Alaska Adventure - Week 3 - To Anchorage & the Kenai Peninsula

Alaska Adventure - Week 3 - To Anchorage & the Kenai Peninsula

Friday, September 1 - Labor Day Weekend

Great call to Norrie & Barbara this morning who live in summer in Soldotna on the Kenai Peninsula where he is a fishing guide. The rest of the year they live in Sequim WA along with Bernie & Janet, our dearest friends who gave us their number. I wrote down every recommendation and we immediately determined our route today would not be the 237 direct paved miles to Anchorage but rather 354 mile eastward loop that starts at Cantwell, 27 miles south of Denali Park. The first leg is called the Denali Highway (Rpute 8) and is 136 miles of which only the first 3 from Cantwell and the last 21 into Paxton are paved. It is gorgeous scenery the whole way. We have astonishing views of the Alaska Range is on our north left and the Talkeetna Range to our south right. It is officially fall in my book as the aspen are golden, the willows orange and the fireweed flaming red! The road will closed a month from now for the winter.

Even more astonishing is the vast number of hunters/ATVers who are camped everywhere along this road! We stop for tomato soup and cheesey bread lunch overlooking Clearwater Lake.

At Paxton we head south for 70 miles on the Richardson Highway. The Wrangell Mointains are in front of us. Mt Drum rises 12,000 feet and dominates our landscape. Two other peaks are higher - Mt Wrangell at 14k and Mt Sanford at 16k but Drum is off to the side and closer so it pulls your eye to it.

We overnight at Dry Creek BLM CG. Almost deserted. Guessing that part of the hunting culture is to boondock- Alaskan word for free camping. A trail in the campground takes us thru the woods by what was an old extension of the camp sites. We encounter several large squirrel middens - mounds at the spruce bases that are deep with pine cone bracts. Numerous holes lead down under to their caches that will get them thru the winter. It looks like there are seven or more squirrel nest up the surrounding trees. 

Tonight I paint a sunset painting from a photo I took several days ago while in the Yukon. The bright colors at 8:12 pm are all natural - not due to fires or smog. I'm intent on doing a daily painting for the September Challenge at #stradaeasel. I love my Strada which I've adapted to hold my pastels. 

Saturday, 9/2 - Total miles so far - 4262, avg mpg 20.5

Quick walk around Campground starts my day, trying to stretch the kinks out of my hips. Five ptarmigan are hanging out there.  

We immediately turn west at Glenallen heading for Palmer and Anchorage. Palmer is the site of the Alaska State Fair which opened yesterday (it’s Labor Day Weekend). We skip it especially after seeing the line of cars waiting to get near it. We have the Chugach Mtns to our south (L) with which we instantly fall in love. Days later a movie at a Visitors Center tells us they were named by the Natives as the glacier that is now Prince William Sound receeded. Out in their kayaks, they spotted the dark rocks of the mountains now exposed and said ‘Chu-ga! Chu-ga!’of - Hurry! hurry! (as opposed to the more recent chant at local saloons and frat parties of Chuga! Chuga!).

In Anchorage, we visit a HUGE Fred Meyer Superstore for groceries and liquor which they contained inside a separate store within a store. Gas and a drive thru town and were on our way into the countryside again. Neither of us is a city-person; in fact last year we drove from mid Canada all the way to Nova Scotia and only stopped in Quebec Old City! Sometimes if there is a great gallery/museum, we will venture in town; for the most part, I'd call us nature lovers, always preferring the natural landscape to the man-made ones. Alaska is ideally suited for us as the towns are either small hamlets (Whittier), long spaced out businesses each with a separate driveways (Anchor Point), or large sprawling modern towns with every store and corporation one will see in the lower 48. 

Inspired by the Ptarmigan sighting and a book I bought in Chicken ‘Tisha’, the true story of a 19 year old Coloradan , Anne Hobbs, who took a teaching (‘T-sha’) position in Chicken back in the 1920s. She fell in love with a ‘half-breed, adopted two native children and eventually married her love despite the racist bias she faced for doing so. Her story enrapts me every night! Tonight I paint a Ptarmigan from a photo I took in Denali of one roadside where they are half way thru their molt to all white from their summer brown/black feathers.

