“Bears, what bears?”

-or-

“Beware the Screaming Gulls”

Michelle and I have been talking about visiting Alaska together since our beginning. I went there on a family cruise in high school (almost 30 years ago, yikes!) and immediately fell in love with the lush, mountainous wilderness. As Michelle had lived in Florida her whole life until moving to Arizona, I knew the beauty of Alaska’s snow-capped mountains and endless forests would blow her mind.

We finally made it happen as a vacation to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (a little late) and Michelle’s 40th birthday (a little early). This was essentially a hybrid of our Great Britain and California trips- Chris planned an overly ambitious assortment of activities, but we traveled in an RV! Our plan- Anchorage to Denali National Park, back through Anchorage to Seward, then down the Kenai Peninsula to Homer! The itinerary included roughly 1000 miles of driving, five overnight locations, three national parks, a full-day glacier/wildlife cruise, private guided brown bear tour, and a short bird/wildlife boat tour. My wildlife viewing goals for the trip were 30 new bird species and the “Alaska Big 5”- Brown Bear, Gray Wolf, Dall Sheep, Caribou, and Moose.

7/3/24- “To Alaska!”

We started off with a relaxed morning, which is atypical for us on travel days. We packed up the last few things, had a quick breakfast and said goodbye to Thorin and Anconeus. Check in at the airport was super smooth, security was empty and we were at the gate with almost an hour to spare. The flight to Seattle was uneventful, I spent the whole time watching the animated Clone Wars series on my tablet. We grabbed food quicky, as we only had about 30 minutes between disembarking and boarding the next flight. The second flight was similary quiet, with the exception of “Sadie” a screaming infant one row in front of us. Luckily she quieted down before takeoff and did well for the whole flight. I continued my flight distraction with the Star Wars series to pass the time. (Nerd- guilty as charged)

Mt Rainier and Mt. St. Helens
The skies over Washington state

Our flight had been delayed about 20 minutes getting off the ground, which led to a bit of a scramble once we arrived. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the terminal, which left less than 1 hour to get to the RV rental company before it closed. We called the shuttle, which took another 25 minutes to arrive after we called. The driver was great and zipped us right over to the Great Alaskan Holiday (HIGHLY recommended) and we just made it with 10 minutes to spare! We got all checked in and paid up, did our walk-around, loaded up and headed off to Cabela’s parking lot. They are one of a few retailers who encourage RVers to boondock in their lots overnight. We were looking for a place to grab food and I saw there was a Guatemalan food truck right up the road about 1 mile. The location was a bit odd, as it was in the middle of a residential neighborhood, but we decided to make the walk over.

Grizzly Adams and Michelle preparing to storm Alaska by RV
Anchorage, Alaska

Along the way we got our lifer Short-billed Gull and Black-billed Magpie. As it turned out, there was no food truck. It was a nice walk though! We hoofed it back to the RV, and ended up walking across the parking lot to Smashburger, as they have a solid gluten-free menu for M. I tried the Alaska Kenai burger- YUM! Food helped GREATLY with our typical travel stress grumpies. We popped over to Target for essentials (Water, Peanut Butter, Coffee), and then we both hit the proverbial wall- we were exhausted. We walked a quick lap around the “Target Pond,” a small reedy pond in the parking lot between Cabela’s and Target. Here we had our first up close encounter with the SCREAMING Short-billed Gulls, then walked back to the RV at Cabela’s for the “night”. By night, I mean we went to bed around 11pm local time and it was still light out. And the gulls were still screaming. All. Night. Long. No sleep for either of us.

7/4/24- “Happy Anniversary America”

The 4th of July broke with the screaming gulls and a lone singing White-crowned Sparrow outside the RV. We got up and tried to make coffee. It was a debacle. We could only find one outlet that would power on the Keurig we rented and every time we hit brew, the breaker would trip and the power would shut off. Ugh. After much frustration, we waited until 7am to be polite, then fired up the generator and made coffee. MUCH better. We fixed up some instant oatmeal and got dressed. Starbucks was next for a top-off of our caffeine, then we headed to Potter Marsh for some birding!

