Anchorage Daily News

PALMER -- The sun is making a rare appearance as Alex Rossiter drives through the parking lot of the Kepler Bradley Lakes State Recreation Area and pulls up by the bathrooms. As campground host, she cleans the decrepit outhouses as one of her daily duties. Collecting day-use fees, renting canoes and assisting visitors are some others.

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But these days, things have been slow, Rossiter said.

Normally, hordes of people visit this longtime Valley recreation area to swim in Matanuska Lake, fish for trout or have a picnic in the grassy patches by the edge of the parking lot.

"The rain has just messed us up this year," said Rossiter, who worked as campground host last year and said warmer days brought sunbathers almost daily. "I worry about my campground because we're small. The bigger ones can handle the lack of business."

To call this season "summer" has been a stretch. With only two days above 70 degrees so far, and just a handful of sunny days, not many people seem excited about jumping into a lake. Even fishermen are rare, Rossiter said.

On this partly sunny afternoon, one family packed up its fishing gear after an unsuccessful outing just as a lone angler walked down the gravel pathway leading to the lake. A third family walked with their toddler in the picnic area. Other than that, the parking lot was empty.

It's a shame too because Kepler Bradley is a park with wonderful potential.

'PRETTY LOW-KEY'

Covering some 345 acres in the heart of the Valley, this green oasis offers some of the best recreation in the state. There are miles of trails; numerous lakes stocked with trout, grayling and arctic char; a large lake popular with swimmers and a picnic and camping area for those who want to stay longer.

Still, Kepler Bradley often is overlooked in favor of the more popular areas of Nancy Lakes State Recreation Area or Independence Mine. It's quieter, smaller and simpler than those areas, but that is its charm.

"It's pretty low-key," said Dan McDonough, who runs Lifetime Adventures, the private company that manages Kepler Bradley along with six other Southcentral campgrounds. "As a campground, it gets overlooked and people think of it as a day-use-only area, but word's starting to get out."

Lifetime Adventures took over management of Kepler Bradley six years ago, after state cuts reduced Alaska State Parks budget to the point that it could not afford to keep the area open. McDonough said Kepler Bradley is not one of the money-makers -- locations such as Eklutna Lake and Eagle River Campground are busier. Yet, he still likes the area and hopes the efforts to upgrade it will succeed.

He added six tent camping sites five years ago, and began renting canoes by the hour three years ago. This year, the newest addition is a four-RV camping area, which also can be used for group tent sites.

"The area has always had a good reputation among the horse people and a select few mountain bikers," McDonough said. "Hopefully others will recognize its value too."

Wayne Biessel, area superintendent for parks in Mat-Su, said that's Kepler Bradley's biggest strength.

"The greatest asset out there, really, is the trail system," Biessel said. "You've got the Crevasse Moraine Trail System and the university (of Alaska) land and Kepler Bradley, and if they all come together, there is huge potential for biking and horse riding."

The problem, as is often the case, Biessel said, is money. It's costly enough to maintain Kepler Bradley, much less invest in planning trails and building connectors.

Take a look around Kepler Bradley and it shows signs of being tired. The doors of the outhouses are literally hanging off. Along the trail around Matanuska Lake, empty beer cans and a discarded T-shirt litter the path. Down near one of the docks an empty Crown Royal liquor bottle perches on a wooden retaining wall. At the far end of the lake, old planks meant to span a marsh are sinking in the water and floating away.

Kepler Lake, accessed by a short spur trail from the parking lot, is not in much better shape. Pilings to a would-be dock stick out of the water, but there is no sign of construction.

NO MONEY, NO SIGNS

By the northeast side of the park, Long Lake, a popular fly fishing destination, needs a boost too. Outhouses are boarded up, Biessel said, and there's no signage to reassure anglers they're in the right place. There's no money to build these items, and vandals are making it worse by littering and driving ATVs in prohibited areas.

"We're after state capital funding to make some desperately needed deferred maintenance repairs," Biessel said. The money would replace a latrine at Matanuska Lake, the most heavily visited area of the park, where the main parking lot is located.

"But we also want to fix up the east side of the park, which includes Long Lake, Irene Lake and Canoe Lake. We want to have better signage because no one knows where to go." The funds also could help improve the road and parking to the area, said Mat Su Chief Ranger Dan Amyot.

Another ranger to patrol Kepler Bradley and the parks that are privately managed would be valuable, Amyot said: "That way, we can have more law enforcement presence in these places."

As area superintendent, Biessel said it is hard to see some of the Valley's best destinations fall ito disrepair. Kepler Bradley, in particular, has so much potential with its easy access and recreation options.

"It's a diamond in the rough, it really is," he said. "It just needs attention."

ADVENTURE OPPORTUNITIES

Joe Ortner has been going to Kepler Bradley the past five years, and it's one of his favorite places for year-round activity.

"It's got a nice diversity of trails and the lake views make it fun," said Ortner, who is on the board of Valley Mountain Bikers and Hikers, a trails advocacy group responsible for much building and maintenance of Valley trails. "In the wintertime, when the conditions are right there is good ice skating, and I like it for walking and trail running."

Ortner also is an avid mountain biker. He said Kepler Bradley's trail system, when linked with Crevasse Moraine, provides two to three hours of riding.

But he agrees the park needs help.

"They don't seem to have the funds for just basic vegetation brushing and making the hiking or biking better," he said. "There are some trails that are a bit troughed out and they need to be improved so they can dry out better."

Valley Mountain Bikers and Hikers does much of the trail maintenance, he said. The group was at Kepler Bradley just a week ago working on trails that will be used for an upcoming mountain bike and running race there in August.

"But we're really constrained by the turnout of volunteers. We certainly have good intentions, but volunteers can only do so much."

Lifetime Adventures owner McDonough said as part of his contract to manage the area, he'll occasionally take a four-wheeler out to clear fallen trees and brush. But projects like rebuilding the bathrooms would need state funding.

"The wind does rip through that area, and that bathroom needs a windbreak," he said.

Amyot, whose territory also includes Hatcher Pass, King Mountain and Big Lake, said Kepler Bradley needs just a few upgrades to give it that extra "umph" that will draw more people in. Unlike other parks that offer just fishing, or just camping, Kepler could have it all.

"Kepler is the only land-mass park short of Chugach State Park where people can come not only to camp, but to do a number of different things," he said.

"I think it could be a premier park."

Despite its struggles, Kepler Bradley remains a quaint area offering easy and affordable recreation, he said.

It's one of Rossiter's favorite places in Alaska. She lives in Palmer, just minutes away, but camps out at the park in the summer.

"I come out here in the morning, before we open up," she said, pointing to the grassy picnic area. "And it's just quiet and peaceful. It's a family place."

Find Melissa DeVaughn online at adn.com/contact/mdevaughn or call 257-4482.

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