Blogs from Girdwood, Alaska, United States, North America

Today it was time to move on from Seward. It was a sunny, crisp morning and I was able to clearly see the surrounding mountains. I enjoyed my last morning of free breakfast, packed my bags and headed out to meet my bus. Today I had a short 2 hour ride on the Park Connection bus from Seward to Girdwood. The bus was a regular bus with nice seats and big windows. The Park Connection is a good option to get around if the train schedule does not work out in your favor. I chose to spend the night in Girdwood to break up the journey from Seward to Denali and to experience more of Alaska. Girdwood is a small town about 40 miles south of Anchorage and the main draw here is the Alyeska Resort, ... read more

We woke with a day of leisure on our hands. Our plans were to take the cable car up about half a mile and check out the surroundings. The area just finished hosting a three-day music festival with wonderful weather where you could see for miles; so, the pit-a-pat of rain drops outside our window was not a welcome sound, nor were the clouds that seemed to shroud the mountain outside our window. But we were in no rush and we hoped that things would clear up; if not, we’d just lounge around the resort. Sharon wondered what all of the wooden bench-boxes were for outside the many rooms, and our room was at the very end of a meandering hall with a couple of bends and lined with many, many bench boxes; but, this time ... read more

Ginny and I have decided to forgo one of my favorite things to do - a State Fair, in order to search for bear. I choose a hike that is bound to have bear. Falls Creek Trail in Chugach State Park near Girdwood. According to Ginny's guidebook the park is home to over 300 black bear and 65 brown bear! Bear sighting is certain! The hike itself sounds interesting. A 4.5 mile round trip hike that follows a steep creek. While 4.5 miles doesn't seem like much the elevation gain was almost 2400 ft! That is 2400 ft in 2.25 miles! No problem. We are fit. Bring it! We start the hike at around 1130. It became very apparent that 1-the trail was VERY steep 2-the trail was VERY slippery because of all the rain and ... read more

Today we headed Southeast out of Anchorage towards the town of Girdwood and the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center. We stopped for coffee and cinnamon roll at Girdwood's Bakery. The small bakery served breakfast and was quite busy at 8am. The flowers outside of bakery were amazing in size and colorful. The drive down to Girdwood and AWCC is on Turnagain Arm, named so because of capt Cook needing to turn around after getting lost. The road follows the water and train tracks parallel the road and water. We watched for bulaga whales but I think they were still sleeping. The AWCC was a private quided tour of the animals and center. The money from tours and visitors help support the upkeep of the animals, many who were orphaned or injured. Some are able to be returned ... read more

In this first blog I intend to lay out exactly what preparations went into planning this trip and our complete packing list and why, since these seem to be the most useful bits of info for any one else who desires to attempt a long term backpacking trip without hiring any travel service to organize your trip, I can not stress enough how much more I enjoy foreign travel when I am in charge of my day to day itinerary, for the amount of time it takes to do your own trip planning, it is repaid a thousand times over in the enjoyment you receive on the road, knowing that this is a trip for Sarah and my self, and not a travel agents! is true freedom, at any point during the trip we will feel ... read more