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Published: August 22nd 2007
A room with a view
Animal encounter - Bear versus croc!Howdee folks howyal doin, the last entry made was from Southsea which seems a million miles away, in fact it probably is, since then we have made some considerable adjustments to our lifestyle. We have down sized from the relative luxury of our beloved van to carrying all our wordly goods in a couple of rucksacs and sleeping in the equivalent of a crisp packet. The transition from luxury to poverty, from UK to USA ,from pounds to dollars was fairly uneventful. The outward flight was delayed by 5 hours so added to a 10 hour flight made hard going. Eventually after reading everything to hand including guidebooks,newspapers,spanish dictionaries and flight safety cards together with games of eye spy and 'guess which air hostess I would most like to sit on my face' we arrived at Anchorage in Alaska. Our first night was in a hostel and a reminder of hostel life , sharing stories, stealing each others food and avoiding cleaning duties. Having had such a wet UK summer and expecting the worst we were pleasantly surprised by the sunny weather(about 70 f). We got ourselves organized for our trip up to the wilderness and found time to hire a
Happy Campers
Home sweet home for four glorious days coupe of bikes and explore Anchorage. A big city spread over a large area we saw hugh salmon in the river which you could almost reach in and fish out with your hands, also a moose chewing on a bush by the bike trial provided our first glimpse of wildlife. The next day we set of for the national park Denali armed with 4 days of food supplies, superstrength mossie repellant, our brown shorts and highlevels of expectancy.
We weren't disappointed. Our campsite was 85 miles into the park at the end of the trail. We bused through miles of wilderness intersperssed with spruce trees, tundra, sprawling mountain ranges and the occasional grizzly bear, all of whom were busy chomping on blueberries fattening up for the winter. I think I even saw a smile on TC's face as he watched his larger cousins ambling around in the undergrowth. As you can imagine we were amazed. Along with the bears there was the odd moose with enormous hatracks and caribou going about their business. The bus driver just happened to mention that a grizzly did frequent our Wonder Lake campsite and it was very important to put all our food and
Getting Horny
Caribou antlers don't pick up radio 2. smellies in the huge metal bear container at the site. As you can imagine our first night was a bit nerve racking as our crisp packet didn't provide much protection from a bear. We eventually got used to it and now know what to do when meeting a bear, wave your arms in the air, let him know your human, if he keeps on coming play dead and if that fails just pray. So far we haven't come face to face with one yet. When strolling into a moose's territory you run until you leave it. Nobody has told us how big his territory is though, we could be running a long way. To cap it all for the four days in the park we had beautiful views of Mount McKinley (20,000ft), which is usually only visible for 20% of the time. About time our luck had changed. Over the four days we explored the trails, bathed in the lake and supplemented our megre diet on blueberries. Nik is very concerned about his weight, he can now do a very good impression of Sid Little. If he continues losing weight at the same rate he should be about 1 1/2
Mt McKinley
Reflection pond and the mountain in all its glory. stone by the time we get home. Got some great pics (to follow). Met a lovely father and daughter (Rob and Robyn) in the park, who are probably as mad as us. They gave us alift down to Seward which is the Southern part of Alaska where we hope to do some kayaking and glacier exploration. So far everything has been stunning the only down side is sharing a very small space with Nik. I must say that he has excelled himself he is now smiling at strangers and making polite conversation. Off now to book a ferry for our journey south (guess what, it is raining today).
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Lisa
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Who's Hugh Salmon?!
And what's he doing in the river!!! Sounds like you're having a fab time...very jealous here - although I am off to the wilderness of the Lake District this weekend, where I will have to have my wits about me with all those vicious sheep, cows and red squirrels about....followed by a hen weekend to Budapest next weekend, which I imagine will be slightly less civilised!! Hope South Alaska is as good as North - hopefully hear from you soon and look forward to the photos....Lisa (aka Maggot) xxx