Alaska Day 19, Where I get Recognized

Day 19

Wednesday June 20

     Seen walking out to the shuttle. I couldn't have asked for a nicer day.

     There were five of us in the tour group.  Promptly at 9A, we were escorted to the back porch of the St. Alias Tour office. where we met Anna, our guide. She gave us an overview of the day and sized crampons to our boots. We attached them to our packs and off we went.

      When we arrived at the base of the ice, we sat in a circle and Anna showed us how to attach the crampons and secure them.  She checked us all out and showed us the proper way to get up onto the ice.  There would be more lessons later on steeper climbs and descents.   

      Basically, the idea is to have as much contact between the spikes and the ice.  There’s no stepping softly.  You stomp your way across the ice.  On the steep inclines, you dig in with the toe spikes.  On the steep declines, you lead with your heel and dig in.  It does take some getting used to. 

      All told, we spent three hours on the ice.  Anna was great juggling the slower folks with people like me who just wanted to get into it, and being patient when I lingered for a bit taking pictures.  Those pictures don’t do it justice.

      It was pushing 3P when we arrived back at the tour office.  We turned in our crampons and went our own ways.  I found a shady place at the coffee shop and sorted through my shots while I lingered over the coffee.  It’s hard to do that on a glacier with all that glare. 

      I knew the trails up to the mines were step and snowy.  I also knew the view was excellent half way up.  I seriously considered it.  But, once I stood up again at the coffee shop, I could feel the day’s exertion in my legs.  I guess I'm just not used to stomping for three hours.

      But, I did have to check out one spot before I left. I noticed that little foot bridge way up above the river.  

    It led to the row of private homes for the mine owners, nicknamed Silk Stocking Row.   It was worth the climb up.   

      By now I was certainly thinking of food.  I took the shuttle back to McCarthy and returned to The Potato.  Besides, there’s was the best wifi in town.  Lunch was a pulled pork poboy.  The sauce was a little spicy and the meat was covered in sliced cabbage.  Somehow it worked.   I washed it down with another one of those A Tout Le Monde Ales.  

      Remember that couple from the Mt. Healy hike in Denali?  I told you they’d come back. While I was sipping my last beer and checking out the news of the day, they walked in and somehow recognized me.  They invited me to join them.  So, I did.  I asked how far up that trail they had gone in Denali.  I saw them way ahead of me. They told me they had gone all the way to the end of the extended trail.  They wanted to go all the way to the peak, but the conditions wouldn’t allow it.  BTW, while I got rain, they had sleet.   

     We swapped travel stories for a while.  They were camping at a place on the other end of  McCarthy Road and had some driving to do.  So, I walked them back to their car.  The crazy thing is, we were all going to Valdez in the morning.  But, none of us had cell service here.  

   
Coming Up,

I go six steps too far, and pay for it