UPPER RUSSIAN LAKES TRAIL - COOPER LAKE - CHUGACH NATIONAL FOREST - KENAI - ALASKA
near Snug Harbor, Alaska (United States)
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Trail photos
March held on Sunday, July 19, 2015
NOTICE: It is understood that anyone who wants to do this same route assumes the responsibility that an activity entails that is not exempt from possible risks or incidents, in an environment in which common sense and circumstances can make the difference between having a good day or the opposite.
We take the 1 from Anchorage (Alaska's capital) to Homer, our first destination. We want to take a small boat that will take us on a tour to visit the first of the glaciers of our visit to Alaska. The ship is out of order, and the way these things work here, we already take it for granted that they won't have a spare; and for this reason we decided to take advantage of the day by doing a couple of walks through the Chugach National Forest of the Kenai Peninsula, where thousands of Americans go every summer to fish for salmon in its impressive rivers: Kenai, Russian River, etc. This first route appears on the information signs as “Russian Lake trail” because it joins Cooper Lake with Russian Lake. If we had more time we would do it complete, using the whole day for it, but we just want to get an idea of the route, since we have another area left on the way to Homer, which we also want to hit. To get to the beginning of this walk, we have left the road to Homer and taken a track that soon turns into dirt and that we will have to follow for almost eleven miles, to reach a small parking lot on the left. The track actually only goes on for another three or four miles before it ends. A few meters beyond the car park and the track that we have brought there is an information sign, with all the things to do, including the possibility of encountering a bear, which with the passing of days we see more likely than not. that we thought at first, and hence we end up buying the famous and powerful pepper spray that many people carry. Although it does not deserve further comment, since from our mentality we would not know how to explain it and even less justify it, we also point out that we have found many others with their corresponding revolver on their belts. The path, which is little more than a path, immediately heads southwest, gradually approaching Cooper Lake. It runs all the time through thick vegetation, formed by the confluence of the tundra and the taiga, as we have seen in much of Alaska. During the five kilometers of the route, the unevenness until reaching the return point is negative, since it tends to go down rather than up, passing through a series of small lakes, which appear on American maps with the number of acres they have. After two and a half kilometers of walking, and on our right we can already see Lake Cooper. We meet a very nice older couple, like most of the locals, on their mountain bikes coming back from Russian Lake. They tell us that they are from nearby, and it strikes us that along with a small recording camera, they carry pepper spray. The truth is that to make the journey between both lakes, the best option is the bicycle, since the distance between the two is more than 17 or 18 kilometers. The path cannot be lost, and although it is not very wide, it is nonetheless quite trodden. It should be noted that in this stretch of today we have not seen bears, but we have found the mosquitoes to be more aggressive and dangerous, both in this and in other humid areas of Alaska, mercilessly attacking everything that can be "suck". This pleasant walk, which begins to give us a glimpse of what awaits us, takes just over an hour and a half, unless you have time and want to complete the route between both lakes, which we found very interesting to do. .
Waypoints
Bridge
1,058 ft
e. segundo puente
19-JUL-15 23:04:01
Bridge
1,050 ft
f. tercer y último puente
19-JUL-15 23:09:16
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