Our Alaska Highlights

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What was our favorite place in Alaska? It's hard to say. Each area was different and weather (rain) influenced our feelings, but we had wonderful experiences everywhere:
Southeast Alaska - Pr. Rupert, B.C., Juneau, Haines, Valdez, Cordova and Hyder This part of Alaska is a land of mist-veiled blue green mountains, mountains that hem you in on both sides and rise to the sky; beautiful rocky fjords that emerge straight up from the waterway; Pr. William Sound; overflowing rivers and canals; waterfalls tumbling from craggy peaks, blue glaciers calving and seals floating on ice bergs; humpback whales blowing spray, mysterious rain forests with huge Sitka spruce trees draped with gray moss and bright green moss covering the forest floor and RAIN.
Cordova - Copper River Delta; swampy; 50 mile gravel road to Child’s glacier and the million dollar bridge to nowhere; big red salmon in a clear stream.
McCarthy/Kennicott - The worst teeth chattering, rig jarring, gravel road we traveled. Wrangell-St. Elias NP, isolated, seeing beautiful glacier covered, rugged mountains from the air; the Kennecott Copper Mill, a step back in time. Sunny and warm.
Wasilla - A refreshing stop to stock up; Independence Gold Mine, Hatcher Pass Road, the White Hare Garden
Anchorage - A big city with traffic, services, good grocery stores, and McDonald’s; a moose in the botanical gardens and a hike on Flat Top Mountain. Rain
Kenai Peninsula - Sunny; Russian River Falls, salmon jumping the falls and a sow and cub fishing; woods, clear streams; Homer, volcanos, beach atmosphere, sea stars, kayaking, a foggy day; Hope, bore tide, an Alaskan style wedding; Seward, Exit Glacier, Sea Life Center, Capt’n’s Cruise, orcas, puffins, Gulf of Alaska, sun breaking through the clouds, a salmon dinner.
Denali Highway - Mountains, dry, vast tundra, sunsets on lakes, blueberries, interesting geology, good bird watching.
Denali NP #1 - Learning the shuttle bus system, hiking in the tundra, sunny, driving the 30 miles out of the park on a clear frosty morning and seeing Mt. McKinley.
Fairbanks - Sandhill cranes, Chena Hot Springs, Gold Drudge #8, the northern lights, sunny and dry.
Denali State Park - Walk in the woods, beginning of fall, a quiet lake
Denali NP #2 - Autumn on the tundra, sunny and cold, Mt. McKinley on the road to Wonder Lake.
Yukon, Canada - Yellow trees lining the roller coaster highway. Mountains topped with paprika colored tundra with gold trees like cheese sauce flowing mid way down into the valleys and crevices until stopped by the dark green spruce trees at the bottom.
Hyder - The scenery of SE AK; Great bear viewing, Salmon glacier, muddy and cloudy.
Alaska - Loved the cool, humidity-free temperatures. During the day it ran in the 60's to low 70's, once in awhile in August it would reach the high 70's. Night time temps were in the 50's until late August/early Sept when it dipped into the 30's a few nights.

Chester, VA - No matter how far you roam, there is no place quite like home! It’s good to be back.

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Comments

[Maddywv]

What a great adventure. I really enjoyed reading your journal, thanks for sharing!

[Mike]

Welcome back
Looks like you had a grand trip. You really need to publish your journal and pictures. Glad you all made it safe and sound. Mike