Vagabonding : Alaska

Back in the lower 48

More »

After an exhausting 16 hour travel day, I arrived back in Kentucky with my father…both of us still in one piece. Mostly.

Kentucky welcomed me with 100F weather and a humidity heat index of 104F. (40C for my metric friends). Quite a difference over the cool Alaskan 50F’s I left. When I stepped off the plane, every sweat gland in my body that has been dormant for the past week woke up and put production into overdrive.

Our 8 days in Alaska was unforgettable….I am going to upload some pictures and do some writing to catch up. I did not have much internet access while there, go figure!

Posted in Alaska, USA | Tags: Alaska, backpacking, greg rodgers, hiking, travel

The final moments

More »

A strange sensation came over me….one that I had not felt almost this entire trip. I was no longer cold, and there was something strange burning my face….something familiar….could it be, THE SUN !!

Mt McKinley, alaska

After a week of gray and rainy weather, we were granted one day of spectacular sunshine to close out our Alaskan adventure. The sky was a magical blue color, and everything around us was vibrant and took on new meaning as we walked through the Chugach National Forest just 30 minutes away from Anchorage. I took full advantage and wore out my finger taking pictures of everything in site. We had 6 hours to kill before our dreaded flight home, so what better way to do it than to take a tough hike in the hot sun, get very sweaty with no hotel to wash up, then sit next to some poor guy for an 8 hour flight?
As a bonus, Mt McKinley was visible from where we were. After driving for 2 days to get to the bottom of the tallest mountain in North America and never seeing it, we were now looking at it from hundreds of miles away. Awesome!

(Read more…)

Posted in Alaska | Tags: Alaska, anchorage, travel

Eagle River

More »

eagle river, alaska

After calling an end to our fishing, we continued to drive south into the small town of Eagle River, which has an awesome nature center and trail system that I explored during my desperate hunt for bears last year. It was also the last place in Alaska that I went with my friend Jessica before traveling home, so I was having a flood of memories as we drove up the winding road into the Chugach State Park. A quick stop at a gas station put us on the right track (why do directions always stem from the local Wal-Mart in small towns?) and soon we were back out in the cool, clean air.

(Read more…)

Posted in Alaska | Tags: Alaska, eagle river, travel