Last year my son and I went on a two-week trip to Alaska with his youth group. We had an awesome time, and when we got a couple of discount vouchers from the airline because of a gate availability debacle (just another day at O’Hare), we decided that we needed to make use of them. We got together with his youth pastor who grew up in AK and has contacts there, and another guy who went with us last year, and figured out a way to get back up there and spend a week on the cheap.



My wife drove us up to Chiago and dropped us off at O’Hare for our 9:00pm flight to Seattle. Weather was bad, so we were 2 hours late getting off the ground, but we had a scheduled 5 hour layover in Seattle, so it was no big deal. I’d never been to Seattle before, so that was a new experience. We flew in over the Boeing plant, and I saw a Concorde parked down there under the awning at the museum of flight, which brought back some great memories of the late 90s flying through Paris and seeing them lined up on the ramp there. The airport was kinda goofy, and not super easy to get around in the middle of the night with everything closed, but after playing musical gates at the last minute with our flight, we got off on time for Anchorage.

Flying into Anchorage is pretty awesome in itself. The mountains on approach are just breathtaking, and coming in over the water is very picturesque. I’m kind of an airplane nerd, and the heavy cargo traffic and wide variety of asian carriers makes for some really interesting planespotting that we don’t get in the midwest. I hardly ever see 747s anymore, but they’re a dime a dozen up there.



After landing in Anchorage, we got a ride to Kenai, where we picked up the car. We grabbed some lunch and then went and hiked Skyline trail. Now mind you, we were working off of about 2-4 hours of crappy sleep on the plane and the floor in Seattle. It’s not a long hike…maybe 2-2.5 miles, but there’s about 2000 feet of elevation gain, and the last half mile or so is pretty much straight up, with lots of loose shale and snow fields we had to work through or around. But the view at the top was absolutely spectacular, with the mountains to the east, Skilak Lake to the south, and Anchorage to the north.




The hike took a bit longer than anticipated, and we got back to the house about 10:00pm. My son and I had to get up at 1:45am and drive back to Anchorage to pick up our 4th guy, who was a day behind due to being in a wedding. That was another short night of sleep. After getting him from the airport, we decided to drive through the tunnel to Whittier on the way back to Kenai. It was pretty early so nothing was open, and the trails we had thought about hiking were still under several feet of snow, but we walked around the town and watched a cruise ship disgorge thousands of passengers onto trains and buses for shore excursions.







After spending the morning in Whittier, we went back to Kenai, took naps, and hit up the Walmart to stock up for the next leg of the trip. Monday morning we drove down to Homer and took a water Taxi across to a cabin in Halibut Cove Lagoon in Kachemak Bay State Park. I’d waited a bit too long to make reservations, so we were only able to get two nights, but that gave us some time to enjoy the solitude and explore a bit. Apart from a float plane and couple of boats in the lagoon, we didn’t see any other people the whole time we were over there. There was a fun note from the ranger on the table when we got there, though. Apparently if a bear touches you, you’re supposed to call 911. I’m not sure what they’re going to do about it, but getting “touched” by a bear kinda became the running joke for the rest of the trip!







The second day at the cabin we hiked the “Coalition Trail” to China Poot Lake. We quickly found out that this was the wrong trail…it was pretty overgrown and hard to follow, and it was also early enough in the season that trail maintenance hadn’t had a chance to deal with any of the downed trees yet. It was only 8 miles, but we spent a ton of time backtracking looking for the trail, climbing over downed trees, and clawing through thickets of devil’s club. A machete would have been really handy.



Devil’s club was a new one for us. I’m familiar with “Jumping Cholla” from hiking in the southwest…a nasty cactus with little pods that break off and stick to you. They’re often referred to as “the devil’s testicles.” If that’s what those are, then this stuff is Satan’s thorny dickshaft. It’s a large creeping plant that grows into big thickets. The stalks are completely covered in thorns that break off and embed under your skin like tiny splinters. At one point my son slipped on a log and almost fell down a cliff/hill backwards, only saving himself by grabbing two handfuls of this stuff. He also gouged up his elbow pretty good, so we got some use out of my emergency med kit, but thankfully he didn’t go all the way down as he would have definitely broken bones and it would have been a nightmare getting him out of there if he had.





