I wanted to share some pictures with you from one of my favorite backpacking trips this summer in the Chugach Mountains. We did this hike in July, but I’ve had almost no time to update The Traveled Trail since I started my internship at Trustees for Alaska in September (you can read my mini bio here—the picture I submitted is actually of Nuptse and I on this backpacking trip!)
Chugach State Park spans an area of roughly 495,000 acres, making it one of the four largest state parks in the country. Much of the park is comprised of inaccessible wilderness, but there are about 280 miles of trails that you can use to explore the endless rugged peaks, broad mountain valleys, and sparkling blue lakes. For this trip, we decided to do the Williwaw-Long Lakes Loop (although like so many trails here, I doubt there’s an official name for the particular route we happened to follow). According to our maps, the loop was roughly 18 miles, although we ended up doing a few more extra miles after we accidentally got off trail. But you know what? Getting lost isn’t always a bad thing.
We met our friends, Michelle and Brian (also known as Ranger B), at the Prospect Heights trailhead, which is only about 15 minutes from Anchorage. We felt very little pressure to get an early start given the endless hours of daylight, and it was well past dinnertime when we finally started hiking. Our goal for the first night was to make it about 7.5 miles to Williwaw Lakes, a cluster of alpine tarns tucked away at the end of a wide valley. The sun was setting by the time we reached camp and about 10:30pm, and we struggled for quite a while to find a flat spot to set up our tents. We were all a bit grumpy at this point because we hadn’t had a real dinner yet, so after scarfing down a quick bite, we all crawled into bed for some much-needed sleep.
The next morning, the world looked much brighter.
We packed up camp and headed farther up the valley, past the Williwaw Lakes.
It wasn’t long before we got off track, heading deeper and deeper into the valley rather than cutting left and up to a pass that would lead us to the adjacent valley. But we didn’t have many miles to cover that day, so we just took our time. We were marveled at the array of delicate wildflowers and the babbling streams that carved their way through the unbelievably soft tundra moss.
We eventually found the right trail and began ascending up and out of the valley. That’s when the real work began. After climbing about 500 feet to the first pass, we found ourselves in windy basin standing on the shores of Walrus Lake. The wind was blowing hard enough that there were whitecaps across the grey surface of the lake, which took up most of the small basin.
We walked along the side of the lake and began the much steeper climb up to the next saddle. After much huffing and puffing, we reached the top of the pass and were rewarded with stunning views in all directions. From the saddle, we could see two gleaming turquoise lakes nestled in the next valley. We decided we would camp at the smaller, unnamed lake (pictured below) before making our way back down the valley and past the much larger Long Lake on our way back to the trailhead. But first, we decided to rest for a while and take in the magnificent scenery.
The trail leading down from the saddle to the lake below was very steep but not too terribly sketchy, and within minutes, we had arrived at our home for the night. We hadn’t seen another soul since we left Williwaw Lake that morning, which meant we had the entire valley to ourselves. This time, we had no trouble picking the perfect campsites.
We set up our tents and spent the rest of the afternoon lounging lazy in the afternoon sun. It was the best kind of day. I’ll never forget it.
That night, I set my alarm for midnight so I could capture the alpenglow. Right on cue, the yellow light spread across the surrounding peaks before disappearing almost as quickly as it had arrived.
After the sun set behind the mountains, I hiked a few hundred feet above camp to get a glimpse down the valley to Long Lake. Part of me wanted to wake up the others and share it with them, but in the end I decided to cherish this special moment by myself.
The next morning after breakfast, we packed up camp and headed reluctantly back towards civilization. Even though we were never more than 20 miles from the city, we felt like we were the only ones in the world that weekend.
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