Advertisement
Published: April 12th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Homer Spit
Very Alaska - and note, all the shops are closed! Although I had received several warnings before boarding my flight bound for Anchorage, Alaska, my usual optimism told me that surely you cant shut a whole state down for 9 months of the year? Surely there would be hostels open, buses and trains that ran and more importantly other tourists than me? Well, for once I was wrong. Alaska is actually hibernating. No buses, no trains, only a few hostels open and definitely no other tourists.
On the bright side, I get to experience the grandness of Alaska all to myself. And grand it is. Twice the size of Texas and with towns that you have to drive 600 miles on a gravel road to get to! And that's not it. Alaska has over 100,000 glaciers (and I thought Fox Glacier was big!) and more than 3m lakes, yep, that's 3 milion to name but a few amazing stats. Of course being the fishing mecca of the world, it is also home of the biggest ever salmon caught - more than 90 pounds, that's one big salmon filet! However, to me the most fascinating stats has to do with the change of season. Most people know that Alaska experiences the
Grandness of Alaska
Pictures cant even capture the true beauty... midnight sun in summer and gets less than four hours of daylight in winter. Due to the dramatic changes in daylight, the day actually gets 6min longer every day as we head towards summer solstice on June 21. 6min a day! That means that in the three weeks I am in Alaska, the day gets over 2 hours longer, isnt that amazing?
So apart from a few days of struggling to find out how I was going to do this trip with the country closed for winter, I have already been able to enjoy a lot of the spectacular scenery. Because its only early spring here, the mountains are still covered in a huge amount of snow. The Alaskans call this time of year: Break up time. Its the time when the snow melts and the ice breaks. Its amazing to witness. One day we passed this massive lake that was not only frozen but had half a meter of snow on it, and the next day half the ice was gone and the river was running as if it had always been like that. Truly makes you appreciate the wonders of mother nature.
I was lucky to
Mr Moose
Here's the real deal. Up close and Personal. meet, Teresa, a great chick from Iowa who is currently working in Fairbanks, at my hostel in Anchorage as she was about to head to the Kenai Peninsula - the place I was going as well, and she had a car. So we had a great time on our little road trip, being the only tourists around. We managed to persuade the local kayaking company in Seward to do their only second kayaking trip of the season. So great that we got to do it, as we had lots of sea lions swim right next to the kayak and saw some amazing wildlife.
Bear Encounter
The highlight of the tour however was our first snow hike. Too beautiful to describe, we hiked a stunning snow-covered trail, through a beautiful forest, over glacier rivers and down to a beach with views of mountains and bays. On our way back after having been warned about bears waking up and being particularly angry this time of year, Teresa suddenly stopped and said:
"Do you hear that? Branches breaking, not far from here?"
And I stopped. And yes, while my heart was pounding so loudly I could harldy hear anything, I
Snow Hiking
Like my snow shoes? definitely heard branches breaking and it was coming towards us.
At that moment, I swear my heart stopped. I completely froze. Cold sweat running down my spine. I could almost see the bear coming out of the bushes. Almost feel its breath on my face as it was about to take one tasty bite of Danish meat when out of the bushes I suddenly heard:
"Isnt it a beautiful day?"
What? The bear is talking? And through my nightmare vision another hiker took shape. As he passed us, he kindly greeted us and walked on. I merely stood there. Not sure whether to cry or laugh. And so, in that moment, my whole life passed me by and all I could think of was: "But I have only just started my trip. I cant die now. I havent even seen a moose yet".
But luckily we have also had lots of encounters with more peaceful animals. Alaska wildlife is abundant. On my short trip, I have already seen hundreds (yes) of bald-eyed eagles, seals, sea lions, sea otters and most importantly lots of Moose. I know other people think that moose are ugly but I have
always thought they are so cute. And finally I met one in person. Well lots of them actually. They walk through towns, come into people's backyards and in general just seem to walk around and enjoy life. Isnt that cool?
And so the journey through Alaska's wilderness continues on Thurs when I embark the ferry from Whitier to Juneau in the Inside Passage which will take a mere three days! Stay tuned!
And please keep sending those emails, you cant have forgotten me already?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.136s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 17; qc: 73; dbt: 0.0905s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Lis
non-member comment
Hej Alaska girl.
Hej Vicki the Moose. Så kan naturen da vist ikke blive flottere. Herlige billeder af dig i Alaska og du har fundet butikken med plysdyr. TIHI. Herhjemme er vejret stadig dårligt, foråret lader vente på sig. Vi er ved at gøre klar til påsken. Har været ude at handle rigtig mange lækkerier ind. Hele familien, ja undtagen dig, kommer langfredag til frokost. Vi glæder os rigtig meget til du kommer hjem og så skal alle dine livretter nok komme på bordet. Håber der venter dig rigtig mange gode oplevelser derude. Mange kærlige hilsner og knus fra Mor, Far og Sigurd.