Alaska : the perfect summer escape..[ 1916 ]

Alaska's awesome nature offers the perfect summer escape

(Mainichi Japan) October 24, 2010

 

A glacier gives off a thundering roar as ice tumbles into Prince William Sound. (Mainichi)
Arriving in Alaska after escaping the unbearable summer heat of Tokyo, I was greeted by a massive glacier glittering bluish white under the sun, grizzly bears walking languidly about, and the reality of wild animals surviving the harsh conditions of nature untouched by humans.
A huge wall of ice crumbled into the water with a deafening rumble as I watched in silence from a ship in Prince William Sounds, located in south-central Alaska.

A sea otter floating on its back looks as though it is waving for the camera. (Mainichi)It is said that there are around 100,000 glaciers in Alaska, and Prince William Sound is said to have the highest concentration of them. A popular one-day cruise that brings tourists close to the massive hunks of ice started off from Whittier, a city located approximately 100 kilometers southeast of Anchorage.
I encountered quite a number of wild animals while on the ship, including sea otters floating on their backs that looked as though they were waving at us.

Dall sheep live on steep terrain. (Mainichi)

"To protect themselves from the cold, sea otters have about 100,000 hairs per 1 square centimeter of their skin," explained our tour guide. "It looks like they're waving their hands because they're keeping their hairless palms out of the water."
In addition to sea otters -- of which around 10,000 apparently inhabit the area -- we saw seals sprawled out on chunks of ice, and dolphins swimming nearby.

The Alaska Railroad, which runs through the tundra. (Mainichi)

The tour boat provided a service where they scooped pieces of ice from the water and let the passengers touch them. The ice was hard and rugged because of the air bubbles trapped inside. It felt so luxurious to drink whiskey that night on the "rocks" that I'd picked up on my tour. I marveled over the history of the earth sealed into that ice.
The following day, I headed out for a trek on Matanuska Glacier, located 170 kilometers northeast of Anchorage. At 43 kilometers by 3.2 kilometers, it's one of the biggest glaciers that one can approach by car. The temperature was probably not quite 10 degrees Celsius, so it wasn't as cold as I'd predicted. With crampons on my shoes, I carefully walk around crevasses I saw here and there. The thought that I was actually walking atop the massive ice I had seen the previous day was awe-inspiring.
Next, I headed to Talkeetna, approximately 180 kilometers north of Anchorage, to ride the Alaska Railroad. Known as the base camp for climbers scaling Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America, Talkeetna is the place Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura was using as his base when he reached McKinley's summit solo in the winter of 1984 and went missing soon afterwards. I made a stop at Latitude 62, the lodge where Uemura had been a regular guest.

Two grizzly bears saunter down a path at Denali National Park and Preserve. (Mainichi)

In the summer, the Alaska Railroad transports passengers between Anchorage and Fairbanks -- a distance of 382 kilometers -- in about nine hours. The trains, filled with tourists from around the world and outfitted with large windows to allow for maximum panoramic viewing, run through endless tundra filled with conifers like Jezo spruce. Visitors are allowed on the second-floor observation deck for free if only for a short while. Squeals of delight escaped the mouths of a young Dutch couple who snapped away on their cameras.
I got off at Denali National Park and Preserve. Denali -- the name given to Mount McKinley by native tribes meaning "the white high one" -- is one of the most popular national parks in Alaska, and is home to 37 species of mammals, 160 bird species, and 450 plant species.
To protect the local wildlife, park visitors tour the park by shuttle bus, which run between late May and mid-September. There are rules that visitors must follow -- such as the ban of food outside the bus -- that allow the animals to live in a natural a state as possible.

A "salmon bake" with grilled salmon. (Mainichi)

I was able to get a shot of two grizzly bears walking near the bus. We also saw white dall sheep high on the top of cliffs, moose, and caribou. On the bus, our driver-guide showed us a video of wolves that he had taken.
About halfway through the shuttle bus tour, the clouds broke to reveal a majestic Mount McKinley. Once again, I was overcome by the beauty of the landscape.
One cannot talk about Alaska without talking about its seafood. Five types of salmon in Alaska -- which are wild, not farmed -- are eaten grilled, as sushi, and a variety of other dishes. "Salmon bake," refers to a barbecue-type meal in which salmon, meat, potatoes and other ingredients are cooked on a large grill with butter and sauce. Outdoor restaurants offering salmon bakes often pop up in Anchorage, Denali, Fairbanks, among other cities during the summer months.
I enjoyed a meal of juicy salmon, potatoes, and salad at "Salmon Bake," a restaurant close to Denali National Park, for about $25. The mild-flavored local brew, Alaska Amber, was the perfect accompaniment.

Alaskan Amber, a local beer. (Mainichi)

Anchorage is 5,568 kilometers from Japan, making it the closest American state to our island nation. There are no regular direct flights, however, forcing Japanese visitors to switch flights on the west coast, which makes the trip around 13 to 17 hours one way. If one takes one of the regular charter flights flown by Japan Airlines in summer and winter, the trip is around six to seven hours.
Native tribes make up 16 percent of the Alaskan population. Various living quarters and other artifacts of native tribes are on display at the Alaska Native Heritage Center Museum in Anchorage, where local high school students also put on traditional dance performances.
If weather permits, visitors may also choose to view the Northern Lights or go fishing in Alaska's rivers or the Pacific. (By Junko Adachi, Science and Environment News Department)