Alaska: Our trip during July, 2013 - Final Part V

Thursday, the 18^th July:

Talkeetna is basically a mountaineering town and was built by miners, prospectors, adventurers, and the railroad. It is at the junction of three rivers, the Talkeetna, Susitna, and Chulitna. The word ‘Talkeetna’ means ‘where the rivers join,’ in the local Athabascan language. Talkeetna is also a great place for flight-seeing trip around Denali. One can find any number of water-planes parked in the waters of innumerable lakes around the place.

At Talkeetna, Viji had booked a cabin house very close to the river. It was quite late at night when we reached there. The cabin house was located quite interior, ten miles away from the main Anchorage-Denali highway. The road to the cabin house was deserted. Without our GPS, we couldn’t have located the cabin house. Cell phones went dead. The place, initially, looked haunted and scared all of us.

 

There was a small board “Welcome to Neelakantan family’ in front of the cabin house and that was the only pleasant surprise. Here too, mosquitoes flew around freely everywhere. We quickly rushed inside the house, not only to escape from the mosquitoes, but also for fear of any bear suddenly emerging from the nearby woods. ‘I will get out of this place, first thing in the morning,’ was the terse pronouncement from Viji. All her earlier enthusiasm to stay in a cabin house vanished quite dramatically. After making sure that the front door was securely locked, we all went to sleep immediately.
Honestly, to be fair, the cabin house was really a great accommodation, as we discovered the next morning. It was neat, fully furnished, well equipped with a fridge, micro-wave, kitchen-range, dish-washer, utensils for cooking and so on. It offered plenty of open space to play or party around and a quiet stay away from the din and noise of towns.  Knowing that we could be arriving with our children late at night, the caretaker lady had left some milk and other ingredients for making coffee or tea. But, we were all so tired the previous night after a long drive and scared about the deserted location of the cabin-house that we had no enthusiasm to notice the nicer things about this place.

 

 

 

In the early morning, there were a few more surprises, though not pleasant.  Electric power went off and so, there was no water in the taps in the bathroom. We quickly prepared to leave, but before leaving we went to the caretaker’s place. We found some wonderful breakfast – some special bread, coffee, cereals, and yoghurt. The caretaker was a pleasing woman. She explained away the sudden power tripping as something totally unexpected and rare and the lack of water supply from one of their overhead water tanks resulting from some inmates inadvertently leaving the water tap open during the night. A few other guests sitting in the dining room too spoke highly about the place.  Though we weren’t fully satisfied with the explanations, we had sumptuous breakfast and left the cabin house around 11.30 AM towards Denali.

The drive to Denali took nearly 3 hours and we reached our hotel at around 4.00 PM. The front desk at the hotel was very elegant and impressive. A coffee shop functioned in one corner and a gift shop in another corner. However, the rooms were located in a number of smaller condo units spread out in a sprawling campus. No parking was there in front of our condo unit and we had a cumbersome walk over quite a distance carrying our heavy luggage to access our room. It was drizzling too at that time.

Once we lodged our luggage in our room, the first thing we wanted to do was to buy our tickets for the Denali National Park Shuttle Tour for the next day. So, we went to the Wilderness Access Center and bought our tickets for the 66 miles, 8 hours long, Eilson Visitor Center Tour scheduled for 9.00 AM on Friday. We had also planned to return to Anchorage Friday night and so, we decided to get off the shuttle at Toklat River Point to shorten the tour to six hours.

After buying our tickets, we went for some shopping. We couldn’t do any other activity for the rest of the evening since it rained intermittently. We went back to the hotel, prepared our dinner for the night and lunch for the next day, and went to sleep after finishing our dinner.