We finally finished the loop and made it back to the main trail. It’ was a tough hike, with few views and a waterfall that we couldn’t even get to because of the spikey overgrowth. We hiked down the main trail towards China Poot Lake and China Poot Peak, and the bridge was flooded out. I put on my water shoes and managed to work my way across. The water was freezing, and almost waist deep in a few spots. Once I got to the other side, I discovered that the trail was basically a swamp going forward. It was getting late, so we decided to just hang out for a bit and goof around in the creek before hiking back to the cabin. It was a fun way to end the hike, and the water felt pretty good after fighting through undergrowth all day.



We spent the evening at the cabin playing euchre and hanging out down on the beach where we found a starfish and watched the eagles and porpoises in the lagoon. We saw all kinds of bear and moose crap on the trail, but never saw either of them while we were in the park, which was probably just as well. We did our part by making noise and not doing stupid stuff with food, and they didn't give us any trouble. I had the 329PD along (did you know that a 4" N-Frame can make a decent pocket gun if you're just running outside to use the outhouse?) but really had no desire to test it's effectiveness.

Because of the tides, our boat picked us up at 10am the next day, so there wasn’t time to try any of the other trails. Someday I’d like to go back and hike the northern part of the park, which I understand is more picturesque with better trails.I still really enjoyed the solitude and the satisfaction of tackling and beating a pretty gnarly hike…a tough day in the woods beats even the best day at work!



To be continued….

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 92fstech,

Thank you for sharing what looks to be a wonderful experience!

Part 2 - Valdez

Back at the house in Kenai for an afternoon we resupplied at Wal-Mart, took showers, did Laundry, and prepared for the road trip portion of the trip. 4 guys over 6’ with all our stuff in a Ford Focus for 5 days…good times!

Day 1 we drove from Kenai to Valdez. On the way we stopped and checked out Thunderbird falls north of Anchorage. This was a pretty developed trail with lots of people, but the falls were cool, and we were able to wade right up to the base of them in the creek. It was a nice little diversion to get out of the car for a bit and stretch our legs. We then got on the Glenn Highway and drove east. We’d spent a week in Glacier View on our previous trip, so the Matanuska Glacier was kind of an old friend and we had to stop and take some pictures. Of all the beautiful views I’ve seen in AK, this one is still near the top of my list.



We then continued down the road, stopping at the Wrangel-St. Elias National Park visitor center to fill water bottles and get info about the McCarthy Road. I had my concerns about attempting it in a very overloaded (and borrowed!) Ford Focus. One of the rangers seemed to think we would have no problems. Another seemed to be trying to scare us off. Either way, we decided to do Valdez first and then make the decision about McCarthy and Kennicott later.

The drive to Valdez was amazing in itself. Thompson Pass was absolutely spectacular…like something out of The Lord of the Rings. We had to stop and hike along a little ridge trail near the top of the pass. The 360 degree view of snow covered peaks was just incredible. Photos don’t do it anywhere near justice.








At the bottom of the pass the road goes through a canyon that had numerous waterfalls pouring over the side, fed by fresh snowmelt. It was spectacular. We’d considered staying at a campground up near the pass, but it was still closed and under several feet of snow, so we continued down into Valdez. We ended up camping at Valdez Glacier Campground, which was pretty damp and cold, but had nice bathrooms with showers. It was also right down the road from Valdez Glacier Lake, so we went up there in the evening and walked around, took in the views, and skipped some rocks. It got down into the low 30s overnight, but my 20 degree bag and layered clothing kept me pretty comfortable..

The next day we went into town and walked around for a couple of hours. I stalked a juvenile bald eagle for a bit who was really hamming it up for the camera. We also checked out the ferry terminal and could see the end of the Alaska Pipeline and tanker terminal across the bay.






