After leaving Anchorage, we drove north through the interior of Alaska. We first drove to the little (pop 347) town of Talkeetna. Supposedly, this is the town they based the series "Northern Exposure" on, and we believe it. It has the radio station, the restaurant, the wilderness, and the characters. We spent a few hours wandering around town, and then, because the day was so beautiful, we took an airplane ride around THE mountain - Denali. The trip included a landing on a glacier on the side of the mountain. The landing took place about 8000 feet elevation, on top of about 3000 feet of ice and snow. It was 70 degrees and perfectly clear, the mountain was incredible. The flight was incredible. We were in a six-seater airplane, and the pilot turned and maneuvered whenever anybody would ask to get pictures. WOW! We had views of half of Alaska. Well, at least of half the Alaska range. This area is called "Little Switzerland", and the view from the air of Denali and the Alaska range is probably the most awesome we have seen yet.
We camped that night at a scenic turnout with a view of Denali, and were treated to a very colorful sunset over the mountain that lasted about an hour. I actually tried to get up and see the sunrise as well, but as it was only about 3 hours later I didn't quite make it! We spent the next few hours driving to Denali National Park. We had intermittent views of the mountain the whole time. It is 20320 feet, tallest in North America. In the summer, it is usually only visible 1 out of five days, so we were very happy to have had such a great flight and great drive in, because the days we were actually in the park, we didn't see the mountain very well at all.
The first full day in the park we took two short hikes, both led by rangers. The first hike went 2.5 miles round trip to Horseshoe Lake, and oxbow lake of the Nenana River. We began to learn a little about the flora and fauna on this hike, and we were lucky enough to see a beaver and a family of five mink down at the lakeshore. After an expensive sandwich-and-chips lunch in the park hotel, we took another hike down to the park service dog kennels. The park rangers use the dog teams to patrol the backcountry in the winter instead of snow machines. The dogs are easier to maintain, traditional, quieter and lower impact. We saw a demo where a ranger rides a sled pulled by five dogs around a track. The dogs are about 80 pounds, and they love to run. As soon as the ranger shows the harness to the kennel, all the dogs start jumping and talking "me me me me." The rangers actually have to carry the dogs to the sled with their front paws off the ground because otherwise the dogs would drag them through the dirt!
Day two was a trip down the Denali highway, which actually is east-west from the park towards the east side of Alaska. This was the original road to the park before they built the George Parks highway from Anchorage to Fairbanks. The road was a bit rough, but the scenery was lovely, and we had a very relaxing day, stopping wherever we pleased, with pizza and beer at the end of the day.
The following day we took a longer hike - a "Discovery Hike" in the backcountry of Denali with a ranger. There were about 15 of us all together, and we just jumped out of the shuttle bus (yes, it stopped first) and started hiking up a drainage out of Polychrome Pass. We hiked gradually uphill for about an hour and 1/2, stopping to look at every little flower and animal track. The ranger was very knowledgeable and friendly, and spent lots of time answering questions and looking things up in his field guide. After stopping for lunch, some of the group elected to climb up a somewhat steep hillside to look over the saddle, and some of us continued up the drainage just walking talking and looking. We had folks from France, Canada and Japan, and we had lots of stories to share amongst us. After we caught another shuttle bus back to the visitor center, we ran into the Japanese man that we had hiked with earlier, and through some pidgin English and sign language, we found out he needed help getting back to his hostel. We ended up giving him a ride back, about 8 miles away from the park, with him saying "hai" whenever we got to a place we were supposed to turn. After we found the hostel he gave us his card - business and home addresses and emails so that when we come to Japan he can be our guide. He also gave us a very deep, respectful bow and a big hug!
