Melanie and Doug and Tracy and I have been playing musical camping locations the whole time we’ve been on our trips to and in Alaska. The music in this game has been a mix of data—where we want to go, where we’ve already been, the weather, road conditions—each factor dominating our decisions differently. When the […]
Author: Shelly
Former nomad, currently adjusting.
Kenia Fjords Critters and Views
Here’s more about that boat tour we took from Seward, Alaska, along the Kenai Fjords National Park. It was such a highlight of our summer in Alaska that I want to document as much of it as I can. Previous posts about this one danged day are about the orcas and glaciers we saw. Port […]
The Glaciers of Kenai Fjords
I had never been on a boat tour before, so you’ll have to skip over all this detail if you’re a pro or if you know all about glaciers, or if my low level of research here is annoying. I want to set this stuff down here while I can still remember a bit of […]
Orcas in Resurrection Bay
Geez Louise, I just disembarked from a boat cruise of the Kenai Fjords National Park, and it was all about glaciers and fjords and amazing views, but to me, it was the mammals and birds that blew my mind. We saw sea otters, sea lions, puffins, and I don’t even known what else right now […]
Spawning Salmon at Williwaw Creek
The Chugach National Forest campground we stayed in called Williwaw—the one that’s right on the Trail of Blue Ice and other trails with access to several glaciers—is also right on Williwaw creek, an unusually clear creek running from the glaciers far above. The Blue Ice trail runs alongside it for part of its five miles, […]
Trail of Blue Ice
We’re camped in Chugach National Forest, the second-largest in the country, I believe. What’s extra cool is that our campground is nestled among amazingly high mountains and glaciers, all around us. Here I am biking back from the iron ranger where we paid for our campsite for a week. That’s a glacier visible from the […]
They Take Away the Bear Skat to Keep Wedding Gowns Clean
It’s hard to try to wrap your head around how accessible the wilderness is here in Alaska. We’re only an hour’s easy drive from Anchorage, and we’re staying in a national forest campground, not some boondocking spot down a long dirt road. To get to the trail I’m talking about here, for example (the Byron […]
Moose Fix in Anchorage
I’ve had serious moose envy up here in Alaska: everyone is seeing moose and photographing moose and having to stop for moose in the road, everyone but me. I’ve seen a few (okay, five), but it wasn’t until I was biking in the city of Anchorage that I had to get off the trail for […]
Twin Peaks & Mt Baldy Hikes
Here in southeast Alaska, we did two hikes in a week with big elevation gains—about 1,200 feet each—which for us is whole lotta climbing. I took way too many photos that don’t do any of the scenes justice. I’m gonna show you anyway! Elkutna Lake This gorgeous lake is a popular spot for people from […]
Wild Things around Chugach
“Chugach” is the name for the native peoples in this southeast region of Alaska, and it’s the name of a national forest and the state park we’re in right now, amazingly near Anchorage. Elkutna Lake and Eagle River Close-ups I’m having a hard time posting photos of views that are not sweeping landscapes, so I’m […]
