Alaska adventure, Early August 2019 - Anchorage, Talkeetna, AK

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Glacier near Denali

We are on our way to Anchorage to visit some of Nicida’s friends then spending a few extra days touring other areas around town.

Almost immediately after leaving Denali NP we run into road construction.  This is serious; flag persons, stop and wait, pilot car, the whole nine yards.  Not once but multiple times.  To this point the roads are in pretty good shape, certainly not the horror stories we have heard from years past.  We are driving among green covered mountains that look like the mountains we hiked just a few days ago on our Discovery hike so I am not fooled into thinking a hike here would be easy.   

Denali State Park has two Denali viewing locations.  We see part of Denali from the north overlook although the very top is clouded in. An hour later at the south overlook where the peaks are 41 and 43 miles away Denali is totally socked in.  We do not count a partial viewing of Denali as an ‘official’ Denali sighting.

Continuing towards Anchorage the mountains flatten out into a wide valley.  There is more traffic, still not a lot, but much more than we have seen over the past few weeks.

We stay in a hotel in Anchorage and are treated like royalty by Nicida’s friends.  Each time we go out for dinner Nicida and I alternate between salmon and halibut.  We continue stuffing ourselves at the hotel provided breakfast buffet each morning.

Aleyska Resort

Our first tour is to Aleyska, a ski resort south of Anchorage.  On the way we travel along the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet.  The tide is receding; I can see the current flowing out towards the main body of the Inlet.  Traffic is heavy along this road; I get to ride, enjoying the view.  We stop at the Portage Glacier. I am the only one out of our group that has not seen the Portage Glacier.  Everyone is aghast at how much it has retreated from their last visit, several years ago.  It is not visible from the parking lot; a boat has to be taken across the lake to see it.

Fishing Ship Creek

The tram of the Aleyska resort closely follows up the side of the mountain.  Below us we see people hiking up the mountain.  The view from the top tram landing is spectacular with several mountains and glaciers surrounding us.  We enjoy our visit before returning to Anchorage.  The Turnagain Arm is in the middle of low tide.  In parts, what was flowing water on our trip here is now a huge mudflat.  I have been told the water levels change up to 15’ between low and high tide. 

Salmon

The next day we take a Kenai Fjords Glacier Boat Tour of the Holgate Glacier.  On the way the captain stops for us to view sea otters and a gray whale.  The sky is cloudy during the ride to the glacier.  We constantly move back and forth between visiting in the cabin and going out to the deck for photos.  A small pod of orcas is spotted by another tour boat so all the boats in the area rendezvous to see the orcas.  We are out in open water now so the sea is rolling causing some people to curtail their activities until we return to calmer waters.

Arriving at the glacier we can tell it is big.  But we cannot appreciate the size until another tour boat is seen to give it perspective.  Cold wind off the glacier forces many into the ship’s cabin to briefly warm up before going back on to the deck for more selfies.  The glacier is frequently calving due to the unusually warm temperatures Alaska has been experiencing.   We see milky blue water all around us.  The captain stops the boat for some glacial ice for us to see and hold as well as cooling off our glacial margaritas.  The ice is so crystallin with an organic shape it doesn’t look real.

On the way back, we cruise by other islands to see harbor seals, Stellar sea lions, cormorants and puffins.

Forget me nots - Alaska state flower

Returning to Seward I notice campers lining the water’s edge.  Seward has a town campground along the bay.  First come, first served.  We are planning a several night stay in Seward later this trip so we may be one of those camping along the shore.  After a sumptuous dinner we arrive home around 10 PM the sun will not set for yet another hour.

The next day we say our goodbyes to Nicida’s friends.  They have known each other for over 40 years, keeping in touch using whatever tool necessary.

We head out looking for a local campground finding Centennial CG a few miles from our hotel.  Unfortunately for us it is right on the highway so we hear vehicles whizzing by 24 hours a day.  We have to make believe that all the noise is the wind continuously blowing. 

