Solo Trip to Alaska - Accomplishing my Bald Eagle Dream

[devilry]

Perhaps it's time to burst your expectations bubble here... I found out for myself that Denali National Park is one of the WORST place to photograph wildlife. The wildlife are either kilometres (not hundreds of metres) away, or it's almost impossible to shoot from the bus. If you self drive, you might have a better chance, but if you take the normal park bus, it's hard to shoot.

Someone shouted out that there's "mountain goats" and lynx and here's how they look like:
"Mountain-goats"

Lynx

We had better luck further down the road when someone again spotted the lynx crossing the road.

But then again, although this lynx is closeup, it is impossible to use long lens to shoot, unless I behave like a barbarian to shove all aside to give me space! It's quite cute isn't it - everyone rushing to one side of the bus to shoot the lynx! Shooting humans in such situations is better than shooting the lynx since I wouldn't be able to get any nice shots of it anyway.

We also spotted black bears, caribous etc. but these are kilometres away, and my nose shiit is even bigger than it!

Again another lesson learnt - It's true that you can find wildlife in Denali National Park, but that doesn't mean the wildlife is close to you! If you are thinking of shooting wildlife, especially if you are a tourist with perhaps just 1 day visit to denali national park, just forget about this place - don't bother wasting precious time to travel here.

 

[vee5]

Very inspiring thread! Looking fwd to more updates

 

[Colin Quek]

Thumbs up!

 

[KYFoong]

Makes me want to make the trip.....excellent narration.

 

[devilry]

With the conclusion of the Denali National Park trip, the next area we headed to the following day was the Wrangell St Elias National Park. You might be wondering "isn't it weird that devilry is in Alaska, but yet there isn't any snow, glaciers or ice, is this really Alaska???" fred not.... this is indeed Alaska, and Wrangell St Elias National Park is a place with tonnes and tonnes of glaciers... You might even wonder if you are in another planet instead of our mama earth - I call it the "ice planet"!

However, Wrangell St Elias National Park isn't a place where people really like to go because:
1. The park is located in a very very inconvenient area, and it's very difficult to access. The roads are packed full of sharp tiny rocks, and it's almost certain to puncture your car tyre when in and out of the park - and yes, our vehicle suffered a tyre puncture.

2. It's very far away - It's almost 10hours drive away from Anchorage, and about 6hours from Denali National Park. (it's impossible to drive >50km/h in these rocky conditions...)

3. But the real challenge is - there's no shower facilities in this area - the camp site has only a toilet, and the toilet doesn't have water to wash your hands! The toilet is not a flushing toilet, but instead one with a hole, and in the hole is a pile of STINKY SHIIIIT! (there's is a small town in this area, which you can cover from left to right in less than 10mins & my count of the number of inn (not hotel) is just ONE, and my estimate is that there's only about 2 rooms, since it's really small - if your a hygiene freak, perhaps you wanna stay in that, provided you can find the space that is...)

4. The place where the ice planet is located isn't just side by side the campsite. From the campsite, it's a 30mins ride to the small town, and then from the small town, it's a 1.5hours trekking (not walking) through a mountain forest before you reach the ice planet entrance.

5. And then imagine this: after you trek finish for let's say 6 hours, and it's in the evening already, and you are sweating and stinky, but oh shiiit, there's no shower facilities!!! It's almost impossible to drive back to Anchorage (it's 10hours drive!!!), and besides it's dangerous to drive on the rocky road at night since there's no lamp post - dun think the car lamps can capture every possible danger... So the best you can do, provided you still have mineral water, is to just wet the cloth and wipe the body.. For me, I didn't, I just slept, as I was too tired hahaha... oops did I mention that we stayed in the Wrangell St Elias National Park camp site for 3D2N --> yea, I know I stink then...

Ok enough of my ranting, here's my camp mate setting up the tent! Nice right, sleep beside the river, still got rainbow smiling at us somemore! But it's cold like crazy at night...

The finished product. Btw, you not seeing stars, that's really a girl fixing up the tent! The girls on the trip are quite garang - pitch their own tents, and they also managed to tahan 3D2N of non-shower!!!!!!! Super impressive!!!!!

Some of the other people went to setup the table for food.

And here's my dinner - bolognaise. In case you wondering what I cooked during the trip, I am proud to announce that I am the master dish washer! I am skilled at cooking maggi mee, but too bad, there's no maggie mee for me to showcase my skills...

 

[devilry]

Then, I realize some strange lights in the sky, then I called out to everyone to look at it, and I asked excitedly whether it's the northern lights!!!!!! And I got a =_= look from all of them.... think it's just sunlight or moon light... Anyway, nobody know what it is...

This is the exterior of the only toilet - from the outside looks, you already sian 1/2 about wanting to use it to peeee or shiiit.