Friday, the 19^th July:

The Athabascan, the indigenous people of North America, called the high mountain, ‘Denali’ to mean ‘the high one.’ The place is habitat for wild animals like grizzlies, caribou, wolves, moose, dall sheep and others. It is also a place for gold mining. The development of a National Park in Denali owes to a great extent to the dream of one Charles Sheldon, an early conservationist and gentleman hunter from Vermont along with Harry Karstens, a legendary outdoorsman and dog musher. By 1917, after almost a decade of hard work, Sheldon and others persuaded American Congress to create Mount McKinley National Park. Four years later, in 1921, Karstens was hired as its first superintendent. President Jimmy Carter, in December 1980, with only weeks left in his presidency, signed into law a legislation that established over 100 million acres of new national parks, preserves, and wildlife refuges in Alaska that included enlargement of Mount Mckinley National Park from two million acres to six million acres into the present Denali National Park and Preserve. Mount Mckinley or Denali is visible from both Anchorage and Fairbanks and lies between the two cities. The park is a six million acres of wild land bifurcated by a ribbon road. Visitors’ vehicles are not allowed beyond the first fifteen miles of this road up to the Savage River. Beyond this, one has to use only the shuttle bus service operated by the Wilderness Access Center.
Denali is a popular destination for hikers, mountaineers, campers and for those interested in winter sports. It also forms part of bear country and visitors are advised to avoid encountering with bears. Elaborate instructions are available on what is needed to be done when one sees a bear.

 

 

 

We reached the Wilderness Access Center well in time to catch our 9.00 AM shuttle for the Eilson Visitor Center tour. We had to carry the heavy baby-car-seats too, as this was mandatory for children to travel in a shuttle bus too. I think a lot of fuss is made in some places in America in the name of security and safety. It was very quite an onerous job carrying the heavy baby-car-seats everywhere you go. The tour operators could have as well provided a few baby seats in every shuttle bus. The baby seats can be easily fixed and removed. It was raining and drizzling intermittently. The driver was a lady and as she drove, she also functioned as the tour conductor describing the places, scenic spots, the mountains, the rivers, the history of the inhabitants of the terrain, and so on all the way. The shuttle passed through Savage River, Sanctuary River, Tehlenika River, Igloo Creek, Sable Park, and Polychrome Overlook before it reached Toklat River. One got fabulous views from Igloo Creek stopover.

The shuttle stopped once in every one-and-half hours for restroom facility. At other places, it just stopped for a few minutes for tourists to take pictures. Tourists were advised to bring their own lunch or snacks, as no facility was available on the way. Besides, we were not allowed to eat anything outside the shuttle bus to avoid attracting animals and birds. The rain was a real dampener and many of the scenic spots were covered by mists. Sun came out partially here and there, but mostly not seen.

We reached Toklak River at 1.00 PM. We got off from the shuttle to take another one for getting back to the Wilderness Access Centre. In Denali, there are tours go up to Kantishna after crossing Wonder Lake and Reflection Pond. We understand, on a clear day, one gets a view of 20320 feet high McKenly Mountain, the tallest in U.S.A, from many viewing points. In Wonder Lake and Reflection Pond, on a clear day, one can see a reflection of the McKenly Mountain in the waters of the lake. However, these trips could take anything about 11 hours. For a visitor to Denali, I think one would need at least three days to do full justice.

At Toklak River, there was a tented souvenir shop and a number of restrooms. Tourists were allowed to get down from and change into the shuttle bus anywhere, subject to availability of seats. We didn’t get proper seats in the 12.20 PM shuttle from Toklak River; I felt the driver could have been a little more accommodative to ask a few fellow tourists to move over to other seats to accommodate the small children with us, but he didn’t. So, we had to wait till 1.00 PM. In the meantime, as the rains stopped temporarily, we walked around a bit taking pictures.

We boarded the 1.00 PM shuttle. The driver was quite accommodative requesting a few other passengers to move to other seats to make room for us and for the kids, so the kids could sit by our side.

We returned back to Wilderness Access Center by around 3.00 PM. We went back to our hotel, did some shopping, packed our things, put them in our car and left Denali around 5.30 PM for Anchorage.