Woven bottle cover

Our first tour is of the Alaska Native Heritage Center.  Some of the Alaska native kids are demonstrating some of the native sport competitions.  Kicking a ball hanging high above their head; balancing themselves on one hand then hitting a ball hanging above their head; jumping then landing on one foot, picking up a peg to move it further away for the next competitor.  We see a number of local artists; beading, antler etching, sewing.  We join a tour explaining the six different villages of the native Alaskan tribes.  Each tribe has its own rituals and diet.  White religious leaders in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s coming to the area wanted to civilize the native children by teaching them English at the same time not allowing them to speak their native language or practice their native customs.  A generation of native people was lost to this mindset.  Today, native elders are working hard to reintroduce their languages and customs to the new generation of kids.

We note a list of the 10 central values of the first nations peoples of the Alaska/Canada area

• Show respect to others – Each person has a special gift
• Share what you have – Giving makes your richer
• Know who you are – You are a reflection on your family
• Accept what life brings you – You cannot control many things
• Have patience – Some things cannot be rushed
• Live carefully – What you do will come back to you
• Take care of others – You cannot live without them
• Honor your elders – They show you the way in life
• Pray for guidance – May things are not known
• See connections – All things are related     

Anchorage from Flattop Mountain

The next day we head out to the Anchorage visitor center.  We load up with a list of things to do and see.  By accident we hear about an open air market only two blocks away.  The market is full of arts and crafts, T-shirts, vegetables, fruits and prepared food to eat at the market.  Live music is continuous with each performer playing for 30 minutes.  It was mostly single guitar, folk music with an occasional trumpet or violin player taking stage.  We enjoy reindeer tacos and salmon quesadillas.  We are in Alaska, after all.

After our lunch we wander to the Ship Creek to see how the salmon fishing is going.  The river is lined with people fishing, not elbow to elbow but certainly more in one area than I see in NM.  Most of them have a stringer with one fish.  Many are standing in one spot casting to the same spot over and over.  We notice some are caught by accident; the body or fin is hooked, only a few by mouth.  Later we drive to the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail which follows the shore in Anchorage.  The tide is just coming in as we arrive at the beach.  I notice a dry rock on the shore as we started walking.  Returning about 20 minutes later the water has started flowing over the rock, what was 18” above the shoreline.  The noise of the tide coming in is like a rushing river even though the main current was several hundred feet away from shore.

Final ascent - Flattop Mountain

Today we are hiking Flattop Mountain.  It has a 1,200’ rise over 1.5 miles.  The view is advertised as spectacular.  The sky is clear; little to no haze so we have picked a good day.  The start is very steep, then it goes from flat to an endless line of steps, finally ending up with the trail disappearing into a talus field.  Lots of people are hiking this.  They wear anything from real hiking gear; boots in particular, to sneakers, even open toed sandals.  We are part of the boot brigade.  The view on top is spectacular; a 360 degree view around the mountain.  We stop for lunch enjoying the view.  Afterward we start back down with apprehension. We get back down safely after picking our way through the field of boulders, rocks and gravel.  This evening we notice the sun starting to sett a bit earlier; we are not able to read without lighting at 11 at night.

Loons

This morning we wake at 630 so we can get to the fish hatchery.  They are able to process up to 10M salmon eggs each year.  There are tanks with small, medium and large salmon swimming in circles.  This year’s returning salmon that make it through the fish ladder have their eggs or milt removed so next year’s cycle of salmon can start.

The Alaska Museum has displays of authentic native Alaskan clothing, tools, ceremonial pieces and artwork.  There are 6 different groups of natives with displays for each.  There is a special exhibition for the Franklin expedition.  John Franklin was tasked to find the Northwest Passage in the 1840’s.  Two ships made their way across the Atlantic in 1845, never to be heard from again.  The ships had enough food for 130 men for three years.  Nothing was known of them until 2014 when information from an Inuit native mentioned stories passed down from his elders about two boats that sank in a bay.  A group of researchers followed the directions from the story and found the boats over 150 years later.  Even finding the boats questions still rise about what happened and why.  In all we spent almost 6 hours in the Alaska museum.  A highly recommended place to visit.

