Valdez, Alaska

On 8/8/8 we arrived in Valdez, our last planned stop in Alaska. Valdez is a very small town (population 4020) located near the head of a deep fjord in the northeast section of the Prince William Sound. It is surrounded by the Chugach Mountains, which are heavily glaciated. (I was able to see glaciers in the mountains that surround the area just by gazing out of our windows.) The natural setting for Valdez is one of the most beautiful on Earth, and it has been called the Switzerland of Alaska. A beautiful walking/biking trail winds through town and the outskirts, and we were lucky enough to get in one long bike ride and one run during our short stay (between rain showers). Oil from the Trans-Alaska pipeline is loaded onto ships at the Valdez oil terminal, here where the pipeline terminates.

Although we could have spent twice as long in Alaska and still not seen it all, we are satisfied with our experience over the last three months. And other things are beginning to tug at us. Hitch itch, a new grandchild to be born soon, another volunteer hosting position. So, “time to move on, time to get going, under our feet, grass is growing”. Later this morning we will rig everything for travel, climb into the truck, throw in our “Travelin’ Tunes” CD, and be on the road again. Our trip back to the lower 48 will take is into Seattle in about nine days. After a brief visit with family in the area, we head back to Sacramento for about six months. This was a great adventure, and although I am ready to move on, I will never forget this most wondrous and unique part of our county.

Seward, Alaska - Kenai Peninsula

Since leaving Anchorage, our time has been spent along the wild and scenic Kenai Peninsula. First we spent a week in Homer, and then we headed over to Seward, for another week-long visit. The Kenai Peninsula’s diverse natural landscape represents Alaska in miniature. The ecosystems on the Peninsula include world-renowned salmon streams, vast wetlands and salt marshes, coastal rainforests, alpine tundra, and productive estuaries, bays and coves. The peninsula extends approximately 150 miles southwest from the Chugach Mountains, south of Anchorage. It is separated from the mainland on the west by the Cook Inlet and on the east by the Prince William Sound. That is just the text-book geographical explanation, but there really aren’t words to describe the stunning landscape this time of year. Towering mountains, still capped with snow; fields of fireweed in full bloom; glaciers you can hike right up to and touch; blue skies dotted with puffy clouds floating above hanging shrouds of mist; glacial creeks running fast, furious, and endlessly. Kenai Peninsula is made for picture postcards, and even the most novice photographer would find in hard to take a bad picture here.

When we arrived in Seward, it was (surprise, surprise) raining – or, heavily misting, not sure which. For the next several days the weather remained overcast, cold, misty, and raining. But finally after four days, the skies cleared and we were treated to beautiful blue sky, puffy white clouds, cool breezes and 60-degree plus days. Down right warm for a change! Exit Glacier (so named because it is the easiest exit off the Harding Ice Field which spawns over 40 glaciers in all) is a destination for anyone visiting the area. An easy one-mile hike takes you to the edge of the glacier, or in another direction to the “toe” or base of the ice where you can touch it if you want. This is a very popular destination for tourists, and for the hardier, there is a 7.8 mile round-trip hike (with a 3000 foot elevation gain) to the base of the Harding Ice Field at the top of the glacier. This forested area is heavily populated by bears, and one sign warns how to handle an attack from a brown bear as follows: “Play dead unless it starts to eat you, then fight back”. Well, that’s pretty straight forward… However, you are also reassured that most charges end without injury. Well, I feel better now!

Hopefully the pictures I’ve included can give you a small glimpse into the Kenai Peninsula.

Next stop: Valdez, Alaska

Homer, Alaska

People often assume that because we live and travel full time in our 5th wheel, we are on a perpetual vacation. We hear things such as “Wow, it must be nice to be on vacation all the time!”, or “How great to leave all your responsibilities behind!” This is a natural response to hearing about our life style. After all, when most people hit the road in an RV, they are on vacation for a few days, a couple of weeks, or maybe even a couple of months. And when you are on vacation, you do suspend your responsibilities for a while. But when you live full time on the road, your responsibilities travel right along with you. You still have to pay the bills, do the laundry, grocery shop, clean the house, and maintain your RV and automobile. In fact, some of these things become even more difficult while you are on the road – which brings us to Homer, and how we limped in to our RV Park with something going terribly wrong with our truck. By the time we got here, there were clouds of black to gray smoke billowing out of our exhaust pipe and an ominous ticking sound coming from under the hood. Turns out, the nearest Ford dealer was 85 miles back the way we came. Well, thank goodness for road service – we had the truck towed to the Ford dealer in Soldotna the next day, where it still remains. The good news is, the truck can be fixed and apparently there will be no permanent damage.

