What a great hike/climb!…read more Depending on who you ask, this is either an extremely difficult hike or a non-technical climb. There is one section where, if you don't have experience rock climbing, you might be pretty sketched out. But, fear not, there are fixed ropes! I'd just caution on not relying on them 100%. I might also recommend wearing a helmet. This climb starts at Eklutna Lake: https://www.yelp.com/biz/eklutna-lakeside-trail-eklutna From there you travel 10.5 miles along the lake to the trailhead. I'd HIGHLY recommend doing this with a mountain bike. I rented one from here (they are open till 10pm!): https://www.yelp.com/biz/downtown-bicycle-rental-sales-and-repair-anchorage?osq=mountain+bike I'm not a good cyclist and it took me about 90 minutes to get to the trailhead. Once there, you go up a densely vegetated trail for about 1.6 miles. It's not quite bush whacking but...in a month or two it probably will be. Eventually you find a creek, take this up into a large, scree-riddled gully. You then ride this gully up to the summit. And it's gorgeous. As you undulate up and down the gully, the canyon narrows and widens, the vegetation changes, creeks wind through it, it's incredible. Eventually you're on the SE face which is a pretty easy scree-scramble to the summit. Views from the summit are incredible. The main thing that makes this hard is the gain: 7,000 ft of it. That's a lot for a Chugach hike. (For comparison, Flattop is about 1,300 ft)

I don't know if bittersweet is the right word but, this is one of the most scenic zones in the park…read moreand access issues are fraught. It reminds me of when I lived in the PacNW and would read about access into the Picket range of the North Cascades. There would often be 3 approaches listed, all painful, all for different reasons. For Rumble, it goes something like this: 1. Hike in about 20ish miles on Peter's Creek Trail 2. Go up and over a steep, off-trail mountain pass of questionable quality and feasibility from Eagle River Nature center. 3. Luck out and get access from a private property owner bordering the park boundary. Optionally, I've heard a decent access area might be the pass behind The Watchman (I took photos of it while I was on the summit). Anyway, I lucked out and was able to do option #3. My hope is that @mountaineering can secure legal and efficient access before I finish the 120. As I crested up over into the valley, I was bloom away by the serenity of it all. It's a magical place. I anxiously scanned for bears (I've had some encounters that were a little too close for comfort in this area...maybe they are hanging out here more now that there are less people) and started hiking up the valley. I road the tundra-cuts and consolidated snow all the way to Bombardment Pass. I was debating if I should camp at the pass or carry my overnight gear down into the (next) valley. I decided to split the difference and camp at a pretty lake about halfway down. I slept for exactly 8 hours and woke up to Rumble completely obscured from my tent. I attempted to snooze another hour but sleep wouldn't come back. The series of sheep trails winding down the pass into the valley are magic. The grade is perfectly gentle. It made me feel "fast" even though I very much am not. Finding a spot to cross the creek to keep my precious princess feet dry was initially a challenge. But I just kept following the creek uphill until I found a sturdy snow bridge. This whole area (Peter's Creek Valley?) is even more scenic than Ram Valley. It's got bright green hills of sod rolling down off the craggy peaks, dotted with massive boulders that almost resemble stonehenge. I made my way up into the long gully of Rumble and it didn't look as intimidating as I was expecting. It looked boring. A long slope of scree with old snow tongues on climber's right. Towards the end, things do get tricky. The gully funnels into a tight corridor that ends in a drop. There are probably a couple ways to scramble up. I went up some wet fourth class climber's right. It wasn't too bad but eventually I had to traverse across a very short but very scary snow tongue. it was maybe only 10 ft wide but the top was bullet-hard and 5 ft below it, where my feet were, was loose sugar. I didn't realize it till I was halfway across, so booted a platform so I could have a decent stance. I awkwardly took my pack off and more awkwardly put my aluminium crampons on. The snow was so hard that I could probably only get 4 inches of my ice axe shaft into it, but the crampons really helped I was able to take a wide step onto the wet choss on the other side. Looking back at this snow feature, I felt ridiculous. It looks so easy, why was I so flummoxed? Once above that it was just fun, choose-your-own-adventure, snow and rock ramps that were no harder than 3rd class. In classic mountaineering style, as soon as I got into the ridgeline, the sweltering sun subsided and clouds covered the south-side of the mountain. I drank a pint of my luck beer "'Scend"(it's 2/2 so far) on the summit and took in the great views of Thunderbird to Bellicose and everything inbetween. I saw a pile of rocks where the's usually a summit register, but I couldn't find one. I saw that Caltopo/Gaia/Peakbagger/OSM have the true summit marked further down the ridge so I walked over there just in case. (just eyeballing it, I don't think it's taller) I took a summit selfie, summit pano, checked-in with my emergency contacts/family (had 2 bars of LTE on Verizon on top, the only place with any signal on the trip, save Bombardment Pass) The hike out was gorgeous with light coming over the pass and shading the layered golf courses of Peter's Creek Valley various bright and shiny shades of green. Coming back to a ready-made tent with no chores (other than delicious rehydration) is really something special. Hike out was largely uneventful, save for the fact that I got my first unobstructed view of the entire massiveness that is Rumble.

