The Kenai

Ah, the Kenai Peninsula. I've been looking forward to this part of Alaska because I knew how much Brian would like it. Jagged, snow capped and glacier covered Kenai Mountains, great fishing, beautiful coastal towns accessible by the road system, less bugs and hopefully great weather. 

We spent one night in Girdwood and caught up with an old Copper River co-worker of mine, Joel, and his girlfriend, Hayley. We shared a growler and swapped Alaska adventure stories and trail tales. Joel works at the Alyeska Ski Resort in the winter and goes on many backwood ski treks. He had us enthralled with the idea of skiing Alaska and Brian's ultimate dream of heli-skiing. That night Brian and I camped next to two hilarious brothers in Crow Pass that somehow recognized us from Denali. Neither had half a clue about Alaska and when they realized how fast they were blowing through their money by staying at hotels and B&Bs they rented an RV for the rest of the trip. We enjoyed the warmth from the campfire and tried to give them the best advice we could about traveling around the frontier. 

The next day we moved on to Seward and found a parking slip at the Waterfront Park. It just so happened that my girlfriend, Lauren was also in Seward and had just landed in town. She is still currently observing so it worked out perfectly that she was in Seward at the same time we were. Brian and I have also eagerly awaited our fishing charter trip with Puffin Charters. We had the most amazing weather while fishing in Resurrection Bay. We spent the morning targeting larger size Halibut then moved to another area to catch our 28'' or under Halibut. Alaska charter regulations this season say you can keep one over 28'' and one under. Once everyone was maxed out with halibut, we moved on to catch our rockfish. Everyone was allowed to keep four. Black rockfish were mainly caught but a few anglers reeled in Quillbacks. I was lucky enough to hook onto a coho salmon, which was my first salmon caught in Alaska! There were only a few other salmon caught that day so I was super stoked. We had all our fish vacuum sealed and frozen for us. We sent all of the Halibut home, about 20 lbs, and kept the rest for us. Our deckhand, Anna, was a badass. She had all of our fish filleted before we hit the dock. We really had a great day and a great crew so we couldn't be happier.

Seward is also home to another of Alaska's National Parks, Kenai Fjords. By way of the fishing charter we were able to see big, beautiful glaciers from the boat and Puffins sailing over the waters and whale tails and fins poking up through the surface of the sea. The park sits at the edge of the North Pacific Ocean so it was a double bonus to have a beautiful day for fishing and for sightseeing. Kenai Fjords is also capped with a 700 square miles of ice called the Harding Icefield in which 38 glaciers stem from. We had to see it for ourselves so we picked up Lauren and headed to the Harding Icefield Trailhead. We climbed about 4000 feet in elevation on our way up the 4.1 mile trail. The trail winds along Exit Glacier, though you can't see it clearly until you get above the tree line. The scenery and the plant communities changed as we journeyed further up the slope. Leaving the black cottonwoods, Sitka alder and willow trees behind, we ventured into tall fireweed and thick patches of cow parsnip, devil's club and salmonberry bramble before climbing into the higher altitude of alpine dwarf shrubs such as Aleutian mountainheath and Nootka lupine and bog blueberry plants. There was still plenty of snow up top that we had trudge through. Oddly enough, it was incredibly hot outside and with the sun beaming down it reflected off the snow and gave us all quite the sunburn. Lauren wore capri yoga pants and her legs literally looked like someone painted reg leg warmers on her calves. We had lunch on a rock outcrop overlooking the ice field and rested a bit by basking in the seemingly too powerful for Alaska sunshine. The 4.1 miles downhill seemed faster and before we knew it we were back at the camper cooking up some Halibut for dinner. It was a great Alaskan day. 

Moving on from Seward we spent our last weekend in Alaska in Homer before driving back to Anchorage to fly back home to Boston. I landed here on the last boat I ever observed on a couple years ago for one night. I loved it then and I love it now, Homer is an amazing town. It has a spit, which encompasses the longest road into ocean waters in the entire world! The spit is full of seasonally open restaurants, shops, fishing charters and campgrounds. There is also a bike path that runs along the peninsula and into town. Brian and I hauled the camper to the tip of the spit and enjoyed our ocean view out the back window. I had put a message out through the Facebook world to any current observers that may be sitting around a seaside town on the Kenai to join us for dinner or a cold beer if we happened to be in the same place at the same time. A cool guy named Nathan took the bait and we spent the day hanging out and catching up. Nathan and I met briefly once before at the observer bunk house in Seattle. Later that night we did a little bar hopping around town to check out some live music on an Alaskan Saturday night. 

