HOST OF HELP

MAT-SU — It feels ancient here.

Maybe it’s the way the light filters through the trees. Or maybe history hangs in the air here where cached along the 1.25-mile Scout Ridge Trail are the remains of a large Athabascan settlement. But hikers here won’t find the remains of old log homes or rusting barrel stoves. What remains is much more subtle.

Still, it’s good to know where you are in the world. Before homesteaders, the Gold Rush or the Colonists came to the Matanuska Valley, Athabascan people lived here off the abundance of the land.

And it’s these same abundant food and water resources that still draw locals to this spot, one of three access points to the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge, said Joe Meehan, Lands and Refuge Program coordinator for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The refuge also can be accessed off the Knik River exit off the Glenn Highway or from the Frontage Road along the Glenn Highway near the Glenn Highway Palmer exit.

The refuge’s diversity of habitat — including wetlands, forests, lakes and tidal sloughs — and wildlife — such as ducks, geese, sandhill cranes, moose, muskrats, salmon and beaver — have long attracted people to the area, he said.

Today people use the 45-square-mile game refuge for a variety of uses such as hunting, hiking, dog walking, wildlife viewing and photography, Meehan said.

And soon users will have more space for parking and a new public restroom to enhance their experience at the Scout Ridge Trail and the Cottonwood Creek access point.

Meehan said the plan is to add a vault toilet, like the one installed at Reflections Lake, and to expand the parking area before the construction season ends this year.

This summer, the refuge addressed lead contamination at Reflections Lake and Meehan said staff members also plan to address lead contamination at the Cottonwood Creek access point in the next few weeks.

The contamination was discovered when they dug a hole for the toilet. Meehan said they tested the soil for lead, but it came back clean. However, when they had a second area tested where part of the wetlands had been filled in, and where plans call for expansion of the parking lot, Meehan said the lead levels were through the roof.

“We’re going to put down a fabric layer and cover it up with gravel,” he said. “As long as we never dig it up again it’s fine.”

To reach the Cottonwood Creek access point, follow Knik-Goose Bay Road to Fairview Loop. Follow Fairview Loop to Hayfield Road. Turn left off Hayfield Road onto a narrow gravel road that provides access to the Scout Ridge Trail and the Cottonwood Creek access point.

Use caution on the one-lane gravel road that provides access to a lower parking lot where the refuge host will reside through Aug. 31.

Kelly Antill, his wife and their three children, arrived at the refuge Wednesday and are still trying to get acclimated to their new neighborhood. It’s a tremendous improvement over their old Spokane, Wash., neighborhood, Antill said.

“It’s absolutely beautiful out here,” he said from his cellphone, standing in the Cottonwood Creek parking lot.

Antill said he and his wife made a visit to Alaska last September and fell in love with the land and its people.

“Every person I have dealt with has been so polite and so nice,” he said. “That’s why we decided we wanted to move here in the first place.”

The areas around Cottonwood Creek and Reflection Lake were once places where people abandoned old cars or appliances, shot them up with guns or lit them on fire, Meehan said.

But all that junk has been cleaned up by volunteers, mostly from Alaskans for Palmer Hay Flats. Meehan said he thinks adding a host at the refuge will benefit users and help deter vandalism. He said he is working to hire a host for the Reflections Lake site, too.

“You need to have your own RV or camper trailer,” he said.

Contact Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.

Find treasure hidden along trail

There’s another treasure hidden somewhere along the Scout Ridge Trail, but you’ll need a GPS-enabled device to find it. That’s right, one of thousands of geocache locations in Alaska is hidden nearby.

Here are the coordinates you’ll need to locate the cache: N 61° 33.775 W 149° 27.014.

For more Alaska geocache locations, visit geocaching.com. You’ll need to create a free account to view coordinates for other caches though.