North to Alaska

		Alaska Interior VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Our most recent adventure took us to the “Interior” of Alaska, specifically Fairbanks and Denali National Park and Preserve. We have previously visited the Inland Passage, Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula with whale watching and ocean wildlife. This trip to the Interior (the largest region of Alaska, characterized by discontinuous permafrost and tundra) was to see the “Big 5”- Moose, Caribou, Grizzly Bears, Dall Sheep, and Wolves; and of course to actually see Mt. McKinley instead of the ever-present cloud cover. We also wanted to get farther north toward the Arctic Circle than we previously have been. How to fit Alaska into small photo rectangles? It is immense, massive, overwhelming, wild, indescribable, vast, and filled with wonder, so impossible to capture in a small box.

Alaska has always been one of our favorites with its Last Frontier motto and wide open spaces filled with wilderness and rural living. As most of you know, Alaska was purchased from Russia during the Abraham Lincoln days and remained a territory until the late 1950s. When it became a state, USA added 20% to its size and Texas had to step down as the largest state (Alaska is 2½ x larger than Texas.)

The Alaskan flag has the Big Dipper on it (“Ursa Major” or “Great Bear”) a symbol for Alaska, and a symbol of the far Northern location. In 1884 the Alaska territory was composed of settlements without an organized political structure. The Federal Government established one with a temporary capital in Sitka, a governor appointed by the president, and the laws of Oregon in 1884 would apply.

Some interesting facts about Alaska: it has half of the world’s active volcanoes; 19 mountains over 14,000 feet tall including the tallest in North America (Mount McKinley 20,320 feet); and over half of the world’s glaciers. It also has more than 4000 earthquakes per year, more than the other 49 states combined. We experienced one in Anchorage that rocked our breakfast table. The Alaskan coastline is longer than the entire coastline of the contiguous US, the lower 48 states.

Fairbanks is located near the N65th parallel and is called the “Land of the Midnight Sun.” It is also one of the best spots to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) during the winter months. We had 20 hours between sunrise and sunset, but were surprised it was dawn and dusk in the time in-between so it never got dark (at this time of year.) Flowers and vegetables grow to uncanny size with the amount of daylight. Fairbanks had that small town feeling and reminded us of the 50s and 60s decades. People are fairly independent and self-sufficient and claim to have a hardware store that sells a record amount of duct tape. Moose abound like deer in other states. Fairbanks began with the Gold Rush frenzy starting in 1902. Fairbanks was more recently the construction headquarters for the 800 mile Alyeska pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez (Gulf of Alaska). We took the train from Fairbanks to Denali, and later Denali to Anchorage. Sitting in the Gold Star seating, we enjoyed the stunning scenery dome viewing for 470 miles.

Denali National Park was originally named Mt. McKinley National Park, but was changed as acreage was added and the National Park became larger than the state of Massachusetts. Denali means “The Great One” in the indigenous language. The mountain name was never changed from Mt. McKinley, but locals do call it Denali as well as the Park. July has only four days on average that allow partial viewing of the top of the mountain, and with an inordinate amount of rain this year, there had been zero days. Only 30% of the visitors to Alaska get to see the top of Mt McKinley and we definitely wanted to be in that percentage. On July 30^th we awoke to the sunniest day in a month with clear pristine views. We took the free bus to Savage River, saw Mount McKinley, and hiked for hours up and up on the alpine trail as the clear day lingered. What a gift- we did it!

Only 7% of Park visitors go all the way to Kantishna at the end of the gravel road into the park (92 miles), a 6 hour ride. We not only did that, seeing an abundance of wildlife on the ride in, but also stayed in the Backcountry Lodge at the end of the road. We got a second chance to see a partial view of the mountain from Wonder Lake, reliving the famous John Muir photograph. Wildflowers abound, even if July. Denali National Park is all about its famous wildlife residents. Denali is home to 2,000 moose, 2,000 caribou, 51 wolves, 350 grizzly bears, and 2,500 Dall sheep – for whose protection the park was started. We saw all of them multiple times, except the wolves. We were surprised how few wolves there are (only 51!) for such a vast territory. On this trip we also saw sandhill cranes, golden and bald eagles, snowy owls, ground squirrels, marmots, willow ptarmigans (the State bird), and too many mosquitoes for this late in the summer. In the backcountry, we noticed that the young employees there were very laid-back. We attributed it to their isolation (cannot commute with 6 hour travel time) and no internet, mobile phones, radio or television. Their stimulus and entertainment was being in the wilderness and exploring it.

After our 6 hour bus ride out of the park, we caught the train to Anchorage. In Anchorage, we enjoyed seafood, exploring downtown, and seeing one of Ron’s high school friends who has lived in Alaska for over 35 years! We enjoyed the visit with him and he loaded us down with canned salmon (that he caught and canned) and canned moose meat (that he hunted and canned). Can’t be more Alaskan than that.

We reluctantly said good-bye to Alaska again, with the promise to return. Maybe to Fairbanks to see the northern lights? Who knows what and when our next adventure will be in this continuing gypsy lifestyle. Stay tuned!