Leaving Anchorage still on Route 1 which is now called the Seward Highway, we turn east to Portage Glacier. This too is a magical place.- another side of Chugach National Park . From what I can deduce from the disjointed maps I'm looking at, most of Chugach is composed of Glacier fingers extending down from a great frozen glacial top. We camp up the Portage Glacier road with Columbia Glacier above us and visible from our campsite! Further exploration reveals so many Finger glaciers extending down - Portage being the largest- that we quickly know we won't be able to keep up with all their names unless we were to spend several days here.Collin rides his bike several miles to the Begich,Boggs Visitor Center. Hale Boggs was the Speaker of the House back in 1972 and flew up into this area with new Representative Nick Begich of Alaska. Their plane disappeared, most likely from wing ice, and has never been found. We decide to spend more time there tomorrow.

Sunday 9/3

Outside the center is architecturally interesting. Inside, it is a wonder. Our Golden Age Pass gets us into the inner core for free (It's Good to Have a Golden Pass!) where we watch an excellent movie followed by a really well thought out presentation that melds the people, the place, its flora and fauna and its history into a compact story. I left satisfied and still curious- a perfect amalgam! 

Wish it wasn't rainy and gusting as our plan was to hike either to the base of the Byron Glacier or on the Portage Pass Trail up 750’ in elevation. Instead we paid $13 to take the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel thru the Mountains to Whittier, a ‘hamlet’ at the end of Prince William Sound. It is the longest tunnel in North America!- 13,200 feet long! And it shares the one skinny lane with a railroad track. The queue is like a ferry queue with vehicles lined up by size. Collin gets a bit claustrophobic going thru it but at last we see the daylight at the end of the tunnel. 

Whittier is confusing as the road and the huge parking lots road stripes make one think they're in line for the ferry across the Sound rather than heading to the end. 293 people are considered permanent residents of Whittier and one half of them live in a big ole ugly high rise there - a ‘Bauhaus’ design to which bad paint choices have been added to spice up it's blocky nature. A visit into one of then log shack businesses results in meeting a woman who lived for many years in our Tahoe area and now has been a permanent resident of Whittier for many years. She tells us the winters get down to only 25-35 degrees- Heck! We have a few days at a time at that every few years in Sacramento! Once again, the ocean proximity mitigates the severe temperatures of the adjacent inland where winters run MINUS 25 - 35 degrees. Next stop is at the Stillwater Cafe where I have Peel & Eat shrimp appetizer. I compliment the owner on them and she tells me they are from the Sound in front of me and that she never steams them until they are ordered. Small, they come in a cup with about 50 in it, covered with Old Bay Seasoning! My best meal of the trip yet! The cafe interior is in photo above.

A trip back thru the tunnel and we are on our way again to Homer. In Homer we choose a campground up above the town with a lovely view of the Kachemak Bay. It's raining and we spend the rest of the evening in our cozy van Sadie. 

Monday, 9/4

In Homer, the Spit is the most happening place. This man-made spit extends a couple of miles/ halfway across the bay until it reaches deep enough water for Homer’s Harbor. Lots of restaurants and tacky shops where I find the prices for ‘gift’ items to be double to triple what I've seen on the way here.

 As a Ranger put it yesterday at the Portage Glacier Nature Center, the costs are super high here because most businesses have to make their full years wages in just four months of summer. Housing prices in Homer are relatively affordable - 2200 sq ft nice home on large +1/2 acre lot for low $300s; everything else is expensive!

We drive out to Lands End which is up to the end of Kachemak Bay. Beautiful homes all along the way until the pavement ends the last few miles. There, all street signs are complex Russian names. Apparently Voznesenka is a Russian settlement and one has to be Russian to own or live there. The road heads down down down to another small settlement (sounds like Sea Low?) but it is strictly a four wheel drive/ATV road as it is a scary descent! On a switchback that faces the Bay we execute a turn around. Our van slips for a ways and we backup. Another time when I am so relieved to be with Collin above all others! He's glad he didn't have to get out and put chains on in the thick mud we are in (it rained all night).

