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A few of us girls are planning to hike together one day a week the first hike was yesterday, June 2.  In the middle of a clear, sunny day we drove two cars to the Butte trail in Palmer.  This time I knew better and parked one car at the north trail head and another at the south trail head where we began.  It was warm and dusty, and all of us felt out of condition.  We took several panting, breathing breaks and made it to the top in 45 minutes!  The views are outstanding.  We marveled at the gorgeous mountains, glacier and the patterns of the farmers fields, then headed down the maintained trail on the north side.  Our first hike included myself (on the left), Mary Mystrom and Tamera Baughman.  We plan to hike each Tuesday at 1:00PM, interested parties call me at (907) 746-3256.

Gail Niebrugge, landscape artist

Now that we know about the two Butte trails it is fun to run over there when the weather is nice and have a choice. This fine clear, sunny morning we chose the south/east trail and were rewarded with incredible views from the summit and more great research for my original painting reference files! The mountain in the background is Palmer’s well-known Pioneer Peak.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

The trail widened and gradually descended to a trailhead marked “West Butte Trailhead”. No map, no directions, nothing! There we were stranded on the opposite side of the Butte from where we began. To reach our car we had two choices, we could retrace our steps and hike back over the mountain or hike four or five miles on roads. We chose the roads. A few minutes later a local homeowner named Butch drove up and offered to take us back to our car, he said he takes hikers back to their cars this all of the time. What a strange situation. Back at the studio I looked up the Matanuska Borough web page and found the map of the trail, it showed only the west route. No mention of the connection at the summit with the south/east route over private land. Hikers be warned.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

Even though the blowing dust obscured the view, we were protected on the west side of the Butte. This new upgraded section of the trail had lovely benches for hikers pause and rest and soak in the views. I photographed several beautiful scenes that could be used as reference material for original paintings. It was just about this point that we began to grow concerned that this new route might not connect with the original trail on the south/east side. We quickly dismissed the idea, since there were no trail maps or signs to warn hikers we had to assume a connecting route was somewhere just ahead.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

We followed the new trail from the summit and were delighted that it ascended through trees on the wind protected side of the knoll. It is a lovely path with amenities, rope handrails and wood stairs make the climb a joy.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

As we explored the summit of the Butte we found a new path covered in a heavy material using a web honeycomb pattern that looks like it will eliminate the erosion that plagued the old route. It seemed strange that we didn’t notice where this path joined the original main trail and that it wasn’t marked, but we assumed it was new and possibly still under construction.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

At the top of the Butte the views are awesome and well worth the climb. Today the mountains and glaciers in the distance were obscured by strong winds blowing glacier dust. A 360 degree panorama of glaciers, rivers and rich farmlands can be seen far below, a spectacular sight on a clear sunny day.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

After the initial climb the well-worn path is easy to follow, years of use have grooved and eroded a track several feet deep in many places and switchbacks make the ascent easier. The exposed south/east side of the knoll can be very windy, we were often sprayed by blowing dust.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Alaskan Artist

The stairs carved into the hilside are misleading, if you look at the top of the photo you can see the steps end and a very steep, dusty powder trail begins. The climb is 835 ft. and we did it easily in less than 30 minutes.

More tomorrow.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

It has been a few years since we’ve hiked the Butte Trail in Palmer, Alaska, it is a pretty straight forward 875 foot climb to the top of a knoll with commanding views at the top. We were surprised to see that passed through privately owned land, because we thought it was a borough trail.
More tomorrow.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist