day 1 - Arrived in Anchorage, partied and ate reindeer sausage kabobs with Aunt Judy and Sherlle, slept in Aunt Judy's basement (Sam and Nick on water bed).
All three of us at LaGuardia Airport with sunglasses on trying to look dumb. Both Sam and Mike's glasses broke during the trip.day 2 - Hiked up Bird Creek Trail in Chugach, drove to Hope, hiked next to Turnagain Arm (which is part of the Cook Inlet which leads to the Gulf of Alaska which leads to the Pacific Ocean), partied with bachorlette girls, high school drinking campers, and one of the top 50 best MCs in Minneopolis (so he said) in downtown Hope (four one story buildings), camped on beach.
On the road.
Seward Highway, Alaska.
Sam and Nick midway through climbing a mountain in Chugach (near Anchorage) via the Bird Creek Trail.Bird Creek Trail, Chugach National Forest
Top of the mountain from previous picture.Bird Creek Trail, Chugach National Forest
We made a snowman at the top of the mountain.Bird Creek Trail, Chugach National Forest
More snowman.Bird Creek Trail, Chugach National Forest
day 3 - Drove to Seward, took small hike to see Exit Glacier, hiked Lowell's Point through beach next to Seward's spit (we could only hike during a specific 5 hour period because the tides would wash you away and destroy you during other times), saw an otter, camped and stayed at public use cabin whose doors were open.
Nick and Sam at Exit Glacier in Seward.near Seward
Nick being a dorky tourist at Exit Glacier in Seward.
near Seward
Nick on Lowell Point trail.Seward
Sammyg's panorama shots of our the beach along the Lowell Point trail (click on picture to see better).
Seward
Silhouette of Mike and Nick over Lowell Point sunset.
Seward
Blurry public use cabin where we stayed after hiking Lowell Point.Seward
day 4 - Hiked out of Lowell's Point, drove to Kenai Wildlife Refuge, saw cool moose and wolverines (I think, Nick thinks they were some other thing, but he is full of baloney), canoed through a bunch of lakes (paraging through forest in between), camped on abandoned island.
Unrepresentative photo of Nick rowing (he mostly refrained).
Kenai Wildlife Refuge
day 5 - Canoed out of the Kenai Wildlife Refuge, saw black bear walking down a road as we walked out of the forest at the end of the canoe trail, drove to Anchorage, watched Celtics win NBA Finals ("Anything is possible" - Garnett), ate King Crab, slept in Aunt Judy's basement.
day 6 - Drove to Denali STATE Park, drove up scenic route to some old mine, ate lunch in Talkeetna, hiked / backpacked around Bryer's Lake, camped next to lake across from Mt. McKinley.
Nick and Sam along a secret road to Denali in which we had to turn around on because our connecting road was closed due to snow. Along the road we went into a lodge for directions and met two very interesting Alaskan sisters who directed us back to the main road.near Palmer
Nick near the same spot as the previous picture.near Palmer
Money Mike and Nick near the same spot as previous picture.near Palmer
Nick on an old school Bat Mobile in a parking lot of a fireworks outlet.Gorilla Fireworks, Houston
Nick had some serious chemistry with this Bat Mobile.Gorilla Fireworks, Houston
Our tent at Bryer's Lake at Denali State Park.Bryer's Lake, Denali State Park
Nick at our Bryer's Lake camp.Bryer's Lake, Denali State Park
Money Mike hanging next to Bryer's Lake.Bryer's Lake, Denali State Park
Denali Mountain at our Bryer's Lake camp.Bryer's Lake, Denali State Park
day 7 - Hiked out of Bryers Lake, drove to Denali National Park, took 5.5 hour bus through park to Wonder Lake campground, saw awesome animals and amazing vistas, hiked McKinley Bar trail through massively different ecosystems (changing every two seconds from boulder field, to evergreen tree mania, to swamp, etc), camped.
Sammyg and Nick super excited on the bus on the way to Wonder Lake Campground in Denali.Denali National Park
Nick beating up Sam at a rest stop in Denali.Denali National Park
View from our bus in Denali.Denali National Park
More Denali.Denali National Park
Nick and Sam in Denali at rest stop.Denali National Park
Wonder Lake CampgroundWonder Lake, Denali National Park
Sammyg's panorama shots of Wonder Lake (click on picture to see better).Wonder Lake, Denali National Park
Nick and Sam with mosquetto nets on McKinley Bar trail at Wonder Lake Campground.Wonder Lake, Denali National Park
Sammyg chilling at our camp site with some water jugs.Wonder Lake, Denali National Park
day 8 - Saw entirety of Mt. McKinley in the early morning via the clear skies of Denali, rode bus to the now famous (to us) Toklat River in the middle of the park, backpacked along the the river and hills beside it, saw two grizzlies (mating we think) and then later a mom with two cubs in the hils, camped in grizzly country.
