Susan and Matt--the big adventure: June 2014

Monday, June 30, 2014

Savage Alpine Trail in Denali

Matthew and I hiked the Savage Alpine Trail today--
The distance was only 4 miles, but the elevation change was 1,500 feet at a 25% grade...
The trail is considered strenuous. HA! I consider it damn difficult! (So did Matt!)

Matt at the beginning of the trail--note his whistle for making noise.
He also carries a bell.

flowers and lichen

A tuckered boy close to the summit

Almost.....

And, we are at the top...FINALLY!

Bluebells

Thought you might enjoy a video. It is not very good quality, but it will give you a sense of Denali.
In the official newspaper of the park, Alpenglow, the size of Denali was described--
"The total of its park and preserve areas amounts to 6, 028,203 acres or 9,419 square miles. So waling across all of Denali at a rate of one acre a minute (about 70 yards) for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year would take 11 years, 5 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 10 hours, 34 minutes, and 28 seconds, approximately."
Yep, BIG, really BIG!

Videos--moose and ptarmigan

This first video was taken while on the Alcan Hwy. The female moose was right next to the road. Matthew and I watched her eat for over 15 minutes. (Not much variety really--head underwater, head out of water, check around, and head back underwater...smiles!) The noise you hear is the engine of the RV.

This second video is of a female ptarmigan (Alaska's state bird). She ran across the trail--the Savage Alpine Trail. Love listening to her!

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Denali National Park

We are finally here! Matthew and I have been looking forward to this volunteer opportunity for MONTHS! The drive up to Denali was beautiful! (I know, no surprise.)

Our first sighting of Denali--awesome!

Denali and clouds

The DUDE!

Denali and other mountains in the Alaska Range

Moose on the way to Denali National Park

The woman working with us, Lauren, will not be in until Wednesday to write-up our final job description. Until then, we are learning all we can about the park, hiking the trails, watching the movies and demonstrations, and enjoying the ranger lectures.
I think we will mostly be "roving" (walking the trails and answering questions posed by fellow hikers). I will have more details on Wednesday. EXCITING!!!
For this month, July, our camping site is at the park headquarters. It is approximately a 45 minute hike to the visitor center. (There are free shuttles, if we chose to catch a ride.)
Matt is thrilled because we are within a 4 minute walk of the dog kennels. It is fun to hear their excitement in the morning!

Our campsite--RV and mosquito screen tent

Prickly Rose or Wild Rose

On the Road Trail to the Visitor Center

On the Road Trail

Unsure--will ask

Red squirrel

Sled dog demonstration--

Matt's first meeting with a beautiful dog

Hitching up and getting ready to run!

Running to the end of the course

Done for this demonstration

Alaska--home again!

We are back in the last frontier, Alaska--
Matt and I arrived in Anchorage just in time for the summer solstice festival. It was fun to watch the activities and remember the things I love about Alaska!

Our first time to watch, from beginning to end, a chain saw art piece being made.

Beginning

Still "beginning"

Adding the bears

Ta Da!!!

This is, without a doubt, dog country!

How many cities have "kayaking rides" in the middle of a street?

I love the totem poles...

Skateboarders doing tricks

We only stayed with Katy and her family for a short weekend. Katy was busy creating crafts and working the market downtown. She has a very talented family! To see some of her art pieces, check out her website--
Katy Countryman Grant
Her husband, Tracy, takes amazing photos. To see some of these, check out his website--
Tracy Grant
Both Anna and Olivia, their daughters, are artistic too. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of their work...

From Anchorage, we drove down to Seward to see friends and enjoy the area.

On the way to Seward

On our walk into Seward

We had a great time with our friends from Texas, Jim and Judy! We even had a delicious gumbo and rice meal in their trailer--smiles! Thanks you two! We hope to see you in Denali!!!

Jim and Judy

After a few days in Seward, we returned to Anchorage for the final "purchase and loading of groceries". Spent our last night with Katy and her family, and left the next morning for Denali.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Traversing Canada

First night—Ferndale, WA (Close to the border, so we can cross into Canada easily and early the next morning)

We decided to travel an average of 450 miles a day; so the next day, we drove into Prince George, British Columbia (BC). There, we parked snuggled-up to a couple of semis at the Flying J gas station. We didn’t need any electricity or water, so it was a cheap sleep!

We drove on the Gold Rush Route (red) to Prince George.
From there, we crossed over to Fort Saint John on the Rocky Mountain Route (green)
We followed the Alcan the rest of the way to Anchorage!

On the second full-day day (Monday), we drove to and stopped in Fort Nelson (520 miles away). We traversed the secondary road to Fort Saint John and were rewarded with our first brown bear sighting! Actually, since Matt spotted it, he earned the huge sum of $5.00. (Nope, again, Tom G., no comment necessary! SMILES!) Later, that same day, we saw three black bear! It was definitely a day for bear!

The first brown bear! (lower right corner between the dead trees)

Third black bear on the side of the road

As always, I am thrilled by the vastness of this country, Canada. It is so beautiful—mountains, groves of birch, thousands of acres of pines, rolling hills, plains, rivers, waterfalls, wildlife…

Hmmm, this might help with scale…when we turned left onto Hwy 97 at Fort Saint John, the GPS declared that in 948 miles I would need to turn right onto Hwy 1. Meaning, on the third morning (if we maintain 450 miles a day), we would making our first turn. Overwhelming, right?!

Scenery on the drive

On the third full-day (Tuesday) we drove 461 miles (10 hrs plus), averaged 20.1 mpg, and are now within 196 miles of “The Turn”. Tonight, we are staying at a recreation area on the side of the Hwy (near Teslin, Yukon). (Recreation Area=2 outhouses, 2 bear-proof trash cans, a couple of well-used picnic tables, and a gravel parking area.) The view from our sliding door—wonderful! We decided to celebrate this day by remaining “unplugged”!

Now, the AWESOMENESS, we saw—

1 fox

1 brown bear

2 black bear (2 sightings)

8 mountain goats (3 sightings)

9 big horn sheep (4 sightings)

16 or 17 bison (6 sightings)

AND 4 brilliant rainbows!

We pulled-over to watch animals 17 times!!!! Nature was at its best today! Again, I LOVE this country! It is overwhelming how much land is untouched; how much space there is between towns and people; how amazing the air smells and tastes… It is definitely a “see it to believe it” experience.

The water is so clear and cold!

It is magical to drive under a rainbow...

At the Recreation Area--10:30 at night...

THE BEST OF THE ANIMAL PHOTOS (today)--

Cute butts! Big Horn Sheep

Big Horn Sheep

Mountain goat

Family of mountain goats

Gorgeous, isn't he? Bison

Day four (Wednesday) and we made “The Turn”. It was bittersweet; we turned away from Haines, AK (a town at the top of our list-of-places-to-live). However, Matt and I happily turned toward Anchorage and our cousins who live there! We will visit with them, and friends in Seward, before we head-up for our new excellent adventure—volunteering in Denail!!!

Today, we saw 2 black bears, 1 brown bear (awesome hump), and our first moose!

The scenery in the Yukon was, of course, amazing.