Skyline Summit traverse

This was quite a hike for me.  The trail leaves the Sterling Highway at about mile 61.  It is near the town of Sterling on the Kenai (pronounced Kee-neye, as in eye) peninsula.  It took about 11 hours and had a total elevation gain of 6,000 feet.  The highest point of the hike was just over 3500 feet, but the 8 or so miles along the “ridge” included many ups and downs that added up to the total elevation.  The weather was really great, just perfect.  And the Alaska autumn colors appeared at their peak.  This is the second generally challenging hike I have been on with David.  He is starting to get in really good condition.  I have a way to go, but I was in good enough shape to make this hike while carrying maybe 20 pounds of emergency supplies and water to drink.  I’ve been doing a lot of exercising over the past month or so.  I feel like my legs have gotten pretty strong and this hike felt like a chance to take them out for a spin and see how they do.  One thing I noticed was that I could go up hill with no difficulty but descending really wore me out.  I guess different muscles are involved.

We saw some wildlife too.  One black bear a very long way off.  And several herds of sheep.  Plus there was one sheep who kept walking just ahead of us on the ridgeline trail.  At one point we were only 50 yards behind her.  We also saw a nice eagle and some grouse.  But I would have to say that the lakes and the leaves were the most beautiful things on this hike.

When I think about how well David is doing and the many healthy changes in his life over the past 18 months, I feel very thankful for a day like yesterday.  Here are some photos we took along the way.

That nasty Redoubt volcano who caused so much trouble last winter.

Here's that sheep who walked just ahead of us. It was a ewe that only had one horn.

After climbing about 3,000 feet to the first summit at an elevation of 3,400 feet, we followed the trail along an alpine ridge with many severe ups and downs.

Here's David at the highest elevation of the hike (3524 feet). The views along the alpine ridge were great.

See? 3524 feet. It says so right on my gps.

This is Lower Fuller Lake which we hiked along on the way out after making the traverse. Mountain lakes are really something special.