Anchorage Daily News

SHEEP MOUNTAIN LODGE -- Plump, ripe blueberries peeked out from the bushes, keeping Anjanette Steer sidetracked. She'd walk a few feet, pause and pick one, popping it into her mouth to test for ripeness.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Sheep Mountain Lodge owners Zack and Anjanette Steer recently completed improvements to the trail system behind the lodge to make mountain biking more enjoyable and provide better access to berries.

Story tools

Comments

E-mail a friend

Print

Share on Facebook

Digg this

Seed Newsvine

Send link via AIM

Follow on Twitter

Font size : A | A | A

"Here's a good spot," she said, stopping along the trail and pulling out a container.

At first, the area looked like any other, with willows, alders and low bushes turning red in places. Birch trees were just beginning to yellow, some with bright showy colors while others, still green, clung to what is left of summer.

At ground level, though, the blueberries were surprisingly plentiful. So easy to miss when hiking along at a steady pace, the blueberries all of a sudden seemed as noticeable as cantaloupes.

Now is the perfect time to harvest blueberries, a time-honored Alaska activity that is nearly a requirement for those who put up food for winter. Most years, said Steer, who with her husband, Zack, owns and operates Sheep Mountain Lodge along the Glenn Highway, the berries would be past their prime. But this year, with the cooler temperatures and plentiful rain, they were slow to arrive.

Which is fine with the Steers. This summer, the couple also completed the work required by a $4,000 tourism infrastructure grant from the Matanuska Susitna Borough, which allowed them to transform the already popular winter ski trails behind the lodge into a summer destination as well.

With new signs, 16 trailside benches and the work of a heavy-duty brush-cutter, the trails are now perfect for hiking, mountain biking and, at this time of year, berry picking.

"We've always had good berries, and people come up here every year," said Zack Steer, who has owned the lodge since 2000. "We call them the 'Bucket Brigade,' because they come with their buckets and containers and spend an entire week collecting berries.

"They're professional berry pickers."

But this year is even better, he said, because access is easier and when the berry picking is done, there are other recreational opportunities, too.

"I think in years past, people were intimidated by the trails," Zack Steer said. While perfectly hikeable, some visitors felt unsure of themselves, worried about getting lost because the trails form a spider web of loops off a main trail and can get confusing. Without signs, Steer said, visitors had no idea if they were on the right path.

"To us, this is our backyard," he added. "We just had to think like the visitors to realize that there needed to be some direction."

CHAMPION BERRIES

As Anjanette Steer filled her container, she decided to hike farther along the trail system in search of another berry patch. They're scattered alongside the trails and up into the woods, and an ambitious berry picker could spend an entire day out here, she said.

"We also have cranberries," she added. "I like to pick them too, but I like them when they're dark, like burgundy. That's when they're really good."

Steer said she puts the berries in pancakes, bread, muffins and cakes. They make good liqueur and can be turned into jam or syrup.

"And did you know that she (Anjanette) was the grand champion at the Alaska State Fair for her Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie?" Zack Steer boasted. "That was two years ago, and she used berries from Sheep Mountain."

We reached an intersection at the trail, which Anjanette Steer calls the East-West Trail but is listed as the Regular Trail on the new trail locator maps. It is the main connecting route to all the other loops. She and Zack also use it to train their Iditarod dog team.

Turning south off the Regular Trail, we ran into two berry pickers sitting amid a field of bloomed-out fireweed and blueberry bushes.

"How's the picking?" Steer asked the women, who had large, gallon-sized buckets already near full.

Janet Goard of Anchorage and her niece Kjirsten Tornfelt, 17, a Dimond High junior, looked up and smiled. Despite the misty rain and low clouds, they were happy with the results.

"We came up Friday," Goard explained. "We do a sibling get-together and this was what we chose to do this week. We spent all day Saturday doing the hot tub thing and staying inside because of the rain. So we decided today to get out here and pick."

Goard's sister and her 86-year-old mother were somewhere along the trails picking berries too, she said. They planned to take the stash back home to Anchorage and freeze the berries for use all winter.

Down near the Sheep Mountain airstrip, another berry harvester tried her luck but said the pickings were slim.

Anjanette Steer directed her toward the Regular Trail, where she could find big patches of ripening fruit.

Back by the Rollercoaster Loop Trail, pickers walked the banks of Gypsum Creek.

"We have people call all the time, wanting to know if the berries are ripe yet," Zack Steer said. "They'll call every single day, and when they get ripe, they get in their cars and get up here."

'ALL SORTS OF PLACES'

After filling our containers, we headed back to the lodge to change into riding clothes and check out the trails by bike. Not only are the short loop trails now much better suited for mountain biking -- Zack Steer spent the summer clearing the trails -- but also Anjanette wanted to showcase a connector route she likes to add to her rides.

This route follows the Regular Trail to its easternmost end at a loop section known as Thriller, then drops down along the Glenn Highway and continues east for another mile to a turnoff at Mile 115. There we accessed old Glenn Highway, abandoned after road improvements to the area were made in the mid 1990s.

This 4-mile section of old road bed is still mostly paved, although cracks and fissures run along sections, and riders must pass through steep ditches where the drainage pipes were removed after the road became obsolete.

"I love this part of the trail because you have the whole road to yourself," Steer said. "We bring the dogs up here during training and can go all the way to Gunsight Mountain and beyond.

"You can come just to bike the trails, but they're not that long and some people might get bored," she added. "If you're looking for a really long day, it's nice to add this section."

Other riding options include the south side of the highway, where there is a road to a nearby repeater tower and paths to a series of ponds and lakes known as Knob Lakes.

"There are all sorts of places to go," Anjanette said, as she pointed out options for winter skiing, dog mushing and riding. "These are like our streets."

GETTING OUT

Zack Steer said the borough grant got him motivated to fine-tune the existing trails, and he hopes to create even more signs and provide better clearing in the future.

Money for the grant comes from borough bed-tax revenues and is aimed at improving tourism opportunities in the region. The grant paid for the 10 signs along the trails showing color-coded trails and a "you are here" dot to orient people. Twenty benches, 16 of which are scattered along the trails at scenic viewpoints, were added too.

Next year, Steer said he hopes to add signs that actually identify each loop. Some, such as Squirrel or Corkscrew, resemble single track while others, such as Rollercoaster and Cruiser, are wider and more cleared.

Anjanette Steer said there are no plans to add more trails, though, although if she and Zack were to get another grant, they might consider a connecting trail from the upper end of Thriller to the abandoned Glenn Highway. That way, she said, trail users needn't go alongside the main road to make a connection.

"There's a lot of potential for things like a mountain run or natural history guided tours," she said.

But for now, the couple is excited about the coming season. There are berries to be picked and trails to be ridden. As soon as the snow flies, ski trails will need grooming.

"The tourists spend 95 percent of their time inside their cars or in a building," Zack Steer said. "This will help them get out there and see the rest of Alaska."

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

ADVERTISEMENT