Bold Peak

Saturday morning dawned like the last three before it....overcast, dreary, can't see the front range...blah, blah, blah dee da...but, it wasn't precipitating, which is always an occasion for optimism. An hour later rolling with the hippie speedball (granola and coffee!) I was out the front door with two objectives. First, to go to at least 3 garage sales in one small area, and secondly to try and go up Bold Peak.

So I left Eagle river with the first objective met, I'm the new owner of two free coffee mugs I never knew I needed, plus a fabulous free plant holder, and a wonderful pair of earings from a family that was generationally crafty...all in all a successful start to the day I thought.

Eklutna Lake Mist

 

I've been coming to Eklutna Lake since I was in the womb, and thats a long time. Its probably one of my favorite places on the planet. The beautiful milky green water always seems like a perfect spot for the Alaskan version of Loch Nessie to bob its head and eat kayakers....I've really been thinking about this for many years.

At the end of Eklutna Lake is also arguably one of my favorite mountains, Bold Peak. Its just beautiful. And true to its name, its a squat, steep, and snowy peak, at least on the side facing the lake, but the backside is its achilles heel, and thats the way I went....although I couldn't see any of this scenery around me because of the clouds, I still knew it was there.

So I biked around past the end of Eklutna Lake, then stashed the bike in the woods and walked down the East fork of the Eklutna river....and about 4 hours later I was walking in the sun, through the snow and above the clouds atop of Bold Peak.

Summit Ridge Top of Bold Peak

 

And to make it even cooler I ran into my almost Uncle Steve with two of his friends and yo-yo-ed up with them....we all got to enjoy the top together, it was pretty amazing up there.

They couldn't quite hang with my down hill butt glissade moves though, and I continued back on my own.

Me And Steve

 

Looking down on the Eklutna glacier and surrounding peaks....this is an amazing area.

 

 

Bold Peak Coming out of the Clouds

 

Over all an amazing day with a 22 mile bike ride, 6,800 foot elevation gain, and a 3,000 foot butt glisade, over a 10 hour rain free period....a notable Saturday indeed.