June 12-19, 2006

By Tim Briese

I flew to Alaska with my wife Teresa, sister-in-law Dianne, and brother-in-law Gene for a marvelous week-long adventure. The three of them had never been there before, while I had visited once several years before, and was eager to come back to experience more of this incredible land. We arrived in Anchorage late on Sunday evening and rented a car to begin our journey the next morning.

On Monday morning we headed south from Anchorage, around the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet toward the Kenai Peninsula. We stopped at several viewpoints along the way to gaze at the scenery and look for whales out in the water. It was quite a thrill to be starting our adventure in Alaska! This trip was the realization of a lifelong dream for Dianne.

Continuing south, we entered the Kenai Peninsula, a land of spectacular mountains, lakes, and rivers. We saw a charming pond filled with lily pads where we stopped for a picnic lunch. Arriving in Seward, at the tip of the peninsula, we explored the town and its quaint harbor for a couple of hours. Tall mountains covered in greenery rose directly out of the sea to heights of two to three thousand feet.

Early in the afternoon we drove northwest of Seward up a scenic valley along the Resurrection River to see Exit Glacier. This is a very popular sight in the Seward area, and a nice paved road runs all the way to a large parking area near the terminus of the glacier. It is one of the most easily accessed glaciers in the state. Along the last couple of miles of the road are interesting date markers indicating the location of the end of the glacier in years past, since the glacier is presently retreating at a rate of about 50 feet per year. The 1790 marker is over two miles away from the current terminus of the glacier! Exit Glacier is a four mile long tongue of ice spilling down a steep valley from the vast 300 square mile Harding Icefield that lies in a basin above. The icefield itself is not visible from the trailhead area below.

There were tour buses and dozens of cars parked in the ample parking area, and we noticed a small crowd of people at the end of the lot gazing and pointing up into a tree. We walked over to have a look, and saw the object of everyone=s attention, a young black bear crawling about in the branches.

In the nice visitor center nearby was a list of animals that had been sighted in the area in the past few days, including black bears, moose, and a grizzly bear that had been spotted walking across the glacier itself. We began to follow a nice trail through the woods toward the glacier. The trail was initially wide and paved, but later on became narrower when the pavement ended. We followed a loop that took us up through dense alders to a rocky area above, to a point a few yards away from the glacier. It was fascinating to gaze at the deep blue color of the ice. The glacier seemed to be almost a living thing, because it is constantly in motion, although imperceptibly, advancing downward at a rate of about two feet per day.

On the trail back through the dense trees we were discussing the possibility of encountering a grizzly bear, and we came upon a large pile of animal dung along the trail that we had overlooked on the way up. Gene, mischievously trying to incite panic in the girls, remarked, A That wasn=t there when we went up!@

On Tuesday morning we rose early at our rustic private rental cabin in the woods outside of Seward and drove down to the harbor, where we boarded a cruise boat for a six hour tour into Kenai Fjords National Park. This was a highlight of the trip for all of us. The day was clear and beautiful, and our captain gave a colorful narration of the fascinating sights and wildlife that we saw along the way. We saw numerous whales, sea otters, sea lions, and countless birds of various species, many of them sitting on tiny rocky islands that jutted out of the water. We cruised into Aialik Bay and the captain deftly weaved our vessel through icebergs and took us right to the base of the Holgate Glacier, where we watched with fascination as chunks of ice calved into the water, creating an impressive roar.

After returning to Seward we drove north to Cooper Landing, and checked in at the cabin where we were to stay that night, a fine two-story log cabin on the banks of the wide Kenai River. This was a fine accommodation in a spectacular setting, our favorite of the entire week.

After checking in at the cabin we drove a few miles further west up the road to the parking area for the Russian River Falls trail. This was another very popular area, primarily with fishermen. An official was directing visitors to various parking lots, and we barely found a place to park. Once we set foot on the trail, though, we saw few other people, because the crowds were elsewhere fishing.

