I met up with Jeff and Tammy for one last meal before ending the vacation - we had breakfast at Snow City Cafe. The wait was about 45 minutes (we thought that we might avoid their notoriously long wait on a Friday morning, but we were wrong), so we took the chance to briefly check out Resolution Park nearby. Once we eventually got seated, the meal itself was pretty good. We ate fairly quickly so that I could make it back to the hotel before the departure of my 11:15 airport transfer (Jeff and Tammy weren't flying out until later that night). Though I did make it back with a couple minutes to spare, I was still the last one on the bus - the driver even called me out on it. I said my goodbyes to Jeff and Tammy before boarding.
We saw a group of three moose as we approached the airport, and the bus driver stopped to let us take pictures. I found this funny after only seeing one in passing (the day before) the whole trip - a fact that a few people (including Tammy) were disappointed about. The rest of the journey home was thankfully uneventful. The flight from Anchorage to Seattle took about 3 hours, and I was able to take an Uber home from the airport - legal rideshare pick-ups from the airport were a fairly new development.
---
Some closing thoughts about the trip...
Once again, I had an enjoyable vacation. I hadn't traveled alone for the entirety of a trip this long (though I had done parts of long trips alone) in 10 years, but that turned out not to be a problem. I wasn't really worried about it, but some social things are easier when you have a companion (or companions). Regardless, I met some very friendly people on both the cruise and land tour, many of whom invited me to join them for meals, etc. I guess I get along well with old white people.
I don't know that cruising is my preferred way of traveling, but it worked pretty well for this trip (especially for seeing some glaciers). Most of my preferred itineraries are not amenable to getting around on a
ship, plus I usually like to be more involved in planning my activities. It was still a nice thing to do at least once. I wouldn't be opposed to going on another cruise if someone invited me on one that sounded cool, but I don't see any other cruises in my near future besides maybe Antarctica (and that's not really a cruise like this type of cruise).
The main highlight of the trip was definitely the flightseeing tour to Denali, and next would be hiking on Worthington Glacier. Also noteworthy were cruising through Glacier Bay and College Fjord, among other enjoyable experiences. All in all, Alaska is a beautiful state, and I'm glad I finally got to see some of it.
---
My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Alaska 2016 - Day 13 (9/1/2016) - To Anchorage
We got to sleep in a little bit this morning, as luggage pick-up wasn’t until 9 AM. The bus to the Talkeetna train depot left at 12:30, and the train to Anchorage departed around 1:55. The train ride to Anchorage took about 3 hours. The passenger seats were on the top deck of double-decker cars with panoramic windows and ceilings; the bottom deck housed the dining area, bathrooms, and kitchen. Happenings on board included a decent veggie melt for lunch in the dining area, a moose sighting (by my tablemates Charlene and Phil, which led to a free brownie-a-la-mode dessert which they shared with me), a swing by Sarah Palin’s childhood home in Wasilla, and a transit through Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (where I saw a C-17 on a runway, but no F-22s). After arriving at the Anchorage depot, we were transferred by coach to the Hotel Captain Cook. I was surprised to have a room on the 18th floor – it had been a while since I had seen a building that tall (there were 20 floors in the hotel), and wasn’t sure that any existed in Alaska.
After settling into the room for a bit, I went down and booked a spot on the 7:15 trolley tour of Anchorage. When I walked over to catch the tour, I wasn’t too surprised to find a few other people from my Princess tour also onboard. The trolley tour took us far beyond downtown to more areas of Anchorage than I expected – including West Anchorage High School, Earthquake Park, and the airport. After the tour a few of the Princess people (Bob, Kathy?, Gary, Glenda?) walked over to the 49th State brewpub to grab dinner. We were met there by a couple of Bob's friends from Florida who were completing a work camp in Alaska. We finished up and walked back to the hotel sometime around 10:30.
