Nagoon Mountain (4403 ft)

Nagoon Mountain (4403 ft) in the Berries Group, Chugach Mnts

Sunday, August 5th, 2012

19 miles, 5690 ft total vertical, 7 hours roundtrip

Sunday, August 5th, was another overcast weekend day (like most other weekend days this summer) with the cloud ceiling hovering around 3500 - 4000 ft.  The weather looked a little better to the East so I decided to head out to the Berries.  It had been a few years since I had been up the Berry Pass, so I thought I could at least go that far.  And if the weather cooperated, I would try Nagoon Mountain, the northernmost mountain in the Berries.  Most of the peaks in the Berries have berry names. Nagoon is the Tlingit name for arctic raspberry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus_arcticus).

The route follows the Winner Creek trail from Girdwood up to the Berry Pass.  This is the same route used by 20-mile River packrafters.  From the pass, I headed up in a southeasterly direction until I gained the northeast ridge.  I stayed with the northeast ridge all the way to the summit.  This was a great ridge with the right mix of scrambling, exposure and route-finding, and some close-up wildlife encounter.

Nagoon Mnt left and Highbush Mnt (4669 ft) right seen from the Upper Winner Creek

View from Berry Pass looking North.  Kelly's Knob (2858 ft) in the right foreground and Longspur Peak (5401 ft) in the center.

From the summit ridge looking Northeast.  20-Mile river in the foreground, 20-mile glacier in the background.

Half-way up the summit ridge I ran into a flock of Mountain Goats.

Sitting quietly, I had a whole flock pass me at no more than 12 feet.  We had a staring contest for about 5 minutes. 

Only once they had continued on their way dared I get up and continue on my merry way.  

Summit pyramid of Nagoon Mnt.

Self-portrait from the Nagoon summit with Kinnikinnick Mnt (4468 ft) in the background.

View from the summit overlooking the 20-mile glacier, Kinnikinnick Mnt and some of the central Chugach mountains.

South view from the summit with (left-to-right) Blueberry Hill (4531 ft), Lowbush Mnt (4229 ft), Highbush Mnt (4669 ft), Lingon Mnt (4098 ft), and Berg Peak (3917 ft).

Southern panorama from Nagoon Mnt summit with (left-to-right): 20-Mile Glacier, Kinnikkinnick Mnt (4468 ft), Blueberry Hill (4531 ft), Lowbush Mnt (4229 ft), Highbush Mnt (4669 ft), Lingon Mnt (4098 ft), Berg Peak (3917 ft) and True Summit (4423 ft).  Right of True Summit is Mnt Alyeska (not a true summit).

Blueberry Hill

Blueberry Hill (4530 ft)
Chugach National Forrest
5 hrs 40 min roundtrip, August 16, 2011

Tuesday, August 16th, provided a single nice day sandwiched between a lot of rainy days.  I decided to knock off from work early and go for a climb.  Initially, I had planned to climb Crow Peak, but as it was still fogged in I diverted my attention to Blueberry Hill at the end of Turnagain Arm. 

I had tried Blueberry Hill once before this year (May 28th).  On that attempt I had to trn around some 3-400 yards shy of the summit due to bad snow conditions (corniced summit ridge).

The lower parts of this mountain provides ample bushwhacking (typical for this part of the Chugach) with lots of Devil's Club.  However, if you are lucky you'll find a path through the hemlocks that is not too bad.  Most likely you'll find some of both.  The map below shows what I believe is the best route for this "hill".

 You know you are on the Blueberry Hill ridge proper once you get to the communication repeater.  From here the ridge flattens (for a while) and provides some of the nicest ridge-tundra hiking anywhere in the Chugach.

The Blueberry Hill summit ridge looking back at the false summit.  Placer Valley is seen on the left side of the picture.

Looking West out the Turnagain Arm and Cook Inlet.  Penguin Ridge is in the center of the picture.

Another view along the summit ridge.  The summit ridge provided fun scrambling over and around a number of false summits and gendarmes.

Looking Northeast from the summit towards the 20-mile glacier terminal lake and Carmen Lake.

Summit ridge rocks.

Blueberry Hill in the late evening seen from the communication repeater.

Panorama from Northeast to Southeast.  20-mile lake and Carmen lake on the left.  Boggs and Begich peaks in the middle.  20-mile river, Portage river and Placer River on the right.  The Blueberry Hill false summit is on the far right.  Turnagain Pass can be seen on the very far right side of the picture (Blueberry Hill is a very impressive mountain seen from Turnagain Pass).

Twenty-Mile River September 2007

Kayak Trip on Twenty-Mile River September 2007

After knee surgery on July 10th I had been sitting and lying (mostly lying) around for more than two months in rehab. By September I was going stir-crazy not being able to do anything besides stationary bike and rehab training. Kayaking offered the only outlet at this point. After a few easy trips on local lakes I headed out to Twenty Mile River on a bright September 16th. The Twenty Mile River flows at about 3 mph and being able to average 5-6 mph in the kayak I can make it up the river at 2-3 mph speed. What took 2 1/2 hours to kayak up took only 50 minutes to come back down. This is a great upper body workout ... and fun too.

The flacid lower part of 20-mile river and the nice vistas


Some places the river picks up speed, and I have to output a bit more enrgy to get up!

Fall colors are starting ... already on September 16th

Observe the double (triple) chin ... the result of laying around for over 2 months.