NOTE: I have not completed this log yet. Check back later for updates

Some of the highlights of the trip were climbing Mt. Igloo, seeing Denali, the drive from Delta Junction to Valdez, the drive from Anchorage to Seward, the boat cruise to Aialik Glacier, the Alaska SeaLife Center, and of course the wildlife. Considering this was almost the entire trip I think you can get an idea of how much I enjoyed myself.

The one downside to Alaska was the mosquitoes. They were absolutely terrible. Even the residents thought they were bad as you can see from this article I saved from the Anchorage Daily News. Even though they did make some of my outings rather miserable, they wouldn't stop me from going back. I would suggest buying some repellant that you can stand to have on all day as well as some mosquito proof clothing (and a head net if you aren't concerned about fashion).

As you can see from the trip log, I did a lot of driving. When I dropped the rental car off I had put 2475 miles on it in 7 days (click here to see a map of my route). I like to drive but that was too much even for me. I constantly felt pressured to keep on the move (kind of like the Griswolds at the Grand Canyon). I would probably pad in an extra 5-6 days so that I could enjoy the local environments more if I was going to do this trip over again.

I did tent/car camping so one item that was always on my mind was where I was going to take a shower. I had a copy of the Milepost which was helpful, but I found looking through the local yellow pages for showers to be more useful. So, you can view the following trip log partially as a review on some of the public showers in Alaska :)

Trip Log

Monday
Arrived in Anchorage at 12am AKDT. I needed to do some grocery shopping and take a shower but everything was closed until 6am. Having 6 hours to burn, I decided to drive up to Hatcher's Pass and see if it was open. The midnight sun causes the time between 12am to 3am to have the same light conditions you would experience 1/2 hour after sunset in Kansas so there was still plenty of light to see by. The pass was still closed and there was about 4 feet of snow left at the Independence Mine which is on the east side of the pass.

I drove back to Anchorage and showered at the Centennial Park campgrounds. This was by far the worst shower I have ever been in, it felt as if I was showering in an abandoned boiler room. In order to get the shower to turn on you had to press a button located on the wall. The only problem was the button was located on the other side of the room and each button press gave you only about 30 seconds of water. So basically you get wet and lather up then streak across the room and press the button, repeating this process as many times as necessary. Oh, and this is when I figured out how bad the mosquitoes were. Each time the water would turn off they would dive bomb me so my trips to the button were quite a comical site I'm sure.

After I did my shopping I was planning to drive straight on to Denali but by the time I got to Palmer I could barely keep my eyes open. There are some parking areas up near Independence Mine so I drove back to there and took a nap for a few hours in the car. Most of the road from Palmer to Fairbanks is through a deciduous forest so you are basically driving in a corridor of trees. Pretty, but not too spectacular.

When I got to Denali National Park I had to check-in to get my campsite and my bus passes. There is only one road that goes into the park and you can only drive the first 13 miles of it by car. After that you have to catch one of the park busses to get deeper into the park. When I had made my reservations I had been told that the ticket I purchased would allow me to ride any bus during the length of my stay which I had planned on being two days. It turns out the tickets are good for only one day so I had to buy another ticket and was quite fortunate that there was still a seat available. NOTE: the busses fill up fast so if you are traveling in a group it is highly advisable to make your reservations as soon as possible.

I drove out the Savage River Campground and set up my tent. I was told by the camp host that a woman had been mauled by a grizzly bear less than a mile from the campsite about a week and a half earlier. Here’s an article about the attack. After I got my camp in order I decided to hike to Horseshoe Lake pic. This is an easy hike which starts near the visitor center and worth doing if you have the time.

Tuesday
I had a reservation for the 7am bus and was supposed to get on at the bus depot by the Savage Creek Campground. This was when the midnight sun really got me confused about what time it was. I woke up at 6am to a beautiful and cloudless day. I had a nice leisurely breakfast and my internal chronometer said I had plenty of time to stroll around the campground. The south end of the campground offers a good view of Denali and it was visible all the way to the summit. It was impressive even from that distance. I know I looked at my watch several times but for some reason 7am came and went it never even registered I missed my bus until I got back to my campsite. I’m usually not very spacey so I think the weirdness of the sun being so high in the sky threw me off. I drove to the visitor station and was again fortunate that there was still a seat available on the 8am bus.

