Monday, July 4
4 boxes
We are in Anchorage at 10 pm. and the sun is still shining. A quick taxi ride ($15) takes us to the 26th Street Hostel and we are ready to bed.
Tuesday, July 5
happy reunion
ready
The Glenn Highway is busy 3-laner to both directions. The shoulders are wide alright, but there are several exits and cars driving by in 65mph makes us feel somewhat uncomfortable. When waiting to cross one of the exits, a vehicle stops and the driver asks why we are not riding "there". Where? See, there is bike path on the other side of the highway?! Where did it start? Later we find out that the bike path system is a well kept secret in Alaska. They are seldom marked, I don't know why -- maybe some stupid liability issue ;) Anyway, the heart is willing, but how to cross six busy lanes to get there? With patience. The path is bumpier but still nicer than the shoulder.
oh, there!
In Eagle River we pass Regal Eagle Brewing Co. and North Slope restaurant, the oldest brewpub in Alaska. We determine to visit the place when returning the same way in two weeks (which we don't do, as it turns out).
first mountains
Eventually the bike path ends and we are on the highway shoulder again. The road goes downhill and the passing traffic creates a gusty tail wind. But it is not all good. A one inch screw goes right through Tomi's tire --- at least the puncture is not hard to find. We carry two spare tubes. It is not that changing the tube is hard, but unloading and reloading the cargo makes it an unpleasant ordeal.
first flat
The town of Wasilla is dispersed along the highway, but there is a small Town Square and there quite unexpectedly a place called Great Bear Brewing Co.. We find motel Kashim within 800 meters (PIC); it's expensive ($75), and could be cleaner, but the shower works. Then we head out for dinner.
Smoking is not allowed in the Great Bear until 9 pm. That suits us. The beer selection is quite extensive; they have 12 beers on tap, but the sample sets only contain 3 beers (for $4-$6). So we start with Lager (cloudy!), Pale and IPA (both good, IPA very good) and plan on food. We can build our own portions at the pasta bar for $14.50. Tomi goes for sundried tomato pesto Fettucine with shrimp, olives and peppers, and Tei has cilantro pesto spaghetti with scallops, artichokes and zucchini. These should reload the carbs. But the hydration has to be taken care of too, so our second sampler set features a Scotch Ale (sweet), Trippel (sweet) and TnT Barley Wine. For dessert we have Honey Ginger Ale, Brown Ale and Apple Ale, which tastes like dry cider, a very good one.
On our way home we switch to ethnic studies and pop into the Nobody's Inn for a while (PIC). They have a Karaoke night.
Today we rode 82.3 kilometers in 5:33.
Wednesday, July 6
Talking about Alaska bike paths: from Wasilla to Willow, there is a bike path occasionally even two paths on both sides of the Parks Highway. Besides the paved path, there is also a mountain bike/ATV trail. Frequent signs by the road warn that the bike path will end, but it never does ... until after tens of miles and unexpectedly without a sign.
hmmm, ... there is also a mountain bike trail
At noon we are in Willow, which was once planned the capital of Alaska with a goal to bring more people to the area. Obviously the plan was abandoned. We have ridden 43.6 kilometers already. The scenery is not remarkably scenic. Leaving Wasilla, the first few miles of the highway are lined by gravel pits and firework outlets: (PIC) (PIC).
willow, ak
alaska --- the last frontier
The road is nice, relatively level and traffic is non-existent. Somewhere in the middle of nothing, we pass a hitch-hiker with a guitar. I wonder how the fella got out there ...
H&H's
These days a gallon of water ($1.99) costs less than a gallon of gas. Luckily, our engines eat water. It is a sunny and hot second day of riding. After 94.65 kilometers and 6:04 of riding we pull over at H & H Lakeview Restaurant and Lodge, and decide to camp by the Montana Lake for $15. The shower costs .25 for a minute of warm water and it comes with a nice view from the nearby restaurant's patio.
lake view
We have dinner at the restaurant; Blue burger and a Halibut burger, both for $9.00, with Alaskan beers for $4.00 each. Afterwards we hike to the nearby gas station in attempt to buy a small bottle of whisky. We are sold Yukon Jack Canadian Liquor, 100 proof, 50% ABV. What a horrid potion! We finish our night at the bar listening to the bartenders dire situation under the elderly management. With sun still up and fish jumping in the lake we crawl into the tent at 11pm.
|
|
Thursday, July 7
wal mike's
birch
Spruce, birch and willows continue to line up the highway. How boring! Finally after 40 kilometers of riding we see the first glimpse of mountains. Then start the hills, too. The majestic Mount McKinley is in clouds, though.
mount mckinley is in clouds
We stop at Mary's McKinley View Lodge for lunch with 58.6 kilometers behind us. This is Mary Carey's homestead; Mary is the woman whose initiative and tough work gave Alaska its third highway from Anchorage to Fairbanks. The highway certainly makes a difference in our trip.
then start the hills
We hear that there was an earthquake just few minutes ago. Not so surprisingly we had not noticed anything. We split a Veggie sandwich with potato salad ($7.00) and AA and Lucky Lager from General brewing Co., Irwindale, CA.
trail around byers lake
Just after 6pm. we are mosquito food at the Byers Lake Campground (PIC), and pay $10 for it. The total kilometrage for today is 80.77, which we made in 5:42. We dip in the lake to refreshen, and surprisingly don't have a cloud of stinging insects around us.
dishes
We cook pasta with salmon for dinner. We clean our camp and store our smelly food and hygiene products in the beer-safe box even if it is occupied by a number of tiny dead rodents, yrkh. Then we wish good night.
