A midsummer day led to the start of an abrupt and unexpected adventure, hiking to the peak of Gunsight Mountain. The curator of this event, the locally seasoned owner/operator/mentor of this outdoor company, Don Wray, reached out to me. He handed two other Assistant Guides and me a sheet of paper.

Further, the paper informed us this new assignment was to take place the next day.

Printed on the paper was a simple topographic map of Gunsight Mountain with dots indicating a “suggested” route to the summit. Subsequently, the only instruction we were given was where to park at the base of the mountain. It was our job to scout a new route up Gunsight and document the process.

The evening before the hike, the three of us sat down to plan the events of the next day. We used Don’s “suggested” route to create a series of connecting straight lines on the app Caltopo. With these straight lines and a compass, we could determine how far and in what direction to travel based on how many degrees it was from North. With the route planned, we created a packing list:

At 9:30 AM on June 21st, we arrived at the “Gravel Pit”. This is the trailhead for Gunsight Mountain. It is located 1.5 miles East of Sheep Mountain Lodge on the Glenn Highway. We oriented ourselves to begin our ascent up the mountain. At first, we mostly traveled north and northeast.

There is no existing trail, and navigating through the Alaskan Bush can be tricky, if not nearly impossible. Luckily, the moose carved out a series of crisscrossing paths through the Alder bushes that we enjoyed using.  Simultaneously, as we moved through the bush, we stayed together and kept our eyes peeled for moose and bear. Each of us carried bear spray, and we consistently called out to warn the bears of our presence. We looked to surrounding landmarks to maintain our orientation.

Hiking to Gunsight, our first obvious checkpoint was a small saddle to our Northeast. As our group gained altitude, we noticed a shift in the vegetation from dense alder to thick, sponge-like duff. While making orienteering easier, walking through the duff required high and deliberate steps. After reaching the saddle, we got our first view of the actual summit of Gunsight. We changed directions and headed North, Northwest up a gully and into the tundra.

Seeing our goal was encouraging, but the slope angle at which we were traveling had significantly increased. We now traveled at a much slower pace, switch-backing our way up through steep tundra and loose rock. As the top of the ridge became closer, the rocks over which we had to navigate became bigger and looser. Additionally, we had to intentionally alter our course to avoid sections of the route that snow still hadn’t melted.

We decided an attempt to traverse the snow was too dangerous. Making one final push, we moved up the slope. We then moved in a horizontal line to avoid being hit by loose falling rock. Cresting the ridge brought incredible views that we hadn’t been able to see till then. The summit was to our immediate right. We celebrated by having lunch and attempting to FaceTime our fathers to wish them a happy Father’s Day.

After spending a considerable amount of time taking in the views, we headed down using the preexisting trail up the mountain. This trail was incredibly steep and required careful foot placement and balance. The route we had scouted on our way up was less of a harsh incline and gained altitude over a greater distance.

Overall, it was 3.6 miles from the “Gravel Pit” to the summit, had a total gain of 3,538 feet, and took three hours to ascend. (Alaska DNR) It proved to be a challenging but extremely rewarding hike that provided us the opportunity to practice our route-finding and navigation skills in the backcountry of Alaska. The crew celebrated our successful mission with cinnamon rolls from Sheep Mountain Lodge.