I originally visited here years ago because a bare-topped mountain is quite rare in this part of the world and was an attractive prospect for a hike. Normally snow-covered, in 2015 the mountaintop was bare of snow in July (the new photospheres below are from 2016), which ironically makes the climb more difficult — ordinarily I put on crampons and trek across a deep snowfield to the topmost rocky terrain.

The view from the top of the mountain is quite spectacular. One can see across Port Wells to the west and College Fjord to the northwest, as well as look along Esther Lake to the south. For some years now I've tried to pass through the rough saddle terrain visible immediately to the south of the mountaintop and walk along the shore of Esther Lake, but so far without success — the saddle region is very rocky and steep (photosphere #4 below).

In over a decade of visiting this very pretty place, guess how many people I've run into here? None. Several bears, a few otters, some deer, but no people. It's been a perfect Alaska experience.

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Photosphere viewer instructions: Use your mouse to navigate the image below. Drag your mouse to pan around the image, and use your mouse wheel to change magnification (on touch screens, use two fingers to zoom in and out). Notice the full-screen control at the upper left.

Image Notes:

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