Part 6 - Seward the Second

 

Seward: Part 2

 

            On Monday, I had a kayaking tour. We had to show up at the store at 9AM so that a shuttle could take us to the launch site. It was about a 15-minute ride.

 

            There was a total of six of us. Two from Florida, a 50-something couple and their 16-year-old son from Virginia, and myself; all East Coasters, rare for Alaska. The kayaks were the 2-seater, tandem types. I was paired with the 16-year-old.

 

            Resurrection Bay, the bay that Seward is on, isn’t very violent, but it can have somewhat big waves. Our kayaks were the type that have the spray skirts that wrap around the hole where you sit. Our kayaks also had a rudder for steering. Steering is done by pressing foot pedals rather than using your paddles. Before we started off, our instructor and tour guide, Cara, told us how to use the kayaks, put the spray skirts on, and get back on the kayak if we happened to capsize. She did make a point in telling us that, “We won’t be capsizing though, right?” After that, we started off.

 

            For the most part we hugged the coastline. My partner and I, being younger than everyone else, were going much faster than everyone. At one point, Cara told us to slow down and let everyone catch up. We saw a couple of Harbor Seals while on our way. They would pop their heads out of the water and scan around looking at us. Then they would plunk their heads down and disappear into the water.

 

            We eventually stopped at a small beach to hike and eat lunch. Unfortunately, because the other kayakers were tired this would be the furthest that we would kayak. 

 

            When people think of Alaska, no one thinks of rainforests, but this particular area of Alaska is a rainforest. When we got out of our kayaks, we walked along the beach to a short hiking trail. We passed over a moderately sized creek into the forest. The forests are extremely lush and green, the trees are very tall and thick, and there is thick, green underbrush off the beaten path. It’s incredible.

 

            When we were making our way back to other side of the beach for lunch, there was a dog having the time of his life. He was running all over. I whistled to him and he came running up to me. Then he’d go run to some other thing that interested him. We made our way back across the creek. I threw a rock into the creek and the dog went crashing in. I don’t know if the owners appreciated that or not, but I’d throw another rock sending the dog crashing to another spot, confused as to where the splash went. The I’d do another. I had the dog zig zagging all up and down that creek.

 

            Cara went back to our kayaks to grab lunch. We had sandwiches, soup, chips, and a cookie. After that, we got back in our kayaks and made our way back. The weather was changing, as it does in Alaska, the sky grew darker, and it started to lightly rain. The waves were larger than when we started. It wasn’t terrible, but the steering would lag as you went up and over the waves and we got wetter as we crested over the waves. At least once or twice we collided with my partner’s parents. I blame it on their steering, not mine. Eventually we made it back to shore. We all were pretty wet and cold.

 

            The next day I would hike the Harding Icefield Trail via Exit Glacier. Harding Icefield is a huge icefield spanning over 700 square miles. Exit Glacier, true to its name, is named after the first crossing of Harding Icefield where the crossers, well, exited Harding Icefield. Clever, original, eccentric, lazy? You be the judge.

 

            The Harding Icefield Trail is located in the Kenai Fjords National Park and is just over eight miles round trip and climbs almost 4,000 feet. The shuttle bus dropped us off around 10AM. The bus would be back at 3PM, so I had to get going.

 

            The trail starts in lush rainforest, climbs up the snow-streaked mountains, and eventually plateaus to an overlook of Harding Icefield. I took almost everything out of my backpack except water and some snacks. I had my military surplus jacket on initially, but because of the steep elevation change I got hot very fast until I hit the snow. Actually, I was sweating pretty good at points.

 

            Along the way, there are several stops where you can see Exit Glacier from different points of view. Many people just go to these and turn around. I didn’t do that of course, even though my knee was hurting. I stopped maybe two-thirds of the way up for pictures and a snack break. I asked someone to take my picture. I got started again. Now was the hard part.

 

            The last third or so was on steep snow. The trail was marked with little orange flags. I put on snow cleats over my shoes, but they didn’t help much on the loosely packed snow that everyone was walking over. At points I would look up and think, “ok, that must be the top,” but I’d crest that peak and see tiny dots of people continuing up. It was pretty tough because of the slippery snow. In total, it took about three and a half hours to reach the top. 

