Lost Lake Trail: A Celebration of Solstice

I never get tired of the mountains, they always leave me awestruck and humbled. Alaska has no shortage of awe inspiring peaks. We are home to four of the top ten tallest peaks in North America: Mt. Bona -16,550′, Mt. Foraker -17,400′, Mt. Saint Elias -18,009′, and of course the tallest peak in North America, Denali -20,310′. I won’t be hiking any of them -ever. I’m looking for something a little more accessible and less deathly. Let’s hear it for the Chugach!

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The Chugach mountains envelope Anchorage and stretch approximately 300 miles east to west over South Central Alaska. They are the exquisite playground to Alaskans living in the state’s most populated region, and easily accessible for a weekend adventure or an after-work hike. Since my goal for this project is to hike a trail I have never hiked before, I chose Lost Lake Trail in the Chugach National Forest. Many of my fellow Alaskans have hiked, biked, and ran this trail. I’ve heard about it my whole life, but knew it wasn’t something I would do by myself. Even though it’s a popular trail, the thought of running into a bear by myself paralyzed me with fear. Bears are everywhere in Alaska! You have to plan ahead, be smart, and work hard to avoid them. They don’t want to meet me on the trail anymore than I want to meet them. The best bear management plan is to make a lot of noise to minimize surprise! You need friends for this!

Hiking alone is usually my only option. My friends are busy, they have demanding careers just like mine, and on top of that they have families that are their top priority. I was thrilled when all the stars and schedules aligned to give me the opportunity to hike with my friends Alex, Katriina, and Trudy. Not only did they have the entire Saturday to hike with me, it was the weekend of Summer Solstice! While Summer Solstice is sacred in many places and cultures, it is truly something special in Alaska. It marks the peak of summer, the longest day of the year and it deserves to be celebrated. Alaskans rush to the ocean, rivers, mountains, and festivals to make their offerings and honor the gods of summer. It’s a celebration of the blessings we have as Alaskans, the pride we share, and the somewhat somber recognition that after solstice, the daylight begins to fade a little every day until we find ourselves in the darkness of winter. There is always pressure to “make the most of solstice.” We did just that on this extraordinary hike.

The Hike

There are two options to access Lost Lake, both are about a two hour drive south of Anchorage on the Seward Highway. You can thru hike this trail from either the Primrose Trailhead or the Lost Lake Trailhead which is closer to Seward. If you choose to thru hike it, you would be hiking for about 15 miles. You can also hike into the lake and back out the same direction. We chose to hike in and out on the Last Lake side closest to Seward so we could get above the tree line faster.

The trail takes you through a dense forest for the first couple of miles.

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We started our hike about 9:00 a.m. and the temperature was perfect (for Alaskans that would be low 60s). We moved at a good pace, talking and laughing, and reveling in our responsibility-free day. The sun was out and the wind had changed direction just enough to clear out the smoke from the nearby forest fire. It was truly an epic Alaskan day, a gift.

It’s a steady but moderate climb to the plateau overlooking the lake. The elevation gain was a respectable 2,500 feet, not enough elevation to affect your oxygen levels, but just enough to make you feel like you accomplished something.

When you make your way out of the trees you are treated to open meadows and a flatter trail.

Just when you think the views can’t get anymore spectacular, you realize Alaska still has something to show you. At every jaw-dropping vista we stopped to photograph, it was if the Chugach was shouting down at us “You think that’s special? Here, hold my beer!” Around the next corner we would stop again and try to take pictures that could never fully capture what we were seeing in that moment.

We stopped at the plateau overlooking the lake to rest our tired feet and refuel for the six mile descent. It was almost surreal to sit on the top of a mountain and still be surrounded by higher peaks.

The hike down was quicker and offered a different perspective. The temperature was climbing and the trail was quickly becoming crowded with bikers and hikers. Katriina was in front, chatting up all of them. She frequently reported back on their trail etiquette, and identified the men she thought were suitable for me to date. Thanks, Katriina. When she encountered a man with a pair of binoculars around his neck, she asked him if he had spotted anything, to which he replied “nothing extraordinary.” We were all a little surprised at his response since we were surrounded by everything extraordinary. She rightly informed me that he was completely undateable as he was obviously impossible to please.

We hiked a total of 12 miles in 4:49. We were tired and ready to cap off our solstice with hard-earned beer and hard-on-the-arteries pub food! The best place to do that is The Sitzmark! This iconic bar and grill sits at the base of Mt. Alyeska and has been the venue for many happy memories. I couldn’t think of a better place to end my day in the company of extraordinary women.

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