got wirelss

we just ate dinner. drove around, found wireless conn. uploaded a bunch of back-logged posts. no time to post the pics. will do that if i have some time later...

at seward day 2

we got up and quickly put together a short ocean kayaking outing. the kayaking place is right in back of where we are lodging. we just zoomed up the beach to a cool waterfall. it took about 3 hours but was a cool experience. then we went up to exit glacier and did the 4 mile hike up to the harding ice field. it was a fairly strenuous hike (gained 3100 ft) but we made 'er. it was a cool view up there. we were both too lazy to hike down to the actual ice...we thought it might take way too long. looking back, maybe we should have. would have been cool. after we got down, we did another short hike where we viewed the glacier from the bottom. all in all we hiked about 10 miles. we just got back and showered up and now were about to go pamper ourselves. i'm gonna take the lappy and hunt around for an open wireless connection. hopefully i'll get these last posts up. i've taken tons of pics and vids. so many that i had to switch to my 2nd 2 gb sd card.

at seward

today was a great day. it was our glacier/wildlife cruise into kenai fjords NP. most of the park is only accessible by water. the trip was sweet. we had two chicas for our guides...one was the captain, the other the deck help. there were only 6 other passengers aboard so it was a very personal tour (not packed like some of the other boats we saw out there that had 50 + on the decks). we saw some sea otters, sea lions, tons of birds including a bald eagle (some birds dive down 600 ft for fish), a black bear on an island (must have swam across)...um...i think that was it for wildlife. we we're bummed not to see a whale. i guess they are scarce this time of year. we picked up a kayaker who had been kayaking/backpacking out there for 5 days. the scenery was unreal. we finally got to aiakin (?) glacier. i think they said it was the largest in the park. we pulled pretty close to it as saw and heard some calving. on huge section broke away right after we go there. what an experience.
we got back and went to a sea life center which was actually quite cool. birds, sean lions, seals, fish, etc. quite fun.
tomorrow we're gonna got exit glacier and hopefully do the 3.5 mile hike up to harding icefield. we also want to work in some kayaking...we'll probably just dink around the bay for a few hours. should be cool.
the weather has continued to be sunny and nice. from what people say, we've been extraordinarily lucky to have this much sunshine. we'll take it! lucky!

to seward

still no wireless access. we got up and prepared for the ferry ride from valdez to whittier. we had some extra time to kill before the ferry left so we went to the docks and watched some people fishing for silver salmon there. it was quite cool. the docks were probably 100 ft. off the water so when a fish was hooked, they had to lower a net down on a rope to retrieve the fish. the fish were good size and had to be whacked on the head after they were brought up. the whole thing was interesting to watch.
we loaded our car on the ferry and sat back upstairs in comfort as we crossed the price william sound. the sight seeing was great all the way across the sound. many cool mountains, a few huge glaciers, some doll porpoises (sp?) etc. it was a 3 hour journey that took us to whittier.
we then drove to seward. on the way we tried fishing a few times. once at kenai lake and again at ptarmigan creek. kenai lake was huge and we couldn't cast out to the fish that were rising. it was still a nice scenic stop. the we stopped at a weir and watched the salmon trying to jump up a mini water fall and get upstream. for some reason i was highly entertained. i took a video of course. ptarmigan creek was tough to access without waders plus there were quite a few other fly fisherman around...so we decided to bag it.
we stopped here and there and finally got to our place. it's a cool place right on the water with spectacular view. we checked in and got some dinner. dad got salmon and i got the halibut fish and chips (steve strong would have loved them!).

to valdez

We slept in a bit and woke up to the sound of the helicopter bringing in supplies to the lodge. We drove the rest of the Denali Highway and then continued south to Valdez where we are tonight.
Along the way we fished and saw various sights. Fishing wasn't good. Only caught a few dinkers. We saw plenty of great mountain views, though...and some of the rivers are crazy looking. They have lots of glacial powder so they are grey/milky/thick. pretty bizarre...no fishies in these ones. many of the mountains are super jaggedy. i was thinking, in one day i've probably seen as many jaggedy peaks as i've seen in the tetons, olympic NP, N Cascades, Wind rivers, and glacier NP combined. So many glaciers up here. we saw one way cool one. it was called worthington glacier. we also saw numerous waterfalls.We also drove down the east side of Wrangell-St Elias NP. there are some sweet looking mountains there, too. there were some monsters we saw rising above everything else. all snow-capped. the wrangells have all of the next highest peaks behind denali. unfortunately we were only able to stop at the visitor's center. it's such a huge park and it's not very accessible.
valdez is a pretty cool location. right on the prince william sound surrounded by towering mountains. we tried to get to the alaskan pipeline terminal here, but there are tight on security these days. there's a pretty cool little boat harbor here, too. the big mountains make for quite the backdrop. tomorrow we catch a ferry that'll take us across the sound to the kenai peninsula.
the weather continues to be absolutely gorgeous here. hi 60's and mostly sunny! we'll see if it coninues...

