ALASKA 2019

ALASKA NOVICES

                We had a big checklist for Alaska and our itinerary supported those things.  Being on the water for days, yes.  Blue ice and glaciers, glaciers and blue ice, yes.  Maybe seeing Mount Denali, tallest in North America, only shows itself half of the time.  Abundant wildlife, animals we had never seen, like caribou.  Also maybe, the northern lights, chances even less than the mountain but we had to try.   

Note: the following is divided into Ferries & Trains, Glaciers & Mountains, Critters, and Towns – not a chronological line from start to finish. 

FERRIES AND TRAINS

THE ALASKA MARINE HIGHWAY, i.e., THE FERRY
                Bellingham, Washington is a very picturesque town close to the Canadian border where the ferry begins its journey to Alaska.  We were on Alaska Time the moment we boarded.  The MV Kennicott (marine vessel) was named for the glacier, not the mine.

Rescue boat

Built for 500 we had 140 on board

Berth above the couch folds down, quite roomy, the life vests under the bunk provided our ottomans.

Delayed in Bellingham, Gil napped

Evening underway

Canadian coast early am

Dall porpoise

Ketchikan

Ketchikan Harbor

A little cousin ferry, The Hubbard

Gil braved the rain to shop for trail mix & nuts for game time

The captain announced whales ahead and we got a brief glimpse of Humpbacks doing a bubble feed

  
(Not my photo)

White Sided Dolphins, 100 plus pod 

Gorgeous and fast, wave riders

One cafeteria table-top: info on many marine creatures

Auke Bay (just past Juneau) 

Another little one from our fleet pulling in, I loved ferry life

Cordell

Back on board, after a long day, falling in the river with salmon sharks, our new friend is totally out, in front lounge 

Yakutat

Yukatat Bay with The Kennicott docked

We opted for a long walk rather than local shopping

Oddly we happened on a rain forest that held a bit of a train museum

While I climbed through trees reveling in the dawn, Gil climbed around antique machines

Bald Eagle, a nice welcome back to the tiny harbor

Back in the cafeteria, Cinda is sporting a nautical 
bracelet from town 

Last night on board

Sunset disrupting our game, we had to go check it out

We looked at the digital tracking charts throughout the trip.

5:10 am pulling into Whittier, our last stop

On the bus to Anchorage, waiting for our turn at the tunnel

  

Leonard Glacier                            Whittier sunrise

If the sunset hadn’t warned us, this should have, Kenai Peninsula was on fire and the smoke would be our companion for days 

THE ALASKA RAILWAY

Anchorage to Denali – after nine days in the smoky south we headed north by rail.

Distant mountains behind forest and floodplain 

We would soon be crossing to The Interior

It was worth booking the high dome car with overhead windows and the (cold) open deck 

More fire, the train had shut down for a month

Mountain climbers start from Talkeetna to ascend Denali's south peak

Many rivers, many bridges

Denali to Fairbanks

            After our adventure in the vast Denali National Park, we headed north again

Denali station

The black vein of new coal (geologically younger) seen here, reportedly burns "clean" 

The Alaskan “clean” coal plant, huge employer in the area 

GLACIERS and MOUNTAINS

JUNEAU – AUKE BAY – MENDENHALL GLACIER

                The ferry had landed at the smaller Auke Bay instead of Juneau Harbor.  We could leave the ship and take a taxi one way into the capital for a gondola ride and a spectacular view or take a taxi the other way into Tongass National Forest and see Mendenhall glacier.  Take a guess!

At Auke Bay ferry terminal

Mendenhall, an alpine glacier, Nugget Falls at right

US Forest Service Visitor Center

Impressive evidence that the glacier had come scraping by 

HUBBARD GLACIER

On leaving Yakutat, we had an unexpected side trip. Timing and conditions allowed us the extra hours to go off course for a most incredible experience along the St. Elias Mountains deep into Yakutat Bay, then Resurrection Bay.  

St. Elias mountains

Hubbard: the Galloping Glacier

            This giant tidewater glacier (largest in North America) begins at 11,000’ elevation and moves through mountains for seventy-six miles to terminate in Resurrection Bay, taking 400 years for the ice to traverse the length. Hubbard glacier is still over one thousand feet thick in places.  It was very exciting when it came into view and the closer we got, the more ice was around us.

