heading south

Monday, Day 4
the plan for the day was to head back to anchorage and taste civilization again before our next big outdoor segment of the trip. however, we awoke feeling like we just weren't ready to leave Denali yet. while looking at trail maps the day before, i had noticed a hike labeled "strenuous" that takes 3-4 hours and rises an additional 1,700 feet to the crest of mt. healy. sounded like a perfect way to end our stay in the park. so....a quick check out of the hostel and two poptarts later, we were on our way down the trail. in the beginning, i remember breezing past several "slow" couples and thinking to myself, 'HA. they'll never make it at that pace.' i guess i was feeling like the experienced outdoorsman after our last two days. the trail was just steep enough to have me breathing steadily, but i was having the time of my life. then came the rocks. i bounded up a few crags. my legs were starting to tire, but 5 second breaks seemed to help between each set of rocks. as we continued, each steep rock runs started to feel longer than the last. it wasn't long until i started to realize that i was needing more than 5 second breaks to regain energy. i would stop and pant like an 80-year-old woman after just yards of climbing. marcus was far ahead by this point. i didn't really mind. he had set a pace and didn't want to break. understandable. however, i did mind when the couple i had smugly passed earlier came swiftly up behind me. i could hear their voices nearing closer and closer. how could they be talking so nonchalantly when i couldn't even breathe?! i started to get discouraged. what in the world was wrong with me? after all, i had climbed a mountain in colorado that was almost 15,000 feet high. twice. this should be a piece of cake! hm...piece of cake...it was then that i realized what the problem was. we had eaten only birdfood and jerky the majority of the day before, we had skipped dinner that night, and i had eaten two lowly poptarts for breakfast...which was 4 hours earlier. i was literally out of fuel. well i wasn't about to turn back. i cut myself some slack and slowed my pace. the couple skimmed past me and i gave them a weak smile. how embarrassing. suddenly, the tortoise and the hare made perfect sense to me.
when i broke treeline, i felt like i could see a light at the end of the tunnel. i could just envision marcus sitting at the top wondering what in the world had happened to me. i wanted to get up there! but after 5 more minutes of uphill rocks, i couldn't help it. i HAD to stop and sit down. i felt like i could at least recharge my batteries if i felt some sort of actual break. so i sat on the side of the mountain guzzling water, listening to an angry ground squirrel, and watching people with tons of energy pass me by. when i felt like i had sat long enough, i pumped myself up for the last leg. i could do this! i climbed to the top of the next ridge only to discover...the peak...and marcus. i had just taken a twelve minute break when i only had one minute left of walking to do. this is the irony of my life. we lasted a good 20 minutes snapping pictures at the summit before heading down and out as fast as we could go. next stop....FOOD. we ate at (literally) the first available restaurant outside the park and then waved goodbye to denali. i do believe we could have spent our entire 8 days there. quite a spectacular place. that evening in anchorage, we lapped up the "luxury" of a comfy hotel bed, warm private shower, and senseless television. we hit a local brewhouse and then a recommended dive named "humpy's" before calling it a night. it didn't take long to fall asleep.