---
My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
After settling into the room for a bit, I went down and booked a spot on the 7:15 trolley tour of Anchorage. When I walked over to catch the tour, I wasn’t too surprised to find a few other people from my Princess tour also onboard. The trolley tour took us far beyond downtown to more areas of Anchorage than I expected – including West Anchorage High School, Earthquake Park, and the airport. After the tour a few of the Princess people (Bob, Kathy?, Gary, Glenda?) walked over to the 49th State brewpub to grab dinner. We were met there by a couple of Bob's friends from Florida who were completing a work camp in Alaska. We finished up and walked back to the hotel sometime around 10:30.
---
My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
Alaska 2016 - Day 12 (8/31/2016) - McKinley Lodge
Luggage pick-up was once again 7 AM, with a 9:45 departure for the
Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge. The drive took a little over 2
hours, with one scenic stop to take pictures of “the Mountain”. Unlike
the last two bus transfers, where the 52 passengers were split between 2
coaches, we all filled up one coach.
This lodge had an environment somewhere between the last two. The rooms were housed in many buildings sprawled across the large property, just like Denali. However, the property was located an hour drive from the nearest town of significance, Talkeetna, so it was isolated like Copper River. After arriving at the lodge, I wandered around for a bit until I found my building and room. After stowing my gear, I walked over to the casual 20,320 Alaskan Grill for lunch. I checked in with the hostess to eat alone, but of course I ran into Jeff and Tammy in there so I joined them at their table. The mac and cheese that I had there (with mushrooms and grilled onions added in) was probably the best tasting meal that I had eaten since leaving the ship (though I wish the portion was a tad bigger, even if it meant additional clogging of my arteries). After the meal I went back to my room to be lazy for a couple of hours while the other two headed off to another excursion.
The rest of the day/evening was pretty quiet. I went to a couple of talks held at a “theater” at the lodge – one at 4:30 PM by a female mountain guide about climbing Denali, and another at 6 PM by a naturalist about bears. Both were pretty good, but I was certainly more impressed by the climber. Other than those and hanging around the main lodge for a bit, I didn’t do much else. I was also pretty tired and went to bed relatively early. After talking to some other travelers on the tour, I found out that I missed out on a pretty good display of the aurora, which started around 11 PM and was off and on through about 2 AM. Oh well.
---
My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
This lodge had an environment somewhere between the last two. The rooms were housed in many buildings sprawled across the large property, just like Denali. However, the property was located an hour drive from the nearest town of significance, Talkeetna, so it was isolated like Copper River. After arriving at the lodge, I wandered around for a bit until I found my building and room. After stowing my gear, I walked over to the casual 20,320 Alaskan Grill for lunch. I checked in with the hostess to eat alone, but of course I ran into Jeff and Tammy in there so I joined them at their table. The mac and cheese that I had there (with mushrooms and grilled onions added in) was probably the best tasting meal that I had eaten since leaving the ship (though I wish the portion was a tad bigger, even if it meant additional clogging of my arteries). After the meal I went back to my room to be lazy for a couple of hours while the other two headed off to another excursion.
The rest of the day/evening was pretty quiet. I went to a couple of talks held at a “theater” at the lodge – one at 4:30 PM by a female mountain guide about climbing Denali, and another at 6 PM by a naturalist about bears. Both were pretty good, but I was certainly more impressed by the climber. Other than those and hanging around the main lodge for a bit, I didn’t do much else. I was also pretty tired and went to bed relatively early. After talking to some other travelers on the tour, I found out that I missed out on a pretty good display of the aurora, which started around 11 PM and was off and on through about 2 AM. Oh well.
---
My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
Alaska 2016 - Day 11 (8/30/2016) - Denali
The first item on the agenda this morning was the Denali Natural History Tour, which was included with my cruisetour package. For breakfast, I grabbed a couple of items to go from the express café in the main lodge as I met with the group for the 9 AM departure. The tour was OK, and we had another great guide/driver, Dalan – interestingly, he immediately recognized my name as West African due to having spent some time living in Ghana as a Mormon missionary. The tour included 3 stops while riding the first 20 or so miles on the lone road into the park – one was a video about the history of the park using archival video and pictures, the second was a stop at Savage Cabin where a guy play-acted as the chief ranger from 1930, and the last was a history/culture talk by a young lady of Athabaskan descent. Side note: with some exceptions, only park buses are allowed past mile 17(?) on the road into the park. As it was another picture perfect day with no clouds in the sky, we also got a couple of scenic views of the Denali mountain. We didn’t have as much luck with wildlife, though, as the best that we could do was a few Dall sheep high on a mountainside, and a family of willow ptarmigan (the state bird) by the side of the road. Another side note: Dalan was the second guide/speaker within the week whose favorite bird is the raven.
