Lost Lake
When people new to Alaska ask what they should do for a day trip, Lost Lake is always one of my first suggestions. You can bike it. Hike it in a day. Camp by the lakes. Or, if you plan far enough in advance, you can even stay at the beautiful Dale Clemens Cabin near the Seward trailhead.
Honestly, I’ve only ever biked. Every time we bike it, we start at the Primrose side. I can’t say it’s the best way, but to me the climb seems to be a bit more broken up. Also, I now like our tradition of finishing in Seward. After finishing Lost Lake trail, I bike to Seward, about 5 more miles, mostly on a bike path alongside the road. Woodsen bikes back to the car along the road (about 12 miles with some good up-hill climbs) then drives to Seward to meet me.
On this particular trip we camped the night before at the Primrose campground in Mayflower.
Mayflower was my trusty VW Westfalia we sold last summer. It was a good van, and we had many adventures in it. The only problem was we had just as many repairs as we did adventures if not more.
So we did the practical thing and sold her.
And I cried.
I still get nostalgic when I run across her in old pictures.
Well, like I said, this adventure started with a night camping in Mayflower at the Primrose campground with our friend Cia, from Switzerland and some Moose’ s Tooth beer.
In the morning we packed up and set out on the trail. In the past we have shuttled cars, but this year Woodsen planned on biking back to pick up the car.
The trail up is pretty steep and technical at times. I can definitely be found walking my bike up certain parts and getting passed by runners, which is always a bit discouraging.
Once at the top, the trail flows easily and the views are spectacular. There is not much more I love in a landscape than turquoise lakes.
It’s easy to get in a grove biking and forget to stop and enjoy the view, but don’t. This trail is only 16 miles and biking it doesn’t take us more than 4 hours. Take your time and explore, you won’t regret it.
So, I fell a lot when I first started biking (I still fall, but not as much, thankfully). Mostly I was just getting used to being clipped into my bike. Because of my falling tendencies, I usually opted for the back of the pack so no one would get the joy of watching me fly over the handrails of my bike when I fell. There was a couple of such instances on this trip, and I didn’t think much of it till we got off our bikes to walk to the Dale Clemins cabin. Woodsen looked at me and started laughing.
He wouldn’t tell me why he was laughing. He just demanded my camera then finally showed me what was so comical.
That’s right… that’s a tire tread on my face.
It takes special crashing talent to achieve this look!
There’s another gradual climb before heading down toward Seward. After that the trail goes through an area where it hugs a rock face on one side and has a pretty steeply sloped hill on the other side. Fortunately, there’s plenty of brush to break your fall if you happen to slip off the trail (first hand knowledge on that).
The trail opens up and the rest of the ride is zipping through the forest dodging hikers, with only a few rocky creeks to cross over.
Another injury free ride on Lost Lake!
After a little break, we head down the road. Only one left and then a right on the highway at the fire station to get back to Seward.
Not a bad view to enjoy while we wait for Woodsen to arrive with the car.
It’s tradition to get fish and chips at Ray’s, so that’s where we headed.
