Difficulty

Connects With

Miles One Way

Miles from
Anchorage

General Vicinity

Season

Description

After trying three separate times to hike Long Lake Loop I successfully managed to complete the hike in late July. The hike took 2 days and was well worth the wait. I set up camp just south of Upper Williwaw Lake and had an excellent view of the glacier valley toward Anchorage. As I relaxed in my tent I heard the sound of cloven hooves scampering by. They were too fast and small to be moose and when I crawled out of my tent I found that a dozen or so mountain goats surrounded my tent, with the kids playing around my tent. That one event would have made the hike worthwhile, but you add the clear cold lakes, colorful flowers, glacier scratches on the rocks along with the variety of wildlife and the trip remains in ones memory forever.

I have since moved to South Lake Tahoe, but I will return to hike the trails that I missed.

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The following is a contribution from William Mohn:

William gave the Williwaw/Long Lake/Near Point Loop a 4 Moose Hoof rating and a difficult rating of Somewhat Difficult because "We had a hard time finding the trail at some crucial points and that made the entire trek slightly harder".

Description:

We hiked this route late July in 2006.

My friends and I started at Glen Alps and ventured ahead to the Football Field at the base of O'Malley Peak. The Football Field was nice, but what we found to be the most amazing were Deep and Black Lakes, which you stumble upon at the end of the Football Field (see pictures). Right before Black Lake you will have to scramble down a large and very loose scree. Even though this was daunting at first, we had a good time. About half way down the scree we hung a left and made our way across to this little grassy cliff that over looks Black Lake. This was surely a high point of the trip. Once you reach the cliff you can get some amazing pictures of Williwaw Lakes and the surrounding scenery. (IF YOU DECIDE TO DO THIS BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL. AT THIS POINT YOU ARE VERY HIGH UP).

Once down past Black Lake and into Williwaw Valley we filtered some water and made a late camp (exhausted) and while cooking we watched a local marmot watch us.

The next morning we received some revitalization with a quick dip in a nearby crystal clear and cold glacial lake. The sun was beaming that morning however, and we quickly warmed up and felt very very refreshed. Then we started day two's hiking. We hiked out of Williwaw Valley to connect with the Campbell Creek Trail. This was a nice and long up hill battle. It is step like and every few hundred feet you come to a flat area that has a glacial lake, which is nice for resting. Once you get to the higher elevations, where there are still snow patches (some other hikers and us had a sledding competition on large downhill patch) it becomes steeper and zaps your energy. However, once you reach the top you are rewarded with a stunning view of Long Lake Valley. Then you look at the descent... This part of the hike was possibly the most testing. We spent a good 30 minutes discussing the best possible route to take down into Long Lake Valley, we even threw a few stones down to see what may happen to us if we fell (that didn’t help our nerves), I swear they rolled clear to the lake. We eventually decided to take what seemed to be a small trail towards the left side of the ridge. Once we began, it was clear that this was not the best route. However, it would have been worse to go back up and start over. So we cautiously continued on, at this point my fingerless biking gloves that I wear while hiking came in handy, because for most of this descent we were using our hands to stable ourselves in the rocky steep scree.

Once in Long Lake Valley the hike calms down considerably. The lake is beautiful, and there were hardly any bugs on the first half of Campbell creek.

It may be that we were not paying much attention to the trail, but we found it very, very hard to find the trail up to Near Point. Eventually we ended up along the river in waist high brush that was marshy, stinky, boggy, buggy and all around hellish. We realized we had to head up towards Near Point (trail less), but needed water first. So we had to double back and filter some water back where the water was accessible (not all tangled in crazy buggy hell brush). Once we were watered up and almost completely demoralized we started the trudge up towards Near Point. At this point the mosquitoes were the worst I had ever seen...Ever. I would highly recommend a head net to preserve sanity. Once at the top we made camp at haste and dove into our tents. Once killing the 20 mosquitoes that followed us we watched as the "quito fog" encompassed us. This was the worst point of our trip. I am not sure how to avoid this other then packing a bundle of bug netting so you can enjoy the evening and cook dinner (instead of eating Cliff Bars for dinner because you can’t leave your tent). Then we went to sleep with a nice view of Anchorage at night and hopes for a mosquito-less morning. That, however, was not the case upon waking. The bugs were just as bad. We packed everything in the tent, covered as much of our bodies with our clothing as we could and doused ourselves in repellant (we looked absurd). After we scampered out of the tent and rolled it up in record time we headed towards the peak of Near Point. We, due to the hot sun, had to shed some clothing and luckily the bugs calmed down and we found the trail. We came upon a couple of day hikers and they pointed the way to the trail that was supposed to lead us in the direction of Prospect Heights Trail head (where we hoped to hitch back to Glen Alps). Here is where we had our biggest problem with the trail. We followed the only possible trail down Near Point that would head in the direction of Prospect Heights, then we ran into a fence and some bodies back yard… 

We enjoyed this hike despite our difficulties in the end. The glacial lakes, thrilling screes, amazing scenery were worth every misfortune. In fact when we look back we laugh at the ridiculous mosquito onslaught. I would say that this route is the most rewarding, we had hiked the Williwaw Lakes Trail earlier in the year from Middle Fork and it was not nearly as exciting. Go by Football Field to Campbell Creek for a truly exciting sensory overload (which is always nice), and an adventure. Just watch it when you get to the end of Campbell Creek, maybe you can figure it out. Enjoy!

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Important Information

Finding a string of rocks to cross the creeks can be hard.  Find a shallow place and just brave it (barefoot optional); it's not that big of a deal here.

Plan on high winds and bring a wind breaker.  Make sure you can secure your tent.  Williwaw means "very windy" in the Native language.

There are very few places to secure your food.  You may want to consider a bear canister.   I usually find a crevice in the rocks and cover it with big rocks far from my site.

If you do the loop with the Campbell Creek Canyon Trail and Near Point, I would recommend starting with Williwaw. The pass at the Long Lake side is very steep and rocky and you need to be careful.  I would rather come down it then go up it. Also, be sure you understand how to read a topo map for finding the way up Near Point to the trail.  I wasn't paying attention and had to do a lot of bushwhacking before I got back on track.

Etc.