This trail shoots off from the Eklutna Lakeside Trail:…read more https://www.yelp.com/biz/eklutna-lakeside-trail-eklutna To access it, park at the Eklutna Lake parking lot. Get on the Eklutna Lakesde trail, but instead of heading towards the lake, go the opposite direction. In about 500 ft, you should see the trial marker for Twin Peaks. The official trail is about 5 miles round trip. If you're not an avid hiker (or are feeling lazy, or are short on time) a good benchmark is, well, "the first bench". It's about 1.6 miles one-way and offers one of the best places in the Chugach to sit on a bench and take in views. (the "second bench" is another mile up trail, and where the official trail ends) If you are an avid hiker, you have a ton of options: East Twin Peak: this is more of a scramble that a hike, if you're not sure what that means, it's best to attempt it when you do! https://www.yelp.com/biz/east-twin-peak-palmer West Twin Peak: a much easier climb than East Tiwn, but the approach is pretty long and obnoxious. https://www.yelp.com/biz/west-twin-peak-anchorage Pepper Peak: if you leave the second bench and keep going uphill (or, take a "secret trail" that starts at the first bench and goes straight up, with no switch backs), You'll eventually summit this peak. It's only a hike, nothing technical about it. Eklutna High Traverse: This starts at Twin Peaks trail and ends at Bold Ridge trail, hitting a half-dozen peaks along the way. It's over 27 miles long! Protip: This trail is an outstanding place to catch fall colors!

Warning: This is NOT an easy or "lazy" hike. There is one area that flattens out for a little…read morereprieve after about a mile and a half and another somewhat flat area around 2 miles in. There are several false summits. Which is a challenging mental battle after the first 2.0 miles of going consistently UP! The first false summit comes somewhere around the time you exit from the trees and shrubs about 1.2 miles in. Around this point you will arrive at a picnic table. The natural instinct on your first trip up is to look up and see rocks and think "I'm almost there!" You're not. You're only about halfway there. But keep going because. This segment is above the tree line and affords some spectacular views of Pioneer and Matanuska Peaks. This is a superb trail to hike year round. It receives a great deal of foot traffic even through the winter which means the trail is easy to follow and the snow is packed down. Note: If you see a smooth surface of snow on part of the trail in the winter, this is from people sliding down the trail on their butt! Fun times! Enjoy that! Note: Moose frequent this area and are far more prevalent in the winter. Keep and eye out! Note: This parking lot has a good deal of crime. I'd suggest not leaving no anything valuable. I often leave a window down or a sign saying it's unlocked so my windows don't get broke.

You wanna get high in Palmer?…read more This is a safe bet. Fantastic views of Pioneer Peak and Palmer. This trail is actually pretty steep, don't be fooled by the "lazy" moniker! Don't be too intimidated though, this trail is pure hiking. It's got a 'Merikan flag at the top, like many AK hikes. Like many AK summits, this flag is also usually frayed.

We went here to do a little hiking and to check out the waterfall. The trail to the waterfall was…read morepretty good, but a bit close to the edge in 1 or 2 places. The waterfall itself was impressive. I really felt the power of it, being so close to it. I did not see any wildlife on the trail other than a few ducks in the stream. I would recommend this trail.

