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What a pretty spot eh? You don't see the flies that are all over me as I try to get this shot. They thought DEET was some sort of secret sauce. Thankfully this was by far the worst of the flies. |
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The Johnson Pass Trail is for the most part very narrow singletrack. Look closely at the middle of the picture and you can see a bit of Bench Creek which the northern part of the trail follows. |
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Yes that's the bike in the middle of the trail. A few areas overgrown with mostly wild celery probably added up to a mile of this. It was so thick I had to hold the bars firmly because the stout stalks of the celery would snag the bar ends and add to the excitement. It also called for serious concentration as obviously it wasn't easy to see the trail surface more than a couple of feet ahead. |
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Beautiful section of trail which just crossed a little creek falling off of the valley wall. Around the corner is a steep climb with loose rock, I didn't make it this time or the first time I rode here about 5 years ago. My old riding partner Jack cleaned it on that first ride. |
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Someday it would be nice to find a way down to this pool. It was a hot day for the area, my trip timing coincided with a week of near record high temperatures, upper 70's to low 80's F. I got an early start to ride in the cool morning. On the overgrown areas of trail dew provided a refreshing shower. |
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These falls were my goal on this ride. On the first trip here we didn't know about them and it sure made for a nice surprise. Sheer drop down to the creek. Killer climb leading up to here that I didn't even think about riding, hell I didn't ride most of it coming down. I rode about a mile up the trail from here before turning around. Trying to kill time to allow the sun to get high enough to light the falls, didn't quite make it. It's around 7 miles to the falls and a great descent back to the trailhead. |
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Coming back noticed these monster fireweed. It usually gets about 4-5 ft. high but these were 7-8 ft, tallest I've ever seen. It grows all over the state and the flowers bloom up the stalk, when they reach the top it means winter biking is getting close. |
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This is near the end of Palmer Creek Road above Hope, Alaska. Spent my first winter in a cabin near here back in 71' - 72' on a gold mining claim. Hope is the sight of the first gold strike in Alaska. |
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Had to include this sunrise shot in Portage valley 50 miles south of Anchorage. Lived in a sort of hippie commune near here in 70'. Now it's a little state park with trails and nature viewing platforms, one of which is within rock throwing distance of the old cabin that was the center of the commune. Biked around here to settle breakfast on the way to Johnson Pass Trail. Wondered what the young me would of thought about the 50 year old me riding a suspended mtn. bike (what the hell is that?) taking pictures with a camera-computer that would be sent over a world wide web of computers! What a time of wonders we live in. |
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