Alaska, 2000 Journal
It is now Friday afternoon and I have not written anything since Monday because I’ve been so tired. I thought I’d catch up as I’m lying in my hot tent but out of the reach of many pestilential mosquitoes.
I was just sorting out on the map and GPS where we were and are and where we have to go. I’m learning quite a bit about my GPS.
Anyway, here goes for catching up.
We flew out of Fairbanks Tuesday morning about 2 hours late on Frontier Flying. The plane was about an eight-seater but there were only three of us on board. We did not get to see the Yukon River as we were flying above the overcast. Maybe we will on the way out.
We did fly over much interesting terrain; very flat, wet and also very green and brown with occasional snowfields. We landed in Allakaket first to let the other passenger off and to drop the mail, and then flew on to Bettles. In Bettles we arranged our gear, jumped on a three-seater seaplane and flew to Circle Lake (marked on map).
We tried walking north for a while but it was raining and we were soon soaked to the skin from the rain and from plowing through wet chest-high brush. After an hour or so we retraced our steps to a small stream we had crossed earlier where some people were camped. We set up our tents (CIRCCS on map) and cooked dinner (chicken and broccoli) and then went to bed. I slept 11 hours.
Wednesday morning we decided our original goal of the Arrigetch Peaks was unreachable because of terrain and lack of time. Any ground near the same level as the river is soaked and full of tussocks. We headed back south, fought our way up a ridge and walked the ridge until we wore out. I’ve never walked such exhausting terrain. We camped in two very poor spots (RIDGCS on map) on the ridge, ate a cold supper and went to bed early.
We got up Thursday around 5:00 am, ate oatmeal and Carnation Instant Breakfast (our standard fare). We struggled along the ridge until we came to a stream. As the terrain was so rough (every stream, and there were several, means a gully to cross and lots of brush to fight through) we decided to drop down to the river. It turns out this was a good decision as we picked up a fisherman’s trail just past another stream. This trail took us to a beautiful campsite along the Alatna River (ALATCS). We took our first bath of the week, cooked chicken Monterey and tomato soup for dinner and went to bed.
Friday we got up about 5:00 am again, cooked breakfast, and followed the trail up onto a ridge where we snacked, rested our aching, blistered feet and then continued on our way.
Now we are camped along a pretty stream in the spring runoff area soon to be cooking dinner. There are several snowfields just a few yards away.
So far, other than the trail we followed, the terrain has been wet, soft, covered with tussocks, sloped and/or covered with brush. We do well if we cover three airline miles a day.
At the end of each day we are both exhausted and weary of fighting mosquitoes. You walk until you can’t seem to go another step and every moment is a weariness.
Except for Monday and Monday night the weather has been perfect. Seventy degrees, sunshine and usually a light breeze that helps keep the mosquitoes at bay. A little cooler would be nice as we hike in long sleeves, hats, pants, gaiters, mosquito netting and boots but I’m not going to complain too much.
It’s actually very beautiful up here, if we could just sit and enjoy it, but we have a destination to reach by next Tuesday morning. There are many wildflowers but we have seen no wildlife. Right now I need a nap.
Later…
But it’s time for a bath and dinner. I reek like you cannot believe and the clothes I wore up here are not fit for anything anymore but backpacking. Socks and underwear are crusty and sweatshirts are gray.
Later…
I just took my bath in the river (brrrrr) to clean the sweat and dirt off with a full body dunk. The only thing I need yet is a backrub to relieve my aching muscles.
Supper was barbecue beef and mashed potatoes with oyster crackers and dessert was tomato soup with oyster crackers.
7:40 is bedtime with a 4:00 am wake up call. It’s strange to be getting up and going to bed early but at the end of each day we’re too tired for anything else and with the total lack of darkness it’s easy to get up early.
According to the GPS I’m 2963 miles due west Grand Rapids.
It’s always impressed upon me when I’m out in the creation how great our God is. This God causes the majestic mountains to stand and the mighty rivers to flow but he also tenderly cares for each wildflower. And, He not only does all these things, He does them for the glory of His name revealed in the salvation of the church. So He does these things for his church.
Anyway, on with the day’s trek…
We started early again this morning, about 6:00 or so from our campsite (TURNCS). We plowed through more brush up to a pass (PASS) where things thinned out just a bit. It was soon over, though, and we went back into the brush. We followed a stream for a little while but had to leave it because the gully was too steep and partly filled with snow and ice. After following game and human made trails for a while, still mashing through the brush, we reached the Takahula River where we brewed up some tomato soup and oyster crackers and made some Gatorade. After about an hour break, for the sake of our feet, which are pretty badly chewed up at this point, we plunged back into the brush till we came out on a knoll overlooking Lake Takahula. As you can well imagine, that was a very welcome sight. We walked through heavy brush for another hour maybe to the southwest corner of the lake, found a nice campsite (TAKACS) and set up camp.
