"Stop," I suddenly half-whisper. Time passes, perhaps a quarter of a second or so. Lady Adventurer doesn't react; she keeps walking without looking up. "STOP!!" I yell. This time, both Lady A. and the approaching bear hear me and look up. It's a big one. Male brown bears can weigh up to 1,300 pounds. This guy probably isn't a pound over 850, but he sure seems huge. He is coming toward us on the trail, and there is nowhere for us to go. There are only two things in our favor: 1) We had attended bear safety orientation school upon arrival here at Katmai National Park, and 2) Mr. Bear isn't terribly interested in us. Still, what the heck do we do? Now, there's less than a quarter of a second to decide.
This part of the story seemed like a good way to begin. But you, dear reader, will have to make your way to the end of the post to learn how it turns out. How's that for keeping you in suspense?
~
This trip to celebrate our Anniversary and visit Alaska National Parks was years in the making (50 of them). And it's finally here. We brought the whole family.
Part 1: The Cruise
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| Sailing away from Vancouver |
Vancouver
The flights over were fine. Vancouver was fine, although we were all too tired to explore much. Embarkation of the Sapphire Princess was fine, and the sail-away from Vancouver was spectacular. The ship was much larger than we're used to, and the layout was confusing. We spent a great deal of time being lost, not that there's anything wrong with that. Vincent and Malcolm seem to have taken it all in stride. The rest of us managed to abide as well.
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| Bad hair day for Dan |
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| On board |
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| On board |
Ketchikan
It rained on our parade in Ketchikan. We walked Creek Street, witnessed the fun Lumberjack Show, and ate some very fresh seafood.
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| Lumberjack Show |
North of Ketchikan, we spotted some humpback whales. It was exciting!
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| A humpback! |
Juneau
A bus took us to the Mendenhall Glacier park entrance, and from there we could see the Nugget Falls and the glacier itself. We hiked to the falls. It was a nice walk.
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Top: Dan, Debbie, Vincent, Veronica; Bottom: Malcolm, Valerie, Barry
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| on the trail |
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| Mendenhall Glacier |
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| Nugget Falls |
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| the gang |
Afterward, I hiked partway up the mountain overlooking Juneau.
Skagway
The White Pass Railroad took us up the mountain to White Pass, the same route the gold rush folks took 125 years ago. It was spectacular and even a bit scary to stand on the platforms as the train was going along.
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| White Pass Railroad |
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| White Pass Railroad |
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| White Pass Railroad |
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| Skagway |
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| Skagway |
Glacier Bay National Park
The Sapphire Princess traveled into Glacier Bay National Park, where park rangers boarded and commented about what we were seeing. Another spectacular day. We've been extremely lucky with the weather.
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| Glacier Bay National Park |
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| Glacier Bay National Park |
College Fjord
This area is just as spectacular as Glacier Bay. There are several glaciers visible at the same time. We also saw and heard some calving. Go Calves!
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| College Fjord |
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| College Fjord |
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| College Fjord |
Unfortunately, the cruise had to end. Our final day was our 50th Anniversary.
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| Our gift from Princess Cruises |
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| Dinner on board |
Part 2: Denali
Train
After saying goodbye to Valerie, the rest of us walked over and boarded the train to Denali. It was a beautiful trip, but 11 hours on that train was tiring. It was a long day.
Although the scenery was incredible, as expected, we were surprised and saddened by the number of dead trees. Millions of them. The damage is caused by the spruce beetle, a native insect that is proliferating and causing excessive damage due to climate change.
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| Train to Denali, just about to leave |
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| Train to Denali |
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| Train to Denali |
Denali National Park
The train took us directly to Denali National Park, where we rode a bus for the 2-mile drive to the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, just outside the park entrance. We spotted a large moose right away. The lodge is a huge Disney-esque complex. We took a natural history tour in the park. Good storytelling for background, and absolutely fantastic scenery. Not much wildlife, however. As we were returning to the lodge, we noticed some smoke. It quickly became thicker and thicker, to the point where it was hard to breathe or see. We learned that there were some nearby wildfires, and the wind had shifted, blowing all the smoke our way. It all happened so fast! One minute we were breathing clean, fresh air, the next we could hardly breathe at all.
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| Denali National Park |
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| Denali National Park |
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| Wildfire smoke |
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| Wildfire smoke |
We also took a National Park bus into the park. Fortunately, the wildfire smoke had gone away with the shifting winds. This bus went as far as possible, to mile 43 on the 92-mile road. We couldn't go further due to a landslide. As we walked over to the bus depot, we saw a mama moose with her calf crossing the street. It was right in front of us on the same road we were walking on. We weren't attacked, but it was scary.
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| mama moose |
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| baby moose |
We also saw some wonderful scenery and some true wilderness. Up in the mountains, there were dall sheep and caribou.
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| Denali National Park |
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| Braided river in Denali |
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| Caribou |
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| Dall sheep |
After three days, we said goodbye to Denali and traveled by bus back to Anchorage. Denali is as wonderful as always. Ir's hard to get enough of it.