Flight seeing day

today is monday. we stayed at the hostel near denali NP again. we got up fairly early as we had a flight-seeing trip scheduled. after a quick briefing we were up and away in a twin engine with 8 other people. it took about 20 minutes to get near denali but there were some cool sights on the way. at 13000 they had us put on oxygen masks as we were on our way to 20000+. we got to denali, circled over and around a few times and took it all in. quite the site. i was snapping pics and taking videos left and right. i'm sure they'll all be pretty lame...can't do the flight justice at all. it was way cool, tho. the pilot said it was -20 outside the plane and that we were zipping around at 200mph. it got kinda bumpy a few times but the pilot got us out of it quickly. no climbers on the mnt (too late in season). glaciers, icefalls, etc...it was all quite cool.
after the flight, we traveled east on the denali highway. it's a remote gravel road that has some decent scenery. we did a little fly fishing and i caught 4 graylings. pretty fun. we saw a huge bald eagle. then arrived at our lodging for the night. tangle inn. we had some grub then went out on the lake in a canoe with our fly rods. apparently only lake trout and burbot are in the lake and we weren't prepared for deep fishing, so no luck. it was still cool to get out on the water. another great day of weather.
tomorrow we head for valdez where we'll catch a ferry the next day which crosses the prince willy sound to the kenai peninsula. we'll spend most of the rest of our time in that area.
we're just chilling tonight. we'll the sack early then sight see on our way down to valdez. we're both pretty tired and it's only 10pm.

Some pics

I uploaded what I have so far. They aren't all rotated or anything, but a slideshow viewing might correct that. there are many that are part of a panoramic shot, too.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kniephof/sets/

The Great Mountain

Today was Denali NP day. We got up early, 5am or so, and got ready to go. it was a clear cool morning. the car thermometer read 32 degree...not sure if it was really that cold...maybe. we drove north to the park, and got on our bus which left at 630am.

the weather was unbelievable today. we had clear blue skies until around noon or 1pm. we had wicked good view of mt. mckinley. our bus driver said we only get days like this around 10 days each summer. so we really lucked out. she said two days ago, you could hardly see the mnt. yesterday you could see about 2/3 of the mnt, but not the top. we loved the views. i took tons of pics, none of which will do it justice. i'll have to stitch some of them together. maybe i'll try to post some pics tonight. we traveled all the way to wonder lake which is as far as you can go into the park on the road. the view wasn't as good there and it had clouded over and the summit was no longer visible. luckily we had great views all day long before then.

other than seeing denali, we saw a fair amount of wildlife as well. we saw caribou, a fox, arctic ground squirrels, dall sheep, moose (he was standing in a pond, ducking his head under for 10 seconds at a time, and coming up with some sort of roots or something), some type of falcon, and plenty of grizzlies. we probably had 20 different sightings. it actually got to the point where it wasn't exciting to see them any more! =)

at lunch time, we had some birds fly right up to us. my dad naturally tossed some bread. i teased him that feeding wildlife was a no-no. some more birds came and ate more bread my dad was tossing. next thing i know, one of the SOB's dive bombs me from behind and tries to steal the rest of my sandwich right out of my hand! hah...sucker...he didn't get it! =) my dad had a good laugh at that. but i had the last laugh. my dad was feeding a bird some pringles on the bench in front of us. the bird took those, then hopped right next to my dad, stole the remaining stack of pringles, and flew off with them. hah...

the bus ride was all day long. we didn't get back til like 730 pm. had some dinner, now were just chilling and planning. twas a good day. i'm gonna work no pics now...

tomorrow is flight-seeing day over denali. we're praying it'll be as clear as it was today!!!!!!!

Day of Grizzes

too lazy to format this...notepad jacked it all up. oh well...here it is...

Didn't take long for the first griz to occur. I tried to take a shower, but couldn't figure the blasted thing out. water was coming out of the main faucet, but couldn't figure out how to force it to shower. turns out it was some goofy pull down ring on the faucet. gay setup!

