Climbing The Mountain

We're planning our next trip out.

But, we've had a chance to see some of our pics form our AK trip down to TX.
Hope you don't mind if we put some in form our stop at Denali, "The Mountain",  as the Alaskan Natives call it.

But they just can't change it's name from Mt. McKinley.
Seems the Ohio congressional delegation just won't let the name of their favorite President be changed on that mountain, even if he never even went to see it.

Anyway, it's about 4/5th the distance form Anchorage to Fairbanks. "only" 240 miles.
Don't plan on taking 5 hours.
They say 6 1/2, depending on Summer road construction.

But, it's worth the trip.

When we got there, some young lady was complaining about the cost.
She expected the $ 10 per person admission, but not the additional $ 40 - 70 per person to ride the busses into the park (and that is the only way to see it's interior).
If you bring a few kids, that can eat up your budget for sure.

Well, you can get a free shuttle for the first 15 miles, but we didn't see much wildlife when we took that years ago (only one caribou on that trip).
So we paid the big bucks for an 8 hour roundtrip ride to Eielson Visitor Center.

We could have gone to Wonder Lake on an additional 3 1/2 hour ride and seen just how high the climb would have been form 4,000 to 20,000 feet up Mt McKinley, but settled for the shorter ride.

And see the mountain we did. Over and over again.

And that is a rare event.
In fact, only 30% of visitors EVER see the Mt. because it is often covered with clouds.
So we are finally in the "30% Club".
(Incidentally, we also hope to be in the political "47% club" perhaps some day soon).

We even tried to pose, with the sun behind us.

But if you look carefully at our picture from early June below, we think you'll see why the time to climb the mountain is about over for this year.

The snow has started to melt and a sheet of wet ice is not what you want to step on.

This is actually the highest mountain the the world that you can climb.
Yes, we know that Everest is a lot taller. But here you can start from 3,000 or 4,000 feet if you want, and climb up to 20+K.

In the last few years lots have climbed it and we even know one who did.
Started training in the Fall and did the climb around Easter.

But lots have died in the last few years. Seems like that record is being broken yearly.
And it's not the weak or the undertrained that seem to falter. Some have repeatedly climbed Mt Hood or
even higher ones and lost their life here within the last few years.

Personally, I think people are on a schedule, and no one wants to say, "The weather's not good, let's try another time".
That's my opinion as I sat on a bench, drink form my water bottle at the Eielson Visitor Center and say, "No, that's not for me".

PS The vertical climb up Denali is up to 18,000 feet.
.

Trickery along state lines

I look at the view in Montana

then I look at the view in Wyoming,

just about 40 miles from the 1^st picture…

 and I ask myself,

“Was there trickery involved in drawing those state lines?”

You get the same feeling when you cross from New Mexico into Texas.

You go from brown to productive fields  that are irrigated in Texas.

And then I remember a National Geographic article about the aquifers from Kansas that extend down south. 

They follow a perfectly straight line east of the Texas  panhandle-NM border.

Someone had a heck of a lot more knowledge about underground water 

when they drew those lines than the negotiators in the adjacent state!

Glaciers in Alaska

As we rode the bus in Denali National Park, a group of Germans were on board. These guys have had some experience, I think, since they drove up from the lower 48 in motorcycles. But what did they enjoy the most? Flying into and landing on a glacier!

They claim this was the most fun they have had in their entire life.

Being cheap, we never did that during our 6 years in AK. But we did hike up to a few and rode a boat to a few of them! And in fact, what I think would have been the most fun, would be to kayak along the broken-off icebergs from some of those glaciers!

There are over 100,000 glaciers in Alaska. And only about 675 are named. So if you want to get your name on something really special, just climb one of the unnamed glaciers, take a picture proving you were there, and go the record office and have it name in your honor.

Here are at least 3 glaciers on this one picture, as we flew from Anchorage to Kodiak earlier this summer on ERA airlines,

from 10,000 feet above.

I guess for some it is fun to land on one of these.

But, for us more simple people, just get in your RV and go to the Kenai Peninsula.
Go just across the road form the Wildlife Conservation Center, and visit Portage Glacier.