Brian and I decided that I would stay in Homer while Brian was at sea so we found a place to store the camper while we flew home for a couple weeks. We loaded the truck with things we were bringing home and our camping gear as we would be sleeping in our tent for the last couple nights before getting on the plane. On our way north to Anchorage we stopped in the town of Hope to camp for the night. A wildfire had broken out close to the Seward Highway moving traffic to one lane. We could see the smoke billowing from the side of the mountain alongside the highway. Though still burning, it had receded from the road by the time we had to go past it so we didn't have any problems getting through. Keith and Sharon joined us for dinner and then Brian and I spent our last night alongside the roaring Eagle River. 

I don't need to tell you how in love with Alaska I am, you already know this. But maybe now you understand my infatuation a little more. Brian certainly does, I think I even have him hooked. :)

Seward:

Brian's Quillback

Our Kick-ass deckhand, Anna, holding up a massive Ling Cod that another angler brought in

4 Halibut, 8 Black Rockfish and 1 salmon = 2 happy anglers

My first salmon! 

 Exit Glacier

Marmot!

Siberian Phlox

 Harding Ice Field

 Lauren and I

 Mountain Goats!

Nootka Lupine

Homer:

The Homer Spit

Hope:

 We watched as helicopters transferred water from the bay to help put out the wildfire in Anchorage

Next Stop: HOME

Denali National Park

Our long awaited visit to Denali National Park was finally here and expectedly, the park was crazy. A caravan of shuttle buses continuously coming in and out of the park loaded with tourists eagerly looking through the vertical sliding windows hoping for a wildlife sighting. Cars and RVs riding bumper to bumper while entering and exiting the park. The visitor’s center was choked with lines of people asking questions in every language known to man. Parking and camping sites were impossible to find. Yet somehow in the midst of all this, two young moose are on the corner of the busy highway and the entrance of the park. Undisturbed by the noises and pungent exhaust smells and constant motion around them, they fed on lush green grass with not a care in the world. Like nothing can touch them and they knew it. 

The Backcountry Office was equally insane as the rest of the park, if not more so. Brian and I arrived with the truck and trailer in tow from an outside RV park. Brian stood in line an hour before the office opened securing a spot third in line. Denali is another wilderness park, meaning there are no trails and you must map out your own route. We had several sections in mind we were hoping to spend the next three nights. Only a small quota of people are allowed in each backcountry sections per night, hence the early arrival to ensure a permit to the piece of park we’d like to explore. It is a requirement of the park to watch safety videos about bears and leaving no trace behind as well as a safety talk with a wilderness ranger. We learned about the golden triangle which, if followed, should strongly prevent any unnecessary bear encounters. Your tent should be 100m from your cook site and another 100m from there is where you store your bear canister full of food and products with any scent. After doing the complete run around of attaining permits, we scored Unit 9: East Branch Toklat River, and purchasing shuttle tickets to take us there, we used the next couple hours to finish packing our bags and stuffing our bear canister with food. We did a really good job packing only the necessities this time. Not to say we are professionals, but we’re getting there. The ride out on the 92 mile dirt road was exciting. We saw a moose, caribou and a grizzly. The sky was heavy with clouds but not raining. The bus driver alerted us when we were in our section and she instructed us to let her know when we wanted to be dropped. We picked the bend in the road closest to the Toklat River. Brian handed me our packs and walking sticks from the back of the bus. I couldn't help but notice the pit in my stomach like the feeling I get right before jumping out of an airplane. As the bus drove away, it was just Brian and I and the six million acres of wilderness around us. 

It was about 5 o'clock in the evening as the dust from the bus settled around us. We had to hike out of sight and at least a half mile from the road. We walked about 2.5 miles and set up the tent right on the river. Almost immediately Brian glassed a big ole grizzly meandering around the mountainside on the opposite side of the river. He was a very safe distance away so while we cooked our camp dinner, we took turns watching him foraging across the land through the binoculars. The next morning we awoke to a small herd of caribou wandering near our campsite. Caribou pose no threat to humans, though one of the females was watching us very carefully to ensure the safety of her calf. 

