Hope-Palmer Creek Trail

Heading to hope for is another of our summer. Usually, we wait till July to make sure the snow has melted off the trail.  My yearly visit to Hope is focused primarily on two things; the Palmer Creek trail hike, and the delicious Rueben’s served up at the Sea View Café.

My first time experiencing the beauty of the Palmer Creek trail was during a weekend trip with a few friends. We headed down for the yearly hope Wagon Trail Run (which still registers participants by mail only 🙂 ) after the race we spent the night at a friends cabin.

The next day we wanted to go on a bike ride so our friends mom suggested riding up the palmer creek road then hiking up the trail to the two tarn lakes.  The Palmer creek road is 12 miles long and up-hill pretty much the whole way. It wasn’t my favorite ride, and in years since we’ve opted to drive, but I will say the ride down was enjoyable thanks to minimal traffic and a smooth road.

The road passes the Palmer creek campground then shortly after dead ends into a marked trail that follows a creek. The trail dead ends in an opening with a panoramic view of the palmer creek valley, mountains and a beautiful creek and waterfall.

Once you get to the opening you can see the long switchback of the trail climbing to the left of the waterfall, but the trailhead isn’t marked and isn’t really obvious. It almost looks like faint car tracks.

There is also a trail you can see going up the valley to your right when you get to the opening, but I haven’t explored that trail yet.

While the trail isn’t really obvious at the trailhead, as soon as you get find it, it turns into a well defined small gravel path.

The first lake you come to is my favorite, and always a great photo opp.

The trail is narrow and steep, but fairly short.

Once you get to the top the first lake is just a short walk along the creek.

We enjoyed a snack and some sun at the first lake before crossing the small creek to hike to the next lake.

At the second lake, we went for a very cold dip in the lake.

Down we go.

Down the mountain and down the road back to town to enjoy a Reuben and a beer. Nothing like soaking up some of Alaska’s finest scenery and finishing off the day with good food and friends.