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Locations - Anchorage, Denali, Seward
Duration - 2 weeks in August
Activities - Hiking, kayaking, driving

We flew into Ted Steven’s airport in Anchorage on a NWA flight from DC via Minneapolis-St. Paul. The flight was about 8 or 9 hours including the layover, no food as is standard now. I was able to move into a seat next to Jen, with the added benefit of being in an exit row, which made the trip much nicer. We left DC in the morning and arrived in Anchorage in the late afternoon with plenty of time to drive around and get settled in the hotel. The Anchorage airport is a shining example of the strange money situation in Alaska. Whether bought with federal money courtesy of Ted Stevens, or with oil money, the airport is one of the nicest in the country. Our first night in Alaska we stayed at the Q-something hotel, just south of downtown. It was nothing special but then again we were only staying in Anchorage one night before driving up to Denali. That evening we did some shopping at the Fred Myer’s grocery/department store and REI for food and last minute hiking gear, respectively. Fred Myer’s had a good selection of vegetarian food, which was a pleasant surprise.
The next morning we headed north and drove, and drove, and drove…. It wasn’t until then that I realized just how big Alaska really is. The maps don’t do it justice. Driving 65mph it took us about 3 hours to get to Denali State Park,

and that’s just halfway to Fairbanks. Along the way we passed through seemingly endless pine forests with mountains wandering on the horizon.
We arrived at the Byers Lake Campground and Alaska War Memorial , towards the southern end of the park, and stopped into the ranger station to register for backcountry camping and pickup a second bear canister. The volunteers at the station were friendly, although we were a little surprised when they asked if we’d ever backpacked before. If we’d said “no” would they still have let us go on a 27.4mi trip along a 3000ft ridge in late August?

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That’s not exactly what I would call a sound trip plan for novice backpackers. The weather report showed fair weather for the next day or so with a chance of rain on the horizon.

Driving north another 20 miles or so brought us to the Little Coal Creek, which was our path up to the high country. We made it on the trail by noon and started up the 1500+ foot climb. The first mile or two was heavily wooded and meandered through rolling hills past ponds and streams.

Being our first few hours on foot we were particularly wary of bears but in what was to become the theme of our trip we didn’t see much wildlife, at least up close. Rising up above the treeline at about 2000ft we were greeted with a stunning view of Denali rising to the northwest out of the broad plains.

We passed a few day hikers as we moved further up onto the ridge and saw the first of many ground squirrels and marmots. They were particularly cute and rather unafraid, at least until we hiked close by their burrows. They announced our progress with whistles and could be seen standing up to survey the scene.

Coming up and over the shoulder of the ridge we traversed a scree field below lingering snow and headed south along the backbone of the ridge. Small summits provided alternating climbs and descents and kept the panoramic views pleasantly hidden. All this way Denali rose in the distance as a majestic king, although the haze from the massive forest fires to the north prevented us from getting those crystal clear views that the photographs always show.

We camped on a high knoll about halfway to the Ermine Creek trail and spent a pleasant night with excellent views to the east overlooking the Susitna River valley. The silence of the tundra was incredible, unlike anything else I’ve experienced, and just sitting there listening to the absence of everything was worth the trip.

In the morning we woke up to heavy fog and made a quick breakfast before heading south once more. The trail meandered through the high hills becoming progressively more cluttered with boulders and tarns. As always it was a wonderful hike through the morning fog and we made good time reaching the Ermine Creek trail by mid-morning.

After a brief pause for some photos of the valley we headed down and crossed over the headwaters of the creek where we talked briefly with an ex-DCer who’d moved up to Alaska and never looked back, small world. Climbing out of the valley we wound our way through beautiful and strange rock formations before climbing down, down, down into a huge and very wet
valley. The day was turning hot and we were looking for a lunch spot but ended up moving on until we’d cleared the valley and started up into the southern hills. Lunch was a welcome break after a long hike. After about an hour we headed out again, passed Skinny Lake, and looked towards Mini Skinny Lake but were interrupted by Golog Hill.

Golog is a moderate 2900ft peak but the never ending gradual ascent sapped our remaining strength, not to mention the howling wind when we reached the top. It was getting late by the time we looked south from Golog and we decided to call it a day at the next available campsite. We found a beautiful little campsite near a tarn just south of Golog and setup camp in the lee of a hill because the wind was still blowing strongly from the southwest. After a nice dinner near the tarn we turned in only to be woken several hours later by the howling wind, which had backed to the south and now combined with rain. We spent the rest of the night listening to the pounding rain and keeping an ear out for the sound of one of the guylines coming loose. The wind came right up the hill and slid underneath the tent and fly, bringing rain up into the tent and slowly soaking everything inside. Eventually the southern guyline did come loose and we had to climb into rain gear and face the wind to fix it. By that time the sky was turning gray and we decided to call it a night (or is it call it a morning?). We skipped breakfast and packed quickly to get out of the wind. The wind and rain kept up as we hiked south through the slowly brightening day and we debated stopping for a hot meal a few times but just couldn’t justify sitting in the wind and the rain for a bowl of oatmeal. We passed several other hikers, most still in their tents, and we made excellent time as we pushed south. Mini Skinny Lake marked our turn west and down an incredibly steep trail towards Byers Lake. Unfortunately it was still raining, actually even harder than before, and we ended up taking some nice slides down a few particularly steep areas. Thankfully it was much warmer as we came down off the ridge. We eventually made it down and then had to navigate a half-broken suspension bridge to cross Byer Creek. From there the mile or two walk to the ranger station seemed like forever but the eventual arrival and subsequent cup of coffee was very sweet indeed. We ended up making the 27.4mi trip in just about 48 hours despite, or maybe because of, the last 12 hours of rain and wind.
A different volunteer ranger was nice enough to match us up with a nice couple from Fairbanks and they gave us a lift back north to Little Coal Creek and our car. They had two very nice dogs and a big 5th wheel, recently purchased, that they were preparing to drive back to New York. Once back to the car we ate chips and headed north to the Denali National Park area, about 60 miles away, where we stayed at the Denali Park Lodge.
The next day we took a short drive into Denali National Park and went for a quick day hike where we saw some distant Dall sheep. The day was picture perfect and Denali rose in the distant although the view wasn’t as spectacular as it was from Kesugi Ridge, in the state park.

