In the Land of the Midnight Sun: An Alaskan TR

[Zeus]

Went on a small jaunt up to the Last Frontier just recently. Both inland and on a cruise ship. It is truly an amazing place, so much to see & do. I'll def. be heading back in the winter.







And away we go:



First night was in Anchorage, a good sized city (300,000+). Half of AK's population lives there. Best part was running into one of my college friends randomly and drinking Alaskan Amber.



The Chugach from the hotel parking lot, so close yet so far:





Street Fair in Anchorage:





Ate some Reindeer Hot Dogs (tastes like venison):





Next day cruised on the bus up to McKinley Lodge. Was treated with stunning weather the next three days- sunny and mostly clear. Usual Alaskan weather is cold & rain. Got some pics of Denali (Mt. McKinley for those who don't respect the native Athabascan name).



Yup, gonna climb it one day:





Denali & the Chulitna river. This is the ONLY bridge across the river. Period. If you're heading north, you go right past this:





Summit:





Had to watch out while I was out exploring the lodge grounds:





Sunset:

[Zeus]

The next day, we headed into Talkeetna, a town of about ~300 residents. It is the staging area for Denali expeditions, and also a chill place. I could see myself living here very easily.



Welcome:





Had some pizza at the Mountain High Pizza Pie... if you ever find yourself in Talkeetna, go there. Also got introduced to Twister Creek IPA, a fine beer brewed down the road at the Denali Brewing Company.





Intrigued by the thought of the brewery, I made my way there:





And tried some Denali Red. Hamme one dem reds:





Stopped in at the Ranger station to learn about my (hopefully) future climb:





And then checked out the old RR depot. The happiest snowmobile I've seen in quite a while:





That afternoon, I jumped on a jet boat tour and was treated to some awesome views of Denali and the Talkeetna River:





And some of these guys:

[Zeus]

Headed up to Denali (the town) the next day, it's kinda like a miniature Estes Park or Gatlinburg. But once you get away from the lodges & trinket shops and into the park itself... just wow....



On the way up, stopped at Broad Pass. The place where many settlers traversed into the interior. Fall was in full swing up there:





Had to include this ranger's EPIC beard. Good job, fella:





Place was amazing:





Saw some Dall Sheep (about a mile away, my 200mm really didn't get a good one of them):





Saw a Moose doing Moose Things:





And a lone Caribou on the ridge:







His buddy hadn’t fared so well:





Random flower shots:









Fireweed. The white stringy stuff would dry out and float around…apparently right into my sinuses. Allergy hell:





The lodging for the evening. Yup, I was roughing it:

[Zeus]

@font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Left Denali behind the next morning and took a train to Whittier to load the cruise ship. Took in a host of views along the way, even though the weather had turned.



ChooChoo:





Beaver Lodge:





Drank some beer from Silver Gulch Brewing on the train. It is located in Fairbanks, making it America’s northernmost brewery:





Went to sea for several days cruising south. Had to have some Alaskan Pilots dropped off for the passage through the islands of the SE.





Scenic coastline:





First stop: Hubbard Glacier:









Weather was great for both drinking wine & glacier watching:





Day 2 of the cruise saw us heading into Glacier Bay National Park. Another stunning place… I’ve seen glaciers before, but never tidewater glaciers (ones that end in the ocean). Nature’s bulldozers… nothing can stop them.



The Grand Pacific Glacier (it’s one of the few glaciers that are expanding, not retreating):





Ever wonder where iceburgs come from? Here’s your answer:

[Zeus]

@font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Next stop was Skagway, which was the start of the Yukon trail during the gold rush. Cool town, 14,000 people or so.



Took a narrow gauge train (the White Pass Rail) up into Canada, and on to the Yukon Territory:



Not much fun hanging off the back of a train in the rain:





Even with the rain, some awesome views as you climb up from sea level:





Took a bus from the Canadian border through British Columbia up into the Yukon. I used to think Montana was desolate… well, the Yukon makes Montucky look cosmopolitan.



Where is the YU_ON?





Stopped in Carcross, and yes, that is most of the town:





When in Rome (Beer worth freezing for):





The White Pass Rail isn’t just for tourists; it is still the most cost-efficient way of transporting goods to these locations. Here a locomotive turns around in town:





Saw an Iditarod team, and some puppies. These dogs love nothing more than running:

[Zeus]

@font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } After Skagway, it was on to the state capital of Juneau. The only state capital which you cannot access by road. Smallish- 30,000 people or so. Not much to say, but did go whale watching:



Humpbacks doing humpback things:





Magnificent animals… these pictures do not do justice to how big they are either:





Spent the next day at Ketchikan, driving a tomcar through the mountains. Not my photo, I didn’t bring my camera on this excursion.



A tomcar:





As we headed south, saw more and more fishermen:





And got a lesson on how to cook Salmon:





Next it was cruising down to Vancouver, bussing to Seattle, and then on to home. Great trip- I would do it again in a heartbeat, although I would ditch the cruise and spend more time inland.



Sunset on Vancouver Island:





Fin.

[KneeDeep]

Dude, BAD A$$. Love the pics, and I read every single caption- rare for a TR of this length.



Alaskan Amber is almost worth the trip alone- my fridge is always stocked with at least a sixer- best beer in the land, IMO.

[dreamnofpow]

Zeus on da loose in AK. Good stuff! No pictures of Palin's daughters?

[Zeus]

Thanks guys- and congrats Balkey! If I had known that I would headed down to the bar Saturday night.



And shoot me a PM or a message on the CFDB. I'll fill you in on the cruise side of things.

[carvebeast]

rad, i want an iditarod dog!