Hiking Barbara Falls

Alaska Travelog #4
Eagle River - Sat, 15 Jun 2024, 11:45am

After getting an earlier-than-expected start this morning (I'm running on 5 hours sleep) we drove northeast from Anchorage to hike a pair of waterfalls in Chugach State Park. The first of these is South Fork Falls, aka Barbara Falls, near Eagle River.

To get to the trailhead we drove through a residential neighborhood to find a small gate surrounded by "PRIVATE PROPERTY" signs. If the crowded street parking was any guide, the trail was pretty popular. But then a knot of people came out of the trail, climbed into their various cars, and left the place almost empty. Woohoo— we'd have the trail nearly to ourselves!



The trail forks after a short distance to approach the falls from both above and below. We walked the "below" fork first, tracing along the creek to the bottom of the falls. Footing was just a touch dicey in a few spots, but my new hiking boots had no problem offering ample grip.

After seeing the lower view we doubled back to the main trail and continued on it to the upper viewpoint.



This upper viewpoint was definitely the main, probably even official part of the trail. The path to the lower viewpoint was just a foot path along the creek. It was nice, but not really maintained. Meanwhile the trail to the upper viewpoint was a graded fire road. There were even railings at the overlook to stop people from falling over. Of course, we went around them for better pictures.

Hiking Thunderbird Falls

Alaska Travelog #5
Eklutna - Sat, 15 Jun 2024, 1:30pm

After hiking Barbara Falls this morning, we continued driving out from Anchorage to the northeast along state highway 1. We were going from Chugach State Park to... another part of Chugach State Park. Yes, it's a very big park. A quick map estimate is that it's 50 miles across.

The trailhead for Thunderbird Falls is way more official than Barbara Falls. First of all, there are signs on the highway for it. There's an official parking lot— with, of course, a parking fee required. But hey, at least Alaska has joined the 2020s here and installed a payment kiosk so we can pay with a credit card.

From the parking lot a steep fire-road trail leads up a ridge around the edge of the river gorge then more gently down to a viewing platform.



The views from the viewing platform are fine. Not great, but fine. To be great there'd have to be a slightly clearer view of the falls. Right now the trees are in full bloom so the view's a bit obstructed.

The trail here is shaped like the letter "h". It doubles back slightly from the upper viewing platform to switch back down the side of the gorge to the river level. Although lots of people around us on the crowded trail groaned about how steep it was, we looked forward to it for an opportunity to get a great close-up view of the falls, as we had at Barbara Falls. Plus, the steep uphill on this leg of the trail is on the return, so groaning on the way down is premature. 🤣



Alas the lower viewpoint did not provide us the vista we were hoping for. Only the very lowest part of the falls is visible from the bottom of the gorge. I tried climbing up a steep dirt slope to the right, working my way above the grassy outcropping on the right edge of the frame. The dirt felt very treacherous but I managed it in my new hiking boots. Even so, the view was no better up there. I'd have had to go even further up to see more... and as dicey as what I'd already climbed 20' up was, I was not going to go higher.

The way back up over the lip of the gorge was steep, too— though not treacherously so. I stopped to catch my breath several times.

"It harder coming up than going down, isn't it?" a stranger jibed.

"It's like going on vacation on your credit card," I responded.

In beauty I walk... and pay the bill in full at the end of the month.