We decided not to take the park bus for a longer ride through the park and ended up heading south around 1pm, planning on staying in Anchorage before moving on to Seward. On the way we detoured up into the gold mining country near Hatcher Pass and decided to stay in Wasilla at the Lake Lucille B&B.

Wasilla is this strange little suburb of Anchorage, about 50 minutes away, which looks like a strip mall town but actually has some nice little neighborhoods tucked away off the main drag. The next day we drove south through Anchorage and traded rental cars because a rock had smashed the windshield up in Denali.
The drive south through the Kenai peninsula was beautiful and well worth some sight-seeing time. About 16 miles north of Seward we stopped and stayed at the Snow River hostel, which was empty except for us and has a antique kitchen woodstove that was originally used by the U.S. Army.

The next day was sightseeing around Seward including a trip up to Exit Glacier and a visit to the Sea Wildlife center. The glacier was impressive and the park signs very informative. The glacier has receded tremendously over the last few hundred years and it provides a first hand example of glacial impacts on the environment. The center is the result of a $50M fund from the Valdez oil spill. There are presentations throughout the day on all the different animals there as well as a tidepool for the kids to touch some animals. The center is primarily a research facility so they have lots of scientific information about the ongoing problems with the ecosystems of coastal Alaska including the endangered Stellar sea lions and the diminishing salmon population.
That night we stayed in town at a small motel near the kayak shop and woke up early to get started with our 3 day trip to Aialik Bay. We met our guide at Kayak Alaska, picked up the gear, and headed down to the small boat harbor for the water taxi ride out to the bay.
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Despite taking a long time, the water taxi was quite a bit of fun between the sea otter sighting, the incredible scenery, and the stories from the boat captain, who’d been in Seward since the ’60s. We eventually got settled into the kayaks in Bear Cove around 11am and finally had some peace and quiet after the noisy boat ride out. Jen paddled a Necky Elaho and I used a Wilderness Systems Cape Horn.

Both boats were decent although I’d recommend spending more time configuring the cockpit when setting out on a 3 day paddle. We worked along the northeastern side of the bay, heading toward the headwaters and the tidewater glaciers slowly but surely. The coastline was absolutely stunning with mountainsides coming right down to the ocean, pine trees and rocky shores, eagles, a bear, and lots of fish jumping all around the boats.

We paddled several miles and camped opposite Aialik Glacier at the base of a huge rocky cliff. The weather was decent although it rained that night. In the morning we started paddling in the rain but it quickly cleared up as we moved out across the bay.

What seemed like a short trip to Aialik Glacier was actually a five mile paddle complete with ice bergs. We moved through the ice trying to avoid disturbing the seals who were napping on the larger pieces of ice, and eventually made it across to the glacier where we relaxed for about an hour watching the ice calve into the water with huge rumbling noises like not so distant thunder. The only disturbance to the scenery was the occasional visit from one of the site-seeing boats. From there we headed southeast along the shoreline and made it to Pederson Lagoon in time for high tide, which is the only time you can paddle up into that shallow area.

Once inside it was incredible with seals, sea otters, and eagles everywhere we looked. The seals tended to follow the kayaks and the sea otters were playing in groups as large as five. We tried to paddle up to the glacier but the wind was howling down off the Harding Icefield and we ended up turning back and heading towards the campsite a bit further down the coast. The wind was behind us so we used the paddles as sails and made decent time. Once we’d made camp I ended up getting sick as a dog and spent the evening throwing up, but aside from that it was a spectacular night. We were camped right on the beach with all the bay in front of us. The glaciers rumbled throughout the night and the morning dawned nice and clear, although very windy. We decided against trying to paddle down the coast to Holgate glacier because of the wind and spent the day relaxing on the beach.

Eventually the water taxi was able to get out to us, although any rougher and we would have been spending an extra night out! The ride back was rough but fairly fast and we made it back to Seward by about 4pm. From there we headed north and made it back to Anchorage by evening. This time in Anchorage we were staying at the premier hotel, the Captain Cook, complete with everything nautical and a great view northwest across the bay. Jen headed to her conference for work and I relaxed for a couple of days in Anchorage. We found a nice little cafe, the Middle Way, and went to see the Grizzly Man movie. Next it was time to head back home and luckily our flight on NWA turned out well despite the mechanics strike that was ongoing at the time.