Continued from the previous page.

EXPLORING THE TUNDRA & RIDGES 

I was able to discern a trail for about a mile in the tundra, then lost it. I think folks just start going in whichever direction they want -- up higher to various rock formations along the top of the ridge, west toward Mt. Wright, or east toward Mt. Margaret. 

As always, I loved being above treeline with all the panoramic views. It didn't matter that I had no trail to follow any more; I just walked where my curiosity led me.

I admit I'm fixated on Denali; it's on the far right in this view from about 4,600 feet elevation.

Looking down at the Savage River

CJ had told me there were meadows full of flowers up here in the summer.

Well, summer's pretty much gone already and so are most of the flowers. I saw lots of fluffy white Alaska cotton grass, which you can see in the photos directly above and below,

and a few pretty blue monkshood (above) and harebells.

I think the next two pictures show flowers that have gone to seed already:

 

This isn't cotton grass but it looks almost like it.

The tundra would be stunning with lots of flowers blooming. Maybe I can be here earlier another year. Today I was happy to be able to wander for miles and miles of rather easy walking through other low tundra plants, rocks/gravel, and some wet areas.

I had the whole place to myself – and some Dall sheep. More about them in a little bit.

I inspected some of the rock formations first but didn't climb to the top of any of them. Much of the tundra I was walking through was rocky enough; I didn't feel the need to add rock climbing to the mix.

 

 

The summit of Mt. Margaret and the western end of Healy Ridge are in the distance.

I continued climbing higher through the tundra so I could see over Primrose Ridge, which runs east-west. I was headed generally east toward the summit of Mt. Margaret. That ridge is perpendicular to Primrose, running north-south above one side of the Savage River canyon.

This was one of my first views over the ridge to the north. That's the valley into which the Savage River flows:

I could see a gulch ahead that I needed to bypass to the right. It also meant dropping downhill some to find easier footing than through these large rocks:

 

 

This was one of the wet areas I found on this generally dry ridge.

On the far side of that grassy area I began climbing toward the sunnit of Mt. Margaret through another rocky area:

 

Looking back to the gully I bypassed

Looking back to Denali;  yup, it's still there!

ON THE EDGE

Before I found the summit I reached the cliffs of Mt. Margaret's north-south ridge directly above the Savage River.

I loved the views down to the river, the day use areas, and over to Savage Rock and Healy Ridge. The arrow marks the location of our truck:

 

View to south part of ridge

My goal at this point was to find the true summit of Mt. Healy and see if there was a reasonable way I could get down to the river farther downstream, perhaps the way I'd seen a hiker coming down when I was walking in the canyon on Monday.

That meant hiking north -- and uphill -- along the edge of the ridge:

Warning:  it can be quite windy on these ridges and saddles. I apparently lucked out on the east and west ends of Healy Ridge and Thorofare Ridge during my hikes there several days ago.

Today I kept on my long convertible pants and a fleece jacket the entire hike. I was hot by the time I got to the trailhead because the road was at a lower elevation and exposed to the sun. On Primrose Ridge and Mt. Margaret, however, it was really windy.

I mean really windy -- I had trouble standing still and taking photos on the ridge above the Savage River. I would estimate wind gusts to be 50-60 MPH there. I had on enough clothes to stay warm; my main concern was not getting too close to the edge of the cliffs so I didn't get blown off!

I was almost off the edge of the ridge when I took this picture of the canyon, especially with all the wind!

Even though Jim was riding his bike at lower elevations, the wind was a definite challenge for him today, too.

As I climbed higher along Mt. Margaret's ridge I ran into several rock formations like this that I detoured around so it was easier to walk. One of them is the summit but, from my perspective walking right next to them, I don't know for sure which one has the highest elevation:

I reached my high point of just over 5,000 feet on Mt. Margaret at about five miles into my hike from the parking area, or about two and a half miles from the trailhead on the park road.

The actual 5,059-foot summit is a little higher but I didn’t want to clamber over all the rocks just to get a few feet higher. (I'm not a die-hard peak bagger.) Farther north along the ridge I climbed up to another point about the same height at six miles. The top of Mt. Margaret spreads out quite a ways.

Soon I was high enough to see the valley and mountains to the north of Mt. Margaret:

 

I was still able to see Denali (highlighted below) along most of this ridge, too:

In a grassy spot near this rock formation, which is probably the true summit, I saw several kinds of flowers but most were done blooming:

Pink plumes

Alp lily (?) and monkshood

After I spotted the flowers I walked downhill a bit, still going northbound, then looked back toward the ridge and rock formation I'd just passed.

Lo and behold, I spotted three Dall sheep standing in one of the rock crevices less than 100 feet away!

Continued on the next page . . .

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