Alaska Trip
Here is the travel log from our recent Alaska trip. Be sure to click on the hyperlinks to see the linked photos. Also, here is a gallery of all the photos referenced in the log (note that there are multiple pages). It might be easier to navigate if you open up two windows- one where you can read and the other to view the photo gallery (the photos in the gallery are roughly in the correct order). Feel free to comment, give suggestions, ask questions, etc. as we’ll be sure to answer. We had an amazing time and highly recommend a trip to explore Alaska’s wonders.
Thursday 6/30
We arrived in Anchorage via Seattle short one bag (of course, the one with our toiletries and food for hiking) and headed to our log cabin at Homestead B&B. We met our hosts Frank and Pat Jasper who suggested some fun things to do in Anchorage. Though the visibility was low due to fires to the south, we drove to Flat Top Mountain in Chugach State Park, a popular hike. We didn’t hike to the top (about a 4 hour hike) but did walk a short overlook trail and saw the bear warnings. After that, we drove to downtown Anchorage to explore a little (and try to stay up to overcome the jet lag). We ate dinner at Glacier Brewhouse (good but packed with people headed for the cruise ships). We also went to the Alaska Experience Theater to watch a movie about Alaskan nature and also a film about the 1964 earthquake that was a 9.1 on the Richter scale. Following the movie, we drove to Earthquake Park to see the part of the peninsula that went into the bay. As it was summer in AK, there is really no darkness, just 3 hours of dusk in the middle of the “night” so we headed to bed, exhausted and thankful that the draperies in the cabin kept out the light.
Friday 7/1
After a trip to Walmart to get some necessities, we ate a delicious breakfast at the B&B (awesome waffles and home-made syrup). Shortly thereafter, our luggage arrived and we headed north for the drive to Healy, just north of Denali National Park, after a short grocery stop. What a great drive- with views of mountains all the way up. We took a brief offshoot for lunch in Talkeetna, an area from which lots of Mt. McKinley expeditions and glacier flights depart. We stopped at some overlook points in Denali State Park but there was no view of Mt. McKinley due to the smoke. We briefly stopped in at Denali National Park to sign up for a ranger hike and ran into some problems with the folks that run the bus service (bottom line, the “bus jockeys” who sell the tickets for the buses that run into the park are not park employees and are very rude- the rangers and bus drivers are awesome though). We checked in to EarthSong Lodge, settled into our cabin with great views all around, and ate dinner at Henry’s adjacent to the lodge. We chatted with our host Jon, a former backcountry ranger in Denali who now runs the lodge, breeds dogs, and guides dogsled trips with his team, and watched a fascinating slideshow from his many trips into the park. We then prepared our gear for the next day, our first foray into the park.
Saturday 7/2
The road into Denali National Park (a single road in a 6 million acre park!!) is about 90 miles long. The first 14 miles are paved and can be driven by the public. To go further into the park, you purchase a shuttle bus ticket and ride the bus. This system works great since it keeps the traffic down into the park and minimizes the impact on the wildlife. You can get on and off the bus whenever you like. Everyone is looking out for wildlife and yells “STOP” whenever something is seen (luckily we had some great spotters, we think they were snipers). The driver then stops the bus safely so that everyone can look and take pictures. Since the animals in the park have not really been hunted, they apparently think that a green bus with twenty zoom lenses poking out is perfectly normal.