 

            On a very clear day you would be able to see the streams of ice, but it was somewhat cloudy on the day I went. The ice and cloud sky blended into one. As I was coming down, it became much clearer and I got an excellent view of the glacier. My knee, however, was killing me, and I needed to catch my bus. I took a few pictures, but didn’t have much time to spare.

 

            I’d step aside plenty of times to let other people pass me going down. When I got down from the snow and onto the stepped rock, my knee was in excruciating pain. It was the shock of landing on my knee. I’m sure some people heard my occasional outburst. I made it to my bus exactly at 3PM, just in the nick of time. It took me exactly five hours to complete the trail.

 

            Later that day I went walking around the bay again. At one point I stopped at an RV to ask the guy a question. He invited me to have dinner with them. I had already eaten at this point, but I hung out with them and had a couple of drinks. It was a group of three friends and their families. I believe they all used to live in Anchorage, but two of them lived in Colorado now. They were in their late forties or early fifties. They were an extremely cool and down to Earth.  

 

            After they ate, they started a fire and we had smores. I talked with them from about 6PM to 1AM. One of their friends and his sons were participating in the Mount Marathon run the next day. More on that in a bit. I didn’t talk to them much, but, when they went inside to sleep, he came out a couple of times and asked us to keep it down. Nah, dude. You chose to camp out and knew the consequences. Go back inside and sleep, bro. We joked about it. “What, is someone feeling nervous?” “Aww, does someone have the butterflies?”

 

            The Mount Marathon race is a race that has existed since around 1915. It starts in the town and climbs up the race trail of Mount Marathon. The race trail has an average slope of 34 degrees, but parts of it are much, much steeper. People have gotten seriously injured and died doing it. When they reach the top, they make their way down and run towards the finish line. Impressively, it takes 40 or 50 minutes for the fastest runners to complete it. You can tell how excruciating it is by the grimaces of people’s faces as they near the finish line. All of them are covered in mud, some in blood, and many, I assume, in delirium. People of all ages do it. There are young teenagers all the way up to some people in their 80s. There are three events; men’s, women’s, and juniors. The men’s event starts the earliest, so I missed that one. But I did see the women finish. My knee was hurting for them.

 

            Typically, the race is held on the Fourth, but because of COVID last year, they moved it to the 7^th to spread out the crowds because of the dramatic increase of tourism this year. There were quite a few food trucks for the event. I ended up going to a hotdog truck and getting a kimchi hotdog. It had the red Korean chili. It was pretty good. You know what they say, “When in Alaska…eat the kimchi?” No, that can’t be right.

Picture inside the rainforest

Outside the rainforest

A view of the snow-streaked mountains on the Exit Glacier Trail to Harding Icefield

In front of Exit Glacier

Me at the top

A view from the plateau overlooking Harding Icefield

A better view of Exit Glacier as the weather cleared

Part 5 - Seward the First

 

Seward: Part 1

 

            Seward is a small town on a bay surrounded by mountains on all sides. It was established sometime in the 1850s as a port. It is also Mile Zero of the Iditarod trail.

 

            After eating lunch, I walked to my hostel. It is run by a Swiss lady and her family. This hostel used to be a house, but was slightly modified so that the owners had the other half of the house for their residence. There was a kitchen and dining area, a living room, multiple bathrooms with showers, and six or seven rooms. I’m not exactly sure how many people could stay there, but my room had three bunk beds.

 

            I got to Seward on July 3^rd. Fireworks for the Fourth of July aren’t a huge thing in Alaska because it never gets too dark, but they did do fireworks at midnight. It’s likely that I was one of the first people to see the fireworks this year, but who’s counting?