But what can I say? Homer is not a bad place to be stuck for a few days. Once it stopped raining, I would even elevate its status to quite spectacular! And, the good news is, we are able to access most everything by foot or on our bicycles. Homer is quaint and artsy, nestled among rolling hills on the shore of Kachemak Bay, and offers breathtaking views of glaciers and the Kenai Mountains. This seaside community has 5400 residents and another 8000 beyond the city limits. A unique attraction is the Homer Spit, a long, narrow finger of land (actual a gravel bar) jutting 4.5 miles into Kachemak Bay. The Spit is home to Homer Harbor, restaurants, artisans, and gift shops (very touristy). Much of the coastline as well as the Homer Spit sank dramatically during the Good Friday Earthquake in March of 1964. One of Homer's nicknames is "the cosmic hamlet by the sea"; another is "the end of the road". This isn’t the end of the road for us, however – next stop, Seward, Alaska!

Glaciers

High on the list of things to do in Alaska is glacier viewing, and there are many opportunities to do so within close range of Anchorage. We took two glacier cruises during our stay.

Our first excursion was a one-hour boat cruise to the Portage Glacier, located on the Kenai Peninsula in the Chugach National Forest. The 50 mile drive from Anchorage to the town of Portage on the Seward Highway was spectacular, one of the most scenic highways I’ve ever traveled on. We took our time getting there, stopping often to take in the view, or drive through small towns located off the highway. We boarded the boat on Portage Lake, and during our 60-minute ride, we were taken to within 300 feet of the glacier amidst iceberg-dotted waters. It was remarkable listening to the unmistakable rumbling of a calving glacier as huge blocks of ice crashed into the lake.

Our second excursion was more involved; first we took a 2.5 hour train ride to Whittier (a slow ride to enjoy the scenery covering only 60 miles – again, along the Seward Highway). From Whittier we boarded a small boat that took us out for five hours in Blackstone Bay (a fjord that is part of Prince William Sound) where we viewed many glaciers of different sizes and shapes. The most stunning was the Blackstone Glacier, and we spent a significant amount of time bobbing around the ice-chunk filled water surrounding this glacier. The deep aqua color of the ice, the waterfalls tumbling off the glaciers, the sea otters playing nearby, all helped to create memorable experience.

Again, pictures can never quite capture everything, but I’ve attached a few shots that come as close as possible!

Lake Eklutna & Flat Top Hikes

Dan and I both really enjoy hiking, and one of the first things we do when we get to a new location is scope out the nearby hiking opportunities. Anchorage and the surrounding area offer plenty of hikes, and we’ve taken advantage of two outstanding trails since we arrived here: Twin Peaks at Lake Eklutna and Flat Top at Glen Alps. Both of these hikes are in the half million acre Chugach State Park, the third largest state park in America. These were both hefty hikes, meaning that there was fairly serious elevation gain over fairly short distances. The twin peaks trail gained 1800 feet in elevation over 2.5 miles, and the Flat Top Hike gained 1350 feet over 1.5 miles. But the work was well worth it, as the views both on the trails, and from the tops of the peaks were unrivaled. Words like breathtaking, gorgeous, magnificent, and stunning come to mind. I have never seen as many wildflowers as I did on the Twin Peak hikes - and what made that even more fun, was being able to identify them using an illustrated pamphlet of local wildflowers. Both days we hiked were threatening rain, and it seemed we were hiking in the clouds and the mists, but I think this only added to the ambience; it seemed both mystical and ancient, like something out of Lord of the Rings or The Land that Time Forgot. Of course pictures can’t begin to capture the essence of these places, but I’ve attached some snapshots just the same!