ICE

Mount Hubbard,15,000' high

Layers, hundreds of years thick

Six miles wide, the face is 300' above sea level

Toward Russell Fjord

When Hubbard periodically advances it closes this mouth and Russell Fjord becomes Russell Lake.

We were sooooo lucky to have taken this side trip, the St. Elias mountain range is phenomenal.  The closer we got to open sea, the cloudier it got.

Mount St. Elias Peak - through the clouds 

Back in our room to warm up the clouds cleared for a split second.  18,000’ rising behind the very flat Malaspina Glacier

(the white line)

PORTAGE GLACIER – A DISAPPEARING ACT

                Anchorage was so smoky from all the fires, we drove over to Portage to see the glacier.  The entire valley had been glacier and as it receded, the lake was formed.  When the visitor center was built, the glacier could still be seen from it and now it has melted back all the way around the mountain, requiring a boat trip. 

No telling if it would be here at all next time it is receding so quickly

EXIT GLACIER – PART OF HARDING ICE FIELD

                Once we got to Seward and Kenai Fjord National Park, we did an afternoon hike to Exit Glacier, the trail-head reachable by car.

Harding Icefield visible above glacier
Over half the park, an entire mountain range, is under ice with 38 glaciers “flowing” from it.

"2010" 
Signs all along the hike showed the previous extent of Exit glacier.  As it recedes, the ground it exposes can be unstable, the path is constantly safety checked for foot traffic.

Gil taking a video of the amazing silt river below.

Outwash now

AIALIK GLACIER – ALSO PART OF HARDING ICE FIELD

                In Seward, we waited for the best predicted weather and conditions to do a six hour boat tour.  It turned out to be the best day of the whole summer according to the crew and captain!  Terrific marine life (see Critters), scenery, and of course glaciers.

Harding Ice Field, small glimpses

Aialik Glacier

BEAR GLACIER – CLASSIC KENAI

On the return, this glacier was easier to observe while steadily cruising back to Seward Harbor.  

A couple male Orcas photo bombed us

MOUNT DENALI and THE ALASKA RANGE

Once the train crossed the Alaska Mountain Range we were in the interior of Alaska where rivers run north instead of south.  Our goal was to see Mount Denali, obscured with clouds about fifty percent of the time, we gave ourselves the better part of four days.

 The blue star is Mt. Denali, red stars at park entrance, Savage River, and Kantishna, literally at the end of the road.

 

Doodling along enjoying the scenery, we were shocked when Denali became visible. Looking for moose, we stumbled onto this little sign; my photo below it, mimics the peaks.

Translated as “The Tall One,” Denali is 80 miles away!  (see red arrow on map)

We drove as far as private cars can go, to Savage River Valley, and walked the road another 2.5 miles for a higher vantage point while clouds started to gather on the mountain

Next day we flew in to Kantishna, skirting the mountain on the way.  As the plane approached Denali, we found ourselves inside the mountains, indescribable.

Gil front, Graham and Angie, new Australian friends, in back: me and Greg (owner of Kat Air and Skyline Lodge)

Zoom this one if you can ↑

Kettle lakes, remains of large blocks of ice left behind by glaciers, now melted into lakes

Kantishna

            We landed and visited with Kauai friends at Skyline Lodge, then took a quick hike up the hill up behind before the park bus would come by for us.  If we missed it, we would ride the 93 mile dirt road back in the dark.

Hiking bud, “Lucky” waiting to make sure we got back

Mountains one direction

Tip-top of Denali still 30 miles away in the other direction

CRITTERS: 

MARINE LIFE, BIRDS, AND LAND ANIMALS

                There were dolphin, porpoise, whale, and eagles included in the ferry account already.  They were lucky happenstance.  Several birders boarded at Juneau and set up spotting scopes on the front deck.  It was windy and cold with intermittent rain.  Out there with them, we got see Laysan Albatross where they live when they are not nesting on Kauai. What a thrill.

Turnagain Arm

                On the bus from Whittier I saw a Beluga Whale surface in Turnagain Arm.  This is a huge offshoot from Cook Inlet and home to one of the highest tide changes in North America.  We drove along Turnagain Arm five times in all but never saw another one.  The roadside area is also known for Dall sheep sightings, but we did not see them.  The forest fires and smoke may have altered everyone’s routine.  The bore tide itself was weird – when out, it exposes deep, deep silt that behaves like quicksand!

