WOLVERINE

Beautiful weather on Monday with a promise of more to come made me decide Wolverine Peak would be the perfect sendoff for my journey to Texas.  After all, the mountains in Texas are pretty few so I would be without for awhile.  So  Tuesday morning, after getting up at the crack of dawn and getting the winter tires put on, Champ and I were off to Prospect Heights trailhead. 

With only one other vehicle in the parking lot, we had a great swath of Chugach State Park to ourselves.  Twenty degrees at 10 am but the sun was out and no wind.  Great hiking conditions.  What little water in the trail was frozen, making even the muddy portions a breeze.  In no time at all we reached the notch atop the first steep climb.  A break for water and a few pics of Anchorage in the distance, and we were ready for the real climb to begin. 

A lot more slowly than before, we trudged up the approach to the ridge leading to Wolverine.  A brilliant sunny day had us sweating despite the cool temperature.  On gaining the ridge, we met the only other person we saw all day.  As we passed, he let us know that a band of sheep were just below the peak on the backside of the mountain.  Hoping that they would hang around till we got there, we plodded along enjoying the great views in all directions.  Nothing like ridge walking on a sunny windless day.

A few hundred feet short of the summit, the snow was abundant enough for us to put on our "crampons."  Then a quick push had us at the top.  As luck would have it, the sheep were still there, and graciously agreed to pose for pictures.  Champ felt sure he could join them as they perched atop a crag just below us.  I disabused him of that notion promptly.

My first time to the summit was worth all the effort.  In addition to the sheep, a raven and magpie joined us for brief visits.  I have to believe they enjoyed the majestic vistas as much as us.  Far in the distance, Long Lake could be seen on one side of a dividing ridge.  On the other, Williwaw Lakes.  Lots of snow covered these gems and it hardly seemed possible that we had backpacked there as recently as August.  Winter comes fast in Alaska.