One of the nice things about mid-summertime day hiking in Alaska is that you don't have to get off to a ridiculously early start to have plenty of daylight. We were at the trailhead by 11:00, and that seemed plenty early, even for a long, strenuous hike.
The route up Mount McGinnis starts with the West Glacier Trail, which runs along the base of Mount McGinnis and west of Mendenhall Lake and The Glacier. The trail provides an awesome and unique vantage point of these features.
A river of ice:
The West Glacier Trail itself is a fine day hike, even without continuing onward to ascend McGinnis.
At the end of the West Glacier Trail, we had travelled about 3.5 miles and gained 1300 feet. At this point, we had covered most of the distance required to reach McGinnis' summit, but had barely made a dent in the elevation - we still had 2700 feet to climb in 2 miles!
The end of West Glacier marks the end of the maintained trail leading to the summit. From there, a section of rock cairns and flagging marks the way before an obvious (although unmaintained) trail becomes evident again. Novice hikers should turn around at the end of the West Glacier Trail to avoid losing their way.
This section of trail wastes no time in climbing, and some sections are steep, requiring some hand over hand scrambling.
A nice flat spot in the woods near a creek seemed like the ideal place to take a lunch break. Brett enthusiastically chowed down on his leftover pancake; sure to provide him with much needed energy to reach the summit.
Bright blue glacial ice:
Rugged peak beyond the glacier:
Once above tree line, the trail continued its relentless ascent. We climbed several false summits before what had to be the real one finally came into view. I was feeling the burn in my legs and starting to lack energy, but I knew that there would be a great feeling of satisfaction at the summit.
I focused on the final ascent, and simply putting one foot in front of the other. Trying not to get the mind in the way of the task at hand can work wonders. At that point, the summit seemed to sneak up on me. I glanced up and I was practically there. A few more tired steps got me to the top, which was followed by the inevitable feeling ultimate relief.
The summit views were as expected. Spectacular.
Looking west, towards the Gastineau Channel:
I was the second one in our group to reach the top, and the other
two weren't far behind.
After the four of us caught our breath, we did a little more exploring of the summit. We were pleasantly surprised by a small herd of mountain goats, including this one with some kind of radio collar or tracking device around its neck:
We enjoyed the summit views for a few more minutes before deciding it was time to start our long hike down.
On our way down, we took a wrong turn on a social trail that led us nowhere. Instead of backtracking and looking for the real trail, we continued, bushwhacking through thick vegetation and hoping to find our way down. No such luck. After about 30 minutes of wandering aimlessly, we decided we'd be better off finding the trail that led us astray and backtracking. After more bushwhacking, we found the trail and retraced our steps. Sure enough, we found the junction for the real trail no more than 50 yards back the direction we came from. If only we'd done that to begin with... (lesson learned!)
We lost some time and exerted effort by getting off track, but the bigger concern was the ankle of my roommate, Mike. He'd aggravated it when we got off trail, and each step was a struggle. We proceeded slowly downhill, stopping every few minutes to let our injured hiker catch up. We didn't want to get too far ahead of him, and it was becoming obvious that the hike down was going to take a while. We continued, taking frequent breaks. The last thing we wanted was for our friend to hurt his ankle even worse and have to send for help.
I was somewhat relieved when we reached West Glacier. We were at least back to a maintained trail, and most of the elevation was behind us. It was still a very long and slow trek for our friend, and some steep sections made things a bit nerve wracking.
He was a trooper, though, and when we got closer the terrain got flatter and easier, and Mike was in much better spirits.
When we reached the trailhead, it was after 9 PM, at least 2-3 hours later than it would have been had it not been for the obstacles. Most importantly, we all made it back safely. We were all starving, and we went straight to Subway for dinner. A foot long sub has never tasted so good, or been devoured so quickly.
It was a long, tough, mentally and physically draining day, but not a day to be forgotten. Despite the obstacles, McGinnis was definitely one of the highlights of my summer in Juneau.
A look at McGinnis and Mount Stroller White early in the season from the south side of Mendenhall Lake (McGinnis is the peak on the left):
