One Man's Alaska

Here are a few pictures I took while on the mountain road around Hyder, Alaska. I took these pictures for some third-grade students in Kentucky after they sent me this stuffed animal they named "Brownie".

Brownie actually made the trip more fun. A lot of times I would think "Oh, I don't feel like stopping, I just want to keep driving", and then I would think about Brownie and the kids, so I'd pull over and take a few pictures. This always ended up being a good thing.

So, for the kids out there, here's Brownie with the scary mountain road behind him:

I think it's pretty darned funny, the first time I came to Stewart, British Columbia, and Hyder, Alaska, I was pretty badly freaked out, lost, and running out of gas. I was cruising down a mountain with my car in neutral, essentially praying there was going to be a town and a gas station at the bottom of the mountain. For all I knew I was about to be starring in the remake of Deliverance.

Here are two short videos from today's trip in Hyder, Alaska. This first one shows some of the snow from the road, and gives an idea of the steep cliff off the side of the road. Trust me, you want to stay on the road.

Steep cliff off the side of the road in Hyder

I've seen a lot of bears this year, but unfortunately earlier in the year I didn't know how to use the video controls on my camera. These days I do know how to use the video controls, and on my way back into the town of Hyder (as opposed to the more rural area up in the mountains) I came across a momma bear and three cubs. Here are two video segments as I followed momma and the cubs for a little while.

First, here's where I first saw them, as they were eating something off of a rock on the side of the road:

After taking care of my phone and electric bills in Wasilla (at the MTA and MEA, respectively), I made this video while driving south to Anchorage this afternoon:

Driving through Wasilla, Alaska, September, 2007

How beautiful it is to see the mountains becoming covered in snow! Things are significantly whiter up north in Denali, where it was snowing when I left two weeks ago, but this is still very pretty, and all the white makes a huge difference in the scenery.

Here's a quick video of the Denali mountain range, as seen from alongside the river(s) in Talkeetna:

The Denali range, from Talkeetna

I only have a few days left here, so it's a real treat being able to see the full range at least one more time before I go.

Somehow I've managed not to have any stories here about the "free" store in Talkeetna. Known as the Free Box Community Store, everything in the "store" is indeed free.

The concept is simple: If you need something you're welcome to stop in the store and see if they have what you need. If you don't need something any more you're welcome to drop it off at the store for other people that might need it.

After staying a few days in Healy, Alaska, accompanied by some long rain storms, I drove back to Talkeetna this morning. I hadn't thought about it too much, but when I looked up in all of the mountains I saw the same thing: snow.

This morning's sunrise led to some incredible views. I stayed at a bed and breakfast named "Denali Lakeview Inn" (which I highly recommend), and had these incredible views from my room and the deck outside the room:

This next one is my favorite:

Wow, I was incredibly lucky that the last day you can ride a shuttle bus in Denali was a very beautiful day. Like all the days lately it was very windy, and it was also cold, but it was well worth it.

I walked into the Wilderness Access Center at 7:15 a.m. and was lucky to get on a bus at 8:00 a.m. That's not something you can normally do during the summer, but this being the last day I thought I'd be able to get a ride at the last minute, though not quite this fast.

This first picture is from somewhere along the bus trip to Fish Creek: