hiking in Alaska – Stephanie Richey Art

On Monday, my youngest son decided he wanted to go hiking about 4:00 in the afternoon. He came and asked me if I wanted to go. My first inclination was to look at the clock, determining that it was too late to go, especially since the hike he wanted to go on – April Bowl – was an hour away, plus hiking time, and then drive time home. But just as I was going to tell him all these thoughts, he reminded me that we hadn’t really been hiking this summer, and as it was a holiday so we weren’t working, maybe we should take advantage of that time. I couldn’t argue with that, so we asked if anyone else wanted to go, no one else did, and we headed out the door.

We usually go up Hatcher’s Pass multiple times a summer, but this summer we have been so busy that this was our first trip up the Pass. I didn’t realize how much I needed that trip! It was a beautiful drive, with plenty of time to unwind and relax, not to mention great company. I didn’t realize how much I needed to unwind!

April Bowl is one of my favorite hikes up Hatcher’s Pass. It is at the summit of the pass and there are a couple of options for hiking. The first option is to hike up to the bowl, the hike is uphill the whole way, but there are switchbacks so it’s not as difficult as going straight up, unless you’re my son, and we hiked straight up the waterfall. The trail is narrow however, so if you have balance issues, you might want to use walking sticks. This is a beautiful hike, and the bowl has 3 small lakes that you can explore (the third lake was still under snow on Monday). Sometimes my kids like to just stop there and play in the water. There is plenty of space to spread out and makes a great destination for a relaxing afternoon. The second leg of the hike, if you choose to continue, takes you up to the ridge line of the mountain peaks around the bowl. This is our favorite place to hike, the ridgelines of any mountain. The views are always spectacular in any direction, and you can see for miles! This is where my son and I decided to go. Getting to the ridgeline is uphill, there is no way around it, and there are no more switchbacks, just straight up the side. However, I like this ridgeline hike because you start almost at the top, so while it is not necessarily an easy ascent, it’s a short ascent compared to some of the ridgeline hikes we’ve done, so it doesn’t take long to get to the top. Once on top, you can follow the ridgeline just around the bowl, or it also connects into other ridgeline trails as well. Those trails end in vastly different locations however, so make sure you know where you’re going and have a vehicle at the other end.

I am so grateful for my son’s desire to hike on Monday, and for the time and spontaneity to just get up and go. The weather was perfect and the opportunity to spend one on one time with my youngest son was priceless. If you have a chance to visit Hatcher’s Pass, this is a great hike that I would recommend to most ages and hiking skill levels, at least to the bowl.

Springtime in Alaska is one of my favorite times of the year. March is still considered winter in Alaska, and the amount of snow we still have on the ground would verify that this is still true. But it is a beautiful month. With more sun and more warmth, the snow really starts melting in March and it feels more like spring. April however is when spring really hits. But spring in Alaska is not the same as it is elsewhere.

Alaska’s spring consists of melting snow, more melting snow, a lot more water and melting snow, lots of water and mud, and then summer. Well, there is that one short week where the buds on the trees are huge and then open to reveal a beautiful spring green leaf, the mud has mostly dried up, and a lot of snow is gone, but that’s about as long as it lasts. This year, I am super excited for spring. This winter we have had a lot of snow. My husband, who has lived in Alaska his whole life, reminds me that this year wasn’t the most Willow could have gotten, and has gotten in years past, but he does agree that we have had more this year than we have had in the last several years anyway. For me it is probably one of the biggest snowfall years that I can remember. But I have only been here for about 25 years. The biggest difference this year was the moisture level in the snowfalls. Usually, it is very dry and fluffy. This year, especially during the month of February, the snow had a lot more moisture to it, and it was heavy. This means that it didn’t stack up as high as it could have, but it caused a lot more problems for buildings.

Daylight hours are increasing as well. I grew up in Southern Utah, and I never remember noticing the differences in daylight hours. I’m sure it is mostly because I was a kid, but the swings in daylight hours there aren’t huge either. In Alaska however, it’s impossible not to notice the shifting of daylight. Here in Willow, we have a little over 5 hours of daylight in the middle of winter, with somewhere around 19 hours of daylight in the summer. During the winter it can be difficult for some people to function on that little bit of daylight. I don’t seem to have a problem, but I have found that keeping busy regardless of the daylight hours can be helpful, at least for me. But I really start to notice the extra daylight in the spring. I have noticed that this gives me a boost of energy, especially in the morning, and I start to get excited about all sorts of things like hiking and my garden.

Because my mind shifts to summer things this time of year, I decided it was time to start a few plants that need a little bit of extra growth time before summer gets here. The extra daylight hours mean that I don’t absolutely need grow lights to get them going. So, my kids and I planted some seeds. We planted Broccoli, Cabbage, Onions, Tomatoes, and Peppers. I do not have a green thumb, and consequently, only about half the time does my own starts work for me. But I love having these plants growing in my windows until it’s warm enough to take them outside.

I might be a little bit late for some of these plants, like tomatoes. But in the fall, I end up bringing them inside to finish off the year. I am also getting excited for hiking, looking forward to getting out in nature and enjoying the beauty of the Alaskan summer. Hopefully this summer I will remember to share some of my favorite hikes with you, here on my blog as well as in video form! Today I hope you are enjoying your spring, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere anyway, and that you are looking forward to summer and the fun activities that summer brings!