Made It to Anchorage Mostly Intact

Well, there is the incident of almost asphyxiating the cats. We had stopped at Tolsona Wilderness Campground in Glennallen for the night. It is down a long, dirt road. All the campsites are situated in woods along a small, fast-moving stream with plenty of space between sites. We didn’t have any close neighbors. It was already 4:00 by the time we got there. You have to go across a short, one-lane wooden bridge to get to the office and dump station. David didn’t like the look of the bridge. He said it didn’t look well-supported. We registered, set up camp and had dinner. It was still early and, of course, light since it doesn’t get dark until after 11 pm.
I had read in several places about a 1-mile trail to a “mud volcano” at this campground. Doesn’t that sound intriguing? We walked to the office to get directions. The man we asked laughed. “That’s not a good name,” he said and pulled out a photo of what looked like a big mud puddle. “It’s a spring, a cold spring.” He laughed again. “It’s very wet up there, but I see you’re prepared for the mosquitoes.” We both had on our mosquito jackets because we had noticed the proliferation of the pests at the campsite. David was holding a big can of insect repellant in his hand.
The man told us the trail was one mile one way, two miles round trip. (It’s not as though you’re going to go there and not come back.) He gave us directions. We set off, back past our trailer, and up a steep hill. Almost immediately it was muddy. Plus there was a ton of mosquitoes. The man had said it would take us 45 minutes to get there and that the trail was well-marked. We planned to get there quicker, after all, it was only a mile. But it was difficult to walk fast because of mud and fallen logs. After 25 minutes we came to a bog with no clear way to get across. I thought we were close. David looked back and said the trail wasn’t as clearly marked going back. Also, the mosquito clouds were thickening. All the blood-suckers in the immediate universe were descending on fresh new meat. We imagined ourselves wandering lost around the bog with wet feet in the midst of swarms of mosquitos hell-bent on eating us for dinner. We decided it really wasn’t worth it to see the mud hole/spring/volcano. So we turned back. Going back was faster.
When we got near the trailer, we heard a loud alarm. “Is that coming from our trailer?” I said. David rushed to the trailer, unlocked the door and went inside. “It’s the propane alarm,” he said. The trailer smelled like gas. The alarm was ear-deafening. The cats were both hiding. We located them and put them in the truck. They were terror-stricken. I fed them treats, and they were happy. I stayed in the truck with them until David had aired out the trailer. What we think happened is that David had leaned against the stove (the knobs face out) when putting his shoes on and somehow turned a burner to high. Unlike in the boat, there aren’t anticipators on this stove. You just push and turn the knob and gas is released. Needless to say, we’re careful not to lean against the stove knobs now and always check them when we leave. The cats are fine with no ill effects except that Plato runs and hides when we turn on the stove.

A few days before Glennallen, we were in Tok, a very small town. From there we drove southwest on the Tok Cutoff with stunning views of the Wrangell Mountains. Prolific wildflowers bloomed along the roadside. Unfortunately, the best views are from the road and almost never at the designated viewpoints. The road was paved but rough with miles-long gravel stretches, innumerable frost heaves and some road construction. A couple times we got in line behind a pilot car. It wasn’t a very smooth ride for the cats--their little heads bobbing up and down like Hawaiian hulu dancing dolls. Although it was slow-going, the weather was sunny and warm.

Around 5:00 we found a large gravel parking area off the road, near a river. Only one other truck was parked there, so we set up camp. For the next few hours a stream of cars rolled by, heading to the river. We walked over to see what was going on. Under the bridge was a smallish rapid. People, mostly kids, were swimming and floating down the rapids in PFD’s and rubber rafts. A young girl was trying to entice a St. Bernard to get in the water and float with her. He was already wet and didn’t want to get back into the freezing-cold water. Instead, he saw us and bounded over to greet us, getting our pants wet and dirty. Everyone seemed to know everyone else. It must be the local swimming hole, especially on such a warm day.