The tour lasted about 4.5 hours, dropping us back off at the main lodge somewhere around 1:30 or 1:45. At that point, Jeff, Tammy, and I walked across the street to a hotdog and burger place to grab lunch. After a brief respite back in my room I met back up with Jeff to embark on the main attraction of the day: a flightseeing tour to Denali. We were picked up by the Fly Denali shuttle van right around 3:15 and then driven to the Healy airstrip where the office was located. We signed in and then waited to depart on our 4 PM flight, which began just about on schedule. Our plane was a Piper Cherokee Six, a piston engine powered propeller plane that seats up to 6 people. I had the fortune of taking the copilot’s seat – though I did my best not to touch any of the controls in front of me. Our pilot was Jamie, a 36-year old lady who had been flying for literally half her life. There were two other passengers besides Jeff and me - both worked for Fly Denali.
The take-off and landing portions of the flight were a bit bumpy, as were a couple of sections through the mountains and around the side of Denali. Otherwise, though, the turbulence wasn’t too bad. I did sweat a bit during the flight, but that could partially be attributed to the direct sunlight that beat into the cabin (luckily they provide a selection of loaner sunglasses, one of which I wore over my glasses). And while my stomach was pretty much ready for the flight to be over by the end, I was never in any real danger of airsickness. The flight path took us south to the Wickersham Wall on the northwest side of Denali (I can’t remember all the other stuff that we passed by on ingress and egress), ascending to 11,200 feet (above sea level). Considering that the base of Denali is at around 2,000 feet and the peak at 20,000 feet, this was *incredibly* only halfway up the mountain. We loitered above Peters Basin and then flew in and out of the pass above Traleika Glacier. We also did a fly-by of Mount Brooks and Brooks Glacier below it before heading back to Healy. We did not fly around to the south side of Denali because there was too much turbulence going around the west side, but we did get good views of both the north and south peaks. The total flight time was somewhere around 90 minutes. All in all it was an amazing experience with spectacular and truly awesome views; hopefully my very amateur pictures (mostly with my Nexus 6P smartphone) do it some justice.
After landing at Healy we thanked our pilot and hosts, and were driven back to the Princess lodge. Jeff then left to meet up with Tammy for their evening excursion – we were thankfully back about 25 minutes before their scheduled 6:50 departure. I headed back to my room to mentally process all that had just happened and marvel once again at the pictures. After making sure that they were all backed up to two clouds (Google Photos as well as Sugarsync), I walked over to check out a Thai/Chinese food take-out place across the street that I had spotted on the drive back. My expectations were pretty low for Thai food in Alaska, so I wasn’t disappointed by the so-so Pad Thai (as far as Pad Thais go, a so-so Pad Thai is still pretty enjoyable in my book). The Thai iced tea was a little better, so it wasn’t a waste of $16. On that note, Jeff, Tammy, and I noticed over the past few days that the food had been on the expensive side. We hypothesized that it was a combination of the increased costs of getting the food to the remote areas as well as an ability to charge higher prices to tourists.
The aurora forecast for the night was a 5 on the Kp scale. However, to my understanding the auroral activity never materialized – neither from the hourly forecast nor from looking out my window. I gave up around 1 AM and went to bed.
---
My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
The tour lasted about 4.5 hours, dropping us back off at the main lodge somewhere around 1:30 or 1:45. At that point, Jeff, Tammy, and I walked across the street to a hotdog and burger place to grab lunch. After a brief respite back in my room I met back up with Jeff to embark on the main attraction of the day: a flightseeing tour to Denali. We were picked up by the Fly Denali shuttle van right around 3:15 and then driven to the Healy airstrip where the office was located. We signed in and then waited to depart on our 4 PM flight, which began just about on schedule. Our plane was a Piper Cherokee Six, a piston engine powered propeller plane that seats up to 6 people. I had the fortune of taking the copilot’s seat – though I did my best not to touch any of the controls in front of me. Our pilot was Jamie, a 36-year old lady who had been flying for literally half her life. There were two other passengers besides Jeff and me - both worked for Fly Denali.