byers lake at sunset
Friday, July 8
leaving most of the spruce behind
nice place for lunch
katmandu curry
We expect no services before Cantwell. At the Hurricane Gulch a group of hikers heading to back country gives us an apple they don't want to carry along. It helps a bit in the long and relatively steep uphills we struggle, and equally steep and long downhills we rest. We are running out of water, though. We pass Igloo City (PIC), a gas station unmanned these days, before the final climb --- easiest of the day --- to the Broad Pass (elev. 2300', 701m) (PIC).
hurricane gulch
Light sprinkling rain accompanies us the final miles of the long day (total of 108.2 kilometers in 7:41) to Cantwell. If there is anything good about the rain, it is that mosquitoes do not bother that much. At the Lazy J's Lodge (PIC) we pay an extra $20 for a room on the ground level so that we don't have to haul all our stuff and bikes to the second floor. It makes a total of $149, which is the most expensive accommodation of the entire trip.
hangman's tree
Since it's pretty late already, we decide to dine at the Lazy J's. Tei has NY Strip with baked potato, including salad bar ($18), but Tomi adopts a lighter line and has a single pork chop with baked potato and a side salad. We have AP, Oatmeal stout from Fairbanks, and Kodiak's Nut Brown (from Midnight Sun Brewing Co.), all on draught.
final break
fireweed
Saturday, July 9
We have breakfast at Tsesyu Time to Eat Cafe, which I'd rather rename "Time to Have a Cigarette Cafe". We coughed through the blueberry pancakes ($4.50), hashbrowns ($3.00) and toast ($1.25) and Smoothie ($3.80).
nenana river
At ten o'clock we are on the road again. The glimpse of the sun we saw earlier in the morning is history, and we get occasional sprinkles on our way. We follow Nenana river downstream for 20 kilometers in a nice tailwind. We visit Carlo Creek Side Cafe for a coffee and something little to eat --- Tomi has dreamed of pizza for a couple of days already :-) The server freaks out when I order a Latte when she asks if we want something to drink. Obviously, Latte is not something to drink --- it is a menu item, and should be ordered only when the server comes back with the drinks and asks if we want something to eat.
occasional sprinkles
We have ridden 25 kilometers and have had no wildlife sightings so far. Someone had posted a hare head on the shoulder. How revolting. I am glad I missed it even if the poor thing was dead.
tomi, tei and ocho
Rain gains in intensity as we approach Denali National Park and Preserve. We spend a while at the Denali Wilderness Access Center wondering if we want to put up a camp in the pouring rain. Eventually we decide to give it a try --- we are equally reluctant to ride any more miles in the rain. The guy that books the camp site for us studies journalism at IU. He is somewhat surprised we know Bloomington, Indiana. The camping costs us $12 in addition to the park entrance of $10 per person.
Today we rode 47.7 kilometers in 3:00.
to pitch a tent
Rain gives us long enough a break to pitch the tent. Then we head out for shower and laundry: showers cost us $4 each with $2 for key deposits and few cents for towels.
be happy!
We give up all plans to cook at the soaked campsite. Instead we head out to the "tourist village" by the park entrance (PIC). For the first thing we buy bear spray (~$40). The next thing is to find food. We have over-prized salmon (poached) at Crow's Nest ($20.75) plus the side salads for ($3.00 each). The beer selection is more impressive: we have Alaskan IPA and ESB, Pike Oatmeal Stout ($4.75 draft) and Alaskan Smoked Porter ($6.50 a bottle). The service is stressed.
We finish the night at Salmon Bake's smoke-free upstair bar with Sockey
Red IPA, Coffee Porter and Oosik Amber. We munch sinfully delicious Thai Salmon
Rolls ($9.95) --- fresh vegetables and salmon wrapped in rice paper --- and
wash our hands carefully before going back to our camp.
parks highway at night be visible!
Sunday, July 10
horseshoe lake
mt healy
First we take a short hike to Horseshoe Lake. Someone we meet tells he has seen a moose cow with a calf. When we return a group of Japanese tourists comes up and asks about any wildlife seeings. We admit seeing only some mosquitoes. It is hard to tell from the impression if they were horrified or relieved.
1700 feet climb
For lunch we have pizza named after the first climber that reached the top of McKinley in 1913, Henry P. Karstens, who was also appointed the first superintendent of the Denali park in 1921.
windy
Next two hours we spend climbing Mt. Healy (3500', 1066m). The trail is pretty straightforward with 25% incline (PIC) and not too many switchbacks (PIC).
on the top
trail goes on
Downward trip takes us the same two hours (PIC). After a well earned beer at the visitor center (PIC) (PIC) (PIC) and a warm shower we do some grocery shopping at the campground store: links, Brie, crackers, and beer for dinner, and juice and fruits for breakfast. I can't understand why walk-in campsites are always the farthest from the services, such as the toilet, showers or the grocery store.
curious
creatures
We start our Front country dinner with wheat crackers and Brie and dried cranberries (PIC), and some Sockeye Red IPA. For the entree we have Ball Park Bun Size Franks (PIC), and finish the dinner with Mammoth Extra Stout. We admit that Midnight sun is quite a luxury.
Monday, July 11
denali recycles
bleak weather
gothic mountains
At four in the afternoon we find ourselves at Cantwell Lodge (their website does not work anymore). We pay $27 each for a room in the trailer shared by the staff. The place is a bit ragged and landscaping has not been finished (I guess it never will), but they have decent showers and a laundry. The lodge has a history, too. The original roadhouse was a log building with a grocery store and liquor store. The current lodge was built in 1956, the bar and hotel rooms were added later.
cantwell lodge
President Clinton is not a favorite guy here: the sign in the bar says "Clinton does not inhale, Clinton sucks."
almost midnight sun
Today we rode 48.7 kilometers in 4:12. The sun is still up when we go to sleep around 11 pm.