Day 7 of 2025 Independence Day Trip to Alaska, Mount Baldy and Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks

The seventh and final day of my 2025 Independence Day trip to Alaska. After checking out of the Airbnb in Palmer, I decided to take a relatively short hike to Mt Baldy and Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks before my flights back home this evening.

Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks

This was the last day of this week-long trip to Alaska,, with a 10:30pm flight awaiting to carry me back to the lower 48. As I would be driving from Palmer to Anchorage, I set my sights on Mt. Baldy, a rather popular peak that was located conveniently along my route. Since (the first summit of) Mt Baldy was only 1.6km (1mi) from the parking lot, I decided to extend my hike to Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks. According to AllTrails, this would make it a 10.9km out-and-back with 845m of elevation gain (6.8mi, 2770ft), a moderate workout leaving me plenty of time to catch my overnight flight.

On the morning of July 5, I arrived at Mt Baldy’s trailhead, located at the end of Golden Eagle Dr, around 11:10am. This was a popular trailhead with lots of cars parked, but I had no difficulty finding a spot. The winding mountain roads leading to this point had already brought me to approximately 550 meters of elevation (1800 feet). Given that the peaks within Chugach State Park were mostly similar in heights, hence the hikes’ efforts were highly correlated with starting elevation, making a higher departure point invariably appreciated.

After some warmup, I started my hike at 11:25am. Here’s GPS tracking:

Immediately after leaving the parking lot, the trail made a very steep climb towards the first summit of Mt Baldy. Here, the path diverged into multiple branches: a central route offering the steepest and most direct approach, flanked by various alternatives that employed switchbacks to moderate the gradient. Feeling quite confident in my capabilities, I followed the steepest and most direct route.

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Steep Trail to Mt Baldy

 
Steep Trail to Mt Baldy

Overlooking Steep Trail

After a 40-minute workout, I made it to the (first) summit of Mt Baldy at 12:05pm. Along the way, there were occasional sights of Anchorage’s coastal plains stretching behind me,, but it was at the summit that I was truly rewarded with the first glimpses of the mountains nestled deep in Chugach State Park. Unfortunately, just like forecasted, those enchanting snow caps intermittently disappeared behind drifting veils of cloud.

Click here to display photos from the first summit of Mt Baldy.

Mountains to the South
With Blueberry Hill in the foreground.

Mountains to the South
Eagle Peak in the left, barely clear of clouds.

Distant Polar Bear Peak

Distant Anchorage

Distant Tordrillo Mountains

Mt Gordon Lyon
Among a series of mountains to the west.

After a short 10-minute break, I continued onwards. In contrast to the relentless climb before Mt Baldy, the trail now gracefully followed a gentle, undulating ridgeline, carving its way among lush fields of grass as it made its way towards Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks.

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Summit of Mt Baldy

Mountain Ranges
Blueberry Hill in front, higher ones across Eagle River in the back.

Trail

Trail from Mt Baldy Summit

The comfortable stroll along the gentle ridgeline continued for about half an hour, before the trail reached what Google Maps marked as “Mt. Baldy Peak”. Despite its name, this so-called “peak” proved to be little more than an inconspicuous vista point along the route, lacking any discernible prominence. If such a modest elevation warranted the title of “peak”, then Mt Baldy probably had half a dozen such peaks, with this being the last, and the one I departed from half an hour ago being the first, and several others scattered along the way but removed from the main trail. Anyway, I paused there for a few minutes and snapped a few photos before continuing towards Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks.

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Mountain Ranges

Snowy Mountains
Polar Bear Peak in the left, Eagle Peak in the center.

Temptation Peak beyond Mount Gordon Lyon

Mount Magnificent and Tucker Point

Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks

Leaving Mt Baldy’s last peak, the trail grew noticeably steeper towards Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks. It was a mostly cloudy day, and I felt the occasional raindrop brush against my skin. Fortunately, the drizzle proved brief, and I made it to the top of Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks at around 1:40pm.

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Trail to Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks

Trail to Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks

Trail from Mt Baldy Summit

Trail from Mt Baldy Summit

Trail to Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks

Flowers along Trail

Speaking of the “top” of Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks, I had some struggles locating the true high point-hardly surprising, since the “rocks” were in plural form. It’s a bit like Mt Baldy, featuring a series of “mini peaks”, fanning out like the feathers of the ptarmigan after which they were named. I felt the views from them were mostly similar, so I settled upon what seemed as a suitable vantage point, only to discover later that I had stopped some 200 meters (600 feet) shy of the actual summit marked on the maps.

By the time I reached Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks, the drizzle had stopped, but the mountains deeper into Chugach State Park remained covered in thick, passing clouds. So the most prominent views from there were that of Meadow Creek Valley stretching away to the south. Yet even there, the surrounding peaks remained largely shrouded in mist, their summits appearing only in fleeting glimpses as the clouds shifted and rolled through the mountain corridors.

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Meadow Creek Valley

Mt Magnificent

Vista Peak behind Clouds

Meadow Creek Valley

Meadow Creek Valley

Ptarmigan Valley

Unfortunately, while the vistas from Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks proved less spectacular than those I had witnessed on previous days, swarms of insects engaged in hilltopping behavior further diminished my appreciation of the scenery. Though I had endured annoying encounters with hilltopping insects before, discovering a spider perched upon my shoulder elevated the experience to an entirely new level of horror discomfort. As a result, I immediately retreated to lower grounds where I could finish my snacks in peace. Fortunately, several saddles situated between the “Rocks” afforded similarly rewarding views without the unwelcomed entomological accompaniment.

Click here to display photos from Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks.

Distant Polar Bear Peak

Cantata Peak behind Clouds

Distant Mountains to the South
The ones beyond Turnagain Arm.

Looking Back at Trails to Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks

Hills to the East

Here’s a video I took from Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks.

14 seconds, 2160p60fps, 20Mbps/35MB for H265 and H264.

Finally, I left Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks at around 2:20pm. Looking back at Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks during my descent, I observed the clouds beginning to thin—a rather ironic development that underscored how my time at the peak had unfortunately coincided with the day’s least favorable weather.
Heading back down, I followed a different trail, taking the northern “loop” variant and bypassing the first summit of Mt Baldy. Gradient was more gentle along this trail, at the expense of the mountainous views I had savored during my ascent.
In the end, I was back with my car at 4:10pm, concluding the hike in 4 hours and 45 minutes, including all stops and rests.

Ship Creek Bridge

Since there was still quite a lot of time left before my flight, I conducted a brief search for attractions in and around Anchorage, which led me to discover Ship Creek—a popular salmon viewing destination. Unfortunately, early July was between the peak migration seasons of two distinct salmon species, and for optimal salmon run viewing, I should have checked out “Ship Creek Overlook Park”, instead of this covered bridge that actually housed a restaurant. In the end, I encountered only a handful of anglers casting their lines, but no salmon.

Day 7 of 2025 Independence Day Trip to Alaska, Mount Baldy and Blacktail Ptarmigan Rocks by Huang's Site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.