Tuesday, Day 5
we woke up at a reasonable hour, quite excited about our next destination. we had an appointment to go rafting in a glacier fed river. we drove about two hours south to a town called hope where we found our raft, guide, and gear waiting. suiting up was quite the ordeal. the water is a frigid 38 degrees, so they have you wear dry suits. no, not wet suits, DRY suits. they are like a rubber glove that snuggly lock out all water from every inch of your body except your hands and head. we were warned to layer up underneath, so i was bundled in shorts, two pairs of pants, three shirts, and four pairs of socks. next came the dry suit, life jacket, helmet, and a ratty pair of old men's sneakers. we were ready! we took the van up to the water, where the guide proceeded to give us the 30 minute prerequisite safety and paddling speeches. standing in the sun, wrapped in winter gear and sealed in a virtual plastic bag, marc and i began to sweat. we started to regret our hasty layers. but then...the best part. they actually had us get IN the river and swim, or should i say struggle, our way ACROSS the raging current to the other side. my....let me tell you how invigorating 38 degree water is slapping you in the face. we were instantly chilled, to say the least. and the current....you are definitely no match for that rocket ship. they teach you how to swim in it...what to look for, when to float, and when to fight. i actually think it's kind of smart that we had to do this. lord knows, if i was to go flying out of the raft during the actual trip, the cold alone would shock the common sense out of me had i not experienced it in a calm setting first. so, needless to say, it got our blood pumping. and that was just the beginning of perhaps one of the best days we have ever spent outdoors together. it was adrenaline pumping rapid after rapid. i've never been on such a fast moving body of water. each pull of the paddle and splash in the face had me giggling like a little kid. we had a BLAST. after the last stretch of rapids, our guide told us we could hop out and float the remaining run if we were up for it. you better believe we were in that water within .3 seconds. we were instantly swept away in the icy flow, bobbing side by side. it was a magical moment. worth every single penny, and then some.
back at the rafting station, they treated us to hot cocoa and a slideshow of pictures taken of us along the ride. we probably could have stayed there forever, but we still needed to drive another two hours to seward as there are no hotels in hope. we drove on and floated on a high from the amazing adventure we had just been on. nothing could get us down...

Pictures, Day 4
~sign~

~ snow tunnel along the trail....very cool~

~hiking through the trees~

~headed up there~

~about halfway up. we started down in that parking lot~

~i can't believe i made it~

~together at the top~

~at the end of a long day~

~anchorage has conoco phillips! you know you're back in civilization when you spot your place of work~

There are, unfortunately, no pictures from Day 5. Taking a camera into a river with you is not a good idea :)

wandering through the wilderness

Sunday, Day 3
denali is a gorgeous, six million square mile spread of mountains and tundra. it has one lowly access road that goes 91 miles in before becoming a dead-end. there are only three ways to see denali in one day. the first is a helicopter. this is the fastest way to get into the park, but it's also the fastest way to empty your savings account. the second is a tour bus. you get on with your group, you get off with your group, you stay with your group, and a tour guide blabs on and on the entire time. the last is a shuttle bus. you get on at a designated time, but you can get off anywhere in the park, at any time. though there are a few predetermined stopping points along the 91 mile jaunt, you can simply ask the bus driver to pull over if you think you'd like to get out and explore elsewhere. this third option struck our fancy. you basically book your bus ticket based on how far into the park you'd like to go. we decided on the furthest point, which would take us past wonder lake, known for picture perfect reflections of mt. mckinley. now mind you, this is wilderness, so the roads are intentionally crude. taking a bus on a 91 mile tour of dirt roads is bound to take a while. 12 hours, to be precise. sounds daunting, but we were sure the views at the final destination would be well worth it. we boarded at 7:30 am. our bus driver spent the first few minutes explaining the rules. we were basically in control. if you spot any wildlife, you simply say "stop," and she'll stop the bus (turn off the engine even) and let everyone try get a good peek at the animals in their natural habitat. same with exploring. if you want to get off, just tell her to stop and you're on your own. we were stoked.

