mjrustand: Alaska

Saturday, August 11th 2007

We did it! We took our big trip to Alaska, spending 17 days and 16 nights in the north country, most of them in a tent. We schemed this trip up while on a hike in Colorado, discussing things we really wanted to do in our lives . . . deep I know. Going to Alaska was one of them, and when we found cheap airline tickets we decided to go for it. We were gone from July 21st to August 6th and loved every minute of it. Because of the duration we were going to be there we divided the trip into three: we spent a week on the Kenai Peninsula near Seward, a week in Denali National Park, and a few days in Anchorage exploring the town and visiting my sister. We are relatively poor at this point which is why we only spent a few nights in a hotel, and most nights in a tent.

Flying into Anchorage we were provided a beautiful sunset. The flight we took was a red eye, so although it looks like it should be 9PM, it was really closer to midnight or later.

Salmon fishing is a popular sport there and it seems that most rivers were lined with fisherman. We witnessed this on our way to Seward.

Our fist backpacking about 16 miles and one night out. It rained for much of the trip, but the ow clouds gave a majestic feel to the mountains.

We went over two passes on this excursion, Devil's and Resurrection. Julie has her head down determined to get up the second one.

After the backpacking trip, we had rented a little cabin on Kenai Lake. It gave us a chance to rest and get our stuff dried out. The cabin was nestled in a wooded area and the picture window seemed like it was right off the water. It was small, but cozy and we loved it.

When we arrived in Seward, we decided to hike along the side the Harding Icefield, a glacier that was within Kenai Fjords National Park.

A couple of mountain goats hanging out on the way up.

A black bear we spotted on our way down from the top of the glacier. We also had seen a bear with two cubs way off in the distance.

This is the glacier as it is melting into the river at the bottom. The ice had a spectacular aqua color to it.

We finally made it to Seward.

We had reserved a back country cabin on Crescent Lake that the forest service owns.

We took this row boat for a little spin on the lake while we were there; it was patched up with duct tape, but it was sea worthy.

The second leg of the trip brought us to Denali National Park. We stayed at the campground most nights, but what I remember most is playing cards on the picnic table at midnight with no lights because the sun was still up.

We took on abbreviated back packing trip in Denali. We had to cross the Thorofare River (behind Julie) which braided along this gravel bed, but along the way we stumbled across three grizzly bears that were playing and chasing each other. A little nerve racking, seeing that large of an animal move that fast. We backed off and made it out unscathed.

The day we went out we could see a cloud front moving in,and before we got too wet we set up our tent and hunkered down on the tundra. It rained hard from 4PM to the next morning. We never left our tent, but we slept so well on that soft ground. The next morning we got out and had a few caribou right outside our tent and Dall sheep could be seen on a peak near us (our tent is in the background).

Crossing the river back and forth proved to be a challenge because one, the water moved very fast and was deep in places, and two, it was freezing cold.

We had on glimpse of Mount McKinley while we were at the park. It peeked out of the clouds for only a few minutes, but we were able to get a couple of shots.