Alaska – Gwen and Gary’s 50th state

by Gary Schwartz

While Alaska was officially the 49th state to join the U.S., it was Gwen and Gary’s 50th and final state in our quest to visit every state. Yay!

Way back in 1996 we spent two months driving all around the United States and we went to all 48 contiguous states. (In fact, that trip started a tradition of summer road trips that we have continued as often as possible with the kids now.) We went to Hawaii several years ago to capture state #49, but Alaska has been calling our names for almost 20 years. And finally, we made it! (Now we should note that by the end of this 2015 trip, Julia and Jordan are only missing 5 northeastern U.S. states out of the total 50. Thus, they are likely to visit their 50th state before enrolling in high school.)

Mountains and more mountains. Photo credit: Gary Schwartz

Alaska was the one major destination on our six month adventure that we flew to instead of taking the minivan. We took a “red-eye” from Seattle to Fairbanks, leaving Seattle just before midnight. About an hour after we took off, a funny thing happened…the horizon started to get light. About an hour later, at about 2am, the sun came up (from our vantage point in the air). Then the sun went down as we descended into Fairbanks. Then the sun came back up again at a little after 3am at ground level.

We had studied the Alaska sunrise and sunset times, so we knew there would be days with up to 21 hours of daylight near summer solstice. What we had not realized, however, was that during those 3 or 4 hours between sunset and sunrise, it NEVER actually got dark. For 15 days we did not see a night sky…very weird! It simply went to twilight for a few hours, and then it all started over again with a new sunrise and 20+ hours of daylight, followed by a few hours of twilight. (After about a week, visions of the movie “Groundhog Day” came to mind.) While the lengthy daylight did make it hard to sleep enough hours, it was pretty neat having so many hours of daylight. I went for several runs right around midnight with the sun still shining on me, and we started a “day hike” one evening at about 8pm.

While Fairbanks was our Alaska starting point, our first day that felt like “real Alaska” was when we drove east toward Copper Center, AK near Wrangell-St Elias National Park.  The day started out rainy and overcast and we worried that we might not see the sun much for the next two weeks. But after a few hours of driving, the sky started to clear and there were mountains everywhere!

Alaska does have mountains! Photo credit: Julia Schwartz

Clearing skies. Photo credit: Julia Schwartz

Our 3rd day in Alaska was perhaps our most spectacular day not only in Alaska, but of our whole 6-month adventure. While most of the six months we traveled very low-budget, this was a splurge day. We got up early and drove to the Chitina, AK airport. OK, it is really more of an airstrip than airport. 20 minutes before flight we were alone in a parking lot, and then a few minutes later a small, 6-person plane flew in to take us on an amazing 30-minute scenic flight to McCarthy, AK in Wrangell-St Elias National Park where we spent most of the day.

The plane, the plane! Photo credit: Jordan Schwartz

Co-pilots Jordan and Julia prepare for take-off. Photo credit: Gwen Schwartz

Our pilot told us that it was the first sunny morning in two weeks, so we REALLY lucked out. And wow, was it beautiful!

Flying above the peaks. Photo credit: Jordan Schwartz

Great window view! Photo credit: Julia Schwartz

Peak performance. Photo credit: Gary Schwartz

Approaching McCarthy Airstrip in Wrangell-St Elias National Park. Photo credit: Gary Schwartz

Wrangell-St Elias National Park isn’t as well known as a lot of U.S. national parks, but it is the biggest national park in America – about the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined! – and it absolutely is one of the most beautiful parks in America.

After we landed, we were headed off for a guided hike on the Root Glacier in Wrangell-St Elias. We had to be fitted for crampons so that we wouldn’t slip on the ice. On the hike we got to see and taste the bluest water we’d ever seen, and we got to see very up close the incredible natural carvings from ice and water.

Dot (person) on hill shows the enormity of this place. Photo credit: Jordan Schwartz

Glacial blue water on Root Glacier. Photo credit: Jordan Schwartz

From another angle. Photo credit: Julia Schwartz

Deep moulin – or nearly vertical shaft in glacier where water flows below the ice surface. Photo credit: Julia Schwartz

Root Glacier. Photo credit: Jordan Schwartz

Another moulin. Photo credit: Jordan Schwartz

After finishing the glacier hike but before flying back out in our little 6-person plane, we walked around historic Kennecott, including this beautiful old mine.

Old Kennecott Mine. Photo credit: Jordan Schwartz

It has seen better days but what an amazing structure. Photo credit: Jordan Schwartz

The flight back out of Wrangell-St Elias National Park was just as amazing as the flight in. The skies were crystal clear (spoiler alert: it wouldn’t stay that way for the whole Alaska trip) and the mountain views were enough to leave you breathless.

Aerial view over Wrangell-St Elias National Park. Photo credit: Gary Schwartz

Hopefully the pilot was not just winging it. Photo credit and very bad pun: Gary Schwartz

Lots o mountains. Photo credit: Julia Schwartz

And finally it was time to land. Here is the Chitina, AK International Airport…er, Chitina Airstrip. You know that little patch of runway below the plane.

Landing in Chitina, AK.

Since the Chitina Airport had no restaurants (nor even an outhouse), we then took advantage of the long daylight hours to make the very scenic drive to Valdez for dinner. There were more mountains and waterfalls along the way.

Green mountains. Photo credit: Gary Schwartz

Red mountains. Photo credit: Gary Schwartz

Road to Valdez. Photo credit: Gary Schwartz

Braided waterfall. Photo credit: Jordan Schwartz

After Wrangell-St Elias, we headed to the Girdwood/Whittier, AK area. This was another great stop for us. We took a boat trip out to view some glaciers in Prince William Sound. For safety purposes you cannot closer than about a half mile away, but that’s close enough to get a nice view. Most of the time was spent near the Blackstone Glacier. The only disappointment was that we didn’t get any major “calving” (breaking off) of the glacier while we were close by.

Blackstone Glacier near Whittier, AK. Photo credit: Julia Schwartz

More glacial blue. Photo credit: Julia Schwartz

The boat ride was fun as well, with the beautiful mountains, waterfalls, and blue water all around.

Mountains along shore near Whittier, AK. Photo credit: Julia Schwartz

Boat spray on Glacial Quest tour. Photo credit: Jordan Schwartz

Hangin’ out on the boat. Photo credit: Gary Schwartz

Waterfall near Whittier, AK. Photo credit: Gary Schwartz

The Girdwood, AK area also featured an awesome hike up to Crow Creek Pass. Again, the weather was perfect – with clear blue skies.

Mountain pond on way to Crow Pass. Photo credit: Gary Schwartz

Snack break at Crow Pass. Photo credit: Gary Schwartz

Gwen and Jordan at Crow Pass. Photo credit: Gary Schwartz

Although we were on the lookout for bears (you are ALWAYS on the lookout for bears when hiking in Alaska!), we saw this mountain goat instead.

A nice place to hang out in the sun. Photo credit: Julia Schwartz

One other great attraction near Girdwood, AK is the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center where injured animals sometimes go (and stay if they aren’t able to be in the wild anymore). The animals here have lots of room to roam, making it the “next best” thing to being in the wild. We watched the three grizzly bears for a long, long time.

Grizzly bear practically poses for a photo opp. Photo credit; Gary Schwartz

My, what big claws you have! Photo: Gary Schwartz

Lookie at what I found! Photo credit: Jordan Schwartz

We also saw bald eagles and many other animals at the conservation center. In fact, we saw many eagles in the wild while we were in Alaska.

Bald eagle at Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Photo credit: Jordan Schwartz

Seward, Alaska was the next stop for us in Alaska, but that will start a new post.