 

            Before this though, I went walking around the city. Seward is a very eclectic city. There are all kinds of little, interesting shops. My favorite was this place that sold Russian souvenirs. They had all kinds of USSR memorabilia. There were lots of Communist party pins with Lenin on them, propaganda posters in Cyrillic, Red Army Ushanka hats, matryoshka dolls, and various KGB items. I saw a KGB dress cap and a matryoshka doll and just had to buy them. The matryoska doll had Lenin on the outside layer followed by Stalin, Breshnev, Gorbachev, and – the crème de la crème – a little, tiny Putin. Who could pass that up?

 

            The city is just very scenic. You can walk along the shore and see the bay and the mountains. On the Seward side, the mountains are very lush and green. On the opposite side, they are a gray, black with streams of snow coming down. It never got old. There are a ton of places for RV parking and tent camping. It’s the most RVs I’ve ever seen.

 

            Around 6PM, I went to a bar to grab a drink to relax. It was a long day of traveling for me. I sat down at the bar and heard someone say, “Hey, Alex!” I was a little stunned because I wasn’t expecting anyone to know my name in this town. Anyway, it was Becca and Joel that I met in Denali. I got to know them really well. They are an adventurous, party animal type of couple. We had several drinks, and they bought two rounds of shots, and, well, who turns down shots, especially ones called Duck Fart? After this we walked right out of that bar, and right into another. But just before we walked in Joel yelled, “Seward!” This bar was great. There was a live band and some people were dancing.

 

            At one point I went to the bathroom, but when I came out Becca and Joel were gone. So long, I guess. Everyone went outside because the fireworks were about to start. I ended up talking to this group of locals about my age. No one was particularly interested in the fireworks, so everyone went back inside to talk, drink, and listen to music. This bar closed shortly after, so we went to another place called Pit Bar which closed at 5AM. 

 

            We hung out a while. At one point I took off my jacket and sat it down on a chair in the back. It was a nice, warm jacket that I got at a military surplus store and is perfect for hiking in colder weather. We were talking and having a great time and eventually ended up on the patio. I got somewhat cold and went to find my jacket but it was gone. Someone took it. Needless to say, I was pretty irritated. I decided to leave. I didn’t have a car, and didn’t think about a taxi, so I started walking. It was about 4AM and the place was three miles from my hostel, so it would’ve taken me an hour to walk back. But luckily a taxi van pulled up out of nowhere and picked me up. There were two funny drunk guys getting a ride back to their place. They kind of shouted out the window, “Let’s pick him up!” I got in. The driver let them off at their stop and took me to my place. I asked what I owed him, but he told me that the other guys paid for me. Drunk people can be awfully polite. Thank god for those drunk bros! The driver gave me his business card when I got out. I was exhausted and woke up about 10:30AM. I pretty much lounged around the rest of the day.

Seward

Looking across the bay

Part 4 - Hitchhiking in Triplicate

 

Hitchhiking in Triplicate

 

            I had a hotel in Anchorage for the night. The next morning I would get some breakfast and find a spot to hitchhike.

 

            Highway 1 that goes north through Anchorage to Denali also goes south towards Seward. My hotel was roughly in the center of Anchorage. I took a look at the maps to find what seemed to be a good on ramp south. The problem going south, though, is that there is no singular spot where everyone going south will see you. There are many more ways to get on Highway 1 going south.

 

            At 11:30 I walked to a ramp that I thought would be good, new cardboard sign in hand. This place wasn’t a great spot to catch a ride. There just isn’t a spot for someone to stop quickly and there was quite a bit of traffic. I waited about two hours before someone stopped. 

 

            A guy named Austin stopped to pick me up. He told me that he couldn’t take me all the way to Seward, but was going to Indian, Alaska which is about thirty minutes south. I was a little worried that I could be stranded if he took me there, so I asked if I would be able to get another ride around that area. He assured me that I would get a ride in ten minutes or less. He dropped me off on the shoulder of the road. It’s a very scenic spot overlooking the Turnagain Arm inlet. I set my stuff down on the shoulder and got a few very scenic pictures. When I was done, I picked up my sign and began flagging down cars. Sure enough, ten minutes later I had a ride.

