The closest backcountry cabin to Anchorage is also the least visited: The trailhead for Snow Hawk cabin is just twenty minutes from town. Yet the cabin’s valley home is wild, with deep tarns and jagged peaks rising above it. In early autumn, the snow line creeps down the mountainsides, approaching a golden tundra carpet speckled with fermenting blueberries.
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| Descending a north-facing couloir from Tikishla |
Fall is a time of mystery in these mountains: Plants withdraw before the first wind-cast shards of snow and ice. The sun itself pulls away from the earth, leaving behind land and waters that seem to retreat within themselves, beneath the first skein of lake ice, beneath the layers of snow and rime, beneath the frost level that penetrates ever deeper. Humans retreat too: Valleys right near town are empty. The only tracks are of bear making their last rounds before hibernation.
Better to retreat to a cabin than to withdraw from the backcountry entirely. Snow Hawk cabin is a comfortable place to overnight during an exploration of the valley and neighboring mountains. It is approximately seven miles from the Arctic Valley Road trailhead, and only slightly longer from the Basher Road trailhead. Since the Snow Hawk valley is located on military property, it is wise to obtain a recreational permit from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), if only to ensure that there won’t be weaponry being used in the area when you intend to visit. Registering online is the easiest way (jber.isportsman.net). It costs $10 to obtain an annual permit, and subsequent visitation passes are free. The website has a map with numbered zones delineating different areas of the base, which allows users to monitor which areas are closed for training.
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| Adam Winner on the old medial moraine |
To access Snow Hawk via JBER, take the Arctic Valley Road exit off the Glenn Highway, and turn right after passing the golf course at a large sign that says “Snow Hawk Cabins.” Leave a printed permit on your dashboard at the trailhead, which is a small gravel lot adjacent to a gated bridge over Ship Creek. This is the most confusing part of the trip: Cross Ship Creek on the bridge, then follow the road parallel to Ship Creek for several hundred yards. Follow the larger gravel road as it switchbacks uphill. The road terminates near a large fence, which overlooks the creek. Take a right on an unmarked ATV trail, which climbs back to the fenceline before veering off to the right. Just 10 yards or so after the ATV trail veers right, there is a small hiking symbol on a chopped off tree. This marks the trail to Snow Hawk valley. It meanders uphill through attractive glades and meadows, switchbacking and wandering toward the Snow Hawk valley.
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| Pounding crowberries and blueberries |
At a prominence overlooking Ship Creek, a burnt foundation marks the location of what used to be lower Snow Hawk Cabin. Turn right here, continuing on a more faint trail as it side hills and climbs up valley toward treeline. The trail passes through a strange area of dead, dried-out alders. Many spruces in the vicinity of the alders are dead as well, but they do not appear to be victims of a fire. This blight is very unusual, and seems more extensive than anywhere else I’ve seen around Anchorage. The advantage of it is that the dead alders have been replaced with open meadows and views across Ship Creek. Beyond the defoliated alders, the trail passes through bands of tundra, birches, and spruce. Unlike most of the approach, some of this part of the trail passes through avalanche terrain, which could probably be avoided by swinging out into the middle of the broad valley. After sidehilling beneath Kanchee Point, it crosses a small stream and heads toward the cabin that is in the middle of the valley. The six-sided cabin can be hard to find, as it is located amidst lumpy old terminal moraine. The primary landmark is the long fin that divides Snow Hawk valley, and once divided the two lobes of a large glacier: The cabin is near the end of this fin, quite close to the ridgeline that leads up toward Temptation Peak.
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| Ascending Tempation |
Temptation is an easy hike from the cabin, less than two miles each way. Just follow Temptation’s southern ridgeline uphill, climbing past the glacial lake and the small spires near the summit. At no point is the climbing particularly steep or exposed, and the ridgeline presents relatively safe climbing option even if there is some snow on the south face. In contrast, the north face is precipitous, and in autumn or winter will be draped with deep snow and steep chutes. Temptation is far from the only destination in Snow Hawk valley: Expanses of blueberries, the delicate ridgeline dividing the valley, the glacial lake beneath Tanaina, and a northwest ridgeline approach of Tikishla are other possible destinations.
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| Bear tracks on Temptation |
Seen from the air, this valley appears as the shadow of a winter hawk. Its delicate breastbone divides the valley. White couloirs framed against black rocks are like wing tips that arc upward on the down stroke of its wings. The golden breast anchors the wings, a warm heart in a cold, dark, and distant valley that is just twenty minutes from Anchorage.
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| Snowhawk cabin, with Temptation on the left and Tikishla in the center. |
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