The terrain was flat and entirely above the tree line. We walked along the river as long as we could until we were pushed up onto the foothills. We were able to hop over small braids of the river but there were several times that we had to do a full blown river crossing. In this scenario, we'd take off our hiking boots and socks, put on our Crocs and roll up our quick dry pants. It was never a very far distance to go, it was the depth that required us to strip down. Usually we'd cross one at a time and toss one another the walking sticks so that you'd have two while wading in the roaring glacial water. No trails really meant no time frame or final destination for us. We loved taking our time and stopping when and wherever for a snack or break. There were periods of intermittent rain but generally it was very pleasant and NO BUGS! We approached the fork in the river and caught a glimpse of an unnamed glacier and decided to camp near there. As we were admiring the glacial blue, Brian spotted another grizzly and this time it was a sow with two cubs. They were right smack in the middle of the fork but on the hillside, roughly 400 yards away. We watched them carefully as we crossed the river and once we were on the other side, stopped to really watch them. I have seen a lot of bears in my time in Alaska but never before have I had the opportunity to just watch a sow interact with her cubs. She was a big mama bear and her two cubs looked like the Grateful Dead bears with blonde collars around their baby necks. We witnessed mama roll over and play with her cubs and feed them. I can't think of a good word to describe this other than miraculous and beautiful. We camped on a rocky perch next to a clear water runoff and a spectacular view of the glacier and slept like hibernating bears. 

We hiked out on the opposite side of the river over low shrubs and yellow arctic poppies, pink wildflowers and bright orange lichen on rocks. A couple more river crossings and a lunch break with a yoga sesh., we took our sweet time making it back to our campsite we had the first night. We had lunch on the hillside overlooking the Toklat watching Caribou run at full speed up and down the river. We're still not sure exactly what they were doing but they sure are fast. We wanted to be close to the road so we didn't' have a very long hike in the morning. The plan was to catch an early bus so that we could go further out on the 92 mile road for the off chance we might actually catch a glimpse of Denali. 

We awoke with excitement as the sky was almost clear. A few low creeping clouds were hanging around the mountains but would surely burn off as the sun came up. We had a pep in our step as we hiked out toward the road after filling our mugs with hot tea and eating Clif bars for a quick, cold breakfast. After we made it to the road, we kept walking and watched for the right bus to wave down for a ride. We spotted some Dall Sheep way way up on a jagged peak, they were so far that even through the binoculars it was hard to get a good visual. As we turned the next corner, we saw her. Denali. Standing 20,310 feet, it is the highest peak in North America. At this point a shuttle bus picked us up and brought us to the Eielson Visitor Center. As we got into a better viewing area of the majestic mountain, our very humorous bus driver told us to close our eyes as he put on the Jurassic Park theme song and drove the bus up over the hill for all of us to see the most spectacular sight in the park. We felt totally blessed to see her, only 20 percent of people get the opportunity. Our original plan was to ride the bus all the way to Wonder Lake but after an amazing three nights in the backcountry and a once in a lifetime view of Denali, we decided to head back to the main entrance of the park. Hot showers and cold beers were calling our names. 

Denali easily slipped into the number one slot for best National Park in Brian's book. I still can't say for sure what is number one for me but Denali is undoubtedly at the top of my list as well. Once again, we can only hope we'll be lucky enough to come back and visit again someday and someday soon. 

Baby moose!

Caribou track

Arctic Poppy

Caribou

Brian creeping over my shoulder with his binocs

The Toklat River

DENALI

Next Stop: Seward, Alaska

Chena Hot Springs

After surviving the Dalton Highway, Brian and I decided to spend our last day in the Fairbanks area at the Chena Hot Springs Resort. We didn't stay the night, though we did discover they accommodated tenters and RVers upon arriving. We came to soak our bones, do a load of laundry and have a hot meal out. The resort was like a small village with all kinds of activities and tours going on. First thing was first though, we threw in a large load of laundry. It cost $4 to wash and $4 to dry. Have I complained about how annoying and expensive coin laundry is yet? Anyway, we took care of that and then tended to our aching bods in the Hot Springs Rock Lake. The natural hot mineral water filters in and out of the pool and stays at 106ºF every day of the year. It was perfect. 

The Resort is also home to the Aurora Ice Museum. With interest peaked, we signed up for a tour to see the world's largest year-round ice environment. Originally designed to be an ice hotel, it became a museum because the facility could not comply with fire regulations. In other words, the building doesn't have a sprinkler system. Ironic as that is, it became a place for people to tour, get married or have a cocktail from a hand crafted ice martini glass. Brian and I donned on parkas and walked in with our tour guide from New Zealand. The sculptures were magnificent. Such unique, creative and intricate art work. I will let you as the reader come up with your own corny pun about the ice hotel. I was thinking something like "super chill" or "artic-ly awesome". Anyway, we really did love this tour.

To end the day we had dinner at the resort's restaurant and ordered some kind of red white and blue cocktail. It was, after all, Independence Day. 

All photos taken from my Samsung S7

Hot Springs Rock Lake

Aurora Ice Museum

Ice Bar

Happy Independence Day!

Next Stop: Denali National Park