 

            A lady and her 14-year-old daughter stopped to pick me up. They were also going to Seward. I didn’t catch the daughter’s name, but the mom’s name was Alexis. They were driving a 4-door Ford F-150. Alexis helped me load my bag into the bed of the truck. She was excited to pick up a hitchhiker, but her daughter was most certainly not. I went to the rear passenger door and pulled the handle. Just as I pulled it the daughter, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, locked the door on me. Alexis told me to come to the other side because there was more room. It was a little tight anyway, but it was a ride. They had two dogs. One was a smaller, fluffy mixed breed dog who alternated sitting on the daughter’s lap and center console. The other dog was a larger black lab. It was snuggling up to me the entire time. I was his buddy. This ride did not last long, however. 

 

            The daughter was obviously uncomfortable. Alexis tried telling her daughter that you can tell when someone is safe to pick up. If they have clean clothes and a nice bag, they just want to travel around to various places. She told me that her daughter was obviously uncomfortable, but it didn’t take a genius to feel the tension. They took me roughly 7 miles to Girdwood and let me off. There is a really big gas station there. I asked her to let me off on the shoulder on the opposite side of the road. Literally, as soon as I got my sign out a truck pulled over. 

 

            A guy named James, who was about 35 picked me up. He had his 3-year-old daughter in the back. Her name was Lilly. She was shy. Every time I looked back at her, she would either look away or put something in front of her face. They were going to visit some family in Kenai which is on the western side of the Kenai Peninsula, the opposite side as Seward. Initially he was going to dop me off at a place called the Y (the point where you either continue south or turn west), but Lilly was having a fit. It took a while to understand what she wanted, but eventually I made out that she wanted her mom. James and his wife had a 7-month-old so she stayed at home with the baby. He called her on the phone and let Lilly talk to her. She calmed down a little bit. Eventually we made it to Seward. We stopped at a grocery store. I needed some snacks and things so it was a good stop. I tried to give James some money for the ride, but he wouldn’t take it. I bought two Hershey’s candy bars and stuck them on his door handle when I came out.

            From there, I walked to grab some lunch. Then I headed to the place I would stay for my time in Seward: Moby Dick Hostel.

My backpack and sign

Scenic picture near Indian, AK

Part 3 - Alaska Railroad

 

Alaska Railroad

 

            At 12PM the next day I had the train back to Anchorage. I booked this a month earlier but the standard tickets were sold out, so I booked the Goldstar Service which is basically first class. Each Goldstar car is a double decker. The top is the seating area which has panoramic dome glass, and, more importantly, there is bar service at the back. The bottom is the dining area.

 

The train ride from Denali to Anchorage is almost eight hours, so two meals were served. Because I was a single passenger, I was seated with three other people. There was a tour group, and I was seated with two of the ladies and their tour guide. Their names were Anne, Angela, and Mike. We were chatting it up as if we were long-time friends. We talked almost the entire time, but it was hard to ignore the beautiful scenery passing by our window. After we were returned to our seats, the server who sat us earlier asked me if I knew the others. I told him that I didn’t. He was surprised because we just clicked so well.

 

            On the top of the train at the back of the car is a door that leads to an outdoor platform. I went there to take some pictures, feel the Alaskan wind, and smell the Alaskan air. Of course, it was windy. I almost lost my hat. It was very relaxing though.

 

            On the ride, we saw a bald eagle perched on the branch of a fallen tree on a little island in the middle of the river. At another point, we saw a moose running through the water away from train because it was startled by the noise. Because moose are so tall, it had no trouble traversing the water.

 

            The ride was just incredible. We passed through forests, meadows, marshes, and rivers. The mountains were always lying in the distance. 

 

            A very cool part about the Alaskan Railroad is that they will pick up riders who flag the train down in the remote areas. These riders are Alaskans who live in small cabins tucked away in the wilderness. They use it to go to the bigger cities for supplies. The train travels slowly through these areas so that it can stop easily to pick them up. I would love to travel by train in this manner, but it’s only in certain stretches that it does this so that it won’t continuously delay the train schedule.

