Backpacking trip to Eagle Lake/Symphony Lake

So, last Friday, a fairly large group of people (me included) set off on an overnight backpacking trip. It was out of a suburb to the north of Anchorage called Eagle River. The destination? The Symphony Lake hiking trail, which would take us to the camping area near Eagle Lake (the two lakes are right next to each other). In all, it would be a 5 mile hike. We had hoped to start around 5:30 in the evening, to get in a few hours with the sun still up. However, in trying to gather everybody and get all the necessary supplies, we didn't get to the trail head until about 7:30.


The overall group was split into two parties. This was the party I was in. We all had our packs, weighing anywhere between 30-60 lbs per person. We had tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, warm clothes, food, water filters, and logs for fires.


Shortly after we started, the sun went down and the trail was dark.


So, we broke out the headlamps in order to have some vision.



A few friends.

So, the rest of the trip Friday was in the dark, so we didn't get a lot of good pictures. We got to the campsite a little after midnight. We hiked up mountainous trails, traversed through a boulder field, and went through a valley in order to get to our campsite. We set up our tents and got a fire going by around 12:45. We then ate dinner, as most of us (at least those of us who were awake) were starving! It took us around 5 hours, traveling 5 miles, and we wanted food! Most people brought food that just needed hot water (ramen, mountain house dehydrated meals). My roommate and I? We made tin-foil dinners: steak, potatoes, and carrots! We heated it up around our fire and ate like kings. Most of us went to sleep between 2 and 3 am.

I woke up around 9:00 am the next morning. Guess what we had?


It snowed on our tents!

Not only that, but the clouds cleared up, and we finally got to see the scenery around us. The vast majority of us had never been on this hike, so, we had no idea what anything really looked like. We knew we had set camp near Eagle Lake, and we knew we were in a valley. We had assumed that the mountains were rather close by. We were pleasantly surprised the next morning.


The tent I was in, with a great view to wake up to, with Eagle Lake in the background.


The valley was incredibly wide, much wider than we thought we were in.



With the clouds out of the way, the sun was up, and we had a beautiful day!



We filtered the glacier water from this lake for our water. The green color from the lake means it is filled with glacier silt (think sand, but much finer), so it's not entirely fresh water. Once filtered, the water is quite tasty.



After breakfast, a few of us journeyed out to go find Symphony Lake.


It was just on the other side of the ridge we camped nearby.


Me doing what I do so often.


All of the guys on the trip.



And this is the entire group who spent the night (17 overall). We were all packed up and ready to head back home.



The first place we had to go through was the boulder field. Boulder hopping wasn't too fun in the dark with a 50+ lb pack. It would be a lot better now that there was light, and our packs were down at least 10 lbs (from the logs and food).


An incomplete cabin right in the boulder field.


We really had no idea how big the boulder field really was until we saw it in the light. It had to be at least 1 mile long, as once we started through the field, we couldn't see anything beyond the field!



Along the way, we passed by Upper Symphony Lake.



Looking back at the boulder field after crossing through it. You can't even see beyond it!


Nearing the end, looking at the valley we went through. Not exactly narrow.

So, one event that I did not get pictures of:

Near the end of the trip (I'd say with 1.5 miles to go), we came upon a bridge that went over the last creek we would cross. One of the guys went to fill up his bottle in the creek. He said the water was fresh and delicious, so I went to fill mine up. As I knelt down on a rock next to the creek, my pack shifted, and the 40 lbs propelled me into the creek. I stood up to find that I was about waist deep in cold, snow runoff water. Knowing I wasn't going to get any more wet that I already was, I filled my bottle, took off my pack, handed it to a friend, and climbed my way out. Fortunately, I had the clothes I wore the night before, which while dirty and cold, were dry. One guy lent me his gloves, and one of the girls gave me some hand warmers so I could get some feeling back in my hands.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip. While it wasn't my first campout, nor my first hike, it was my first Alaskan backpacking/camping trip. Hope you enjoy the pictures.