Alaska Day 7 - Carter and Crescent Lakes

Wouldn’t you know it we woke up to find it was overcast and cool. We had breakfast and I think we really wanted to get out on a trail earlier than we did but it was just after 09:00 when we pulled into the trailhead parking lot a few miles distant from our guesthouse. Today we would see what Carter and Crescent Lake had to offer us. Jeff, the owner of the Inn we are staying at (it,s his daughter who hosted the Air B&B and she set us up in this guesthouse) told us yesterday that although it is a climb to the lakes they are in god’s country and therefore lovely. We decided to give it a go - being less than 5 miles away is a big plus.

The trail starts out wide, feels like an old road, but soon narrows down to typical trail dimension. More than narrow enough for the plants on either side to encroach on to the trail. All sorts of plants from cow parsnip (what I mistakenly called cow parsley in previous posts), ferns, and all manner of other plants are growing here. It gets quite thick. I hope whoever, if anyone, maintains the trail is able to come through with a team of people with loppers to trim things back. As promised we climbed up into the mountains. It is a steady climb but the footing is good and the scenery make up for the effort, marred slightly at the start of the hike by the fact that the one lane hightway to Seward seems to be full of traffic making plenty of noise.

Not long after we began our ascent it began to rain, light rain at first but over time it did intensify. But I know I got more wet, my feet to be sure, from the plants I was always brushing by and through. The rain is a bit disheartening but we were comfortable enough in the 56F weather. Up we went. After about two-thirds of a mile of steady climbing the traffic noise faded to nothing. We continued on. As expected the climbing eased off about 1 mile in. We had done pretty much all the ascending we would do, about 1,000 feet, and whatever was left would be just little dips here and there. The rain eased off somewhat too. We actually had dry spells and, for a few minutes, a patch of blue sky drifted overhead. We had entered the meadows that surround Carter Lake and are surrounded by mountains that rise far higher, mountains that had some snow on their slopes and clouds clinging to them as well. It is a wonderful place to walk through even though you cannot avoid getting wet from water transfer from the foliage that has encroached on the trail (do you sense a theme?). It is a wide area full of wildflowers though the ones we noticed were fire weed.

In time Carter Lake came into view. It was lightly raining again so we were not going to just stand there and gaze out on the lake. However, I am confident (confirmed later) that people do spend plenty of time there. Instead we pushed on to go the extra mile through the meadows and stands of trees to Crescent Lake a mile away. We did eventually see Crescent Lake just after passing through a small sheltering stand of trees. As the lake came into view the wind picked up and the rain got a bit stronger too. We were not going to hang out or go on. Instead it was time for lunch and that sheltered spot was the place to have our meal: a standing-up meal to be quickly eaten before moving on.

The rain has been steadily falling for the past hour or so. We climbed about 1,000 feet over the first mile and are probably another half mile or so further along the trail at this point.

--July 15 2019 at 10:29. Moose Pass, AK, United States

We are working our way through an alpine meadow. This field of fire weeds is just one thing that has caught our attention as we move along the narrow, often foliage choked, trail towards Carter Lake..

--July 15 2019 at 10:49. Moose Pass, AK, United States

The wind was strong enough the cause these wavelets to march steadily across Carter Lake. It might have actually been a dry spell when I took this picture but those were few and far between.

--July 15 2019 at 10:59. Moose Pass, AK, United States

On the way back the enjoyment increased as we were treated to the distinctive calls of Common Loons that must have been hanging out on Carter Lake. The Common Loon is one of those iconic birds, especially with their calls, that evoke thoughts of the north, mountains, and especially lakes. Being able to hear them as we moved through these lakes and alpine meadows was a treat. Too bad we never could see them.

As we began our descent we came upon two young woman carrying big baskets. They were up here to gather fire weed they would use to make, we think, a jelly (looks like you can also make pickles). They clearly had been up here before and knew the area. Nice to see people coming out even when it is not ideal. We continued on our separate ways. The descent was actually quite a bit easier than I expected it to be, not as such but not as bad as it might have been. The work involved in doing this hike and the wet feet I acquired because I was wearing non-waterproof shoes and no gaiters (that would have helped keep water transfer at bay) was well worth it for the scenery we got to see when in the alpine meadows.

We just passed through a stand of evergreens that proved a great sheltering spot from the wind. As soon as we got in view of Crescent Lake the wind picked up along with the rain. We had intended to go farther but decided that this view was good enough and that it was time for lunch. The little stand of trees we had just passed through was the best spot we were likely to find for a quick standing lunch that afforded protection from the elements.

--July 15 2019 at 11:28. Moose Pass, AK, United States

Heading back from our little sheltered spot where we had lunch. It is raining again as we head back. While the weather wasn’t ideal it also helped provide interesting views of mountains and clouds like this one.

--July 15 2019 at 11:43. Moose Pass, AK, United States

At A glance

• Total Distance: This is an out-and-back trail covering about 6.6 miles to that first vie of Crescent Lake.
• total Ascent and Descent: About 1,000 feet ascent and descent. The vast majority of the climbing is done from the trailhead to the meadow over the first mile.
• total Time: We were out for about 4 hours 40 minutes and took 40 minutes in breaks.
• Weather: Overcast. It was sprinkling or a light rain for the bulk of the time we were out hiking.