we spent the first five or six hours just gawking out the windows, stopping frequently whenever someone on the bus yelled for us to. and then people would go crazy, literally, scrambling to try and snap 50,000 pictures of one dall sheep speck several miles up in the hills or a moose antler peeping out from behind a tree. this got to be a little annoying, to say the least. but we were determined to get to the end of the road before ditching our vessel. when we finally hit wonder lake, we were the ones yelling "stop." we grabbed our gear and hopped off. it was kind of nice to be left standing there in silence....all alone, no bus engine, not a soul around for miles. we began to trek closer to the lake, but were soon disappointed. it was too cloudy to see ANY of mt. mckinley. you wouldn't even know it was there if there weren't pictures to prove it exists. it's kind of like this giant rocky phantom. the disappointment thickened as the clouds started to drizzle rain and the hawk-like mosquitoes discovered us. maybe we should have stayed on the bus just a little longer. we hit the bug spray and tried to shelter for a little while until the rain passed. when a camper bus came rattling by, we decided to hitch a ride back to a prettier, more hiker-friendly area. we had breaked at a rest stop that was quite beautiful an hour earlier in the trip. we arrived there and found the weather to be much more agreeable. so we were off and roaming again. my idea was to take a rounded hiking path, but marcus' sense of adventure led us the opposite direction. he wanted to be away from the tourists. he spotted a grassy cliff far in the distance and we began hiking toward it. it was at this point that we realized what tundra really is: marshland. the ground was a virtual sponge. it felt as though we were walking on wet pillows. it was thick and puffy and dense. i was taking knee high steps to march through it, and by the fourth or fifth step, our shoes were too soaked through to do anything about it. we figured we might as well go see what was over the edge of that cliff, because our feet couldn't get any wetter. as we drew closer, you could hear the roar of rushing water. we looked down on several small waterfalls barrelling into a large creek. quite beautiful. we snapped a few pictures, but as we turned to go back, i realized what we were facing...an exhausting, uphill marsh trek back to the road. it took 40 minutes to get out of it. at minute 38 i was ready to punch marcus for insisting that we be adventurous. it was the kind of hiking that makes you feel like you're going nowhere. you take one step and your foot sinks down 14 inches. mini, wet jungle. once we were finally back on the road, i started to enjoy myself again. the views were incredible, and the silent solitude of nature was deafening. we walked and walked and walked. two buses passed us, but i wasn't ready to give up our perfect journey, so we decided to wait on the next bus before heading 5 hours back. we spotted clusters of caribou in the rocky crags and watched two gulls dive-bomb a hawk over and over. we breathed in the cool, crisp air, stared at the towering black mountains with blankets of green surrounding, and felt like surely we were sampling a piece of heaven. further and further we walked. we kept looking back to see how far we had come. the road snaked its way through the hills for miles in front of and behind us. this was incredible. until....3 hours in. the sky had started to darken with the threat of rain. our shoes were still sopping. wet socks are definitely uncomfortable. our legs were starting to tire. we hadn't seen a bus pass in over an hour. now we kept looking back, not to see how far we had come, but in hopes of catching the glimpse of a dingy bus, bumping down the road. no such luck. i was starting to get worried. one should have passed by now. and then....the last thing in the world i wanted to hear. a bus heading in the opposite direction stopped beside us on the road. the driver told us that just around the bend, there was a mother bear feeding her cub just 50 yards off the road. panic. the recommended distance for bear sightings is 300 yards or more, and the most aggressive bears are mothers protecting their cubs. i was frozen. marcus, of course, was eager to see this "magnificent" sight. i couldn't move. all i could think about was being attacked by a giant, angry bear and being left to rot in the wilderness. so there i stood, alone in the drizzle, while he headed off without me. where was that bloody bus?! five minutes passed. then ten. great. now i was too scared to go see if my husband was eaten by a bear while i just stood there i fear. what a stupid trip! why did we even come here? and then, relief. as marcus came over the crest of one hill, a bus came over the crest of another. i think we actually cheered out loud about the latter. and wouldn't you know, there were exactly 2 seats left. wet, cold, and tired, we settled in for the long ride back. we pulled in to the park visitor center around 9:30...that's 14 full hours since we had left. we skipped dinner. a warm, dry bed beat anything after our long day. looking back now, i would do it again in a heartbeat. i would bring that machete, some bear spray, and a dry pair of shoes, but i would go back without a doubt.

Pictures, Day 3

~having fun at one of the rest stops on the way in~

~wonder lake in the rain....not much "wonder" that day~

~we didn't take this picture...this is the view we were hoping for at wonder lake. if you compare this picture with the one right above, you'll notice that mckinley has mysteriously vanished...very elusive~

~finally ready for a nice hike~

~the edge of the cliff where we're headed~

~marshland + me = not happy. look at how deep it is!~

~out of the marsh and back on the road~

~wild caribou herd~

~where we came from...quite the long haul~

~waiting...waiting....waiting....on a bus~

~ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! this was taken from a bus with a zoom lens...you can be CERTAIN of that!~

