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.

May 24, 2013

Another beautiful day so after lunch decided to drive south on the Seward Highway to check out the area.  We had not been that route since our return earlier in May.  Looking across the Arm. . .

The tide was out but when we were returning saw a small bore tide.  Should have a large one on Sunday and Monday since those will be very low tides in the afternoons.

Looking down near the end of the Arm  . . . . .

 

There are two very nice forest service campgrounds on the Whittier road.  Only part of Williwaw was open because of the amount of snow still in the areas. The host advised us that all reservations for the weekend had been cancelled due to the snow.  Some of the sites were plowed and we saw many campers already set up even though it had opened just a few hours earlier (the host said she arrived about noon to find campers waiting to get in).

As we drove towards Whittier we saw the remains of many avalanches

Coming back north to the Park we saw many waterfalls (most of these will be dry after the snow melts).  At this point we could see six . . .

We had wondered how the crowds would be since this was the first night of the holiday weekend and such a beautiful day.  We notified people we would be closing the gate at 9 PM and the park would be open to foot traffic from the lower parking lot only.  Took a little while (there was a large 16th birthday held in the picnic area)  but by about 9:30 all the cars had departed.

May 17-18, 2013

While the total snow fall for Anchorage was much less in 2012/13 after the near record year of 2011/12,  the late snow broke several records for the Anchorage Area

First the record for the longest snow season  (from the first snow fall until the last one of  late winter/spring) was held by the year 1982 at 230 days until this season with 232 days.  The average number of days between first and last snow is 186.  Also the largest snow fall for the date May 17 was this year.

On May 13 the snow on the mountain across Turnagin Arm was really melting.

However on May 17 we received about 1/2 inch with higher elevations receiving 4 to 6 inches.

                 

  

Sunday morning driving home from Church the side the mountain near McHugh was covered in ice and beginning to melt.

We also noticed more water coming down the McHugh Creek at the waterfall near the entrance to the park.

 

On Sunday evening we went to Dick and Patricia’s for dinner.  So good to visit some more of our Alaskan friends.  Taking a different route we came across this covered bridge at the entrance to South Bridge subdivision.

 

May 20, 2013

When we were traveling north we had to stop several times to wait for roads to be cleared.  At Toad River we met Cassie and Jack and stayed in touch as we both traveled to Alaska.  On Monday we drove to Palmer to meet them for lunch.  This area had received more snow also.  Pioneer Peak was beautiful. . .

As were the mountains across the Hay Flats.

The next morning about 6:15 AM I saw my first moose in the park.  Had been seeing scat so knew we had both bear and moose in the area.  Still have not seen a bear.

The state park had a volunteer training session on May 23.  This gave us an opportunity to meet some of the other host as well as other rangers.  We were told that in Alaska there are 7 volunteers for every paid employee.  Once again we were reminded that the parks run smoother because of the number of hours spent by volunteers.  Matt took pictures of each couple (or single) to post at Potters Section House  (now park headquarters).

During the afternoon session after getting some information on wildlife behavior, we were each given the opportunity to fire bear spray at the “wooden bear”.