Alaska Trip Report Part 2
Jun 23rd, 2008, 05:52 PM
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Alaska Trip Report Part 2
Okay...sorry I haven't finished our trip report, but was sucked back into the vortex of everyday life. OK..where was I? Oh yeah
Day 9: Had arranged for Backcountry Connection to pick us up at Princess Lodge & shuttle us to Kennicott & McCarthy so I could "experience" the famed McCarthy Road. With our luck we knew driving the rental car would definitely result in flat tires & probably worse & there was no problem with Princess letting us leave our car parked there a few days. Al picked us up & was so accomodating telling us stories & stopping to let us check out the fish wheels. We had 2 moose running down the middle of the road in front of us for at least a mile which made for great pictures & Al managed to videotape it without driving us off the road or hitting one of the literally hundreds of snowshoe hares that were running in front of the van. Picked up at the footbridge at 12:15 & checked into Kennicott Glacier Lodge & went to St. Elias Guides to arrange a Root Glacier tour for a few days later before our 90 min. flightseeing tour w/ Wrangell Mountain Air at 3:15pm. We wanted to also tour Kennicott Mine & they called for us & arranged a later flight so we could go on the mine tour with the group leaving then. Hubby & I really enjoyed going into mine building & fascinated with the history told. Then shuttle whisked us over to McCarthy where we had a superb flight over Mt. Blackburn, Mt. Sanford & Mt. Drumm. Also all surrounding mountains & glaciers. It snowed then sunlight. Totally awesome.(Plus I didn't need to worry about bears!) Shuttle waiting when we returned & off to lodge we went for dinner of prime rib & delicious dessert of stawberry & blueberry shortcake. Then watched free movie shown in town community hall which was Seabiscuit. Had watched this before but especially enjoyed watching this after hubby's wild horse ride. No phones or televisions-just lots of friendly, interesting townfolk & visiters.
Day 10: Ate at the lodge's breakfast buffet & went to Kennicott Wilderness Guides with sack lunches to go on all day alpine hike with Dorothy, one of their guides. After checking us out (I'm sure to see if we would croak on them-plus they heard about broken toe & ribs) decided to take hike up mountain to Bonanza Mine. Dorothy was my hero & like having your own sherpa. What an amazing person. Climbed Denali twice, survival rescue EMT, etc etc. plus when we saw fresh bear scat, took out her 357 magnum & strapped it on...complete with grizzly bear teeth marks on the holster & proceeded to tell us how she's been charged 3 times. No arguement here & because we didn't have our bear spray. Proceeded up steep, steep trail where I was lagging behind until hubby remineded me bear always go for the weak one & motivated me to catch up rather quickly. Then the inevitable happened. Ran into 2 big black bear on trail in front of us & Dorothy led us back & took different route while bear continued to come even after shouting & me SCREAMING. Wondering why Dorothy wasn't getting gun out & ready, we cut back because of snow & bear finally caught our scent & went opposite direction to my immense relief. Then she led us back UP the mountain to Jumbo Mine. As I'm huffing, puffing & heart beating wildly (partly from panic over bear)I will mention Dorothy isn't even breathing hard. You think you're in shape until you do a hike like this. Told us all about the McCarthy massacre which was even more interesting because Dorothy knew some of the victims & finally made it back to the lodge in time to collapse in the chairs on the lawn for a cold one. Put much effort into trying to get out of chairs for dinner of pork loin, then back to chairs to watch amazing sunset & drink beer & wine to dull pain of aching muscles along with ribs & toes
Day 11: Decided to punish ourselves again with Root Glacier tour w/ St. Elias Guides where we donned crampons & hiked all over glacier & had sack lunch. People were also on glacier ice climbing which hubby & I put on "must do" list for next trip. Went back to check out of lodge & shuttle took us to McCarthy to see town & get ice cream before meeting our shuttle at footbridge. I hesitate to say this for fear of these towns becoming overrun with busloads of tourists, but this was hands down our favorite spot of our whole vacation. The unspoiled beauty & lack of crowds were wonderful & I cannot say enough about the people who live here for the summer & all their stories of how they came to work there & fearlessness to go to new places & do what they love. Amazing! Picked up by Susie (born & raised in Alaska) & shuttled back to Princess Lodge at Copper Center to retrieve car & back down Glenn Highway to Glacier for 1 night at Tundra Rose B & B. Beautiful, homey cabin on dall sheep preserve but unfortunately did not arrive until 10:00pm & on the road by 7:00am. Regretted not being able to enjoy this place more.
