TRAILMONKEY'S Resurrection Pass Virtual Tour

Located in the Chugach National Forest, this 39-mile trail was carved by prospectors in the late 1800s and today is the most popular hiking route on the Kenai Peninsula. The trip can be done in three days by a keen hiker but most people prefer to do it in five to seven days to make the most of the immense beauty of the region and the excellent fishing in Trout, Juneau and Swan lakes.

T'here is a series of eight US Forest Service (USFS) cabins along the route for $25 per night. They have to be reserved in advance at the USFS office in Anchorage and, being quite popular, are fully booked for most of the summer which makes last-minute reservations almost impossible. Most hikers take a tent and a camp stove, as fallen wood can sometimes be scarce during the busy summer.

The northern trailhead is 20 miles from the Seward Hwy and four miles south of Hope on Resurrection Creek Rd. Hope, an historical mining community founded in 1896 by gold seekers, is a charming, out-of-the-way place to visit, but Hope Hwy is not an easy road to hitchhike. It does receive a fair amount of traffic in the summer but still patience is the key as eventually someone will give you a lift.

From Hope Hwy you turn south at the posted Resurrection Pass Trail signs onto Resurrection Creek Rd, passing the fork to Palmer Creek Rd. The southern trailhead is on the Sterling Hwy, near Cooper Landing or 53 miles east of Soldotna and 106 miles south of Anchorage. Hitchhiking is easy on die Sterling and Seward highways in either direction, or you can hop on a Seward & Homer Bus out of Anchorage (see the Bus section in the Getting Around chapter). A quarter of a mile east of the southern trailhead along the Sterling Hwy is the Russian River USFS Campground (84 camp sites, $6 per night for tents) and the trailhead for the Russian Lakes Trail.

An alternative route that avoids traveling to the remote northern trailhead is the Devils Pass Trail, which is posted at Mile 39 of the Seward Hwy, 88 miles south of Anchorage. The 10-mile path leaves the highway and climbs to Devils Pass at 2400 feet, where it joins the Resurrection Pass Trail. By using the Devils Pass Trail and the lower portion of Resurrection Pass Trail, you can hike from the Seward Hwy to the Sterling Hwy in two days.

For more information on the trail or reserving cabins along it, contact the USFS office for the Anchorage District: Chugach National Forest ('& (907) 271-2500), 201 East 9th St, Suite 206, Anchorage, AK 99501. Trail sections and distances (starting from the north) follow:

Sectional Distances	miles
Resurrection Creek Rd to Caribou Creek Cabin	6.9
Caribou Creek to Fox Creek Camp site	4.7
Fox creek to East Creek Cabin	2.8
East Creek to Resurrection Pass	4.9
Resuffection Pass to Devils Pass Cabin	2.1
Devils Pass to Swan Lake Cabin	4.4
Swan Lake to Juneau Lake Cabin	3.3
Juneau Lake to Trout Lake Cabin	2.7
Trout Lake to Juneau Creek Falls	2.3
Juneau Creek Falls to Sterling Hwy	4.5

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