More adventures in Alaska

Back on July 3, we were in Juneau. After lunch we hiked with Ben and Irene on the Brotherhood Bridge Trail. It goes up the valley by the Mendenhall River, coming down from the famous Mendenhall Glacier, one of the “must-see” sights near Juneau. The forest is beautiful and the air feels really rich with oxygen due to the massive amount of green plants everywhere, but for me the enjoyment was tempered by the near constant streams of tourist helicopters. Juneau in the summer has basically been lost to cruise ships. There are usually four or five at a time (meaning around 10,000 people) and while you would think this would bring a ton of money to Juneau residents, actually the cruise ship companies own most of the stores downtown and put severe price pressure (and take large cuts) on things like helicopter tour fees. The area is still gorgeous of course, but even in places like this trail where no cruise ship passengers go, enjoyment is reduced by the constant noise.

We had a quick look downtown, where we had both been several times before. Then in the early evening Irene dropped us off at the airport for our flight to Anchorage. We had wanted to continue plane-less via the Cross Gulf Ferry to Whittier, then by train to Anchorage, but that ferry was not running this summer. On the bright side, the flight to Anchorage from Juneau is one of my absolute favorite most-scenic flights anywhere. The view as we flew over the Chugach Mountains, by Mount St. Elias, etc. was mind-blowing last time, as amazing as a flight in the Himalayas. This time we were on the wrong side of the plane and the clouds did not cooperate 100%, but it was still great. Sit on the right side for this flight!

In Anchorage we picked up a rental car and drove downtown to our hotel. We arrived at 11pm and settled in to sleep. In the morning the weather was nice so we walked outside onto the Ship Creek Trail and had a really nice walk. The creek is beautiful and we got to cross the tracks of the railroad we had taken last time all the way to Denali National Park.

Afterward, we walked up past the train station to downtown for lunch. We headed straight for the 49th State Brewing Company where we had really enjoyed the food and beer last time. By this time the weather was just perfect and as we got to the top of the hill, I was shocked to see Denali (the peak) sticking up, quite visible, even through it is over 200 km away. At over 6,000m tall, it sticks up enough to be visible at that distance but only on really clear days. Sorry no photo.

We figured the brewery would be open, even on July 4, but were surprised at how popular it was – an hour wait for a table. But no problem, they have a beer garden with shaded tables and food. We went to the “Cone Tainer” for amazing blueberry ice-cream cones. I went to get a beer and there was a little sign saying that they had a special triple dry-hopped version of the triple IPA version of their standard IPA! Of course I ordered that and it was stupendous, the best beer I’ve had this year or maybe in several years! Wow.

We shared our table with a couple and the woman had just arrived 30 minutes ago to spend a year in Anchorage. Finally the text came and we moved into the brew pub itself for lunch, although it was now more like an early dinner. We sat outside on one of the large decks and went to town. The food is great and when you have perfect weather, it’s just amazing there.

A long time later we staggered through downtown, and made it back to our hotel. We had missed the July 4th parade but had a great day. The next morning we took it easy, packed up and checked out. My mom’s luggage had broken in Juneau so we went on a mission to replace it. It’s a smallish backpack with wheels and we went to several stores downtown to find one like it. Eventually we got a recommendation for a big store out of town and drove over there. She found a normal wheeled carry-on that didn’t work as a backpack but would do the trick. Next up was food shopping – we had to go to Freddie Meyer’s and Freddie did not disappoint. The store was so big it was hard to see the far end of it!

We had some time before our friend south of Anchorage would be home so we drove up to a hiking area above town. I went on a fast hike which was nice but again, a little scary/stressful since I was alone and the signs say there are lots of bears around and we were in prime bear season. But there were some bikers and a few other hikers and I didn’t end up seeing any bears. I didn’t find a viewpoint where I could see over Anchorage either. Still, it was a nice hike.

Then we headed south and stopped at a few places along the Seward Highway, on the way to Rainbow Valley where we were staying that night. I finally got to walk all the boardwalks at Potter’s Marsh, a popular bird-watching spot. I saw a couple of bald eagles as well as others. We tried going for another hike but as we started some guys told us they had just seen a huge bear at the start of the trail so we bailed on that.

We drove up the dirt road to Rainbow Valley and were welcomed by my mom’s friend Cynthia. She lives in an off-grid cabin (not in winter) that is so peaceful and nice. Her original cabin is smaller and was not rented just then so I got to stay in it. She had made lots of rhubarb pie and salmon for a July 4th party and needed our help working on the leftovers – that was awesome!

The next day we had a walk up the hill in the morning, then drove down to the town of Indian around noon to meet my friend Ben and his family, coming home from a backpacking trip. Ben was on my unicycle racing team that competed in the 150 mile Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay in 2017 and 2018. His son and daughter are skilled unicyclists too and it was fantastic to reconnect after all those years. We met at a funny place I remembered called the Indian Valley Mine. I remembered it had to do with unicycling but not the details. Sure enough when we arrived I remembered the sign showing the daughter delivering coffee on unicycle and her dad showed us his big collection of unicycles. Then she showed up herself and showed us she still had it by easily riding a tiny 12″ unicycle!

After a great visit we headed back up to Rainbow Valley. Cynthia took us on another nice walk to a neighbor’s house in the afternoon. We took their trail from the road and it was quite far to the house! Off grid, off road! Amazing place with a killer view. My mom knew these neighbors from long ago and loved hanging out reminiscing.

More salmon and rhubarb pie was had and we settled down to sleep again. In the morning it was raining but by the time we were packed to leave it had eased. We drove back to Anchorage and I dropped my mom at a hotel downtown for a Sierra Club meeting. Then I met Ben and his son Max at a park for a unicycle ride. They had borrowed a 36″ uni for me so we got to ride the Coastal Trail as we did back in 2017. It felt so nostalgic to be on an ungeared 36″ uni with short cranks – my first time on a uni like that in years. It’s a unique feel, rolling so smoothly and easily. After maybe 10 km, past the airport, Ben said we were getting to the less travelled part of the trail where we were much more likely to see bears or moose. Sure enough, we did see a moose watching us ride by. But no bears.

We ended up riding 24 km and while it was cool and cloudy, it didn’t really rain. What a treat! THANKS you guys! After that I picked up my mom, we had lunch in a park, then dropped off our rental car at the airport and checked in to our flight to Homer. The plane was tiny so we each had to check in one of our carry-ons. Every thing we had was weighed and they carefully wrote down our weights too. When we walked to the gate and were amazed: there was no security, no TSA, just a pleasant gate, like in the old days.

The flight was just under half an hour, only up to 14,000′ and didn’t have much of a view. We landed in Homer and were met by our friend Tom and his grand-daughter. We had stayed with Tom before and his house is just as beautiful and cozy as I remembered. We drove to a nearby friend’s house for dinner. Tom had caught a bunch of salmon and his neighbor Pam cooked them up into a true Alaskan feast. My mom had stayed with Pam many times so the dinner was another great reunion for her. After we were stuffed, out came the ice-cream: five types, all homemade, all to die for. Wow! We made plans for the next day, headed back to Tom’s and settled in to sleep.

We’ve still got another 12 days of this adventure to go…tomorrow we head off on our next ferry adventure.