On the whole, I felt, if weather was better, we could have enjoyed the Denali tour much more.

We stopped over at Taco Bell at Wasila on the way, for dinner. We reached Embassy Suites Hotel in Anchorage by around 11.00 PM when it was still not dark. Viji and Sanjay went out to take pictures, after we checked into the hotel room.

Saturday, the 20^th July:

We got up leisurely around 8.00 AM. The hotel offered cooked-to-order breakfast in addition to regular items. We had a rich breakfast. In the meantime, Viji and Balaji went to return the rented car. The hotel arranged an airport shuttle to take us to the airport. We were there at the airport around 12.45 PM. Viji and Balaji along with the children left by 3.00 PM flight to Phoenix via Seattle and we left by a 4.20 PM flight to Chicago via Seattle. We reached Chicago on 21^st morning around 6.30 AM and our flight was delayed by an hour.

On the whole, our trip to Alaska was very satisfying. I am very happy that one of my long time passions was fulfilled during this year. I thank Viji and Balaji for that. I thank Sanjay and Sahana for their excellent cooperation for most part. They are small children and become restless when they are bound in a car seat for continuously long hours. That was understandable. They just want to be free. Only we lack the ability and innovation to keep them cheerful when they become restless.

A trip to Alaska is very costly too. The flight tickets, the hotels, the rented car, the groceries, the entrance tickets to various tours, facilities and shopping are all prohibitively costly. I thank Sri Amma Bhagawan for making this tour possible without any discomfort.

Now, Kailash and Manasarover in Himalayas seem to be my next target.

Summary:

Alaska is a must see place in one’s life, if one can afford. It is in places like Alaska where one finds Nature’s play in full. The scenery, the serene and clean atmosphere, the quiet ambience, the whispering cool winds, gurgling rivers and waters, expansive land and space, frightening mountain heights, tantalizing lakes and most importantly the clean and smooth road systems of Alaska are something to be remembered for lifetime.

 

Alaska - Our trip during July, 2013 - Part IV

Wednesday, the 17^th July:

For this day, we had booked tickets for a cruise ride at Whittier, 88 miles away from Seward (and 60 miles South of Anchorage). Whittier sits at the head of the Passage Canal. We drove back on the Seward highway until we reached Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet and then into Portage glacier road. There is a 2.5 miles long Anton Anderson Memorial railroad tunnel (locally known as the Whittier tunnel or Portage tunnel), through the Maynard Mountain hills, just before Whittier.

Whittier tunnel, along with the port at Whittier, was built as a military facility during the Second World War by the U.S. Army. It is the second longest highway tunnel, and longest combined rail and highway tunnel, in North America. It links the Seward highway south of Anchorage with Whittier and is the only land access to the town. The tunnel is named after the army engineer who supervised construction of the rail spur through Maynard Mountain. The tunnel is a critical bottleneck. It allows traffic to flow from one side to the other, allowing 15-minutes slot for the vehicles and another 15-minutes slot for the train. That meant, once in an hour, you got a 15 minute slot to cross through the tunnel. We couldn’t afford to be late, so we had started from our hotel at Seward quite early and we were there in front of the tunnel just five minutes before the suggested 10.30 AM slot for our crossing-over.

Whittier is just a small port town with a population of less than 300 most of who stay in one big building. The spur of the Alaska Railroad to Camp Sullivan, as the place was originally named by the army, was completed in 1943 and the port became the entrance for U.S. soldiers into Alaska. The port remained an active army facility until 1960. The two huge buildings that dominate Whittier were built after World War II. The 14-story Hodge building, now known as Begich Towers, was built for housing solders and the Bucker Building, completed in 1953, was called the ‘City under one roof.’ Both these buildings were at one time the largest buildings in Alaska. The Begich building is now a condominium housing nearly all the Whittier’s residents. Whittier was incorporated in 1969. Tsunamis triggered by the 1964-Good Friday Earthquake severely damaged the town, including the now abandoned Bucker Building. Whittier is a popular port of call for cruise ships. Whittier is also popular with tourists, sport fishermen and hunters. The Whittier Glacier near Whittier was named for the American poet John Greenleaf Whittier in 1915.