Like some other trails in Anchorage (Ram Valley, McHugh Peak) the legality of this trail probably…read morevaries depending on who you ask. I'm pretty sure it is legal, but you have to follow the rules: - obey any and all private property signs: while the waterfall itself is probably public land, there is lots of land around it that is not. - DO NOT park directly at the end of this cul-de-sac. You will probably get towed. Pull forward until you stop seeing all the no parking signage. Got it? OK. So there are two ways to get to the falls. If one were walking up the creek (against the flow) I'm going to describe them as viewer's left and viewer's right. Both ways start by walking down a road with a locked gate. If you hear a big Great Pyrenees barking at you, you're probably in the right spot. Folks describing this as a "trail" confused me and I ended up doing some minor bushwhacking on this completely easy and mundane trail. In a very short amount of time, you'll come to a sturdy bridge. This is where the paths diverge. 1) To get to the viewpoint: continue across this bridge. In maybe 100-200ft you'll see a sign saying "Barbara Falls" with an arrow pointing right. Go right. You're still on a very wide road that you could drive a truck on. Following this uphill, veering right-ward at any junctions. This will take you to the viewpoint with guard rails. With a 50mm-ish lens (the "zoomed in lens" on most modern phones), you can get pretty decent shots of the falls. If you want to get closer, you can go around the guard rails and climb down. BE EXTREMELY careful and take it slow. This terrain is really slippery and pretty steep, a fall would not be good. This view isn't that great for more "serious" (on a tripod) photography though. Why? Because the wind is constantly blowing mist off of the falls and to this point. 2) To get to the "right" side of the falls: BEFORE the sturdy bridge, look for a FOOT PATH (NOT a big, truck-wide road) on your right. It starts almost exactly where the bridge begins (see my photos). Fall foliage may make it hard to find. It hugs the creek pretty closely the entire way. This is the best spot for photography. It takes you to a pretty big area where you can safely explore the falls at their base...without any sketchy down-climbing. Wide-angle lenses work great down here, this is a very photogenic falls. In the "Fall" (*groan*) there are lots of nice autumnal colors here. Have fun and obey the rules so that others may do the same in the future!

We took the trail in rain. Trail is muddy but walkable. The view is BEAUTIFUL! We would have…read morefinished the trail if we had more time before sunset or if it's a sunny day.

This is a beautiful, scenic 10+ mile round trip hike that ends at two lakes side by side (Eagle…read moreLake and Symphony Lake). The trail is pretty flat, only an 850 ft. gradual elevation gain. If the parking lot gets full, you can park on the road without worry, even though it says not to. Little to no cell service out here so prepare accordingly. Bring bear spray and big spray.

Eklutna Lake is a special place and worth about a 20 minute (one way) detour off the main highway…read morebetween Anchorage and Denali. The drive itself is very scenic and once you arrive at the lake area, there's an obvious day use area where you can park and use the pay machines for day use fees. I didn't do much of the trail, as I was heading north to Denali but did spend about 45 minutes or so walking the rocky shoreline and taking in the amazing views. There are a number of trails to explore here as well as kayaking and guided hikes. It's a glacier fed lake and also serves as a water supply for Anchorage. Alaska has no shortage of wonders and it's pretty special that you can drive a short distance from its largest city and arrive to a place like Eklutna Lake. Carry bear spray-sightings are common though we didn't see any.

We didn't hike the full trail, just went about a mile up and back along the lake from the parking…read morelot, but even that short stretch was worth it for the views. There were plenty of spots along the old dirt road where you could step closer to the water and really take in the scenery. There were mosquitoes, but we came prepared with bug spray, so it wasn't too bad. Looking back, we probably would've enjoyed kayaking more. The lake was calm and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. Even just sitting by the water felt peaceful. If we go back, we're skipping the hike and getting out on the lake.

If you are looking to put your feet in the water, throw a ball for your dog, or wonder around the…read moregreat outdoors without over exerting yourself, then this is your place. Nice views of the lake, and easy to follow trails. I didn't see a place for us to pay to park.

Lovely quiet hike with a lot of "bang for your buck" - a short walk with beautiful views of the…read morelake, mountains, and trees. We stopped here to break up our drive from Anchorage to Talkeetna and it was well worth it!