(2962 miles from GR)
No dinner. Too many mosquitoes.
It’s 5:00 pm Saturday and we have reached Lake Takahula, our pickup point. It has been a long and grueling day with a constant battle to keep the mosquitoes off. We lost our sunshine but only got a few spatters of rain. It’s raining right now, however. I hope it moves out soon.
Sometimes all our minds and wills were bent upon beating a path and putting one foot in front of the other. No hiking I have ever done has even approached this for sheer difficulty. I have never been so tired. It is rewarding, though, and a good kind of tired.
Doug just complained about mosquitoes in his underwear. I checked me but I was free of them. There must be about 200 of them under my tent fly right now, though. One endures a constant buzzing sound.
It’s Sunday afternoon about 2:00. I went to bed last night about 5:00 and did not get up until after 10:00. I may have picked up a minor bug or something. I’m still very tired and my stomach is a bit off.
Doug, while I was lazily sleeping, caught one Arctic char that we promptly fried up for breakfast. Yummy.
The wildflowers up here are really spectacular. I’ve been taking lots of pictures of them. Hopefully they will turn out.
We heard our first other than us human made sound this morning. Someone on the other side of the lake started a generator or something.
It’s raining again and I feel like a nap, so I think I’ll sign off for now. Doug is off fishing again, I think.
5:30 pm
I have about a week’s growth of very bristly, scraggly beard and moustache. I’ll try to shave before I come home.
All my gear has performed to expectations, but I’m glad I don’t have to carry it on my back anymore.
Phil should be here by now. He was scheduled to come in yesterday and was going to spend the weekend in Anchorage. He is scheduled to pick us up in Fairbanks Tuesday afternoon.
Back to the wildflower thing. I think I’ll have to get a book on Arctic wildflowers. We’ve seen very little that I recognize. We even saw what we think are two different kinds of wild orchids and numerous other very pretty but unfamiliar flowers.
It’s about 11:30 Sunday night and supper of freshly caught lake trout is digesting. I’m about ready for bed but thought I’d write a few lines yet. Doug hauled in another fish, as I’ve said. It was about a 20” lake trout so into the pan it went for dinner. I had a Dolly Varden or grayling almost beached, in fact I had my right hand on it, before it got away.
I also shot a whole bunch of pictures between 10:00 and 11:30. The overcast started breaking up and the light was spectacular. I was having trouble deciding which way to point the camera. The sun went behind a peak very low in the sky and was shining on all the high spots around us.
It feels like it might get quite cool tonight but the sun is shining (11:45 pm). Hopefully it will be clear and sunny tomorrow.
This lake is quite spectacular when the weather is nice.
Anyway, I think I’m going to try to get some sleep.
A couple of quick notes I forgot to write down.
The sun goes very low in the western sky in the evening and gets quite high in the sky during the day. It does indeed make a big circle around us.
Also, some of the mosquitoes up here are huge. I just had three on my tent door that were about ¾” long. Most are just normal size, though.
The nearest town is Allakaket, 61 miles away.
Monday, 12:30pm
The weather today started out poorly. It was cloudy and cool, but now is clearing a bit and a breeze is coming up. Breezes are nice as they blow the mosquitoes away.
Doug and I tried fishing for a while again but caught nothing so guess what we had for breakfast. Doug thinks its bad weather for fishing. I wouldn’t know.
I have a tent full of mosquito carcasses and I think I’ve had enough of Gates of the Arctic National Park.
5:30 pm
Doug is off fishing again, trying to catch some dinner. He’s getting rained on a bit as we had a brief shower but it has stopped again.
If Doug catches no fish, I think we are having mandarin orange chicken and tomato soup with oyster crackers for dinner, at least if we can tolerate the mosquitoes and it’s not raining.
We are scheduled for a 10:00-11:00 am pickup tomorrow morning. I hope it’s on time so we can meet Phil on time in Fairbanks and get down to Healy where our campsite is. Also, if we get picked up on time from here we will have time to take a shower before our flight to Fairbanks picks us up.
