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Published: August 6th 2007
June 10th: Boarded the "American Eagle" flight to Los Angeles. Nothing to mention except that we had no complaints. That was the first time I saw LAX & immediately understood that it is as fast paced as the city itself. After a 3 hr walking in the airport, we boarded DL 816 to Anchorage. LA was blanketed in fog. Once the airplane took off, we came out of the fog & there was this Sun as if it was there all the time! For most of the journey, I fell asleep(or at least tried to). Ganesh was immersed in a movie. A sudden turbulence made the seat belt mandatory. Most of us got up, looked down & never went back to sleep at all. 30000 ft below us were these huge glaciers, glacier-carved mountains, hundreds of lakes, ocean, clear blue sky & of course, the trying-to-set Sun(11.30pm). Landed very peacefully. It took a little while to get our baggages. We came out into the open to take the shuttle to our rental car(1:00am). We inhaled the fresh Alaskan air. The airport is surrounded by the Chugach range on the East. I pinched myself after landing here in Anchorage. Its true! I
am in ALASKA.
June 11th: We woke up to broad daylight at 6:00 am. After picking up our tour-saver book from Safeway, we started our mission along Seward highway 1. All highways in Alaska have numbers & names.
Seward Highway(Hwy 1): First impression-Absolutely wonderful! I had to see it to believe it. The weather was a little windy & cold. At the Potter Marsh, a fellow Indian & bird freak took us for a short hike to see a very rare bird(found only here). I do not remember the name of the bird now.
A few miles further, we got the first view of Turnagain Arm. It was probably low tide & the water was all very grey & all the mudflats were visible. Not very impressive. Dirty, in fact. There is this major info everywhere that the mudflats might look inviting, but they are filled with quick sand. Trust me, they don't look inviting unless of course, you love to get dirty.
With the sun coming up, the views got better & better. We got the first glimpse of the Alaskan train. The railroad pretty much lines along the highway along Turnagain Arm.
Our
first wildlife sighting was along here up in the mountains-Dall Sheep. There are no goats in Alaska.
In just a couple of miles, we were on our first cruise, to Portage Glacier - a short 1 hr cruise. The sun was shining bright & we caught the blue color on the glacier. The glacier calved a couple of short chunks into the lake. Learned about the existence of ice worms. The visitor center is very cool & is definitely worth a visit. While I was gazing though their exhibits, Ganesh was busy taking some iceberg shots.
We also took the short 2 mile hike to Byron glacier. No wildlife, but awesome views.
I think we just had enough time to get to Seward, the coastal town. What met my eyes? A 24 hr Safeway & a Wells Fargo Alaska is so much in the US!!! But then, I was informed that it is pretty much a ghost town in Winter.
We checked into Moby Dick hostel unloaded, ate & took off to the Resurrection bay that was 3 minutes away. If you stay in Seward, the bay is never far off. We hoped
to come back to the Sea life center later. But we checked the bay trail. Windy, but neat! Information on the good friday,1964, 9.1 scale earthquake that shook Seward was all over town. It lasted for 4 minutes! It triggered these huge 40 ft Tsunami waves that pretty much destroyed Seward. Due to its vulnerability, Whittier was considered a better port.
The very small downtown looked dormant. We retired back to our home. We were sharing the home with a bunch of Chinese people. It felt nice to be at a home. Nothing too fancy, but everything worked fine. The view from the window above our bed was 2 tall snow covered peaks! Can't get anything better than that
June 12th: An 8 hr cruise to Kenai Fjords National Park with Major Marine Tours. We were really lucky to lots of puffins, humpback whales, Orcas among other otters, sea lions & porpoises. A National Park Ranger was in the cruise helping us to identify & enlighten us about the Ocean life that we were totally unaware of. We made a couple of friends & learned the diversity of people's backgrounds traveling to Alaska. Exit glacier is
pushed till tomorrow. But we did take the drive to Lowell Point. It is an unpaved road for 8 miles that take you to the end of the road in Seward. Too tired! Retired with this thought There is so much that we did not know about.
What is a Fjord?. You cannot visit AK without knowing that!
June 13th: We entered Alaska Sealife center in Seward at 8:00am, when they just opened for the day. Interesting exhibits. It took a lot of courage from my side to touch sea cucumbers, star fishes, urchins. I am not a big fan of slimy creatures. We spent around 2 -3 hrs there. We visited Exit glacier on our way out of Seward. It is one of the most accessible glaciers & we took the short 2 mile overlook loop. We did not feel so miserable having missed out on the strenuous 8 mile hike to Harding Ice field (the huge glacier that feeds all of Kenai's tidewater glaciers)- I guess.
We stopped at bear creek to have a look at thier Salmon hatchery. That
was our first view of chum salmons. We saw a bunch of them already waiting(entry is regulated) to get upstream. I was a little concerned on seeing them as they did not look the bright red/pink color that I've heard about them. Turns out that they get that color just before spawning.
Salmons amaze me. They are born in a freshwater lake where their parents died. They hang around for a year or two there before heading to the ocean. They gather up all the nutrients from the ocean & when time comes, travel upstream to where they were born, to spawn & then die. During this journey from the ocean upstream to the lake bed, they pretty much do not eat anything.
Sterling Highway: We got pointed to the 17 mile long skilake loop road for some black bear viewing. We were looking around the campsites & everywhere possible. Down at the point where we got frustrated & got back on to the main road, we saw a bear run away from us as I hit the brakes. For a minute, we were like, "Shouldn't we be the ones to run away?" . Bears are more
Captain, M V Ptarmigan
Portage Glacier cruiseshy than we expect
them to be. In the world where bear encounters are talked about, it turns out that you should just not startle or corner a bear. Otherwise, they seem undisturbed even when you get close to them. We saw another bear in just a couple of minutes. It is total wilderness & you tend to look around before you get out of the car. We were a little scared, though we knew that black bears don't eat humans.
