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Published: September 9th 2013
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Mack truck in historic town of Hope Drove out to the historic town of Hope this morning. It was a nice leisurely drive and the town of Hope was small and quaint. Took quite a few photos of the town as we drove through. On the way back to the highway a large black bear crossed the road in front of us but we were too late to grab any photos. Just goes to show how the wildlife will pop up when you least expect it to.
Next we did a tour of the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Centre along the Seward Highway at Portage. Admission was $12.50 Andie were able to use another toursaver coupon. This is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to preserving Alaska's wildlife. Some of the animals at the centre are unable to be released back into the wild as they have become too humanised so they are given permanent homes at the Centre. Others are restoration projects of species that were nearly extinct. They will be released when the time is right.
There were lots of exhibits at the centre and you can either drive around the 2 mile loop, walk or do both. There is also a free shuttle bus you can
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Strange place for chairs and exercise bikes take around the loop if you choose to. We happened to be there at the time they feed the brown bears. It was quite exciting to watch 3 bears appear from the woods when they kew food was on its way. These 3 bears were saved as cubs and are now permanent residents. The bears have an 18 acre enclosure to roam around i Got some great close up shots of the bears! These animals are huge - wouldn't like my chances at tackling these out in the woods that's for sure.
Other animals at the centre included bison, elk, moose, muskox, caribou, wood bison, reindeer,lynx, black bear, eagles and owls. We spent several hours looking at all the exhibits. We were both impressed with the place. Well worth the stop.
Stopped at the gas station for coffee and subway for lunch. we were able to access the wi fi from the ice cream shop while we had lunch in the RV - that was a bonus.
Spent the afternoon at the Alyseka resort where we took the tramway up to the ski resort and soaked in the views of several large glaciers that surround the area
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Walking the reindeer - also good views of the Turn-again Arm on the Seward Highway. Tramway pass is $20 per person and yes we had a toursaver coupon for this as well! The views were magnificent and we felt like were standing on top of the world. Snow gets as deep as 1000 ft at the ski resort during the winter months.
Drove out to Portage and made camp near the "Trail of Blue Ice" track. It was around
8pm so after taking some photos of the huge "explorer glacier" right in front of us we decided to go for a hike along the trail. It was very quiet - nobody else around. After hiking for a short while the trail was blocked with water so we had to walk along the road for a bit. Once we got back on the trail it was getting a bit dark and after seeing the "bear country" signs we felt a little uneasy and walked back along the road to the RV.
Weather today has been overcast with light showers. Much nicer day than yesterday. My sinuses are feeling heaps better and the bruise on my butt is quite large and dark purple
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Cabin at Hope - a reminder of my recent slip into the river bed!
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