Hiking The Valley of The Ten Thousand Smokes:
Hiking in the Valley of The Ten Thousand Smokes was
some of the most amazing Franziska and I did in our
current expedition so far. With days of clear weather You
get to see an incredible scenery which is a mixture of High Alpine
mountains, glaciers, lush green valleys, Arizona like desert and
canions as well as lakes on one trip.
Don't expect to find the "Ten Thousand Smokes" as they vanished
since the earth and ash was cooling down completely since 1912
At present stage only Mt. Griggs seems to offer some really pretty
"Smoking" or better - "Venting" on its top, but that's
quite a hike to
get to.
Hiking into the valley is best done by joining the bus tour from
Brooks Camp. Brooks Camp can be easily reached by flying to
King Salmon with Alaska Air or Pen Air and then flying to Brooks
Camp with Katmai Air. This is sold as a roundtrip package.
Brooks Camp is perfect to set up base camp. You can either stay
at the lodge itself (which we found quite expensive) or - as we did -
camp at the N.P.campground which offers great possibilities to
store some of Your gear while You're out in the nature.
Ask to be dropped of at the trail head which leads down to a good
crossing of Windy Creek, the first River to be crossed when You hike
into the Valley of The Ten Thousand Smokes, along the Buttress Range.
Harzards to know about:
1. Sandstorms (Ash & light gravel travelling with the wind)
Hard winds easily cause lose ash to travel with the wind. To be
save and not waist a lot of time while hiking it is recommendable to
have some goggles handy. People with contact lenses should
defenitely have an alternative solution ready; at least a pear of
normal glasses.
2. River Crossings
You will have to cross rivers when hiking into the valley. So don't
expect to keep dry feet on this trip. The reason why to specially
mention the river crossings in the valley of The Ten Thousand Smokes
is that it can be hard to tell how deep a river is, to give You some
hints on that and on how You can generally proceed the safest way
possible.
Where to cross rivers in the Valley first depends on Your main
hiking route into the valley. If You choose to travel along the Butress
Range - as we did -, and then cross Lethe River to get to the east, we
have a GPS-Position where Lethe can be crossed best (we did not
even get wet feet!). This route is recommended if You don't mind
hiking south towards Mt. Mageik before You get further east. This
GPS-Position helps You to quite directly leave the slopes of
Buttress Range and head to the river avoiding the gullies, which
otherwise force You to do a "zig-zag" hike when You need to find
a crossing spot Yourself. Whatch out: Don't attempt to cross the
River on one of the snow covered bridges in summer! They can
break at any time and once going down the river this canion can be
the last thing You saw in Your life.
Sandcovered Snowbridge in Lethe River, 13th Aug 02
As the snow bridges are mostly covered with sand (ash) they are
sometimes hardly recognised. So be aware and don't step to
the wrong places while going along the rivers in the valley.
The GPS-Position for the River Crossing is:
N 58.16.791
W 155.14.943
At this GPS Position there were several possibilities to cross the
river as the river forks and forms an island in the middle. Before
You cross here, make sure that You find the same conditions as
we did (August 2002): Looking at the river arriving from the west
we were able to easily jump to the middle island which is a little
lower. You only have to jump a little more than one yard and pro-
pably can do so even while carrying a heavy backpack. To get
from the Island to the other river bank (which is a little higher and
harder to jump to...) we took off the backpacks and handed
them over with one person on each side - means: we jumped
without the heavy backbacks. Great about the crossing here is
that You don't get wet feet at all.
If You don't find the conditions as we just mentioned or if
You do not feel safe to jump then DO NOT CROSS HERE!
Hike further up along the river until it is wide and shallow enough to
wade through.
Hint on wading through Rivers:
1. Make sure the river is not too deep:
--> If You cannot see the water splashing around the rocks
throughout the whole
stretch of river that You intend to
cross:
A) Throw big Rocks at different distances into the water and see
how they behave. If the rock does not tumble and if You cannot
hear it touch the ground it is deep! ...maybe too deep!!
B) If You carry a walking stick use it to "sond" the ground. Throw
additional rocks further away into the river.
General Rule: the wider the river the better! You'll get wet feet
anyway - evaluate the longest stretch, best at places the river
does not have a bend. If there is a bend: The River is most
likely the deepest at the outside of the curve (faster flow -
more erosion).
2. Help each other:
If You are two or more persons, going together makes the crossing
easier. The strongest person enters the water first, facing upstream.
The second person goes behind the first person facing upstream too
and holding on to the backback of the first person. Third Person - a.s.o.
During the crossing hold this position and always face upstream
going together sideways step by step. In bigger groups it can help,
when the leading person gives a commando each time he initiates a
new sidestep.
3. Open the belt of Your Backpack. In case You fall this allows You
to get rid of Your backpack quickly.4. Be more stable...
While You are crossing do not look straight down in the water. It is
easier to keep balance and maintain stability when looking
further
upstream or sideways to the river bench.
Drinking water in the Valley of The Ten Thousand
Smokes
We were first told that we would have a hard time to find water in the
valley and at certain spots this is definitely true, but water was no
problem.
1. There was small rivers coming down the buttress range every 1/2
Mile
2. There was a lot of snow patches (even in August!) close to Novarupta
and depending on Your trip destination You pass glaciers where You
can either melt ice to get water or filter water from the glacial streams.
You should carry a filter system or at least boil the water for approx.
5-10 minutes before You drink it. We carried a "Katadyn"-Filter which
filters bacterias as well as bad chemicals at the same time; - so we were
able to just drink our filtered water right away.
If You produce drinking water from glacial streams that carry a lot of
silt You have to clean Your filter after every couple of liters, but it works.
If You have enough time let the water rest for 30-60 Minutes. The heavier
silt will sink to the ground and You don't have to clean Your filtersystem
that often.
..What else? ... Hope this information helps You to have a great time
on Your trip!
Talk to the people at the national park service at brooks camp
as well as to the people in the camp. They might have some
additional hints and experiences. --> Especially about the
behaviour in bear country!
Special thanx at this stage to Howard Maltby from NYC a very
experienced ranger of the Katmai N.P. service who told us a lot about
the right behavior in bear country and encouraged us to make our
sailing trip to Margot Creek at the other side of Naknek lake.