THIS IS THE FAUCET THAT PISSED ME OFF! =)

breakfast was kinda griz. it was a continental breakfast. the had a single waffle maker sitting on the counter for everyone to use. there was quite the wait. instead of waiting i had a 'bowl' of cereal out of a tiny 8 oz styrofoam cup. pretty tough to NOT spill.
next griz. dad was eating breakfast, i went to room to pack. ran up stairs, went to room, couldn't get dang key card to work. tried tried tried...nothing. asked the cleaning lady to help me...she asked if it was right room, i was pretty sure. she opens it with her master card and some dude i don't know is looking back. oops...sorry dude, wrong room. i should have been on the 3rd floor, not the 2nd. hee haw!
got driving, took a scenic route over hatcher pass. stopped and did a day hike. was supposed to be 3.5 miles one way to some lakes. long story short, we took a wrong fork and went the wrong way on the trail. hee haw again. pissed me off cause it would have been a cool hike. it was still a cool view where we ended up. it was super steep and i got a picture of my dad grasping a cable to get up a steep spot. we just ate our lunch and headed back rather than going all the way back and going on the correct route.
next we went to some mine...independence i think. was kinda cool. there were TONS of people picking blueberries in the fields. not just around the mine area, but all along the road today. crazy. i picked some, tasted 'em...they were dang tart. blah! what are these people thinking? go to the store and save your back! =)
on a positive note, the weather was great today. it was partly cloudy on our hike with pretty cool temps. the clouds looked pretty cool.
we continued along over hatcher pass, saw some mixed and cool scenery and finally got back to the main highway that heads to denali. came to a way cool view point of mt. denali! was way cool. the range was more jagged than i had imagined....i guess that's what the glaciers do. stopped at another viewpoint a ways up the road but the summit was clouded over. i think we got a glimse of the lower summit, tho. the scenery changed from somewhat mountainous and green to straight up tundra. the evergreens got small and skinny then all but disappeared. saw a wicked cool double rainbow...about the coolest i've seen.
we checked into kinda a weird hostel. we have a private cabin. is way small, has an upstairs where beds are. super steep stairs where you can kill yourself if not careful. we have to go to a shared bathhouse outside. kinda griz, but it's better than the bunkhouse next door where you gotta share with 15 other peeps. their anal about their internet here...i had to give them my MAC address and then they gave me a key that is about 25 chars long. geesh!
we had some good burgers for dinner. showered up since we got to get up way early to catch the bus tour that goes into denali ntl park (no cars allowed on this road that goes into the park). that's about all i can think of. too long as it is.

Arrived In Anchorage!

Guess what? I finally checked out Cabelas. Lots of camo hud...wow! Those fish are HUGE in the aquarium. Saw some biggies chompin' down on some poor helpless goldfish. Then stopped at REI to kill some time.

Got to the Frontier airlines counter gave them my drivers license and the dude said something like, 'Uh, I don't see you in the system'. WHAT!? Come on! He asked how i had made my reservation, did i have a confirmation number, etc. i had nothing. he typed, looked, looked some more...it was like the lady at the airline counter in "meet the parents". i'm already thinking, i'm gonna have to drop a $grand like steve kondris had to do when we went to europe and he missed his flight. luckily after at least 5 minutes, the dude says he found me. whew. still, nice system you guys got there buddy. unreal.

flights were unventful. sat next to a cool dude from ft. collins on my flight to denver. told me about his days in the army when he had to camp in the snow for weeks on end...and the highs were like -20 degrees. slept in a -90 degree bag. brr.

den to anc...5.5 hour flight. kinda long for my liking. dude next to me was cool. we each had a personal video screen which was nice. pulled out the laptop, read some Inkheart... as we got close to anchorage...i looked up from my book and saw some excellent and gorgeous snow-capped peaks of the chuguch mountains (i think). i was pleasantly surprised. i thought all the snow would have melted since it's the end of summer. there was tons of snow. i was actually wondering if it could have been from recent snow fall, but that didn't make any sense. anyhow...gorgeous view, lots of daylight, met up with my pa.

he got an upgrade from a compact car. got some full-size pontiac. went to the counter to add me as driver, my dad told them that the keyless entry wasn't working and there was some rattle in the door. he called down and said they could move us into a truck or SUV...after a few secs, my dad says sure if they didn't charge us. they said no prob. so now we got a SUV type Pacifico...and they didn't even charge us for the extra driver.

got free wireless now in the hotel. glad i got the lappy. gonna do some planning to see what we can check out on they way up to denali tomorrow. woo-hoo! let the good times begin.

out - mike

Pre-trip comments

My dad, Marty, and I have been planning on doing a 'big' trip for years. We finally settled on Alaska sometime last year. We've been planning and making arrangements since the beginning of the year. The time has come and we'll soon be there.

The weather forecast looks cool and wet, but we'll make the most of our time up there. We fly into Anchorage on Friday, August 24, 2007 and come back on September 5. We'll hit Denali, do some flight-seeing, cruise across the Denali Highway, check out Valdez, cross the Prince William Sound on a ferry with our car, then spend the rest of our time on the Kenai Peninsula. We'll hit Seward, Whittier, Homer, Kenai, and we'll take a glacier tour, fish the Kenai river for Silver Salmon and trout, and maybe fit in some kayaking. It should be a great trip. Here we come Alaska!!