Joy in the Places in Between

We had a bit of a conundrum on our hands - after leaving the hospitality of the Big Lake crew, not having been able to drop off the YOFOHome for repairs, and having about a week before the WOFOers arrived - what to do? As with most of our conundrums, we hatched a few schemes and headed out to find beers, bears and views. We also had some research and reconnaissance to do.

“Cans. It had to be cans!” Touring the Denali Brewery - one of us is adjusting to drinking beer Alaska style: from a can.

We got a tip from an Alaskan gal holding the “Stop” and “Slow” sign at a road construction site about a free boondocking spot along a river that was close to Talkeetna, a town we heard would be worth exploring. The site was where the Parks Highway crosses the Susitna River, a very pleasant and scenic area busy with both moose and ATVs. The gist of what we’d heard about Talkeetna was that it had good food, good vibes, and really good beer. We’d normally go for any one of those three, but finding all three in one spot was a bonus. After a lunch in a local brewpub, we liked one of their beers so much that we stopped by their local brewery for a tour and to replenish our stocks. We have a rule that life is too short to drink cheap (crappy) beer and a somewhat random corollary axiom that good beer should be in a bottle. The Denali Brewing Company ONLY cans their beer, mostly because Alaska doesn’t recycle glass (dafuq?) and because it’s easier to backpack with cans, so you know the beer is good if we’re swilling it from aluminum (one of us still insists on putting it into a glass - a real glass, not a plastic one! Any guesses who?). We highly recommend their Agave Gold brew though their other beers are quite good too. They also do small batch distilling, so if beer’s not your thing, the tour is still a blast, with lots sampling along the way.

Picking salmonberries and keeping an eye out for critters.

Ridiculously scenic Forest Service campground. Also, the unicyclist in action.

After that diversion to the north, we rolled back south of Anchorage to explore the Whittier area. One of the upcoming WOFO’s potential agenda items was sea kayaking near glaciers, and we wanted to scout out a few outfitters there, sort out local camping options and perhaps recon some hiking in the area. We’re very glad we did - the first place we talked to was super helpful and accommodating and we left with some confidence that we would have a blast. That adventure will be recounted in our guest blog, but we also gained a little local knowledge about where we could drop our own boats in the water. First though, we had some hiking to do! There was a nice trail up toward some falls…never really saw the falls due to the clouds. But, we did figure out that salmon berries were in season so we both collected and gronked a healthy amount! We also hiked to Portage Pass and then continued down to the lake below Portgage Glacier. Shakespeare Glacier was possibly more impressive than Portage Glacier (which has been receding very rapidly), but the hike was fun and the weather held out for us.

Waiting for lunch. Perhaps a salmon? Small poodle?

The next day we drove back through the tunnel to Whittier - oh, hold up, we forgot to mention the tunnel to Whittier. So, Whittier, prior to WWII was a small village of mostly indigenous people. Reached mostly by dogsleds, there were no roads to Whittier since it is protected by steep imposing mountains. It got its growth spurt when the Army decided it was a strategically important location to establish a port for materiel resupply and to set up a Signals/Communications outpost as part of the early reaction to the nascent Cold War. To improve access and logistics resupply to other parts of Alaska, the Army decided to tunnel through the mountains and glaciers, but they blasted just enough space for one-way movement of rail cars (Army logic, and we can say that with a straight face). Fast forward only a few years later, and the base closes down, leaving the railroad and port. Both are still running, but they mostly supply tourists to Anchorage as cruise ships regularly come and go. The tunnel is now a shared single lane for vehicles and trains, alternating the direction of travel every half hour. As you drive through, you’re almost driving on the rail tracks, which was a little weird with our dual real tires.

Our launch point for a kayak into Resurrection Bay in Seward. A few moments earlier a bear had been enjoying “second breakfast” here.

These salmon, each about 18-24” or more, were jockeying for position as they worked their way upstream.

Back to our story, we returned to Whittier to do a little kayaking up the coast in our own boats. Our launch point was a little public day-use area on a creek where we saw a bear scampering away after apparently snacking on some salmon. Cool. The creek we launched into was teeming with salmon heading upstream to spawn. We paddled out into the fjord while hugging the shoreline down to another creek a couple of miles away where, if you time the tides right, you can kayak a little ways upstream and see waterfalls. Alas, our timing was off by a little bit, so we beached our boats instead and explored on foot, enjoying the spectacle of dozens of salmon swim upstream.

Satisfied with our recon of Whittier for the upcoming WOFO, we next headed farther south to the cozy port of Seward to check out some more options and camped right on the waterfront. The weather was a tad rainy and the mountains were socked in a bit, but the views were still good. We hiked through some temperate rainforest from Lowell Point to Tonsina Point which was pleasant and picked more salmon berries and blueberries as we had gluttonously consumed our first stash on pancakes…nom nom nom…”no ragrets.” We found a bald eagle hanging out watching for salmon to run, but they hadn’t started arrived in Seward yet.

Sunrise on Denali. Best view ever from our backpacking tent.

Our last real pre-WOFO recon mission involved a budding plot to drag our WOFOers out for an overnight backpacking trip. After our Triple Lakes recon in Denali NP (which kicked our butts a little), we thought it wise to scope it out before dragging the less tempered hikers along. The hike we thought might be ideal was along the K’esugi Ridge trail which is located between Anchorage and Denali NP along the Parks Highway. We ended up hiking about 19 miles of the 30+ mile route. This trail deserves every 5-star review it gets and was amazing. We lucked out and had perfect weather which meant we got to see Denali in it’s full, unobstructed glory for all except about five miles of the hike. It was spectacular! We even set up our tent so that Denali would be visible through the door which meant that we got to to watch the sun set on Denali, a little moonlight glow on her, and then her daybreak blush as we toasted our good fortune with coffee and a hearty “Mornin’ First Sergeant!” Ideally, we would have spent more than one night along the ridge, but the one night we got was easily the most spectacular tent camping view we’ve ever had. Unfortunately, it also confirmed that it was probably a bit on the over-ambitious side for a WOFO adventure; especially since, even though everyone warns (ok, jokes too) about the need to train before a WOFO with us…they never do!

With visitors come some housekeeping and reprovisioning tasks, so we spent a couple days prepping things - food, beer, cleaning, finding out that our mattress pump’s batteries were dead. Generally we try to make sure that it doesn’t appear that we’ve gone completely feral in our wanderings, adventurating and basic FOing. We also pre-positioned the YOFOHome at a campground that would let us do airport pickup duty in just the truck (much easier) which gave us a chance to attend some National Park ranger programs in Denali State Park. We also met some folks at the campground and on the trail who we would run into again while touring Alaska, which is always a fun thing.

Yeah, yeah, we know, enough already with the Denali pics. The photos don’t do it justice anyway. You have to witness this with your own eyes to realize just how spectacular it truly is.