PEAK EXPERIENCE

MATANUSKA PEAK — For years, I’ve gazed at Matanuska Peak’s graceful granite spire slanting high above mountains east of Palmer. It’s a lovely sight any time of year, whether it’s snow-capped, sparked with rosy alpenglow or swathed in wisps of cottony clouds.

What would it be like to climb up there, I wondered. What would the Valley’s fields and rivers look like from 6,119 feet? What hidden splendors would appear on the other side, once I reached the top?

Friends of mine felt the same curiosity about the enigmatic peak, so we planned to climb the mountain last Saturday. Audra Matolka, Rourka Spatz and I met at the end of Smith Road at 9:30 a.m., and charged straight up McRoberts Creek trail, opting not to turn left at a Matanuska Peak trail sign near the trailhead since our chosen route was a bit shorter.

We hiked close to McRoberts Creek, through corridors of trees and finally emerged into an open area where we saw a tripod marking the junction of McRoberts Creek trail with Matanuska Peak trail. We turned south (right) at the tripod and followed a clearly marked trail, pausing for a snack at a picnic table near the 19,400-foot trail marker.

Our goal seemed within our grasp, so close and up a slope that looked very easy. We were wrong! It had taken us three hours to travel from the trailhead to the picnic table. From the picnic table, it took close to four hours to claw our way up to Matanuska Peak’s summit.

The trail continued over a rock gully and then started up a ridge, with the serious climbing beginning shortly after the 23,000-foot trail marker. The slope steepened. We encountered scree and then rocks that wouldn’t stay put when we walked on them.

We followed the trail markers and tried to stay on segments of dirt trail glimpsed here and there among the treacherous stones. Then we encountered boulders crusted with scratchy black lichens, taking care to test them with our feet and hands before committing our weight to any of them since many of the boulders were also unstable.

Other hikers passed on their way down, telling us there was a false summit and that the real summit would be another 15 or 20 minutes beyond.

Finally, the wall of black boulders ended and there was nothing but air and mist and a dizzying chasm in front of us. It was 4:30 p.m. The hidden splendor we had longed to look at was suddenly before our eyes: miles of mountains to the north, east and south, brown, tipped with snow, some of them ruffed with glaciers.

We scurried to a safer perch. The Matanuska and Knik rivers shimmered far below to the west. Lazy Mountain slouched at the end of a ridge extending northwest. We saw the lines of Palmer’s Arctic Avenue and the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, and could clearly hear the roar of a racecar engine from the Alaska State Fair.

Then it was time to snap dozens of photos and sign the years-old summit log notebook, which was cached in a plastic canister tucked down among the boulders. Once we finished those tasks, Audra, Rourka and I started carefully picking our way down the boulders. The trip down was easier and faster; we glissaded on rocks when we could and Audra and I used hiking poles.

We made it off the scary-steep slope, at last, and hurried down the ridge at the bottom. One last stop at the picnic table and we were off, zooming through the fields and down into the trees, through muddy sections of trail and, just before 9 p.m., we arrived back at the trailhead.

Anyone else planning to tackle this hike should know the following:

• Length of hike, from Smith Road trailhead (via McRoberts Creek trail) to top of Matanuska Peak and back: 11 miles

• Total time it took to complete the hike: It took us 11.5 hours, but we know people who can speed through it in fewer than six hours.

• What to bring and wear: Lots of water, high-energy snacks, a reliable pair of hiking footwear, warm hat and gloves for colder conditions higher up, lightweight non-cotton layers, rain gear, something to keep bears away, charged cell phone, camera.

• Difficulty of hike: Very strenuous, very steep, lots of unstable rocks and boulders to contend with on the mountain itself. It is not a child-friendly hike sometime after the 23,000-foot (linear feet from the trailhead) trail marker. We half-joked about how we were crying for our mamas on the steepest section of the climb. The picnic table at 19,400 is a good turnaround spot if you hike that trail with children.

Tracy Kalytiak and her friend, Lisa Rodgers, are Palmer moms who write a blog about local hikes, twomomswhohikeinalaska.wordpress.com.