Thrills on Blueberry Hill

Hi Blog!

On Friday, July 26, 2019, we left Denali State Park behind. Our next stop was the Grand View Cafe and RV Park along the Glenn Highway. We had driven this part of the Glenn Highway on our way from Glennallen to Willow. We didn't have time to stop on our way into the Kenai and were excited to get back and explore this area.

The Grand View sits high above the Matanuska River in the Talkeetna Mountain Range. From our vantage point, we can see across the Matanuska River to the Chugach Mountains. We love when we have the opportunity to hike right from our RV. Here we are at the "trailhead" on our way to the scenic overlook on Blueberry Hill.

The trail starts as an ATV path and soon heads off on a single track through the fireweed.

On both sides of the trail, we are surrounded by blueberry and cranberry bushes. We restrained ourselves on the way up, but on the way back, we were sure to collect as many berries as we could. We learned that the berries pictured below were crowberries. They are edible, but taste better when cooked.

Our first viewpoint let us look over to Lion Head. If you look carefully, it almost seems like there is a lion sitting on top of the mountain. Just below the Lion Head is where we hope to do some gold panning along Caribou Creek.

The higher we climb, the smaller our RV park looks.

Just across the Glenn Highway is Sheep Mountain. It extends over 11 miles along the highway and is home to Dall Sheep. The white coat of the Dall Sheep make them easy to spot on the green hillside just below the stoney summit.

Here Kathy uses her spyglass to watch the Dall Sheep as they graze along the hillside.

After taking in the Talkeetna Mountains, we turn around and focus our attention on the Chugach Mountains. From this vantage point, we can watch the Matanuska River wind its way through the valley below.

It's selfie time!

Here is another view of the Matanuska River with the Chugach Mountains in the background.

As we continued our hike, we got our first glimpse of the Matanuska Glacier. We are looking forward to getting out and hiking on the Glacier. More on that in the next blog.

Our return hike took twice as long as the hike out. Not that the hike back was harder, it was just more fruitful or should we say frutiful!

Stay tuned for the continuing voyages of Buster and Dusty!