Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Bird Ridge and Bird Ridge Overlook

Since I haven't posted one of these in a while, I thought I would post a couple of my favorite recent pictures. We are getting close to ending the winter season and I may not get to hike with my axe for a bit. This hike is Bird Ridge and Bird Ridge Overlook which starts at sea level climbs to almost 5,000 feet but includes at least 6,000 feet of elevation gain over approximately 15 miles. Overall 8.5 hours of strenuous hiking with some running.

Bird Ridge Summit





Bird Ridge Overlook with Bird Ridge Summit WAY in the distance

Most impressive. You look great atop the summit

Wow! Great pictures, and a great hike, too!

Is that a 15-mile round trip? 8 hours up and back with 6k elevation gain ...in snow! Pretty impressive.

I so love Alaska . . . returning in July!

15 miles round trip in 8.5 hours. In fairness, much of the hike is snowless.

I hike to Bird Ridge frequently as a training run for Mt. Marathon July 4 in Seward. But we went 5 hours (round trip) beyond Bird Ridge. Even this area had South facing ridge trails that did not have snow on them.

Where are you headed?

When I first visited 2 years ago I managed to visit 4 of the 8 national parks in Alaska. I also managed to avoid seeing Denali, even with a summit flight over it.

Outside of just missing Alaska in general (and you can throw in the Moose's Tooth and Chilkoot Charlie's under "general"!), I will be taking another Denali flight (and glacier landing) out of Talkeetna and visiting 2 more of the national parks. (I really want to believe that Denali is not a hoax!)

I'll be in Anchorage mostly, but I'll be taking a day round trip flight to Lake Clark NP (plan a modest hike there to Lake Kontrashibuna). I'll also be driving out to Matanuska Glacier on the Glenn Highway, probably some light hiking there. And I'll be hitting the road for three days to check out the Kenai Peninsula, winding up in Homer. From Homer I'm taking a round trip day flight in to Katmai NP to bear watch at Brooks Falls.

There are other plans too, but those are some of the main objectives.

I hope to return two years from now to visit Gates of the Arctic NP and Kobuk Valley NP. And I'm thinking of checking out Barrow at that time too.

But even before July and Alaska arrives I've got a 17 day road trip next month up the West coast to Vancouver (4 more national parks to visit that I haven't been to yet, 3 baseball stadiums I also haven't been to yet).

Dang, Chicagowright, you've forced my hand -- everyone can see that travel is even bigger for me than hiking! (Have been to all 50 states and all 50 state capitals, but still working on having been to all national parks and all MLB venues.)

Got 2 other big trips this year after Alaska. (Actually, I'm even more of a restaurant and food junkie than travel freak. But that's another story.)

But I do hike -- was down in Phoenix this last weekend and did Piestewa Peak (Squaw Peak).

Wow, I love the photo of you standing on that peak.

Are you landing on Ruth Glacier? We did that during a cruise trip before we moved to Alaska.

Are you planning on hiking around Anchorage? Most of these pictures I post are 10-15 drives. This particular Bird Ridge hike is a little further down the highway but only about 20-25 minutes away.

This is still my favorite peak picture and has been the desktop on my screen for years. And what's funny, is I'm pretty sure I'm wearing the same shirt! I use my good hiking clothes a long time!

Yeah, I'm sure the glacier landing will be on the Ruth Glacier (the Don Sheldon Amphitheater). That's where it was 2 years ago for me, and that's where it is for almost all glacier landings I suspect. Although that seems to be the default target for all landings I'm also sure that weather sometimes diverts landings to alternate locations. (But I would hope that I don't wind up in an alternate place -- you can't go wrong with the Ruth Glacier. As you know, just spectacular.)

I had done Flattop 2 years ago, but I'm not currently planning any hiking in the Anchorage area for this trip. I'd also done some of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail 2 years ago, and I suppose it's possible I might look at that again -- I haven't completely definitized my plans yet.

Oh yeah, this is a good one too. You sure are brave, I would never stand like you do on such open air cliff-like locations, my balance is iffy.

No wind helps!

There is a "diving board" (not the real one) just a few feet west of there. I once saw a person wearing an airline logo T-shirt with the words "I can fly" standing on it.

The cool thing about the Half Dome shot is I also have pictures from the Curry Village parking lot below where I was talking to my family on my cell phone and they could clearly see me with binocs and a zoom camera.