Anchorage, Alaska

After our brief visit to Denali, we continued on to Anchorage, our next scheduled destination in Alaska. We arrived on June 27 for a one month stay, enough time to explore this part of the state. We both suffered minor culture shock at first after our bucolic stay at the Creamer’s Refuge. While at Creamer’s, we were parked in our own private RV space, with our windows looking out to a beautiful green field with a boreal forest beyond that. The evenings and nights were very quiet, good for sleeping! Welcome back to RV’ing in the summer along with all the other travelers! Our RV park in Anchorage is crowded (I don’t think they could get us any closer together); noisy (right next to the railroad – the trains going by literally rattle our 5th wheel); and the scenery is, well, other RV’s! But enough complaining, not every place we park is going to be the stuff of calendars and postcards. That’s one of the great advantages of this kind of living – if you don’t like where you’re parked, you probably won’t be there very long, and if it’s really bad, you can leave whenever you want. On the plus side, we are within walking distance to a great running/biking trail, downtown, the museum, and many other attractions. A big plus with the cost of fuel now-a-days!

Anchorage itself is much like any medium sized city, with all the expected amenities that come with a population base of around 300,000. It is the state’s largest city (about the size of Delaware), with 42% of the population residing here. Each summer, Anchorage comes alive with big, bright flowers that paint the landscape in bold hues. The city plants 461 flowerbeds and hanging baskets at 81 sights, and it is nothing short of spectacular to see! It is a very bicycle friendly town, with miles and miles of trails, both scenic and commuter. Anchorage is a good staging area for many nearby destinations and activities – outstanding hikes, visits to glaciers, wildlife viewing, kayaking, and camping, to name some. We have been doing our best to enjoy as much of the area as possible, which I will describe in the next couple of posts.

Here I have included pictures that capture some of the local flavor of Anchorage.

Denali National Park & Preserve

Denali National Park and Preserve is accessible along the Parks between Fairbanks and Anchorage. We decided to spend a few days at Denali before our month long stay in Anchorage. We left Fairbanks the morning of June 25, and arrived at Denali about 3 hours later, on a beautiful clear day. A little on the cool side, but nothing that a light jacket or sweater couldn’t handle. We got settled in at the Riley Creek campground, and decided to take off on foot exploring our immediate surroundings. That turned into a four mile hike, with a stop at one of the park’s Visitor Centers along the way. Some fun facts we learned about the park and surrounding areas:

** Mt. McKinley is the highest mountain in North America at 20,320 feet.
** Mt. McKinley was originally named Denali (“The High One”) by the native Athabascan Indians, but was changed to Mt. McKinley in the early 1900’s. There is an effort under way to have the official name changed back to Denali. (Most Alaskans refer to the mountain as “Denali”.)
** Denali National Park covers 6 million acres, but there is only one 100-mile road running through it.
**The road through Denali is only accessible by foot, bicycle, special permit, or tour bus.

We decided we would take a tour bus into the heart of the park so we could see as much as possible during our stay. We booked a tour on the Eielson Visitor Center bus, which takes you 60 miles down the 100 mile road. The round trip takes 8 hours as the bus travels very slow, makes numerous stops, and there is a lunch break at the visitor center. As many signs around the park attested to, “the animals in Denali can do whatever they want”. Because they are so protected by the structure of the park, we were able to observe a moose cow and her calf (right in the middle of the road); several grizzly bear sightings, including one mother with two cubs; many caribou (reindeer); a fox. Some of these sightings were really only observable through binoculars, but still an awesome experience. Again, it was another clear and beautiful day, and we were able to see Denali clearly all along the way. The views from the visitor center were nothing short of spectacular, and we were told this was a very lucky occurrence, days like this only happening about 20%-30% of the time. (Do you think they say that to all the tourists?) Either way, we were thrilled to see the mountain, and took many pictures, some of which are attached here.

Everywhere we go, Dan and I keep saying, “Wow, this is a once in a lifetime experience!” But it seems the most true since we’ve been in Alaska, as we likely will never pass this way again. Sometimes it’s only in retrospect that you are able to really appreciate how fortunate you are to experience something, but the spectacular beauty, remoteness, and rugged wild landscape of Alaska makes it hard to miss!