We boarded the 12.30 PM 26-Glacier Cruise. The cruise ship, we were told, would help us explore glacier carved Fjords, ancient ice and towering mountains of the Chugach National Forest. A quick reference to Google described a Fjord (pronounced as F’eord – the letter ’j’ being silent, also spelled as ‘fiord’) as: “a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.” I learn that the coasts of Norway, Iceland and Greenland have many fjords.

Some more interesting information about Whittier: Long before Westerners arrived, Chugach Eskimos, now known as Alutiq, crossed the pass that separates Prince William Sound from the Cook Inlet’s Turnagain Arm in search of fish, almost 7000 years ago, as the glaciers began to retreat. Miners later took the route to reach the gold fields of Turnagain Arm. In Geography, a Sound or Seaway is “a long, relatively wide body of water, larger than a strait or channel, forming an inlet or connecting two large bodies of water, such as two seas, or a sea and a lake.” The Chugach Eskimos were water people whose lives centered on hunting and fishing. The Eyak, who shared the Sound, were people of the shore who came from Alaska’s Interior. These early people created small villages and lived in wooden houses. They made clothing from sea otter and seal, wove baskets from grass and spruce roots and used stones, bones, wood and shells to make tools. Today, about 1000 Alaska Natives live in the Sound where their lifestyles range from traditional subsistence to leading major Alaska Native-owned corporations.

Some of the greatest explorers who visited the Sound include:
·        Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator who served in the Russian Navy and who discovered Alaska in 1741,
·        George William Stellar, the famous German Naturalist, a member of the Bering Expedition, which made landfall at Kayak Island, approximately 100 miles southeast of Whittier. Many living species are named after Stellar: Stellar Sea Lion, Stellar Jay, Stellar Eider and Stellar Sea Eagle, and
·        Capt. James Cook who entered the Sound on May 12, 1778. While he traded with the area’s indigenous people, William Bligh – later of the Mutiny of the Bounty fame – took a small boat and paddled long enough to determine it was not the Northwest Passage. It was Bligh Reef that the Exxon Valdez struck in 1989.

That day’s 145-miles journey on the cruise aboard the largest, fastest catamaran in Alaska took us through rugged wilderness, towering glaciers and pristine waters.

Prince William Sound is 2100 square miles of islands and fjords, carved by 15 million years of glaciations and surrounded by the Chugach National Forest. It is America’s largest intact marine ecosystem and North America’s northern-most rain forest.  It is also one of the most active seismic regions in the world. The journey took us near the epicenter of the 1964 Good Friday earthquake that measured 9.2 on the Richter scale.

From Whittier, the cruise headed east through Passage Canal to the Egg Rock sea lion rookery in Port Wells. We continued to scenic Esther Passage where only small ships can navigate. High mountains protect this narrow channel from rough seas and winds. Many animals call this area home. Bald eagles are frequently seen fishing. Orcas are common and sea otters are almost always present. Beyond Esther Passage, the vessel headed north in College Fjord, a glacier-rich region whose namesake came from a science expedition led by American railroad financier Edward Harriman. The team named each glacier along the northwest side of the fjord after prominent women’s colleges, while those on the southwest side were named after men’s colleges. Next we cruised to Barry Arm and Surprise Glacier in Harriman Fjord. The cruise plotted a path through the ice-filled waters up to the front of the glacier so we could watch for ice calving into the sea. The ship made the last stop at the kittiwake bird rookery just across the bay from Whittier. It is reported that more than 10000 birds inhabit these rocky cliffs each summer laying eggs, fishing and teaching young hatchlings the survival tips they will need before they fly south for winter.

