Blogs from Wrangell, Alaska, United States, North America

I emerged from our cabin Sunday morning to find ourselves surrounded by mountains half covered in mist. Needless to say, it was beautifully quiet. I had the chance to participate in a stretch class. You know the type. Where the person up front always seems to be a cheerful, happy morning person dripping with.... "Oh it's so great to be here! I just love it, don't you? Best time of the day." Yah da, yah da, yah da. I could not let that one go through to the keeper. No. Wrong. The group were informed of my sentiments. I am not one of them. I am not a morning person. The stretching felt good though. We were told that we would be seeing Misty Fjords Monument this morning. What does that suggest to you? A monument ... read more

Today was one of the best days imaginable. Both Don and I felt like explorers entering a new world. LeConte Glacier is a 21-mile-long and one-mile-wide glacier Since its discovery in 1887, the glacier has retreated nearly 2.5 miles (4 km), although it is considered to be in a stable position today. The glacier is known for its "shooter" icebergs which calve off underneath the water (LeConte Bay is 810 feet deep) and shoot out of the water due to their buoyancy. LeConte Glacier is the southernmost tidewater glacier on the Pacific Coast. Captain Jim and his Firstmate Jim took us and 6 other people on the adventure of our lives. No kidding!! This was an awesome ride. I won't say much more. But do have a look at the photos. ... read more

After the ride through LeConte Fjord, the boat took us to the fishing village of Petersburg, known as "Alaska's Little Norway". The trip from Wrangell to Petersburg is through the 21-mile "Wragell Narrows". Few cruise ships make it to Wrangell or Petersburg, because of the shallow waters. We ate a very late lunch at "Helse's" on Sing Lee Alley. Much on the menu had already disappeared from earlier lunch patrons. Evidently the homemade breads and sandwiches are in demand. The Son's of Norway Hall is near the saltwater inlet. It still hosts the local chapter of the International Son's of Norway, who work to preseve the town's Norwegian heritage. Beside the Norway Hall is the Fishermen's Memorial Park, dedicated in 2000. Its pupose is to commemorate and acknowledge the members of the community lost at sea. ... read more

We drove all over Tok (population 1,393) looking for a tire for our camper. We finally found one at the fourth tire and rv repair place we tried. We bought two tires, and had just one of them mounted, so now we feel secure again. We finally left Tok, heading toward Glennallen on the Tok Cutoff. The road climbs up from the Tanana River drainage through Mentasta Pass in the Alaska Range, and along the Copper River. The distant snow-covered Wrangell Mountains were often visible as we drove through woodlands of black spruce and aspen. We set up the campers in Glennallen, then drove to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park's visitor center at Copper Center. Its a very nice visitor center with great displays. Wrangell-St. Elias NP is the largest of our national parks, six times the ... read more

Leaving Palmer, hopefully for the last time, we once again headed east on the Glenn Highway. This road has become very familiar to us this week. The clouds hung low all morning and we had no views at all of this beautiful area and would never have known of it’s beauty, had we not passed through here before and gotten to see the incredible views. Kennicott Mine, McCarthy and the Wrangell/St. Elias National Park and Preserve are on the menu today. We are doing a lot of back-tracking, as the road to this area is back down toward Valdez. The gray morning turned into blue skies and sunshine in the afternoon. What a lovely day it turned out to be. We took the Edgerton Highway, a paved road, toward Chitina (pronounced Chit-na) and had great views ... read more