Russian Lake Falls - Chugach National Forest

River along road to trailhead

Friday April 13th, 2012 - Hike #2
Russian Lake Falls

Played hookie again on Friday.  My boss has gotten increasingly lazy, and since I've gotten ahead on work and the weather was in the upper 40s, it seemed like a most excellent day to hike!

Our hike started with a mile walk along a snow covered road to get to the trail head.  In winter the campground that the trail head is located in isn't plowed.  Instead, it's groomed for cross country skiing!  Once we got to the trail head, we started a slow but steady descent up unto the valley.

As we meandered in and out of thick forest, he saw bear tracks and lots of bird activity.  We stopped in one stop for about 10 mins to try to call in some chickadees when we started hearing a different song bird (I never identified it), red squirrels, and much to our delight, a handful of woodpeckers!  It was awesome.

Part of Russian Falls.

We came across a fork in the trail where we could either cross a bridge and keep heading to Lower Russian Lake, or stay straight and go to the falls.  We figured the lake would still be frozen (since all the lakes in town are) and decided to go to the falls, hoping for the best.


We eventually made it to the falls, which was partially unfrozen.  The day was warm by them and we stayed at the falls for quite some time to eat, rehydrate, and enjoy the scenery.  Quite a gorgeous day.  We saw more bear tracks along the water, but weren't concerned.  They all looked melted out.

On our way back, once we hit the unplowed main road again, the sun was far enough over that it was shining on the river that paralleled the road.  It glowed blue from the glacier melt that fed it, which was a nice way to end the hike (First picture).

 "But you are the one
I've been waiting for today
And here comes the sun"