Cottonwood Creek Trail

Hi there!

The cold weather we’ve been having has created some beautiful frost on the trees here, so Fly and I drove over to the Cottonwood Creek area of the Palmer Hay Flats.  I was hoping to be able to take nice frosty photos, but when we arrived in the parking lot, I could see that the wind had knocked off most of the frost from the trees and we were left with only a hint of the former splendor.  Oh well, it was nice to be outside in the fresh air anyway.

We hiked the 1.25 mile loop of Scout Ridge Nature Trail, instead of heading down onto the Flats, because there were two psychotic black labs barking and running amuck down there and the Nature trail beckoned to us with with quietly whispered solitude.

 

Last week’s warm temperatures, however, coupled with the current 7 degrees Fahrenheit, meant that the trail was icy, icy, icy.  Fly was unafraid and scampered and slipped her way along the trail; I was equally undeterred with microspikes securely attached to my new winter boots (more about those after I’ve had a chance to assess their performance).

Icy trail

There was a really nice overlook station right near the beginning of the trail that was wheelchair accessible, and the view is worth the work of pushing or rolling a chair-bound sightseer up to the top for a look-see and photo-op.  

But, the hike must go on, and the trail awkwardly continued behind the overlook and paralleled the ridge for quite some time, though the view was never as good as it was at the overlook.  There were a ton of tree roots reaching up to grab my feet in an attempt to trip me, so be aware of the uneven, rough hewn terrain.

Trees veil the view.

Lots of roots

Periodically the trail branched, but there were little trail markers tacked on trees denoting the correct path to follow.  Speaking of the trees, they were mostly birch and spruce, no surprise there, and the woods were sparse enough to make me feel that I could adequately see my surroundings and Fly darting here and there, but not too thinly treed that I didn’t feel we weren’t hiking in the woods.

Brown trail marker above Fly

We deviated off the trail to take photos of two Bald eagles that were perched in a tall tree: they were calling and chattering away to each other like a couple of gossiping teenage girls.  One finished what it had to say and flew off just as we arrived near the base of the tree, so we only got a photo of the one remaining “glorified vulture,” as Teddy Roosevelt once called them.

When the trail looped back and we were headed in the opposite direction, the trees changed to mostly spruce and the trail widened. I started keeping my eyes out for moose and the improbable bear (I can’t help looking for bear, even in the winter, it’s just a habit).  The feeling of the woods on this side of the loop seemed to be so different from the ridge side of the loop.  Do this hike and tell me if you sense that it feels different in this section too. 

A lake was visible through the trees on our right hand (paw) side, so we eagerly took the spur trail that led down to the lake.  It’s a typical swampy Alaskan marsh lake, from what I could tell in its currently frozen situation.  We wandered out on it and Fly took the opportunity to eat a bit of ice and stand around posing while I sat, microspikes removed by this time, and enjoyed the coolness of the ice.  Naturally, since Fly had just taken a bath yesterday, she needed to roll around in the snow a bit to remove any trace of cleanliness still left on her body.

Oh yeah...much better.

The light was fading, so we hurriedly trotted along the trail back towards the parking lot.  On the way, we spotted a birdhouse affixed to a tree – evidence of Boy Scout presence, no doubt.  Keep an eye out for the trail marker informing the side trail to take back to the parking lot, otherwise, the main trail will end at the road and you’ll either have to backtrack or wander down the road to your vehicle.

All in all, it was a nice, easy, short hike.  If done in the winter, chances are good that it won’t be crowded with other people and dogs.  We will be doing this one again in the summer, just to see how it looks then.  I bet the overlook view will still be fantastic in summer colors!