After checking out the town did the 6 hour boat tour out to Columbia Glacier. At $162/person this was kind of a big chunk of our budget compared to the rest of the trip, but we figured this was probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go see some of this stuff so we sprang for it. The boat was crewed by what looked like high school students, and even the captain couldn’t have been much over 30. He was incredibly knowledgeable, though, and did a great job explaining in detail everything we were seeing, while driving the boat, avoiding icebergs, and never once used a script.

We got a pretty good look at the Glacier, and although we couldn’t get too close to the main flow due to all the ice in the water, we got right up against some of the smaller ones on the west side of the bay, and even got to see a little calving action. There was a different group out there on Kayaks, which looked really cold, but they did provide a nice sense of scale for my photos.





We saw a bunch of wildlife from the boat. Sea Lions, Sea Otters, a Mountain Goat with a baby, porpoises that played in our bow wave for almost half an hour, and even a pod of Orcas. They said you don’t see the Orcas all that often, so that was a special treat.












The captain spent some extra time watching the Orcas, so we got back to town a bit late, which was fine with us. We had time and I’m glad he prioritized wildlife viewing over sticking to a schedule. When we got off the boat, though, things started getting weird. It was May 31 and the cruise line was having some kind of kick-off party for pride month, so the freaks were coming out of the woodwork. When I saw a dude in a green body suit and rainbow booty shorts carrying a giant stuffed mushroom, I decided it was time to get out of town before somebody saw four dudes together in a Focus and figured we were there to participate in the festivities!

We checked the weather, and it was looking pretty bad for the next day in McCarthy, but really nice in Fairbanks. We decided that driving an overloaded car with no ground clearance down 120 miles of rough dirt road to walk around and camp in the rain didn’t sound like an awesome idea, so we opted to head for Fairbanks. We drove back up through Glen Allen, only to discover that the state recreation area campground we were shooting for was flooded and closed.We kept driving and stumbled upon another one about 30 miles up the road. It was in a pine forest with nice soft ground, fire rings, and only one other site in the whole place was occupied. The weather was perfect, minimal bugs, and it made for some great sleeping and a great end to a full day.

To be continued….

I am looking forward to reading more about your adventure.

It looks awesome so far.

quote:

Originally posted by Patrick-SP2022:
I am looking forward to reading more about your adventure.

It looks awesome so far.

Thanks, it definitely was! Here's the third and final installment:

The next morning we packed up the tents, got back in the car, and followed the Alaska Pipeline north to Fairbanks. The scenery along the way was spectacular, and there was very little traffic until we got close to Fairbanks, so it was pleasant driving. Once there, we drove out to Chena Hot Springs, which ended up being kinda commercialized and a little weird. It’s 50 miles out of town, they have a kind of pond that they’ve piped the hot spring water into, and it’s all just a little dingy and murky. There was also a lot of old people PDA going on in the pool…nothing obscene, but kinda uncomfortable. Finally, when a used bandaid floated by, I decided I had completed my Chena Hot Springs experience, and went and took advantage of the showers.

They also had a bunch of random stuff on the property like a train, an old Everts DC-6 on pylons, and a fire truck. Not sure what that was all about, but it was definitely a different experience. We spent the night at a campground in the state recreation area on the way back to Fairbanks, and it was warm and full of bugs. It was also pretty full...by far the busiest campground we'd encountered on our trip, likely due to it being the weekend and the close proximity to Fairbanks.



The next day we got up and looked around Fairbanks briefly before driving south towards Anchorage. We stopped in Denali for lunch, but couldn’t see the mountain because of cloud cover. We decided to spend the night up in Hatcher Pass, but the campgrounds proved to be less than appealing. We read the sign, though, and it seemed to indicate that we could backcountry camp provided we were more than ½ a mile from the road, so we grabbed the packs and headed out. It was pretty dense along the trail, but we eventually decided to scramble up the side of the mountain and found a spot that was relatively flat and suitable to camp. There was, however, a lot of bear poop.