What a cool place! It’s essentially a raised boardwalk trail overlooking a huge meadow of grasses, reeds and trees along Potter Creek. The marsh is located at the southwestern base of the Chugach Mountains, right on the waters of Turnagain Arm. It’s an absolutely gorgeous location and the weather was cool and clear. How different from our blistering 110ºF back home in Arizona! We saw quite a few birds including a lifer Alder Flycatcher (Their call sounds like “Free beer, free beer”) and a Common Redpoll. We got distant views of a Bald Eagle nest with three fledglings. Nesting Tree Swallows were the star of the show here, however, providing some incredible picture opportunities. What a wonderful start to our trip!

Juvenile Tree Swallow- Potter Marsh, Anchorage

After about an hour and a half at Potter Marsh, we were a bit hangry (as always) and M was jittery from an excess of caffeine. We hit up Moose’s Tooth (which comes highly recommended) for some pizza! We got there just before the massive lunch rush at 11:30, thank goodness. The pizza was fabulous. I had the Fire House- spicy sauce, meats, onion, and jalapeño. M had the Veggie Delight- also great. I stole a slice of hers since my pizza hit the floor in the kitchen as they were bringing it out and they had to scramble and remake it. I sampled their house IPA, which was also quite good. We felt significantly better after food, although the post-prandial (and ethanol) sleepies kicked in thereafter.

Stop 3 for the day was the local REI for rain paints- a MUST when in Alaska. We were also in need of bear spray (another must if you’re in the wilderness), and some gloves. We found what we needed, and I was rather stupidly suggesting that we didn’t REALLY need bear spray, right? (as it turns out…) Anyway, Michelle also found a nice down vest to help keep her toasty in the cool weather- she is definitively NOT cold tolerant. The staff was friendly, helpful and luckily alerted us that there was a fire up in Denali National Park and we may want to check our camp reservations, as the park was currently closed. True to our luck, our reservations were in the park at the Riley Creek Campground for the next three nights, the 5th-7th. Uh oh.

We checked out from REI and my grumpies kicked in right off the bat. Michelle called the park for me and the gal said the park was supposed to reopen on the 6th, so we could change our reservation to 2 nights. We did so. We also confirmed that our wilderness bus tour on the 6th “should” still be OK. We would need to check in at our campsite around 11am so we could make the 1:20 departure for the tour. Well, that’s inconvenient but not as bad as I had supposed. I scrambled and booked a campsite at the Denali RV Park & Motel about 10 minutes up the road from the national park as a placeholder for tomorrow night. I kept my fingers crossed that it worked out.

We had one more stop to stock up on food and basics before leaving anchorage, Freddy’s! (Fred Meyer) The Anchorage Freddy’s was not quite what I remembered compared to the Gresham, Oregon location 20 years ago. Bare concrete floors, dim lighting and large empty spaces were quite the contrast to the bright, clean, and well-stocked Freddy’s I remembered. As it turns out, this isn’t unusual in Alaska, particularly outside Anchorage. The food selection was decent though and we found what we needed.

It was a little after 5pm and we weren’t ready to call it a day quite yet (besides, there were about 7 hours of sunlight left in the day!) I suggested we check out Westchester Lagoon and I’m glad we did! The drive through downtown was easy and parking was simple. There are some really cool houses along the lagoon that had us checking Zillow right off the bat. They were a bit smaller than our house in Tucson, but only 2/3 the cost, hmmmm…..

The lagoon was neat, chock full of lifer Red-necked Grebes and a family of five Trumpeter Swans! Of course, it was overrun with the ever-screaming Short-billed Gulls as well. We got a drive-by Osprey and a even witnessed about 40 gulls and a few Arctic Terns mobbing a local Bald Eagle! While checking out the lagoon, we made it a short way down the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail but it was getting late and starting to rain a bit. We decided it was time to head to the campground since we were both now exhausted and wanted to get better sleep (hopefully without being “serenaded” by the gulls…)

The drive to Centennial Park (our camp for the night) was straight forward. On arrival, we had our second challenge of the trip. We drove back to our campsite, #21, only to find someone already there and all hooked up to the electric. Luckily, there is a security guard there 24/7, so we swung back around, showed him our permit for tonight and followed him back to our site. He was clearly annoyed, but talked with the gal camping there. As it turns out, she had booked this site for the next three days, and also had verification. Apparently this happens a lot. “Sorry,” he said, “It’s not your fault and not my fault, it’s the city’s fault. Last week we had three people all booked for spot 10 on the same day.” I asked him what he could do for us, and he offered to find us a different spot. Here we had a rare spot of good luck, as there was ONE open spot with electric, which we gladly took. It was also in a quieter spot, well away from a huge group of campers at the picnic site by #21. We set up camp, heated up some soups, plugged in our tablets to recharge from the flight and went to bed around 10pm. It was quiet. I slept well.

