Glaciers, Bears & Wildfires, Oh My

Our plan upon leaving the Yukon was to head down the Stewart-Cassiar Highway. There are some interesting things to see along here, plus then I wouldn't have to drive the same stretch of the Alaska Highway again. So we turned off the Alaska Highway, somewhat thrilled to be leaving the land of frost heaves, only to be stopped at a roadblock because of a wildfire that was burning pretty much right along the Cassiar. We had arrived 5 minutes late and would have to wait for the next pilot car. So we did, and it was quite an experience to be piloted through a basically active wildfire area. We couldn't stop, for obvious safety reasons, so our only pictures are kinda blurry due to the motion of the car. It is definitely eerie to see a forest like this:

But I saw forests in Yellowstone only 5 years after fire, and it is definitely true that they grow back quickly. Hopefully that will happen here as well.

One the main reasons to take the Cassiar Highway is that it provides many, many opportunities to see black bear, as you can see:

This momma and her cubs were my favorite, but we didn't get much time to observe them because this big old truck came barreling down the road honking his horn and scaring them off.

Another reason to take the Cassiar is that it also enables you to visit what is probably one of the most isolated towns in the US: Hyder, AK. It is only accessible by road through the slightly more populated Stewart, BC and is so far removed from the rest of the US that it uses Pacific time (instead of Alaskan) and Canadian schools money. (You still have to go through customs, though). The main attraction here is the Fish Creek Viewing Platform run by the US Forest Service. This area is officially part of Tongass National Forest.

Everyone goes and stands on that platform and then the bears come and catch salmon in the creek. We didn't see any bears in the creek (bummer) but we did see tons of salmon doing their spawning thing.

We also got our first good look at the temperate rain forest, which produces massive trees that you find pretty much halfway down the Pacific Coats. They are just so beautiful and majestic.

Another thing you can do here, which is according to Lonely Planet USA is "totally worth the trip," is drive to Salmon Glacier, which is purportedly the largest glacier in the world accessible by road. The forest service ranger assured us that it was a lovely, hour-long drive. Now, I had already known the road was about 17 miles long. You think I would have put those two pieces of information together and realized something was amiss, but no, I just accepted the road guide she handed me and off we went on our merry way. The first views along the drive were beautiful.

Um, until I looked down and happened to notice just how high above the valley we'd gotten.

And these people clearly have a different definition of "maintained road" than I, because my idea of maintenance involves more than one lane, seal coat (at a minimum) and guard rails. But it was too late to turn around, so we soldiered.....er, snailed?....on.

It was probably one of the scariest things I have ever done, but it was kind of one of those no-turning-back-now moments (especially since I'm lucky to do K turns when there are four lanes and the worst that can happen is you bump someone's mailbox). The view at the top, though incredibly buggy, was so worth it. I guess the Lonely Planet writers weren't just being cliche after all.

Coming next, the rest of our stay (in way more populated) southern BC, including the gorgeous Minter Gardens & Vancouver.

Leaving Alaska

Despite what an awesome (albeit slightly indirect) trip home I had, it was really hard to leave Alaska. It was great that Tasha was with me for so many reasons, but those first few days, her presence definitely prevented me from turning around and going back to Wasilla. Saying good-bye to my dad (and Susanne) was pretty hard. Witness my red, teary face!

Anyway, once we got going, it wasn't so bad. And I obviously came home, so that was good (although how long I'll stay is anyone's guess). Our first few days were mostly a lot of driving. The scenery along the Alaska Highway is beautiful, but those frost heaves are killer. That first day, we only made it to the Alaska-Yukon border, because we left late (of course!), go stuck in construction, stopped at Fred Meyers (always good for an hour or so), and visited a few places, too.

A big polar bear (the only kind of bear I have yet to see in the wild-but Churchill, Manitoba is so on my list) at the Santa Claus house in North Pole.

Another shot for my collection of "the biggest ______ in the world" things. This one is a vintage Santa, proudly displayed in North Pole.

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline suspension bridge over the river....I think it's the Tanana, but I saw so many rivers I kinda lost track.

