Pretty peaks and cool currents
A couple of weeks ago Brad and I headed up Ram Valley - possibly my favorite place in all of the Chugach and it's in my backyard - and then dropped down the other side into the Peter's Creek drainage.
We packrafted the upper portion of Peter's Creek - before becoming exhausted from portaging through thick brush around fallen logs every five to 10 minutes. We eventually packed the rafts up and hiked the five-ish miles out back to the Peter's Creek trail head.
Peter's Creek was running swift, but shallow - creating for much more technical conditions than I had experienced on the Chickaloon River the week prior. The first little bit shook me up pretty good - I flipped the boat and wrapped around a rock in two separate incidents - all the while trying to teach Zippy that it would be a much better idea to run along the side of the river, rather than swim the rapids behind me - a concept that never completely registered.
After a break to catch my breath and get my wits about me, the remaining section of river went much, much better. I started avoiding holes, or at least hitting them nose first, and became much better and pulling up to shore and hopping out quickly enough to stop myself from washing down river.
All told, we were out for about 11 hours. The beer and Mexican cuisine afterward, at the only place open at 10:30 p.m. on a Sunday night in Eagle River, proved to be mighty delicious.
Again, many thanks go to Brad for inviting me to join him on such a spectacular excursion.
Heading up Ram
The view as we worked our way up the ridge
A closeup
Brad enjoying the blue sky day
Zippy coming to make sure I was staying up with the crew
The pups cooling off in a snow patch
Looking from the ridge down into the Peter's Creek drainage
Heading down toward Peter's Creek
Our river of choice
All smiles as we prepared to get on the current
We packrafted the upper portion of Peter's Creek - before becoming exhausted from portaging through thick brush around fallen logs every five to 10 minutes. We eventually packed the rafts up and hiked the five-ish miles out back to the Peter's Creek trail head.
Peter's Creek was running swift, but shallow - creating for much more technical conditions than I had experienced on the Chickaloon River the week prior. The first little bit shook me up pretty good - I flipped the boat and wrapped around a rock in two separate incidents - all the while trying to teach Zippy that it would be a much better idea to run along the side of the river, rather than swim the rapids behind me - a concept that never completely registered.
After a break to catch my breath and get my wits about me, the remaining section of river went much, much better. I started avoiding holes, or at least hitting them nose first, and became much better and pulling up to shore and hopping out quickly enough to stop myself from washing down river.
All told, we were out for about 11 hours. The beer and Mexican cuisine afterward, at the only place open at 10:30 p.m. on a Sunday night in Eagle River, proved to be mighty delicious.
Again, many thanks go to Brad for inviting me to join him on such a spectacular excursion.
Heading up Ram
The view as we worked our way up the ridge
A closeup
Brad enjoying the blue sky day
Zippy coming to make sure I was staying up with the crew
The pups cooling off in a snow patch
Looking from the ridge down into the Peter's Creek drainage
Heading down toward Peter's Creek
Our river of choice
All smiles as we prepared to get on the currentLabels: Alaska, Amy, Chugach mountains, Eagle River, Hike, mountains, Packrafting, Peter's Creek, photos, Ram Valley, summer, Zippy
posted by Amy | 1:43 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home