Day 12: Stopped in Wasilla for snacks at Fred Meyer & on to Talkeetna for McKinley summit flightseeing tour @ 11:00am & stopped in gift shop to kill 30 mins before flight. Totally surprised to run into friends from home where we spent 30 mins entertaining them with our "adventures" & them doubting we will make it "out alive" Went on flight where whole mountain wasn't "out" but got to see climbers summiting & their tents at 17 camp & climbers at 13 camp. Toured Talkeetna & ate at Roadhouse & saw lots of climbers. Stopped at cemetary & onto Talkeetna Lodge for drinks & to thank God that we were not taking any hikes that day. Mountain still not out & onto Healy where we checked into Juhl Cabins for next 3 nights.
Day 13: Drove back to Denali & boarded shuttle bus (super guide) into new Eielson Visitor Center with our peanut butter sandwiches & bear spray hidden in back pack. Hubby worried people would think we were wusses but made wife happy. Saw grizzlies, caribou, horned owl & babies plus moose but nothing close to road. (Of course, when I'm safely on bus with metal around me) Toured visitor center & got off bus at Teklanika & hiked for a little bit, but too many people so got back on bus & back off at Savage River where we hiked Savage River beyond the loop trail approx. 3 miles. Enjoyed this because we were beyond crowds & have become quite brave about bears by now! Left park about 7:30 where we saw moose right beside road at entrance to Wilderness Center & back to Healy for dinner at Black Diamond Grill. Very good & had drinks to celebrate bravery for hiking without bear pepper spray.
Day 14: Took 4 hour senic & canyon run Nenana Raft trip w/ oar raft because hubby was on vacation & didn't want to work. I wished we had done 2 hour canyon run with paddle raft & to do over again, would have insisted. I have rafted the New River in WV & found this to be a big yawn, but we don't always get what we want. Guides were great though & water was COLD & rained, but still glad we did it. Ate dinner at Salmon Bake & checked out shops in Glitter Gulch & cruised back through Denali to Savage River looking for animals close up, but no luck
Day 15: Checked out of Juhl Cabins & stopped at Denali Vister Center & listened to ranger talk on mushing. Left Denali Natl. Park mildly disappointed after being at Wrangell-St Elias. Probably would have felt differently if visited Denali before Kennicott. Headed south after annoying husband numerous times by making him stop to see if we could see the mountain "out" but never did. Didn't really bother us because we got to see the summit on our flightseeing tour. Stopped & hiked Little Coal Creek trail at Denali State Park after recommendation from friends we ran into in Talkeetna. Excellent hike &
Day 9: Had arranged for Backcountry Connection to pick us up at Princess Lodge & shuttle us to Kennicott & McCarthy so I could "experience" the famed McCarthy Road. With our luck we knew driving the rental car would definitely result in flat tires & probably worse & there was no problem with Princess letting us leave our car parked there a few days. Al picked us up & was so accomodating telling us stories & stopping to let us check out the fish wheels. We had 2 moose running down the middle of the road in front of us for at least a mile which made for great pictures & Al managed to videotape it without driving us off the road or hitting one of the literally hundreds of snowshoe hares that were running in front of the van. Picked up at the footbridge at 12:15 & checked into Kennicott Glacier Lodge & went to St. Elias Guides to arrange a Root Glacier tour for a few days later before our 90 min. flightseeing tour w/ Wrangell Mountain Air at 3:15pm. We wanted to also tour Kennicott Mine & they called for us & arranged a later flight so we could go on the mine tour with the group leaving then. Hubby & I really enjoyed going into mine building & fascinated with the history told. Then shuttle whisked us over to McCarthy where we had a superb flight over Mt. Blackburn, Mt. Sanford & Mt. Drumm. Also all surrounding mountains & glaciers. It snowed then sunlight. Totally awesome.(Plus I didn't need to worry about bears!) Shuttle waiting when we returned & off to lodge we went for dinner of prime rib & delicious dessert of stawberry & blueberry shortcake. Then watched free movie shown in town community hall which was Seabiscuit. Had watched this before but especially enjoyed watching this after hubby's wild horse ride. No phones or televisions-just lots of friendly, interesting townfolk & visiters.
