Downtown Hope


                                   Mt. McKinley










I left my little motel room and put the key in the little bird house key drop, and headed around the corner for breakfast. I kept it simple with an omelette and OJ. The resturant had some really nice woodwork including the door seen above. I finished up and hit the road. I planned to head north toward Denali Park where Mt McKinley (highest mountain peak in North America at around 20,000 feet) sits.  Leaving Seward I made my way northward and decided to take a little side trip to a small town named Hope.  The town was much smaller than I had expected. I took a photo of main street for you.  I took some shots of the "Turn Again Arm" and then got back on the road. I got a message from Eric saying he was meeting the rest of the guys at the Denali Grizzly Bear campsite. On the way up to Denali I stopped to get a look at Mt. McKinley from one of the many pull outs for viewing. I expected to see a peak towering above all the rest, but found a little snowy peak that looked a little taller from my vantage point.  I got my photos and moved on. I only drove about 15 more miles when I found the campsite. I pulled in and saw the guys with tents set up just below the road.  We shook hands and I got the hear their stories of the trip to Prudhoe Bay and back as we sat down for some dinner.  I'm a little bit jealous but still very ok with my decision to stay off the dangerous gravel road. The weather is still nice and should be for the next couple of days. I have been very lucky and avoided most of the rain in the state. 

 Tomorrow we might try to book a flight to take us over the mountain and possibly land on a glacier.  Being with the group feels good right now so I will see how it goes for the next couple of days. They will want to visit Seward and other towns that I've already seen so I might pick another destination, before we meet up again for the ride to Dawson City next week.

Glacier Info...

My morning started off with a trip to REI to buy a couple more boil in a bag meals for camping. As I made a slightly illegal right turn into the parking lot, a not so friendly Anchorage cop pulled in behind me.  I figured he would see I was from Georgia and let everything slide. But unfortunately he didn't feel the same way and gave me $60 ticket.  The people at REI tell me that the sign is brand new and they placed the cop across the street to catch people all day.

I immediately went across the street to a bank and got a cashiers check and then went to the post office to send off the ticket payment. I didn't want to get on the road and forget about the ticket and then have my license suspended. 

I woke up this morning with the desire to travel alone for a few days. I left Anchorage around 11:30 after the fun with Anchorage's finest. I pointed the GPS toward Seward AK, a small fishing town in the Kenai Peninsula, south of Anchorage. On the way I took a small road about 8 miles to see Exit Glacier. This area is full of glaciers and this one is the easiest to walk near. I followed the road to a parking lot and the beginning of a walking trail. The trail was about a mile long and worked it's way up the side of a mountain to provide a nice view of the glacier. On the way up I saw a crowd gathering at the side of the trail. I stopped to see a mama black bear with three very small cubs, playing in the tree. The bears were about 30 feet from us and didn't seem to care that 15 people were staring and taking pictures. I moved on and followed the path right to the edge of the glacier.  While standing next to the huge ice formation, I could feel the cold air coming from within the cracks. The glacier ice is a nice blue color, which melts and forms lakes and streams the same color.

I arrived in Seward about 30 minutes later and found a nice little cheap room in the back of a motel to save money. I have to enter the room from the back of the motel, but I have private parking and it is very quite. I walked downtown which is two blocks away, and found a nice restaurant with some local beers on tap. I talked it up to some locals and a few fellow travelers, and had a good time being a solo traveler.

                                   Exit Glacier from far away.
                                                Walking path to the glacier.

                                   Mama bear and three cubs in the trees.













                                   My private room in back.