Hiking and biking in Anchorage

After Asser had left, I stayed in Anchorage, waiting for the next weekend, when my friend Sage was going to have three days off from work and we had decided to go somewhere together.

Above: Typical pedestrian in Anchorage?

On Monday, I borrowed a bicycle and did the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. I saw six moose along the way!!

On Tuesday, I hiked to Williwaw Lakes:

...and the Ballpark:

Yesterday, I did a day hike to Rabbit Lakes:

Sometimes, when you couchsurf, you get to stay at such beautiful and cozy homes as this (photo below). I have very much enjoyed my stay here, being hosted by an easy-going, sociable and active guy who seems to have visitors all the time. There are friends coming and going... Nice people & good practice for my English!

Fairbanks to Anchorage, Last Days with Asser

So, where were we? Oh, at the hostel in Fairbanks, having dinner with a group that was actually a good representation of America: a guy from Texas; a girl with Mexican origins; an ex-soldier who had been to Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places, and said he loves the gun laws in Alaska; a Korean guy who had lived in the US over ten years; and a few other people. Samuel from Texas made me realize that the Americans think of education as an investment - you spend $200.000 on yourself, for your future. Sounds like a lot of money to me, coming from Finland where you get many things for free. Or can you imagine e.g. spending $30.000 to giving birth?! Samuel still cherished the idea of the American freedom, the equal opportunity, meaning that if you have an idea, you can make it happen and even the poorest people can get rich. He said he has been attacked twice in Houston, so nowadays he carries a gun to protect himself and anyone with him. With great interest, we also listened to him tell us what it was like to stay in Houston when a hurricane hit the city. The guy from South Korea also cherished the freedom in America: the freedom of speech. He had just recently moved to Alaska, bought a house, and turned it into a hostel. He had a plant with big leaves growing in his backyard - it was rhubarb - and he was so astonished when I told him it is edible and made some jam for a cake we had for dessert.

The following day, Asser and I had to start driving towards Anchorage as Asser was going to return to Finland in two days. On the way, we saw part of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline:

And then we had these gorgeous views on Glenn Highway:

In the middle of the night, tired after driving all day, we luckily found a campsite in Palmer and stayed overnight there. The next day, we drove through Hatcher Pass and visited Independence Mine, the preserved ruins of a once bustling mining camp:

In the evening (last Saturday - sorry, I'm a bit slow with this blog!), we had dinner at my friend Sage's place. Then it was time to say goodbye to Asser and take him to the airport. It was a magical moment: the sun was setting and it painted the mountains behind Anchorage in beautiful shades of pink and we hugged each other full of happiness after such amazing three weeks of traveling together. This certainly gives us hope for the winter, when I will be studying in Paris and Asser will be working in Finland. I will now be staying another month in Alaska and then a few weeks in Finland before moving to Paris. Asser and I also traveled together last year after Christmas, when we had only just met. That time, the trip together did not go so well... I suppose it is easier and more enjoyable when you know the other person well.

Eskimo-Indian Olympics

Every now and then, when you are on a long journey, you need to do laundry, check your emails etc. After all this was done (it took a whole day!), Asser and I were ready to leave Denali and drive further in the Interior of Alaska. First we went to soak ourselves in Chena Hot Springs, about 60 miles east from Fairbanks. Our muscles were actually not very sore after the hike in Denali, but it was still very relaxing to lie in the warm water. That was the luxury part of our holiday as we decided to stay at the hotel, after doing so much camping. The resort was annoyingly touristy and not that attractive (even though I admired the abundance of flowerbeds), but we were happy with our stay there. In Fairbanks, we were just in time for WEIO, World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, a four-day event taking place every July. It was good to see the natives, who have been oppressed for so long, to proudly share, preserve and promote their precious and unique culture. At the Opening Ceremony, we saw some beautiful, traditional clothing and dances:

For time immemorial, Native peoples of the circumpolar areas of the world have gathered in small villages to participate in games of strength, endurance, balance, and agility. Along with these athletic games, dancing, story telling, and other audience participation games took place. This is the background of the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, where participants compete in one hand reach, high kick, fish cutting, ear pull, fish cutting, muktuk (whale fat) eating, just to mention a few of the contests. Here you can see descriptions of WEIO athletic events: http://www.weio.org/the_games.php. And here is a photo of women's blanket toss:

As we are in America, of course there was also a Miss WEIO contest with a talent show. In the following picture, one of the candidates is presenting the parkas she has made:

Now it seems like we are "stuck" in Fairbanks: first the hostel beds were so comfortable that we did not want to get up early and leave... then we started making pancakes for breakfast and met some nice people we had good conversations with... and now we are planning a group dinner...

Hiking in the Denali Wilderness

Asser and I started our Denali experience by staying with our friend Yarrow and other members of the trail crew at the Savage River camp. Tuesday was the perfect day to arrive because they were having their weekly group dinner, and we were invited to join them.