We purchased tickets for 3 days on the 5:15AM bus to Wonder Lake, a 85 mile one-way trip. So, after getting up at 3:30, we headed into the park and boarded the bus. Turns out we picked the wrong side to sit on (most everything was on the left) but the folks were accomodating on the bus and shared their views whenever we saw anything. Our bus driver Gerald Stoneking was very chatty and gave us lots of good into about the park and wildlife. It goes without saying that the scenery in the park was amazing, rivers (pic1, pic2), mountains, glaciers (including ones with grass growing on them). We saw tons of wildlife during our ride. First we saw sheep, high on a ridge and then a bit closer. Then we saw our first wolf, fairly far away. Then we saw our second wolf, on a nearby ice ridge. We saw a porcupine on the side of the road then another wolf right on the road. In fact, he stopped in the road for awhile and even hung out just behind the bus. We also saw a fox (pic1, pic2) right on the side of the road- he hung around for a while too and was doing some road-side hunting. Following another wolf sighting, we saw our first bears, a momma and cub somewhat far away. Though there are both grizzly and black bears in the park, the black bears are rarely seen along the road. The grizzlies are more blond than brown in color, a surpise to us. We next saw a bear eating a recent kill after chasing off the wolf that took down the animal (most likely a caribou). There was a raven circling and the annoyed bear jumped up and took a swat at it- very cool!! We then saw another large bear followed by a momma and four babies sitting right by the side of the road and all lined up posing for a photographer in a van. While our bus was mostly quiet as we pulled up, we made just enough noise to scare the bears away. Doh!! At Toklat, we saw a caribou (hmm, where are the rest of these animals and this one is odd) and met Jen, the ranger who was leading our hike in a few days. We made it to Wonder Lake, our halfway point, and a great spot to view the mountain if it is out (only about 15% of summer visitors see the mountain). However, it was cloudy and there was no view. The mosquitos were awful and we elected to sit and eat on the bus.
On the way back, we saw a 2-year old bear on a ridge and two more bears (possibly the same ones from before). We also spotted a moose with a huge rack in the dense brush and a caribou and wolf by the river bed. We also saw a ptarmigan, a hawk that is the AK state bird. We finally made it back after about 11 hours on the bus. In total, we saw 8-10 bear, 5 wolves, 1 porcupine, 2 caribou, 1 moose, 1 fox, a ptarmigan, and lots of sheep, ground squirrels, rabbits, and hawks/birds. A great day of wildlife viewing in the park- the only downside was not seeing McKinley.
On the way back to Earthsong, we saw a mama moose right next to the road. We ate dinner again at Henry’s and hit the sack, exhausted but thrilled. We also stopped by to see the dogs at Jon’s kennel.
Sunday 7/3
We got up early again to take our 5:15 bus into the park. This time our busdriver Mike had a dry, grim sense of humor (we called him the “reality of nature” guy as he talked about bear attacks, wolf kills, etc.). We got our first glimpse of a tiny sliver of McKinley, the first time the mountain had been visible in days. We saw some sheep and another wolf. Mike told us about the alpha male and female of the pack that had each been killed in the past year. While protected in the park, the wolves can be hunted outside the park (their pelts are especially valuable as they are “Denali Park wolves”). The guy who killed the male runs a horse farm next to Earthsong and apparently boasted that he could have “pissed in the park” from where he killed the alpha male. The hunters even follow the spotter planes that try to herd the wolves back into the park. It was a rather sad situation given that the wolves in the park only number about 125.
We got off at Toklat to wait for us bus to take us to our ranger-led hike. At the ranger station there, we met Leigh, ranger Jen’s roommate who suggested that we might hike up the ridge behind the ranger station. As we began our hike, Liz spotted something far in the distance. Turns out it was Blondie, a grizzly, so we decided to hike down and watch her for a while. A caribou, spooked by the bear, came running down from the same area and wandered all the way down to the ranger station. Blondie was very active, digging in the ground and dirty up to her shoulders and all on her face from hunting for ground squirrels.
We finally got on the Discovery Bus to head out for the ranger-led hike. We saw a bear munching on bear flower- she finally laid down with her head in the dirt with a full belly. We also saw another bear lying down in the ice. Shortly thereafter we arrived at Stony Mountain for our hike. The hike (Liz climbing) was steep- about 900 ft. in elevation rise over a quarter mile. The view from the top (a different perspective) was great, something that you would never have seen from the road. We had lunch at the top and then watched as the wind rolled in, the temperature dropped, and it started raining. Then it started hailing (thanks to Chaz I was dry in his awesome Marmot jacket). The hiking group was keen to keep hiking (as were we) so we hiked down the saddle and up to a different point in the range, even stopped to get a picture with our ranger. We hiked back to the original mountain and then around and down back to the road, follwing a small stream crossing. We saw lots of different flowers, ate some wild berries, and thorougly enjoyed the hike. We also met Kevin, an art professor from Northern Kentucky and the park’s artist in residence for the week.