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| Debbie and Dan in Denali |
So far, we had gone the entire time without seeing Mount Denali. You know, the peak the entire park and area are named after. The tallest mountain in North America. The one some goofy guy wanted to change the name of, just to get everyone upset. Yeah, that one. It's rare to see it because it's usually shrouded in clouds, and we'd had more than our share of those. But on the Southbound bus trip, Mount Denali played some hide and seek with the clouds before revealing itself in all its glory. It was a stunning sight. The Dancer Family would be flying home the next morning. Now, Lady A. and I would be on our own.
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| Mount Denali from Denali State Park in the South |
Part 3: Everything else
McCarthy
After a night in Anchorage, we rented a car and drove to the town of McCarthy, located in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The six-hour drive turned out to be more like eight. We had to make stops to pick up provisions (that's what we call food out in the wilderness), talk to the park rangers at the Visitor Center, and gawk at the fantastical scenery. This is not to mention the slow going over the final 60 rough, unpaved miles on McCarthy Road.
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| Glacier sighting on the way to McCarthy |
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| McCarthy Road |
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| High bridge on McCarthy Road |
McCarthy itself (population: 2) is an old frontier town that's (almost) as far as you can go into the park. We stayed at a comfy, cozy cabin rented at Currant Ridge. To get to town, you drive 2 miles to the end of the road, park, walk across a footbridge over a raging river, then walk or take a shuttle the final 3/4-miles. Another shuttle takes you four miles further to the ghost town of Kennecott (population: 34), where the road ends for good. Oh, and did I mention the mosquitoes? They were everywhere!
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| View from our cabin |
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| Just outside McCarthy |
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| Walking into town |
The next day, we took the shuttle all the way to Kennecott (where a bear was spotted on the road) and hiked from there to the Root Glacier. This is one of the iconic hikes in the area, and it didn't disappoint. At 2.5 miles each way, the trail is somewhat challenging, except for the final half-mile, which leads down to the glacier and is particularly demanding. Lady Adventurer didn't quite make it all the way down, but Dan did, and he was rewarded with a walk on a dirty (at least this part of it) glacier. Other parts did look whiter, but this short walk was enough.
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| Kennecott |
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| On the trail |
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| On the trail |
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| Near the Root Glacier |
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| On the Root Glacier |
We packed the car, said goodbye to all the skeeters, and drove back to Anchorage.
Wrangle-St. Elias is the largest U.S. National Park. It's so vast that the only way to see much of it is to take a flightseeing expedition. Driving in as we did, we got to experience a whole lot, though. Some sections of the road, as well as the two towns, are still under private ownership. It reminds me of Cuyahoga National Park in this way.
Kotzebue
WHAT a day! First, we flew from Anchorage to Kotzebue (population: 2,979) on Alaska Air. The plane was less than half full, but Lady A. and I seemed to be the only ones who didn't already know everyone else. It also appeared that all of the locals were bringing literally tons of food along with them. At least some of it was to celebrate the upcoming Independence Day. A representative from Golden Eagle Outfitters picked us up, checked us in, and took us to the Nulligvik Hotel, our accommodations in Kotzebue. This was a nice surprise. He told us that we would probably go on our National Parks trip that very afternoon. This was an even nicer surprise. We had planned to spend three nights here to stay flexible and allow for any bad flying weather. To go right away would be fantastic.
And it was fantastic. We hopped on the single-engine plane with a pilot and seven other passengers. I sat in the copilot seat. It was the most spectacular plane ride I've ever experienced. It's not possible to describe the beauty and majesty of Kobuk Valley and Gates of the Arctic National Parks. Hundreds of miles of pristine mountains and rivers. Not even a hint of humanity. Just wilderness at its greatest.
Our pilot landed on a rocky riverbank in Gates of the Arctic. The river was bright sky blue and clean enough to drink. And drink, we did. There were no fish or life of any kind in the water; it's fed directly from glaciers, and nothing comes this far upstream. I can't imagine a more idyllic place.
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| Taking off from Kotzebue |
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| Gates of the Arctic National Park |
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| Gates of the Arctic National Park |
We were then transported to Kobuk Valley, where we landed on some sand dunes. This was also an awesome place, but we had to skedaddle out of there when the rain started coming down harder. We did it! Two National Parks in one day!
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| Brooks Range in Gates, on the way to Kobuk |
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| Kobuk Valley National Park |
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| Kobuk Valley NP, the pilot is the one wearing the muscle shirt |
Kotzebue (population: 2,979) is North of the Arctic Circle, on the Western Coast of Alaska. The local people appear to be mostly Native Americans. The town is dry; alcohol is not allowed. There was some squalor, but everyone seemed friendly, especially the children. The Nulligvik Hotel is modern, but there were limited dining choices there and elsewhere in town. We changed our plans from a three-night stay to a one-nighter. We would spend the extra two days in Anchorage, arriving earlier than planned.