On Wednesday, it was raining so we spent the whole day planning and organizing our hike - it was frustrating to lose a whole day. But in Denali National Park, you cannot just go there and start trekking. Instead, you need to pay the entrance fee, reserve a seat in a camper bus that takes you to the park, and obtain a permit to camp in the areas you want to stay at. The park is divided in sections and only a limited number of people are allowed to camp in each section. In addition, you have to pack your food and other smelly stuff in BRFCs (bear resistant food containers) and it is advisable to carry a bottle of bear spray (counter assault pepper spray) with you. (More info about Denali National Park: http://www.nps.gov/dena/index.htm.)
Finally, Thursday morning we were out there, starting our hike. The weather started to clear out - and we had the perfect weather throughout our four-day hike! We were so lucky, usually July is rainy in Denali. At first, we made a bad route choice and had to struggle through this wet brush:

But later we hiked up some hills and found this amazing spot to camp:

The next day, we took a camper bus from area 6 deeper into the park, to areas 13 and 18. There is only one road through the park: the Park Road, a winding dirt road that travels along cliffs (scary, like the roads in Bolivia!) and through mountain passes. The road is 92 miles (150 km) long - what gives you an idea of the immense grandeur of the park.

In area 13, we first had to cross some small creeks on a flood plain:

And how romantic it was to camp with this view; Mt McKinley in the background!

The following day brought along more river crossings and wildlife sightings - this time, a caribou came really close! We had already seen a fox, a moose and several ground squirrels. Luckily we did not get close to any bears - we only saw them through the bus windows.

The ground squirrels were so cute! (Well, not so cute anymore when one of them had nibbled the padding of my backpack shoulder straps.)

In the evening, after frustratingly noticing we were stuck on one side of the river, without being able to cross it to continue further, a hike up to a mountain top definitely made our day. The views were magnificent, but man, I was so afraid of the height!

Our last campsite was no worse than the previous ones:

Cooking in the midnight sun...

Finally, it was time to go back with the last camper bus on Sunday night.

Traveling together with my Boyfriend

"Alaska?!? Brrrh! Why do you want to go there? In the summer!" This was the response I got from most of the people back home when I told them I would travel to Alaska. But I would not come here in the winter and I can assure you that my first days here were as warm and sunny as the best summer days in Finland. Look at this photo, for example:

But later, the weather turned into this:

I started this trip alone, but Asser, my boyfriend, arrived on 30 July, and I must say it is much nicer to travel together than alone - even though I have previously done many trips on my own. We will explore this state, 'the last frontier' or 'the land of the brave and the free', together for a period of three weeks, after which I will stay here alone for another month. After doing some shopping in Anchorage, we first went back to Talkeetna, to camp and fish with Axel and his friend, a real gold miner, at the mouth of the Clear Creek, where I had been with Axel and some other CouchSurfers just a few days earlier.

Then we headed south from Anchorage, to the Kenai Peninsula. We went to Seward to see the celebrations of the 4th of July. For some, the Independence Day seemed to be a very nationalistic event, and for others, just another reason to get drunk. On a university course last winter, I had learned about the American exceptionalism and now I was experiencing it first hand. "Our God loves America; He blessed us like no other nation" declared a leaflet of a Baptist church. What the f***?! Anyhow, the following was probably the funniest and the most peculiar sight during the Independence Day parade.

Here's to you sportspeople: How long would it take you to run to the top of the mountain in the following photo and back? The mountain is called Mt Marathon, and the length of the trail, unlike the name suggests, is only 5km. The Mt Marathon Race is a celebrated Fourth of July event and Alaska's most famous footrace. This year, a new record was set to 42:55.

In Seward, we also went to see the Exit Glacier and did a boat trip as well as camped in a forest with my friend Yarrow and some other people working in the Denali National Park. They came to Seward for the long weekend, but we will also meet them later when we head for the interiors of Alaska.

From Seward, we continued further south and met again Axel, our CouchSurfing friend. He was fishing in Kasilof where Asser got to try his luck with the fishing rod after Running with the Bear had blessed us. The following morning, we saw our first brown bear!! (Safely from the other side of the river.)

After camping for five nights in a row, without a shower, waking up to a rain every morning - and still mostly enjoying it - we decided to stay at a hostel when we continued our trip to Homer. We stayed at the Seaside Farm where I might be spending much more time after Asser has returned to Finland. I loved the rural setting and might volunteer at the farm/hostel later on.

Camping Trip to the Talkeetna River

Camping at a river, playing Tarzan with a rope, canoeing, watching the king salmon come upriver, catching them, swimming in a lake in the forest, having dinners with red wine... I was planning to stay in Anchorage for my first week in Alaska, but instead, ended up going on a camping trip to the Talkeetna River with a bunch of CouchSurfers: Axel, the organiser, a German who first came to Alaska 20 years ago; Corinne from France; Lisa from Germany; and Evan from Oregon, US.

Welcome to the USA - You're suspicious!

What a "friendly" reception I had when I arrived in Anchorage, Alaska! At passport control, I was taken to another room where the officials first made me sit and wait, then asked me some questions, and finally searched my backpack. How suspicious is it to come for a two-month backpacking trip without clear plans?! And, in your passport, to have all those visas to and stamps from many different countries! And not have a permanent job back home! I guess next time when I go traveling, I should print out my account statement... I understood they were worried that I would work here without a work permit. But I am only planning to do some voluntary work, to work for my room and board in order to keep my travel costs low. The customs officer confirmed that such an exchange deal is fine as long as I do not get paid.

Anyway, all the other people here have been really nice to me. I hosted Sage, an Anchorageite (=someone from Anchorage), for a few days during her bicycle trip to Europe last year. Now she was jumping for joy knowing that I was coming to Alaska - and she bought a car for my use while I am here! Unbelievable! What an amazing friend I have! Here is "my" new car:

Below is a street view from Anchorage. Tomorrow I get to see what lies behind those mountains surrounding the city, as I go on a camping trip to the Talkeetna River with some CouchSurfers.