It started as just an idea, but it quickly snowballed into an actual plan that surprisingly fell into place. Zach Basset, Canyon Tobin, and I loaded packs and gear into the back of my truck early morning Saturday and headed off on the road out to Matanuska Glacier. Unsure of our sleeping plans, we stopped at a Carrs on the way when we realized that we were lacking dinner and enough water for the night. After that however, it was just easy driving until the glacier. Pulling into the parking lot, we stumbled out, stretched out our legs, changed into Carrharts and running shoes (not proper glacial wear I know) and started out onto the glacier. We quickly realized that we couldn't walk for long on the slippery ice, especially as it started to get steeper and crevasses started appearing. The three of us decided it would be best to walk along the edge of the glacier where it had started melting enough to where there was a few inches of dirt and rocks on top of the ice. This helped enormously with traction, and by the time we decided to turn around we had made it a few miles onto the glacier.
The sun had began to set, and we realized that we should probably get back to the truck fairly quickly to avoid hiking in the dark. As we hiked back, we noticed that someone was having a fire in the parking lot that we were parked in. Earlier, we were trying to figure out where we were going to sleep at night, and we had figured we could just sleep in the parking lot. I had thrown a futon in the covered bed of the truck, along with a few sleeping bags, pillows, and a blanket. We hit the parking lot and saw some people standing around a fire drinking beer and doing general bonfire things. With some conversation, we figured out that yes, we could camp there, for a fee, and no, we couldn't have a fire that night. Unfazed, I asked them if they knew anywhere that we could drive to sleep. One of the guys gave me directions to an abandoned road a few miles past Sheep Mountain Lodge.
With the sun completely set and only the vague directions of some random valley dude, we set off to find this abandoned road. Luckily, the road was actually marked with a sign, riddled with bullet holes, that said "Abandoned Road." Tentatively, I drove past the sign, and after a few miles of some pretty rough terrain, we reached the high point and piled out. A fire ring was assembled and somehow, with the help of our fire master Zach, we got the wood we brought to catch flame. After taking some pictures, witnessing a sudden blizzard, and watching the stars for a while, we put out the fire and closed up the truck bed for the night.
The next morning, the truck was completely covered in snow except for the bed, which had apparently been so steamy that it melted all the snow. Zach and Canyon closed everything up, I started the truck, and we were on our way back. Other than a brief but much needed stop for warm pie, the drive back was relatively uneventful. We all talked about what our next adventure would be, and when we all parted ways, we were still stoked on our impromptu but exciting trip.
That night, I had already started the next trip.