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Jim Creek-Friday Creek Trip
by Bill Wakeland, Scree 9/82
August 14-15. Six of us showed up August 14 to conquer the wilderness of Jim Creek to Friday Creek, located on the north side of Knik River, an area that used to be a veritable paradise for fish, ducks, sheep, goats, bear and moose.
We drove to within .8 mile of Jim Creek, which was easily crossed, and we headed toward Knik Glacier on hard sand. It soon became apparent that since I was last there many years ago, the channels of Knik River have shifted southward. The old ones have filled in with wind-blown sand, and we had some four miles of hard "highway", followed by another four or five miles of good "road" in the trees and eventually the flood plain of Friday Creek. The greatest hazard was getting run over by an A.T.V. -mostly 4x4 pickups.
Right in the middle of Friday Creek was a 4x4 tilted at a crazy angle, with that dirty glacier water up to the windshield. For some perverted reason that sight made us all feel much better! The feeling was short lived, however, because a character in another 4x4 let us know that "the whole valley" is private property-all l,129 acres on both sides of Friday Creek where it emerges from the mountains, and there were ample signs and colored ribbons for emphasis. It is probably a mining claim from the looks of things, but getting shot at is another possible hazard up there.
That night, after the swamped 4x4 had been winched out by other tribal members, the maintenance required to make it run again was accompanied by shooting of variety of weapons until about midnight-apparently these types get their kicks out of seeing the fire come out the end of the barrel!
On the bright side, we had a nice camp site, the only serious rain was at night, several of us took a short and steep hike up the mountain that evening for some grand views, extending from Sleeping Lady to the Knik Glacier. The next morning Dona and John left early for a prior commitment in Anchorage, while Bruce and I crossed Friday Creek and followed the less traveled road that continues toward Metal Creek, to beyond Wolf Point where the whole river swung in close. At this point some beavers had been doing their thing and we gave up the road when we saw a fish jump in the middle of it! We assume the road dries out and continues to Metal Creek, as it used to many years ago.
It was easy to see where the swamped 4x4 had been beached. The oil (and water and silt) had been drained on the gravel and the empty oil cans another trash lay where they fell.
Hikers Bernie Helms, Dona Agosti, John Nevin, Eileen Cavanough, Bruce Poulin and I suggest that serious hikers wear earplugs getting through this area-the ATV's airboats, planes and motorcycles have taken over.
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