Wanderung 29

Alaska or Bust

July 2014 - August 2014

3 Kenai Fjords NP
Dawson City, Yukon 4
Index


 

July 30: Sheep Mountain, Alaska

Bob:

Although reluctant to leave such a beautiful place, we started the long drive back today, but first we decided to stop in at a nearby arm of the Kenai Fjords National Park where we hoped to be able to walk up to the nearest of the glaciers.

Monika:

We packed up and got to the ranger station of Kenai Fjord NP in time for the 10 am ranger led walk...

Bob:

All through our drive in Alaska we had been on the lookout for wildlife and had really seen a lot but no moose. As we walked across the parking lot to the Visitor's Center in the park, suddenly a mother and baby moose ambled across the end of the parking lot. I was so shocked at their sudden appearance, that I did not think to grab out my camera from its belt pouch and take a shot--I just kind of stood there, open-mouthed, as they disappeared around a curve in the road just outside the parking area. Sigh.

But good fortune smiled on us when we entered the Visitor's Center as we were just in time for the morning Ranger-led walk up to Exit Glacier. Yay! We love the Ranger-led walks because they are all enthusiastic about Nature and typically also very knowledgeable about local flora and fauna. This ranger was no exception, so he regaled us with stories and information. He explained the signs we had seen along the trail that had a year stamped on them, as the furthest extent of Exit glacier in that year. Clearly the glacier was retreating, and recently fairly rapidly, due to global warming, so we had to walk much further up the hill to get to it than folks had down back in the 50s and 60s.

Still, it was still there and we very distinctly felt the cold draft of "glacier breath" drifting down onto us from the surface of the glacier. The compressed ice has such a distinct cold bluish color, too! So unusual and so pretty.

Monika:

....to the edge of Exit Glacier, which flows into the Resurrection River which leads to Seward.

Bob:

We looped back by a different route, which was a pleasant downhill walk in the woods, and Monika took some pictures not only of the wild flowers in bloom but also of the leaves starting to turn their Fall foliage colors. It was a curious combination and underscored the brevity of the Summer season this far North.

When we arrived at the Visitor's Center, I kind of reluctantly got back into the car for the day's drive as I knew the drive would not be nearly as much fun as seeing Exit Glacier. But needs must, we started driving again, keeping our cameras ready and a sharp eye out for that mommy and baby moose pair, but no luck.

Monika:

Drove through the Kenai Peninsula along a bay to Anchorage. Driving quickly through Anchorage we got onto the Glenn Highway to Tok. At Palmer we stopped at a Fred Meyer for groceries and fuel for the stove.

Bob:

Although driving is not my favorite thing, the incredible Alaskan scenery made the drive very pleasant. We saw mountains galore, some of them still covered with snow although it was the middle of the summer, and the occasional ice field or glacier on the side of a mountain or flowing into a valley.

When doing multiple days of driving we tend to seek out motels rather than going through the fuss and feathers of setting up the camp in the evening and then packing it all away the next morning. The camping is worth it if we can spend at least a few nights in a nice campground, but when we are "on the road" the motel is just much less work. And motels are pretty sparse along the long, empty stretches of Alaska's highways, so when we saw a sign for the Sheep Mountain Lodge, we pulled in and stopped for the night. They offered one of those "modern wood cabin" type of accommodations that we had enjoyed so much in Tok on the way up to Alaska, and we were happy to have that.

Monika:

We stopped at Sheep Mountain Lodge and rented a beautiful cabin for the night.

July 31: near Chicken, Alaska

Bob:

Our course for the day was mostly East to Glenallen, Alaska, and then North to Tok. At Glenallen, the road branching to the South would ultimately bring us into the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, which although virtually unkown in the Lower 48, is one of the largest National Parks in the U.S. But we were running short on time and I had been warned that the single road in and out of the park was very rough and probably too rough for the Prius, so we decided to skip that attraction.

Monika:

We took an hour out to do email. Internet was available around the restaurant and in a nearby greenhouse which also housed an enormous moose staring at you.

The drive north went in the north side of the Wrangell-St. Elias NP. The mountain range at the edge of the park had a couple snow covered mountains that looked rather impressive. We stopped at a ranger station to get a map and some more information....maybe next time...

Bob:

Instead, we decided to take the "Klondike Loop" to get back to Whitehorse. The Klondike Loop is a longer route from Tok to Whitehorse than the AlCan Highway and even less of it is paved. Offsetting those disadvantages, the Klondike Loop includes the "Top of The World Highway" which supposedly gave great views of the mountainous interior of Alaska.

So from Tok we drove the Taylor Highway to Chicken, Alaska, where the pavement ran out. Shortly thereafter I was picking my way slowly along the rutted, gravel road with I came face-to-face with a large male caribou headed in the opposite direction, strolling calmly along down the same side road as if he had every right to use this great "trail" (which he did). Well I couldn't run into him and didn't want to spook him into doing anything rash, so I just stopped. We faced each other for a few seconds--which gave Monika a chance to snap a picture--and then he gave what really sounded like a disgusted snort and angled off the road and up the shoulder of the adjacent hill. I had the strong impression that he considered me an inconvenient intrusion into his annual migration back to the breeding grounds!

Be that as it may, we continued on to a pleasant Bureau of Land Management campground, where I was glad to pull in for the night. I had been worried during the drive that we wouldn't get a spot in the campground because it was, after all, "high tourist season", but that concern turned out to be bootless. Aside from the campground host, I believe there were only two or three other units camped in the 40 or so spaces available in some woods alongside a pretty little river.

Monika:

In Tok we had lunch and filled up to go ahead onto the Taylor Highway that was part of the Klondike Loop. The first 60 miles to Chicken was nicely paved, but then the unpaved part started.

Suddenly, coming around a corner, there stood a caribou in the middle of the road! Bob came to a stop as startled as the caribou by the meeting while I fumbled for my camera. I managed one frontal shot before he ambled off and gave me the chance for a nice butt shot.

We went for another 20 miles to a very nice Bureau of Land Management campground complete with host and free firewood. All is right with the world.



Copyright 2014 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt


 

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