Alaska

After having sat for so many days on end our first order of business was- well, to sit some more.  It is amazing how exhausting doing nothing can be.  Our second order of business was to unpack the truck and settle into our new cabin.  

Well, it wasn't our cabin.  But it certainly felt like our cabin as we had it to ourselves for two weeks as the owners, Kenn and Judy, were vacationing in Hawaii.  We had first met them back in October in Moab, UT (I think you can actually dig up a picture of us and Kenn in the 'ol blog archives).  They had been camping out of their van, us out of the truck, and, surrounded by monster RV's, we seemed to be attracted to eachother's modesty in our modes of travel.  We chatted over white wine for one evening and we got the invite to come stay at their place in Alaska if we ever made it.  We told them that we were heading South, not North, but maybe someday.  It turns out that someday came sooner than we would have thought.

We spent a week exploring a miniscule portion of the half-million acres that is Chugach State Park as we had access to it from their front door.  Then, we went for the big enchilada: Denali National Park.  We hoped to find ourselves in the minority of visitors who actually get to catch a glimpse of the elusive and often times cloud-clad behemoth.  On Judy's suggestion, we reserved a campsite at Wonder Lake Campground 90 Miles down Denali Park Road.

Cars aren't allowed to travel the windy dirt road, so we hopped on a Camper Bus that would take us there.  It takes nearly an entire day of navigating at a snail's pace to reach the end of the road, but the scenery is stunning and the wildlife viewing is fantastic.

True to it's reputation, Wonder Lake provided ample mosquitos and rain for the first two days.  We met many of the other people staying at the campground and bonded over our mutual discomfort.  But our patience did pay off towards the end of our time there.  We did some day hiking around the Eielson Visitor Center and even caught glimpses of Denali on our last day- a spectacular sight indeed.

We had a permit to stay a night in the backcountry in the Mt. Eielson area, but heavy fog and a continued forecast of rain encouraged us to leave the park a day early and explore Fairbanks instead.  As Fairbanks is out of the clutches of the Alaskan Mountain Range weather belt and far in to the interior of Alaska, it tends to stay dry and hot.  It is also the Dog Mushing Capitol of the World.  Our interest was peaked.

Chef Jon prepares stuffed mushrooms.

On a long day hike in Chugach State Park.

The hike to Eagle Lake - unbelievable.

On the way to Wonder Lake. One of the many gifts I have - the ability to sleep anywhere, anytime.

For two days fog was all we saw. I'm trying to liven up the scenery a bit.

Jon levitating a coffee mug in front of Wonder Lake.

The head nets were very necessary. 

Our friend André who was prepared to stay two weeks for a glimpse of the mountain.

"They say it's supposed to be right in front of us..."

We became part of the 30% of park visitors who get to see it.