 

            At some point on the train ride, I noticed some passengers getting a drink that looked like hot chocolate. That piqued my taste buds. I asked the bartender what that was and ordered one. It was called a Brown Bear. He asked for my ticket. I assumed they just marked it for something. Later I found out that they marked it for alcoholic drinks. I would never have known that the Brown Bear contained alcohol, which reminds me, I need to find out how to make one.

 

            Around dinner, they seated us again. I was hoping to have more conversations with people, but this time I was sat all to my lonesome. There were less people because they let out some other passengers at the previous stop.

 

            Around 8PM we finally reached Anchorage. The train ride was one of my favorite things about the trip. If you ever have the chance to go to Alaska, the train ride is a must.

Goldstar Seating Area

A view of the train

A view from the train

A view from the train

Part 2 - Denali National Park

 

Denali National Park

 

            My first night was at the Riley Creek Campground. Riley Creek is outside of the official entrance of the park. I got it simply so that I could catch the bus into the interior of the park the next day. 

 

Denali National Park isn’t like most National Parks where you can drive in and go where you like at your own leisure. Denali is huge. It’s bigger than New Hampshire and there is only one road, so to get further into the park they have buses. The entire road is 90 miles and it takes the bus roughly five hours to reach the end. 

 

My bus took off at 1:55PM on Sunday, so I had some time to kill in the morning. There are some hiking trails near the visitor center. I chose the Triple Lakes Trail because the name sounded good. When I was about half a mile in, I saw a moose through the trees. It was maybe 30 yards from me down the embankment of the river. At this point I was walking in parallel with the river and I wanted to get a better view of the moose, but it seemingly vanished. How does an animal that big just vanish? I kept going to see if I could find it, but couldn’t. Soon after this there was a suspension bridge built over the river where I saw the moose again. She had a baby with her. I locked eyes with both of them. I tried to grab a photo with my camera, but I dropped my lens cap onto the bridge. It bounced three times, clack clack clacking as it went, and fell just like a coin through the slits between the boards. This startled the moose enough so that they ran into the woods. No picture and I lost my lens cap, just my luck. This trail is 9 miles, so eventually I turned around so that I could make my bus.

 

The journey is long, but you get very good views of the interior of the park. At several points the bus stops so that passengers can get out, rest, and take photos. The bus ride is great way to see the park. You will also see many of the animals native to the park including moose, bear, caribou, and wolves. Wolves are the rarest to see though. I saw everything but them. At about 8PM, we reached my next campground, Wonder Lake.

 

If you think the southeast has a mosquito problem, you haven’t been to Wonder Lake. The cold winters kill the mosquitos, and, in the summer, they come back with a vengeance. These things are big, vicious, and persistent. Luckily, I brought a mosquito net and strong bug repellant lotion. The mosquitos are still very annoying and will almost drive you insane with the buzzing. Eating is the worst part because your face and hands are exposed. Have you ever eaten mosquitos? I’m pretty sure that I did. Getting inside the tent is also a pain because they follow you in. You have to kill them otherwise you will get bitten at night. And, speaking of night, the sun only goes down for about 3 hours in the summer. It was very hard to get used to. It’ll feel like 4PM, but you look down at your watch and it’s 10:15PM. Time for bed!

 

I had one full day at Wonder Lake. Wonder Lake is the best spot to view Denali, that is, if you’re camping. You can only go there if you are camping. Unfortunately, it was cloudy the entire time that I was there. I did a couple small hikes and went to the lake. I thought the mosquitos were bad by my tent, but on one of the unofficial trails, you could see small clouds of mosquitos. And these clouds would follow you. Don’t slow down, or else you become swarmed. The ones at my tent weren’t such a nuisance after all.

 

I met some cool people here. I met two couples. I asked where they were from. The first pair, Brandon and Jasmine, were from Washington State and Australia. He was from Spokane, Washington specifically. I assumed that’s where they lived, but, oh no, this guy was a traitor. They lived in Malaysia. How dare he live outside the USA. Isn’t that illegal? The other couple was from Chicago, Becca and Joel. They were very cool. More on them at a later point in the story.

