The First 4 Parks
Our adventure is close approaching, and we have our sights on our first 4 parks. We'll be heading up to Alaska to see Glacier Bay, Kenai Fjords, Denali, and Katmai (just 4 of the 8 massive parks up there). As much as anyone would love to drive 48 hours straight to get up to Alaska, that doesn't seem the best use of time, so we'll start our journey on a quick flight to Vancouver and then on a boat up through the Inside Passage and up along the coast of Alaska.
Our first stop is to see Glacier Bay, and to be honest when I say by boat, I really mean luxury cruise. This will be a great way to decompress and switch from work/school life to traveling the country life. This is also one of the only ways to see Glacier Bay (by boat that is). We'll have a day floating about, listening to a National Park Ranger and taking a lot of photographs.
NPSCovering 3.3 million acres of rugged mountains, dynamic glaciers, temperate rainforest, wild coastlines and deep sheltered fjords, Glacier Bay National Park is a highlight of Alaska's Inside Passage and part of a 25-million acre World Heritage Site—one of the world’s largest international protected areas. From sea to summit, Glacier Bay offers limitless opportunities for adventure and inspiration.
After the cruise, we'll get off the boat and be shuttled up to Anchorage, stay a night and then pick up a car and head back down to Kenai Fjords, to see of course more glaciers! We'll be seeing them via some hikes (Exit Glacier, the only part of the park available via road), and if we are lucky an arial view at some point to see Bear Glacier, the largest in the park. It's interesting, as large as the parks are, some of them are really hard to get to and even harder to see all of.
NPSAt the edge of the Kenai Peninsula lies a land where the ice age lingers. Nearly 40 glaciers flow from the Harding Icefield, Kenai Fjords' crowning feature. Wildlife thrives in icy waters and lush forests around this vast expanse of ice. Sugpiaq people relied on these resources to nurture a life entwined with the sea. Today, shrinking glaciers bear witness to the effects of our changing climate.
Next we'll drive up to the outskirts of Denali and then fly into the center of the park as the main road is washed out due due to the Pretty Rocks landslide. Denali is huge! All three National Parks together in Washington are only about a third of the size... This brings me to one of the projects I'll be working on while we travel - building a dataset about the parks. Using data from NPS, the park is 4.67 million acers. But interestingly, when you look at the NPS website it says 6 million. There's not much there yet, but scroll up, all 4 are linked in this blog
NPSDenali is six million acres of wild land, bisected by one ribbon of road. Travelers along it see the relatively low-elevation taiga forest give way to high alpine tundra and snowy mountains, culminating in North America's tallest peak, 20,310' Denali. Wild animals large and small roam un-fenced lands, living as they have for ages. Solitude, tranquility and wilderness await.
Finally we'll drive back down to Anchorage and then fly into Katmai, home to what I've heard are some awesome views of bears. By the time we started planning, Brooks Camp was booked along with the other lodges in the area. We were able to find space at a partner location that will bring us into the camp to see the bears on a daily basis. We might even have time to do some fishing!
NPSKatmai was established in 1918 to protect the volcanically devastated region surrounding Novarupta and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Today, Katmai National Park and Preserve also protects 9,000 years of human history and important habitat for salmon and thousands of brown bears.
As I've said, Alaska is huge and the parks are hard to get to. After these first four Alaska parks, we'll head back home and plan the others for another time. I feel this will be a great way to start our adventure, but looking forward to getting back after this trip, jumping in the truck and driving across this country we call home.