Day 47

At the moment I am sailing from Whittier to Valdez on the Aurora of the Alaska Marine Hwy. It has been raining for the past 24 hours which seems to be the norm for the Kenai Peninsula.  My gear is dry and I have been dry and warm but my tent was packed wet this morning at Kenai Fjords N.P. in Exit Glacier Campground and there is no way to dry it out today.  I'll be arriving in Valdez around 8:00pm...oh well, that small inconvenience well work itself out one way or the other.

I have been told by other travelers that to date this is the coldest July on record for Alaska.  I have not kept count of it though most days have not reached 60F and it rains every day...cold rain.

Yesterday I made a hike to the Manning Ice Field in Kenai Fjords N.P.  The hike was 4.2 miles up to the ice field and return by the same route.  The Manning Ice Field is the largest ice field in North America and gives the observer a picture of what much of North America looked like 12,000 years ago during the last Ice Age.  There are over a dozen glaciers that flow from this ice field.  The hike took eight hours to complete and was led by two N.P. Rangers.  From the beginning to the end of the trail the ascent is 3,500 feet.  I thought I was in pretty good shape for a 61 year old guy and in some circles I may be but the type of people I meet in Alaska have redefined what active lifestyle means.

I'm headed to the town of McCarthy and the old company mill town of Kennecot.  The town of McCarthy is located about 60 miles off the Richardson Hwy and the last 30 miles is built on an old railroad bed and is said to be pretty gnarly and the drive stunning.  I’m also planning to visit Wrangle/St. Elias N.P.  It is the largest park in the system at over 13 million acres.  The drive from Valdez back out to the Glenn Hwy is supposed to be spectacular.  I do not know how long this leg of the adventure will take but more will be revealed...

Day 42

Well it is back to Anchorage for the third time...got picked up in Denali yesterday afternoon after having a real adventure.  Something I would not have tried alone but as you know I have been traveling with Michael O'Donovan for nearly two weeks.  Michael has a vast amount of experience hiking and climbing mountains all over the world...Himalayas, Andes, Alps, Kilimanjaro in Africa to name a few so having the chance to go on this little "walk about" with him in Denali was quite a treat!  The fourth morning the mountain showed itself to us.  The temp had dropped into the mid-20s by 7:00am when we rose to heavy frost.  The water at the edges of the river where we camped was frozen.  As soon as we saw the frost we knew that the skies had cleared hours ago and we rushed up a ridge to see Denali for the first time.  It is truly a giant mountain.  When you see it you know why the indigenous people call it "The High One."  The mountain is so large that it creates its own weather.  All the surrounding mountains will be clear but Denali will be covered in clouds.  It is truly strange to see.  This season fewer than 30% of the visitors at the park have seen it.  Michael and I were about 10 miles from it and to give some scale of how close we were Denali can be seen from Anchorage on a clear day which is over 200 miles.

 

I also saw my first grizzly bears.  The nearest was about 300 yards.  She was a sow with two small cubs...quite a treat.  In total I saw seven other grizzlies, many caribou, a few moose, several golden eagles and countless small game.

The wilderness trip into Denali is going to be hard to top but after I rest up a few days in Anchorage it will be off to Seward and walk around on some glaciers...at least that is the plan...more will be revealed.

Day 36

July 4

Staying here in Fairbanks one more day to rest and do a few things to the bike.  Tomorrow I will head south to Denali N.P. for a few days of camping and hiking within the park and hopefully get to see Denali though reportedly only 30% of visitors have seen the mountain this season.  It has been a rainy and overcast season for this part of the world so far this year.

The trip to Deadhorse and Mainley Hot Springs and return to Fairbanks took five days and four nights and was almost 1200 miles of mostly dirt and gravel roads.  Michael O'Donovan and I made the trip together and are going to Denali together tomorrow.  The trip to Deadhorse was quite challenging because of the rain which made the roads very slippery and the going rather slow.  We camped at Marian Creek, about five miles north of Coldfoot which is the half-way point.  From Coldfoot to Deadhorse is 240 miles.  The first night at Marian Creek was dry and we arose to a cloudy but dry morning but before we could get packed up it began to rain and we packed up our tents soaking wet.  It rained on us until we reached the top of Antigun Pass through the Brooks Range and began the descent to the North Slope and the tundra.  We were, in fact, entering a desert where north of the tree line and land only a few inches of soil thaws for a couple of months of the year. The tundra is quite wet because what water there is has nowhere to go because the permafrost is as much as 2000 feet deep. I did not see much wild life on the trip but did see a couple of moose, doll sheep, and assorted small animals...no grizzlies, musk oxen or polar bears.

Six months ago the thought of riding a motor bike to Deadhorse, Ak was not even a dream...the Arctic Circle was my goal and that seemed almost like going to the moon.  So far this trip has done nothing but wet my appetite for more adventure travel and tomorrow I will continue the adventure.  More will be revealed...