 

My bus left Wonder Lake at 6:30AM the next morning. At this time, there were much less clouds and the sun was beaming down onto the face of Denali. The snow face was a yellow bronze. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much time to admire it. I ate breakfast, packed up my tent and bag, and barely made it to the bus in time. Just as we were leaving, I realized that I left my cardboard Denali sign on the table. I wanted to keep this as a kind of keepsake, but the universe had different plans. C’est la vie.

 

If you take the camper or transit buses, you can get off at any stop and do as you like so long as another bus is scheduled to stop at that site again. I stopped at the Eilson Visitor Center to do a quick hike. Eilson is an excellent stop. Assuming there are no clouds, a great view of Denali can be seen. And, of course, it was cloudy, not to mention rainy, when I was there. A glacier can also be seen down at the river. If you’d like, you could hike down to the river and then walk along the shore towards the glacier. I went down to the river, but was too tired of carrying my heavy backpack down. It continued to rain on me, so it was somewhat miserable. When I returned to the top, there were only a few people. I changed out my wet clothes and sat on the floor on the inside of the building to wait for the bus to head to my next campsite.

 

Teklanika Campground is on the Teklanika River. This was my favorite spot personally. Across and down both sides of the river are small mountains. The really great thing about this spot, and many spots in Denali, is that there are no marked hiking trails. You are free to hike anywhere so long as there are no signs telling you not to, you know like the ones that say, “Wolf Habitat” or “Fresh Kill Site.” Denali is also a very open park, so it’s almost impossible to get lost.

 

Before I went hiking, I went up to an elevated area to scope out places that I’d like to hike. This was a great place to relax and enjoy the views. I went back for lunch and ran into a guy named Ken. His campsite was right next to mine. He invited me over for dinner later. They were going to make BBQ chicken. I accepted the offer and told him that I’d be back around 6PM.

 

The Teklanika River, like many rivers in Alaska, is strange. In the winter the glaciers freeze and the rivers dry up. Because of this, the river has no singular river bed. It makes its way through several streams and is always different each year. It also leaves a stony, mostly barren river bed that you can walk on. I was determined to cross it. I took my shoes and socks off so that those wouldn’t get wet. I stuck my feet in, and, my god, it was cold. My feet were numb each time I made it across the other side. What’s also misleading about the river is how strong the current actually is. It’s not very deep, only reaching up to my knees, but it is very forceful. I had to walk at a 45-degree angle with the current so that I wouldn’t fall in. It doesn’t help that there are sharper rocks on the bottom. Even with hiking sticks it was tough, but eventually I made it.

 

On this side of the river are green faced hills lined with trees. It’s misleading because it looks like you could leisurely walk up the sides. In actuality, the green surface is a dense moss. It’s beautiful to view, but not to walk on. Each time you step down you’ll sink several inches to a foot down. My ankles got tired of this really quickly. But before I started climbing, I was walking in mud. I saw some wolf tracks. These look exactly like dog tracks, but they are huge! They are at least four to six inches in diameter. Wolves aren’t big dogs; they are GIANT dogs. Incomparable really. Eventually I made it to the top to enjoy the view. I made my way back down being wary of any wolves that could be out there. Generally, they do stay away from people though. It’s also wise to talk loudly to yourself to deter any bears that might be around. I probably sounded like a deranged person saying, “Hey, bear! Don’t mess with me bear!”

 

When I got back to the river, I took a break beside the rushing water. Walking over that moss is very tiring and I was sweaty, so I took my shirt, socks, and shoes off and pulled out “The Grapes of Wrath” to read for a bit. I eventually took a short nap on the shoreline. Man, if that wasn’t a great napping spot, I don’t know what was. The cool, Alaskan breeze and the rush of the water lapping across the stones was a dream. I probably slept for 40 minutes. I put everything up and made my way back over. Now there were a few people across the river. As I crossed, I kept praying that I wouldn’t fall into the river and embarrass myself, plus it would be miserably cold. As a side note, if you are familiar with “Into the Wild” about Chris McCandless (or Alexander Supertramp), you might know that this is the river that he couldn’t return across and eventually died of starvation.

