Great Hike, Great View, Then Rain
Even with the late evening sunset watch, we were up fairly early. The forecast was for rain around noon and we wanted to hike a new trail while the weather was still nice.
The Curry Ridge Trail runs from the campground up the hills behind it. It goes up about 1000' in 3.3 miles. The trail is brand new and they are still working on it. We met a couple of workmen with small bulldozers moving in fill for the base of a bridge over a creek on the way up. The trail is quite wide for about two-thirds of the way with ever increasingly spectacular views of Denali and the Alaska range as it climbs. The last section of trail opens up onto alpine tundra and then ends at a spot called Rock Knob with a 360° view. The view towards Denali includes the mountains, the wide, braided, Chulitna River and the toe of the Ruth Glacier and its moraine.
As we climbed, the sun lit the face of the Alaska Range and the big mountains, with their snowfields, just glowed. Clouds started to move in as we climbed and by the time we reached the knob, they were starting to cover the mountains. By the time we got back to the campsite, Denali was completely gone in the clouds.
The rain started shortly after lunch and has become increasingly heavy as it has become evening. Needless to say, we did not eat outside tonight, but were joined by Harry and Sally (and Nina) in Speedy for dinner. We had virtually identical lasagnas baked on the stovetop in cat iron skillets.
It was topped off with chocolate chip cookies that Ellen baked in our oven this afternoon. Having an electrical connection has its advantages on a rainy afternoon.
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