Our routes took us past three types of glaciers found in Alaska:
1) Tidewater Glaciers: Pressured by their own weight, active tidewater glaciers move toward the water, ending at the ocean’s edge where they frequently ‘calve,’ shedding slabs of ice that crash into the sea. These floating icebergs are so heavy that only the very tip is visible.
2) Piedmont Glaciers: These glaciers rest at the base of the mountain. They are formed when glacial ice forms a fan-shaped mass at the foot of the mountain range.
3) Alpine Glaciers: Also known as hanging glaciers, these ice masses start high on the slopes of mountains, and literally ran from the mountainsides.

We also learnt that the areas surrounding our journey are habitat for more than 1645 animal species, some of the important species being: Sea otter, Harbor seal, Ribbon seal, Stellar sea lion, Black-legged kittiwake, Eagle, Black bear, Mountain goat, Dall’s porpoise, Orca/Killer Whale, Humpback whale and Minke whale.

 

 

 

 

The journey on the cruise was exhilarating. It was a great experience standing on the deck outside the cruise ship, and facing the strong wind. We saw glacier after glacier, otters, eagles and many more. Lunch was provided in the cruise and it was just okay. When the journey was about to end, the Forest Ranger who was conducting the tour gathered all the small children, administered a pledge to all of them and presented a Junior Forest Ranger Badge to every one of them. Sanjay was once again very proud. We were back at the harbor at 05.30 PM. We, immediately, rushed to our vehicle to get back through the tunnel and drove all the way to Talkeetna, north of Anchorage, on our way to Denali National Park, our last destination in our Alaska tour.

………..to be concluded in Part V

Alaska – Our Visit during July, 2013 - Part III

Tuesday, the 16^th July:

Seward is situated at the head of Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula and is known as the ‘Gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park.” Seward is a picturesque town with a bustling harbor. The Seward highway connecting Anchorage with Seward has been named an All-American Road, which is the highest designation of a National Scenic Byway.

In the morning, Sanjay and I left for the riverside. It was just opposite to our hotel. Actually, we wanted to get into the river to play in water, but there was no secure arrangement and so Sanjay for disappointed.

 

 

 

 

We returned back after taking pictures and spending some time in the spectacular restaurant located near the front desk at the hotel.

Meanwhile, Viji had prepared some delicious ‘rajma’ and rice for our lunch. We had cereals for our breakfast. We left our hotel to reach the visitor centre for Exit glacier and after collecting necessary information brochure, we began our hike.

We managed Sahana in the stroller for some distance, but the smooth pavement ended soon and we had to hike carrying Sanjay, Sahana and the stroller, through rough uneven rocky route. We shed weight by discarding the stroller to one corner on the way. Viji carried Sahana on her back, and I carried Sanjay on my back. We quickly moved forward. We stopped near a small bridge on the way to take some rest before we hiked further. It became colder and colder as we went closer and closer to the glacier. There was strong, chilly wind blowing in our direction. We reached the penultimate view point before the glacier and from there we had wonderful view of the valley down and the glacier up the hill. Sanjay and I went further up to the final view point that was very close to the glacier. It was freezing cold there and worsened by cold winds. The glacier looked beautiful in semi-bluish in color and at the same time very scary too.

An information board kept there, revealed that the glacier had been receding or shortening in its length over years, probably indicating global warming.

While returning back to the visitor centre, some visitors whom we met on the way reported that they spotted a bear in the woods area and they cautioned us to go carefully. However, we saw no bear and we were back safely at the visitor center. While we were looking at a few souvenirs displayed for sale, Sanjay attempted some puzzle in a book gifted to him by the Ranger staff in the visitor center. For successfully completing the puzzle, Sanjay was presented with a Forest Junior Ranger Badge and was administered the Junior Forest Ranger’s pledge. It was funny watching Sanjay taking the pledge without opening his mouth. But he was visibly proud that he had received the Badge. We went back to the hotel for our lunch.

In the evening, we left for the bay area. Sanjay and Sahana played for sometime in a park and we didn’t have much activity to do except watching the bay and the moving, small ships and speed-boats.

