Terrified and lost in Alaska wilderness…

In 2020 the pandemic hit all Americans hard. We were locked in our homes, trying not to go stir crazy. So Melissa and I decided to see Alaska one mile at a time. That year we would go on 65 hikes and 450 miles in the Alaska wilderness. While we had some hikes that were definitely out of our league none was more terrifying than the Russian lakes trail. We decided to get one more backpacking trip in before the snow in early October. This is a 21-mile overnighter starting at Cooper Road trailhead and ending at the Russian River Campground. It was an easy to moderate trail, and the plan was to stay at the Aspen flats cabin at mile 13. Of course, by now, most people would not go hiking with us because we are a little slow, and something amiss seems to always happen to us in the Alaska wilderness. This is no different, but everyone has that one friend that seems to relish in these situations, and we are no different, meet Kayla. As always, we got a late start on the road. I figured we had to

Russian Lakes trailhead, Myself (left), Melissa (middle), and Kayla (right) looked so happy,
that would change to exhaustion and fear!
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/chugach/recarea/?recid=16813&actid=50

be on the trail by 11:00 to make it to the cabin before dark. We did not leave Anchorage till 10:00, and it is a 2.5-hour drive (120 miles) to the trailhead. Not to mention the forecast for that area was heavy rain with areal flood warnings. So, now we have 2 warnings that maybe this is a bad idea. Side note if you plan to explore the Alaskan wilderness and plans are not going right, STOP AND GO HOME!!! THE ALASKAN WILDNESS IS NO JOKE!!! We did not listen to the warnings, and we could not get a hold of Kayla who was an hour ahead of us. Plus, there was no cell phone service. The rain on the way down was so hard at times we could not see the road, but onward we went. We finally met up and it was down to a light sprinkle, but it was 2:00 pm. We discussed it and decided to get going we figured we could still make it before dark, WRONG!!! At first, it was not bad, lite

This was the beginning of the trailhead, WARNING SIGN NUMBER 3!! GO HOME!!

drizzle. The trail was wet and we were making good time. Then about mile 5 or so, the trail disappeared underwater. Did we just walk into the lake or is this the flooding forecasted? FLOODING, NOW WHAT! It was too late to turn back. We had to keep pushing forward. We

This is what the trail had turned into, UGH!!

continued onward and now exhaustion was setting in. My blood sugars were running low and I was really struggling to continue. I did not want Melissa or Kayla to know, but I think they were aware I was not doing well. Then it began to rain, and rain hard, and the trail became very slick. Well with exhaustion comes weak legs and down I went, hard, my whole body felt it. I remember thinking let me die I will make a tasty meal for some hungry bear, HAHAHAHA! By now we are at mile 8ish. We needed to find some shelter to stop and eat. We did, but now it is 5:00 pm, and it gets dark at 7.

our window to get to the cabin before dark is now gone. With some food in our bellies, we all began to feel a little better. We hit the trail again, pouring rain and all. Even with the rain suits, we were all wet. Our waterproof boots were not so waterproof anymore, it was miserable. But we all tried to keep a happy face on.

Dark was fast approaching and we were beginning to lose sight of the trial. Luckily the one right thing I did was to program my Garmin Inreach with the trail and waypoints. As it got dark Kayla had this brilliant idea to leave us, get to the cabin before us and start a fire. She was younger and faster, so we all agreed. MISTAKE NUMBER 4 NEVER SEPARATE FROM YOUR GROUP, STAY TOGETHER!!! It was the last time we saw Kayla and her dog Kilo, at least for a while. Melissa and I watched Kayla disappearing into the woods. Then it dawned on us our group had separated now we were going to be too problematic for search and rescue. It got dark and the trail was gone. We put on our headlamps, but the rain was so hard visibility was only a few feet. As we went along the trail there were many flooded creek crossings. I remember looking behind me and Melissa was gone. I ran back and she had fallen into one of these creeks, hanging on for dear life. I grabbed her, pulling her out of the creek before she was swept away. What the hell is going on here are we even going to make it to the cabin!?

This is 3 miles from the cabin in the pouring rain.

Just after this video all the dogs came to a complete stop and would not go any further. In my mind I thought “Oh shit, what is about to eat us!” Melissa had the same thoughts. I tried everything to get them going, but they would not budge. After about 10 minutes I finally took lead and started walking again. My coward dogs still would not move. I was up the trail about 15 yards before they joined me. To this day I have no idea what was in the woods and I am glad I never found out. Because if it terrified my dogs (2 german Shepard/malamutes and my red heeler service dog) it was big and very dangerous! We continued on when a sign out of nowhere pooped up “Aspen flats cabin.” Oh my, we finally made it, or did we? We followed the arrow and after 3/4 mile nothing. My GPS dinged that we were standing on it. It was nowhere to be found. “Now what we don’t see Kayla, the rain is getting heavier and it’s 9:45 pm! When Kilo Kayla’s dog barked (which scared me half to death). I turned and we were standing 15 yards from the cabin. It was raining so hard and it was so dark we couldn’t even see it. What a great feeling it was to be in the shelter!

Finally getting dry and having something to eat. That fire felt so good!

Everyone is tired and ready for a good night’s sleep. Clothes are drying we hoped.

I remember Kayla saying “that was so stupid to separate, I sang songs the whole way to the cabin to keep from being terrified.” The next day we woke up to pouring rain. My heart sank not another day of rain, we still have 8 miles to go. When we opened the cabin door we saw what we walked through below is what we found. UGH, NOT AGAIN!!! Although the cabin was cool!

From the trail to get going and the cabin we stayed in, everyone rested and was ready to go!

As it turned out the skies cleared and after this brief trek through this area of the trail it dried up. Our terror seemed to be over. The next 8 miles turned into a very pleasant Alaska fall day. We definitely learned many lessons on this backpacking adventure. Specifically, even trials that are easy on paper can turn into a nightmare in the Alaskan wilderness. “The next adventure is just one more mile…”