MikeA legendary land full of nature. The last frontier. Land of the midnight sun. With an area about the fifth of the continental US, being its largest state, Alaska awakens your dreams of exploration and adventure!
This trip took place some time ago, and it was carefully planned by me and Walter, a very good friend of mine. We decided to go during the month of August, when the overall weather and temperatures were on our side. We would have found extremely harsh conditions during the winter, or even during the spring. The cold is truly unforgiving here!
US News & World Report (2021) mentions that some of the most impressive geography in the US is actually present in Alaska, along with 17 of the country’s highest mountains. It is also home of the most extensive national forest, the Tongass National Forest, and it has “more untouched land than anywhere else in the U.S ( US News & World Report (2021)”.
We started by flying from Seattle to Anchorage, where we stayed the first couple of nights. The city of Anchorage is the most populous of the state, with more than a quarter million (worldpopulation review, 2021). While not a large city by any means, compared to the ones you find in the lower 48, we still found areas of interest, like the Alaska Native Heritage Center. We learned that the famous Iditarod sled dog race is real, and that it takes place once a year, starting in downtown Anchorage to the city of Nome, in the Bering Strait, going across the state (understanding the controversy that comes with it, we just like to state the fact that it happens). The dogs are the true heroes here!
Once with our rental truck, we drove through the Chugach National Forest, towards Turnagain arm, which is a scenic waterway corridor, following the Seward Highway. Plenty of caribou, sea birds and geese here. The scenery is just wonderful, with snowy peaks all around you! We stopped at the little town of Alyeska, a winter ski resort, and continued towards Portage Lake, where we took a small boat that brought us close to a beautiful glacier. The effects of climate change and ice loss are evident here, since this place (along with many other glaciers around the world) has lost a huge percentage of its ice, as it is thoroughly explained during the tour. Nevertheless, the place is still a wonderful site, though! We did some hiking, reached another glacier by foot, then headed back to Anchorage.
Our next point of interest: Reaching Denali National Park, which is about 240 miles north of Anchorage via-state highway 4. We saw moose, porcupine and deer on the drive there. We finally decided to camp late, in a gravel campground (ouch!), awful night! But we were already there, at the gates of the park!
The next morning we got started early at dawn, and we learned that we would have to leave our truck parked at the park entrance, since only park buses were allowed through the gate, then into a narrow road that went for several miles inside the enormous park. The park website (2021) describes it better than me: “Denali is six million acres of wild land, bisected by one ribbon of road”. Riding their buses, which looked like color painted old school buses, made us scratch our heads. After a while, we started noticing all the wildlife around us. Dall sheep, elk, bald eagles & marmots. After a few miles, the big price was at sight. At 20,310′, over the green hills, Mount Denali (renamed from Mt. McKinley), the tallest mountain in North America was staring at us from far away. Magnificent sight!
Real Story:
Every time we got to a bus stop, we scanned our surroundings with binoculars. At one point and after looking closely, about one mile in front of us, we suddenly saw a couple of brown, bulky round shapes climbing and roaming uphill. Way too big for being marmots, prairie dogs, rabbits and the like. I asked Walter what he thought: Yes, we agreed. Those were Grizzly bears!
We camped overnight inside the park, and the following day left towards Fairbanks for our next objective: Reaching and crossing the Arctic Circle!
Stay tuned for our future post Mainland Alaska: Part 2!
References:
-Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, 2021.
https://www.nps.gov/dena/index.htm
-Pexels.com, -Main picture-, 2015
https://www.pexels.com/photo/adventure-alaska-beautiful-blue-sky-207049/
-US News.com. Alaska Rankings and Facts, 2021.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/alaska”>https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/alaska
-World Population Review, 2021.
Los animales son mi pasión , y esto me recuerda a mi mascota de la infancia, de la cual me viene toda la fascinación que
tengo con los animales. Era un perro llamado Jazzie de raza american staffordshire terrier que adoptaron mis tias
en Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Un animalito encantador.
Gracias por tu comentario, Frida! Cierto, los animales son extraordinarios y pronto tendremos un nuevo post sobre ellos!