The Chalets are quiet this week and the weather has been warm and sunny, so Bob suggested that we go for another hike on Tuesday. I was shocked but immediately up and ready for another adventure. Kyle had told Bob about a hike he and his wife had taken over the weekend to Grant Lake; mentioned that it was an old jeep trail to a gold mine in the Solars Mountain range and about 3 miles. It sounded perfect, something that Bob would be able to do easily. We were off with the bug spray, bear spray, whistle, etc. We parked the truck at the railroad tracks in Moose Pass, crossed the lake on the railroad trestle bridge across Upper Trail Lake and started up the trail. The trail was wide paralleling Upper Trail Lake and the going was relatively easy for about the first quarter of a mile and then of course the up hill climb began. The trail became a little more rocky and eventually we found ourselves skirting around mud holes. The higher we climbed the more "issues" we ran into. The path became a bit if a challenge when it turned into a continuous stream of snow melt that we had to walk down the middle of. It took up about two and a half hours to reach Grant Lake after many rest stops along the way. It was quite warm and for some unknown reason we were constantly attacked by biting flies and mosquitoes. Who would have ever guessed that we would have more trouble with flies than anything else. The lake was absolutely breathtaking. The water was calm and reflected the mountains just like a mirror. It was beautiful, quiet (except for our slapping at flies) and relaxing. The air the last few days has been very hazy and it was difficult to see the mountains very clearly. It must be a magnificent site on a clear day. We took pictures anyway, however, they do not show the magnitude and depth of the mountains in relation to the lake. We came upon some old cabins on the edge of the lake. One was partially collapsed, but the other was in rough shape but was obviously still used by hikers or someone. There were old bottles inside, a table, an old stove and some very roughly made wooden bunk beds. There are some pictures of the inside on the slide show.
I have seen some rugged cabins in my travels, but this was pretty primitive inside. Part of the floor was rough lumber, but the majority was no longer there or had not been there and it was just dirt. The inside was beyond dirty and there was a note on one of the tables that said to make sure to leave the cabin in the same condition that you found it!! Yea... We walked around to the other structure and looked around. We debated about walking a little further on the trail to see if you could spot the "gold mine" - started down the trail for a short time and decided that we should head back toward home. The trip back to the truck was a little taxing on Bob and we were glad to finally get back to civilization and the truck.
Unfortunately, we did not see any animals on this excursion into the wilderness. We did see lots of big moose tracks and bear tracks on the trail. The underbrush on each side of the trail is so thick that the animals must use the trail for ease of getting from one place to the other. We did see a ptarmigan and her babies on the trail up and, of course, a few squirrels but that was it. It was another very beautiful hike, even though Bob thought he would have a heart attack before he got back down off the mountain. We had to stop about every 100 yards to let Bob rest. He kept wishing we'd see Vern to air lift us out! I told him we could take our time after all we did not have to worry about getting home before dark. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue to get him to hike after this trek. Needless to say, we took the rest of the evening off and just relaxed. Wednesday we headed into Seward to pick up a few supplies and met John, a friend we had met at the Ford dealership in Whitehorse, The Yukon when both of our trucks were broken down and in for repair. He is Workamping at the high school in Seward for the summer. We took him to lunch and had a wonderful visit with him. It was nice to see him and catch up on what he has been doing this summer. We have been lucky to meet some wonderful travelers, like John, on the road this summer and it was fun to exchange stories of what we had both been doing.