Glimpses of Alaska


This was Sean's first view of Alaska. We took a short detour off of the Cassiar Highway to check out sister cities Stewart, BC and Hyder, Alaska. Notice the pavement ending upon crossing the boarder.







Skagway:

We took a detour from Whitehorse. He drove south out of Canada into Skagway: Famed gold port clinging to the shore under an almost impenetrable wall of mountains. Horses died in those mountains under man’s oppressive quest for wealth. Men died there, and women, from greed and desire and “gold fever”. This area wears its history like a badge of honor, but they forget that it’s a dirty, cruel and corrupt history. A history of dead ends, it tells us the limits of the human heart. It reminds us that people can sell their humanity in exchange for a little luck and maybe a fleck of gold.

We stopped at a garden/restaurant/glass blowing studio on the outskirts of town with the heart of the town still unseen. The sun was shining and the food was good, and the waiter invited us to a solstice party, and we thought that it was so hospitable and lovely and the garden was so lush, and this must be paradise.

We coasted into town unprepared for the circus. A new stampede has invaded Skagway, The cruise ship stampede, with money flowing in instead of out of this port. Alaska, with all its quirks and charms disappeared into a jungle of gem shops and storefronts full of mink coats. Tourists armed with digital cameras aimed them in every direction so I felt I should drop to the ground and cover my head. Cruise ships, like toppled skyscrapers floated along the shore. They were impossibly big. Impossibly white. If this bay was a bathtub, I thought, those huge toy boats would push the water up over the edge and flood the town.

Haines:

The next day we boarded the state ferry and headed out towards Haines. What a relief to sail away from that imitation of a town.

And into our first authentic piece of Alaska. Haines has a natural food store. Haines has old time music, and big trees, and people who strike up conversations with strangers. We meant to drive out that night, but after a short hike up onto a ridge and a second visit to the natural food store, we were starting to enjoy ourselves a little too much. Then we were invited to a free salmon cook out the next night. And then we were invited again. We asked where we could park our van to sleep, and we were directed down the road. We pulled off on a stretch of road beside the bay, with views of mountains and glaciers, and a gravel beach where I could sit and write while Sean played. The first car that passed stopped abruptly and turned around in the road, driving up to where Sean stood with his bass. He was on his way to a doctor’s house to play some music, and they didn’t have a bass player. We were encouraged to join them, and decided we might as well.. We were welcomed into a warm house with the perfect amount of mess and hospitality. As they were wrapping up for the night, the doctor pulled out the biggest concertina I had ever seen. He sang a song called “The last leviathan,” about the last of the big whales. It was so mournful and beautiful it sent shivers down my spine. As I was leaving, the fiddle player’s boyfriend scrolled his number on the back of a card and said we could use his house for showers, laundry, anything we needed. Could he tell we were on our last set of clean clothes, that we hadn’t showered for a week? We had almost made it out of the driveway when the doctor’s wife ran out… she had made rhubarb cobbler, and did we want any?

The next day we hiked some more, watched seals through a telescope, then watched a glacier calve as we talked to a park volunteer. We cleaned ourselves up, and kept ourselves busy until the salmon feed, which was

amazing… free salmon, garlic bread, beans, salad.

We met some nice people and drank some local beer, then said goodbye to Haines. Our destination? Million Dollar Falls, which we were told we could not miss.

And we almost missed it. As daylight was fading into the gray that passed for the long northern twilight, we came to a sign for the Million Dollar Falls camp ground, which was closed and gated. So we hiked in, not knowing why it was closed. We saw bear tracks in the road and joked that the campground might be closed because of a grizzly on a rampage. We later learned that this was close to the truth. A grizzly had killed a moose in the campground and they had closed it until he was done eating it.

Kluane National Park:

Back in Canada we stopped for a two day biking/backpacking trip in Kluane National Park, home to the worlds "Largest, Non-Polar icefield!," and the nations "Second Highest Concentration of Dahl Sheep in the World!"






We didn't see any Dahl Sheep, or any icefields, but there were a few wildlife spottings (as you
can tell from the photos) and the flowers and lichens were beautiful.












The biking was a little tough for my non-mountain bike, but I knew it was in for some tough times in Seldovia, so I figured it better get used to it.






























The weather cooperated for the first day. As we were making camp that night we watched a whole herd of mountain goats clamber down the ridge to graze on the cliff tops across the river from us. We woke to low clouds and a clinging, misty rain.

















































































The rain stayed with us into Alaska. Suddenly we were passing through towns that I knew, if not from basketball and band trips, then by name at least.



We set our sights on Palmer, where we would meet up with a childhood friend.






























Palmer:
The Agricultural center of Alaska, Palmer welcomed us with a splash of sunlight. We met up with friends, and then hiked up the butte in the middle of town. From the top we were rewarded with views of lush fields stretched out to the base of snow capped mountains with silty glaciers spilling out of the valleys.











Anchorage:
And we made it to the city! We got there just in time for our ultimate tournament, which was tons of fun.













We gained a traveling companion for our trip down the Peninsula. My friend Noah was headed down to Homer as well.














My one hope for this leg of the journey was for good weather. My wish was granted, offering us clear views of mountains, ocean and volcanoes.





























Homer:
The end of the road! We didn't have much time to spend in town, but we made the most of it, seeing friends and walking around on the Spit.

Saving...

And then we loaded up on the ferry, which took forever.





























And we had a mini-reunion on board, with my long lost brother and his wife Erin, who had just finished their year plus journey from Seattle to Unimak Island (www.groundtruthtrekking.org).














Seldovia:
And I am home.
Where sunsets last forever, and I know where all the best berries are, and I have a job waiting for me, and people to visit and special places to see.














Erin's dad, step-mom, and brother were visiting, so we took them up to Red Mountain, just outside of town to look at cool rocks and pretty plants.




















































And Erin told us all that she was pregnant! But we weren't allowed to tell anyone until a few weeks ago.





























We were also just in time for some big low tides, so we got to tool around in the tide pools.




More to come!