation change. It is extremely muddy in many places.

We found a ton of blueberries and serviceberries along the way and were glad that we were carrying extra bags (we always try to have bags on us this time of year!). I think the girls ate their weight in berries, I was pretty glad that we still ended up with about a 1/2 gallon to bring home. That was only about 15-20 minutes of picking too, can you believe it?

We only went about halfway along the trail. At that point there are stone stairs (I use the word stairs lightly, someone tried but it's still a bit of an awkward scramble) down to a beach. It was a perfect place to stop, relax, and have some lunch.

For more information on Emerald Cove trail click here.

Peters Creek Inlet Trail

 This is an easy hike that I can't find much information about online. It's in Chugiak off of Stoltze Dr. It's an easy hike through a birch forest opening into a grassy meadow. The mud can get really slick when wet so be aware! We've seen bear tracks in the silt and my hiking companion said they saw a beluga once so there's some opportunities to see wildlife. I

Mile Hi Saddle

 This isn't a super difficult hike, as in I was able to take five children by myself on it. However there were some difficulties. The trail that goes through the birch forest is tilted to one side so wear good, supportive shoes. I imagine if the trail gets wet footing would be very difficult. It is also a relentlessly "up" trail. There's a little bit of a break when you hit the saddle but then it's right back to walking right up a mountain. Once you get to the saddle you can hike up the mountain to your right (Iron Nipple, those who have seen this mountain from downtown Eagle River will instantly know which one this is) or to your left, Mt. Tucker. Going straight heads to Mt. Magnificent which was a little too much for us to take on that day. I wish we would have picked Iron Nipple but we decided on Mt. Tucker. We didn't get to the top but we found a LOT of blueberries. No complaints.

And a little random, but if you've ever been curious about what baneberry looks like in person this would be the trail for you! The area surrounding the first part of the trail is crawling with baneberry (second photo down). I had never seen so much in one place. It's mixed in with the high bush cranberries so unless you are very knowledgeable in Alaskan berries I would discourage picking any berries along that part of the trail. I'm pretty good at identifying berries and even I didn't dare. I also had the (perhaps irrational) thought that the baneberries and cranberries might have hybridized. LOL. Once you hit the alpine tundra the baneberries disappear so go get those blueberries!

For directions on getting there click here.