Alaska

July 25 - August 3 2002

Flying by the seat of my pants, wherever the wind takes me, whatever comes my way was the theme for this trip. I had no plans, just a flight in and a flight out 9 days later. "what will you do while you are in Alaska?" my friends would ask. I don't know, what do people do in Alaska? Seeing a Moose was big on my priority list. I was certainly not going for the shopping opportunities.

As I got on the airplane for my flight, all the day's stress from work dominated my thoughts. Over and over I wondered how things there would get resolved while I was gone. Soon, all those thoughts turned to excitement as the captain turned on the "fasten your seat belt" sign. All thoughts of my former life quickly disapated as the plane roared into the sky. I knew I was getting close. Alaska! A place I have always dreamed about, heard a lot about, but never thought I would ever be able to go. And now, I was here!

My friend Nick lives in Anchorage, and was the first to welcome me to this fabulous state. I soon learned that Alaskans refer to the rest of the US as "the lower 48". The next thing I had to get used to was the light. They are on the same latitude as Norway, and the summer light will take some adjusting. It doesn't get "dark" until about 1am, and then it doesn't even get fully dark, more like dusk. You would still be able to see outside without a flashlight.

The next thing is the animals. Alaska has so many wild animals running around, even in the cities. Nick said that moose were everywhere, and bears were sometimes in their neighborhood. He said for sure I would see a moose. And the waiting began. I looked everywhere, even getting up in the middle of the night looking out the window just in case. No moose.

The next day I went to where Nick works, and he had friends who were going to a town called Seward on the Kenai peninsula. "I thought you wanted to go to Homer" Nick said. Opportunity presents itself, you must take advantage. Surprisingly, these guys were going salmon fishing and had an extra space on the boat. "Want to go fishing?" they asked. Couldn't pass it up.
People warned me about the weather in Alaska. On Friday, preparing for the trip, it was raining. "Seward will be worse, because it is on the water. And we have to watch out for the seas, they can get rough", they said. The drive down to Seward was amazing, but still cloudy. Once in the boat, the weather started clearing up. The seas were calm. And that was the last I saw of the clouds until I got back to Colorado 8 days later. We didn't have much luck in the fishing, but I sure had a great time! I got to reel in a couple of fish that we lost last minute, and saw otters and puffins.
Then we drove right up to a glacier which came right out to the water. So beautiful! This one is called Bear Glacier.
These guys left me in Seward at a campground at the bottom of another glacier, called Exit Glacier. 10 miles from town, it was very peaceful. There were lots of great people there, and I decided to hike the glacier the next day with a couple who had been working in a cannery on an island for the past month. Everything here is so incredibly lush, as it is very humid in the area. The weeds were over my head, at least 6 feet tall! The flowers were also very big, going crazy!
The glacier itself is amazingly beautiful! It appears blue in color from the sediment and bacteria that live in it.
The glacier was so beautiful, like nothing I had ever seen before. We did the gaper hike, paved and handicap access. Then we started up to Harding Ice field. It was a brutal hike, about 7 miles through bushes and weeds higher than me.
We picked berries bigger than anything I have seen in the grocery store, and saw wildflowers that looked as if they had been grown in a greenhouse.
Then the ice field came into view. I was now at the top of the glacier, looking down on it. As far as I could see was snow and ice and mountains. Amazing! And a bit cold, because the wind was blowing off the ice. After a great lunch of peanut butter, bagels, apples, and granola, I hiked down.

That's when I saw the bear! He was a black bear, and far away, but a bear

nonetheless. But still no moose
The next day I hiked the Resurrection River Trail. This was about a 6 mile hike through what looked like a rain forest. It was so lush and tropical I almost forgot where I was. Mountain bikers came through and said they heard lots of rustling in the trees. The guide book said this was a favorite spot for bears. The park ranger said she saw a bear not far from here 2 days ago. Suddenly, I heard rustling in the trees. Scared out of my pants, I started back toward the trailhead. Then I met Stefan, Roger, and Sybil from Switzerland. "Can I walk with you, I think I heard a bear" I said. With a smirk, they said sure, no problem. Of course, we didn't see a bear, but definitely saw lots of tracks. Fresh tracks.
The last day I was hiking was a trail called Lost Lake Trail. All alone, I set out singing to myself and clapping sticks together as to scare off any chance of bear encounter. Once at the top, the most beautiful glacier lakes I have ever seen came in to view. I was surrounded by searing mountain tops covered in snow, waterfalls, and the fjords of Seward. What a glorious feeling! I must have sat there for a few hours, because I was sunburned the next Day.
On the way back to camp, I stopped in at Mitch Seavey's Iditarod kennel. This was very exciting for me, because I got to meet some Iditarod dogs and see how their system works. I also got to play with the pups. This was great since I was missing mine so much.

Unfortunately, after having such a great day and feeling so grand, I came back to camp ready to eat a great dinner only to find that someone had stolen all of my food items and stove out of the "bear food storage locker", a common area that people without cars must use to store food because of bears. Who would do such a thing I don't know, but Karma will get them. This brought about a huge reality check , as well as hunger and bad breath (they also stole my toothbrush).

The next day I went into Seward to check out the town, get some food and a new toothbrush, and take a shower. At the Harbormaster's office you can shower for only $2, and it felt great! Then I got on the "bus", which was really a van, and went on to Homer, a town on the other side of the peninsula where my friend Jonney lives.

Homer is a fabulous little fishing town. Here I was able to see bald eagles by the handfuls, otters playing in the water, and salmon jumping right out of the water! We saw the fishermen coming in from there day, with huge Halibut hanging up for your choosing. So much going on!
The last night I was there we took a boat over to Halibut cove, where we had dinner at this very cool restaurant called The Saltry. All the buildings in Halibut Cove are connected by a boardwalk, because it is mostly on the water. I ate halibut for the first time and understand now why it is so popular!
The next morning I had to say my goodbyes to my friend Jonney, Homer, and the southern part of Alaska. My ride took me back to Anchorage, where I showered at Nick's and then was on the plane.

Back to reality. Back home. With so many memories of a well worth it trip!

If you go: bring rain gear. It rains a lot. Bring a good camera, lots of film, and good zoom lens. My pictures would have been much better with a better lens. Bring LOTS of money or a credit card - Alaska is NOT cheap! Bring mosquito repellent with DEET, and something for the flies. The bugs were horrible. Check schedules, because even in the summer things don't run on a daily basis (boats, ferrys, busses). Bring binoculars - sometimes the wildlife is not as close as you would like for viewing. Sometimes, this is not such a bad thing. Mostly, bring a fabulous attitude no matter what happens - it will make others around you have the same.