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Great 4th!

DogSled

Hope you all had a great 4th of July!  We had absolutely great weather and saw some great country.  We spent the day up on Dog Sled Pass and had an amazing time.  Our town had it’s parade and BBQ’s and everyone was out at the Lake like they were down south somewhere!  It is hot and dry for Alaska right now so we have some fire haze…from 60 something fires burning right now.  Most are small and are being allowed to burn naturally, a couple are being fought but nothing is really big, let’s hope it stays that way.

On the way to Hope

TurnAgainArm

Hope Alaska sits nestled in a notch on Turnagain Arm about 1.5 hours south of Anchorage.  The drive there takes you along the waters of Turn Again and it is spectacular.  The tides in Turnagain Arm are the second swiftest tides in the world and when they go out it is like draining a bathtub.  In 1888 old man Alexander King rowed a dory up the Cook Inlet into the Turnagain Arm and beached on the south shore.  Two years later he rowed out with four pokes of gold, and became a man of great interest.  By 1895 five mining partners on Sixmile Creek were spending their 40K in gold around Seattle and suddenly The Rush was on.  Three thousand people headed to Sixmile Creek in 1896 and Hope City got its when the miners decided to name the town after the next person that got off the boat – that was Percy Hope – 17 year old prospector extraordinaire.

Alone Across Alaska

Alone_Across_Alaska_Cover

Now here is a great resource for seeing what Alaska back country hiking is all about.  Buck Nelson traverses the Arctic on foot and by raft and takes you along with him on the journey.  If you want to see the Brooks Range and get some beta on a trip you have been dying to make then you will want this video.  If you are undecided about making a trip to the Brooks Range well, this will get you off the fence so get out the check book, the maps and pop in this DVD.  Buck’s site has links to air taxis’, gear list for this trip, maps, and a discussion board that you can ask him questions on.  Buck is a great guy and will tell you everything he knows.  Steve Howe reviewed this in Backpacker Magazine a couple of months back too if you need another source (www.backpacker.com).  Here’s the link, come on up…http://www.bucktrack.com/Alaska_Brooks_Range_Traverse.html

Money to Burn

logs

Paxson (on the Denali Hwy) is not a big place but it has food (heard it’s very good) and you can buy firewood here.  You might want to consider it as dead wood is scarce and it’s nice to have a campfire, of course it must be in an approved fire ring.   Five bucks a bundle, but on the plus side…it looks good and it burns well…

I love Alaska, it’s so colorful.

Just Ducky

DenaliHwy_3

There are indeed limited services on the Denali Highway but it is not completely devoid of support.  There is a rather nice little restaurant – gas station – gift shop right up the road from the Tangle Lakes campground.  Don’t count on it for bare groceries but if you need a helicopter ride they can help you out.



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