From Summer Solstice to the Northern Lights

This was our view from our tent at about 4 AM on K’esugi Ridge. One of our favorite pics, and moments in Alaska.

Views from the Top of the World Highway as we make our way to Eagle, our final stop in Alaska. Fall colors are at their peak!

Our Alaska adventure has come to an end, so as we descend through Canada toward the lower 48, we thought we might share with you some of the highlights of our three-and-a-half-month adventure in “the last frontier.” We’ll begin at the end with our last night in the state. We stopped at a campground near the Top of the World Highway just east of the town of Chicken (aside: the original town settlers wanted to name it Ptarmigan, but couldn’t agree on how to spell it, so after heated debate they just went with Chicken, and all adjourned to the bar). That gave us a chance to check out another end-of-the-road town - Eagle. (Apparently, there were avian theme vibes when naming towns in that area.) Fun town on the banks of the Yukon River with a very well preserved historical district. Back to our last night, Dawn woke up in the middle of the night and noticed an odd glow in the sky through our skylight. We both stepped outside the YOFOhome around 1:30 AM and witnessed a Northern Lights show! What a spectacular way to end our summer in this great state.

We started our adventures hiking in snow.

We arrived in Alaska on 18 May to crisp clear days, snow covered hillsides and peaks, and spring flowers just beginning to appear. Nights were still very cool but were already quite short with darkness lasting only a few hours. Fast forward to the time we crossed the border back into Canada on 1 September, and days were already getting shorter and nights were once again brisk. The snow was gone except for the mountain pockets where glaciers remain, and fall foliage was already turning to beautiful yellows, oranges, and rusty reds. In between we witnessed the hottest summer on record for Alaska and some spectacular scenery, wildlife, wildfires, and some wonderful WOFOs with visits from family and friends.

Sorry, folks, but we stole all the scenery.

A major highlight for us was visiting three of Alaska’s eight national parks: Wrangell – St. Elias, Denali, and Kenai Fjords. This brings our total to 46 US National Parks. But yeah, we know, ONLY three in Alaska? What about the other five? Unfortunately, we discovered that the others are only accessible by boat or plane. Until we win the lottery (and we realize that to do that we’d actually have to buy a ticket) or convince ourselves to get on a cruise ship, these other national parks will remain on our bucket list. We assumed that taking a random small aircraft charter into, for example, Lake Clark National Park or neighboring Katmai National Park would be somewhat “affordable,” but alas, we were wrong. Also, we didn’t want to just check the box with a fly over or drive-by in a boat in order to get the National Park’s Passport stamp, as we rather enjoy exploring the parks and getting to know them in some depth. So, rather than starting to buy lots of lottery tickets, we vowed to make the most of the parks that were accessible. And a pox on those of you who had the thought that we could always get the funding by going back to work.

It is not unusual for us to leave a place with something, such as trail, left “undone.” It can provide motivation to return to rediscover a place in another season or in other ways. But other than missing those more remote National Parks in Alaska, we felt like we gave our 49th state a fairly thorough visit. We drove almost every bit of paved highway Alaska has to offer (which is not a lot) as well as hundreds of miles of gravel roads. To throw out a random stat, we logged 9,442 miles in Alaska in just 95 days. That required 851 gallons of diesel (ouch!). The Alaska roads with their frost heaves and potholes took a toll on the YOFOhome and we had to replace (and upgrade) all four springs. On the plus side, our lodging expenses averaged less than $10 per night. Alaska treats Veterans well.

Even Puffins looked majestic in Alaska (and these chonks are rather clumsy fliers)!

So, what will we remember most? Which hikes were our favorite? Where’s the best food in Alaska? These are the sorts of questions we frequently get, so we’ll try to preemptively answer a few. Our summer was full of fun, but there were a few magical moments. We thought that backpacking the K’esugi Ken Ridge and watching the sun set on a completely clear view of Denali was magnificent, but waking the next morning at about 4 AM to see the sun rise on a cloud free view of the mountain was absolutely unforgettable. We know how lucky we were in that moment, as the majority of visitors leave Alaska having never seen the mountain in its entirety; it is nearly always at least partially, if not mostly obscured, and days can go by without a single glimpse of it. Luckily, our WOFO-ers were able to join the 30% club despite it raining on our visits there.

Kady on the Harding Ice Field Trail.The fireweed was just beginning to bloom when we arrived. By the time we left it had ‘poofed’ out into fluffy white seeds (think dandelion x 10).

Another highlight was participating in the Midnight Sun Run in Fairbanks during the Summer Solstice Festival. We finished the run shortly before midnight, and as advertised, the sun never set that night. The street parties along the route were rowdy and motivating. And while in Fairbanks, we ate some of the best food we had in Alaska. The Great Salmon Bake there was awesome. It is one of those touristy things to do in Fairbanks, but even the locals told us that’s where they go for the best salmon and prime rib.

We worked on our backpacking game in Alaska. What better place to break out our sleeping bags, tent, stove etc. and explore the wilderness? Backpacking expands the places you can reach, and the ways you experience them, that are just not offered through your normal RV or car-camping campgrounds or day hikes. We even took Kady and Nate on a backpacking excursion in Denali National Park, camping on the edge of the McKinley River.

A raft of sea otters on their backs to keep warm.