We waited for the bus, a bit wet and cold. Finally we hopped on the camper bus to head back to the car. On the ride back, we saw a mama bear and two tiny spring cubs (Liz took pictures of them like the paparazzi, burning through a roll of film in no time). We also saw a sleeping brown grizzly, the first non-blonde bear. Other cold hikers joined our bus and it was a quiet ride. We saw 2 big moose with huge racks and assorted sheep (we were in no mood to stop for distant sheep but others were to our dismay).
After leaving the park, we drove to our next place to stay, the log cabins at Park’s Edge (great wildflowers too). We met Johnathan, one of our hosts, there. He suggested that we eat dinner at the nearby golf course (luckily they seated us even though they had just lost power). Following dinner, Johnathan looked up and noted that the weather looked to be clearing to the west and hinted that we might be able to see McKinley. He suggested a drive out on Stampede Rd. past EarthSong where we could get a view if the weather cooperated. On the drive, we saw a mama moose and baby (pic1, pic2). Finally we got to the end of the road and finally got our view of McKinley. It was huge and very cool to see!! After sitting and enjoying the view for a while, we head back to the cabin. On the road, a loose sled dog with beautiful blue eyes stood in the middle of the road and proceeded to walk around and stand right next to the car. Finally he wandered off and we continued driving, again passing the moose and baby. Exhausted after another 21 hour day, we decided to sleep in and skip our 5:15 Wonder Lake bus.
Monday 7/4
After sleeping in, we talked to Johnathan who recommended a place for rafting. So, we signed up for a trip at Denali Outdoor Center. We decided to do some day hiking in the park and drove to Savage River just as it started raining. So, we drove back out of the park and had some lunch. After lunch, we went to the Sled Dog Demo at the Park Kennel. It was awesome since you can interact with the dogs (though Blue didn’t seem to care nor did this one). Several of the dogs seemed too tired to notice us and were all cozy and curled up. We held the new puppies (pic) (bred by Jon at EarthSong and just delivered to the kennels) and Liz made a new friend in Chulitna and this dog too. The ranger talk was interesting with the dogs going nuts since a few are picked to pull the sled during the demo. The dogs (so cute) dumped the ranger during the ride and came back without her.
We then went back to Savage River and started hiking in a light rain (thanks again, Chaz). We hiked about 3/4 way up this mountain (another view) and then back down and along the river (love the wildflower growing amongst the rocks). Along the path, we saw a mom, dad, and about 7 baby ptarmigan chicks- just big puff balls. We also saw some marmots. It started raining again at the end of our hike. We watched the movie and went through the exhibits at the Visitor’s Center and later saw a movie showing the original days of the park at the Wilderness Access Center. We ate dinner at Lynx Creek pizza. We had planned to hike Sable Mountain but were too tired.
Tuesday 7/5
We slept in and had a yummy breakfast at the Alpenglow restaurant with a beautiful view of the park and Nenana river which we were to raft that afternoon. We headed over to the Denali Outdoor Center to start our 4 hour trip. The Nenana is glacier-fed so the water is about 37 degrees. So, everyone gets dry-suits (I’m so sexy) to keep, well, dry and warm. Getting into the suits was an experience and we loaded onto the bus to head to the river put-in. Our guide Clint was great- very knowledgeable and experienced. Our trip consisted of a 2 hour easy part followed by a two hour rapids run (defiintely take the paddle boat like we did as the boats where just the guide paddles don’t get to experience the same lines in the river). The river was running at 13,000 cfs and the rapids (up to Class IV) were great- fairly big and close together. We experienced lots of rapids (chart): Ring of Fire, Cable Car, Knife, Royal Flush, Left Hand Scream, and the big finale Trainwreck where we had to brace (rush to the middle of the raft) to keep from flipping as we hit this one head on. There was one Class V but we were unable to run it (company policy but it looked a bit dangerous so we were OK with it).