The next day we drove the Richardson Highway to Valdez. Along the way we stopped at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park visitor’s center and watched an excellent video that showed parts of the park we’d never see (ice fields), listened to an interesting ranger talk and learned more from the exhibits.

Farther down the road we stopped and looked at the Alaska pipeline. (It runs 800 miles from Prudoe Bay to Valdez.)

We stopped at a few scenic overlooks.

When we got to Thompson pass, the scenery changed. We were in the mountains above the tree-line, level with snow and ice, and it got colder.

In Valdez, back at sea level, our campground was surrounded by dense woods. Around 6:15 pm we saw a young black bear circling all the campsites, looking for food. The cats watched him intently as he walked by our trailer. They didn’t seem afraid, but when a couple small airplanes flew really low overhead, they freaked out and ran for cover.


Valdez is another small coastal town with fabulous scenery. We walked around the boat docks and watched some men cutting up freshly-cut halibut (for their own consumption, not for sale.)
We walked a short trail and watched a fishing boat in Port Valdez spread out and pull in a purse seine. We bought fish at the fish market. After lunch in the trailer, we drove down a road to get a closer look at Valdez Glacier.

Then we went to a fish hatchery and watched salmon trying to swim through a weir to get to their spawning grounds. They sure have a tough time. After spending a few years at sea, they swim back to the place where they were born in order to spawn. The ones who make it to the weir have had to surmount all kinds of obstacles including people, bears and eagles who want to eat them. Some of them got stuck on one side of the weir and couldn’t get through. People were wading in the water to touch them. One man caught one with his bare hands and held it by the gills, proudly showing off. Then he dropped it, and it slipped into the rocks. He had a hard time picking it up and kept dropping it. By the time he got it back into the water, if it was even alive, I doubt it had the strength left to make it through the weir. This was disturbing, even though the salmon die once they spawn. Many people act as though fish are inanimate objects and have no sensations. There were several bald eagles flying around. One had a fish in its talons.

We looked at some waterfalls, visited the Pioneer cemetery with graves from the late 1800’s and walked up a steep set of stairs to see a view of the entire town and Port Valdez. You can see the oil terminal on the other side of the bay. Black and brown bunnies were hopping about. They looked tame, but you couldn’t approach them.

The next day was sunny and warm with big, fluffy white clouds. We stopped at a couple waterfalls along the road. The sun was shining directly on Horsetail Falls. A man and woman had climbed partway up and stood beside the falls. The woman had a big camera with a huge lens and a tripod and was taking her time. David and I walked up. She turned to me and said with a big smile how wonderful the light was for photographing the falls. I have no doubt she got better shots than I did! Lots of people lug around huge cameras with huge, telescopic lens. I look at them and wonder why I bother!

The rest of the day we stopped at scenic overlooks, took short hikes, learned about glaciers while visiting Worthington Glacier and took a little detour to Copper River Princess Wilderness lodge to see where people who like the finest amenities stay. We met a young woman and her father who were with a biking group. After the first 20 miles, they decided to opt out of the biking part of the trip. “By 7 am you’re on the road, biking 80 miles a day,” said the man. “Didn’t they explain all that before you signed up?” we asked. “Yes,” he said, “but we kind of glossed over it.”

We’ve seen a few groups of bicyclists on the various highways and one man walking, pushing a cart in front of him.
Farther along we tried to hike a trail while battling a zillion mosquitoes with all means at our disposal, but we gave up and ran back to the car. After that, we went to the campground in Glennallen where we encountered even more mosquitoes and had our unpleasant propane episode. Back in the trailer the cats soon became enthralled with a little squirrel eating a nut outside the window and just couldn’t stand the fact that they couldn’t go outside and pounce on it.

It was cold and rainy the next day, so we couldn’t see much at most of the viewpoints. The rain did let up a little while we walked the trail at Matanuska Glacier. The foggy cottonwood forest with pretty wildflowers and views of the glacier was very picturesque. We stayed in a campground in Palmer, about 40 miles from Anchorage. It continued to rain.