Back along the Spit, Oyster signs beckon me everywhere. Not so for Collin, so I head into a great seafood market/ oyster bar. The guy shucks them right in front of me! The platter, the bar, the guy, the taste- it's a permanent photo in my mind as indelible as a scene I paint! 

Leaving Homer to head for Seward (173 miles), we keep a lookout for the Gallery of a famous artist Norman Lowell, that Norrie told us about. Up a road we turn in. Once again , I'm astonished! Norman is 89 and has been painting his whole life. After teaching art in Anchorage for many years, he and his wife Libby bought property on the Kenai where he built a rustic log cabin for them. Over the years, the cabin got bigger as did the family now of four. Norman created everything from the sale of his art. The HUGE state of the art gallery goes on and on. Some of his paintings get as large as 7’x14’!- and go for upwards of $40,000! All mediums are represented - his earlier 1960-1990s works include luscious pastels, soft yet dramatic! We talk to his son for a while. He gives me a DVD of interviews with his Dad. I look forward to watching it.

We drive the 183 miles to Seward where we stay in the huge campground on the water right in the front of downtown. We are in Resurrection Bay along with a Norwegian Cruise boat. They leave the harbor after dinner around 8:30pm while it is still light.

Tuesday, September 5

Seward is filled with very well done murals and wood sculptures!

It is pouring rain all this day which matches my mood! I awoke during the night with the beginning of a diverticulitis attack. I'm immobile all day which suits our driving almost all the way to Valdez - 9 hours and way over 400 miles. Fortunately we have already seen the spectacular scenery of the drive except for a few turn offs (Hope and Alyeska Ski area/Girdwood). We turn south at Glennallen and find a lovely streamside campsite at Squirrel Creek State Park. We're asleep by 9 for 11 hours. We both seem to have a natural rhythm of sleeping far longer hours than back at home. Must be the clear mountain air!

Wednesday, Sept 6

South to Valdez, scene of the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill. Collin remarks that our rainbow 🌈 this morning ends at the bay of oil! 

We stop at the Worthington Glacier. It has the best information boards on All Things Glacial. Waterfalls plummet off the sides of it.

Waterfalls are everywhere. Yesterday and today's rains have added even more water to them.

Valdez is the terminus of the 800 Trans-Alaska Pipeline that begins in Prudhoe Bay due North on the Arctic Ocean. All the pipeline related activities take place across the bay from Valdez. In town we see mostly commercial fishing related activities.

The drive back up the Valdez is as beautiful as the drive down was. At milepost 82, we turn ESE to drive down to Chitina (chit’ na) and onward on bumpy dirt road towards McCarthy. 

Along the way, we turn into Liberty Falls and come upon a campsite right at the base of the falls. It is so lovely that at only 2:30 pm we decide we must stay the night here. Collin goes off bushwhacking, waving to me at the top of the falls while I paint the falls from the bridge.

Thursday, Sept 7

We are driving my alongside the famed for its salmon Copper River. The braided river extends across a wide valley and is full of water. this is moose country and the moose hunting season is in full swing. Still we run across moose along the road and in a lake just before Chitina.

In McCarthy, we park and walk the 6/10 of a mile to the hamlet. 

The McCarthy Bistro is known for its fine dining and is mentioned in the Michelin Guide! Their dinner menu is highly inventive! wish we could stay for dinner!

We pay $5 for the shuttle to Kennicott and it's once famous copper mine right at the end of the Kennicott and Root Glaciers. We eat a hearty beef stew at the Kennicott Lodge, sitting on the porch looking down at the gravel moraine in front of us.

We drive the 59 miles back to the Richardson Highway 4, then turn NE onto the Glenn Highway 1 to head for Tok once again. Half way there, the Nabesna road is the only other entrance besides Chitina into the Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve. An RV Park is in line for tonight and we are the only ones there for the four sites. A writer and his bronze sculptress waive Don and Mary Francis DeHart have created a lovely place. A hot shower and high speed wifi allow me to catch up with my blog and the posts… finally after over 2 weeks with almost no phone service! It's been blissful to not hear any news about our abysmal president!