The inside of the toilet - the WORST toilet in the entire trip. The image is blur and shaky not because I didn't use high iso/high shutter speed - but because I trembled with fear from the sight of the huge mass of SHIIIITTT and the foul stench when I lifted the toilet seat!!!!!!!!!! My hands became too weak to take a nice photo of it, which in any case it won't be nice to any extent imaginable... (And yes.... during the 3D2N I had a few moments where I just have to shiiiiit, and I just do my business by pressing my nose and imagine myself in paradise.. yea....

Campfire at night - crowding around, drinking, talk coock etc etc... I really appreciate the fire in Alaska..

 

[devilry]

From Denali, we reached Wrangell St Elias national park camp site, stayed for the night, before we left for glacier hiking the next morning. After reaching the small town, we entered the trekking tour office, and proceeded to take our own crampons. crampons are spike attachments which you tie to your shoes, so that you can trek on the glaciers..

Take your pick

After grabbing our crampons, we didn't strap it to the shoes immediately, because as mentioned above, there's a 1.5hrs trek through a forest to the glacier entrance. Yea, the three in front are girls!!!! super garang commandos!!!

Along the way, we spotted these, and we thought it's some seeds or smashed fruits. Actually, these are the poop of a bear!!!!!!! And since the poop is rather "fresh", the bear must be nearby... luckily we didn't see it, if not we will be mauled to death.

Ah ha! Once we reach the entrance of the glaciers, we strapped on the crampons - first time wearing it and I feel like wolverine except with metal claws on the feet! And yes, I am stepping on the glaciers, it looks greyish due to dirt, sand, tiny rocks etc.

This is the first glacier I held in my hands in Alaska. Smaller than my palm, but etched GIGANTIC memories in the mind. Those are a pair of USD12.90 gloves I got in the souvenir shop in denali national park - it sucks though, I tore it within 3 days of buying it..

 

[devilry]

We started the climb, and climb and climb...

And again, as we climb for abt 2hrs+, it rained..... Raining on ice planet = super cold.... I still feel cold with 4 layers on...

 

[devilry]

Before coming to Alaska, I have always thought that glaciers are soft... but it turns out that they are tough as rocks.. and trekking on these glaciers is super difficulty and exhausting... the glacier surface is super uneven, and I have to use a lot of ankle strength to balance myself..

Some glacier waters - feel free to refill ur water

A bluepool.... the water looks blue, but when u scoop it up, its clear colourless transparent water... super amazing.

Some folks doing glacier climbing - I have one day in ice planet, and I could choose to do glacier climbing or trekking, and I chose to trek.... trekking can let me see more things!

Yea, that's a pretty crane in ice planet! It was really cold...

 

[devilry]

This is the only ice cave that we went to. This slope is very very very very steep.. maybe 60 to 70degrees slope. And I have to get down on all 4 to get down to the cave... Due to this descend, my camera and lens got damage... they got abrasions and scratches, and also because this area got a lot of tiny gravels, some of the tiny gravels went into my lens... when I turn the zoom ring, the you can hear the sandy grinding sound!!!! ARGH!! And worst still, we descended to the cave when it's raining.. the descend took abt 30mins, while getting back up took about 45mins..
let's just say, we descended a distance of about 20stories with both hands and feet..

The guy shooting with his camera realizes that the camera totally spoilt when he climbed back up... there's water leaking everywhere when underneath the glaciers.

This is how my denali park gloves look like after climbing back up - it's fully utterly destroyed - I will leave it to your imagination on the condition of my camera and lens!

 

[Justintime]

This is the most entertaining travel thread I have read on CS. You have a natural talent for humourous writing.

Oh ya in case its not clear, you are one crazy dude. Hahaha . Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip !

This is the only ice cave that we went to. This slope is very very very very steep.. maybe 60 to 70degrees slope. And I have to get down on all 4 to get down to the cave... Due to this descend, my camera and lens got damage... they got abrasions and scratches, and also because this area got a lot of tiny gravels, some of the tiny gravels went into my lens... when I turn the zoom ring, the you can hear the sandy grinding sound!!!! ARGH!! And worst still, we descended to the cave when it's raining.. the descend took abt 30mins, while getting back up took about 45mins..
let's just say, we descended a distance of about 30stories with both hands and feet..

The guy shooting with his camera realizes that the camera totally spoilt when he climbed back up... there's water leaking everywhere when underneath the glaciers.

This is how my denali park gloves look like after climbing back up - it's fully utterly destroyed - I will leave it to your imagination on the condition of my camera and lens!

 

[eleveninth]

the bear poop. is gold. lol damn funny.

 

[devilry]

That's roughly how I look like when I am directly underneath the glaciers! Due to the constant melting drips of water from the glaciers above us, the place was very humid, and the lens fogged quickly... it was a nightmare as my hands were full of dirt, and I couldn't clean it... The only way I could clean the lens was to use the tissue and wipe the lens filter surface dry... not the best way to do it, but guess that's the only way.

