Worth the drive!

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Trip Start Apr 10, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End Dec 20, 2005 Next
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  Anchorage, Seward, Alaska, United States
Sunday, August 28, 2005

Before leaving Dawson City, we'd thought it wise to check in with the Visitor Centre for an update on the fire. We had heard gossip that the fire had hit the highway to Alaska and trees were falling onto the road. Well, indeed the travel advisory notice said "Not Recommended" but, "the hell with it, we're on an adventure!" we thought, as the prospect of driving all the way back to Whitehorse and entering Alaska through the bottom wasn't all that appealing. At worse, we'd see a forest fire up close and have to turn around.

So after a sad goodbye to Steve (hey, we miss you a lot!) we hit the road into the smoky haze up into the mountains along Top-of-the-World highway. Once we reached the peak, the smoke was all but gone, and we were treated with fresh air for the first time in many, many days. The landscape had turned to multi-colour tundra and dwarfed trees that were old growth despite their size

01 Top of the World Highway

. Just our luck, we pulled over to find a field of wild blueberries that the bears and other animals had not discovered. They were so delicious, even Sam was grazing them right off the plants. We were as far north as we'd ever be in our lifetimes. Wow, it was damn cold.

Arriving at the border crossing, the officer told us that Fairbanks was smoky due to the same forest fire and even Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North American could not be seen due to the haze. We decided to head south to Anchorage, a city of 260,000 people believe it or not, and soak up some city life! We were able to ignore the lure of the endless box stores, and found instead the city's farmers' and artists' market and climbed up Flat-top Mountain where we heard it was possible to see Mt. McKinley from the top. We didn't see Mt. McKinley, but the sight was still incredible. We also tried to find a place to get in some dancing, after all, it had been ages since we got our groove on. Well we sure did find a "hip" spot to sample Alaska's local hipsters. It was like a bad prom night with bad hair and all the fixin's and we had a blast none the less people watching. With our fill of city life, we made our quick escape back again to the wilderness towards Seward, a coastal town where we hoped to catch sight of some new animal creatures. The drive to Seward was the most magnificent yet. It started along the inlet, where the tide was low and the glacier snow capped mountains were all around us

02 Top of the World Highway

.

Seward was equally magnificant, in it's coastal charming way. Sailing, crusiing, fishing boats off all sizes were everywhere, the smell of the ocean and it's bounty of fish was thick in the air. Sea otters were already floating serenely, napping near the ocean shores and the skies were noisy with the calls of gulls, ravens and other shore birds. Almost every restaurant and store had giant mounted fish on their walls, and of course, huge Alaskan Salmon, Halibut and King Crabs were on the menu. One restaurant had a Halibut mounted that was caught and weighed in at over 300 lbs and about 5 feet long. Sheesh, I would be terrified if I hauled a monster like that out of the water.

We decided to hike up Marathon Mountain to kill some time as it was raining and the seas were too rough. We made it up 3/4 way until Karin, the wiser of us two, decided to turn back as the trail looked very muddy and we were already grasping onto trees to keep from slipping. With the peak in sight, me being the more stubborn and foolish, decided to keep going, taking with me my hostage, Sam. Well I got almost to the top, and boy was it sketchy going up. The trees were gone and I was holding onto small shrubs. Then the shrubs ran out and the trail opened up to a wide dirt hillside

03 Top of the World Blueberries

. You'd think I'd have the brains to turn around, but instead I put on my rain gear, and made a mad dash to the next patch of shrubs. I didn't get more than 5 paces when I slipped and slid right past Sam's bulging eyes down the muddy slope. Sam was on his way down after me and seemed relieved when all the mud between my legs had slowed me enough to grab onto some poor unfortunate shrub. So back down I went, everytime I stood up, and slipped right back down the mountain, sometimes snowplowing Sam in my wake. It was hilarious, I even got mud in my mouth from laughing so hard. Back at the car, stood Karin, clean as a whistle.

The next day we decided to splurge and join a 6 hour ocean safari on a unique boat called a Catamaran. We decided to wait a day since a storm rolled in and the seas were reporting 15ft waves. Yikes. The day we did go out, the winds had died down to just 5ft waves, but enough to make us both green and queasy, and for some unfortunate boat mates, up came the delicious smoked salmon lunch they provided on the tour.

For the most part, the ocean safari was outstanding. When the boat was at full speed, one had the sensation of being on a roller coaster ride, everyone had a white-knuckled grip on the railing. When it was time to slow down and find animals, we were treated with up close sights of Sea Otters, Sea Lions, Harbour Seals, Mountain Goats, Tufted and Horned Puffins amongst many wonderful sea birds, and of course, some breathtaking views of some glaciers. We stopped for 30mins, and everyone was hushed and silent, in awe of the thunderous booms of the glacier cracking from the inside. A humpback whale was also sighted by only a handful of passengers, and it did not resurface to show itself again as they can dive for more than 30 mins and resurface at very far distances

04 Old Dredge at the Top of the World

. So alas, our hopes of spotting a whale will have to wait.

On our way out of Alaska, we were lucky enough that the Alaskan State Fair was happening in the city of Palmer. I had never seen so many rifle and gun raffles and so many displays of ATVs. They had a livestock showroom, of which I was joyfully elated at petting all the animals, yet a little hungry too...(just kidding). There were contests on the biggest vegetables grown and the best baked goods as well. There was a midway, there were candy apples, there was roasted corn, my goodness, we were in heaven!

On our way out of Alaska, we were fortunate to see the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountain ranges on a sunny day. We missed Mt. McKinley, but these mountain ranges have North America's largest assemblage of glaciers and the greatest collection of peaks above 16,000 feet. Mount St. Elias, at 18,008 feet is just a mere 2,312ft shorter than Mt. McKinley, and it was tremendous to see the snow-capped peaks blending in with the clouds. It was very difficult to leave Alaska, it's scenic wilderness of mountains and ocean is truly unforgettable. It's hard to believe that in leaving Alaska, we are now ever driving closer to home. But alas, we still have Yellowknife to conquer! So onwards we must mush! See you all next time!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

05 Inside the Old Dredge	06 Chicken Alaska	07 Top of Flattop Mountain in Anchorage	08 Top of Flattop Mountain in Anchorage
09 Gorgeous Drive from Anchorage to Seward	10 Exit Glacier in Seward	11 Exit Glacier Up Close	12 Seward Marina
13 Sea Otters Napping	14 Karin Enjoying the Cruise in Kenai National Pk	15 Home of the Puffins	16 Ailek Glacier
17 Large Ice Blocks Fall Away from Glacier	18 Puffin!!	19 More Puffins!	20 Sea Lions
21 Cute Little Sea Otters	22 More Cute Little Sea Otters	23 Return Ashore	24 View from our Campsite (Chugach Park)
25 Earthquake & Tsunami Zone	26 Entering the Alaska State Fair	27 Enjoying some Fair Confections	28 Traicee wants to steal a piglet
29 Swedish Goose doing the Funky Chicken	30 And the Winning Zuchinni Is...	31 The Full Veggie Table	32 Hatcher Pass
33 Wrangell Mountains along Alaska Hwy	34 Wrangell Mountains

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