The take-off and landing portions of the flight were a bit bumpy, as were a couple of sections through the mountains and around the side of Denali. Otherwise, though, the turbulence wasn’t too bad. I did sweat a bit during the flight, but that could partially be attributed to the direct sunlight that beat into the cabin (luckily they provide a selection of loaner sunglasses, one of which I wore over my glasses). And while my stomach was pretty much ready for the flight to be over by the end, I was never in any real danger of airsickness. The flight path took us south to the Wickersham Wall on the northwest side of Denali (I can’t remember all the other stuff that we passed by on ingress and egress), ascending to 11,200 feet (above sea level). Considering that the base of Denali is at around 2,000 feet and the peak at 20,000 feet, this was *incredibly* only halfway up the mountain. We loitered above Peters Basin and then flew in and out of the pass above Traleika Glacier. We also did a fly-by of Mount Brooks and Brooks Glacier below it before heading back to Healy. We did not fly around to the south side of Denali because there was too much turbulence going around the west side, but we did get good views of both the north and south peaks. The total flight time was somewhere around 90 minutes. All in all it was an amazing experience with spectacular and truly awesome views; hopefully my very amateur pictures (mostly with my Nexus 6P smartphone) do it some justice.
After landing at Healy we thanked our pilot and hosts, and were driven back to the Princess lodge. Jeff then left to meet up with Tammy for their evening excursion – we were thankfully back about 25 minutes before their scheduled 6:50 departure. I headed back to my room to mentally process all that had just happened and marvel once again at the pictures. After making sure that they were all backed up to two clouds (Google Photos as well as Sugarsync), I walked over to check out a Thai/Chinese food take-out place across the street that I had spotted on the drive back. My expectations were pretty low for Thai food in Alaska, so I wasn’t disappointed by the so-so Pad Thai (as far as Pad Thais go, a so-so Pad Thai is still pretty enjoyable in my book). The Thai iced tea was a little better, so it wasn’t a waste of $16. On that note, Jeff, Tammy, and I noticed over the past few days that the food had been on the expensive side. We hypothesized that it was a combination of the increased costs of getting the food to the remote areas as well as an ability to charge higher prices to tourists.
The aurora forecast for the night was a 5 on the Kp scale. However, to my understanding the auroral activity never materialized – neither from the hourly forecast nor from looking out my window. I gave up around 1 AM and went to bed.
---
My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
Alaska 2016 - Day 10 (8/29/2016) - Denali Highway
Today was all about getting from the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge to the Denali Princess “Wilderness” Lodge. I use the quotes because there is a stark difference between the Copper River Lodge and the Denali Lodge – the former has about 80 rooms and is on an isolated property, while the latter has probably 1000 rooms across several buildings and is within a semi-bustling (by Alaskan standards) town with stoplights.
We departed the Copper River Lodge around 8:15, and headed north on the Richardson Highway. We then turned west on the Denali Highway. Though these are their actual names, I use the term “highway” loosely here because these are mostly 2-lane (combined) roads, with tiny stretches where a lane is added in one direction to make the total 3. Additionally, the Denali Highway is unpaved for about 100 miles in the middle. The abnormally high rainfall this summer had also caused an increase in the number of potholes, making for an even bumpier ride. Our driver Braden reported, though, that the unexpected late-season maintenance had drastically improved the road within the last week.
Our streak of excellent weather continued, despite a chilly start in the morning. By the afternoon the temperature was in the 60s, and the sky was once again mostly clear. After a scenic stop at MacLaren Summit, we stopped for lunch at the Maclaren River Lodge. Though the menu was limited there, it was respectable what they could offer (including running toilets) at such a fairly isolated location. After we left the lodge Braden made the mistake of telling the passengers that he had intentionally failed to notify the lodge proprietors that this was his last highway drive of the season in order to avoid the tradition of having to wade into the river. At the urging of the passengers, he relented and performed this duty at the crossing of the Brushkana River. I must say that he was a great sport and a genuinely nice young man to have as our driver.
