Alaska

March 3, 2022

Our National Park adventures will resume, starting tomorrow evening with a winter trip to Alaska. At first Elizabeth did not think Alaska and winter would fit into her plans, but she is truly excited now to venture off to the great white north. Fairbanks is supposed to stay above zero all this week! 😉 (Iniakuk will be a bit cooler as it is 200 miles north of Fairbanks). At least the days there are basically the same length as wherever you live, as we approach the spring equinox.

Our good friend Mark will be watching Rangeley for the two weeks we are gone. Thank you to him for allowing us to take off like this.

We have a nonstop flight tomorrow from Phoenix to Anchorage. Saturday morning is the start of the Iditarod Dog Sled race. The start is part of a week long winter festival in Anchorage. Elizabeth is looking forward to the Reindeer Run on Saturday afternoon. Anchorage’s version of Pamplona’s Running of the Bulls.

We will drive the 120 miles south to Seward where we will take a boat to Kenai Fjords National Park. We then will head back to Anchorage where we will catch the train for the journey north to Talkeetna where we plan to fly into Denali National Park and land on a glacier.

We catch the next train out of Talkeetna (48 hours later) heading north to Fairbanks. From there we get a plane ride 200 miles north (60 miles north of the Arctic Circle) to Iniakuk Lodge where we will spend 4 nights mushing (driving dog sled teams) and hoping to see the Aurora Borealis (northern lights). We will also mush the 6 miles north into Gates of the Arctic National Park.

So this trip literally includes planes, trains and automobiles as well as boats and dog sled teams.

There are 8 National Parks in Alaska so we will return in the summer (maybe this summer – who knows) to visit the remaining 5 Parks.

In April/May we are planning another road trip with Rangeley. He and I plan a couple short section hikes on the AT (150 miles total). This will be his first back packing experience (hope it goes well). Elizabeth will fly east and meet us probably in Virginia. We will then go to the northeast to visit family, Ohio to visit Rangeley’s Amish family then head up to northern Michigan to visit Isle Royale National Park, head to northern Minnesota to visit Voyageurs National Park and then west to Montana and Glacier National Park before returning to Phoenix.

That will leave the 5 Alaska Parks as the only ones remaining on our list to visit. What an amazing journey this has been. Thanks for travelling along with us.