The Palmer Rail Trail

There is a trail near my house called The Palmer Rail Trail, named thusly because it follows the old railroad tracks that lead out of town and up towards Sutton. Back in the day, the trains carried coal from the Buffalo Mines down to Anchorage, to be shipped out for the war efforts. The railroad abandoned the line when the mines shut down in the 1960s, even leaving some cars tipped over beside the old tracks.

The trail itself is just around 6 miles, leading from just beyond my sister’s house out to the Moose Creek Campground. It’s a great trail, for the most part, but there are several “Washouts” that are quite tricky. Places where the gravel has avalanched down the sides of the cliff to the river below. They are passable, but you have to be very careful in doing so.

I have done parts of the trail numerous times, mostly on the Palmer side but also on the Sutton side. This was my first time doing the entire trail, though! I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous. I haven’t done a long hike like that in a while and had no idea what my head was going to think about it.

A local tour company called Revel Trek Tours organized the hike, leaving a van at the campground at the end to take us all back home again once we finished hiking. I have hiked with them before, and have enjoyed their company greatly – in fact, I particularly like the founder and hope to be able to call her my friend one day. It feels weird to pay somebody to hike with me – but that’s what I did. It’s all good…

We met at the trailhead at 9:00 on Saturday morning and headed on our way. The hiking was nice and easy, with our guide setting a rather brisk pace. We chatted amongst ourselves, getting to know each other: Stan, from Anchorage; Connie, from Palmer; Susan, our guide; and me.

We stopped a few times for a snack and/or a rest. We helped each other across each of the washouts (I could NOT have done that alone!). We shared our lunches with each other (I had carrot sticks, bell peppers slices, zucchini sticks, hummus, and almonds). We made sure we were each staying hydrated. We shared mosquito repellant. We told stories and shared experiences, both on and off the trails.

Finally, around 2:30, we made it to the campground. Susan got out a thermos full of nice, cold lemonade to share while we sat and enjoyed the fact that we had succeeded. After a quick drive back to our starting point where my car was parked, I was home before 4:00.

Yay me!