Day 10: Ate at the lodge's breakfast buffet & went to Kennicott Wilderness Guides with sack lunches to go on all day alpine hike with Dorothy, one of their guides. After checking us out (I'm sure to see if we would croak on them-plus they heard about broken toe & ribs) decided to take hike up mountain to Bonanza Mine. Dorothy was my hero & like having your own sherpa. What an amazing person. Climbed Denali twice, survival rescue EMT, etc etc. plus when we saw fresh bear scat, took out her 357 magnum & strapped it on...complete with grizzly bear teeth marks on the holster & proceeded to tell us how she's been charged 3 times. No arguement here & because we didn't have our bear spray. Proceeded up steep, steep trail where I was lagging behind until hubby remineded me bear always go for the weak one & motivated me to catch up rather quickly. Then the inevitable happened. Ran into 2 big black bear on trail in front of us & Dorothy led us back & took different route while bear continued to come even after shouting & me SCREAMING. Wondering why Dorothy wasn't getting gun out & ready, we cut back because of snow & bear finally caught our scent & went opposite direction to my immense relief. Then she led us back UP the mountain to Jumbo Mine. As I'm huffing, puffing & heart beating wildly (partly from panic over bear)I will mention Dorothy isn't even breathing hard. You think you're in shape until you do a hike like this. Told us all about the McCarthy massacre which was even more interesting because Dorothy knew some of the victims & finally made it back to the lodge in time to collapse in the chairs on the lawn for a cold one. Put much effort into trying to get out of chairs for dinner of pork loin, then back to chairs to watch amazing sunset & drink beer & wine to dull pain of aching muscles along with ribs & toes
Day 11: Decided to punish ourselves again with Root Glacier tour w/ St. Elias Guides where we donned crampons & hiked all over glacier & had sack lunch. People were also on glacier ice climbing which hubby & I put on "must do" list for next trip. Went back to check out of lodge & shuttle took us to McCarthy to see town & get ice cream before meeting our shuttle at footbridge. I hesitate to say this for fear of these towns becoming overrun with busloads of tourists, but this was hands down our favorite spot of our whole vacation. The unspoiled beauty & lack of crowds were wonderful & I cannot say enough about the people who live here for the summer & all their stories of how they came to work there & fearlessness to go to new places & do what they love. Amazing! Picked up by Susie (born & raised in Alaska) & shuttled back to Princess Lodge at Copper Center to retrieve car & back down Glenn Highway to Glacier for 1 night at Tundra Rose B & B. Beautiful, homey cabin on dall sheep preserve but unfortunately did not arrive until 10:00pm & on the road by 7:00am. Regretted not being able to enjoy this place more.
Day 12: Stopped in Wasilla for snacks at Fred Meyer & on to Talkeetna for McKinley summit flightseeing tour @ 11:00am & stopped in gift shop to kill 30 mins before flight. Totally surprised to run into friends from home where we spent 30 mins entertaining them with our "adventures" & them doubting we will make it "out alive" Went on flight where whole mountain wasn't "out" but got to see climbers summiting & their tents at 17 camp & climbers at 13 camp. Toured Talkeetna & ate at Roadhouse & saw lots of climbers. Stopped at cemetary & onto Talkeetna Lodge for drinks & to thank God that we were not taking any hikes that day. Mountain still not out & onto Healy where we checked into Juhl Cabins for next 3 nights.
Day 13: Drove back to Denali & boarded shuttle bus (super guide) into new Eielson Visitor Center with our peanut butter sandwiches & bear spray hidden in back pack. Hubby worried people would think we were wusses but made wife happy. Saw grizzlies, caribou, horned owl & babies plus moose but nothing close to road. (Of course, when I'm safely on bus with metal around me) Toured visitor center & got off bus at Teklanika & hiked for a little bit, but too many people so got back on bus & back off at Savage River where we hiked Savage River beyond the loop trail approx. 3 miles. Enjoyed this because we were beyond crowds & have become quite brave about bears by now! Left park about 7:30 where we saw moose right beside road at entrance to Wilderness Center & back to Healy for dinner at Black Diamond Grill. Very good & had drinks to celebrate bravery for hiking without bear pepper spray.
