|
Resurrection Pass Trail
The Resurrection trail runs between Hope out to the Sterling Highway near Cooper Landing. There are many connecting trails and one can even cross the Sterling Highway, pick up the Russian Lakes Trail, connect it with the Resurrection River Trail, and you would end up on Exit Glacier Road just outside of Seward. Another variation to cut a day off the hike would be to enter or exit via the Devil's Pass trail. To find the trailhead near Hope, take the Hope Highway off of the Seward Highway. Just as you are entering the town of Hope, take a left on Palmer Creek Road and then an immediate right on Resurrection Creek Road. The parking lot for the trailhead is near the end of Resurrection Creek Road. There will be a wooden footbridge that creates access to the other side of the creek where the trail begins. The parking lot at the Cooper Landing end is just off the Seward Highway. When heading toward Seward from Anchorage, just after milepost 53 there will be a bridge that passes over the Kenai River. Immediately following that bridge there is a turn-out for slow traffic on the right side of the Highway. At the end of the turnout, there is a federal parks sign announcing the beginning of the driveway to the parking lot at the trailhead.
We spoke with a couple of bikers as we started our hike in 2000. They told us
that it takes them about two days to reach Cooper Landing where a car would pick
them up. They also
noted that there are some dangerous water crossings on the second day of their
ride. They would have to carry their bicycles across logs that have fallen
across Quartz Creek and Johns Creek. We never heard from them again.
But then of course we did not know them at all, so this is not surprising.
In June of 2005 Red Leader had managed to make reservations for three cabins along the trail. She invited me and Claimjumper to join her, as well as DJ Chester Chomp and Buzzkill from the World of Sound podcast (worldofsound.libsyn.com). She told us that she had been very fortunate to be able to line up cabins for the entire trip. Reservations can be made no earlier that 180 days before one plans to use them. Click here to go to the directory of vendors for the contact information on how to reserve the cabins. Red Leader waited until May 2005 to try to make her reservation for the Devil's Pass Cabin. She does not hike the trail unless she has this reservation because this area of the trail is often windy and rainy. Plus, this is the half way point, so it is the perfect place to stop. After she found a date in late June that the cabin was open, she reserved it and then looked for a cabin in either direction. This time she got lucky. Both the Romig Cabin and the Fox Creek Cabin were available. These two cabins are located about half way between the trailheads and Devil's Pass Cabin. This meant that we would be able to leave our tents at home. Five pounds off one's back reduces pack weight by about 10%.
The most deadly animal we encountered was the mosquito. One of the best things about this hike is that there is plenty of water, so you can lighten your pack tremendously (2 pounds per liter) if you just bring a small water bottle and a water purifier pump. It rains a lot in the pass, which means there are plenty of streams, creeks and lakes from which one can pull water. This also creates plenty of breeding ground for mosquitoes. Even though each morning we would slather ourselves in Off! Skintastic with SPF 30 sunscreen, it would sweat off as the day wore on. So Buzzkill kept an aerosol can of insect repellant in the side pouch of his backpack that we could quickly reach for when we needed it.
Click here to go to the hike description page --> Last Visited: June 2005
|
Whether you are interested in a day hike or a
multi day backpack/bicycle trip,
Resurrection
Pass would be a good bet for adventure. This trail is level
enough so that it has become a favorite for mountain bikers and hikers
alike. For our first exploration of this trail, we grabbed our friend and fellow adventurer,
Mountainman, and hiked out
about three miles one afternoon during September of 2000. The leaves were
on fire as the sunlight danced across the reds, yellows and oranges. In
the Summer of 2005 we were fortunate enough to have been invited by another
friend, Red Leader, to join her for the entire four day hike. She had done
the hike fifteen times before, so we had the benefit of a seasoned veteran.
After hiking this trail I would have to rate it as a medium difficulty hike
purely because of the length. Otherwise, the grade is not steep at all and
given that it is such a well maintained trail, as long as you give yourself
enough time, anybody who can carry a 30 to 40 pound pack can hike it. And
if you plan to bike it, as long as you can pack gear for two days, the trail
should be no problem.
The
old outhouse on the other side of the footbridge has been removed at the Hope
end of the trail. It has been replaced by a modern brick toilet facility
that now sits across the parking lot from the bridge. At the Cooper
Landing end, there is an older forest service toilet. There are
cabins along the trail that also have outhouse facilities. We never had to
dig our own trenches while hiking the trail. But we were glad we brought
our own toilet paper as there was none to be found at the cabins'
facilities. There is no charge to use this trail or park in the parking
lots. However, cabin rental is $50 per night and they must be
reserved. (See below.) If you decide to camp instead of stay in a
cabin, there is no charge. The camp areas have no
amenities except flat clear areas to pitch tents. Before you begin your
trek, you may want to give the Kenai Forest Service a call to check conditions
and make sure no forest fires are burning in the area. 
When we hiked the trail in July 2005, all of the water crossings had solid
bridges, and the only potential dangers we saw for bikers were there were cuts
in the trail for drainage. If one was traveling too fast and could not
stop, the bike's front tire will go down into the trench and the rider could
flip over the handlebars. Overall, the trail is excellent for
biking. If bikers begin at the Cooper Landing ending, it can be a slow
tough climb. But the rest of the trail is relatively easy in terms of
grade. 
Claimjumper and
Mountainman had a blast photographing the fall colors, ice forming
around branches in
the smaller brooks that were beginning to freeze at night, and the wildlife
along the trail. We found several Spruce Hens. Claimjumper advanced on them slowly and snapped some pretty good
pictures.
Most locals take some of the weekend to do this hike (i.e. take Friday and
Monday off). Bicyclers can do it over the weekend. So if you are
coming to Alaska on vacation, you should have no problem making reservations for
the cabins during the week. We started the hike on Saturday. Monday
and Tuesday we saw virtually no one for most of the day. The day
before we started a boy scout was mauled on the trail. So in addition to the
packing list found on the 
Previous to this trip I had not done
any hiking all summer. So to prepare myself, I loaded my backpack with my
sleeping bag, a bunch of pillows, and some weight plates to get the weight to
just over 50 pounds. The week before the hike I took three one-hour hikes
just around the neighborhood (which was basically flat). I did these in
hiking boots that I had used the previous two summers. We recommend wearing hiking boots for this trail. Even though
the path appears well maintained, since it rains so much there were always
spots that were sloppy. I had no trouble with the hike, and had no
blisters. Buzzkill had never been on an overnight hike in his life and he
only trained once by loading his pack and walking with me. He, too, had no
trouble. Red Leader was the only one who experienced any pain along the
trail. She thought that she had a bone fracture in one of her toes, but
the next day she found that walking tip toe for about a mile solved the
problem. Perhaps the toe had popped out of joint. We were hiking
approximately nine miles per day with stops from time to time to snack,
rehydrate, and take in the views. We would also drop our packs for about
an hour to eat lunch. 
