The Last Frontier – Part 2

Travelers are attracted to Alaska for its roadless travel and rugged outdoors. I was attracted to Alaska for a simple reason, I wanted to see the land where the sun stays awake for 20 hours, takes a power nap and is up again at 4.00am.  I thought it would be disorienting. It was quite the opposite. This is a sunset view at 11.30pm and we had just finished dinner 🙂 By talking with the locals at the hotels and in and out of our tours, I quickly realized one thing – every Alaskan deals with the long days in their own special way; some take in between naps, some don’t sleep for 48 hours and some just invest in heavy duty light control drapes. One way or the other, they find time to sleep and enjoy the bountiful of nature.

Up against the horizon you see Mt. McKinley or The Denali Mountain as the natives called it. This is a view of The Denali Mountain during day time.
Our second day started with a tour of the Anchorage Museum, which is a must see if you are a history buff and if you are not, start driving to Talkeetna.  Our destination was the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge (http://www.talkeetnalodge.com/) our base camp for the next two nights. This lodge is the only place you want to stay in Talkeetna. There are other lodges and hotels, but if you want to see Mt. McKinley in your backyard then this is it and yes the view comes with a price, but its well worth it.

The Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge – rolling hills and Denali with outstanding service and every room is a room with a view.

Alaska is the only state where the dog mushers and their Alaskan huskies are celebrated like the Hollywood stars. If you go to Alaska, meeting the stars of the Iditarod races is a must do item. Iditarod? you may not have heard of the race, but I am sure you have heard of the movie Balto.. well think of these dogs as the modern day Balto’s. The Iditarod race  commemorates the “Great Race of Mercy,” a real race against time that saved lives threatened by disease. This real race inspired Balto 🙂

We took the Sun Dog Kennel Tour in Talkeetna, AK.  The hotel shuttle gave us a ride to Talkeetna downtown and from there the Kennel folks drove us to meet the stars.
Every March, the 1049 miles Iditarod race starts from Willow to end at Nome. Nome by the way is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, take a few steps beyond Nome and you might just find yourself in Russia.  These strong hardy sled dogs race through the frozen tundra’s with their musher. It is one man and 16 dogs working as a team.  Here is a map of the race, with the Musher and his sled.

Here is  a glimpse of the dogs pulling the ATV. You say WTH? I said that too. But the dogs are not really pulling the entire 2000+ lbs load.. they are tied to it.. the ATV drives itself and the dogs run.. that’s how they get their exercise during the summer months. It gives them exercise and the mushers get their money in the form of tour fees to keep it going in the cold winter months. A very creative business idea. Please don’t think that the dogs were mistreated or are being abused.. these animals are loved and very well taken care off. We saw their facility and it was clear that the animals were family and well loved.

This little guy is 2 weeks old.

I am not a pet person. I don’t dislike animals, it’s just that I am incapable of communicating with them. That’s my handicap not their’s and I am not exactly proud of it, but that’s who I am, so when I saw these mushers and their families devoted and so dedicated to the nurturing and caring for them, I was humbled by their unconditional love. We left the kennel with a warm and fuzzy feeling and rested before our next adventure, when we meet the skies with K2 Aviation.

When we arrived at K2, we were armed with our winter jackets. Why you ask? Well, going on a glacier flying high into the mountains, it is reasonable to assume the air will be cold,right? Wrong. Turns out the temperature at the glaciers was only about 10 degrees cooler than the land and it was 80+ F on the land. Yes, Alaska can get very warm too.  It is much more than permafrost and snow.  So looking like absolute city folks we were politely told, we can take our jackets if we want or else we can leave them in the bins. We left them in the bins.

An aerial view of the mountains. The tallest peak is Denali.As the pilot approaches the landing area – I look at the crevices and wonder how will he land in such soft snow. And then we land and step on to glacier. 

I gently stepped out and looked beyond, and silently said to myself, Shilpa “welcome to Planet Krypton.”  Ok, yes, I am a Superman fan and if Krypton was real, this is how it would be; Crystal blue skies with mountains of dark blue Kryptonite covered in snow.  Another plane lands on the glacier. We asked the pilot who owns this area and manages it. He said, no on owns it. Multiple people use it and respect each other and the glacier.  Again,  a simple thought and yet so novel for us city folks. 

In the brief but ever lasting 20 minutes, we took our pictures, the kids made their snow angels and we were on our way back. 

One last look at the mountains from the best seat on the plane – co pilot. The teen in the group got to be the co-pilot on the flight back and took some amazing picture of the sun peaking through the clouds and the tundra below. 

PC: Ansh Verma

Before the glacier landing experience, I was nervous. I thought it would be an overwhelming experience to stand on a glacier amongst the mountains as high as my eye could see, but it was not. With mountains on all four sides, the mild fog caressing our warm bodies, I felt nestled in. 

The seas of Alaska were like the wild and unbridled youth, full of adventure and the want to explore, the mountains remind us to be mature, patient and calm. The world may call them a Volcano, but until the balance is not tipped, they stay at peace with themselves and the world around them.

I now wondered what the forests would feel like. Alaska, you continue to tantalize.
The Alaskan Tiaga forests tomorrow. Stay tuned.