Rika's Roadhouse, which was (and still is, in a way) a stop along the old dogsled route from Fairbanks to Valdez.

A sunflower from the garden at Rika's. Check out the bee in the center of the flower, doing his pollination thing.

The other end of the Alaska Highway. I officially drove the entire thing-without getting a flat tire or eaten by a bear.

Gorgeous mountains (I believe they're the Wrangell-St. Elias range) along the Alaska Highway south of Tok.

The international boundary between the US and Canada. Apparently they clear the trees and brush along the boundary once every ten years-sounds like a fun job!!

Up next, the rest of our (mis)adventures in the Yukon!

Wildlife in the Wild

Without further ado, here are the best shots of the wildlife we saw on our Denali bus trip. Some of them are not of great quality, because while my camera's nice, it's not that nice. But it was absolutely amazing to see all these animals behaving as if we weren't even there. Truly the experience of a life time.


A female moose, sort of in the center of the picture. Not the most exciting shot, but this was the first wildlife we saw on the shuttle bus trip.

A pica, which looks like a mouse but is actually the smallest member of the rabbit family.

For some reason, I was having trouble getting the cropped image to upload. But if you look in the middle of the picture, you'll see some black specks, one right near the tree line and another laying down slightly below and to the left. Those are part of a wolf pack we saw. I will work on getting the cropped images up.

A big grizzly bear we spent about ten minutes watching. He was sort of just ambling along, chomping on bushes and berries. Our driver said it was probably a juvenile, and you can kinda see the radio collar around his neck.

A whole bunch of Dall sheep, just chilling, on the cliffs below Polychrome pass. There were about nine of them in all.

A mama moose and her calf, running across the hillside. That little guy was soooooo cute.

A lone wolf running for cover.

You can just make out the caribou standing along the ridge line. We actually saw tons of caribou, but some of those pictures were ones I also had trouble cropping. I also have a few of some big bull moose. If I'm able to solve the problem, I'll post when I can.

Up next, I'll be starting to show you my journey home, which if you followed my live blogging, you know took some, er, interesting turns. Also, I'll be at the National Book Festival in DC next weekend-always one of my favorite trips, and, as long as I get the hotels squared away, I'll be in Vermont on Columbus Day weekend with my grandma. 

The Great One

The Denali bus ride was definitely one (of the many) highlights of my time in Alaska. I have so many pictures from the park that it would be impossible to share them in just one post, if only because it takes my slow computer forever to load them. So I'll start today with some shots of the mountain itself, from all different places in the park.

Because Denali is such a high mountain, it makes its own weather and is often all clouded in. In fact, only 30% of park visitors usually get to see the peak clearly. This July, it was visible only one day from the Eielson Visitor's Center. So we were incredibly lucky to have some great views of it for two days in a row!

This was my first view, from along the Parks Highway near Nenana.

An even better view from another spot along the Parks Highway. Isn't amazing how, despite the fact that there are mountains all around you, Denali just dominates the sky?

This may have been my favorite view. I took this from Savage Campground at about 6 am. The way the clouds were, and the spruce trees, against the clear, stark white of the peaks, it was this breathtaking sight. The photos I took don't even come close to doing justice to the beauty of the acutal scene.

I love this shot for the juxtaposition of the colors. You can see the green plains in front of you, leading up to the rocky mountains, which are dominated by the snow-covered peaks of Denali itself.

I totally forget where this is, but it's not far from Eielson. Our bus driver told us this was a pretty iconic shot, with the road in the foreground. You can see that by this point, around 11 am, the mountain was already starting to cloud over.

The view from Eielson, with no zoom, from about 35 miles as the crow flies from the mountain.

This shot has some zoom, and I love again how it shows the different elevations.

A close-up of the summit.

That's me :-). I was a little frustrated because I was taking shots for everyone around me, most of which came out really nice, and this is the best of the ones people took for me. It was windy and of course it's hard to photograph a white mountain against a light sky, but still, I was disappointed. However, that didn't last long, because I was mostly overjoyed to have seen such natural beauty.

Up next (by this weekend), my Denali wildlife shots. I will warn you now, most of them are grainy and blurry, but you can still tell what kind of animal it was. So stay tuned!!!

