a more alpine washington | tiehacker ridge

6 miles . 3000 ft gain . 4435 ft high

Chugach National Forest

A trip with my most adventurous friends would not be complete without a hardy adventure added to the itinerary.  Like many Alaskan mountain names, Tiehacker Mountain also scratched my head as to why it would be cool to hike. I knew that the whole Kenai Peninsula region would be filled with amazing glaciers but few hikes lead up to it. But then I also knew that few maintain trails existed and choose-your-own-adventure was common to get to most peaks. So when presented with the opportunity to squeeze in an extra hike, I allowed peer pressure to succumb me.

Thanks to my due-diligence pre-trip research, I already knew the possible sights to see for each of the trails near Seward, Alaska. My ideal choice would not have been Tiehacker, as I already judged the book by its cover, assuming it would not have as vast of views as some other hikes. And as I’m foreshadowing, I was windblown by the hike itself and the views we got!

We were in a time crunch to get back before the second hike of the day and with construction delays, we started off the trail much behind schedule, guaranteeing we wouldn’t reach the “summit”. Trails in Alaska are no joke. Few have switchbacks and most known trails aren’t maintained. They’re simply hiked often enough that a trail exists. If it were in Washington, I’d call it a climbers trail. Complete with hand lines too! Laugh as you may, hand lines are super helpful when the ground gets too slick.

In about 1000 ft of elevation gain, we emerged from the forest into the thickets of bear territory. Supposedly 3 people is a good minimum to have to prevent bears from approaching. But tired as I was, I kept falling behind!! We kept loud voices going, trying to think of any topic we could just to keep our voices active and any potential bear alert of our presence. We had one bear spray between all of us and kept spirits high, not lingering too long in the deep bushes to minimize the risk.

Then all of a sudden in less than 2000 ft from the trailhead, we escaped out of the tall shrubs and entered the land of the subalpine. It was beautiful! We took our time enjoying and exploring and getting a little lost in the heather. The trail continued on the steep ridge. You could clearly see where some of the ridge line had broken off. It was intimidating to say the least traveling so close to the edge.

We passed 2 people who looked like they were seasoned Alaskans wearing their XTRATUF boots. I guess those boots are the Uggs of Alaska and work great as hiking boots. It made a lot of sense given the trail structure. I’m sure we looked like total visitors! The more we gained the ridge, the more we saw Bear Lake Glacier. We couldn’t see all of it and I doubt even the top of Tiehacker Mountain would be able to view the entire glacier. It was massive and turned a corner from where we stood. But even the glimpse that we saw was incredible. The steep moraines, the runoff into Salmon Creek. And yes, the still-scary cliff we were standing on. Not long after we got our couple of back-lit pictures, we sauntered slowly back down the exposed ridge, into bear country, and our friendly forest. We weren’t gonna be late for our next hike with the group after all!

Notes

• This is bear country. Bring bear spray and ideally travel with a friend or two.
• We parked at the end of Orlander Road, which is the end of a residential street. There’s no real trailhead. There’s a few gravel roads that lead to the true start, depending on which road you park on. They should all lead to the Little Bear Lake and ascend steeply once past the lake.
• No permits needed.
• I thought poles were very helpful for how steep this hike was!
• The full hike is 1000 ft more gain than what I did!

Photos taken on Canon EOS R5