We set up the tents and were sitting there when Wes said he thought he saw a bear up on the side of the mountain. We got out the binos and determined that it was actually just a moose, and it was probably over a mile away. It was another relatively cold night, but we had no unwanted visitors.



In the morning we packed up and hiked back to the car. This was my son’s and my last day, as I had to get back to work and our flight was leaving out of Anchorage at 11:15pm. We drove up the mountain towards Independence Mine, and found the gate closed but th road was plowed and the sign said pedestrians welcome. We walked the mile or so up to the mine and checked it out. There was still quite a lot of snow, and we were the only ones there, which was cool but a little eerie. It’s pretty amazing what the elements will do to a place in a relatively short amount of time, but it was pretty cool to see and read about how the mine had operated.



After our little mine excursion, we drove down into Anchorage, got some lunch, and spent the afternoon killing time checking out sporting good stores. The other guys wanted to play frisbee golf, so we went out to the park near the airport and my son and I walked around while they “golfed.” We’d seen a bunch of moose on the trip, but hadn’t had a chance to photograph any yet. I ended up getting quite a few right there in the park…from a significant distance with my 300mm telephoto. We ended up walking right under the approach path to the runway, too, so I got some cool pictures of some of the air traffic coming in right overhead. The highlight of the day was one of the 747-400LCF “Dreamlifters”, which I had never seen before. I’m not sure why it was in Anchorage, but getting to see it was pretty cool.





After supper we went out to Point Woronzoff on the other side of the airport, got more pictures of places and walked the beach before they dropped us off at the airport to fly home.





Overall, it was a great trip. The car had its limitations, but it got the job done and was great on gas. I want to go back with a bigger vehicle (maybe our Suburban if plans work out) at some point and do the McCarthy road, and probably at least part of the Dalton Highway as well. We managed to enjoy great weather by being flexible and following a favorable forecast with our travel itinerary. The end of May was also a great time to be there, as there were no crowds yet but most things were open, most of the snow was thawed, yet it was still cold enough (except in Fairbanks) to keep the bugs down.


I can’t speak to how the 329PD would have worked as a defensive tool since I never even came close to using it, but it was awesome to carry…far lighter than the snubby Model 69 that I took last year, but with one more round and more barrel length. The “custom” grips are indeed fugly, but they make the recoil bearable while still fitting in my kit bag. Unlike last year with the 69, I had no problems with the bag digging into the back of my neck, and wearing it was very comfortable. The gun is so light that when carrying it on my belt I often had to do the “bump-check” thing with my elbow to ensure that it was still there. I also had no problems getting it checked in at either airport. I was glad we didn’t need it, but there were quite a few times, especially sleeping in a tent, when I was very happy to have it there. I have no desire to end my life as a “bear burrito”!




We’re considering driving up next summer with the whole family, which will be a whole other type of adventure. It’ll mean passports, lots of miles on the Suburban and trailer, lots of gas, and lots of vacation days. I probably won’t be able to bring a gun, either, because Canada, but I’ll have to look into that. But having our own vehicle up there would open up a lot of possibilities, and the trailer makes sleeping much more pleasant, especially in bad weather.

What a trip! Once again thanks for sharing.


Also FYI…You can always ship a firearm to yourself.

quote:

Also FYI…You can always ship a firearm to yourself.

I'd considered that. Or even just having a shotgun in the trailer would be better than nothing. I've heard that didn't use to be a big deal, but I've also heard that Trudeau has made a lot of changes that have made even that difficult.

Great pics. There's a side of me that would love to live there. Pretty cool Dad to take your son on a trip like that. Way to go sir!

quote:

Originally posted by Slippery Pete:
Great pics. There's a side of me that would love to live there. Pretty cool Dad to take your son on a trip like that. Way to go sir!

'twasn't exactly a hardship, since I got to go too . I do really enjoy it up there, but I have yet to experience it in the winter. I think I'd be fine, but I don't think my wife could handle the dark and the isolation.

Thanks for sharing. That is some beautiful country. Glad you had a good time. Felt like we were there too. Also glad your son was ok.