our first full day

Saturday, Day 2
so despite a restless night's sleep, we still had plenty of energy our first morning. we had come for outdoor adventure, and we were determined to get as much in as we could! this particular bed and breakfast was a little lacking in the "breakfast" department. we ate a bowl of cereal from the tiny cupboard and mini fridge. then we threw on some "outdoorsy" clothes and headed out onto the patio. the air was cool and silent. the house was perched on top of a steep, wooded hill above the lake, and we could see the dock below us. we made our way down. the lake was glassy and calm. two loons screamed from across the way as we pulled the paddleboat over toward the dock. we were greeted with a boat bottom full of water. i clambored back up the hill and retrieved one of our cereal bowls. marc's attempts at bailing out the boat lasted all of 30 seconds. we took off our shoes and entered the teetering boat barefoot. we set out across the lake toward the view of the distant mountains. as the loons continued their morning song, we quickly learned the reason for Echo Lake's name. we decided to give it a try ourselves. marc made a small noise and it bounced back to us in glorious, crystal clear echoes. i've never heard anything like it. we tried several more sounds before deciding to just enjoy the solitude of the lake in the early morning. the water was fairly clear and we could see small clams scattered over the lake bottom. most were cracked open slightly with the white animals gushing out of the sides. i was intrigued by this. we didn't see any fish, save the three small, silver achovy-ish ones that lay on the bottom as though they were dead--a little mystery in itself. about an hour and 50 pictures later, our legs began to tire from their morning workout. we headed back to the dock and stowed the boat. on our way up to the house, we noticed large animal pellets right off of the patio. this would be our first of many moose poop sightings. fresh poop equals nearby animals. i would later learn that this is not so exciting when it is bear scat. we showered, dressed, rearranged the contents of our over-stuffed suitcases, and made our way to load the car. next stop, Denali! the drive would take about 4 hours. we had no idea that we would soon turn a bend in the road and see the most magnificent mountain LOOMING thousands of feet into the clouds. if we had know this drive would be our only chance to see mt. mckinley over the next few days, we definitely would have parked the car and soaked in every minute of it. however, we drove onward, catching glimpses of its enormous peak every few miles. we were amazed at its sheer size each and every time. regrettably, the only photos we have of this great mountain are in my head.

halfway into the drive, we decided to stop and try to get some photos of the surrounding mountain ranges. we parked off the side of the road and tromped into the trees. it was here that we first discovered two facts about alaska. 1) if you want to walk off of the beaten path, you just might need a machete. the beaten path is usually there for a reason. and 2) the mosquitoes are the size of birds and come in vast quantities. these two facts made our outdoor visit very short-lived. we couldn't see much in the way of mountain views anyhow. we went back to the car, but soon realized we had been followed by a thick swarm of blood hawks. we spent the next several minutes killing mosquitoes INSIDE the car. no more impetuous stops for us. we drove the last leg of the trip and finally arrived at denali national park and preserve. when we stopped to pick up our bus tickets for the next day, i noticed a posted schedule for the sled dog presentation. i also noticed a trail map with a perfect little trail leading right to it. taking the shuttle to the kennels was not an option in my book. the show started in an hour, and the map claimed it would take about an hour to hike there, so we put on our jackets and water packs and got a move on. you might very well say that i galloped a lot of the way there. i feel like a kid when i'm outside in the mountians. aspen and birch trees enveloped the trail, and the smell of fresh pine belted me in the face. the loose gravel crunched under our feet as we shot our way down the trail. in the blur of passing tress, we were able to spot several bear claw marks in the white bark. we even ran alongside a giant snowshoe hare as it went bounding through the forest. we were glad we had worn shorts as we broke our first sweat of the trip. we arrived at the kennels with 10 minutes to spare, so we walked around to meet some of the dogs. we chuckled at all of the "tourists" who were bundled from head to toe. maybe the shuttle was cold. :) the presentation was interesting and we got to watch the ranger run a pack of dogs around a track. they are quite fast! we snapped a few pictures and began our journey back. repeat the glorious trail run in reverse. we got to the car and proceeded to drive 12 miles into the park--the farthest point which you can go without using the park buses. the stop was at the savage river. we got out to hike and an incredible trail took us down the edge of the river. at the trail bridge, we left the path and climbed into the rocks. hidden snow patches and larger mountains rose above us. one snow bank dripped waterfalls into the noisy river below. marcus decided to have a taste. he filled a tiny water bottle that we had brought and we both took a sip. it was icy cold and you could taste the sediment from the bottom of the river that had been churned up as it flowed over the rocks. i TRIED to just live in the moment, but my hypochondriac brain had me worrying about river diseases the second i took a drink. sometimes my thoughts ruin a perfect situation. regardless, i can say that i have tasted alaskan mountain water. our hiking adventure lasted about two hours. by this point, it was almost 8:00. it is so easy to lose track of time there with that crazy sun! we drove out of the park and checked into our hostel that was about 15 minutes down the road. we had a charming little cabin to ourselves. the bottom level held a tiny kitchenette and, up the narrowest staircase known to man, there sat a wooden loft with our bed and some chairs. we were pleased. rustic yet clean. we had a shower and then walked across the highway to a small pizza pub. at 10pm we had a beer on the patio and ate voraciously in the shadow of the big mountains behind our hostel. exhausted, we crashed into bed around 11. and thus ended our second day.