7/5/24- “Sorry, we’re closed”

Breakfast was oatmeal and microwaved sausages (not bad, honestly) then we packed up camp and prepared for our longest day of driving. Morning reports that the Riley fire (named for the very creek and campground we were supposed to be staying in) was only about 5% contained had us worried about our plans for the next two days.

Michelle discovered that the bread we bought wasn’t gluten free, so we made a dash to Target before leaving Anchorage. We found an acceptable loaf and also picked up a few other items to round out our grocery stock. Then we hit the road! The Glenn Highway/Alaska 1 is quite scenic, with the Knik Arm to the west and the Chugach Mountains to the east. To get to Denali you then divert west on Alaska 3 through Wasilla, Meadow Lakes, Houston, and Willow. Here you turn straight north. The views of the Susitna River and the Alaska Range are absolutely breathtaking, even when there is low cloud cover and it’s rainy.

We stopped for lunch in Talkeetna. What an adorable quaint little town! It reminds me of Summerhaven on Mount Lemmon in Tucson and Michelle found it similar to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was super crowded with people meandering in and out of the cute little shops on the main street, as we tourists do. We hopped in line for the famous spinach bread, only to find out there is no gluten free option. Oops. I had their Thai curry instead, which was very warm and tasty! M skipped on food and had some of her leftover pizza in the RV. I warmed up with a cup of coffee and we resumed our journey north.

The Alaska 3 took us up through Trapper Creek, past Denali viewpoint south (all clouds, no views today), Denali viewpoint north (all clouds, no views today), over Hurricane Gulch Bridge (absolutely breathtaking!), past Igloo City (weird), Cantwell, and through the tiny Denali Village. Michelle was crazy antsy, had a headache and her bladder was threatening rupture. At this point there just wasn’t a good place to stop and we were almost to our destination. We zipped by the national park entrance- where there were lots of orange traffic cones and a ranger to make sure no one gets in. SO DISAPPOINTING.

The gates are closed- Denali National Park

Ten minutes up the road and we made it to our campground- it was quite nice. Very clean, great facilities and friendly people. Our hosts actually have a house just the other side of Tucson from us! We chatted for a bit about Alaska and Arizona, then we parked our rig for the night. It was still “early” and I was antsy from sitting/driving all day, so we decided to do a quick local exploratory hike. There is a marker for Antler Ridge Trail at the entrance to camp, so we went that way. The trail winds up a hill, through some spruce and mossy forest with beautiful flowers (Fireweed) along the way. There wasn’t much bird activity, but we saw a fair bit of moose poop! It was dangerously windy up on the ridge, which abutted a STEEP, rocky drop-off: I would guess about half a mile straight down to a small stream. Here we saw a pair of Violet-green Swallows dancing on the winds, feeding high over the stream. We snapped a few pictures, enjoyed the views, then headed back down to camp. On the way, I got some nice captures of the Fireweed (attempts were made to get some Bumblebees on the flowers, but the wind had other plans). As we were just about to leave the forested section, I heard some high-pitched bird contact calls. We stopped and listened. I told M “I think they are juncos, but I want them to be Boreal Chickadees.” I started recording with Merlin and we waited. Then we heard a slower, slightly slurred “Chick-a-dee!” A few minutes of patience and we saw a flock of seven Boreal Chickadees move through the trees. They are adorably cute and were one of my top targets for the trip! Very satisfying for a quick little jaunt up the hill from our campsite. It was very polite of them to give us a minute or two of their time.

Back in the rig, we cooked up some Picadillo, took a hot shower, then tucked in for the night. Dreams of Denali opening back up for us the next day preoccupied my mind.

7/6/24- “Plan B”

Morning brought thoughts of Denali. Would it open as promised or would we have to scramble and come up with plan B? We “patiently” had breakfast, coffee and waited for 8am to call the headquarters.

