Adventures in Alaska

The trip (Aug 9-16, 2005)

We flew in and out of Anchorage where we rented a car and spent a night and morning. We then proceeded to Denali where we spent 3 days backpackingi, after which we spent a night in Girtwood. That was followed by a full day hike in Seward, and then a the remaining time in Homer, before returning to Anchorage.

The path is outlined on the map to the left.

We bought our tickets a week before departing, and made absolutely no prior plans or reservations aside from our rental car and first night's hotel. We were amazingly lucky with our weather -- not only sun, but record-breaking heat. So this is what happened . . .

Arriving

We flew on Alaska Air up to Anchorage on the evening of the 9th. After arriving at 2AM, we picked up our car (an SUV, couldn't resist, and it served as an excellent "platform" to keep all of our stuff in - we never really "unpacked") and stayed the night in Anchorage at the Caribou Inn. After wandering around town and a brief lunch, we drove north towards Denali National Park. We stopped for a bit in Talkeetna, which serves as a base for climbers to Mt. McKinley, as well as flight tours and has an excellent [view of the mountains]. This is also where we visited a [moose-infested chocolate store]. We eventually made it to Denali where we stayed at a nice hostel, and spent the night eating and drinking at a pizza place - we even did an open-mic act with both of us on guitar!!

Denali National Park

We arrived at the Backcountry Permit Center by 7:45AM to get in line for permits before they opened at 9AM. We then prepared/packed our packs and got on the bus. First night we spent at the Sanctuary campground about an hour into the park, and did some dayhiking at Polychrome Ridge. Next morning we took the bus deep into the park, a bit past the Mt Eilson visitor center to backcountry Unit #34, and set up camp towards Mt Galen. Hiking in Denali is an interesting experience. There are no trails. And the terrain is tundra - very mushy and bushy. We had heard that it's similar to walking on basketballs, which didn't make sense until we did it; great description. It takes a lot longer to hike a mile there than elsewhere, as you need to continually route find, bushwhack through shrubbery, and keep an eye out for wildlife. They have lots of rules in the Denali backcountry to keep you safe from bears and other wildlife (and to keep them safe from you and your food). So we hiked up to Mt. Galen and spent time chillin' on the summit, then came back down. On the way up we had seen a [nice fresh bear print] in the riverbed, but no bear. On the way down, we found [a grizzly bear] (the picture is a little fuzzy - bad idea to take a picture when they're close). He was running erratically, sometimes towards us, sometimes not, so we made sure he knew we were there and waited for him to walk/run away before we crossed the river, filled up our water supply, and headed to camp.

In the morning, I looked around out of the tent to see any potential problems and saw none, but then once getting out, noticed a grizzly mom and cub across the ridge from us, maybe 150 yards away. They move fast and in no time were fairly close, but passed over the ridge near where we had stashed our food. I had to run and get our food so we could pack up and move out. In the morning, we had [great views of Mt. McKinley] (the prior day's haze prevented good views). We caught a fairly early bus back out of the park and made our way south.

The Kenai Peninsula

Our first stop was Girtwood, home of the Alyeska ski resort. We spent the night in a hostel, did a bit of hiking around some glaciers, and had an amazing meal at the famous Double Musky. We had fantastic fried fresh halibut, crab stuffed mushrooms, a steak filet, and reindeer chops, not to mention the great local beer. The next day we went towards Seward and hiked up to the Harding Ice Field by the Exit Glacier. It was a fairly tough 8 mile r/t hike with about 3,500' elevation gain, but the [views] were well worth it! After dinner at a strange diner in Seward where they wanted to charge us an extra $0.75 for ranch dressing with our onion rings, we departed for Homer, home of the famous Salty Dog Saloon, which was our first stop. After a few brews, we camped the night at the Seaside Farm with a few more tasty local brews, the Sockeye Red Ale. The next morning we went for a day-long excursion, including a [float-plane ride] to a glacial lake, followed by [glacier kayaking], a return hike, and [water taxi] back. For our last evening, we had a celebratory feast at the Land's End (also where we stayed), including cigars and beers by the sunset on the water. The next day, after a hot tub and sauna, we drove back to Anchorage and returned to Seattle . . .