To read about the first half of our trip, click here.
If the first half of our Alaska trip was characterized by wildlife viewing and brewpubs, the second half of our trip was characterized by one thing - glaciers. We camped next to them, we hiked along them, and we kayaked around them.
So, where was I? Oh yes, on our way from Chena Hot Springs towards the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. After a full day of driving, we set up camp outside Chitina at the Liberty Falls State Recreational Area. We cooked a nice meal (risotto, kabobs, and banana boats) and enjoyed the view of the waterfalls. We got up early the next morning thinking we had to pack our backpacks and get to the airport in time for a 9 am flight into the park. But, our flight was delayed because of the drizzle and fog, so we headed to lunch at Hotel Chitina with the other flight passengers (two families from Holland and a couple from Boston).
Our planes finally arrived mid-afternoon. Why'd we fly, you ask? Well, we weren't just trying to be fancy-shmancy. (Although I did feel a bit fancy-shmancy in the little plane!) Actually, the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is huge (America's largest at over 13.2 million acres!) and is very rugged. There is access by a road, but it's 59 miles and unpaved which would make for a very long trip. Most rental car companies, including ours, won't allow you to take the cars on unpaved roads. So, our choices were limited to taking a shuttle or flying, and due to time constraints, we chose flying.
The flight landed in the tiny town of McCarthy, from which we took a shuttle to the ghost mining town of Kennicott and hiked 1.5 miles towards the Root Glacier. Below you see Jason walking through McCarthy and a view of Kennicott from the air and as we walked through town.
Random observation: Most park rangers we met in Alaska were young women. Not what you would expect (or at least I didn't), but very cool. I also noticed that most of the construction workers and road crews I saw were young women as well. I guess all the men are out catching fish or working in the oil and gas industry.
We set up camp on a ridge overlooking the glacier. Since this entire trip was made in the rain, I was wet and cold by the time we set up camp. Needless to say, I climbed into my warm sleeping bag and went to sleep early that night.
The next morning, the skies began to clear (as did my crankiness). Our flight out of the park was scheduled for 5 pm, so we spent the day hiking to the end of the Root Glacier trail. It was kinda scary in parts where the trail narrowed along the side of the mountain, but overall it was a great hike. We even got to play in a little snow patch along the way, which was fun.
The view of the glacier and ice sheet at the end of the trail was beautiful! The gravel that covers parts of the glacier (as seen below) is caused from the ice rubbing against the mountain.
We headed back through Kennicott and ate a late lunch the Kennicott Glacier Lodge. I think it was my favorite meal of the entire trip! We had some fancy stuffed portabella salad and salmon crab cakes. Yum!
We spent a little while in McCarthy before we flew out, and I must say it is the neatest little town. There are only like 25-40 permanent residents. Also, it just had a very chill vibe.
Due to the clouds and fog, we flew relatively close to the ground on the way into the park. On the way out, it was a much different view. Don't you like the McCarthy airport seen below?
Random observation: We learned on our trip that a lot of people that work in Alaska (as pilots, tour guides, etc.) only come during the summers and have normal lives elsewhere during the rest of the year. How cool would that be?
Once out of the park, we drove to Valdez. The scenery along the way was gorgeous, but we were too tired to notice. After five nights of camping we were ready for a little R&R, so we found a room at a local B&B, the Robe Lake Lodge, for the next two nights.
The next day we had an 8 hour kayaking tour with Anadyr Adventures to the Shoup Glacier. There's not much to say about it other than it too was really beautiful and we got to hike around a glacier and waterfalls some more.
When we got back to the B&B that night, we kicked back with some Alaskan beers in the hot tub for a bit. Doesn't it look lovely? Of course, sitting in a washateria for the next 2 hours to do our laundry and the 6 hour drive back to Anchorage the next day weren't that lovely, but it was a nice way to end the trip either way.
As much as I liked the first half of our trip, there was just something about the second half that I really loved. I don't know, maybe it was the remoteness of it, or being next to the water, or the people we met. It was probably a combination of all of the above. If we were to do the trip again, I think we would be even more adventurous. We would spend a few more days in both of the national parks and do more backpacking and backcountry camping. I'd like to spend more time on the coast and maybe do an overnight kayaking trip.
But, like I said, it was truly just a sampler platter of a trip. Now we know what are favorite dishes are.
I'll leave you with a couple more random observations before I conclude the story telling of our Alaskan adventure: I think we saw more cars on our way home from the airport than we did in all of Alaska. Also, for the first 48 hours after we were back, I had to keep reminding myself that it was probably not acceptable to pee behind bushes. We have plenty of toilets around here.