Fairbanks, Part 1

We are in beautiful, sunny Fairbanks! It is so nice to finally see the sun, because it has been so cloudy. We went up and visited my uncle at his cabin on Thursday & Friday, but I forgot to take pictures (sorry, Grandma). Then today we did a bunch of stuff in Fairbanks before picking up my friend Tasha from the airport. Tasha will be joining me for the trip back east, which is so cool!!! I'll post details about our itinerary once we figure it out. But for now, here's some snaps from Fairbanks.

Susanne & I outside Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. It's pretty nice in here. They have a lot of museums and old log cabins that have been preserved.

They also have this riverboat that was preserved from the gold rush era that you can walk around inside.

That's me coming out of a little house that's kept at 40 below! My dad insisted I go in. It was soooooooooooo cold I think that the snot in my sinuses froze!

We went to El Dorado gold mine, which is a working mine, and went panning for gold. My dad used to do this, so he knows how and he showed us. We got about 7 grains of gold, which was worth about $50 altogether. I got it put into a locket.

A big old grizzly bear at the Museum of the North in the U of Alaska. It's like 9 feet tall!

And here's my hand inside the grizzly track. Hope I don't meet one of those while hiking in the woods!

Athabascan natives make these amazing beaded items & intricately woven baskets. It is so amazing to see. I wish I could afford to buy some, but it's pretty expensive since it's so detailed.

This is a Tlingit ceremonial robe. The Tlingit & Haida art is probably my favorite of all the native art.

Tomorrow we are going to the farmer's market & the Tanana Valley Fair. Not sure when I'll have another chance to post pictures-maybe when we are back in the Yukon. Tasha & I will be leaving Denali and heading out of Alaska on Tuesday.

The Kenai

We spent two days touring the Kenai Peninsula, which had some of my favorite parts of Alaska (so far). The drive along the Turnagain Arm on the way out of Anchorage to the Kenai is gorgeous, even on a cloudy day. Here's my favorite shot from that part of the drive:

On Monday we drove down the Sterling Highway to Homer., making a bunch of stops. One of them was at this little overlook near Kenai Lake. The water was such an amazing color-and we even had some sun!

Here's a beautiful fireweed that I saw growing near the lake. I think this might be one of my overall favorite pictures from the trip so far.

This is the Russian Orthodox Church in the town of Ninilchik. It has such an amazing view.

We were also able to see some of the volcanoes in the Aleutian range. This is Mount Iliamna.

We also saw tons of eagles, both bald and golden. I got a lot of pictures, but this was one of the best.

On the way back up from Homer, we took a detour into Kenai. That was a really neat town, and I think if I ever moved to Alaska, that might be where I'd want to live. It's in a good location, with gorgeous views. Here's a shot of the Russian Orthodox Church there.

We stayed at a beautiful lodge called Summit Lake on Monday night. The next day we drove down to Seward, where we took a boat cruise into Kenai Fjords National Park. It was windy, rainy and grey, so we didn't see as much scenery, but it was still awesome! We also went to the Alaska Sea Life center; here's a harbor seal at that aquarium:

The next three shots are all from the cruise. Here are some Stellar sea lions:

This big guy was definitely in charge on this rock:

The water there in Resurrection Bay was also an amazing color, and it was so starkly beautiful.

The captain of our boat was great. He took us pretty far out in the Gulf of Alaska to try and find some whales. We didn't see any, but it was still an awesome time. We had some great pizza in Seward and then stopped at Exit Glacier, also in Kenai Fjords National Park, on the way out of town. We hiked a trail called "Edge of the Glacier," which I had thought would enable me to actually touch the glacier. I was so disappointed when I got to the top and found out I couldn't actually touch it. But it was still nice.

Tomorrow my dad and I are heading up to Healy and then to Fairbanks on the weekend. My awesome friend Tasha is flying in late Saturday night to drive home with me, and we're going to spend a few days in Denali National Park before starting to head home on Tuesday. Not sure where we're going yet, so stay tuned. I'm having an amazing time, but this adventure isn't even half over yet!