Back from Alaska

The Alaska trip is officially over and it's safe to say that this year's trip was a whole lot different than last year's. Last year I went alone. It was a great way to experience a place as exciting and unique as Alaska. This year I headed up with my brothers John and Aaron (Opie) and our Dad. It didn't take long for things to go awry either.

As Opie and I got our bags at the airport, I turned on my phone and had a message waiting. It was John, slurring his way through, "Hey, you guys need to take a cab to the hotel, Dad and I are too drunk to pick you up. We're at....'Hey! Where'd you say we were?'"

It took a while, but he got the information from the bartender. It turned out they had spent most of their first day in Anchorage at a local restaurant and microbrewery and were pretty well hammered by the time Opie and I showed up.

The next morning we hit the road for the drive to Denali National Park. We stopped on the way up for some fishing and I got into some Coho salmon pretty quickly. After catching three to everyone else's none, I just watched everyone else fish. It was pretty dicey on the first fish though as Opie and John were a little too preoccupied with calling each other gay to bother with the net. Finally they came over though and somebody (who shall remain nameless) was a little too scared of the salmon to net it, so I did the honors myself.

The next day we took the shuttle bus into the park. We couldn't have asked for a better day as there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The park employees were ecstatic as this was only the second day all summer they could see Mt. McKinley. It was great too as the leaves were already changing color so it made for some amazing scenery to have both of those going for us.

We took the bus to a point about 63 miles into the park for a great view of McKinley. On the way back we stopped for a hike up to Mount Wright. It wasn't a very high mountain, but considering there are no trails in Denali it made for some tough going as we had to make our way through the brush. It was a good hike and a great day for wildlife. We saw Dall sheep, grizzly bears, caribou and even some wolves.

The next day we split up. Dad, John and Opie weren't very eager for another hike, so they hung out at the front of the park while I joined up with a ranger-led hike. We took the bus in about 50 miles or so and hiked through the tundra. There were about 10 of us on the hike and everyone was great company.

We hiked to a ridgeline a couple of miles in from the park road and had lunch. It was clear again, so we were treated to an outstanding view of McKinley.

On the hike out we saw a ton of signs for both grizzlies and moose, but didn't see either. We did find a huge moose antler though, which was neat.

After we got back to the road, we all split up. Half of us headed back to the park entrance and the other half decided to head further into the park. It was really a lot of fun hiking with that group.

On the way back, we came across a huge bull caribou standing right along the edge of the road. I didn't get to see any caribou last year, so it was great to see one that close. They are probably my favorite animal in Denali.
After day two in Denali we headed back through Anchorage to Seward, on the Kenai Peninsula. Our luck with the weather didn't hold and it turned the usual rainy weather on the peninsula.

On our first day in Seward we decided to do some fishing and stopped at a creek that was literally full of salmon. I'd seen salmon runs before, but nothing like this. There were thousands.

It was closed to salmon fishing, so we planned to hike back to a lake farther upstream. We never did find it as it was farther than we though, but at least we got a good hike in. We saw tons of bear sign on the trail. At one point I was in front and as I came up a hill, there was a half of a salmon in the middle of the trail. Normally that would just get a laugh, but as we were nearly 100' above the stream, it got me a little extra cautious. It was probably dropped by a bird, but still!

That day was also Dad's birthday, so we went out that night for a little celebration.

The next day we all did our own things again. I hiked up a mountain on the edge of town, which again, nobody else wanted to hike. Dad and John went fishing and Opie did laundry. It was a great hike, so too bad for everyone else.

The next day we drove over to Homer, on the opposite side of the Kenai Peninsula. I didn't make it to Homer last year, but I wish I had. It was a great town right on the ocean. We settled into our hotel and I stopped for some salmon fishing. No luck this time.

That night we went out to a bar across the street from our hotel. I got there before everyone else and as I sat down the bartender asked me if I was there for the bachelor auction. I told her no, but other people there, along with my brothers and a few beers, got me to sign up.

The money went to Alzheimer's research, so at least it was for a good cause. As luck would have it though, I went first. After a few bids, including Opie's, I was purchased for the princely sum of $35 by a local bachelorette. The next couple of guys went for less than that and I was feeling good about my price, but then local character "Yukon" Charlie (pictured) fetched $60 and my pride went right out the window.

The next day we all went on charters to do some halibut fishing on the ocean. Opie and I went on the same boat and Dad and John on another.

Our boat was a lot of fun. We also caught a ton of fish. There were six of us fishing and two crew and we had our limit of fish within a few hours. It was a lot of fun and I caught the largest fish of my life, a 40 lb halibut.

Opie and I ended up with 58.3 lbs of halibut fillets to Dad and John's lowly 36. It almost took the sting out of going for less money than Yukon Charlie.

After that, our trip was over. We headed back up to Anchorage to catch our flights home. Along the way we stopped at an animal conservation park to check out some more wildlife. Unbeknownst to us though, it was nap time...for some of the animals at least.

So, that's about all for the trip. Overall it was a lot of fun and I got to do everything I'd planned on doing while up there.

I doubt I'll make it a third year in a row, too many other places to go, but there will definitely be another trip up there. As soon as I get a chance, I'll post some more pictures from the trip, so stay tuned.