Day 14: Took 4 hour senic & canyon run Nenana Raft trip w/ oar raft because hubby was on vacation & didn't want to work. I wished we had done 2 hour canyon run with paddle raft & to do over again, would have insisted. I have rafted the New River in WV & found this to be a big yawn, but we don't always get what we want. Guides were great though & water was COLD & rained, but still glad we did it. Ate dinner at Salmon Bake & checked out shops in Glitter Gulch & cruised back through Denali to Savage River looking for animals close up, but no luck
Day 15: Checked out of Juhl Cabins & stopped at Denali Vister Center & listened to ranger talk on mushing. Left Denali Natl. Park mildly disappointed after being at Wrangell-St Elias. Probably would have felt differently if visited Denali before Kennicott. Headed south after annoying husband numerous times by making him stop to see if we could see the mountain "out" but never did. Didn't really bother us because we got to see the summit on our flightseeing tour. Stopped & hiked Little Coal Creek trail at Denali State Park after recommendation from friends we ran into in Talkeetna. Excellent hike &
Jun 25th, 2008, 08:47 AM
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Great trip report- we just came back for 14 days just missed you in Wrangell St. Elais.
Agree w/you in WSE vs Denali, althiugh we loved them both...If we could have just had Denali without all the people just outside!
Your stories are very funny- guess you could live w/o seeing our pics from our grizzley viewing trip with Emerald air....!
Agree w/you in WSE vs Denali, althiugh we loved them both...If we could have just had Denali without all the people just outside!
Your stories are very funny- guess you could live w/o seeing our pics from our grizzley viewing trip with Emerald air....!
Jun 25th, 2008, 09:45 AM
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guess you could live w/o seeing our pics from our grizzley viewing trip with Emerald air....!
marleyzoemom, I for one would love to see your pics from the bear trip ... is Chris still leading those?
Bill
marleyzoemom, I for one would love to see your pics from the bear trip ... is Chris still leading those?
Bill
Jun 25th, 2008, 10:07 AM
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Bill, I'm not marleyzoemom but I can tell you for certain Chris is still leading tours. We are going (again)with her and Ken in August. The day she is not able to lead these tours there will be no more emerald air. Another thing, can you suggest the website where I can post my pictures I want to share? I kind of don't care for webshots.
Jun 25th, 2008, 10:15 AM
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OSUbuckeye, great report. Do you write your trip report every day while traveling or after you get back home? I'm leaving in a few days and revisiting some of the places you described. Unfortunately not returning to Kennecott Glacier Lodge this time. Did you stay in the new wing? We hiked to Jumbo Mine on our own, no guides. saw four bears on the way. We do not carry guns or pepper spray but talk and my husband sings
Jun 25th, 2008, 03:59 PM
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Marlyzoemom...I would luv to see your grizzly pictures so be sure to let us know when you post your pictures. I'm fine w/ bears when it's someone else's responsiblity to keep me safe. False security, maybe?
Maps...I just take a few notes every couple days while on vacation so when I get home I can jog my memory to label my pics. First time I've ever did a trip report but it was just too funny not to share. At KGL we stayed in the main lodge due to toursaver 2 for 1 & I didn't make it over to check out the new wing. I envy you just beginning your vacation. Believe me...if either I or my husband sang while we hiked, we would even scare away the mosquitoes
Maps...I just take a few notes every couple days while on vacation so when I get home I can jog my memory to label my pics. First time I've ever did a trip report but it was just too funny not to share. At KGL we stayed in the main lodge due to toursaver 2 for 1 & I didn't make it over to check out the new wing. I envy you just beginning your vacation. Believe me...if either I or my husband sang while we hiked, we would even scare away the mosquitoes
Jun 26th, 2008, 09:26 AM
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BILL H I AM SUCH A FAN OF YOUR PICS, WOW!
I am now in Hangzhou China. A whole other king of experience.
When back I will do a posting. Some are really good,and, yes Chris is the fearless leader. Best moment was when a curious girl singled me out for a sniff. I did get a bit flipped out as she came directly at me, and there was chris whispering- just be still, be calm, don't move.....It was Awesome !
Stay tuned- it will be a week or so till I am back.
MarleyZoeMom
I am now in Hangzhou China. A whole other king of experience.
When back I will do a posting. Some are really good,and, yes Chris is the fearless leader. Best moment was when a curious girl singled me out for a sniff. I did get a bit flipped out as she came directly at me, and there was chris whispering- just be still, be calm, don't move.....It was Awesome !
Stay tuned- it will be a week or so till I am back.
MarleyZoeMom