For the first day in the park I had planned on taking the Fish Creek bus (the Eielson Visitor Center was closed for repairs this season) and on the return trip get off and climb Sable Mt. which is at Mile xx. I was originally skeptical of how much I would enjoy the bus trip since I usually don’t like group trips with people I don’t know but this was actually fun. We had very knowledgeable bus driver who had spent a lot of time in Denali and had all kinds of interesting facts to relate. It was also very helpful to have so many eyes looking out for wildlife. I probably wouldn’t have seen anything if I had been by myself.

The trip to Fish Creek (at Mile 63) was great, hardly a cloud anywhere. At the turnaround spot you are awarded a great view of Denali pic if it’s visible (apparently ¾ of the time it is shrouded by clouds). Along the way we saw moose, grizzly bears, artic ground squirrels, porcupines, Gyre falcons, golden eagles, Dall sheep, caribou, and ptarmigans.

By the time we arrived at Fish Creek it was past 1pm and I was concerned that by the time we got back to Sable Mt. it would be too late to climb it and still make it back in time for the last shuttle of the day. I thumbed through my hiking guide (ref) and choose instead to climb Igloo Mt. I got off the bus at the Igloo Creek Campground pic (which was closed due to wildlife activity) and started up the mountain. One of the coolest things about hiking in Denali is that there are no trails to follow. You can basically set of in any direction you want. This is a really liberating experience but it does have its downsides. Without any trail to follow I kept ending up in bogs or thickets and would have to thrash my way through. I wasn’t too concerned about bears though considering how much noise I was making. The hike up is pretty straightforward and is a simple walkup. At the summit you get a nice view of the Alaska Range and a really good view of Cathedral pic and Sable pic mountains. I wasn’t able to see Denali from the summit since it is obscured by Sable Mt. Looking at the topos, it would appear that Denali would be visible from Cathedral Mt. Click here for the route I took up Igloo.

I did get a little dehydrated on the hike (I thought I had forgot to pack one of my water bottles but I found it the next day as I was cleaning out my pack) and ended up throwing up on the bus ride back. That evening I showered at the Riley Creek Mercantile which are very clean and have nice hot showers. I highly recommend these but you really don’t have much of a choice if you camping in Denali.

Wednesday
Originally I had planned on breaking camp in the morning and then taking a bus out to Wonder Lake (Mile 83) and camping there for a day. When I woke up I still wasn’t feeling too great from the hike the day before and the prospect of bouncing around in a hot bus all afternoon quickly lost its appeal. Instead I pondered over the maps and decided to rather drastically alter my trip and choose to drive to Valdez by way of Fairbanks. My original itinerary only included Denali, Anchorage, and Fairbanks so this added about xx miles onto the trip.

I stopped off at the Museum of the North in Fairbanks pic and at the Botanical Gardens. From there I drove to Delta Junction and visited Rika’s Roadhouse link. I then proceeded on the Richardson Highway to Glenallen which takes you right through the Alaskan Range. This was an incredibly scenic drive and I would highly recommend it. There are several great places along the way where you could pull off and stay for the night if you had a camper. Along the way I saw beaver, porcupine, a Lynx, snowshoe hares, and countless moose. I made it in to Glenallen about 12pm and stayed at the Northern Night Campground.

Thursday

The shower at the campground is very nice but there is only one available. I talked with the campground owner who suggested several side tours I could take on the way to Valdez such as the Kennecott Mines. On the drive to Valdez I didn’t see very much wildlife but views were amazing. You’ll pass Worthington Glacier, go up Thompson Pass, and then drive though Keystone Canyon which has some really spectacular waterfalls.

In Valdez I tried to get to the Mineral Creek Trail but the road leading to the trail was blocked at several places by snow slides so I hiked up the road for awhile instead. The road takes you through some very lush landscapes with several waterfalls along the way. It is definitely worth doing if you’re in Valdez with time to kill.

There is a ferry that goes to Whittier but I decided to drive back to Anchorage via the Richardson and Glenn Highways. That night I stayed at the Eklutna Lake Campground which is in a very pretty and serene area. At least it was on Thursday. I went back there on Saturday and it was crowded with people.

Friday I took a shower at Rochelle’s Ice Cream and General Store. The shower was clean and there was a laundry facility.

I proceeded to Seward via the Seward Highway which is a National Forest Scenic Byway and I think it’s a “must do” if you are going to go to Alaska. I didn’t stop at Girdwood but I heard several people talk about it so it might be something worth doing.