 

I eventually made it back to my campsite. At 6PM I went to eat with Ken and his friend, a lady named Vini. Ken was originally a welder from Pennsylvania, but moved to Alaska and began working on oil rigs in 2000. He is retired now. Vini served in the Navy in the 70s and worked as a journalist later on. Vini tried to murder me with salmonella poisoning. Some of the pieces of chicken weren’t cooked all the way through. I ate around it. She was distraught and made hotdogs as a consolation. But, hey, better than eating camping food, right? And this is the point where, if she’s reading this, she may be having flashbacks. Ken talked about living in his cabin and seeing bears. He told us of a story where he saw a mom and two cubs. The mom left the cubs to go look for food. Meanwhile the cubs were interested in Ken on his boat. They climbed partially up the side to inspect the boat. At one point, they tried climbing over into the boat. Ken started reaching for his shotgun and the cubs, at that moment, knew that they were supposed to get off. Ken wasn’t worried about the cubs though; he was worried what Mama Bear would do if she saw her cubs on his boat. 

 

We talked for a long time. Remember how the sunlight does weird things? Well, I looked down at my watch and it was already 10:30PM, all in the blink of an eye. It was really fun talking to them.

 

The next morning I did a short walk around the river bed before getting on the bus to take me back to the park entrance. When I packed up my things and told Ken and Vini goodbye, I went to catch the bus. From here, the bus ride is roughly 2 hours from the park entrance. It was a very clear day, and I could see Denali’s snow covered peak, very far away at this point, clearly above the rest of the mountain range. It is truly impressive. The views of the rest of the park are also incredible. Eventually we made it back to the bus depot. I had one night at Riley Creek to await the train ride back to Anchorage the next day. After five days of being inside the park eating camp food, I was craving a good, cooked meal. There are a few restaurants and stores a mile north of the park. I went to one of the classier eateries and ordered the salmon, as you do in Alaska. I also got some souvenirs at the shops. 

A view from Triple Lakes Trail

A view from the bus ride

View from the Eilson Visitor Center

Denali peaking out over the clouds

The Teklanika River

A view from the Teknalika River bed

Part 1 - Hitchhiking: The First

Hitchhiking: The First

 

            I flew into Anchorage on Friday, June 25^th. I had a flight from Charlotte to Chicago to Anchorage. My flight was originally supposed to land in Anchorage at 9PM. After many delays, and much worrying on my part, my plane finally made it in at midnight. Lucky, because otherwise my plans may have been disrupted. Enough about that, let’s talk about Day 1.

 

            My trip had two parts: a camping trip to Denali National Park for six days followed by six days in the town of Seward. Because I was camping in Denali, the first thing to get was cooking fuel for my camping stove and bear spray. My god, does bear spray cost a lot. $40 dollars for a relatively small canister. But better to have it and not need it, than need it than not have it, right? Who knows? After getting those supplies, my hitchhiking journey began.

 

            The neat thing about Alaska is how few roads there are. With very few exceptions, there is only one highway to and from the larger destinations. Anchorage to Denali begins by taking Highway 1 north out of the city. This eventually turns into Highway 3 and leads all the way to Fairbanks with Denali being about three-quarters of the way to Fairbanks. Needless to say, I just needed someone to pick me up on Highway 1. I looked at a map and found the place to go: East 6^th Avenue. From here, literally everyone leaving Anchorage will see me. Only one problem: there isn’t really any place for anyone to pull over quickly to stop and let me in. After setting my backpack down - thank goodness, it was at least 45 pounds - I let out my first ever hitchhiker thumb. Not to mention my cool, custom made, sharpie cardboard sign proudly displaying my destination. After literally 15 minutes, the blink of an eye in hitchhiker time, a lady named Christy picked me up. She was an Alaskan native who lived in Fairbanks.

