Trip to Hope, AK on June 10, 2013

The city of  Hope was another gold mining area and is almost directly across Turnagain Arm from McHugh Creek.  However the distance to drive to Hope is approx. 80 miles (one way) so we decided to make a day trip to check in out.

As we left the Seward Highway we looked back across Turnagain Arm at the Seward.

When we arrived in Hope we first drove through a very nice forest service campground out on the point.  Then back into Main Street and the sign showing information about Hope (founded in 1896).

Drove down to the edge of town and looked across the Arm and Cook Inlet towards Anchorage.

Resurection Creek comes out of the mountains and flows into the Arm here.

Looking back up Main Street.  There is a city campground located just about where we took this picture from.

Talked with several people living in Hope.  There is a lot of restoration work being done on the old buildings.  Most of it is done by volunteers.  This log house is scheduled for work but so for nothing has been done.

Here is the only general store and one of the two cafes.

With an old washing machine in front.

Looking back down Main Street here is the Social Hall (built in 1903 and still used today) a couple cabins and the same cafe pictured earlier.

The homeowner lives in this log house and is in the process of restoring it and all the out buildings.

The first territorial school was built in Hope in 1915 and burned in 1937.  Students finished the school year in the Social Hall.  One of the early school buildings is now located at the Museum and was also the residence of the school teacher.

The building beyond the school is an old barn and has stalls inside.

When we were living in Alaska from 2004 thru 2008 there was much discussion about closing the Hope School because the enrollment was down to 5 students.  A new school had been built and opened in 1985 and the cost to maintain it was too high.  The residents were advertising for people with school age children to move into the area, asking the home owners that only used there residence in the summer to please allow families to rent them during the school year.  The school pictured below has a athletic field also.

Well today Hope is growing with many new homes and land being sold in a development.  There are 23 students and they are actively seeking to hire a second teacher.

There is a very nice museum . . . here is the early “post office desk” on display.

Plus lots of needle work and old furnishings.

One of the young volunteer helpers (Katy is age 9) showed us around the buildings.

As we were leaving Hope we drove out Resurection Road (which follows the creek ) up into the mountains.  There is a lot of water coming out of the mountains.  This picture was taken from the footbridge in Chugach National Forest.

As we were driving out I (Jo Ann) thought I saw a black bear in a field so we turned around to have another look.  Did not see one in the field but did see this one crossing the road a little further in towards Hope.

                              

Early June 2013 in and around McHugh Creek

While it is early June we still have lots of snow at the higher elevations around the area.  Here at Glen Alps part of the parking lot is still covered in snow as well as the trails.

The state park system has a new volunteer cabin (used summer and winter) at Glen Alps trail head.  This is a very high traffic area since local hikers and visitors to Alaska enjoy the view from Flattop as well as other trails. In May there were two emergency evacuations of hikers from Flattop one with a broken leg and another a broken ankle. 

At the end of the overlook trail there is a good view of downtown Anchorage (unless it is hazy which it is today) but here is the view

Hopefully we’ll get back up on a clear day and will post a better picture.

There is a nice compass displayed at the overlook with pointers to the different mountains and volcanoes giving the height and distance to each.

Here are pictures of each of us as we walked back down the trail to the parking lot.

                                    

While most people come to McHugh Creek for hiking the trails or to have a picnic, many people come for  more adventurous activities.  Here people are taking advantage of the water and wind on Turnagain Arm to do some kite boarding/surfing.  Today we counted nine at one time.

There are also a lot of rock climbers along the Arm but don’t have a picture of them.

We had visitors from back east and Glenn sent us a picture he took of us at the motorhome.

                                                     

While we  were in southern Arizona we could not see the sunsets from our motorhome but the reflection off the Ajo Mountains was a beautiful red glow.  Well here on Turnagain Arm the sun is usually still high when we go to bed.  However one night we were later and here is the view across the arm at 11:00 PM as the sun is beginning to set.

With the snow having left the area we are in bloom.  Here are some of the flowers in our area.

One thing that has surprised us is that with all the flowers blooming the fireweed has not bloomed in the area.  We were told years ago that the plant was called fireweed because it come out “after a fire or any other disturbance to the soil in the area” and was first to bloom but not this year.

Saw the plants everywhere but no blossoms.

Also a spruce tree is very interesting with the new cones coming in red.

May 26 thru June 1, 2013

From our site on the hill we do not hear a lot of the road traffic but several times a day we do hear and see the trains headed out of  or into Anchorage.  The Alaska Railroad runs from Seward to Fairbanks.  One of the interesting things about the passenger trains is they drop off and pick up travelers along the route much like the old local Greyhound buses.

Our view is clear now but not sure when the leaves come out on the trees.  About a week later (June 1)  this is what the trees look like.  As soon as the snow is gone (with 24 hrs of daylight) the growth is rapid.

On May 26 and 27 the tide in Turnagain arm was about –3 feet so a good bore tide (about 3 to 6 feet)  is expected so people gathered at Beluga Point to watch. 

However we were experiencing some high winds so the tide broke in several sections and was not very impressive.

Here you can see another section of the tide near land.  Also note the traffic on Seward Highway on Sunday evening.  The Seward is only 2 lanes and is the only route from Anchorage to Seward, Homer and the Kenai Peninsula .

With the warmer weather the flowers are also blooming everywhere.

                                  

The melting snow makes for beautiful creeks and waterfalls.  Here is McHugh Creek (tried to post a video of it but could not get the  MPEG_4  format to open)

 

While Francis was looking at a proposed trip down to Homer to do some halibut fishing he came up with this Google Earth picture of our day use area showing the 4 parking areas, the beginning of some trails and the location of our motorhome.  Of course when this satellite picture was taken we were not here however the blue spot marks the host site.