Next Stop: Anchorage, Alaska

Fairwell to Fairbanks

We are just about to the end of our visit in Fairbanks, Alaska. It’s amazing how quickly these six weeks flew by! Our time at Creamer’s Field as volunteer Refuge Hosts was a very positive experience; we got to know so much more about the people, the area, and the wildlife than we would have otherwise. Being here for six weeks gave us enough time to explore the area on our non-working days, and we were able to do almost everything on our list.

We were lucky enough to be here before the Fairbanks “green-up” which is when everything turns from winter brown to lush green. When we arrived in mid-May, all the hills were brown, and there were no leaves on the trees. In a matter of two weeks, everything was green, and you would never have known it was the same place. I feel fortunate to have witnessed that transformation.

We were also lucky to be here for Solstice, which is a very big event in Fairbanks. There were weekend long festivities, culminating in a Midnight Sun Run (10K) at 10:00 p.m. June 21st. It was a fun run, with lots of people in costume, street parties along the route, and the sun up and shining the entire time! I thought I would have a hard time running this time of day, usually I am going to sleep about that time, but to my amazement, I ran it a couple minutes faster than my previous best!

Wednesday June 25 is departure day. As always, we leave here with mixed feelings – ready to move on to our next adventure, but sad to leave behind new friends and somewhere we called home, no matter how briefly. But so it goes when you live life on the road.

Next stop: Denali National Park!

North Pole, Alaska

Fifteen miles from Fairbanks is the town of North Pole (population ~ 1700), “Where the Spirit of Christmas Lives Year Round”. (Despite the name, the city is about 1700 miles south of the Earth’s geographic North Pole.) The town has really capitalized on the Holiday theme, with streets named Claus Lane, St. Nicholas Drive, Snowman Lane, and Kris Kringle Drive. Street lights in the city are decorated in a candy cane motif, and many local businesses have similar decorations. The city's fire trucks and ambulances are all red, while the police cars are all green. Prior to Christmas each year, the USPS post office in North Pole receives hundreds of thousands of letters to Santa Claus, and thousands more from people wanting the town's postmark on their holiday greeting cards to their families. It advertises the zip code 99705 as the ZIP code of Santa.

No visit to North Pole would be complete without a stop at the world famous Santa Claus House. Santa and Mrs. Claus are year round residents here, and one can visit with them every day. In addition to the usual tourist oriented merchandise you would expect to see in a place like this, there is a section of the house where many of the thousands of letters sent to Santa are posted on the walls. To me, seeing these letters was the most worthwhile part of the visit. Reading what children from all over the world wrote to Santa was very poignant. Volunteers from the local senior center as well as the junior high and high schools attempt to answer as many letters as possible each year, but of course, an impossible task to respond to all of them. I’ve included a picture of the “wall of letters” – if you can enlarge it enough, you will be able to read some of the letters, too.

Arctic Circle (Coldfoot)

Having come this far north, we decided we could not leave the area without crossing the line into the Arctic Circle, which is 200 miles North of Fairbanks. Since that would be a bit long for a one-day round-trip drive, we decided we would find the town nearest the Arctic Circle and stay overnight. That town turned out to be Coldfoot (population 13), which is 60 miles further north. Another 238 miles further north is Deadhorse, Alaska, where the Dalton Highway ends at the Arctic Ocean, but we didn’t want to go quite that far!

We didn’t leave in much of hurry to get there, figuring 260 miles would be about 5 hours, and there wouldn’t be much to do once we got to Coldfoot anyway, as it is basically a way station for travelers going further north. What we didn’t count on was the condition of the roads. The Dalton Highway which takes you to Coldfoot and beyond is mostly unpaved. That can mean anything from hardpan dirt road, to muddy road (if it’s been raining), to gravel road with lots of ruts. Even the paved portions were nothing to brag about, so let’s just say, it was slow going. Adding to that, we made several stops along the way, so even though we left at 10:00, we didn’t arrive until after 5:00.