The tide is up here at Beluga Point

Alaska Wildlife Conservation

We visited a 200 acre wildlife sanctuary along Turnagain Arm, near Portage.  Animals that had been injured or orphaned came in from all over the state; some will return to the wild and others will not.

Musk Ox  
These guys roam the plains around Palmer, we didn’t get to see them in the wild.

                Brown Bears are also called Grizzlies.  This young female was found orphaned and starving and for whatever reason will not leave the compound.  She has twenty acres to be a bear, we watched her play in the water, practicing her salmon catching technique with a large leaf.

Black Bear, no story on this guy. They each come and go as they please in their habitat.






This cub was in a different area.  Earlier we watched him eat some vegetables but he kicked away the romaine, twice!           

            These were our first Caribou, members of the deer family like elk and moose, but with the distinctive antler over their forehead.  Wild they are Caribou but farmed (reindeer sausage) or domesticated (like team Santa Claus) they are Reindeer.  These rehab guys are still Caribou.  Different ages, youngster, teens, mature.

This mature guy has already lost his velvet for the season and will soon loose the antlers.  We watched him kick the outer bark off this branch to eat the green inner layer.

Wild Creatures

We were past the salmon run (for human fishing) but saw dozens of them spawning in ALL the streams. We also saw dozens of dead ones as death follows spawning.  We watched the females lay eggs in very shallow water and then slap with their tail so they would be hidden in the gravel bed.  The males followed immediately to fertilize.

Near Portage


The females were slapping the water here after laying eggs

We watched these climb up stream here to their final destination (Tongass Forest near Mendenhall glacier)

The shallow water is clouded with male sperm

            Building the road along Turnagain Arm created wetlands and this huge area is now preserved as an animal corridor from the mountains down. 


Potters Marsh along the coast has bird viewing boardwalks.  

We think many birds had left due to the smoke. 

DAY TRIP TO HOMER
                Near Homer, we stopped at a beach on Cook Inlet, beautiful in its own right, windy as hell and chilly but what rich tidal wash.  Gulls, a raven or two, several eagles – both adult and juvenile.  Raw experience.

Herring gulls and Bald Eagles (both juveniles and adults)

             Out on Homer Spit we learned the boats across the bay to Gull Island had stopped for the season, it was only Labor Day.

Kachemak Bay


Black Legged Kittiwakes at harbor

We walked along the deserted beach and saw a funny shaped piece of wood floating in the water.

Meet Otter log

He never stopped preening, a near full time job to keep his fur able to insulate him, one million hairs per square inch is a lot of work.

SEWARD
                We were pleased our room in Seward faced the mountains and below a lagoon with a boardwalk.  We were able to watch Trumpeter Swans the entire time, as well as mallards, pintails, a large heron, ravens, and herring gulls – some feasting on dead salmon, some business as usual. 

Early am, these huge swans also preen their waterproofing whenever they aren't eating or sleeping, leaving a quilt of white feathers

The Lagoon

Gray glacial water

                From Seward we took a boat along Kenai Fjords National Park to Aialik Bay, an all day excursion.  Calm and gorgeous, we were not disappointed with the wildlife.  As we moved from deck to deck, there were times we didn’t know where to look as so much was going on in addition to the incredible scenery. 

            Our assigned table was front right just below the captain – in addition to a lovely lunch there was coffee, etc. all day in the warm area where we could leave our packs and change into and out of layers for the decks.  If we were eating when wildlife was spotted, there was a scramble and some of our photos were through the huge windows.

Orca, a female and calf

Otter raft, defense against being dinner for an Orca

Steller Sea Lion rookery, we had no idea when the boat headed for these rocky outcroppings


Hauled out on lower rocks and hidden inside

Flurry of birds

Common Murres, Puffins also like to nest in these cracks

Harbor seals at Hubbard Glacier




DENALI PARK BUS

                The park bus from Kantishna back to Denali made few stops.  Through the open windows we saw more stunning tundra and mountains plus truly wild land animals.

Wonder Lake 

Here we heard loons but did not see them.  We also heard Sandhill Cranes migrating so high we could only see black pepper moving across clouds in the sky

A naughty little vole

These were all taken from the bus, scrambling for the open windows.

