While driving along Turnagain Arm, tomanoble and I began discussing names for the pill bottle hides we had resting peacefully in the back of the georig. This was the first of 9 caches whose seeds were supplied by gummybayer and sent out in the world by "papa" tomanoble and "mama" blazingpathways. Mama and Papa have different placement styles, but all of these newborns will be found relatively close to the trail.
Parking is located at the Johnson Pass North Trailhead, which is accessed at Mile 64 on the Seward Highway.The trail is 23 miles (one way) and is open for a multitude of outdoor activities, including hiking, backpacking, fishing, horseback riding, biking, skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling. This cache is placed in the first 1.5-mile section of the trail, which is closed to saddle/pack stock from April 1-June 30 and motorized vehicles yearround.
Summer travel on the trail is generally from June through October. During the winter and spring seasons, it is especially important to be aware of avalanche conditions. Traveling through Turnagain Pass in mid-May this year, we noticed that many mountainsides displayed wide swatches of brown where there had been glide slides. Approximately 1.5 miles into our hike, we encountered the remnants of an avalanche that had run over this portion of the Johnson Pass Trail. We've included photos in the gallery.
Here is the link to detailed Chugach information about the trail.
Chugach NF link
This is an avalanche advisory website. This page has great photos of some glide avalances.
Avalanche advisory website
If you enjoy mountainbiking, here's a run down the trail.
Singletracks link
For those who enjoy going out on a sled, here's a tame video as well as a ... extreme one.
Snowmobiling
Snowmobiling with jumps and drops
For historic uses of this trail (think gold rush and iditarod), see here:
A little Historic info