 

            As I mentioned before, this wasn’t the perfect spot to get picked up because there isn’t really a place for drivers to stop and pick up a rider, not to mention the three lanes of traffic. Anyway, Kristy turned around onto a perpendicular road and honked her horn at me. At last, my ride. I ran across the street to meet her. She told me to place my backpack into the backseat. Woah boy, was her car full. I asked if I could put it in the back of her Toyota Highlander instead. And with that we were off.

 

            When I got in, she had her daughter on the speaker. She was letting her daughter know that she was picking up a hitchhiker. It would be a four-hour ride, and she wanted to be safe and have some company.

 

            Christi was awesome. She grew up in Fairbanks and has lived in Alaska all her life. I asked her questions about living in Alaska. And man, do they live different. She told me about the fishing that she and her family do during the summer to prepare for the winter. They catch salmon and halibut, prepare them, and store them for the winter. It’s a much more rugged, independent life in Alaska. I also asked about their cars. Most people, especially above Anchorage, have their cars winterized to withstand the Alaskan cold. You’ll see many electric plugs hanging from the front hoods of cars. This is used to heat the batteries and keep the oil and other liquids from freezing overnight during the winter.

 

            Enough about that though, Kristi was just a fun person to be around. She certainly had that independent nature. She was also pretty funny. (You might be wondering why her name keeps changing. Well, there’s a simple reason for that: I don’t know the spelling of her name, so eventually one of these will be right.) She knew Highway 3 like the back of her hand. She stopped at the last gas station before venturing further towards Denali. You don’t want to run out of gas on this road. While there are plenty of other cars on that two-lane road, you aren’t close to civilization out there. And, well, you certainly wouldn’t want to be stuck out there in the winter. People have gotten stranded and died. She told me of times when you see a broken-down car and you pull over just to let them sit in the warmth of your car while they wait on someone to pick them up. Dangerous indeed. In the winter especially, she told me that you typically call someone to let them know where you are driving and when you expect to arrive. That way if you haven’t shown up, someone can come look for you. It’s a different world out there.

 

            When we were all filled up with gas and beginning to leave, a semi-truck pulled out in front of us. Christy raised a defiant fist and, in her distinct Alaskan voice, said, “Aww come on truck, darn you!” She wasn’t really mad though; it was just funny and gave us something to talk about. It took a while to pass this truck. You’ll see signs on the road that say things like, “Next passing lane 7 miles.” And when we finally got to the passing lane, I said to her, “Let’s show him what this Highlander is made of!” She punched it, the engine revved, and the truck was in our dust.

 

            Kristy knew all about that road and the surrounding area. She pointed out the brown spruce trees among the forests of green spruce. These brown trees are totally dead due to a spruce beetle outbreak. It’s somewhat sad in areas because the forest is patchy and brown. She kept bringing it up when she’d see more forests being overtaken by the brown trees. At one point she said, “You can tell everyone about the crazy lady who kept talking about dead trees.”

 

            It was a cloudy day, but she kept looking for the peak of Denali. She really wanted me to see it. At over 20,000 feet, it is the tallest mountain in North America. It is possible that Denali will peak out over the clouds, but, unfortunately, we never saw it on the drive. 

 

            A little while later she told me of a cool spot on the drive called Hurricane Gulch Bridge. It’s a bridge that spans, well, Hurricane Gulch. It’s a cool site to see. There is a parking lot on one side to get out and take pictures but we didn’t.

 

            Further on the drive we could see spots of rain. The drive is fairly open, so you can see pretty far. She knew that I’d be camping, and kept prodding me about the rain. And, boy, did she keep reminding me. She said, “It’s not looking good for you, mister. Nope, not looking good.”

 

            As we got closer and closer to Denali, she had a limerick to identify when we were close. She said, “Over the bridge, under the railroad tracks, around the bend, Riley Creek!” And well, we went over the bridge, under the railroad tracks, around the bend, and there we were at Riley Creek. This would be my campsite for the night.

 

            She let me out at the campsite reservation building. She got a picture of me, and I got one with her.

 

            This officially marked the beginning of my Alaskan adventure, and the first day that I would be craving a warm, clean shower.

After arriving to Denali National Park

Me and Kristy