My son did an internship in Kenai, AK this past winter, and while he was up there his boss told him about a hiking trip with some guys from church that he was helping lead this summer. The invitation was extended, I found cheap tickets, and next thing I knew we were headed to AK.

The hike was through Revelation Pass, starting in Hope and ending in Cooper's Landing. By the map its just over 39 miles, but according to the GPS track we did just under 45 miles all said and done. We did the hike over four days, but all the walking in three with a "zero day" at the Swan Lake cabin.

First day in Kenai was pretty foggy, but we did get a beach walk in.



We got up early on day 2, met the rest of the guys, and drove to Hope. The first day was pretty gradual uphill for about 12 miles on nice soft ground. It was a little warm, kinda overgrown, and the bugs were bad, so we were happy to make it to Fox Creek Cabin in the early evening. We ate dinner, spent some time in the creek, and played cards in the cabin for the rest of the evening to hide from the bugs.



Day 2 we came out of the woods into the high alpine, and got some better views. We saw a momma moose with two little ones on the trail, but they left with no conflict. We had a couple of bear hunters in the group, and one of them spotted a black bear up on the mountainside above us as we were crossing through the pass. I never would have seen it if he hadn't been there.



"High Alpine" in coastal AK is a relative term, especially after coming straight from Wyoming. You've got these big rugged mountains that still have snow patches on them, but because of the latitude and the fact that you're starting at sea level, you're only at like 3,000 feet, not 11 or 12K like I'm used to.





After crossing the pass, we went down past Devil's Creek Cabin, but didn't stop as our destination for the night was Swan Lake.



14 or 15 miles in, we finally saw the destination:



The cabin was right on the east end of Swan Lake, so we got to work making "camp" (we did have a few guys in tents), cutting firewood, filtering water, and generally getting set up. Then a few of us took the canoe out and did a little trout fishing. We caught a couple that made for good eating around the fire when we got back, and while we were out saw a momma brown bear with two cubs come down to the lakeside. The lake is pretty narrow, and those things can swim. We were only about 100 yards away, and immediately made as much space as possible. Sadly, I’d left my camera on shore, so no pics. Eventually they made their way back up the hill into the brush, and a few minutes later we heard the cubs going at it somewhere up the hill…ferocious little buggers!

While we were gone, the other guys saw three black bears (momma and two older cubs) and a lone brown bear up on the mountainside above us.

The bears kept to themselves and gave us no problems overnight. We woke up to a spectacular patchy fog, and went out for some more fishing.





This guy came in and landed somewhere down on the west end of the lake while we were fishing, and then took off again and came out right over us.



That afternoon we shuttled some other hikers down to the west cabin in the canoe, and got treated to some more float plane action. Based on the logos on the planes, I think it was some kind of student pilot training outfit.





That evening the bears were back. One brown circled the lake on our end and came within 50 yards of us in camp. It was pretty intent on its fishing, though. There were a lot of bright red spawned-out salmon in the lake, as well as trout, and we got to watch it jumping in and out of the water as it went after them. It finally got a big silver fish, and loped off into the woods to enjoy its dinner (photos are cropped and taken with a 300mm equivalent lens…I wasn’t anywhere near as close as it looks).








After another uneventful night we hiked out the following day, about 15 miles past Juneau lake and Juneau Falls. Bar-B-Q and ice cream in Cooper’s landing was a welcome change to the trail diet when we finally made it out that evening!

Overall, the hike was pretty easy. Good trail, gradual inclines, soft dirt. The bugs were bad at times and I got good use out of my head net. Lots of bears (I think we saw 14 distinct bears in 4 days), but they left us alone. Decent fishing, luxury accommodations (compared to what I’m used to!) with cabins and outhouses, and abundant access to water sources. There are also plenty of first-come-first-serve campsites along the route, so if you can’t get cabin reservations you could still do the hike. 4 days meant taking a good amount of food with us, and the distance was long enough that you’d want to be in shape ahead of time, but pretty much everybody was so we had no problems.



Our last couple of days were spent in Kenai with our friend and host. We did some chores around the house and went to the dump..which was an experience in itself. We also did some salmon fishing and ended up with a 48lb box of filets to bring home.



Our buddy was going to fly us back to Anchorage, but it got really windy over Turnigan Arm and he didn’t feel comfortable doing it in a 206. We ended up getting flights on the Grant Aviation Caravan, which was definitely the smallest commercial flight I’ve ever been on. No TSA, no ID…just show up, give your name, hand over your bags and get on the plane. I wish all air travel was as easy as this!



Overall, awesome week, great time with friends, and a fantastic hike!

Amazing, just amazing!

Your son’s internship would happen to have been Geology related, would it?

No, it was with a missions organization that flies into remote villages in AK to provide logistical assistance to churches and missionaries that don't have road access where they're at...which is quite a large portion of the state.

What an experience, thanks for sharing.