Matanuska Lakes Trail

Hi there!

It's Trail Tuesday, so here Fly and I are, all ready for the first hike!  A few too many cookies and cubes of fudge from Christmas had me all sluggish and in desperate need of a hike and some fresh air this week, so Fly, TheMother, and I braved the -3F degree weather and headed to the Matanuska Lakes trailhead.  We decided to do the Long Lake Loop, which is about 4 miles round trip, since I’m not familiar with this trail system and it was pretty chilly out.  There was only one other car in the parking lot, so we had the place almost to ourselves.

Dotted throughout the trail system are signposts telling which loop is where and how many miles it is; these were nice for first timers like us.

We did the loop clockwise, so Fly could run in the UAF field and burn off some of her energy near the beginning of the hike.  The trail is connected to the UAF experimental farm and they seem like nice trail neighbors. 

My little backpack held my headlight, microspikes, emergency kit, and mug of hot cocoa.  The mug doesn’t seem to stay warm long enough for me to drink actual hot cocoa during a rest break – does anyone have any mug recommendations?  I’m using a Bubba mug that I stuff inside one of my spare mittens.   Anyway, I didn’t use any of those items, though I couldn’t resist eating a leftover candy cane as we hiked and the peppermint added to the all-encompassing coolness of the day.

There are a lot of lakes in this area, but it was easy to know which one was Long Lake, because, you know, it’s pretty long.  All the lakes are frozen, so we wandered out on a few to snap photos of the mountains and the moon and take a look at the ice.  Next time I’ll bring my ice skates!

The trail runs along ridges between the lakes and it was pretty neat to be able to see lakes, down below, on either side of the trail.  There are a few up and down parts to the trail, but nothing too steep.  We took it pretty slow and were never out of breath.  

It’s pretty well forested with a variety of different tree species, so I’m guessing the lakes aren’t as visible in the summer when everything is in leaf.  Also, the mosquitoes have got to be bad; I’ll have to visit in the summer and test my theory. 

We were glad to have chosen only the Long Lake Loop, because the sun was setting and we made it back to the car just as light was fading.  It was really lovely walking along with the sunset visible though the trees.   This trail system has a lot to offer, I think, so Fly and I will be back here for another section of the trail before too long.