The sun finally came out the next day. What a difference sunshine makes. We walked around downtown Palmer where families from several (other) northern states settled in the 1930’s as part of a federal farming experiment. Most ended up returning to the lower 48, but some made it and others came to replace those who left. Produce grows well in this area because of the silt from the glacial runoff that enriches the soil. We drove out to a farm and picked our own vegetables: radishes, bok choy, kohlrabi, green leaf lettuce and kale. It was fun, and the price was cheaper than in the grocery store. We had never tasted kohlrabi before and now use it raw in salads. I didn’t realize that each individual radish is a separate plant. I thought they grew in clumps like you buy in the grocery store!

That afternoon we went to a Musk Ox farm where the musk ox are being domesticated, and their wool (called qiviut) is used by native weavers to make scarves and blankets. The Musk Ox are actually related to goats. They’re small and because of their propensity to huddle in a circle to defend their young from wolves, made easy targets for people to hunt and consequently were nearly exterminated.

After that we stopped at a stream where I looked for gold nuggets in the water while David looked on skeptically. I didn’t find any this time, maybe next time....

Anchorage

The next day we went to Anchorage. The 11-mile Tony Knowles coastal trail runs down from a park, through a forest, along the shore and through town. The forecast was for rain, but it hadn’t started yet, so we got out our bikes, drove to the park and started on the trail. The plan was for David to go to the end and back and then pick me up with the truck at the end because he rides twice as fast as I do. It was a great ride that started steeply downhill through pretty woods with white flowers and lush foliage.

Then it wove in and out of the forest with views of mud flats along the shore. Along the way we saw a moose and her baby happily browsing along the side of the trail. I got reprimanded by someone for being too close, but the moose showed no signs of agitation. By the time I got to the end, it started to rain, and David picked me up.
That evening we took advantage of an early bird special at a nice restaurant in town and had a great meal, some of the best salmon I’ve had. The rest of our time in Anchorage was spent running errands and replenishing the food locker.

The Yukon Territory and Haines

Haines

Yesterday I talked with a youngish couple from Germany. They are traveling through Canada and Alaska for a year, driving a van and tent-camping. They were planning a three-day hike to the toe of Kaskawulsh glacier near Sheep mountain in the Yukon. The woman was worried about bears. “We’ve gotten some conflicting information,” said the man. “Here in the Yukon they tell you to wear bells to scare off the bears. In BC they tell you not to wear bear bells. It just arouses the bears’ curiosity.” They planned to make noise and had bear spray with them.
A couple days ago a man was killed by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone when he and his wife were on a hike. “Only three people a year are killed by bears in North America, so it’s rare,” said the man.

We saw our first grizzly bear of the trip a few days ago. It was foraging up on an embankment beside the road. We were in the truck. “That’s how I want to see a bear,” said David.
The kind of hikes we take generally last an hour or two and are usually no more than four miles. I try to pick hikes labeled “easy” because I’ve discovered that the people (professional hikers?) who label the hikes don’t share my definition of “easy”. “If this is ‘easy’,” I say as I trudge uphill, “I don’t want to do a ‘moderate’ hike, and I’m certainly not going on a ‘difficult’ hike.”
I really liked the Miles Canyon trail in Whitehorse. You cross a suspension bridge and then follow a narrow, at times precarious path above sheer volcanic walls of a steep canyon. Brilliant, jade-green water shimmers at the bottom. It’s pretty spectacular when the sun is out, which fortunately it was when we were there. After a mile or so you arrive at the site of Canyon City where Klondike stampeders had their goods portaged around rapids that have since been displaced by a dam. There’s nothing to see except piles of old rusted tin cans and a tram car replica.