A little happy at our viewing, we continued down to Homer. The drive was way longer than we had expected. But the Kenai river bends its way for some blue water views & probably salmon fishers. We saw a whole bunch of people busy with their fishing rods. An interesting stop was Anchor point, the western most point accessible by highway. We spotted a bunch of bald eagles there. But we did not have the time to get down to the beach for closer views. 20 miles from there is the city of Homer. We went to the famous 5 mile spit at Kachemuk Bay. The spit is filled with shops ranging from souveniors, bakery to campground,
restaurants & hotels. Crowded than we had expected. A blow after being in quiet Seward.
Our home for the night was a small trailer "Scotty" at the Homer hostel. A cozy interior! The owner, Will, had been to India a couple of times & he made me write "Vanakkam" in Tamil on his "Language wall". Well, the now Homer hostel was then Pratt historic house.
We did some Eagle surfing late(in the Spit) in the evening. Initially we had to strain our eyes looking for them. Turned out there were a lot more than we could see. The trick is to look up. We were browsing the land. We soon found a nest & camped there until it got too cold for me. Again, the familiar site- people(including women & kids) fishing! Homer is famous for its halibut. Some people catch record-winning heavy halibuts. They have constant competitions for them. Homer is surrounded by snow covered Kenai peaks on the East. It is a fairly larger town than Seward.
June 14th: A long day's drive to Girdwood. Our first stop was at the Ninilchik's russian orthodox church overlooking the ocean. It is not functional now.
Ice berg
Portage Lake It is interesting to note that there was a burial ground within the same compound.
We did a short detour to Kenai's Orthodox church too. Fortunately, there was a priest who gave us a whole lot of information about their congregation & the church itself. Well, our flash(that did not work until then) started to work when someone offered to take a picture of us both. So, we'll remember this place for a long time There is also "Beluga point" where the Kenai river joins the cook inlet. As many locals said, the Belugas love to play hide & seek. We saw none.
The rest of the day was uneventful until we got to Girdwood, the ski town. True to its name, there was a lot more snow here than anywhere else down south. We checked into Alyeska hostel. The place was very neat with only 8 bunks. Would highly recommend it to anyone.
We went around the town a little bit. Popular attractions are the tram ride to the top, tandem para glide from there & a moose trail. I wanted to para glide, but we did not have time then. There was a slight chance that we may
come back there on a later day. Back at the hostel, it was like home. We had dinner & off to bed. It is difficult to sleep when the Sun/light hits right on your face.
June 15th: We were leaving Kenai peninsula to the more interior AK. After costco shopping at Anchorage, its was a temporary farewell to the Kenai peninsula.
Interesting people we met:
-Ashok Khosla, a fellow Indian who comes to AK every year(& stays for a month) for bird photography. Apparently, he travels north to Barrow to get some Polar bear shots. Flash news: He owns a 500mm telephoto lens! *sigh* *sigh* *sigh*
-A biologist from Switzerland with his girlfriend at Seward. We talked about the Alps, Swiss bank & what not! They had pretty much traveled around the world & it took them less than 30 minutes to get ready & get out of the house Of course, they did no cooking!
-Will, Owner of Homer hostel: He is basically from the DC area, came to AK on vacation, liked it, bought this place & never went back! He loved India except that he was thronged by the locals to buy stuff.
-Micaela, a
photographer by profession, who was traveling for 1 week to get some shots for her profile & website. She was travelling by herself & was camping most of the times. For a person from Southern CA, she had amazing fearlessness towards bears! She hoped to shoot for National Geographic Channel some day!
Observations:
1. Roads are extremely well maintained with 65mph for most parts.
2. Coastal weather is as unpredictable as in any other place & consider yourself lucky(rather than despise) to get a sunny day.
3. No mosquitoes.
4. There are constant construction work in Summer along all highways, but they do not cause too much delay.
5. AK is a HUGE state & the distances can be easily underestimated.
6. Almost every town/city has a Safeway/Carrs & most of them are open 24 hrs.
7. People are very very friendly.
8. Alaska is huge. Wildlife is everywhere, but there are lots of places where they can be. So, if you see some, you just were in the right place at the right time.
9. How much ever time you have in Alaska, you have barely scratched the surface.
10. All the major highways are paved, but
almost all of the side roads or town/city roads, not necessarily!!!
11. The summer Sun sets in Alaska, but it is never too dark to get out after midnight.
12. Untrue to popular belief, Alaska is not as remote as people think. Most places are well connected with Internet & a full cell phone signal.
FYI
The Milepost is by far the best travel guide for Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia & Yukon territories.
We also used Fodor's travel guide. Unless you travel alone or you do not plan to do all the touristy stuff, buy a Toursaver book. They have a lot of 2 for 1 deals.
There are funny names in Alaska: Turnagain arm is pretty much a narrow bay; Resurrection bay is the bay leading to Gulf of Alaska from Seward;
Seward Attractions: Kenai Fjords wildlife cruise, Alaska Sealife center, Exit glacier, Harding Icefield.
Homer Attrations: Spit, Pratt museum, Sealife center, scenic drive-skyline drive.
Until "The Interior" - phase 2 of our journey, its us wishing "Bon Voyage".
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Thilak
non-member comment
Sooooper! Cool pix. No interesting bear encounter? ;-)