We made a few more scenic stops to admire the Alaskan Mountain Range, including a couple specifically for the rare viewing of Denali – Braden informed us that in his 9 trips across the highway this season this was the only day that it had been clear enough to see Denali on the drive. By the time we turned north on the Parks Highway and made it to the Denali Lodge, we were close to an hour behind the scheduled 9 hour travel time. Nobody on the bus seemed to mind, though, as we had been fortunate to have such pleasant weather and the chance for extra scenic views (as well as a fun stunt from the driver).
When I made it up to my room at the lodge, I was surprised to find someone else’s bag waiting there (mine wasn’t to be delivered just yet) – I did note, though, that the last name on the tag (Oj-something) was somewhat similar to mine, so the mix-up was understandable. I called down to the front desk to inform them of the mistake, as well as request a wake-up call if the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) made an appearance that night – a service I found out about that morning after some people had used it to see the lights the previous night. I then met up with Jeff and Tammy to plan our flightseeing tour for the next day – we went with a less expensive third party instead of a Princess excursion. We then had dinner at the pizza joint on the property, during which a conversation with the couple at the next table revealed that they were the parents of Annie Westhoff (a girl that I used to play soccer with in St. Louis). On the way back we stopped at the front desk to inquire more about good places to view the lights if they did happen, then walked down to the spot by the river that the clerk had suggested. After making it back to our J building, we said our conditional goodnights in hope that we would meet again in the middle of the night for the lights.
I was still up (and was in fact looking at the aurora forecast) around midnight when Jeff called saying that he and Tammy had noticed that the sky was looking a little lighter and were about to walk out to check it out. I bundled up in a few layers (the temperature was down to about 35 degrees) and joined them. We could see a bit of the green aurora from in front of the main lodge, and there were others around getting a look as well. We walked down to, and past, the suggested viewing spot on the river to try to get a better view, but it didn’t help. On the plus side there were fewer lights around (though there still a couple of annoying lights from buildings on top nearby hills, as well as the intermittent passing car on the nearby road), but it was at a lower elevation so we actually had a more obstructed view toward the horizon with the most activity. We could still see some of the faint activity at the edges of the aurora overhead, though. Like several other people that I saw, I tried in vain to get a picture of the lights, but they were far too dim for both my phone and my camera (plus I didn’t know how to work the manual controls). After a while we decided to walk back to the lodge to try to see more of the hotspot on the horizon. But the lights had just about begun to fade when we made a move, and they were gone by the time we arrived back at the lodge. I made it back to my room a little before 1 AM, so the whole ordeal lasted a little under an hour.
---
My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
We departed the Copper River Lodge around 8:15, and headed north on the Richardson Highway. We then turned west on the Denali Highway. Though these are their actual names, I use the term “highway” loosely here because these are mostly 2-lane (combined) roads, with tiny stretches where a lane is added in one direction to make the total 3. Additionally, the Denali Highway is unpaved for about 100 miles in the middle. The abnormally high rainfall this summer had also caused an increase in the number of potholes, making for an even bumpier ride. Our driver Braden reported, though, that the unexpected late-season maintenance had drastically improved the road within the last week.
Our streak of excellent weather continued, despite a chilly start in the morning. By the afternoon the temperature was in the 60s, and the sky was once again mostly clear. After a scenic stop at MacLaren Summit, we stopped for lunch at the Maclaren River Lodge. Though the menu was limited there, it was respectable what they could offer (including running toilets) at such a fairly isolated location. After we left the lodge Braden made the mistake of telling the passengers that he had intentionally failed to notify the lodge proprietors that this was his last highway drive of the season in order to avoid the tradition of having to wade into the river. At the urging of the passengers, he relented and performed this duty at the crossing of the Brushkana River. I must say that he was a great sport and a genuinely nice young man to have as our driver.
