On the way back from the Fireweed, Tom and I decided to hike Kesugi Ridge, a wonderful ridge hike in Denali state park. It took us about 12 hours, and was a wonderful way to stretch the legs after all that time on the bike. The last bit of the trail is currently closed as a section of the trail has been washed out, so we only did the Little Coal Creek to Byers Lake section.
Things started with a climb..
But quickly transitioned to nice alpine hiking.
I had the camera out a lot, and I think it slowed us down a fair bit. The nice weather made it hard not to keep snapping photos..
It was a bit brushy at times.. but always manageable.
Near the middle of hike the trail climbed over some eroding granite outcrops – super scenic and very pretty.
Near the middle of the trail there was a mile or so with lots of downed trees. It looked like at least some of the trees had fallon this summer, and they were laying in the same direction. Perhaps a unusually hard windstorm? A mystery!
After the countless downed trees it was back to alpine hiking.
We ended the day with a short-ish (17mile) bike shuttle, and made it back to Fairbanks a little after 1am. This trail is fantastically beautiful, and well worth the drive.
There were several sets of tire tracks on the trail, making me wonder if it is a common bike route, and how fun it would be. It seemed like there would be a bit of pushing, and a fair bit of wonderful riding. Something for a future adventure I think…