Tundra


Alaska’s giant moose, Alces alces gigus

This gorgeous guy was easily a third bigger than the ones we see in Colorado

We had seen a grizzly mom with two cubs earlier but I couldn’t manage switching from binoculars to camera before moving on.  When I spotted these two far up the mountainside I yelled “BEAR,” the bus stopped, and the scramble for half open windows was on again.

Grizzly mom & cub

TOWN TO TOWN

ANCHORAGE

                Following the ferry and bus from Whittier to Anchorage, we spent a few days in Alaska’s biggest city that holds nearly half of the state’s 736,000 people.  It is a comfortable town with the usual chain stores and restaurants and if it hadn’t been smoky we could have seen its beautiful surrounding mountains.  Our first stop was the Alaska Native Heritage Center where we barely scratched the surface in learning of the five major peoples inhabiting the enormous landscape.

Drummers, dancers, story tellers, and songwriters 

            The large map is color coded, peoples of different regions each having vastly different means of hunting and survival, all having strong spiritual awareness, customs and symbolic art.  We were drawn to the canoes and tried to fathom hunting from them in the ice water.    

Canoe frame hung from hut ceiling

Models showing design changes for maneuvering in the cold waters.  
          
The fact that indigenous city folk today still prefer the meats that come straight from the ocean (walrus, seal, fin whale) was sobering.  Villages still hunt them for food and needs are assessed to determine how many whales may be taken.  Delicacy or necessity for bodies accustomed to it over centuries? 

Fin Whale jawbone (second largest species on earth)

 Totems are more familiar to most of us since these peoples reached so far south.  Copper (see beam ends) was traditionally used until it was taken over by zealous incoming mining companies on the tail of the gold rush. Cinda, our friend from the ferry, also showed up here, like minds, we enjoyed lunch after touring the villages together.

We also met up with good friends of Gil’s brother who happened to be in Anchorage at the same time, having lunch at Lumpy’s after the outdoor market.  We had heard the Saturday market downtown is remarkable but it was raining and the state fair was going on so I believe many of the regular vendors were not present.  I would love to go again as my understanding of local materials and crafts has improved since. 

Anchorage Museum also wrote new chapters on our culturally blank slates, incredible survival techniques well documented including clothing made from marine animals.


We followed up on the Qiviut hats and scarves made from the fine wool that the musk ox sheds in spring. Eight times warmer than wool, not much need in Hawaii but gorgeous

We found a brew house or two with good Alaskan beer, good pizza and salads (dull smoky sky)

KENAI TOWN, SOLDOTNA, HOMER

We spent the days in Anchorage trying to decide if we should stick to our itinerary deeper into the Kenai Peninsula, 167,000 acres of forest burning.  Two nights of rain helped clear the air and on 9/1 we only had to wait a half hour for a pilot car to escort us the thirty miles of previous hazardous conditions.  There had been waits as long as twelve hours a few days before while the fire raged across the highway.  These pictures were from the car, holding tissues over our faces.  Heartbreaking.

Cooper Landing – our first glimpse of the Kenai River, no park exploring this trip

The old Kenai town is a relic from when Alaska belonged to Russia.

Even the Burger Bus was closed



Historic district, a fisherman’s house

The old Russian Orthodox church.  We already knew these charming onion domes represent candles with flames.

             In Soldotna, we met up with a former paddling buddy who had returned to where she grew up.  We met at a nice park on the Kenai River that was overrun with salmon fishermen a couple weeks earlier.  All along the bank, the park built steps down to the river to snag the catch from!


Gil & Mary

Kenai River with fishing access (sets of stairs at left)


St. Elias Brewing – so good we ate here two nights running, home brewed root beer, too

            The drive to Homer included a stop in Anchor Point to see the secluded Norman Lowell art gallery Mary had recommended.  What a find, fantastic wild Alaskan nature paintings done over decades. (Google him to see paintings, gallery, etc.)

Lowell homestead house (circa 1958)

We turned off again before reaching our Homer destination, at the beach where the eagles were, and another stop where we picked wild raspberries.  




Seaweed & bone

Homer Spit below, our destination

Mariner’s Memorial in the Halibut capital

Disappointed we had missed the bay crossings by just a couple days, we had a lovely lunch at the Chart Room on the tip of the spit.  Excellent fresh halibut that was not fried!

