The Last Frontier

It'd been a couple of years before I'd taken a "real" vacation, so Jeff (my significant other) & I decided to go to Alaska. Before this trip, I'd already visited the other 49 states, so this really was the last frontier for me! Following are a bunch of pics in no particular order that I thought some of you might like...

Jeff & I on the banks of the Susitna river. We were on our way to the Matanuska glacier.

The Matanuska Glacier, a couple of hours northeast of Anchorage.

Jeff & his brother David, who lives in Palmer, AK.

Looking towards the Mat-Su Valley, from the road going to Hatcher Pass.

A scene from along the Glenn highway. The weather is pretty fickle up there. The first picture with Jeff & I was taken only a little more than an hour before this one.

I think you probably can guess what mountain this is. To the Alaskans, it's 'Danali', to most people in the "lower 48", it's called Mt. McKinley. We were driving up to Denali National Park & this huge mountain came into view. I said, "That's got to be Denali!" I mean, it was dwarfing all the other mountains.

The Chulitna river in the foreground, Denali being the large mountain in the background. It can be difficult to get views of Denali because it generates its own weather systems being such a tall mountain. This is the southern view.

Jeff at the southern viewing platform of Denali. It was beautiful seeing the mountains at sunset with the pink rays striking the snow.

Another picture of Denali but on a different day. We were very fortunate to be able to see it again.

We took a shuttle tour of Denali Park because public vehicles can only drive about 14 miles into the park & unless you bought a special permit, these shuttle buses are about the only other easy method of seeing the park. This is at a restroom stop. I can't remember the name of the river in the background. Our shuttle bus had a group of Polish tourists on it. Interesting stories related to our time spent on the bus with them!

A Willow Ptarmigan, the Alaskan state bird. In the winter, its feathers turn white. Someone on the bus asked the bus driver whether or not they were edible. LOL

A black bear & her cub. She had two cubs, the other one is out of the picture to the right. We also saw a Grizzly, but it moved too quickly for me to get a shot.

It's kind of difficult to see, but this is a lone wolf. Why it was alone we weren't sure, but hopefully it'll find a pack soon or it won't be lasting too long. We saw group of wolves, but the pictures I took weren't close enough, so they were more difficult to pick out than this wolf.



A Dall ram. This is not a picture taken with zoom, that's how close we were to him. We were climbing Mt. Margaret, a 5,059 foot peak that was about 14 miles into the park. He was curious about us, but that was it. After he figured we weren't any harm, he went back to eating & didn't give us the time of day.

Two more Dall sheep who were resting after a meal. One was chewing its cud, while the other one, the one on the right, starting dozing off to take a nap. They never moved once while we were in the vicinity. Being near these sheep is one of my favorite memories of Denali.

Views such as this are all over the park.

You never know when it might rain up there. But I really liked this shot of the sun rays striking part of the mountain range.



This is the summit of Mt. Margaret, the same mountain on which we saw the Dall sheep. At the top of this mountain, Jeff proposed to me. Yes, we are engaged!

Climbing up Mt. Margaret, about halfway up we found a little rock outcropping, so we took some pics.

There were some great autumn colors while we were up there. A lot more birch trees than I'd expected. The interior doesn't have many pine trees due to the permafrost.

On a train ride down to Seward, we passed several sections of these dead trees. During the 1964 Alaska earthquake, the glacial silt beneath these trees turned to gel & the area dropped between 9 & 14 feet. This allowed the saltwater from the bay to rush in & flood the whole area. The salt changed the molecular structure within the trees in addition to killing them. Because of this, these trees are actually preserved. They're not petrified, but as you know, salt is a preservative, & that's what it did to these trees. There was an early morning fog, which made the trees appear ghostly.

The Alaska railroad train that we took from Anchorage to Seward, which is on the Kenai Peninsula. In the background is another glacier. We must have passed at least four glaciers, they're all over the place.

The Kenai lake. An absolutely beautiful color of water, which is all glacial. There's also the Kenai river that flows with the same water color. This picture does not do the lake justice! And glacial water? Boy, is it COLD!

Ma & Pa bald eagle, perched above their nest. See the bunch of branches in the lower righthand corner? That's their nest, it's huge. Dianne, this picture is for you.

A sailboat enjoying the brilliant sunshine out on Resurrection Bay, Seward, AK. It was so beautiful, not a cloud in the sky. This as opposed to what happened the very next day where it was raining so hard in Seward that there were flood warnings.

Between the two Rickard brothers, Jeff & David. The Matanuska glacier is in the background.

Here we are again, having a lot of fun with the camera. We both took what felt like 1000 pics during our trip. Each picture has a story, a fond memory. If you've never been to Alaska, it's well worth the time, especially if it's solitude & quiet of which you're in need. The state population is estimated at 664K, with more than a third of that living in the Anchorage vicinity. Land mass is a fifth the size of the continental US. 656,425 square miles of land, so there's roughly 1 person per square mile! There's so much to see & do when it comes to the outdoors. I'll go back to Alaska, I'm hooked! :D