Ok, here's an Advert for Canon ~ Delighting You Always!

It's also when I descend to the cave, that I realize that we CAN SWEAT in cold places!!!! My hair is just the tip of the ice berg of how much I sweated... and yes, I slept like this in the night without bathing... hahahaha

 

[limwhow]

This is the most entertaining travel thread I have read on CS. You have a natural talent for humourous writing.

Oh ya in case its not clear, you are one crazy dude. Hahaha . Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip !

I totally concur, Justintime.
It's very very funny the way you described the glacier climb, devilry.
It's not every day that one can climb literally on a glacier, what with crampons and such.
Keep 'em coming.

That's roughly how I look like when I am directly underneath the glaciers! Due to the constant melting drips of water from the glaciers above us, the place was very humid, and the lens fogged quickly... it was a nightmare as my hands were full of dirt, and I couldn't clean it... The only way I could clean the lens was to use the tissue and wipe the lens filter surface dry... not the best way to do it, but guess that's the only way.

Ok, here's an Advert for Canon ~ Delighting You Always!

It's also when I descend to the cave, that I realize that we CAN SWEAT in cold places!!!! My hair is just the tip of the ice berg of how much I sweated... and yes, I slept like this in the night without bathing... hahahaha

So the way you were describing means that you had to be on all fours and squeeze through that narrow tunnel and descend 20 storeys downwards?
Wasn't it a little claustrophobic?

 

[devilry]

thanks guys , i am really just a normal guy.... (but think it may be hard to be believe now hahaha...)

anyway, it seems like there's some problem with the clubsnap gallery... all the photos have disappeared... and i also couldn't access the clubsnap gallery site... to upload the almost 150 photos again to another image hosting site & then re-linking the photos would be very time consuming will see how it goes...

 

[devilry]

So the way you were describing means that you had to be on all fours and squeeze through that narrow tunnel and descend 20 storeys downwards?
Wasn't it a little claustrophobic?

mmm... ok imagine a cliff that's about 100 metres wide. from the top of the cliff all the way to the bottom, it's also about 100 metres wide. the cliff face is not entirely 90 degrees drop. instead it's about 60 degrees slanted all the way to the bottom, where there's a hole, and that's the ice cave. the cliff face is actually a gigantic piece of glacier, but covered full of rocks, sand and some vegetation, and not smooth-faced --> these rocks and vegetation sort of provided us with the grip & enable us to climb on hands and feet without the need for rope..

when going down its easier, we literally sat on the slope and slowly slowly glide down on our butt... when climbing up, that's much tougher, everytime we move a step up, we gota "kick" into the cliff surface, so that the spikes of the crampons will hook onto the glacier cliff in order to climb up..

many times, my hands and feet hooked onto loose ground, and i slipped backward a bit, but fortunately no injuries... the most important thing is to kick really hard, and once the legs get a firm footing, i can concentrate on finding the next area to grab with my hands so as to pull myself up...

the process of kicking with legs, pulling with hands is repeated all the way till i am back up on the cliff again...

 

[Lady Ice]

Your whole story is really an entertaining read. Couldn't stop until I got to yr last entry. Look forward to reading more even if we can't see the photos. Thank you for sharing your experiences and an excellent write up

 

[Colin Quek]

Lol love ur description of the smelly toilet. One thing i did during my NS days was take a lit cigarette from my frens who smoke, bring it into the toilet to mask the smell. Oh yes u do have to blow unto the cig to keep it burning and yes, ur "business" time is about how fast the cig burns.

 

[devilry]

oh yea!! Clubsnap's gallery is right back up, so I shall continue my "ever-so-many-stupid-mistakes" story!

So after the glacier trekking, we head back to the campsite and rested for the night. The following morning, we took a flight to fly over the glaciers to see how it looks like if we are birds!

This is the airport office..... it's jus about the size of a HDB living room. When we boarded the plane, no passport check, no baggage inspection, or whatever unnecessary inconvenient stuffs.... the only question asked was "How heavy are you + your bag?" and that's it.

This is the tiny cessna propeller plane that we took, it can only take 1 pilot and 3 passengers.

It's really really cramped inside

The pilot's control area, looks really really old (frankly when I saw the plane, I had some reservations about whether the plane can actually fly us safely. I did do my own due diligence though, I walked around the plane, looking up down left right at all parts of the plane exterior to see if there are any visible falling parts.)

There's passenger briefing card...wow I am impressed...

 

[devilry]

These are some of the images from the air...

No... there is nothing wrong with my camera or the computer, the red, yellow and greenish patches are shrubs and plants that grew on the mountain slopes... it look as if its a painting.

This is one of the sights which caught my attention... the sun only shone on the central of this area, while the sides are darkened by the shadows of the thick thick clouds. Singapore is too packed and crowded, and too small to have such phenomenon..