Anchorage (For the third time this trip)
We'd planned on three nights, but now it would be five. We drove to nearby Far North Bicentennial Park and did some short walks. The trails are nice, but the skeeters are not. For our second day, we did a better hike: the Glen Alps area of Chugach State Park. It's still close; only 20 minutes from the Fairfield Inn. But it's more like a world away. If you go to Anchorage, DO THIS HIKE! It's the best. We did the Blueberry Knoll trail. It's only about a mile and a half, but it's the most scenic mile and a half that you can imagine. The trail goes all the way around Blueberry Knoll. Vistas all the way around. At the far end, you can continue up the steep trail to Flattop Mountain. We did the loop only, and that was enough. The funny thing is that when we were at the far end, I remembered being here twelve years before. I knew that we'd hiked in this park at that time, but had not remembered exactly where. It was here.
Afterward, I found my
blog post from that 2013 trip. I was able to confirm my deja vu. I also found this tidbit of useful information.
By the way, in case you were wondering about the derivation of that ‘Chugach’ place name, lookyahere: When the Europeans first came to the area, they asked the local Native American Indians what they called the surrounding mountains. The Indians didn't understand at all, but one of them happened to sneeze right at that moment.
Oh, and I also had this thought regarding the trail name: I found my soul, on Blueberry Knoll... That doesn't sound quite right. I'll work on it.
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| Chugach St. Park |
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| Chugach St. Park |
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| Chugach St. Park |
Lake Clark National Park
Our pilot, Will, took Lady Adventurer and me, and three others, into his small plane from Anchorage. The others were a family from China. After a flight of a little more than an hour, we landed on a small beach in Lake Clark National Park. We went for a three-ish mile hike and spotted some bears. Big brown bears. Huge brown bears! Then we got back on the plane, took off, and landed on a different beach, near the Silver Salmon River. Guess what? More bears. Lots more. Some of them came pretty close, but we were never tooooooo very scared. Will acted as our guide for the day, and our little group never became separated from one another.
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| Watch for the bear poop |
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| Lake Clark National Park |
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| Lake Clark National Park |
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| Lake Clark National Park |
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| Lake Clark National Park |
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| Celebrating our survival of Day 1 of bear week |
Katmai National Park
So, there we were. Debbie, Dan, and a large bear, all trying to occupy the same space on that narrow trail at the same time. Lady A. and I were both trying hard to recall everything we had learned in bear school. Here are some of the things that were (thankfully) quickly coming to mind:
1) Don't get within 50 yards of a bear. ((It was already too late. Mr. Bear was about ten feet from us.))
2) Don't make any sudden moves. ((We were working on it.))
3) If a bear approaches, get out of its way by moving off into the woods if possible. ((There wasn't a whole lot of room to do this because of the vegetation right up to the trail edge.))
4) Use your bear spray if absolutely necessary. ((Of course, we didn't have any.))
5) Above all, do not run from a bear. ((This may be the toughest rule of all.))
We began walking backward, but Mr. Bear kept on coming. We held hands and raised our other arms to make ourselves look bigger. Mr. Bear kept on coming. I said, we've got to move into the woods (see #3 above). It wasn't easy, but we did manage to scoot into the vegetation just a bit, just as he went by. I mentioned that he wasn't terribly interested in us. We had been told that the bears are laser-focused on food, mostly the salmon run that was just beginning. The local ones have learned to live with humans nearby. Mr. Bear gave us a quick glance when he went by. He probably chuckled a bit at the two humans holding hands and shivering in the woods. My photo isn't framed well; I was afraid to lift the camera up to my face. Also, the subject was a little bit too close...
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| Mr. Bear walking by, a few feet away |
Our flight into Katmai was longer than most of the other small plane rides; two hours in a twin-engine ten-seat prop plane from Anchorage to King Salmon, then a half-hour float plane to Katmai National Park. With five hours in the park itself and all the flights and connections, it made for a very long twelve-hour day. Regal Air had arranged both the Lake Clark and this Katmai exploration. They done good.
Katmai is strange. There are two viewing platforms by the famous Brooks Falls, and a long bridge over some other water. These viewing areas have gates and are safe from bears. The parts in between, as well as the lodge and visitor center area, are entirely exposed. It was one of the in-between areas where we'd had our encounter. The park rangers would shoo away any bears that approached the lodge dining area. It seemed like a constant and somewhat dangerous job.
The bears were everywhere. There were only a couple by Brooks Falls, however. We saw salmon in the water, and some bears caught them, but there would be a whole lot more beginning in a week or so.
Since I am writing this, I suppose we survived.
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| Mt. Iliamma on the way to Katmai |
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| Bear on the beach at Katmai |
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| Birds and bear both after the fish |
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| An eagle at Katmai |
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| Brooks Falls |
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| Slim pickins of salmon at Brooks Falls |
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| One final bear pose |
Anchorage
We had one more day in Anchorage before flying home. We went downtown to join the locals in celebrating the Fourth of July.
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| Anchorage on the Fourth |
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| Anchorage on the Fourth |
Finally, here is a rough idea of the places we went.