8:30 pm
Well, we still have the mandarin orange chicken. Doug was gone quite a long time so I was thinking he was having some success. I went down the lakeshore to where he was and, sure enough, he’d caught another lake trout. He was tying on a new lure and rerigging the pole that had come apart midcast. He was about to quit so I tossed the line out once and caught another lake trout. We had quite a feast for dinner. We’ve had three meals of fresh fish and have got all the protein we’ve missed the last week.
Neither of us can make any sense out of the weather here. Now it’s cold and blowing and I’m glad to be snug in my sleeping bag.
11:30 pm
We just had a black bear prowling around our campsite. Some smaller animals were complaining about something so I peered outside and saw it nosing around our food containers. I think he’s gone now.
It has been a couple of days since writing so I thought I’d put some thoughts and events down on paper again. I’ve found that keeping a journal is useful for helping me remember more than just the highlights of a trip.
First, here are some statistics about where we have been and where we are and sunrise and sunset.
We are now at 63 degrees 27 minutes north by 153 degrees 52 minutes west. By comparison GR is at 42 degrees 53 minutes north by 85 degrees 47 minutes west and 2888 miles away. Sunset here is 12:12 am and sunrise at 4:03 am. The length of each day changes by about 4 minutes.
The farthest north and west we got was near Circle Lake at 67 degrees 29 minutes north by 153 degrees 53 minutes west and nearly 3000 miles away. That was inside the Arctic Circle.
And so, the narrative continues.
Tuesday morning about 11:10 Buster of Brooks Range Aviation picked Doug and me up at Lake Takahula and flew us back to Bettles where we showered (did that ever feel good!), restowed our gear, paid for a few small items and sat down to wait for Frontier Flying to show up, an occurrence far to frequent on this trip. We were supposed to fly out at 2:30 but did not leave till around 4:00. We were about an hour late into Fairbanks, where we met Phil and went to Pizza Hut for dinner. We shopped for a few items after dinner and then drove down to our campsite in Healy. After sorting gear (what went into Denali and what stayed in the car) we went to bed.
We got up early, showered (wow, two days in a row!) and drove to Denali National Park Visitor Center. I bought a book on wildflowers and a poster. All three of us watched a couple of shows, one slide and one video, on park orientation and safety.
We then drove to where we picked up the bus for Wonder Lake. While there it started raining (about 10:30) and didn’t stop till around 2:00, I think. I don’t remember exactly when.
The drive along the Denali highway is spectacular even though we saw nothing above about 5000 feet due to low hanging clouds. I hope we get a chance to see the highway when the Alaska Range is clear. We saw mountains, of course, glaciers, wildlife and wildflowers. The wildlife we saw was caribou, moose, dall sheep, beaver, an eagle and a grizzly bear. The caribou and dall sheep were a long way off but the rest were easily within camera range. Hopefully the pictures will turn out.
We have not yet seen Denali, “the high one”, from the ground but the weather is breaking, so maybe tomorrow.
7:30 pm
We are now in our Wonder Lake campsite where I am writing this lying in my tent. Doug and Phil are at a ranger show on shit and feet (actually tracking). It is nearly time to go to sleep, as we were up at 5:30 this morning and will probably get up early tomorrow, too.
So ends another day in the land of superlatives.
9:50 pm. The high peaks of the Alaska Range are emerging from their misty shrouds. I’ll have to peek out a time or two to see if they clear anymore.
Its 8:15 and time to get up.
I’m not sure what we’ll be doing today. Mt. McKinley is partially visible but not all the way to the top.
It’s now 4:45 pm and nearing dinnertime. It’s been a beautiful day, about 70 degrees or so and mostly sunny. Mt. McKinley has been at least partially in the clouds all day long but we have seen almost the whole mountain, just not all at once.
The rest of the range, however, has for the most part cleared up. What an unbelievable sight! I’ve been in lots of different mountain ranges and nothing else even comes close. And Mt. McKinley is enormous! When I’m looking at the mountain and it’s in clouds I’m never looking high enough in the sky when the peak emerges.
We walked down to the McKinley River today, had lunch and walked back. The rivers here in the park are all glacial runoff and are very dirty. Many of them are braided and flow through wide gravel beds.
To clean up we went for a swim in Wonder Lake. The water was not too cold but the bottom was covered with algae that got stirred up from being walked on.
The views at Wonder Lake are spectacular (how many times have I used that word?), there is running water and the bathrooms have flush toilets.
11:35 pm
It’s still light enough to write, however, there is not much to write about except…
About 9:00 Denali cleared up almost entirely and I spent almost 2 ½ hours tearing around the area shooting a roll and a half of film of the mountain. It really defies description. The whole mountain went from pure white to a warm golden color and then to a rosy pink, called alpenglow, as the sun set. I have never seen anything so spectacular in the mountains in all my life. You really do have to be here to see just how large, imposing and beautiful a piece of rock that mountain is.
