Land of the Midnight Sun

Since leaving the Yukon we have rarely been out of range of stunning jaw-dropping scenery. Every corner you turn always seems to be better than the last. We stopped for 5 nights at Anchorage – our longest stay yet and did several short side trips to Seward, Portage and several beaut glaciers. We liked Anchorage except it’s full of strange people in camoflage gear and just about every house has moose antler/s hanging off it.

The Alaskan King Crabs are touted as somewhat of a delicacy – people seem to go nuts over them. So we order 1lb ($19.95) at a restaurant. Have to say I was less than impressed. Perhaps if they weren’t frozen beforehand (as it seems they all are – frozen at sea on the ship) and were cooked more evenly in salt they may have come in about half as good as muddies. But felt really ripped off. But we had to try it once! Perhaps I have just been spoilt growing up with muddies all the time!

Went to check out Earthquake Park on the foreshore in Anchorage.There are some info shelters desribing the events of te Good Friday disaster in 1964. The towns of Seward, Homer and Kodiak were completely destroyed, Valdez was almost destroyed and they shifted it 4 miles away – Seward describes a 40ft wave travelling 100mph that was alight with the burning oil from the tankers the quake destroyed – washing over the village. At Anchorage there was a huge landslide/ slump on the cliff and many houses fell into the sea. And of course it disrupted all land and sea transport for several months. The photos were sobering – it was classed as a 9.4 on the richter scale.

Finaly made our way to Denali National Park. It has a very different management strategy than others we’ve seen – and especially different from home. UR allowed to drive 17 miles up a 90 mile road. If you want to travel further you have to take a shuttle bus which is aimed at reducing vehicle/wildlife encounters. Strangely though we thought – there are no backcountry trails. They say you just walk wherever you want. In these ultra fragile alpine / taiga / tundra environs we’re used to different management strategies – where you are encouraged to stick to just one trail – or else there are boardwalks. Also there are no bear storage units/poles – you have to pack in this bloody heavy barrel which we think is crazy – especially given that we try and save every ounce from our poor knees in our old age.

Taiga is Russian for northern evergreen forest and describes the scant tree growth near the Arctic Circle. Tundra is the world of dwarfed shrubs and miniaturized wildflowers adapted to a short growing season. We took in the Dogsled demonstration in the park and thought it was excellent. The huskies are so gorgeous and have a terrific temperament. Not bothered at all by kids playing with them. There were about 30 huskies there and when it came time to ‘select’the 5 that would be in the sled demonstration they all went nuts – they all wanted a go!
So we are about to leave Denali NP and head to Fairbanks before crossing over the Arctic Circle. We are certainly in the land of the Midnight Sun! The bloody thing never sets! And once we cross the circle it’ll be even more bright!