Surprisingly, my ringing cell phone woke me just after 7:00 AM this morning. ('Surprisingly', because who'd figure I'd have coverage at a campsite 20 miles outside of Seward, Alaska?) I was 99% certain that it was Captain Ron calling to find out about my decision whether to go fishing.
I was surprised to hear my old friend Matthias' voice on the other end of the line. He was calling from Switzerland. Matthias and I lived, for a brief period, in the same town in Kyrgyzstan and had done some good hikes in the mountains there. We had kept in touch and I had seen him once when he visited Arizona while I was living there. He had been following my blog and had emailed a few weeks prior to tell me that my itinerary might coincide with a vacation he was planning to North America and perhaps we could hook up. I didn't take it too seriously at the time - but sure enough! - he was preparing to book a flight to Calgary!
Cell phone coverage cut in and out while we spoke and we didn't connect for a long enough period of time to make plans until I got to Anchorage later in the day, but we finally planned to see Calgary, Waterton Lake NP, Glacier NP, Teddy Roosevelt NP, and then visit the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota. He would depart out of Minneapolis.
Following our conversation, I gathered my gear quickly from the campsite and got on the road. Cell phone coverage had cut out, but I was wanting to call Captain Ron to relay my decision not to fish. I thought I was heading towards Anchorage and I didn't realize my mistake until I was on the outskirts of Seward again - 20 miles in the wrong direction. Well, at least I had cell coverage; I left a voicemail for Captain Ron and then turned Conrad around towards Anchorage.
I still hadn't found much that I wanted to see or do in Anchorage, other than shop. I visited Barnes and Noble again, then Wal-Mart for supplies, and then REI. My (actually Steve's) tent pole had developed a crack and I wanted to get it repaired before heading to Denali NP. I also wanted to get Conrad's oil changed, but since it was a Sunday, I was out of luck.
Back in Seward, Captain Ron had told me about places he liked to visit in Alaska when he wasn't fishing. He recommended a visit to the Independence Mine State Historical Park which is, generally speaking, on the road to Denali. Located to the north of Palmer and on the way up the Hatcher Pass, the park is a huge worked out gold mine sprawling through a beautiful alpine valley. Opened in the 1930's and closed in 1955, Independence was once Alaska's second-most-productive mine. The state preserved many of its original buildings and provides a lot of information at its wonderful visitors center. From the mine, I continued up the pass where, at the top, I watched as paragliders were packing their sails after a day of riding the currents through the mountain air. I hadn't realized that the stretch would lead me another 28 miles along a gravel road. But Conrad was up to the task.
I joined Highway 3 north of Anchorage and drove north towards Denali until I got tired. I've already forgotten the name of the entirely forgettable and mosquito infested campsite I slept at south of the national park.
I was surprised to hear my old friend Matthias' voice on the other end of the line. He was calling from Switzerland. Matthias and I lived, for a brief period, in the same town in Kyrgyzstan and had done some good hikes in the mountains there. We had kept in touch and I had seen him once when he visited Arizona while I was living there. He had been following my blog and had emailed a few weeks prior to tell me that my itinerary might coincide with a vacation he was planning to North America and perhaps we could hook up. I didn't take it too seriously at the time - but sure enough! - he was preparing to book a flight to Calgary!
Cell phone coverage cut in and out while we spoke and we didn't connect for a long enough period of time to make plans until I got to Anchorage later in the day, but we finally planned to see Calgary, Waterton Lake NP, Glacier NP, Teddy Roosevelt NP, and then visit the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota. He would depart out of Minneapolis.
Following our conversation, I gathered my gear quickly from the campsite and got on the road. Cell phone coverage had cut out, but I was wanting to call Captain Ron to relay my decision not to fish. I thought I was heading towards Anchorage and I didn't realize my mistake until I was on the outskirts of Seward again - 20 miles in the wrong direction. Well, at least I had cell coverage; I left a voicemail for Captain Ron and then turned Conrad around towards Anchorage.
I still hadn't found much that I wanted to see or do in Anchorage, other than shop. I visited Barnes and Noble again, then Wal-Mart for supplies, and then REI. My (actually Steve's) tent pole had developed a crack and I wanted to get it repaired before heading to Denali NP. I also wanted to get Conrad's oil changed, but since it was a Sunday, I was out of luck.
Back in Seward, Captain Ron had told me about places he liked to visit in Alaska when he wasn't fishing. He recommended a visit to the Independence Mine State Historical Park which is, generally speaking, on the road to Denali. Located to the north of Palmer and on the way up the Hatcher Pass, the park is a huge worked out gold mine sprawling through a beautiful alpine valley. Opened in the 1930's and closed in 1955, Independence was once Alaska's second-most-productive mine. The state preserved many of its original buildings and provides a lot of information at its wonderful visitors center. From the mine, I continued up the pass where, at the top, I watched as paragliders were packing their sails after a day of riding the currents through the mountain air. I hadn't realized that the stretch would lead me another 28 miles along a gravel road. But Conrad was up to the task.
I joined Highway 3 north of Anchorage and drove north towards Denali until I got tired. I've already forgotten the name of the entirely forgettable and mosquito infested campsite I slept at south of the national park.
No comments:
Post a Comment