What a great privilege we have to be able to see the hand of God in these great works that he does. His revelation of himself in creation, although not as important as the Bible, is truly magnificent.
But, it’s an early start coming up tomorrow and I may be up a time or two during the night to take more pictures so I'd better sign off for now.
I started writing in the car but found it rather difficult plus writing makes me miss all the scenery.
I'm lying on the floor of a ski apartment with classical music playing and Doug making nachos in the kitchen. We decided that we would rent a room because none of the campgrounds around here have showers. (We're in Girdwood about half hour south of Anchorage.) As we have church tomorrow, we wanted to step up our appearance just a tad. The people running the place messed up twice so we got the apartment for about $75. Anyway not much of anything happened today. We ran some errands to restock for next week and to get some food for tonight and tomorrow.
We did drive a ways down the Kenai Peninsula on the Seward Highway along Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm. The scenery was quite nice although we had a low sky again.
Yesterday was a bit busier. We left Wonder Lake about 8:30 and got out to the Visitor Center about 2:30. We made several stops along the way. At one of the stops was a caribou very close to the building. I think I got several good pictures of him with Denali in the background. I also got some good pictures of Denali reflected in Wonder Lake early in the ride.
We drove down to Anchorage, stopping only in Talkeetna to go for our flight seeing trip around Denali. That was extraordinary! We get to see Denali from 12,000 ft. and about a quarter mile away plus all the other peaks in the region. Really all we saw was snow, ice and rock but in such spectacular fashion. Looking at the peaks from above and alongside was awesome. (Somebody had stamped "Need beer and chicks" in the snow.)
We're thinking about taking a boat ride on Monday on Prince William Sound to see the whales and other wildlife and also to see the glaciers.
Possibly Tuesday and Wednesday we will go for our overnight kayaking trip. After that I don't know. I'm sure we can find something worthwhile to do. Doug mentioned something about climbing one of the smaller mountains around here but we shall have to see.
Oh, we did see several dall sheep this evening and I took pictures again. Well, dinner is served so I shall sign off for now.
It's now Sunday evening about 10:30 and I'm lying in the tent getting ready for bed.
Today, as expected, was rather uneventful. We got up around 9:00 this morning, showered and ate breakfast and then went to Faith OPC in Anchorage. We heard a very good sermon on the bronze serpent. After church we drove to Bird Creek Campground in Chugach State Park. We set up camp and I took a nap while Doug and Phil took a walk down to Bird Creek.
We went to church again at Faith OPC and heard another good sermon on the role of husbands.
After church we were invited to the home of Bill and Bernadette March for coffee. Bill had a bunch of information about hiking in the area for us. We had a very nice time talking with them and the pastor's family, who were also there. Bernadette is a professional dessert maker so you can imagine how the desserts tasted. Apple and cherry pies, angel food and pound cakes, peanut butter cookies and real whipped cream to top it all off. Like a klutz I managed to kick my lemonade over.
On the drive back to the campground we saw bald eagles and dall sheep.
Since there is very little to tell, I thought I'd write some statistics about Alaska down.
586,000 + square miles
600,000 population
most glaciated area in the world
more coastline than the lower 48 states
about one-fifth of total lower 48 states in land mass (maybe one-fifth of total land mass of U.S.)
if laid on United States Aleutian Islands would be in California and the panhandle would be in Florida
more pilots per capita than any other state
Lake Hood is the busiest seaplane base in the United States (maybe world)
So far the trip has gone very well. It's amazing to see God's creation with virtually no human impact. Everything is so big up here you can't quite take it all in. God's revelation of Himself in creation in Alaska is one of great majesty and power. It's difficult sometimes to remember to look down around your feet because the mountains so dominate the scenery, especially around Anchorage and Denali National Park.
Alaska also has a wide variety of climates and terrain. The highest point in Alaska (a Mt. McKinley) is 20,320 ft., almost 4 mi. higher than at the sea coast.
There is tundra, ice, rain forest (largest in U.S.), mountains, seashore, sand dunes and plains.
This time of year, too, the whole state is vibrant with all types of wildlife. Many types of birds nest in the cliffs along the southern coast, plus other migratory animals like whales, sea lions, etc.Plus, in the long hours of daylight wildflowers grow in a great profusion of colors and variety.
