All good things must come to an end
Anchorage: not the capital of Alaska, that’s Juneau (the only state capital you can’t travel to by car!) but the biggest city of the state. 40% of Alaskans live here. You’re still in the wild quickly with the Chugach mountains on its doorstep.
Sea lions, first black bear, dead salmon and Mt Sanford (4949m)
Mostly a driving day but first: visiting the Solomon Gulch Salmon Hatchery. Because as you know salmon go back to where they were born after one or several years in the ocean to lay their eggs and die. This hatchery is basically a salmon farm that grows each year for the last 40 years. It’s a good place to view wildlife that comes here to eat salmon. And wildlife I saw!
Prince William Sound: Kayaking trip to Columbia Glacier 🧊
You will know Valdez and Prince William Sound from the Exxon Valdez oil spill 1989, where 11 million gallons of oil ran aground Prince William Sound. I was told 10% of that is still around 30 years later… the area is just beautiful with sea otters and sea lions and wild salmon and many more animals around. And one of the fastest retreating glaciers: Columbia Glacier. I did a full day kayaking trip with Pangaea and it was one of the highlights of my trip:
Denali Highway to Valdez
There are only a few highways in Alaska and Denali Highway, leading from Denali National Park / Cantwell to Paxson, is probably the prettiest one. “The Denali Highway is certainly one of the most spectacular drives in the world. Much of the route lies above timberline, so the vistas go on forever. The mountains and glaciers of the Alaska Range form a majestic backdrop, with miles of rolling tundra punctuated by shallow lakes in between.”
Denali National Park / Omne trium perfectum
Oh, the excitement to visit this national park was big. But could it really impress me after all the amazing national parks we had just visited in Canada and Alaska? The short answer is: yes it could. Not just that, I got really really lucky. Three times. 😻