April Bowl Trail

Hi there!

It was forecasted to be bright and sunny, albeit slightly cold, so I grabbed my gear and Fly and I picked up TheNurse and Kona and we drove to Hatcher Pass.  Fly and I haven’t ever done any hiking up in this area this deep into winter, because I like to avoid avalanche areas like the plague.  Hatcher Pass receives a ton of snow in the winter and is a popular destination for people looking to do winter recreational activities.  It is near town and easy to access. 

There was a flurry of activity down on the lower road, with skiers, sledders and snowboarders exiting the runs and idling vehicles waiting to take adventurers back up to the top of the run.  I used to sled and snowboard here all the time, back in high school: we would convince a couple of adults, often including my dad, to be our chauffeurs and shuttle us back up the mountain.  However, it was also common practice to hitch a ride with a passing truck, or pile into the bed of any truck idling at the bottom, regardless of whether you knew the driver or not. When the truck bed was full of passengers, the driver would leave and drive up to the top of the run for all the fun to begin again.  I imagine it was rather dull to be a chauffer: driving up and down the mountain over and over again all day.  Thanks, Dad.

Caught in action.

Anyway, because of this practice, I stopped the truck (right in the middle of the road) and let a snowboarder climb into the bed.  Up the mountain, he knocked on the truck at his desired stop and I again stopped in the road and he went on his way.  Be forewarned if you drive this road in the winter: don’t be in a hurry to get up to the top parking lot, the drive will be slow because of the possible random vehicle stops along the way.  This is just winter life in Hatchers.  Eventually, we managed to find a parking spot in the overflowing parking lot at the end of the plowed road leading to Independence Mine.  There were tons of people.  A sledding slope had been established not far from the lot, so families and their pets swarmed the area.  Snowmachiners had taken over the lower lot to park their trucks and trailers and I noticed that Search and Rescue had also set up there for the day.  I guess if needed, they are closer at hand this way.

The end of the road and the parking lot.

The road through Hatcher Pass is not maintained in the winter and the gate was closed.  This does not stop snowmachiners and other people from using the road: it is just closed to cars and trucks.  There was so much snow it was impossible to see where the road was anyway.  I left my snowshoes in the truck, because the snowmachines had packed a decent road for us to follow and we set off down the road and climbed up onto the unplowed pass road.

It was simple hiking, but the 6 miles round trip made for quite the workout.  Snow isn’t very easy on which to hike and the road was never once downhill or flat – it was always up, up, up.  I had to take off a jacket layer, because I was so hot in the 8*F temperature.  Kindly, the people on snowmachines would slow down as they passed us, so as to not throw snow up at us, or accidentally run over Fly and/or Kona.  The girls were good and didn’t chase the machines, so we hiked without fear. 

The moon!

We did hike past a small avalanche!

When we finally reached to top of the road and arrived at Summit Lake (elevation 3,885ft) we began looking for the trailhead for April Bowl trail.  TheNurse and I have both hiked April Bowl trail, though never together, and never in the winter.  Apparently, neither had anyone else this winter, because there wasn’t a trail, just a bunch of pure white snow.  We circled around the side of the mountain, where I know there is a waterfall somewhere under all the snow, and we found that a snowmachine and some brave soul on skis had climbed straight up the mountain from this side.  The summer trail has switchbacks – lots of them – but not today.  Today, we were going straight up that beast.  To say it was steep would be a gross understatement.  I had to put on my microspikes and even those didn’t keep me from sliding back down hill with each step; even Fly found it difficult to gain traction in the steep snow covered slope.

Straight up, yo!

After we gained the false summit, it was a gentler incline leading up to the lakes that dwell in April Bowl.  To my disappointment, they were buried under many, many feet of snow.  Someone visiting the area for the first time wouldn’t even guess that there were lakes in the area.  We trudged across them and postholed our way up to the ridge that leads to Hatch Peak.  I’d wanted to continue on to the peak, but Kona’s feet are apparently better suited to water than to snow and we knew we couldn’t continue.

Posthole walking is difficult - wish I had my snowshoes now.

Above Summit Lake

So, I retrieved the stove, pot, mugs, water, and snacks I had in my pack and made us some hot chocolate.  It was a glorious view from up there – looking down the valley that we had spent the better part of three hours climbing.  To my pleasant surprise, the wind wasn’t so very bad on the ridge, because I know sometimes it can get pretty fierce in that spot.

Watching snowmachines far below us.

We began our descent about the same time the sun began its own descent, so we were treated to beautiful golden alpenglow for the remainder of our hike back to the truck.  Ah, how easy it was to go down the valley!

That alpenglow!

Why walk when you can slide?

Summit Lake

 Most of the snowmachiners began making their way back as well, so we were in good company.   A low flying airplane dipped its wings at us to say hello in response to our waving arms.  There was a feeling of camaraderie that is so often achieved when likeminded people are out in nature together doing things that make them happy.  As if to emphasize my sentiment, a girl on a snowboard said “Best day ever!” as she slid past us and we wholeheartedly agreed.