Unlocking the Mooseteries of Alaska

So it turns out that Sarah Palin has moved to Arizona! And we came all this way to visit.

In case you were wondering why the blog has been a little silent, (if you noticed at all) it’s because we have been busy being tourists on a group tour of Alaska. We thought it would be nice to have some other people to talk to, which was a good theory for the most part.

Our flight was delayed leaving Vancouver Island, so we flew into Anchorage at 11 pm in glorious sunshine. Weird. A moose was at the end of the runway to greet us – how amoosing. Next morning the clouds had rolled in so we hit the tacky tourist shops and market in an attempt to stay dry-ish. By afternoon the sun was out so we hired some bikes and rode the coastal trail. The bike hire chap assured us that the trail was completely flat except for a small hill at the end. As I slogged tediously up what turned out to be a significant and long hill with my total of 7 gears, I noted the ease with which Mike whirred past me. Turns out he had 24 gears – hmmph! Anyway, it was a great trail that passed the end of the runway so you could see the whites of the pilots’ eyes as they landed (great for plane-spotters!). In addition it was perfect moose habitat which meant that we had a very close up sighting of a huge bull – it was a moostake for us to be so close but we seemed to get away with it.

Next morning we met our fellow tour companions – 5 Americans, 3 Aussies and 1 Israeli. Our 2 guides Erin and Brita were outstanding; Erin is a Supreme Punster so if you think my puns are bad, you ain’t heard nuthin! The trip was a Master Class for the student of the bad joke. We set off from Anchorage to Seward, travelling via a scenic bay called Turnagain Arm. We passed a roadside stop called the Turnagain Arm Pit, which appeared to be every bit as unsavoury as it sounded. We drove through the small town of Moose Pass. The story goes that there was a huge debate about building a Gas Station (service station) in town, but it was voted down as the townsfolk didn’t want to have a sign saying “Moose Pass Gas”.  Prior to arriving in Seward we did a steep but rewarding hike for a view of the Exit Glacier, the first of many fantastic glacier views of the trip.

Day 3 involved a boat cruise around Kenai Fjords National Park and again we were blessed with unusually superb weather with glorious mountain views. We were fortunate to see a group of 6 humpbacks feeding very close to the boat – not a usual sight to see so many in one place. We were amused by the sight of puffins – fantastic swimmers but hopeless aviators floundering around the surface of the water trying to get out of our way. 

The beautiful weather continued for our drive to the seaport of Whittier. The saying goes that “the weather is always shittier in Whittier” but we found that it was “prettier in Whittier”. There are approximately 250 residents in Whittier, and they all live in one high-rise apartment block. There’s no escaping your neighbours here! On the front porch of the local donut shop we came across a porcupine, who was not happy so showed us his prickly butt. We travelled across Prince William Sound via the Alaska Ferry service, enjoying spectacular views of mountains and glaciers with the occasional iceberg bringing on an attack of the Celine Dions. Our destination was the town of Valdez, of Exxon Valdez oil spill fame.

The Town of Whittier is this building!

Columbia Glacier Ice Berg

From Valdez, we did a kayaking day trip to the Shoup Glacier. We happened upon a large group of sea otters swanning about in the sunshine – they look super cute lying on their backs, doing little 360 rolls every now and then.  Obviously a family group that love one an otter.  It was a great paddle, getting up pretty close to the face of the glacier so we had a bit of a chance to go smashing about in the ice. We had to race the tidal current racing out of the bay, involving some whitewater - Mike relished steering us through the biggest waves so I got completely soaked with freezing glacial meltwater while he was protected sitting in the back! Just you wait………..

Otter delight

Shoup Glacier

Our weather good fortune ended at this point and the clouds lowered themselves to their usual location near to the ground as we drove to the distant outpost of Chitina. Chitina has only a couple of streets, very few buildings and would have had tumbleweed if it was in the southern US. Our walk through town caused curtains to stir. Its drawcard, as far as we were concerned, was a small airport enabling us to fly into the Wrangell-St Elias NP for the next part of our adventure. Erin’s bear spray had to be strapped to the wing strut as it was ‘dangerous cargo’ which led to Mike having a discussion with the pilot about strapping kayaks to planes. The pilot said that you could strap all sorts of things onto the plane, because the De Havilland Beaver isn’t actually very aerodynamic – can I just say that this was not very reassuring as we were about to fly in mountains in cloudy weather! Happily we arrived safely into the historic town of Kennecott, in spite of said lack of aerodynamics. Kennecott is an old copper mining town right on the edge of 2 massive glaciers. The end of the glacier is covered in moraine – it looks suspiciously like mine tailings but when you get up close you can see the ice peeking out from under the dirt. You’d think they’d employ some folks to sweep the glacier, now wouldn’t you?

Kennecott Copper Mill

The highlight of our trip came the next day with a trip to the Root Glacier to go ice-climbing. We started with a fairly long hike to the glacier, then donned our mountaineering boots and crampons (dangerously sharp spikes for the bottom of our boots - squat with care!) and trekked across the ice to the 60 ft Ice Wall. On the way we passed a family group decked out in skirts and sneakers on the ice – interesting! Ice-climbing is a great way to release any aggro, as you have to kick hard into the ice with your boots then whack hard with ice-picks. The routine goes thusly - kick, kick, whack, whack, kick, kick, whack, whack etc etc until it drives you up the wall (literally).  Mike and I both had 4 climbs, I summited once and Mike 3 times – he was only defeated by the more difficult overhang climb. After exhausting ourselves we then had to walk the 6 km back to the lodge but it was very scenic via ice waterfalls, canyons, caves and deep deep holes of nothingness.

Root Glacier

Via a couple of stops we ended up in the magnificent Denali National Park, the centrepiece of which is Mt McKinley, the highest mountain in the US. It is only visible approximately 25% of the time, and usually clouded in, but on our way to the park we got some superb clear views. The next 2 days were completely clouded in but we were happy with our views. On the way to Denali we drove through the town of Palmer which is home to World Record breaking vegetables, including a 57 kg cabbage and a 270 kg pumpkin. Who would have thought…..? The journey also included a trip to the tourist town of Talkeetna complete with painted moose and ridiculous cut-outs that begged to be looked through.        

We took the National Park bus through the park for 66 mile along a narrow, winding dirt mountain road – our favourite! At least some-one else was driving. Erin encouraged us by telling us that one pass is nicknamed “Poison Pass” – one drop and you’re dead! It was pretty terrifying – at least I could safely avoid looking this time. Along the way we saw Dall Sheep (horned sheep), caribou (aka reindeer), moose and 8 (yes 8!) grizzly bears all from the safety of the bus. Most of the animals were quite a distance away but still very exciting to see. If you saw something, you yelled out for the driver to stop – one of our group excitedly yelled for a stop for a squirrel. No-one was impressed. We did a couple of scenic walks at the turnaround point and were pleased to avoid bears while on foot.

Deirdre thought all of her Kissa Mooses had come at once

International man of Moosetry

 

Our last adventure day of the trip was a whitewater rafting trip down a glacial melt river. Mike sat in the front of the raft so did a superb job of stopping the water on his face and body so I didn’t get wet. Payback for the previous kayaking, I say. He got what they call the “glacial facial”. After drying off we went to a sled-dog demonstration at the park visitors centre which was pretty amazing to see.

We wrapped up our group tour with a scenic train trip back to Anchorage, waving each other goodbye and turning our attention to the heady excitement of laundry, a trip to the hairdresser (D) and a trip to the dentist (M). Next step is the cruise which will be a very interesting demographic……..