The trail to Russian River Falls is a gentle, five mile roundtrip route that takes hikers to a platform overlooking falls in the river, where salmon can be seen leaping upstream against the rushing white water. This was indeed quite a fascinating sight. Dozens of large salmon, probably two to three feet in length, were crowded into pools of calm water at the river=s edge, resting, while others could be seen making a hard fought attempt to advance upstream, either swimming as hard as they could against the rushing current, or leaping into the air to jump over a rapid. More often than not they appeared to be unsuccessful, but kept trying repeatedly until they made it. We watched this incredible scene for quite a while before heading back up the trail in the late afternoon sun.

We had been cautioned to avoid this hike around dusk because grizzlies had been seen feeding on fish at the falls in recent days. On the way back we met a bearded old hiker coming up the trail carrying a large rifle, and when we asked what he was hunting, he replied that A he just didn=t want to be hunted!@

We covered a lot of ground today, from the Kenai Fjords cruise in the morning to the hike in the afternoon, and it felt good to sit on the back porch of the cabin in the evening sunlight, enjoying drinks and the peaceful sight of the Kenai River flowing past. With over 20 hours of daylight at this time of year, the Alaska days seemed almost endless.

On Wednesday we headed north back through Anchorage, stopping to re-stock our food supply for breakfasts and lunches. Continuing north we visited the Eklutna Historical Park and the Independence Mine near Hatcher Pass, before driving across the Mat-Su Valley to Wasilla, our destination that night. Wasilla was the most civilized place we saw in Alaska, besides Anchorage, with familiar motels and restaurants lining the roads. At 1 a.m. I awoke in our motel and looked out the window toward the south at the mountains beyond the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet, in the dusky light of the midnight sun. At this latitude it never got dark all night, a most remarkable phenomenon I had never experienced before.

On Thursday morning we headed north into Alaska=s interior toward Denali National Park. As we approached the park we were blessed with fine, clear views of Denali itself, the highest mountain in North America, at 20,320 feet. It towered majestically high above surrounding peaks, appearing almost ghostly white in its mantle of ice and snow. We were very fortunate to see it, for it is shrouded in clouds 70% of the time. An employee at a visitor center said the view of Denali today was the best she had seen in weeks!

After lunch at a rest area along the highway we continued to Denali National Park. This appeared to be one of the top tourist attractions in Alaska, judging from the crowds and jammed parking lots. We stopped at the visitor center for a while then drove into the park as far as private vehicles are allowed. We elected not to ride the park bus on the 70 mile tour into the interior because big crowds and long, bumpy bus rides did not fit our traveling style. We had been advised that similar scenery and wildlife viewing could be found outside the park along the remote Denali Highway, without all the people, so that was our planned route for the following day.

To call this road a highway is somewhat of a misnomer, in my opinion, because it is gravel for over 110 miles of its 135 mile length. It passes through some of the most remote territory I have ever visited, too, for there are almost no signs of civilization along its entire length, except for a couple of remote lodges toward its eastern end. There are no towns, no powerlines, and almost no road signs, for over 100 miles. We saw only a handful of other vehicles on the entire road. The scenery was spectacular, too, for the road passes along the south side of the Alaska Range, often high above beautiful river valleys below. We drove slowly along, at perhaps 35 miles per hour or so, stopping frequently to admire the views. We were on a constant lookout for wildlife on this clear, sunny day, and were amply rewarded, too, with several sightings of moose, eagles, swans, and a caribou.

Toward the eastern end of the road we finally reached our destination for the night, the Tangle River Inn, one of the very few outposts of humanity along the route. The place consisted of a few crude rental cabins, an ancient gas pump, and a rustic restaurant overlooking a lake, all powered by a generator that hummed in a shed out back. There were photos on the wall in the restaurant showing the waitress with a monstrous grizzly bear that she had shot several years before, and she related to us the spine-tingling story of when she had shot it.

