Denali - home of predator and prey

Greetings from a hostel just outside Denali National Park after 4 days' camping in the park and looking at a whole pile of truly wild animals. I have survived to tell the tale. The animals are pretty amazing and include the traditional 'big game' - none of which are afraid to wander all over the road (first one is a moose):

to a different kind of predator:
I also encountered lots of what Alaskans apparently call their other unofficial state bird - the mosquito. Writing this I have not had a shower for 4 days and going to the toilet while in the park involved exposing all relevant parts for the minimum time possible - with violent accompanying hand movements in a crouching position - to avoid being munched on. Let us just say that despite serious preventative measures (see photo below) I was not entirely successful.

Anchorage next and then home! M

Fairbanks - land of the midnight sun (dusk)

Fairbanks - home of interior Alaska. It was over 30 degrees while I was here which was a really nice change from the 15 degrees or so it has been everywhere else. Fairbanks threw itself a big solstice party for the longest day of the year - I can report that like in the movies, bands in street fairs DO play Sweet Home Alabama and the locals do get up and dance. Not me though.

This is me dutifully recording the 'midnight pitch' at midnight during the 102nd annual Midnight Sun Baseball Game. For the record the Alaska Goldpanners went down 6-1 to the San Diego Ocean Waves. However, this is as dark as it got in Fairbanks on June 21 - all night.

Alaska from the air (for free - kind of)

In case any of you come to Alaska, don't pay for a flight-seeing tour. Book a flight from Juneau to Anchorage and ask to sit by the window on the right hand side of the plane. This was the most amazing flight I've ever been on (so far):

Juneau and the 'drive-in glacier'

Juneau - on a typical South-east Alaska day. Drizzly, a little bit cold. These are also 2 of the 7 cruise ships I saw in the Juneau harbour during my 48 hours in the city.

After 2 nights in the city I headed out to Alaska's famous 'drive-in glacier'. That's drive in if you have a car. Otherwise it is a decent couple of miles heaving a backpack up the road. This (below) is the view from my tent with the glacier in the background. It doesn't show the mosquitos dive-bombing me every few seconds.


And just to show the difference a day makes, this is a (closer) view of the glacier on the day I left. They say it's better viewing a glacier in the rain... (?) but I don't get it.

Taking over the Capitol Building

Juneau, the capital of Alaska. I decided they needed a woman to run things - so this is me in the Speaker's chair in the equivalent of Alaska's cabinet room (for the lower house). I could get used to this.

New Friend

This is my new friend I met waiting just outside my tent in the Sitka campground one morning. Apparently this is a banana slug. He was so beautiful I decided he should have his own blog post too..

Sitka

Greetings from Sitka, the cultural capital of Alaska. This is the place where native Indians and Russian fur traders clashed for territory in the early 1800s. It's also the place where Russia signed over Alaska to the USA for 7.2 million dollars in 1867.

Sitka overall was pretty cool. I have learned lots about the 'Raven' and 'Eagle' divisions within the local Native Indian Tlingit tribe which are shown on the poles.

The other great thing about Sitka (read: not so great) is that it is one of the few places in Alaska where there are no black bears .. just grizzlies. This in a place where the hostel had unexpectedly closed down so the only option was to go camping by a lake..

Iceberg Kayaking

Today I went on one of my 2 big adventures in Alaska - kayaking amongst the icebergs being discharged from LeConte Glacier near Petersburg. We spent the day bunting little icebergs off the front of the kayaks and paddling through this weird, cold floating world. Seals and seal pups were lying on the icebergs and others would pop their heads out of the water as we paddled quietly past. Awesome.

Moose Chilli

This moose was shot by a nice woman named Maryann's husband Leo last winter. She ground the moose steaks into mince herself by hand. It made good chilli.

Petersburg, Alaska

Greetings from Petersburg, Alaska - a town of 4,000 where 94 million pounds of fish are landed every year and where you can buy halibut tacos for lunch. There are bald eagles in the trees:

and snow on the hiking trails. I was so excited to have reached the top of the hill on my hike without being attacked by any bears that 2 seconds after I took this photo I fell through the snow cover up to my thighs and had to wriggle myself out:

Alaska Marine Highway

The MV Malaspina - my home for 2 days and nights' sail from Seattle north to Petersburg in the Alaskan Inside Passage. There was no shuffleboard on this boat - but the views were spectacular:


There were some nice cabins on the boat. Here is the view from my sleeping quarters:

And yes, that is a tent on the deck you can see (I got myself a lounger with a sleeping bag).

PS - thank you to all of you who responded so positively about the wolf pillowcases. I will go forth and seek out more freaky pillowcases for this blog. M

Seattle Mariners 5 - Texas Rangers 4

My first baseball game. I had beer, chips and stood up when everyone else sang 'take me out to the ballgame' at the top of the 7th innings. Overall pretty cool.


Sammy Sosa (not hitting a home run) for the Rangers. Off to Alaska on the boat on Tuesday, might be a few days before the next post. M

Yellowstone - land of fire and snow

Well after 1200 miles of solo driving I arrived at Yellowstone National Park. The Park is so big that it straddles 3 states - which is probably something that should have set off some warning bells before I set off on a drive that is the equivalent of flying into Auckland and driving all the way to Invercargill. Each way. Yes I am not known for my directional ability. Anyway, it was worth it because Yellowstone is amazing.


The whole park is basically one big geothermal area. It makes Rotorua look tiny. The park rangers were apparently (thanks Dad) looking for the crater from the original volcano and couldn't find it - until astronauts looked down from space and worked out that the caldera is basically as big as the whole park. Like a giant meat pie that blew out at the edges and then collapsed into itself. And apparently it is 'due' to go off again. Awesome.

In the photo of the lake above that's boiling geothermal steam piping up from the edges of the lake which is only about 5 degrees. Then just as I was taking this a geyser went off at the edge of the lake while I was standing there which was just bizarre:


But the reason I really went was the wildlife:


Bison (very large but very cool). Below is as close as I was allowed to get to a grizzly bear and her cub (digital zoom + telephoto so a bit shaky):


and above are some pelicans. Finally the other notable feature of the park was the SNOW - not so cool for a Kiwi girl used to using her tent on the beach.

but the campfires you are allowed to build are cool ...

Lodgings in rural Washington state

These wolf pillowcases at 'Larry's Lodge' deserved a post all of their own ..