After the rafting trip, we drove back into the park to Savage River to see if the mountain was out. It was not due to low clouds but we did see a really cool view of the trees in the park shrouded by incoming smoke. When we got to Savage River, we see the ptarmigans flying (perhaps the same ones we saw on our hike yesterday)- the chicks looked a bit unsure. On the way back out, we saw a moose. We also saw a nice “sunset” at Park’s Edge- basically the sun ducking behind the surrounding mountains around 11:30PM.
Wednesday 7/6
We checked out from Park’s Edge. As we were talking to Johnathan and Heidi, our hosts, about our drive to Seward, they recommended Hatcher’s Pass as a pretty, alternative route to get from just south of the park to Anchorage where we could then pick up the even more beautiful drive along the Turnagain Arm. We really enjoyed the personal local advice from our Park’s Edge hosts- truly enhanced our experience around Denali. Again, we took their advice and the drive was beautiful. The road was paved and then unpaved for a while as it ran along a river (with an old mining bridge) and up and through the mountains. Near the top, we got a view of Mt. McKinley and/or Mt. Fouraker. We ate lunch at a lodge at the top near some old mines. We then drove through Anchorage to Seward. This part of the drive takes you along the Turnagain Arm and is often called one of the most beautiful drives in the US. The Turnagain Arm is both mud and lowlands. You then head through the Chugach National Forest as you head into the Kenai Peninsula. It was a great drive. In Seward we checked into our awesome room at Dairy Hill B&B. Our hosts recommended Exit Glacier Salmon Bake for dinner and it was awesome- fresh, local salmon and huge portions. Since we had some nasty, wet clothes from hiking, we found a local place and did some laundry.
Thursday 7/7
When we awoke, a wonderful breakfast was waiting for us just outisde our room. We had booked a full day small boat cruise with the folks who run the B&B and headed down to meet the crew at 7:45. Our boat was the “Steller Sunrise” captained by Carrie and her first mate Laurel. We rode through Resurrection Bay and saw our first sea life- a sea otter who was so cute just floating in the water and occasionallly flipping over. We saw puffins- a sea bird that spends most of its life out at sea but comes near shore to mate. Unlike other birds, their bones are not hollow and they can dive hundreds of feet down to fish (they actually fly under water). We saw some harbor seals and lots of sea lions sunning on a rock (pic1, pic2, pic3, pic4). We also saw our first whale- a humpback. Though we didn’t see them breaching, we saw lots of blowholes, the occasional tail, and also a jump feed. The views throughout the trip (pic1, pic2, pic3) were absolutely amazing. While we saw lots of glaciers and mountains (more and more) along the way, we finally came to bay where we saw Surprise Glacier (another view and one with some perspective) and the huge Holgate Glacier where we stopped to have lunch. Holgate was calving into the bay- a great sight (the cracking sound was thunderous)!! Just beyond the bay, there was also a cool rock formation that provided a nicely-framed view of the distant mountains. On the way back, we saw a bunch more whales and some Dall’s porpoises that were playing in the boat’s bow wave. We highly recommend this small group day trip since you get a much more personal experience than on the larger, more commercial trips. After returning to land, we ate dinner at Resurrection Roadhouse and then drove to Exit Glacier- a hike we were planning to do on Saturday with a ranger.
Friday 7/8
In the morning we went to the Alaska Sea Life Center- a center devoted to marine life research, rehabilitation, and public education (hey, who’s driving that boat?). The center, part of the Exxon-Valdez settlement, was excellent and highly recommended. We saw tons of sea life: steller sea lions (a cute one lying down), harbor seals, a huge crab (another pic), a ray, myriads of birds, etc. Liz even got to see the seals being fed (pic2, pic3). Following a talk on the harbor seals, we went downstairs and saw the puffins diving for food and the other mammals in the tanks (harbor seals underwater: pic1, pic2). We even saw a huge octopus and her eggs, even some tiny ones that had just hatched (the survival rate is about 0.1%).
