MAGICAL ALASKA:  STILL AN UNSPOILED WONDERLAND?

Mount Denali and Prince William Sound

We have been privileged to explore and enjoy some of the most diverse, serene and breathtaking landscapes on the different continents: the dolerite peaks of Torres del Paine in the Chilean south, the wild west desolated forests of Tasmania, the barren moon landscapes of Arizona, Nevada and Utah, the ice glaciers and fjords of western Norway, the Plitviça region of forests, lakes and falls of Croatia, the contrast of fire and ice on the Iceland island; just to name a few.

When visiting Alaska, two distinct regions are visited: either an Inside Passage cruise, visiting the towns of Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka, with all the complimentary scenery of fjords, glaciers and islands; or the almost robust, less visited interior park-landscape of Denali and the Arctic Park, north of Anchorage.

The diversity of the Alaskan National Parks speaks for itself: one can only observe the Gates of the Arctic Park and Preserve, as well as Kobuk Valley by seaplane; to reach the Katmai Peninsula, or Lake Clark Preserve, you have either the option of a plane or boat. Visitors to all these areas are limited, you are all on your own in the wilderness; these options are therefore only for the explorers and very brave at heart!

We had the fortunate opportunity to visit the Denali Park and Preserve, stayed at the Denali Outback Lodge, reached only by an official park-bus, after a day’s drive from the gate. Every year only a small percentage of visitors are privileged to share this with other nature lovers!

En route to the Park, we overnighted at a rustic little B&B, the Fireweed, near Talkeetna, a small outback town, and perfect antidote to the harried modern lifestyle. With some 850 souls, this is the hub for most of the scenic flights to Mount Denali, the second highest mountain peak in the world! Only some 2 and a half thousand meters lower than Mount Everest, Mount McKinley, or Denali, (a name preferred by the locals and meaning the high one), is symbol to the interior of Alaska.

Alaskan summertime is known for its rain and overcast skies; however, when we arrived at Talkeetna, the blanket of thick solid clouds was slowly sliding away, faintly introducing the High One in a distance!

The next two hours were to become my special gift of visual memories to take along with me to nurture the rest of my life. The pilot, with 25 year’s experience of flying this scenic route in his monoplane with ski’s to land in the snow, told me that even he can count these very special weather circumstances over the many years on his one hand.

The two of use took off late afternoon and flew some 60 kilometres in a northerly direction. In front of us a magic scene was unfolding: a soft golden glare on the snow-capped peak, breaking through the cotton-like clouds, forming a layer halfway up the mountain. To the western side, the rainy clouds were rolling away, with the only evidence of the past two weeks of rain in the double rainbow!

We circled twice the cluster of peaks, Mt Hunter, Foraker, Koven, Brooks, Mather and Silverthrone, before making a final approach to touch down with the ski-plane in an ice-covered enclave, surrounded by snow and solid rock formation.

There we were, small specks in a total silence of God’s perfect creation; a sight that only a few fortunate mountaineers can experience conquering mountain heights after days of exposure to the toughest elements of nature. I could just breathe in the total beauty and could not stop taking hundreds of memory capturing photos of the stage-play that was unfolding in front of me.

Upon our return at about eight-o-clock that evening (and the sun was still casting its last rays on Denali), I could understand why the Alaskan Aboriginals expressed their thoughts when sensing their holy mountain: see Denali, and die…

Dominated by the magnificent Mount Denali, the Denali National Park and Preserve is one of the world’s greatest wildlife sanctuaries; not necessarily only because of the specific variety of wildlife, but more so because of the ever presence of the almost eerie Mount Denali.

The next three days we witnessed breathtaking moments in the wild of the park: a golden eagle soaring of the cliffs of Polychrome Pass, a herd of white Dall’s sheep resting on a green shoulder of Primrose Ridge; the mother and cub grizzly rambling over the tundra at Sable Pass, the rare silver wolf with her seven youngsters, leaving their den for the first time at Thorofare Pass, the lonely caribou stag at Stony Hill. All with the staggering guarding sentinel of Mount Denali as a perfect backdrop to the staged natural beauty.

But maybe the dedicated beaver at Wonder Lake, meticulously re-modelling his hive for the approaching wintertime, completed the story of the wild: yet, every time a new visitor will experience a totalling different story!

One can savour the atmosphere of Prince William Sound on a day cruise aboard the Klondike Express, a catamaran exploring some 26 glaciers on a 200 kilometre route, or from the air get overall views of the vast concentration of glaciers flowing into the natural enclosed bay by seaplane.

From Anchorage, Whittier as gateway to the Sound, is reached via the southbound Seward Highway through the Anderson Tunnel, a single lane tunnel used by both vehicle and rail.

Nestled between the Chugach Mountains and the Gulf of Alaska, and almost 15 times the size of San Francisco Bay, Prince William Sound provides a secluded home for millions of seabirds and fish: Bears, bald eagles, puffins, whales, otters and sea lions all come to feast on the bounty of this hidden world of contrasts and beauty.

A disaster struck, when an oil spill heavily damaged the ecology of the area; the oil has sunk into the beaches below the surface and is still sometimes uncovered after storms and high tides. What lasting effect this lurking oil will have on the total area is still being studied and remains the topic of much debate by the locals.

Here tidewater glaciers crash to the sea while hundreds of forested islands and quiet bays offer a peaceful haven to those water travellers who can linger and explore.

This Sound is reckoned to be one of the most beautiful bodies of water in the world. Its jumble of islands and 2500 kilometres of ragged coastline, with hundreds of coves, bays, lagoons, narrows, fjords and 150 glaciers, of which some 20 ice-blue glaciers feed into the cold waters of the bay. This is the most highly density of glaciers to be found anywhere in the world.

It’s thrilling to visit pristine areas unchanged for a thousand years. But how can more and more people enjoy the experience without endangering that very wilderness? May be only by changing our attitude and view on conservation of our natural habitat.

Some people say there are no more frontiers to explore and enjoy, without leaving this planet. But they are forgetting about Alaska…

- Johann & Monique