Continued from the previous page.

THE ASCENT TO PRIMROSE RIDGE 

I found the beginning of the trail up to Primrose Ridge on the north side of the park road a little past the entrance to Primrose Overlook.

The trailhead is not very obvious and there was no sign for it:

I ducked through some willows and other short trees for about a third of a mile, like CJ said, then emerged above the treeline at 2,700 feet.

 

View to south, just above treeline;  Primrose Overlook in middle, Alaska Range in distance

View SW to Denali (white peak) from trail near treeline

Closer view of Denali from same vantage point -- no clouds obscuring it (yet)

View north toward Primrose Ridge, which isn't visible from this point

The long ridge between Mt. Margaret (elev. 5,059') to the east and Mt. Wright (elev. 4,275') to the west is called Primrose Ridge. The trail goes up toward the middle of the ridge for about a mile and turns east toward Mt. Margaret before disappearing. 

Here are more photos as I ascended past various rock formations and over several plateaus toward the rocky ridgeline:

 

The low alpine shrubs became more sparse as I climbed into the tundra.

First of several rocky areas

Looking back down to the Primrose Overlook (below arrow)

 

View toward Denali

 

Looking back; Denali is in the distance.

 

There is still a trail to follow but it's getting narrower as I climb higher and more toward the east.

Admiring the rock formations and terrain between Denali and me

View SE across the Primrose tundra toward Mt. Margaret and the Savage River valley

Another look down to the Primrose Overlook (below arrow); by now 
the trail has just about disappeared and I'm not up to the top of the ridge yet.

DENALI ON DISPLAY

The views southwest to Denali were excellent again as soon as I got through the trees, although not quite as clear as last Thursday when we rode the bus to Eielson and Wonder Lake.

I was much farther away at this location and was shooting through a lot more "atmosphere." My photos became progressively hazier by this afternoon as the sun changed its position.

I kept turning around to see what Denali looked like as I went higher and higher toward Primrose Ridge. The main difference was being able to see more of the lower part of the mountain and other nearby snow-covered peaks the higher I climbed:

 

 

 

I was able to see the mountain throughout most of this hike except when I went over the north side of the ridge for a little while.

More clouds formed by mid-afternoon, however. You can see some small ones starting to sneak in above.

Continued on the next page:  exploring the tundra and ridges off-trail

Happy trails,

Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil, and Cody the ultra Lab

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© 2012 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil