This morning we joined our tour group - five other travelers and a guide. The travelers included a retired married couple from Pennsylvania, two female teachers from New York, and a male teacher from California. Our guide (and driver) is Patrick, a Frenchman who has lived in Alaska for the past 14 years.
We headed out of Anchorage on the George Parks Highway, which links the state's two largest cities - Anchorage and Fairbanks - with Denali National Park and Preserve. This highway travels through the kind of scenery that defines the Alaskan interior: tundra and boggy muskeg, the continent's highest peaks, glaciers, forests, wild rivers, and lonely expanses inhabited only by moose, grizzlies, foxes, wolves and a wealth of birds.
Our first stop was the Athabascan Indian village of Eklutna - to have a look at St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church and cemetery. The church was attractive, but the cemetery was really interesting.
The Athabascan Indians believe that spirit houses are needed at gravesites to provide shelter for the souls of the departed. The Russian invaders worked hard to convert the Indians to Christianity, but the Indians didn't quite give up the idea of spirit houses. As a result, the cemetery is a wonderful mixture of cultures: some graves with spirit houses, some with Russian crosses, and some with both!
Next stop was Wasilla, located about 45 miles north of Anchorage, on the main line of the Alaska Railroad. The town, named after a local Athabascan chief, has history in gold mining and the Alaska pipeline. Its vintage buildings testify to the isolation and self-sufficiency of this area's old-time bush communities in the days before the highway was built. This cabin contains an exhibit that explains that Alaskans voted in the 1970's to move the state capital from Juneau to Willow, a little cross-roads village near Wasilla. In case you're wondering, Juneau is still the capital - with no access by road (only by air or by water) and they're still trying to find the funding for the move.
The town of Wasilla also gained some notoriety when its former mayor was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate on the 2008 Republican ticket. We looked all around, hoping to see Russia, but this little town is nearly enveloped by the mountains of the Talkeetna and Chugach mountain ranges.
Nearby is the headquarters of the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which covers the 1,150 miles between Anchorage and Nome. The Iditarod Trail links Seward on the southwestern coast with Nome, on the Bering Sea. Historically, the Trail was important as a highway, transporting mail, food, medicine and gold. Today it is best known as the home of the long-distance sled dog race known as the "last great race on earth."
We enjoyed a great video about the race and four-time winner (2007-2010) and cancer survivor Lance Mackey. We also met some real race dogs in summer training.
Leaving Wasilla, the highway picks up the Susitna River, which leads us into the town of Talkeetna. Talkeetna is about 115 miles north of Anchorage, at the confluence of three rivers - the Talkeetna, Susitna and Chulitna (... we have three rivers in Columbia, SC, but somehow it's not quite the same). Talkeetna is said to be the inspiration for the TV show Northern Exposure, and this village of 500 is a quaint spot with historic buildings and all sorts of mom-and-pop operations selling giant pancakes, sidewalk-served lattes and caribou sausages.
The old Fairview Inn is the place where President Warren G. Harding stayed during a visit to celebrate the completion of the Alaska Railroad; two days later Harding was dead and rumor is that he got food poisoning while staying here. We were glad we had reservations further down the road.
Talkeetna today is known for world-class salmon fishing and as the principal staging area for expeditions to Mount McKinley. We visited the ranger station to learn a bit about climbing North America's tallest mountain. So far this year, 661 climbers have reached the summit and 5 have died in the attempt. Nearby Mount Foraker is almost as tall as Mount McKinley, but has far fewer climbers.
Leaving Talkeetna, the highway travels through a boggy region favored by harvesters of edible fiddlehead ferns. The trees here are spindly black and white spruce, growing on top of permafrost. The ground is frozen solid only 8 inches below the surface - that doesn't leave much room for roots and the trees here are a bit stunted. This moist coniferous forest is known as taiga - a Russian word that means "land of little sticks."
Some areas have turned into "ghost forests" as a result of the 1964 Alaska earthquake. The land here dropped 10-12 feet during the earthquake, sinking the tree roots into salty water from nearby Cook Inlet. Alaska averages 1,000 earthquakes per year measuring 3.5 or more on the Richter scale. The 1964 earthquake, which occurred at 5:36 PM on Good Friday, March 27, was the strongest (9.2) earthquake ever recorded in North America.
The other noticeable plant here is the fireweed, a bright pink flower that serves as Alaska's calendar. According to the locals, the fireweed bloom starts at the bottom of flower at the beginning of summer. By the time the bloom reaches the top, summer is over. This year, folks are worried that summer is moving too fast.
We were hoping for a view of Mt. McKinley, but there were just too many clouds. From the viewpoint in Denali State Park, we could barely make out Ruth Glacier, miles west of the road, with hints of great things hidden in the distance. Maybe tomorrow ...
The Denali Highway intersects the Richardson Highway at the sleepy town of Cantwell. There isn't much to say here, except that this small town (200 residents) is a flag stop on the Alaska Railroad - if you want to take the train, just flag it down. Just north of Cantwell is the entrance to Denali National Park, but we pressed on to the coal mining town of Healy, where we had dinner at the 'world famous' Salmon Bake and spent the night at the 'rustic' White Moose Inn.
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