2019 Alaska Trip - Day 114 - Hiking The Curry Ridge Trail In Denali State Park

It was another beautiful but cool and windy day here at Denali State Park, once again, not to be confused with Denali National Park which we'll transfer to tomorrow.

When I crawled out of bed at 8:00 a.m., our thermometer showed 40 degrees outside. My plan was to head out right away and hike the Curry Ridge Trail, but I didn't get out until after 10:00.

I walked down the campground road to the wide gravel path and signpost pointing to the Curry Ridge Trail which, by all current accounts, is a 3-mile, one-way hike with 1,100 feet of elevation gain. You can extend the hike to 3.5 miles if you descend the back side of the ridge to a sub-alpine lake.

At this intersection, the path forks with the left fork heading to the Interpretive Center, day-use parking, and Moose Flats Loop trail, while the right fork goes to Curry Ridge.

Along the trail are a couple reminders to be careful of falling trees.

At a bridge, ....

I came to this sign which explains that K'esugi Ken means "base of the ancient one", and it is an old hunting ground. It's now also known as Curry Ridge.

The trail to that point is very wide and gravel. Beyond the bridge, the trail is hard-packed dirt and a little narrower.

Walking in the trees, shaded from the wind, I was able to remove my heavy jacket, and soon I came to my first good look at Denali, "the Great One".

The mountain was formerly known as Mt. McKinley. An old prospector who was supporting William McKinley for president. McKinley, who had nothing to do with Alaska or the mountain, eventually became president and the name stuck, later becoming the official name of the mountain and the National Park. In 1980, the park was renamed Denali National Park, but the mountain's name wasn't officially changed to Denali until 2015. This whole renaming thing is very political, and I'm not getting into all that nonsense, but my opinion is the native name is simply more appropriate.

The trail includes a series of long, fairly gentle switchbacks and you might not even realize you are on switchbacks.

But the views, of course, improve as you climb.

Eventually, the trail leads you above the treeline where it was quite windy and cold. I put my down jacket back on.

The trail moves away from the mountains giving a broader view of the Alaska Range.

I believe the gray peak in this photo is the mountain known as Moose's Tooth.

The trail continued up past some large boulders.

Some other hikers were hunkered down using a big rock as shelter from the relentless wind.

The little plateau was another good spot for photos.

Past the boulders, the trail dipped before going back up to the summit of the trail at what is known as Rocky Knob.

In addition to the views and my love of just getting out into nature, I also wanted to pick blueberries today. I had scoured the ground all the way up the trail, but hadn't seen any. Then I asked a couple of backpackers. The young lady said "They're all over" and she pointed to the ground beside the trail. Sure enough, there they were.

They also told me that the trail descending to Lake 1787 (named for its elevation) now continues on and loops back to the main trail. The whole trail is fairly new as it was just improved in 2017, but this new loop isn't on any maps as of yet.

Now that I could see the blueberries, I dropped my pack and started filling up the container I brought. These blueberries are very low to the ground, and they are pretty small. I would find nice little patches and pick from my knees. It took me over an hour to get a nice mess.

Picking blueberries in Alaska in August is just sort of one of those things you have to do.

I put the lid on my container and safely stored it in my backpack before heading on up to Rocky Knob.

The wind was howling up there, and I could barely stand up without getting blown off the rock much less hold a camera still.

I tried to focus on the three most prominent mountains - Denali on the right at 20,310 feet (tallest in the U.S. and North America), Mt. Hunter in the center left at 14,573 feet, and Mt. Foraker on the far left at 17,400 feet (the third tallest in the U.S. and the sixth tallest in North America).

Then I decided to head down to the lake and take the new loop section. I always prefer a loop option when they are available.

The trail didn't go to the edge of the lake, it just skirted around the right side. There were no signs or anything, the trail just left the lake and the right and turned back toward the main trail.

Even if the views were just slightly different, I was happy those folks told me about this alternative return.

This log bridge ....

and this little boardwalk ....

were definitely new.

Along the way, I saw a half dozen grouse on the trail together.

This one in a tree above me "talked" to me as I stood below.

Another photo from the loop.

I came to a little section with these Watermelon Berries.

I had just read about them and noted the leaves and oblong shape of the berries, so I was sure they were safe. I popped one in my mouth and it kind of exploded with sweet juice. And it had quite a few seeds, so like watermelon, it's a good thing to eat outside so you can spit the seeds. I ate a few of these berries before continuing on.

Now, on the entire hike, the ground was covered with these berries.

Nothing was eating these, so I thought they might be poisonous. However, after some research, I don't think they are. I'm not 100% positive, but I believe these are Bunchberries (aka Ground Dogwood). If that's what they are, apparently they are edible but they are not worth the trouble due to very little flesh around a large pit.

At any rate, I don't randomly eat berries I'm not sure about.

I didn't mess with these berries on the trees either.

They were a pretty orange-reddish color, and I think the trees are Mountain Ash.

As I got back to the main trail, I looked down over the campground and still a long way to descend.

But the continuous views made it go pretty fast.

In this photo, just like yesterday, you can see the dust and sand blowing off the sand bars in the river.

Eventually, I made it back to the campground around 3:00. I really enjoyed that hike. I saw very few people, and no one on the loop section. Of course, with the clear skies, the scenery was spectacular. If the mountains had been covered in clouds, I wouldn't be quite as enthusiastic about today's jaunt.

Back at the rig, Linda was just finishing up one of her craft projects, a rug.

While she was doing that, I fetched six gallons of water to put in our fresh tank so I was sure we had enough for a shower for our last night here.

We had leftovers for dinner and called it a pretty early night. Again, it was too windy for a campfire, so we'll haul our firewood to the National Park tomorrow.

That's it for now. Tomorrow, we'll be in the Savage River Campground in Denali National Park for a few days. I have no idea if we'll have cell coverage there, so it may be a few days before you hear from us again.