Our first stop was the Alyeska Pipe Line visitor center where we learned how the pipeline came about, how it was constructed, and how long it is (800 miles). We saw the pipeline alongside the highway for most of our journey to Coldfoot. The lodge where we stayed in Coldfoot was actually converted housing for pipe line workers back in the 1970’s. It is still sort of set up bunk style with single beds in the rooms, and many without private bathrooms or showers. We were fortunate enough to get a room with both, although the day we went wasn’t that busy. There is only one place to eat in Coldfoot, which is part of the lodge. It is buffet style until 9:00 to accommodate all the tour buses that come through, so we ate buffet, and it was actually pretty good! After dinner we toured the visitor center, and that was about it for our stay. But, hey, when in our lives again will we be able to set foot inside the Arctic Circle? It’s too bad we won’t be there on June 21 when the sun is up for 24 hours, without any dusk. (In Fairbanks there will be just over 2 hours of dusk on that day, and we will be celebrating at The Midnight Sun festival downtown – including a 10K for me that starts at 10:00 p.m.!)

Chena Hot Springs

Chena Hot Springs Resort is about 60 miles from Fairbanks, and one of the “local” attractions recommended for visitors. It was cold the day we decided to visit, which made the prospects of emerging myself into a steaming hot bath of natural spring water that much more inviting. The drive was absolutely beautiful, with the highway winding through the Chena River Recreation Area, and we saw trumpet swans and a moose along the way. Once we arrived, we discovered that the resort was very rustic, as many places in Alaska seem to be. A natural hot spring has been channeled into an outdoor pool with a sand bottom and big rocks all around the sides. The water was about 106 degrees, and smelled strongly of sulfur. But since it was only 40 degrees at the Hot Springs that day, it felt very good! The busiest time at the resort is in the winter when the Northern Lights are easily seen. They get a lot of Japanese tourists who fly in just to view the Northern Lights in the Hot Springs setting. We won’t see the Northern Lights over the summer since it never gets dark enough, but we enjoyed the water just the same.

Creamer's Refuge

Dan and I have been in Fairbanks, on the Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, just over three weeks now. When we decided to come to Alaska for Summer 2008, our goal was to try to find a temporary volunteer position somewhere. We knew it would be very expensive to get here, and to stay here (even before fuel prices were this crazy!), and we thought we could help offset these costs by working or volunteering somewhere. Dan did some exploration and found a position for Refuge Host at Creamer’s. We applied and were hired for a six-week position, and that is how we ended up here. Our duties consists of working Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, 10:00-5:00, overseeing the Visitor’s Center and light maintenance on the grounds. In exchange for that, we get a place to park our 5th wheel, electricity and water.

Below is some information from the Creamer’s website (www.creamersfield.org) explaining how a Dairy owned by a family named Creamer became a Wildlife Refuge. I’ve also attached some pictures of the grounds.

“During the gold rush at the turn of the century, Belle and Charles Hinckley brought three cows and some horses from Nome, Alaska, by steamboat and sternwheeler to the small outpost of Fairbanks to operate a dairy. They paid for their passage by selling milk to other passengers. On the last leg of the journey, they met and became friends with the Creamer's, another pioneer family on their way to Fairbanks. In 1928 the Creamers purchased the dairy from the Hinckley's and continued to develop, enlarge, and operate it until 1966. It was the largest and most successful dairy in Interior Alaska. As the dairy grew over the years, migratory waterfowl congregated at Creamer's Field in increasing numbers. The grain and large open fields provided prime habitat. When the dairy went up for sale in 1966, local residents met to plan a way to purchase the property. Along with money raised by the community, the State legislature provided funds (25%) to match with the federal government's Pittman-Robertson funds (75%) to purchase the 250 acre farm. Management was given to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). In 1970 an adjacent 1500 acres of state land was added and the entire parcel designated "Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge" in 1979.

At Creamer's Refuge, a wide variety of different habitats provide homes for a diversity of animals. But the refuge plays a special role in the lives of migratory birds. Even though some birds such as Canada geese, pintails and golden plovers stay for only a short time, they depend on Creamer's Refuge to feed and rest each spring and fall. Other birds such as Sandhill cranes, Shovelers, and mallards may remain the whole summer. Visitors enjoy excellent bird watching spring through fall. Creamer's Refuge also appeals to other types of wildlife as well. Visitors frequently spot moose meandering through the forest, snowshoe hares nibbling on willows, chattering squirrels or a red fox pouncing on voles at field's edge.”