Talkeetna

Denali

We leave Anchorage at 900 with hopes to see Denali.  We have been in Anchorage for almost a week where it can be seen, but it has always been clouded in.  Talkeetna is the place where we are catching a flight around Denali.  We are promised we will see it; if flight cannot fly it will be cancelled and our money refunded.  On the way we pull off to an overlook near Willow, AK; Denali is there!  It is huge; given the distance we are from it it still looks huge.  We have just crossed over to the 30% that have seen Denali.  We arrive in Talkeetna; speak with the flight desk on our status then head into town.  It is small; about three blocks long by two blocks wide with lots of artist, tourist shops and restaurants.  It reminds us of Madrid, NM with the numerous unique shops.

Denali

Checking in for the flight we find out our Grand tour has been downgraded.  The north face of Denali is windy and clouded over, we will get to see only the south side of Denali.  Patrick our pilot goes over the safety briefing before getting on the plane.  He has been flying Denali for the past 7 years; each flight is different, mainly due to weather.  

We fly over 60 miles of forest, bogs and small lakes on the way.  Moraines from glaciers are the first evidence that we are approaching the mountains.  The moraines are up to 800’ thick with 200’ deep crevasses.  Once in the mountains Patrick makes slow sweeping turns ensuring everyone sees the beauty.  We get to within one mile of Denali, we follow the Ruth glacier, we are able to see one plane do a glacier landing; very small given the scale of these mountains.  Both of us are smiling ear to ear happy we made the decision to flightsee Denali.  K2 Aviation did a great job showing us Denali.

Today we are on the road early to make it to Willow, AK.  We are going to the Alaska Mushing School for dog mushing and sled riding.  We stop at the same lake as on our way up seeing Denali yet again.  The water is calm so we shoot several images with clear reflections of the forest surround the lake.  A family of loons swim around the lake dining on whatever they find.  We arrive at the mushing school meeting Mike our guide for the day.  He explains how the Iditarod got started, the history of the race itself and logistics of what has to be done to enter and run the race.  There is a series of short races that have to be successfully completed in order to qualify to run the Iditarod.  Mike will be mushing his first Iditarod in 2020.  We meet the dogs, they are quiet and well behaved until a few are chosen to pull our sled, then the excitement and barking begins.  
The sled we are in is a low, 2-person cart on wheels with the handler/musher standing on the back like a normal winter sled.  We ride on the training track in the surrounding forest.  This perspective gives us the view at dog’s eye level.  They are not in lock step with each other; each has their own gait, they bump each other, they are looking around as they are pulling the sled, in spite of these seeming distractions it all works.  The dogs average 9 – 11 miles/hour.  During races Mike runs them for 4 hours then rests them for four hours, starting the routine over again.  The routine sounds intense to run the race.  So many things can go wrong, preparation is the key.  We meet Matt the owner of 17^th Dog Kennel.  He won another Yukon race this past year breaking the time record by a large margin.  There is much more I can talk about but I can only suggest you to go to experience this first hand, it is fun and worth your time and money.

Leaving 17^th Dog we return to Anchorage  by way of Hatcher Pass.  The road is gravel but quite good, the views are amazing.  We follow a clear stream on the way to the pass.  At the top, Summit Lake is where paragliders can launch, glide around then land in the same spot when the winds are right.  Blueberry season is in full swing with many cars pulled to the side of the road dispensing the occupants with baskets and buckets hunting blueberries.

Eklutna Lake

On our way back we stop at Eklutna Lake just north of Anchorage.  The lake is fed from a glacier.  It is huge, a pair of kayakers take off and disappear in the distance.

Tomorrow on to Seward.

Thank you for stopping by

Mark