As you might imagine, Alaska is incredible for wildlife viewing. Just a sample of our sightings includes lots of moose, brown bears (grizzlies), black bears, caribou, Dall sheep, mountain goats, porcupine, ptarmigan, marmots, many bald eagles, otters, harbor seals, tons of new to us birds (puffins!), and we saw our first whale in Alaska! That may not sound like a big deal, but we’ve tried to whale-watch in other places, such as in Iceland, and along the coast of Oregon, and had no luck. Seeing the humpback whale up close was exciting enough, but was absolutely breathtaking to see the giant animal launch itself completely out of the ocean and come splashing back down. We experienced this on board the Lu Lu Belle from Valdez on just our tenth day in the state! Had we ended our Alaska visit after that, we would have called it a success. But just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, we took another sea wildlife viewing excursion from Seward along with Kady and Nate and added Killer Whales and the giant Fin Whales to our list. How about that; we now have a whale list!

As we imagined, the hiking in Alaska is epic. Of course, almost every trail goes up, and usually steeply, but I suppose we’re getting used to that now. Top hike is undoubtedly the Harding Icefield Trail in Kenai Fjords National Park near Seward. We hiked it four times (both by ourselves and with different WOFO visitors). This might be one of the top hikes in North America (not that we’ve done them all…but we’re working on it). It ranks right up there with Angels Landing in Zion National Park, and the Iceline Trail in Yoho National Park (Canada). And I’ve already mentioned the K’esugi Ridge Trail which is epic when Denali is in view. Other notables were hiking on top of a glacier on the Root Glacier Trail near McCarthy in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Glaciers are nearly everywhere in Alaska, and all are gorgeous and a spectacle to see, but it’s rare that you get to walk on top of one, especially without specialized gear and knowledge.

Kady’s expression says it all. We thought this was the moment she would spill out of the boat!

Sea kayaking with glaciers, waterfalls, sea life, in the bluest water was a special adventure.

On a few occasions we shifted from hiking boots to kayak paddles and bike pedals. Our kayak excursion on Tangle Lake where were saw two moose swimming across the lake in front of us was as surprising as it was sensational. We also dropped our boats into the fjord at Whittier and were amazed at the sight of hundreds of salmon massing at the mouths of rivers to begin their trek upriver to spawn. Another first was sea kayaking along with Kady and Nate among glaciers, icebergs, and waterfalls. Words and pictures can never adequately describe such adventures shared with folks you love. And perhaps not so much a highlight, but we shall not soon forget our bike ride along the park road in Denali when we rode 53 miles, most of it gravel, just to find a phone signal.

We’ll even loan you a tent if you come play.

A good part of the reason we stay as active as much as we do is to allow us to eat, and we eat well. Alaska has some good eats. We’d love to tell you we explored all the best places, but alas there might be some places we passed up so we’ll just have to return for some more good food. We already mentioned the Great Alaska Salmon Bake in Fairbanks. Fairbanks also offered up the best falafel pita we’ve had in years at The Pita Place. There is really just one best place to get pizza in Alaska, and that’s at the Moose’s Tooth in Anchorage. As something of an always-busy tourist destination, we will not rank it as high as The Pie or Antica Forma in Utah (yes, Utah has an elevated pizza game!), but it was solid pizza and we visited four times. We fell in love with halibut (order the “Bucket of Butt”) at Thorn’s in Seward. Best bakery goes to The Moose is Loose in Soldotna (although we are sad to hear that they closed after this season). We can still taste that giant donut…nom nom! And last but certainly not the least of categories, best beer goes to Agave Gold brewed by the Denali Brewing Company. We thoroughly enjoyed touring their brewing plant near Talkeetna and have kept Agave Gold in the YOFOhome’s beer cellar since then.

So proud of our nephew, Junior Ranger Bo!

Bo wanted to hike up a steep Flat Top Mountain to visit this flag. He earned this summit the day before he turned six. He’s on the YOFO team, any day, anywhere.

A special highlight was getting the chance to share our Alaska YOFOAdventures with some family and friends on three successive WOFOs (week of f-ing off). Kady and Nate completed their fourth WOFO with us, and according to them, their best yet. We loved river rafting with them, backpacking, hiking, taking the wildlife cruise from Seward, and just hanging out and drinking beer and roasting ‘mallows with them. Yep, they both turned 21 this year. One of Dawn’s army buddies, Anela, came for her first WOFO to celebrate retiring, and we might have convinced her to try her hand at camping to see our country in new and exciting ways. Finally, Bear, Brandie and Bo visited for their first WOFO with us and we had a blast. Bo is our bright nephew who turned six during his Alaska visit. We have been plotting for two years (no fake news or even exaggeration here) to see him become a National Park Junior Ranger, and we were the proudest Aunt and Uncle you could imagine when he swore his oath to protect our natural world and promised to continue to be curious and learn about it. He did not, sadly, fall for our efforts to convince him that the plural of moose was meese. We’ll certainly continue our efforts to corrupt him and his siblings as they age up into their own Junior Ranger adventures and YOFOCamps.

WOFOs with our family and friends are the best!

Our resident dog whisperer. We’re both wondering how we escaped Alaska without adopting a sled dog.

In the final days before leaving the state we also, finally, got the YOFOhome healed of its collision with the evil Canadian Border crossing concrete abutment; we carried those scars all summer, and now as we take our time meandering back south through Canada, it feels good to be whole again and not taped together. While they say to take only memories and leave only footprints (and we certainly did that), we also discovered during our journey south that we picked up a few hitchhikers. Apparently, we were not alone in thinking that fall was the time to leave Alaska and head south. A small tribe of furry mice (sadly not meese), moved in and decided to hitchhike for a WOFO across an international border. While we think they enjoyed our company and the lack of rain inside the YOFOHome, they’ve made it to the cheese wheel in the sky after enjoying some epic Canadian scenery. Which, really, is all any of us can hope for.

More about that epic Canadian scenery in our next blog!

Alaska can even make the terminus of the oil pipeline at Valdez look good!

Roaming Denali National Park offered spectacular views.