All in all, it has been an amazing experience, one that cannot be captured on film. But the pictures along with this journal, will serve as a reminder of this great land. And so another day.
It's now Monday evening between 10:00 and 11:00. I lose track of time very easily here.
We are camped in Ptarmigan Creek Campground, part of the Chugach National Forest and about 20 miles north of Seward. We've had dinner and are preparing for bed and it's time to write about the day's events.
We drove down from Bird Creek to Seward, which is kind of a dump, and arrived just in time to catch the 11:30 6-hour cruise out on to Resurrection and Aialik Bays. We took Kenai Fjords Tours. The drive down from Anchorage to Seward is quite spectacular. There are many snow-covered mountains, some over 5,000 ft., and several glaciers, rivers and lakes along the way.
The boat tour was designed to show passengers both wildlife and glaciers and we did see both. Just a few minutes out we saw two otters playing together in the bay. After a bit lunch, which consisted of halibut, chicken, apples, cookies, chips and pop, was served.
During lunch I spotted a bald eagle perched on a tree protruding from the hillside. The captain said he was looking for fish, which he can see as much as a half mile away.
The farthest point of the cruise was Aialik Glacier at the north end of Aialik Bay. We plowed through a lot of broken up ice to get closer to the glacier, some very large chunks, most pretty small.
We sat and watched the glacier for about half an hour and saw several small calvings. Hearing the glacier crack and roar like thunder was quite an experience.
Aialik Glacier is about 700 ft. high at its highest point and 1 1/4 miles wide along the base. It advances about 3 ft. per day. We also saw several other glaciers.
In the vicinity of the glacier, lying on the ice chunks we saw several harbor seals. They did very little other than just lie there.
On the return trip we saw our first whale, a small one (20 tons or so) blowing and surfacing. He never really gave us a good view but it was better than the pair of whales we saw later.
Rounding the point to go back north into Seward, we saw whole bunch of stellar sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks and making quite a lot of noise.
The last encounter with wildlife was with a pod of Dall's porpoises, which the captain spotted and drove over to see if he could get them to follow the boat. For about 15 minutes they dove under the bow back and forth surfacing very often and then diving again. We also saw many birds up by Chiswell Islands, such as cormorants, kittiwakes (a type of seagull), murres and puffins, which are both diving birds (murres go as deep as 300 ft.) and parakeet auklets.
After arriving back in Seward we found our campground and ended another day.
It's now Tuesday night about 8:45 and time to write again.
Today was uneventful for the most part. We started out by hiking the trail to Ptarmigan Lake although only Doug and Phil finished. It rained overnight and I, like a dummy, did not bring my wet gear. I turned around with about a mile or so to go, went back to the car, washed my head in a very cold stream, and napped until Doug and Phil returned.
After cleaning up a bit we drove to Kenai Fjords National Park and set up camp. Then we took a ranger-guided tour of the Exit Glacier area. The ranger showed us all the different moraines left by advances of the glacier. We could get quite close, and in one spot even touched it. All glaciers have a bluish tint because the ice is so dense only blue light can escape.
After our little tour we ate supper and then drove into Seward so Doug could mail postcards and Phil could call his sister. We did see a bald eagle fly right over the car about 25 to 30 ft. up. I did get a very good look but no pictures. On the way back we saw a porcupine.
I can't think of anything more to write so all sign off.
(Wednesday) Again, nothing much happened today except the climb up to Harding Ice Field. I decided to go after all about 3:15. I made it almost all the way to the top but had to turn around because of bad weather moving in. Doug and Phil did make all the way so I’ll have to rely on them for pictures.
Harding Ice Field is 300 square miles of snow and ice piled up to 3,000 ft. deep. It has over 100 active glaciers coming off it. Doug and Phil almost got eaten by a black bear that was about 15 ft. away. I saw what were probably the same bears a little while later.
The trail provided some spectacular views of the mountains around Seward and Resurrection Bay.
After the hike we all got showers and went out for dinner at Ray's. We all had halibut with a macadamia nut crust that was very tasty. By the time we got back to the campground it was nearly 10:00 so we are all in the tents getting ready for bed. I'm full of halibut and getting drowsy. I think I will read more of The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury.
It's now Thursday evening and time to write again although there is very little to tell.
We get a late start this morning and just drove around a bit. We did visit Portage Lake and Glacier but the weather was (and is. . . it’s raining now) lousy so we just walked around the Visitor Center for a bit and then proceeded on our way.
We're once again camped at Bird Creek Campground where we were last Sunday. We managed to get dinner in before the rain started, but didn't have time to get the dishes washed.