At the Bear Mountain Trailhead, miles down Skilak Lake Road, nearly a dozen gathered Friday to participate in a Guided Discovery Hike hosted by the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

The free discovery hikes, Lead Park Ranger Leah Eskelin said Saturday, are an opportunity to build a community.

“Folks are looking to share their experience on the refuge with others,” she said. “It’s an easy social opportunity for people to get together and get to know each other.”

Meeting up and hiking together also serves to increase safety — the group looks out for one another and makes more noise, dissuading wildlife from coming near.

The program is largely accessible to novice hikers, designed to accommodate a range of skill levels, Eskelin said.

“Within every single walk we modify our pace and increase the number of breaks that people need to make it work for the group that shows up that day,” she said.

There’s also a sense of progression as the season moves on. Early hikes — like Bear Mountain — are short and easy; by August some are much more challenging endeavors like Skyline Trail, Vista Trail and Fuller Lakes Trail. Someone who attends the hikes each week should find themselves working up the ladder.

Eskelin explained that the hikes are led by two guides, one in the front who leads the way and one in the back — “the caboose.” During the hike, they’ll point out things worth taking notice of.

Eskelin said that guided element is called interpretation — that the guides on each hike use their expertise to help attendees reach greater appreciation and perspective about the area around them. That can include a wide variety of topics, she said, like fire ecology, animal signs and Indigenous history.

On Friday, along the Bear Mountain Trail, Bill Farrell was at the head of the line. He pointed out vistas, bird calls, bear scat and scratches on a rock that were a sign of glacial movement long past.

At one of three stops along the way, Farrell pointed to a nearby lake and told a story of a trapper named Andrew Byrd. He said Byrd had, in a winter long ago, crossed that lake on a dog sled. Along the way, Byrd rescued a trapped cow moose by pulling it into the sled and laying on it until reaching the shore.

“I’ve got a lot more stories,” Farrell said at the end of the trail, promising another chapter on next week’s hike.

Hikes are held each Friday at 10 a.m. and each Saturday at 1 p.m. until Sept. 1. Eskelin said that this weekend’s hikes are both great options for less experienced or novice hikers. On Friday, a group will hike Upper Kenai River Trail — which offers a sampling of “everything that’s wonderful about that Skilak area.” On Saturday, it’ll be Burney’s Trail.

For more information about the Guided Discovery Hikes or the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, visit kenai.fws.gov or call 907-260-2820.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.

The view from the vista at the end of Bear Mountain Trail, seen on Friday, June 23, 2023, near Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)