2012  HIKING, CYCLING,

& RV TRAVEL ADVENTURES

 

   
 
Runtrails' Web Journal
 
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   GOLD MINT TRAIL HIKE, p. 2

TUESDAY, JULY 31

 
 
Continued from the previous page . . .

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

The trail is close to the Little Susitna River AKA Little Su most of the way up the valley. A few days ago I showed photos of the river farther downstream on Hatcher Pass Road, where it's large enough to really look like a river.

Up here, I hesitate to call it a "river" because it is more narrow like a creek in the first eight miles from its headwaters. Maybe it should be called "Baby Su." As you’d expect, the stream got more shallow and narrow the farther up into the canyon I walked, approaching its source at Mint Glacier.

The water is a beautiful turquoise blue from the glacial silt, even where it is fairly shallow: 

The stream is only eight to ten feet wide near the trailhead (above)
and more narrow farther upstream (below).

There were lots of boulders in the creek and little rapids like the ones shown below but no high waterfalls in the first seven miles:

 

I did see some higher but even more narrow waterfalls in feeder streams coming down the mountains on either side of the trail.

The trail follows the west side of the river pretty closely after the second mile:

 

 

Sometimes the trail was in the water or almost eroded out:

I imagine more of it was under water earlier in the season when there was more snowmelt. There is enough vegetation along the trail and in the valley that in some places it would be difficult to walk on higher ground above the water.

There were bridges and some bog bridging across wet/muddy spots in the first two miles where most people walk. Beyond that I was on my own through marshes and over streams. You can count on getting your feet wet in several places on this trail if you go beyond the first couple of miles.

After the first mile Cody had plenty of water along this trail. In addition to the main stream and all the feeder streams, there are also several ponds next to the trail:

Cody's swimming in the beaver pond on our way back to the truck this afternoon (above).
I took the photo below in the morning when the sky was more clear.

Here are some other ponds farther up the trail:

 

 

 

The pond is to the left of the creek above; close-up below.

We didn’t run into any snow today but could see snow in shady spots on the surrounding mountains.

BEARANOIA

I loved the solitude of this trail but because of all the vegetation I was “bearanoid” the whole way.

From online trail descriptions and a map of the trail I expected sub-alpine foliage the first half of the hike. I fully expected to be above that the last few miles. (Descriptions vary from seven to nine miles for this trail, which apparently ends at a hut near Mint Glacier).

However, the first seven miles are all in trees, shrubs, and meadows. This is prime bear habitat, with all the greenery and a river.

There are some trees like the ones above in the first couple miles; after that
it's more 5-6 foot willows and other vegetation where bears can hide:

 

I let up my bear guard only when I was in meadows with shorter plants and could clearly see any bears on either side of the river:

 

 

That wasn't very often, however. I was mostly in waist-high or higher vegetation.

I wore two bear bells and had one on Cody. He lost it once but I was able to find it where he came out of a pond, shaking water off. I probably should wear any and all bells, as this has happened before. I also carried bear spray and talked loudly through the thickest brush. I yelled, “Hey, bear!” about a million times.

Alas, the only wildlife I saw was birds and burrowing rodents.  


No bears in these willow, just this black-billed magpie (I think)

I saw an attentive duck on a rock in the middle of the water, apparently waiting for a little fish to swim by:

I didn’t see any fish larger than six inches in the water, and no salmon swimming upstream. Numerous smaller birds like ptarmigan tried to distract Cody and me from their nests by running ahead of us on the trail. 

I don’t know where the moose and bears were. It looked like perfect Dall sheep and mountain goat habitat in the rocks above me, too, but I didn’t see any of those either.

I often stopped to look up the mountains on either side of the river, such as these peaks to the east:

 

I was entranced with the beauty of this valley, which rivals just about anything I’ve ever seen in the Lower 48.

Here are some additional photos I took facing primarily south as I descended to the trailhead this afternoon:

 

 

Continued on the next page:  more photos of wildflowers along the Gold Mint Trail, plus pictures of the Matanuska River and Knik Glacier from the Old Glenn Hwy.

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

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