After the Sea Life Center, we stopped by the ranger station to get some info on local hiking spots. The ranger there advised us again the ranger-led hike on Saturday (slow pace, no additional info) so we decided to go ahead and do our hike up to the Harding Ice Field (map) via Exit Glacier. At this point, it was about 2PM and the hike was billed as an 8 hour trip. But since it is light all the time, we decided to go for it. The hike was quite strenous- lots of steep uphill sections, boulder and scree climbs, and snow bridge crossings. The views of the turqoise Exit Glacier (pic1, pic2, pic3) and surrounding mountains along the way were awesome. It took us 3:45 to go up and about 3 hours to go down with lots of stops along the way to eat and drink. We passed a group of people planning to camp on the ice field. After crossing lots of snow bridges, including some that had been re-marked for safety, we reached the ranger cabin and got our first close view of the Harding Ice Field. The Harding Ice Field is the size of Delaware and connects lots of glaciers together, including Exit Glacier. The view of the Ice Field is tremendous- looks like no one has ever been there. Of course, when we got to the top (Liz’s summit photo), bad weather moved in and we decided to start heading back down (note the nasty weather in the picture). The rain lasted for about 20 minutes (thanks again, Chaz- nice and dry!!) and then stopped. Luckily the trail down wasn’t too wet- I only fell once and banged my shin. We got back down to the parking lot at about 9PM. Exhausted, we drove out of the park and over to our final lodging place, Alaska Saltwater Lodge. Too tired to actually go anywhere for dinner, we ate our hiking food and crashed.
Saturday 7/9
After a yummy breakfast at the Lodge, we drove back out to Exit Glacier to hike the short, scenic loops. The views of the glacier (pic1, pic2, pic3)were great and it was fun to see where we had hiked the previous day. Because the water was too high, we weren’t able to hike to the base of the glacier but got some great views of it (pic1, pic2, Liz+I+glacier). On the way back to the car, we saw a moose on the river bed. Following Exit Glacier, we took a drive out to Moose Pass to visit a guy that carves bears out of dead tree trunks. We had planned to get one but he was sold out (our host told us to call again in winter as his prices will be lower since he’ll be hungry). We drove back to Seward and ate lunch at Ray’s on the River and did a bit of shopping. We also visited the Benny Benson Memorial- a tribute to the 13 year old orphan who won the contest to design the Alaska state flag (the Big Dipper and the North Star).
Since we’d been doing lots of running, we decided to head back to the Lodge and relax on the deck overlooking Resurrection Bay. We did some reading, napping, and watched the boats going in and out. We saw two bald eagles that were nesting in a tree by our lodge. We decided to go back to the Salmon Bake for dinner and were rewarded with another excellent meal. We returned to our room and saw a sea otter that was frolicking just in front of our lodge. He hung around for a while and we named him Otto. We then packed up our stuff so we could head back to Anchorage the next day to catch our return flight.
Sunday 7/10
We ate breakfast and took the scenic drive back to Anchorage. Along the way, we saw some sheep and goats on the ridges near the Turnagain Arm. We had a nice flight to Minneapolis and got a great view of Mt. Logain, the highest point in Canada. With just about 30 minutes in between flights, we sprinted across the Minneapolis airport to catch our flight to Detroit. Luckily we made it. We got back home around 2AM and got a few hours of sleep as we were heading to work the next day.
Related Posts (perhaps)
August 15th, 2005 at 11:10 am
Solid pics kids………..nice pose with the antlers on your wig Khalo!!!! BEAR ALERT!!!! I LOVE IT!!!! I know some swishy gents who would like to have that sign made to a shirt. Glad a solid time was had………Staying out of the slam,
SAL>
August 15th, 2005 at 2:55 pm
okay - I just quickly glanced through the pictures. The scenery looks amazing!
But the one thing I have to ask - who took the suicide picture? (that was way to close for my comfort!)
August 15th, 2005 at 7:47 pm
HOLY MOLY!! What AWESOME pictures you guys took!! It looks like you both had an outstanding time…what beautiful scenery! You guys looked great in the pictures…gotta love the antlers!! Ü
August 16th, 2005 at 7:38 am
I’m assuming by the suicide picture you mean the one of the shoes looking down the mountain? That would be Liz. There was plenty of room on the ridge though- no one was in danger of falling.