Rendezvous Peak Ridge
by Shawn Lyons,  ADN, 6/28/92  "Gems of the Chugach"

And finally, when I've done too many long hikes and have spent too many sleepless nights walking or hiking along some windblown ridge or in some mosquito-ridden valley, there is a trail that runs along the crest of a level ridge that runs south of the ski slopes off Rendezvous Peak at the top of Arctic Valley.  I embrace this route like an old friend, even though we've only been acquainted for a little more than a year.  Not only is this trail an easy, graceful hike, it also offers one of the most spectacular views in the Chugach.  On a clear day, a 360-degree view includes Anchorage and Knik Arm, Sleeping Lady and Mount McKinley, Pioneer Valley, every high mountain between Anchorage and Eklutna, and - directly below and to the south - the great rift of Ship Valley to where it arches up toward Indian Pass.  Immediately below on the left is the South Fork of Eagle River with its quaint neighborhood dissolving into the tundra and mountain upstream.  You can go as long as you like along this ridge, even to the oint of descending off the edge of the ridge and forging ahead toward the passes of Cantata or Eagle peaks or the shore of Symphony Lake or the next ridge that rises southward.  Or you can go as short as you like, to that first lump of rocks beyond the shadow of Rendezvous Peak and sit and think ... or don't think.