In Whitehorse we also visited the SS Klondike II National Historic site, a sternwheeler from the late 1930’s. Besides just walking around the boat, the best thing about it is an excellent video with actual vintage footage of the boat and superb (rare) narration.

We turned off the Alaska highway and headed southwest on the Haines Road to the small town of Haines, Alaska. This is a spectacular drive. Pink flowers lined the highway, and the Kluane mountain range towered to the west.

Along the way we hiked a short trail uphill to a rock glacier and were rewarded with fabulous views of a lake and mountains.

Haines

In Haines we went to a cannery where they process salmon and bought our first wild Alaskan salmon in Alaska ($8/pound for Sockeye, $10/pound for King). Through windows you can watch the workers process the salmon from whole fish to vacuum-sealed package. Plaques outside the windows explain the steps.

The following morning, we walked the Seduction Point trail through a lush forest with big trees and huge tropical-looking plants for about two hours until we arrived at Moose Meadow. We didn’t see any moose or other wildlife, but I did spy a little fairy resting in a tree along the way.

That afternoon we hiked another two hours on the Battery Point trail. At first it was a bit rainy and cold, but then it was clear and warm. The weather can change quite quickly here. This hike took us up and down over rough roots until it got to a beach, where it was flat and easy through tall grasses and into a cool, dark forest. We saw no moose, bears or fairies.

We left Haines the following day and retraced our route 160 miles back to the Alaska Highway. On the way we stopped at the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve where over 3,500 bald eagles congregate in late fall for a salmon feeding frenzy. They cram themselves in cottonwood trees lining the Chilkat river.

The rest of the year there are only a few hundred. We walked a short boardwalk to an observation point. I looked through a scope and saw a bald eagle sitting in a tree on the opposite side of the bank. We’ve seen several bald eagles.

Across the Canadian border and back in the Yukon, we stopped at the Million Dollar Falls campground and walked down a steep, narrow boardwalk and several sets of stairs to see the falls. Several other people were there as well including a young woman with loud jangling bells on her legs.
After seeing the falls, we went to another part of the campground, where a trail goes down and around a small lake. This trail was deserted. We followed the ill-defined trail down to the lake, but the underbrush started to get thick. We wouldn’t be able to see the bear or him us until we were right on top of each other. Where was the bell girl when you needed her? Then the trail disappeared into a particularly dark, dense patch of woods. Right in front of it was a big pile of fresh bear scat. Nope, don’t want to crawl through the underbrush and meet its owner. We turned around.

brown-colored Black Bear

That night we boondocked by a river. I dreamt about bears.

Plato sees the bear.

There are many turnouts and viewpoints on the Alaska highway. Some have informative plaques or short trails. We try to stop at as many as possible. We learned how the spruce beetle attacks and kills spruce trees as we walked the Spruce Beetle Interpretive Trail. Usually only a limited number of trees are affected but recently it’s been an epidemic. Scientists are trying to figure out why.

Soldier's Summit

Just around the corner from the Sheep Mountain visitor’s center is Soldier’s Summit, where, on a cold day in November 1942, the Alcan highway was officially opened with pomp and ceremony. We hiked a short, steep trail to the spot, read informative panels and gazed out on expansive Kluane lake.

miniature people

At the visitor’s center itself, we looked through scopes to see Dall sheep perched high on the ridge of the mountaintop, barely visible with the naked eye.

Up until this point we’ve encountered little roadwork on the highway, just a few potholes, gravelly areas and short stretches of road construction. That all changes after Destruction Bay, where permafrost wreaks havoc on roads, causing frost heaves (dips) and breakups. It’s slow going for over 100 miles along very rough roads until the US border.

Sometimes you wait for a pilot car to follow. After you cross the border, the road improves for awhile, then it’s back to the undulations. So we took it slow and easy, enjoyed the views and arrived in Tok, Alaska around 5 pm. David rotated all four tires on the truck and replugged the tire that he had plugged previously because it was leaking badly. It seems fine now.