Lace up your boots and grab a water bottle... [View All]

I'm taking you for a hike on the Granite Tors Trail -- difficulty "moderate/strenuous," total elevation gain 2700 feet. A description for you geology buffs - "A 15-mile loop trail going in a clockwise direction from east to west with access to alpine tundra, unusual rock formations and views of the Alaska Range and Chena River Valley. The tors are large granite outcrops that formed millions of years ago when molten rock pushed upward, cooling before it reached the surface. The surrounding earth slowly eroded, exposing the harder rock pinnacles."

Okay, here we go. This is Rock Creek which still harbored a bit of snow on its banks, even though the weather had been quite warm.



HullBoss on the boardwalk over the bog.



Making some progress along the trail. Our starting point was at the quarry in the background on the right.



Beginning to climb a bit.



This area was also impacted by the massive Interior Alaska fires of 2004, which burned approximately 6.5 million acres.



Look how far we've come - quarry in the center of the pic, way back there.



Here's HullBoss making his way through the burned black spruce.



Higher...



Some of these skeletal trees were really interesting. I'm not sure what causes these burls, but they look cool.



And here I am waving to you from the first of many crests on this trail. Behind me on the hilltop are some of the tors which, keep in mind, are approximately 200 feet tall. You can see how far we have to go yet, although we really felt like we'd come quite a ways already.



Okay, you can rest and have a granola bar now. :)