We made a few more scenic stops to admire the Alaskan Mountain Range, including a couple specifically for the rare viewing of Denali – Braden informed us that in his 9 trips across the highway this season this was the only day that it had been clear enough to see Denali on the drive. By the time we turned north on the Parks Highway and made it to the Denali Lodge, we were close to an hour behind the scheduled 9 hour travel time. Nobody on the bus seemed to mind, though, as we had been fortunate to have such pleasant weather and the chance for extra scenic views (as well as a fun stunt from the driver).
When I made it up to my room at the lodge, I was surprised to find someone else’s bag waiting there (mine wasn’t to be delivered just yet) – I did note, though, that the last name on the tag (Oj-something) was somewhat similar to mine, so the mix-up was understandable. I called down to the front desk to inform them of the mistake, as well as request a wake-up call if the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) made an appearance that night – a service I found out about that morning after some people had used it to see the lights the previous night. I then met up with Jeff and Tammy to plan our flightseeing tour for the next day – we went with a less expensive third party instead of a Princess excursion. We then had dinner at the pizza joint on the property, during which a conversation with the couple at the next table revealed that they were the parents of Annie Westhoff (a girl that I used to play soccer with in St. Louis). On the way back we stopped at the front desk to inquire more about good places to view the lights if they did happen, then walked down to the spot by the river that the clerk had suggested. After making it back to our J building, we said our conditional goodnights in hope that we would meet again in the middle of the night for the lights.
I was still up (and was in fact looking at the aurora forecast) around midnight when Jeff called saying that he and Tammy had noticed that the sky was looking a little lighter and were about to walk out to check it out. I bundled up in a few layers (the temperature was down to about 35 degrees) and joined them. We could see a bit of the green aurora from in front of the main lodge, and there were others around getting a look as well. We walked down to, and past, the suggested viewing spot on the river to try to get a better view, but it didn’t help. On the plus side there were fewer lights around (though there still a couple of annoying lights from buildings on top nearby hills, as well as the intermittent passing car on the nearby road), but it was at a lower elevation so we actually had a more obstructed view toward the horizon with the most activity. We could still see some of the faint activity at the edges of the aurora overhead, though. Like several other people that I saw, I tried in vain to get a picture of the lights, but they were far too dim for both my phone and my camera (plus I didn’t know how to work the manual controls). After a while we decided to walk back to the lodge to try to see more of the hotspot on the horizon. But the lights had just about begun to fade when we made a move, and they were gone by the time we arrived back at the lodge. I made it back to my room a little before 1 AM, so the whole ordeal lasted a little under an hour.
---
My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
Alaska 2016 - Day 9 (8/28/2016) - Worthington Glacier
After having booked the excursion to hike the Worthington Glacier the evening before, I was both excited and apprehensive. My primary worry was whether my ankle/Achilles injury had healed sufficiently. It had greatly improved the last few days, and for the most part I could forget that I ever had an issue with it on the trip. However, there were still a couple of extended positions where I could feel some discomfort, especially early in the day. During the course of the night I also realized that I did not have proper shoes to attach crampons – the only shoes I brought on the trip were a dressy pair and a pair of casual Merrells that were comfortable for walking around but didn’t have laces. I didn’t anticipate deciding to hike up a glacier during the trip. I was also worried that I didn’t have gloves, and wasn’t sure if that was a required item for the ice activities. Only one of my worries turned out to be realized on the day of the excursion.
After a quick bagel from the breakfast bar, I met up with the rest of the group of four a little before the scheduled 10:15 departure – I was actually the last one, as they were already in the van. The Aussie couple (Ben and Suzie) were on the excursion – this wasn’t a surprise, as they were the only others under 50 on the tour. We were joined by Rachel, a Taiwanese student who was working for Princess in Alaska over the summer. Our driver Jared (who had also met us in Valdez prior to boarding the coaches) then drove us the hour or so back to the Worthington Glacier, where we met our guide Tyler. After introductions and a suggested trip to the restroom, we gathered up the gear and began the walk to the glacier.
