Not Quite Over the Hill: My Age--And My Stupidity--Revealed on Long Hike Near Central

Post by Eric

It’s getting harder for me to do stupid things. At least, with minimal consequences.

This past Saturday I did a moderately hard hike. And I am suffering for it. My lower back is really sore. It takes me a while to stand up straight after sitting for a bit, so I do a lot of hunched-over walking.

I wasn’t in shape to do the hike. Not by a long shot. I hadn’t done a run or a hike in more than a month. (Except for a test run last Wednesday to see if my sore knee was up for the hike.) I had done some biking, but that takes different muscles. My last run of 10+ miles was in January. My last hike over 10 miles was last summer.

But I’ve done things like that in the past. Sure, I suffered a bit, but not like this. And not for as long. I suppose the problem with my back might have something to do with the herniated disc I got earlier this year, but that seems fine. This ache feels very different. And, of course, I’m now 66 years old. Friggin’ age!

Enough bitching. Let me tell you about the hike.

Portage Creek Road to Miller House Road

This little adventure started a couple of years ago. Nikki and I had been texting back and forth about doing new adventures. I told her about a route that I had traced years ago on a map connecting ridge lines between Eagle Summit and Ketchum Dome behind Circle Hot Springs. Nikki was intrigued, so we started talking about doing it as a run.

Mike, Nikki's husband, is a fish and wildlife trooper and pilot. He had flown over and been in that area many times. He knew much of that route had an ATV trail. At some point, we pivoted from running my original route to mountain biking a slightly shorter route. Mike thought it would be possible and was interested in coming. Corrine hadn't been interested in the run, but she was interested in trying it on bike.

That plan was to bike from Portage Creek Road (the road that runs past Circle Hot Springs into the hills south of the old resort) along the ATV trail and then down the mining road to Miller House (a location along the Steese Highway on USGS maps that used to be a roadhouse). We figured it was about 24 miles.

Two years ago we gave it a shot.

The First Attempt

That attempt was fun but wasn’t successful. We weren't quite sure where the route started off Portage Creek Road, but we did know that an ATV trail took off from the high point of that road where it crosses a path and headed in the right direction, so we took that. That lead us up a really steep trail to the top of a low dome. The dome wasn’t high, but it was a massive hike-a-bike. From there we could see the ATV trail we were supposed to be on way down below us. It leaves Portage Creek Road about a mile farther from where we started. There wasn't much of a trail connecting our dome to the main trail, so we rode and walked our bikes down the tundra-covered side of the dome.

We were delighted to reach the ATV trail, but it had taken us over an hour to travel the 2 miles to get there. (Hiking the main trail to that point took just 20 minutes.) We were finally able to ride for a bit, but soon we were pushing our bikes up another steep hill. Then another. Then another.

We went another 4.5 miles before deciding to turn around. We had gone 6.5 miles in three hours. Not knowing what lay ahead, we weren’t sure we had enough time, food, and water to go another 16 miles. You can read a report of that trip HERE.

This Attempt

Me hiking with Mike. Photo by Nikki

For our second attempt, we decided to hike. We shortened it up a bit by planning to drive up the Miller House mining road and camping where the ATV trail took off, then driving one vehicle around to Portage Creek mine road. We figured the hike would be about 18 miles. And by “we” I mean Nikki, Mike and I (and two of their dogs). Corrine decided against doing the hike. Something about not being in shape for that long of a hike. She was glad of her decision after her ancient, bent-over, limping husband got home. Friggin’ age! Friggin’ stupidity!

Our camping spot off the Miller House mining road

This time after reaching our previous endpoint, we pushed on.

The ridge hiking was nice. (And much nicer on the uphills than hike-a-bike!) We occasionally dropped into boggy, buggy saddles. Some were more boggy than others, but all were buggy. Often, we were out of the wind in those low points, so the bugs got to be really annoying. But then we would hike out of the bog into a breeze, and the bugs would be mostly gone.

