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Published: April 27th 2006
Inside Passage
snowcapped mountains against a clear blue sky - does it get any better?Extremes. A word that describes my Alaskan experience better than any other is: Extremes. Alaska is a land of extremes: Extremely beautiful nature, extremely cold, extreme weather changes, extreme daylight changes, extreme tidal changes, extremely strange people, extreme amounts of fantastic wild life and so on.
So, it was only natural that my journey through Alaska became one of extremes as well. From having the most beautiful moment of my life to feeling scared, lonely and frustrated, my Alaskan experience was one to remember.
I think I hinted in my last blog entry at the fact that Alaska is still completely "shut down" which meant that getting around was extremely difficult. It also meant that in my three weeks in Alaska I only met two other tourists and believe you me, I did travel around a fair bit. On one hand, this was fantastic as it meant that I had the whole state to myself and also that I met lots of locals. However, there were times when this extremely testing for even the most seasoned traveller. Here's a story to illustrate this point.
A bad day at the office
When I first got to Anchorage, I booked
myself on the ferry to Juneau (the capital) in the Inside Passage (the South Eastern part of Alaska - click on the map above) as this three day ferry ride had been highly recommended to me. As the ferry only departs once a month I scheduled all my other activities around this. However, the ferry people failed to inform me that there was no transportation from Anchorage to the ferry terminal 1 1/2h south of Anchorage! So I spent a whole day talking to every bus company and visitor center in Anchorage. I mean how hard can it be to get from A to B? To the credit of the Alaskans, everyone was so helpful and friendly, an older gentleman at the visitor center even invited me home for dinner so I could meet his son as he thought I would be his perfect match!
After hours of searching, the best I could do was to find a bus that would take me about half way there and then I would have to hitch hike the rest of the way! Now, while hitch hiking might be normal for some people, I am absolutely terrified of it and have sworn NEVER
The only grizzly bears I saw...
...were luckily in captivity and this picture is actually from Vancouver as I didnt see any in Alaska. And its the grizzly in the background!!! to do it. So, I had to choose between either that or not going to the Inside Passage at all. Needless to say, I decided that the thought of seeing glaciers and ice bergs was well worth risking my life for (sorry Mum).
And so I embarked on my lonely trip to the ferry terminal. The bus tour in itself proved the most bizarre part of it. It was like watching some sort of movie where unfortunately you are the human abducted by aliens who sit and look at you as if you are the weirdest thing they have ever seen. I was on the bus with four Alaskan men who looked like the kind of people who could all host their own freak show. Obviously in Alaska mullets and checkered shirts are still in, so they were all dressed accordingly. The older guy in the back talked to himself the whole way, the guy next to me was multi-handicapped and made very strange noises, the third guy couldnt stop talking about all the women he had PAID for in Cambodia and the last guy was really happy to have escaped to Alaska as he was wanted by the
Mendenhall Glacier
One of the biggest tide water glaciers in North America law in Washington state. Oh yeah, so there I was, the only non-Alaskan, only person not in trouble with the law, only girl on the bus and I started to think whether or not I should get out and start to hitch hike a bit earlier. However, in a combination of pretending to be really bad at English and reading my book I managed to survive until I got dropped of at the highway turnoff.
As I watched the bus depart I started to take in the scenery. Apart from the road that had been snow ploughed, the land was covered in snow. You couldnt see a house, a car or anything living for as far as you could see. And it was so quiet, a part from a squek from an eagle circling above me, looking at me as to say: "Hey little girl who thinks she wants adventure: Look at you now, alone in the wilderness, there is no one to save you out here. You can choose between running away, being eaten by bears or cougars, freezing to death or getting a ride with a serial killer".
I can honestly tell you that I have
Only in America...
...can you buy hand guns and riffles in a supermarket (Seriously) not experienced fear until that moment. I was terrified. No one knew where I was, I was just standing there in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness with my backpack. 20 miles from the nearest petrol station and it was so cold.
However, I had not to worry at all (if only someone could have told me earlier). The third guy to pass me picked me up and he was the nicest guy, father of two beautiful girls (showed me their picture) and drove me all the way to the ferry.
So after that ordeal I could do was to go straight to the bar on the ferry and pour myself an ice cold Alaskan Amber. A few minutes later a couple of younger guys joined me and we talked and drank all night until someone suddenly said: "Quick outside now". And so I rushed outside only to be overwhelmed by the dark sky being illuminated by the most beautiful dancing Northern Lights. It was as the sky had come alive and as if it was playing us a song. I have dreamt of seeing Aurora all my life and never thought I should be so lucky. It is
truly the most remarkleble phenomenon - I had goose bumbs all over and just stood there transfixed - it was without a doubt the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Kinda like the sky is painting you a picture right in front of you. A true wonder. The eskimos believe that it is children who have passed away who are dancing in the sky. And it is so intense, like you are witnesses something important, like the earth being created or thousands of colourful birds in the sky. Like nature putting on a show for you. Or God.
This moment of absolute beauty made everything else worth while. I guess what I learnt was that some times in life you have to go through some struggle to experience something really good.
Im sure some of you out there have experienced much more real life threatening situations but to me that was the scariest moment of my life. And above all what I learnt in that moment was how I have taken safety and security for granted all my life. How my life has been sheltered and how lucky we all are living in the Western World where there are no imminent life threatening situations - where we dont have to spend all day focusing on survival. I guess on the other hand in a situation like that all you care about is survival on nothing else matters. You are so alert assessing every movement waiting for the predators. You are totally reliant on your basic survial instincts. And this is where you realise how precious life is and how completely silly it seems that in your previous "safe life" you worried about things like how can I sell more beer?, who won the world cup, what to wear and whether or not to order extra whip with that frappachino or not. In those moments of survival all you care about is staying alive and you would gladly give up everything else to just survive. So I promised myself that if I survived I would cherish every moment of life and never worry about things that were not life threateing and ALWAYS order extra whip! Because what if its your last one?
This story may seem slightly dramatic to some of you but to me this was an important life changing moment. And rather than every blog entry being about the hiking, the snow-capped mountains or other tourist sights, for me this trip is as much about finding out what is important to me in life. And that moment when I got dropped off alone in the Alaskan wilderness I realised that the most important thing in life is life itself.
Needless to say, while this experience only lasted about 20min the the other three weeks of my Alaskan experience was fantastic. I saw humpback whales, amazing glaciers and scenery. Went to some cool museums and learnt about Eskimos, the early settlers and the Russians who sold Alaska to the Americans for only $7.2m! I even treated myself to a nice stay in a B&B one night after I had slept on a floor at a friend's place for three nights and on the ferry deck for two nights! Cant describe the amazing feeling of sleeping under a duvet again. I also learnt that every Alaskan owns a gun and a dog. You can in fact buy guns at the supermarket (see pic) - not sure about dogs :-)
So, although my Alaskan experience ended up being very different from what I expected, I was stunned that there still is such an abundance of beautiful untouced nature and wildlife left in the world. Needless to say, I am going back one day for sure, although next time it will be in summer for sure.
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mother eileen
non-member comment
still alive!!!
great to hear from you again and that you are still alive and well!!!! We take off next wed. on our travels, nothing like yours!! but at this age who needs sooooo much excitement! heart attack city or something worse, like needing a change of underwear!, get my drift! keep your logs coming and good luck in your next adventure, mother eileen!!