It was a beautiful day with mostly clear skies and temperatures perhaps approaching 70 degrees Fahrenheit at the base. I began in an undershirt and a long sleeve t-shirt. It did get cooler during the ascent, and I did put on my jacket, but I possibly could have been OK without it. We hiked probably around 20 minutes to get to the glacier, and then another 5 or 10 before needing to put on our crampons as we approached the icy portions (a lot of the lower portion was covered with rocks). When Tyler noticed that my low-top shoes did not have laces, he instructed me to strap the back straps of the crampons around my ankles as tightly as I could. This worked out OK, but it became progressively uncomfortable, and even painful, as we hiked up. Tyler was initially concerned that Rachel’s feet/shoes were too small for the smallest crampon size/setting – to the point that he told her that he would watch her closely for the first few minutes and might need to send her back if the crampons seemed insecure. However, it turned out that she would be the superstar of the group, and was nearly as surefooted on the glacier as Tyler.
We hiked about 2/3 of the way up the bottom slope of the glacier, stopping to perform the customary “glacial facial” along the way. At this point my crampon straps (especially my left one) were rubbing fairly painfully on my ankle while ascending. I was relieved when we stopped for a snack (trail mix) and some hot chocolate. I also took the time to readjust the straps a bit, which was a little helpful. I let Tyler know that I was OK with going up a little farther, which was all that he planned on going up anyway. After a few minutes more ascending, we turned around and began the descent. Going down wasn’t nearly as bad on the ankle straps, especially after adjusting where the buckle/snap landed. We took a little detour to explore a recently formed moulin that Tyler hadn’t yet been able to check out. We eventually made it back to the rocks, where we could take off our crampons, and then further below take off our helmets. Ben reported that we had been hiking for a little over 3 hours when we made it back to the parking lot (15+ minutes late) to meet Jared. From there we returned our equipment (including the ice ax that I had been carrying along), said our goodbyes to Tyler, and then made the return drive back to the lodge.
We were back at the lodge sometime around 4:30. After a shower I headed over to the bar to grab dinner, this time sitting with a retired couple, Sue and Roger, from Minnesota/Phoenix. After dinner I ran into Lindsey, the park ranger, who was there to attend the 7:30 talk on the park geology that was given by her colleague Matthew. After the talk I ran into Tammy and Jeff, and we discussed potential arrangements for a flightseeing tour while at Denali.
---
My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
After a quick bagel from the breakfast bar, I met up with the rest of the group of four a little before the scheduled 10:15 departure – I was actually the last one, as they were already in the van. The Aussie couple (Ben and Suzie) were on the excursion – this wasn’t a surprise, as they were the only others under 50 on the tour. We were joined by Rachel, a Taiwanese student who was working for Princess in Alaska over the summer. Our driver Jared (who had also met us in Valdez prior to boarding the coaches) then drove us the hour or so back to the Worthington Glacier, where we met our guide Tyler. After introductions and a suggested trip to the restroom, we gathered up the gear and began the walk to the glacier.
It was a beautiful day with mostly clear skies and temperatures perhaps approaching 70 degrees Fahrenheit at the base. I began in an undershirt and a long sleeve t-shirt. It did get cooler during the ascent, and I did put on my jacket, but I possibly could have been OK without it. We hiked probably around 20 minutes to get to the glacier, and then another 5 or 10 before needing to put on our crampons as we approached the icy portions (a lot of the lower portion was covered with rocks). When Tyler noticed that my low-top shoes did not have laces, he instructed me to strap the back straps of the crampons around my ankles as tightly as I could. This worked out OK, but it became progressively uncomfortable, and even painful, as we hiked up. Tyler was initially concerned that Rachel’s feet/shoes were too small for the smallest crampon size/setting – to the point that he told her that he would watch her closely for the first few minutes and might need to send her back if the crampons seemed insecure. However, it turned out that she would be the superstar of the group, and was nearly as surefooted on the glacier as Tyler.