Suddenly, Viji had an idea. She suggested that we could drive up to Cooper Landing on the Seward highway to see Kenai River and Kenai Lake. It was a 47 miles drive on the way to Anchorage.

It was late in the evening when we reached the quiet Kenai Lake. The lake was desolated, but for a lady and her small child. The lady patiently watched her two-year-old son playing with pebbles near the water. She carried a gun on her belt and that scared us. But she was nice, she lived there and she gave us very useful information about the place. On her suggestion we drove a little up on the main road to reach a bridge across the Kenai River from where we could get excellent view. The river and its blue water with the backdrop of the hill offered scintillating view. It was past 8.00 PM and someone was just beginning his lonely river-rafting. He must be a daredevil, we thought.

 

 

 

 

After taking several pictures, we returned back to our hotel, had our dinner and went to sleep.

The hotel we stayed was located in a beautiful, spacious campus with plenty of trees, flowers and plants.

 

 

..................... continued in Part IV

   

Alaska - Our visit during July, 2013 - Part II

Part II
Sunday, the 14^th July:
We spent our forenoon at the Science Centre at Anchorage. The children enjoyed the several scientific exhibits playfully. Sanjay and Balaji went for a ‘dinosaur show’ while we went for ‘Northern lights’ show in the planetarium theatre.

Alaska is known for the Northern Lights – Aurora, a strange phenomenon of a natural display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions, caused by the collisions of energized charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere (thermosphere).

We also went around the Science Centre looking at various exhibits about life in Alaska, its history and heritage and later developments.

In the evening we went for buying souvenirs from a gift-store. Later, we walked along the Downtown hoping to catch the entry to the walking/biking/hiking trail along the bay, but we couldn’t locate it. And so, we spent our time in a few parks, the children enjoying their park time more than our planned hike.

Monday, the 15^th July:
We vacated from our hotel after our breakfast and headed towards Seward. We took the same scenic Seward highway along the Turnagain Arm.

On the way, we stopped for hiking to Flattop Mountain. This is a 3510 feet high mountain forming part of Chugach State Park, with an elevation of 1280 feet from the parking lot. It was generally cloudy and misty around the mountains. There are several levels to climb on this mountain. One could walk or bike.

 

 

 

We could view Anchorage from the first level. We went up to the second level too. Lakshmi and Sahana stayed back. We couldn’t try to hike to third and further levels for want of time. Besides, Sanjay started complaining about his hurting legs. After all, he was just four years old.
From the Flattop Mountain, we drove further on the Seward highway and on the way we stopped to view a small waterfall. We drove all the way to the end of Turnagain Arm and then to the other side of the Arm and then towards South to reach Seward. The drive on the other side of Turnagain Arm was really very scenic with mountains, rivers, and lakes. Two of the important places we passed through were:

·        Moose Pass situated on the shores of Upper Trail Lake 30 miles outside of Seward. Iditarod trail begins here and was used to transport gold and supplies. There is abundance of moose in the area and prompted the name for the place.

·        Cooper Landing, considered as the ‘Gem of the Kenai Peninsula’, ‘a Emerald’ in summer and ‘a Diamond’ in the Winter, is one of the finest, most diverse outdoor recreation area Alaska has to offer. Conveniently located in the middle of the Kenai Peninsula, nestled in the majestic Kenai Mountains along the beautiful turquoise waters of Kenai Lake and the upper Kenai River. These waters are uniquely tinted blue-green by suspended ultra-fine glacial silt. Fishing, rafting, hiking, sightseeing, horseback riding, mountain biking, sea kayaking, and gold panning are popular activities of the place.

We reached Seward in the evening. Our stay was arranged at Windsong Hotel on the banks of the Resurrection River. The view of the distant mountains, some of them snow-capped, from the banks of the river was mesmerizing.

                                                                                                                          ………………..Continued in Part III