Hiking Gold Mint Trail

July 21, 2014 And Becca's 25th birthday. Sweetheart we are thinking of you! This morning was clear blue skies and it had gotten quite cool last night. I'm sure our friend Don Tryon and his new wife Linda have gotten a nice view of Mt. McKinley in Denali if we have their travel plans correct. We tried to wave to them down in Wasilla on the 19th as the blue train (Alaska Railroad the Denali or McKinley Express?) went by us at about 11:45am. Well I almost wished we were on the other side of these Talkeetna mountains to view McKinley again as well. It is mesmerizing. But it was a gorgeous day and we were walking a trail along a lovely glacial river towards Mint Glacier. It doesn't get prettier than this!

The day began to warm up and as we had checked out the first 2 miles the night before and it was fairly wide, Bob dressed in shorts and I in convertible pants (could become shorts or hook up to capris) and my Tevas. The first five miles of this trail is considered "improved" and that is as far as we intended to go (10 Miles RT). After the second mile the trail did become quite narrow. This was fine except for the bushes and plants growing out toward the center of the trail. Pushki, aka Cow Parsnip is an invasive weed/plant that is growing nearly everywhere in Alaska. The challenge is to not get its oil on your skin. The stem contains an oil which will cause burns on your skin when exposed to sunlight. This is a very painful situation we were told. There were a few bikers doing the trail too, and this also crushed and broke stems from these plants.

We passed several old beaver dams/ponds. The furthest dam we saw was right at the Mile 5 marker. It must have been huge but it's wall was breached and the entire pool of water behind it had drained away some time ago. Sparse plants had already sprung up in it's center area. Including Fireweed (above), one of the first to establish itself in an area here. And some "Alaskan Cotton" (at right) as well. We ate our lunch of granola bars, an apple and the safe drinking water which we packed in. The streams look fresh and clear but we know they may cause giardia if untreated. And of course we had our Bear Spray handy, as there was a bear with a recent moose kill in the area. Then we started back. Along the trail I spotted some Merten's Bluebells, Broadleaf Lupine, Mountain Columbine, Monkey Flowers and several other lovely wildflowers. We hopped over most of the muddy patches we encountered on the trail. I washed my feet in one of the warmer beaver ponds on the way back. The one with two large beaver "huts" in it. The glacial melt waters in the river would have numbed my feet in a couple of minutes. We encountered no problems and totally enjoyed the beautiful mountains surrounding this glacial valley. A wonderful day spent.