SEWARD

                Back through the smoke, it was better by the time we crossed Moose Pass on toward Seward. Thankfully no moose jumped into the road as signs warned.

Moose pass

Seward is also about fishing, a gateway to Prince William Sound.  The town has the clean smell of salty seafood.  I loved it immediately.

Seward Harbor


Wonderful murals, a Tufted Puffin (L), Horned Puffin (R)


We got see everything depicted on this huge mural, except the mountain goats. 
What a place!

We missed our friend Richard by a day but went to check out his commercial salmon boat in dry dock.  We'll have to catch up with him on Kauai.

The exhibits at the visitor center for Kenai Fjord National Park impressed us, especially for its size.  Maybe it was also the enthusiasm of the rangers. 

DENALI

                Our train had taken us from Anchorage north, arriving inside Denali National Park.  Outside the park, there isn’t a town, just a collection of hotels, lodges, restaurants and shops catering to the visitors.  We picked up our local rental car and some groceries at Three Bears warehouse type store in the nearby town of Healy.  Until three years ago, locals had to drive to Fairbanks for supplies. 


Up the mountain opposite the park


Mountain humor

Prospector's pizzeria, tons of mining and hunting photos and yes, salmon pizza, yum

Denali Hostel

We had booked a little cabin on a creek, everyone shared the big kitchen.  It was great fun, meeting all sorts morning and evening.  Everyone was excited about what they had seen and done, what was worth doing.

Common Kitchen


Sanctuary 3 - What more do you need?




Carlo Creek - nice babble with morning coffee

               

                Our last day we did the scenic drive to Savage River once more then back near the park entrance hiked a loop trail around Horseshoe Lake with its beaver dams and dens.  Quite wonderful through woods, along the river bed, and back. 

Savage River


We didn’t see any more moose but knew they were there, hiding in plain sight


Horseshoe Lake 




We didn’t see the beavers but watched a muskrat that likely lodges in their den


Our hike took us along the Nenana River that we would follow by train to Fairbanks later in the day


We watched the southbound go by from the river

Before leaving, we visited some of the local shops and one  hotel.  Some nice things to look at.

Salmon being the Alaskan icon, this glass wall sculpture was well done


This was a gorgeous carved bone/wood spear and thrower 


This bronze was beautiful and Gil actually bought a new warm jacket for Fairbanks

FAIRBANKS

                We arrived late in Fairbanks and much of the talk on the train was about viewing the northern lights.  Everyone has their favorite website and aurora app to predict them.  Our ears were wide open since that was our reason for heading north and for traveling so late in the season.  The taxi driver was full of advice, as were the Alamo guys.  We went with their plan, saw the conditions were high.

We checked in to our hotel and then drove right out of town, away from city lights.  One fox and one moose crossed our path, the young moose really startled, he ran up the road in front of us.  The sky was showing a dark green tinge.  A couple commercial vans were there with tourists and we all saw the show. 

We dressed in everything warm we had including windbreak pants, ears covered, gloves, down layers and when it got too cold to stand outside, we laid the car seats back like being at the drive in.  Green only, it was mesmerizing and really beyond a true description, impossible to capture the nature of the light.



        We had expected to see hoards of birds leaving for fall migration but missed it. The birds had all flown; the price of coming late to catch the lights was OK.

         We chose our Fairbanks hotel because it backed up to a 75 acre wildlife sanctuary and bird park.  It was a lovely walk with blinds in wetlands and both boreal and taiga forest.  It is moose friendly, likely keeps them from wandering city streets to some extent.










Another time

Museum of the North at the Alaska University FB was great, could have spent several more hours there. 

Mastodon in the flower bed

Just for fun I sent this to the refuge biologist I do bird stuff with on Kauai. They are about eight feet high placed around the top of the museum café.

Native basket made of fish skin


Last of the Caribou

When the museum closed we wandered around downtown Fairbanks along the Chena River.  We had also driven out (through dog sled country) to Chena Hot Springs for a mineral water soak.

 

Time for us to head home.  Six weeks is a long time out of a suitcase but we wouldn’t trade a moment.  Not our last time in Alaska, fingers crossed.  

ALOHA  ALASKA