Look closely and you can see all the bugs

At one point, Mike pointed out how bizarre it is to be hiking on top of a ridge and be in a swamp. I remembered puzzling over that after moving to the Interior from Southcentral. The mountains around Anchorage and on the Kenai Peninsula have a few swamps up high, but they are small. Nothing like Interior ridge swamps. If you haven’t experienced any yet, hike the Granite Tors Trail. That has a dandy swamp up top.

One of the not-too-wet swampy areas. I forgot to take a pic in the bad swamps!

The day was mostly nice with scattered clouds. At one point the sky started spitting, and we could see the shower coming toward us. We put on rain gear, but the rain lasted only about 15 minutes. When it was over, we quickly peeled. It wasn’t particularly hot, but it was too warm to wear rain gear while hiking unless you really needed it.

Nikki the optimist still has her sunglasses on!

Wildlife

We saw quite a few ptarmigan, but I got only this lousy photo

Outside of many bugs, we saw only a few birds, though several ptarmigan. It’s amazing how you can hike a ridge in Interior Alaska with views for miles and not see any big or even biggish animals. They are out there, but they are spread out over a vast area.

That said, we did see something awesome the day before. We left at different times from Fairbanks and met up at the Pinnell Mountain Trailhead on Eagle Summit. Nikki and Mike got there just a bit before me. They pointed out a herd of caribou on the south side of the Steese Highway. At first, I saw 20 or 30 silhouetted against the horizon and was impressed. Then I realized the animals were spread out over the flanks of the dome. There was probably a thousand or so! I’ve seen caribou in that area before, but not in numbers like that! We could hear them grunting. Then they started moving. They ran across the tundra, and many crossed the Steese Highway just to the west of us. Surprise wildlife sightings like that are awesome!

Bou!

After the Hike

We did the hike in a little over 7.5 hours. According to Strava it was 17.7 miles with 3900 feet of elevation gain. Mike said he was sore. Nikki didn’t say, but she stays in good shape. I was sore but not too bad.

Then we got in their truck and headed to Central for dinner at the roadhouse. Apparently, during the drive my age caught up with me. I found out when I got out of the truck. My sore knee, which had done mostly fine on the hike, was hurting. And my back was so sore I couldn’t stand up straight. (Probably because I had used hiking poles. I’ve used poles plenty of times, but I hadn’t used them for months.)

As we walked into the roadhouse, I was hunched over and limping, trying hard not to moan and groan too much. (Nikki and Mike were doing fine, but I insist on pointing out that both are quite a few years younger than I am.) When I shuffled into the restaurant, I half expected some kid to point me out.

Mama, look at the limping, hunched over old man! Why doesn’t someone put him to sleep? That’s what they do with old dogs!

Friggin’ age!

Of course, if I had been wise like Corrine, I wouldn’t have done the hike, but I also wouldn’t have been hurting. Friggin’ stupidity!

Aftermath

Pic by Corrine

The next day, Sunday, I didn’t feel too bad. I even went on the FCC Sunday Brunch Ride, which ended up being over 18 miles. I was sore and tired and having a hard time straightening up, but otherwise I was OK. I was on the mend!

But by Monday I wasn’t much better. I had planned to hike 4.7 kilometers with Corrine at Jane Lanford’s 47 years of running marathons party, but I quickly realized I wasn’t up for that. Instead, I putzed around Alaskaland. And Tuesday I was worse. Corrine and I went out for a couple mile hike to loosen up my back, but we turned around after a half mile. Now, it’s Thursday and I’m still nursing my aching back.

Pic by Corrine

Am I really that old? It was only back in 2021 that I did my Big Fat Stupid Hike. That one was 79 miles with 19,000 feet of elevation gain. I used poles then too. I didn’t really train for that one either, though I was in better shape for that one than I was for this one. Maybe five years can really make a difference. Friggin’ age!