Fuller Lakes Trail

Last Saturday, I needed an excuse to get out and recreate so I called up my buddy Todd Laflamme to see if he wanted to go on a hike with Jane and me.   He thought that was a great idea and said we should meet at the Fuller Lakes Trail at noon.

The Fuller Lakes Trail is located at milepost 57 of the Sterling Highway.  For those of you familiar with Kenai Peninsula, the trailhead is 2.5 miles west of the Russian River Ferry parking area.

Lower Fuller Lake

The round trip hike is 5.8 miles.  It's considered a strenuous hike that takes between 4-6 hours.  The elevation gain is 1,400 feet.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) information indicates that along the trail you can see brown bears, black bears, dall sheep, moose, and willow ptarmigan.

They also say that Lower Fuller Lake has grayling, while Upper Fuller Lake has dolly varden.

Biologists have taken core samples from hemlock trees near Upper Fuller Lake and have found that some of them date back to the 1500's.  I wonder if this was one of them?
  

Here we are taking a moment to rest on our way back down to the trail head.  Skilak Lake is visible in the background.

Overall, this was a fun hike.  But, you'll need to be in reasonable shape to do it.  All three of us definitely had a few aches and pains the following day.  As far as fishing is concerned, I'm not so sure this is destination fishing spot.   Both lakes are small which leads me to believe the overall population will be too. I guess that means I'll have to check it out again when the lakes are ice free.