The next day we took the bus trip all the way into the park. There are no private vehicles allowed passed mile 15 of the park road, so they have a system of shuttle buses that take you into the park. You can get on and off any bus that has room if you want to day hike or if you have a backcountry permit to camp. We took the big-daddy ride all the way to Wonder Lake - the end of the line. We figured that since we had already hiked in the backcountry some, that we would just ride the bus and not get on and off. It was a long time to be on a bus, but we saw lots of wonderful things including a bear and her cub, moose, lots of caribou (including three hanging out right next to the backcountry visitor center), ptarmigan, snowshoe hare, Denali, wide open tundra, glaciers, fresh berries for the picking (yum!). We also saw a bull moose - antlers! I was beginning to think they didn't really have any. This was the first bull moose we saw. He was big - probably 8 feet at the shoulder - and was disappearing into the brush. He was awesome. One of the coolest things we saw were two golden eagle fledglings. The day we took the Discovery hike, we passed the nest, and they were both in there stretching and exercising their wings under the watchful eyes of mom and dad. On this bus ride, we saw them as they left the nest for the first time ever. This is kind of a one-shot deal. They are pretty big when they fledge, and if their wings aren't strong enough or they misjudge the wind then they plummet to their deaths. Really! Luckily our two made it across the little gap between their nest (perched on a cliff) and the neighboring rock face. They are beautiful birds, even bigger than the bald eagles, and wonderful to watch in flight.
One interesting thing that came out of trip to Denali was a lot of discussions about wilderness vs. development with park rangers, other visitors, and through the media. Denali is incredibly remote - there is only one road there, you either take the shuttle or hike to get into the park itself, there are waiting lists for the limited number of backcountry camping permits and camping spots, there are no trails. Contrast this with say the Mt Hood area, which has 100's of miles of trails, no limits on camping, groomed ski trails even in the summer, a lodge that sits at timberline of the mountain itself. Completely accessible - even some of the trails are wheelchair accessible. I tend to take the position that some places on the earth should be left wild - Denali is a perfect example. (Actually, most of Alaska qualifies). Others argue that because it is public land, all the public should have access - jeeps, snowmobiles, more roads, cabins and concessionaires. What do you think?
On to Fairbanks. We spent five nights here, seeing the sights and catching up on errands etc. We took a trip on the Riverboat Discovery which churns up and down the Chena River. It is a very touristy thing to do - lots and lots and lots of tour buses were on the boat. Well, the people - not the buses! The riverboat is a proper sternwheeler that holds about 900 people and makes about a 4 hour trip. Along the way you see a bush plane take off and land on a runway that is only about 200 feet long (and the plane only used about half of that!) He had a mike so he talks you through the takeoff and landing. You get to see Susan Butcher (four-time winner of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. The saying is "Alaska - where men are men, and women win the Iditarod again and again and again and again"). She has a mike and tells about her dogs and racing. You also get to hear and see a native Athabascan do a demo of how they catch salmon in the fish wheels, cut them up and prepare them for smoking. We also spent about an hour at a native village - recreated on the shores of the Chena - and got demos and talks on preparing hides, doing bead work, building shelters, racing dogs, hunting and trapping. All of the talks were giving by native people, some of them college age, who are trying to preserve their culture. The woman who does the hide and bead work - Dixie Alexander, is a world-renowned artisan. She has a chief's coat hanging at the Smithsonian that she was commissioned to do.
We spent one day driving the Dalton Highway (the Haul road or pipeline road) north to the arctic circle. The road was bumpy, but we have proof that Doug and I have both been there now. The highlight of the drive was seeing a red fox. It stopped and sat down in the middle of the road so that I could take its picture. We also saw a moose with calf and another moose.
The last day in town we went to the museum at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and saw some great exhibits and two special shows. The main exhibit was a display and history of Inupiat mask carving - they had wonderful examples of traditional and contemporary masks, as well as interviews and photographs describing their use in ceremonial life. This exhibit has traveled extensively to critical acclaim. The first show was a demonstration by some native teenage boys of traditional Eskimo and Indian sports contests - all sorts of kicking, throwing and strength contests, as well as some dances. The boys were very good at these games, some of which are incredibly awkward and demanding. One of the performers is a gold-medalist in the one-legged hanging ball kick. In this contest, a ball is extended from the ceiling, the participant sits on the floor, grasps one foot with the opposite hand, balances on his other arm and swings the free leg up to kick the ball. Try it. The record for this is close to nine feet. Oh, he has to maintain his balance the whole time, too. No wild flailing about allowed. The second show we saw was a slide show on the northern lights, which you can't really see in the summer because it is light almost all night. The guy who gave the talk gave lots of demos with cathode ray tubes and other stuff to show us how the lights are made and what they are composed of. He made a very complicated subject interesting and entertaining. After completing my 18 mile run, we left town and headed south to Haines.
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