While Dianne and Gene rested in the cabin, Teresa and I drove a couple of miles down the road to the trailhead for the Swede Lake Trail. It was another beautiful Alaska afternoon, and we couldn=t resist getting outdoors and going on a hike. The wide trail took us southward for a couple of miles on nearly level terrain. There were ATV tracks on the wide trail, and after a while we met three of them that cruised past us. The landscape was covered with low, dense bushes, about five feet tall, without a single tree in sight. Mosquitoes were somewhat of a problem, but weren=t too bad as long as we kept moving.

Eventually the trail started descending into a broad valley that lay ahead, and we could see Swede Lake about a mile away lying in the bottom of the valley. Scattered evergreen trees began to appear as we descended, and we could see that the bushes gave way to an evergreen forest lower in the valley in the miles ahead. I realized that we were right at the point we call timberline on mountains in Colorado, event though the elevation here in Alaska was only around 2000 feet!

We followed the trail down toward the lake, avoiding muddy areas as best we could. Mosquitoes swarmed viciously around us here, as if they hadn=t had a decent meal in days. When we approached the lake the terrain became quite boggy and muddy, so we decided we had gone as far as we could. After taking a couple of photos we headed back. It was nice to get away from the worst of the mosquitoes when we returned to higher ground away from the lake. We returned to the trailhead after about three hours, having covered about six miles on this hike.

On Saturday morning we awoke to a dull, gray sky, the first we had seen all week We were told that we had been blessed with unusually fine weather this week, because some visitors to the state experience nothing but rain. It was nice to get back on a paved road again, and we stopped for breakfast at Paxson, the first town we came to. This tiny town appeared to have little more than a single business, which consisted of a rundown motel, an old gas pump and garage, and an even more rundown restaurant. We were hungry, though, and looked forward to a savory breakfast. Our waiter was the mechanic, clothed in his greasy coveralls, and the cook was his plump wife, cranking out her ample meals in the adjacent kitchen. I ordered pancakes, which turned out to be delicious, but huge, about the size of small pizzas. When I was unable to finish them, the cook glared at me and asked if something was wrong with them!

We drove south down the Richardson Highway that day, stopping to look at the Alaska Pipeline, and admiring views of spectacular icy peaks off to the east, including Mt. Drum (12,010') and Mt. Sanford (16,237').

The last 50 miles of the Richardson Highway into Valdez is reputed to be one of the most spectacularly scenic stretches of highway in North America, and it was indeed quite a treat, in spite of the overcast weather. The route passes through the rugged Chugach Mountains, which are loaded with glaciers up high and have dozens of waterfalls that cascade down lush green wooded slopes below. We stopped and walked up to the terminus of the Worthington Glacier, then drove over Thompson Pass (2771'), site of Alaska= s all-time snowfall record (81 feet in a season!), before descending down a scenic valley into Valdez.

It is said that Valdez possesses one of the most remarkably picturesque settings in Alaska, nestled on the coast against some of the tallest coastal mountains in the world. I=m sure this is so, but we didn=t see much of this because of low clouds and drizzle during our visit. We enjoyed walking around exploring the town and harbor, though, and feasting on delicious halibut during our overnight stay. On Sunday morning we boarded an Alaska State Ferry for a six hour ride across beautiful Prince William Sound to Whittier. As we left Valdez we observed that security was tight at the port, with Coast Guard gunboats prowling about, because the pipeline terminal on the other side of the bay is considered a top terrorist target. On the trip across the sound we saw numerous examples of the rich sea-life that abounds there, as well as icebergs from calving glaciers floating in the water. At mid-afternoon we sailed past glaciers and waterfalls into Whittier, a quaint little village in a remote bay, built by the army during World War II as a secret port hidden from the Japanese. From Whittier we took an old one-lane tunnel under the mountains to Portage, where we stopped to see icebergs floating around on Portage Lake.

From there is was a 50 mile drive back to Anchorage, where we ate dinner and headed to the airport to await our flight home. We were thrilled to have seen some of the best that Alaska has to offer during our week-long visit. Around midnight we boarded our plane for the overnight flight home, completing our fabulous adventure in the land of the midnight sun.

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