Sammyg with pack ready for our first day of true back country backpacking.Wonder Lake, Denali National Park
Money Mike with pack ready for our first day of true back country backpacking.Wonder Lake, Denali National Park
The one and only Mount McKinley (Denali) - highest mountain in North America (20,320') with a reflection on the lake.Denali National Park
Closer view.Denali National Park
One more.
Denali National Park
Sammyg with Denali Mountain (aka Mount McKinley).Wonder Lake, Denali National Park
Money Mike with Denali Mountain (aka Mount McKinley).Wonder Lake, Denali National Park
Little Grizzly (maybe 2 or 3 years old) next to the road during our bus ride to the backpacking drop off point.Denali National Park
The great Toklat River among some Evergreens.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Nick and Sam right after we got dropped off in the back country.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Nick throwing a rock (illegally) on the river bank.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Sammyg with the Toklat River in the distance.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Nick with his North Face fleece that he loves so much.
Toklat River, Denali National Park
Blurry Sammyg taking a poop in a hole. He earlier fell down a ridge as steep as the one above him but luckily caught himself before tumbling off the cliff 10 feet or so down into the dangerous ripples of the Toklat.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Sammyg in front of a small waterfall.Toklat River, Denali National Park
day 9 - Continued Denali back country backpacking, crossed river (very hard, it took hours), attempted to climb to glacier but stopped once we say a grizzly close by in our path (in which Nick pointed out to Mike and Sam as a caribou before we got close enough to realize it wasn't - if we died it would have been Nick's fault for sure) and ran away sort of, hiked along west side of river (day before was the east side), climbed a ridge, saw a mom grizzly and her 1 year old yearling chasing after each other below in the distance, then saw them really close by as they ran next to us while we were cooking (scared the F out of us), had our hearts beat really fast, packed up tent and ran away, camped in grizzly country again.
Morning Tundra where we camped the night before.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Nick after crossing the Toklat River, trying to defrost his toes.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Nick and Sam tired during a hike.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Nick smoking in foreground, Naked Sammyg in the background (censored to not offend any parents), and beautiful mountains in the back-background.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Our tent where we first proposed to camp on night #2. We later packed it up and moved because of the scary grizzly incident that took place near by.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Nick getting water after we set up the tent in previous picture.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Nick chilling after we hiked up a ridge next to the saddle back directly where we saw grizzlies eating just a half hour after we left when we looked up at he ridge from below.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Our tent (see the speck?) from the ridge in the previous picture.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Sam and Nick chilling after the hike up the ridge.Toklat River, Denali National Park
Nick and Money Mike on same ridge.
Toklat River, Denali National Park
day 10 - Continued Denali back country backpacking, hiked toward rode, crossed river again (damn, it was really hard again), boarded bus for Denali headquarters (in cold wet boots, but it didn't matter, it felt so damn good), drove to lodge along old school gravel Denali highway after checking out off Denali backpacking office where we had to fill out a form about our grizzly encounters, chilled at weird interesting lodge along a sweet lake (ate really good Halibut and burgers) and slept over.
Our dirty rental car parked at the lodge.Maclaren River Lodge, near Paxson
Maclaren River Lodge, where we stayed to rest after our backpacking trip.Maclaren River Lodge, near Paxson
Money Mike chilling with electronics, beer, and a mattress after being very far from them in the back country.Maclaren River Lodge, near Paxson
Nick had the bottom bunk.
Maclaren River Lodge, near Paxson
day 11 - drove toward Anchorage, chilled with some Alpacas at a weird farm lodge (ate Halibit again and chili), cleaned our dirty rental car, ate buffello wings with Aunt Judy, and then finally boarded our plane for NYC.
Nick and Money Mike with our rental on our way back to Anchorage.
near Chugach National Forest (Chugach mountains in background I think)
Our awesome Aunt Judy and her girlfriend who we stayed with and who fed us during our Anchorage days.Anchorage
Aunt Judy before she dropped us off at the airport.Anchorage
End.