Take a boat from the National park, and get real close.

Or take a hike along one of the trails,



till you get a little closer

so you can climb and hike along the blue ice!

Along the way, keep an eye for interesting scenes.

Some will remind you of a Thomas Kincaid painting.





Meanwhile, the local hikers, are so interested on their own path,

that they seem oblivious to tourist, as they pass right in front of you.

We're sure you'll have fun,  whatever method you chose!

.



If you are going to Anchorage...

may we recommend that you take the 50 mile trip north of the city,
along the water's edge of the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet,
and visit this place:

It'll cost you about $ 15 per person or 30+ per car full,
but you'll get to see all the animals you came to Alaska to see.

Sure they'll be behind a fence,

but their fields are huge.

Put your camera between the  metal fence, and you'll have your neighbors back home convinced that
you were face to face with Alaskan wildlife!

Check these out:

As close as those pictures we took n Kodiak!
In fact, they even made a TV documentary about Alaskan wildlife...and they filmed the whole thing here, instead of in the wild!
Fortunately they made them take it off the air!

Yes, you can get some real beauties!

These are all animals which have been injured in the wild and can't fend for themselves. So they are in rehab.
This is where they took some of the  baby Kodiak bears who lost their mom.  One, unfortunately, escaped with a friend and was hit by a car.  The other one eventually made it to a zoo in New York, I think.

Anyway. Be sure to stop here and see real Alaskan animal close up,

like this Musk Ox, whose fur is about the warmest thing there is!
And you probably will not see one anywhere else, except Alaska
(or perhaps the northern parts of Russia and Scandinavia)

Anyway, we repeatedly enjoy this stop as we drove through this area.

(PS Incidentally, the pics on our other blogs are real, not form the wildlife center)
.

From the Kenai

We are down in Texas now, and reviewing our pics after our shortened "Retirement Vacation".

So, if you have nothing to do, take a look at some of our upcoming blogs of our 5,000 mile trip to our "new" home.
We hope to post a few pictures of each phase along the way, within the next week or so.

Maybe you'll enjoy it enough to get you a rental motorhome in Anchorage and explore the real AK!

First, may we recommend you take the ferry from Homer, on the Kenai peninsula and cross to Kodiak island. Sure it's 9 - 12 hours, but you you'll see lots of sea life, enjoy the "Emerald Isle" and definitely not regret it.

Check out our prior blogs here or those about Kodiak at
 http://lifeinkodiak.blogspot.com

(PS be sure to get housing reservation in Kodiak pre-arranged, because housing can be hard to find in the Summer time).

On the way back you'll see glaciers under the bright 9 PM sun, as you land on the Homer Spit.

Watch the tourist on the beach, envying your ocean trip.

And reflections form the 10 PM sun

Is that that the  Redoubt volcano that caused so much fear for air travelers just a few years ago?

On the peninsula we saw 9 moose on this trip, including the babes we\'e shown before,

and some large lakes

by which you can pose a a regular tourist

and on which you can literally "reflect upon"

So, let's just make a decaf espresso, camp out overnight, watch the birds nesting near-by,

and just enjoy the view.
.

Cutting our trip short

We had to cut our "Retirement Celebration" trip short because of family illness.

Instead of our relaxing 8,000 mile vacation,
it became 4066 miles in 5 1/2 days, starting from Fairbanks, AK.

to San Antonio, Texas.


The last day started before 6 AM, in Trinidad, Colorado's Wall Mart parking lot,

through north-eastern New Mexico,

through the West Texas plains

at the temperatures of 104,

(admittedly the clock is wrong, it was PM, not AM, but the temp is correct)

....and then rising to an all-time historic high of 108 degrees in San Antonio the next day!

So, can you blame us, if the first thing we did was buy two six-packs of these?

One made right here in San Antonio.
We remember their TV ads in the 1960's claiming it tasted so good because it came
"From the land of 100,000 Springs".

And the other is because it's the closest thing we can get here to of our favorite:
Sarah Pale Ale from the Kodiak Island Brewing Company,
where the temperature was 57 degrees while it was 108 here!