Pictures, Day 2

~heading down to the dock~

~the early morning lake~

~loon~

~bailing the boat with a cereal bowl~

~enter mosquitoes~

~en route to denali~

~proof that we were there~

~trail to the kennels~

~bear claws!! yikes!!~

~dog~

~just off of the savage river trail~

~getting a drink~

~cozy cabin~

~beer and pizza~

so it begins...

we're back! i have been delaying writing this blog for two reasons: 1) it took me a good 2 days to get back on some kind of normal sleep schedule and 2) there is SO much to tell that i honestly couldn't sit down and make myself begin the daunting task. this second reason also got me worrying that, if i was to write everything at once, i sincerely might risk boring the reader to death. so in light of this, i have decided to write about our trip to alaska in segments. one or two days of vacation per blog. that will give me a chance to give it to you in detail AND share some pictures. oh, speaking of pictures, the majority you will see were taken with a "loaner" camera. i had been debating about getting a fancy "photographer" camera for a while. with our trip rapidly approaching, we were torn over whether to rush out and get one. three days before we left, a lady at marc's work said something to him about taking lots of pictures, and he mentioned our dilemma. she immediately said "take mine!" she has a nice canon with an adjustable long lens. score! a free trial before we took the plunge ourselves :)

Friday, Day 1
not much excitement-- just a long day. we left st. louis at 10:30 and had a 3 hour layover in minneapolis. then we headed to anchorage on a 6 hour flight. we were lucky to have enough sky miles to get seats in first class, so we indulged in free margaritas and mojitos most of the way. we also spent a large portion of time playing around with our "new" camera and watching the DVD on how to use it. those things are complicated! with about 45 minutes left in the flight, marc decided to open the window. you would not believe the literal sea of giant, snowy mountains and glaciers that went on for miles in all directions below us. incredible. they lasted the rest of the trip in. the camera definitely got put to good use. after we landed, we navigated our way to Hwy 1. it wasn't terribly hard to find since it's the only major highway running through anchorage, or for miles around actually. we headed north to the town of wasilla, where we were booked to stay at Echo Lake Bed and Breakfast. we arrived at 8:30 pm and found that we had an entire basement living area to ourselves, a beautiful back porch, and a gorgeous lake view. the owner told us we could use the dock and paddlboat if we wanted. we were definitely eager to explore and excited to be there, so we stepped out onto the patio in the broad daylight. it's very strange how sunlight at nine at night can play tricks on your brain--not to mention that it was midnight in our central time zone minds. we couldn't deny the exhaustion we were feeling, so we decided to just call it a night and get up early. as tired as we were, you would think we would have slept like babies--not so. each time i woke up, i couldn't tell if it was 5 minutes since i had last fallen asleep or the next morning. damn sunlight! i think it would have helped if there had been SOME way to cover the french doors directly next to our bed. sheer,white drapes do not block light very efficiently. i hit the 2:15, 3:40, and 5:45 marks before finally getting up around 6:30. and thus ended our first day.

Pictures, Day 1

~on the flight with a tasty drink~

~the sea of mountains from the plane~

~approaching anchorage~

~stuffed bear in the anchorage baggage claim. let the terror begin! this would not be our last bear encounter by a long shot. stay tuned.~

~french doors, porch, lake~