We hiked about 2/3 of the way up the bottom slope of the glacier, stopping to perform the customary “glacial facial” along the way. At this point my crampon straps (especially my left one) were rubbing fairly painfully on my ankle while ascending. I was relieved when we stopped for a snack (trail mix) and some hot chocolate. I also took the time to readjust the straps a bit, which was a little helpful. I let Tyler know that I was OK with going up a little farther, which was all that he planned on going up anyway. After a few minutes more ascending, we turned around and began the descent. Going down wasn’t nearly as bad on the ankle straps, especially after adjusting where the buckle/snap landed. We took a little detour to explore a recently formed moulin that Tyler hadn’t yet been able to check out. We eventually made it back to the rocks, where we could take off our crampons, and then further below take off our helmets. Ben reported that we had been hiking for a little over 3 hours when we made it back to the parking lot (15+ minutes late) to meet Jared. From there we returned our equipment (including the ice ax that I had been carrying along), said our goodbyes to Tyler, and then made the return drive back to the lodge.
We were back at the lodge sometime around 4:30. After a shower I headed over to the bar to grab dinner, this time sitting with a retired couple, Sue and Roger, from Minnesota/Phoenix. After dinner I ran into Lindsey, the park ranger, who was there to attend the 7:30 talk on the park geology that was given by her colleague Matthew. After the talk I ran into Tammy and Jeff, and we discussed potential arrangements for a flightseeing tour while at Denali.
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My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
Alaska 2016 - Day 8 (8/27/2016) - Whittier to Copper Center
My designated disembarkation time was 7:30 AM. After getting off the ship I boarded a catamaran with 51 other passengers and crossed over to Valdez. The trip took a little less than 4 hours, even with a few stops to admire sea lions and sea otters. I got a little seasick for the first time during the boat ride, but I figured that it was due to staring at the laptop screen while we went along – I was over it soon after turning off the laptop and instead looking at the surroundings.
After arriving in Valdez we were picked up by a couple of motor coaches. They first took us a few blocks to the Safeway parking lot, where we were then released to find lunch. I ate at a place (Roadside Potatohead) that was a former food truck – I had the hummus wrap recommended by one of the tour guides (Jared). A group of 3 (a married couple, Ben and Suzie, and her mother) from Australia that was also on the tour was kind enough to invite me to join their table. After lunch we walked back to Safeway and bought some supplies ahead of the 9-hour bus ride in a couple of days.
The coach then took us to the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge, just outside the tiny town of Copper Center. On the way we stopped at scenic pullouts to view Horsetail Fall in Keystone Canyon, Thompson Pass, Worthington Glacier, and the (the western edge of the) Wrangell Mountain Range. After arriving at the lodge, I unpacked and then joined up with a 6 PM group nature walk around the lodge property that was led by a ranger from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The same ranger (Lindsey) then gave a talk at 7:30 about ravens, a bird species that I now better appreciate. Before the talk, I booked an excursion to hike the Worthington Glacier the next day. After the talk I joined Jeff and Tammy, a married couple from Pittsburgh, who were already dining in the hotel bar. After dinner I grabbed a cookie and some milk chocolate from the "Christmas in July and August" party in the lodge great room, then retired to my room.
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My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
After arriving in Valdez we were picked up by a couple of motor coaches. They first took us a few blocks to the Safeway parking lot, where we were then released to find lunch. I ate at a place (Roadside Potatohead) that was a former food truck – I had the hummus wrap recommended by one of the tour guides (Jared). A group of 3 (a married couple, Ben and Suzie, and her mother) from Australia that was also on the tour was kind enough to invite me to join their table. After lunch we walked back to Safeway and bought some supplies ahead of the 9-hour bus ride in a couple of days.
The coach then took us to the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge, just outside the tiny town of Copper Center. On the way we stopped at scenic pullouts to view Horsetail Fall in Keystone Canyon, Thompson Pass, Worthington Glacier, and the (the western edge of the) Wrangell Mountain Range. After arriving at the lodge, I unpacked and then joined up with a 6 PM group nature walk around the lodge property that was led by a ranger from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The same ranger (Lindsey) then gave a talk at 7:30 about ravens, a bird species that I now better appreciate. Before the talk, I booked an excursion to hike the Worthington Glacier the next day. After the talk I joined Jeff and Tammy, a married couple from Pittsburgh, who were already dining in the hotel bar. After dinner I grabbed a cookie and some milk chocolate from the "Christmas in July and August" party in the lodge great room, then retired to my room.
---
My favorite photos from the trip can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4ikrCSuPvRpRkXTKA
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