Alaska

Overland Travel / Trekking

June 24th - July 3rd 2009

Overview:  Off to Alaska!  After Landing in Anchorage we began with 10 Days of an ambitious on land itinery driving in every direction from Anchoage. This was followed up by 8 days of  elegance on a princess cruise through inside passage  Whittier, AK to Vancover, BC. The first stop was up north to Denali National Park where we would take the bus to the end of the road and camp at Wonder Lake camp ground. From Denali we headed to Talkeetna for a night, then a backpacking trek up into the Talkeetna mountains via the Gold Mint Trail. Then we drove farther north to check out the easily accessible Mansurka glacier. Then we drove south of Anchorage to one of our favorite towns of Seward, AK. Here we spent two nights, one in a state run backcountry cabin high above the city. Next, it was the long drive to the end of the road in Homer, AK. Our last night before meeting up with the cruise gang we spent in another state run backcountry cabin on the lakeshore of Edlutna Lake. Next, we met up with everyone on the cruise ship with our family and friends. Arriveing in Anchorage we did not waste any time hitting the road as a local saying goes, " The wonderful thing about Anchorage is that it is only 20 minutes from Alaska."

Map:

Here is an overview of where we went/ how we got there / what we did at certain areas

              Yellow = Road

               Red = National Park Bus

               Magenta = Plane

               Green = Backcountry Tent / Cabins

               Blue = Cruise ship

Day 1

Anchorage /  Denali National Park

Arriving in AK were pleasantly surprised picking up our rental car with a free upgrade to a new Camery with 1200 miles on it. 1st stop was REI to pick up maps / stove / sleeping pads / bear spray / and other misc. stuff we did not have the room to bring on the airplane. Then we hit the road for a 200 mile drive to Denali.

It took no time for our first bear sighting - About 1 hour into the drive we spotted a big black husk moving across the road quickly moving into the brush. The drive was very scenic as we made our way through Denali State park. All the peaks had a dusting of snow at the higher elevations. The mountain of Denali itself could not be seen as the weather was cloudy with a few showers.

Entering the park, we camped at Riley Creek campground. They got pounded with solid  rain the previous week and it was damp and cool, a fire was quickly started. One nice perk about being in Alaska near the summer solstice - It is 11:45 and it is still plenty of light out.

Day 2

Denali National Park

The weather broke and we awoke to crystal blue sky's - Fantastic.  Up early we drove to the nearby visitor center where we would pick up the camper bus....on the way another black bear crossed directly in front of us across the road. we got our coffees at the visitor center and boarded the camper bus for the 5 hour bus ride across the park to the roads end. Wonder Lake is at the end and their is really no facilities, just a campground. They will not let you drive on the park road yourself so you have to reserve a ticket on a park bus - We were on the camper bus which was better than the "tourist bus" as ours was not nearly as full and full of people that were actually going to experience the parks backcountry with an overnight stay deep inside.  The bus tour reminded me so much of our safari through Africa's Serengeti,  Denali is basically the Serengeti of North America. Everyone had their eyes pealed taking in the views while constantly searching for wildlife. When something was spotted the bus would pull over.

 As we passed through the  tundra valleys the gigantic peak of Denali could be seen rising in the distance. Even our bus driver was excited and was rushing us to get to this viewpoint where we could see the mountain from top to bottom from this high point in the road. This was a few miles before Elisen visitor center. We all got our and took in the views of certainly one of the most impressive sights to be seen in North America.

Denali  is the North Americas highest mountain  at 20,320 ft . It towers above the plains at 18,000 ft of vertical relief.

 Later that day we arrived at Wonder Lake campground. "Hope everyone has brought their head nets,"a ranger greeted us as we unloaded the bus. Mosquitos were voracious with one even getting my lip. Each site had 5- Star views of the Alaska range. The range runs for 600 miles of glacier-covered mountains and tundra. The top of Denali could not be seen at this time but it did not matter as the rest of the range was a panorama postcard for the eyes.

View from Wonderlake campsites

 After setting up camp I decided to  hike the McKinley bar trail a few miles until it reached the Mckinley river. Sam stayed back and camp and relaxed. It was a bit unnerving hiking solo through some sections of dense brush-  the thought of the hundreds of grizzly bears in the park is always present in the back of my mind.

 McKinley River. You can ford the river and keep going 16 miles all the way to McGonalgall pass - a trip for another time perhaps

 During the bus ride earlier that day I asked our bus driver if he recommended a flight tour of the mountain. "Yes, you come all the way up here and you got to do it. I have done it 3 times." he replied. He then told us about how they do it out of Kantishna just a few miles past Wonder Lake. I had no idea they did flight tours inside the park. The weather was as good as its been in 2 weeks and just the sight of the mountain and range still 30 miles away is spectacular- I was sold. We did not know if we would be able to get a spot so we took the bus to the airstrip. Luckily for us he fit us in later that night on the after dinner flight at 8:00 pm. Sam volunteered to sit up front in as co-pilot.

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