Total Elevation Change : 3,500 ft.
Total Time : 4 hours 20 minutes
Until today, our longest trail run this year was 9 miles. Until today, our longest hike was 8 miles (done in January). Knowing these facts, I knew that the last few miles would be a bizarre form of running torture. Nevertheless, Matt and I laced up our shoes, ready for what the day had in store for us.
The night before our hike, we packed up our gear. Just before bed, an amazing rainbow appeared and the skies opened up. 11pm and a rainbow, weird. The morning of our fast pack trip, we added rain gear to our list of things to come along. Afternoon showers were predicted...so we were ready.
The first 1.5 miles is on the Angel Rocks Trail. Most people only go this far and return the way they came. The trail climbed very steadily for 1,000 ft over the course of this 1.5 miles and the humidity forced Matt and I to walk, gulping down water between each deep breath. We broke into a drenching sweat, and mosquitoes swarmed around our heads. The majority of the bites I got were on this 1.5 miles...I later found lots of dead mosquitoes in my hair.
Miles 1.5-3 climbed even further onto a ridge, above treeline.
The trail went over several boulder fields and was definitely not good for running. Gorgeous views of the surrounding area were seen in every direction. We stopped to refuel about mile 5, and at the highest point of the entire trip.
A large dark cloud was headed straight for us, and we wasted no time descending below into the trees. Convinced the downhill would be the easier part of the trip, we took off at a much faster pace than normal.
At about mile 6, we hit mud just as we hit treeline. Firm mud, so we plowed right through it. Less than a mile later, the muddy trail turned into a stream of runoff. My shoes were inundated by the icy cold runoff. We tried to miss the deep parts, but a lot of the trail was too wet. It still surprises me how such a steep hillside can be so wet, but Alaska continues to surprise me in terms of what the terrain can throw out.
Mile 7 forced us to decide : go up on another (maybe drier) ridge and add 0.5 miles to our already 16.5 mile run, or go down (wetter) into the muskeg. We took our chances with the lower. After the rains we were having, Matt figured that lower would be just as wet as upper. Also, we'd taken that path before and there were less opportunities of becoming lost. We saw no bugs the entire way down, even though it was by far, the wettest part. Go figure. They probably knew I was eaten already and weren't up for sloppy seconds (meant to sound dirty, but look at the next picture---it was dirty).
About mile 8.5, we joined up with the gravel two track trail of Chena Hot Springs. It was much easier to run and we just let our legs sail down the hill. My knees started hurting near the bottom, so I slowed. We passed several tourists, whom looked at us funny, with our muddy legs and feet, sweat stained faces, and grimaces of fatigue across our faces. This time of year, we look out of place amongst them and their "vacation" clothes of brand new hiking clothes and shoes that have never seen the trail.
The Hot Springs Rd. back to the car was straight, flat, and the most terrible end to a run one can possibly imagine. It was more difficult to run, being able to see at least a mile ahead of myself. Feels like I'm going, and going, and never getting anywhere...especially compared to the trail, where I could only see 100 ft ahead at times. It actually hurt more to run on pavement than I ever thought possible...funny, because that is where I do 90% of my running, and it never hurt like this did. About mile 16, we came across two horses grazing on the side of the road. One of them followed us onto the road as we passed. The owner came running out to coax his horse back to the yard. Horsey wanted to run with us. :) Four hours and 20 minutes after we left the car, we came returned to our car. Armed with flip flops and chips, we headed for the river to soak and wash our legs and feet.
My shoes are still stained with dirt, and my legs are too sore to run on, but wow...that was a great day.
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