Ranger- “I’m sorry sir, the tours have all been cancelled until the 10th.”

Me- OK, what about our camping reservation at Riley Creek Campground?

Ranger- “The park is completely closed until then.”

Me- Alright, thank you. *hangs up*

Also me- SHIT!

A National Park Service update online reported that the Riley fire was only about 25% contained at this time, with 388 acres burned so far. Things didn’t look good. I guess we go with plan B.

Plan B, which I had scouted out the previous night, just in case, was birding along the Denali Highway. There were several hotspots along the road, which runs 134 miles between Cantwell and Paxson. The description in the Milepost (an essential roadmap atlas of ALL of Alaska’s roadways) sounded perfect.

From our RV rental contract: This is a “restricted” road. While driving the Denali Highway is not strictly prohibited, there are some rules you must follow:

1) Do not exceed 25 miles per hour.

2) Stop and check the tires every 10-15 miles to ensure you do not have a flat.

From the rental manual: “This is a beautiful drive. Be prepared for 3 to 5 hours of extreme washboard conditions and no services. If you are in a hurry, do not take this road. If it has been raining, we do not recommend taking this road for a week or so until it has been regraded. If there have been heavy rains the road may be impassable.”

Sounds fun!

We dressed warmly and I went up to the front office with M to see about extending our stay at the campground for 2 more nights since we could no longer get into Denali National Park. The staff was super understanding and helpful and we got 2 more nights with no hassle whatsoever. We just had to change our campsite later that day, essentially moving 4 spots to the north. Easy peasy.

For now, Plan B- off to Cantwell and the Denali Highway!

It was overcast and rainy (the theme for most of the trip), which was great for fighting the Riley Fire, but not so great for views of the scenery. The 30ish minute drive to Cantwell was uneventful.

We started in Cantwell at milepost (MP) 134 and headed east! Our first stop at MP 133.4 has a nice view of Denali on a clear day. This was not that day. We geared up for a quick hike and eyed a gravel track to the south. We went maybe 200 feet before coming across a deep flooded portion of the path that was impassable on foot. We saw a Short-billed Gull (of course), an unidentifiable swallow and an unidentifiable sparrow. We decided to keep moving.

Stop two at MP 132.7 was MUCH better. It consisted of a creekside gravel turnout with a beautiful lush valley below. I had seen a medium size dark bird fly across the road in front of us as we pulled off and decided to check it out. It turned out to be a Canada Jay perched in the Spruce tree right outside the RV! I snapped some quick pics and called to M to come out ASAP. Luckily she got a quick glimpse of it but no pictures. She of course was a bit annoyed at my “take pics first, notify her of amazing lifer second” approach- justifiably so, oopsies. Luckily her mood was tempered when she immediately found a pair of Bohemian Waxwings perched in the treetops below us! Two lifers right off the bat, woohoo! We spent another 40 minutes here exploring down by a drainage ditch, a muddy ATV track, and back uphill to a large gravel pit/plant. We (of course) had Short-billed Gull, saw and heard several Swainson’s Thrushes, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-crowned Sparrows (all munching on flies and other tasty bugs), two Downy Woodpeckers and a Lincoln’s Sparrow. A pretty solid haul of birds!

So far the threat of Denali Highway seemed overstated. I mean, the road was completely paved, smooth and free of potholes. Well, at least the first three miles anyway. The next stop at MP 130.5 was just after the paved road gave way to gravel. There are turnouts on the north and south side of the road and a BLM land access trail on the south side. We hiked about a half mile south through a mucky, muddy ATV track. We heard several Common Redpolls fly overhead (Now named simply Redpoll, as the three previously recognized species were lumped by the AOS just weeks after this trip). A few of the seemingly ubiquitous White-crowned Sparrows gave us a nice serenade. We also saw a single Savannah Sparrow who let us get a few nice pictures up close. After 30 minutes or so, it was time to move on.

Stop 4 was Fish Creek Bridge at MP 128.9- what a view! Rolling fields, the Talkeetna Mountains as a backdrop and a fly fisherman in the middle of the river. It was the picture-perfect definition of Alaska in summer. I’d read that Cliff Swallows nest under most of the bridges along the highway and sure enough we checked them off our Alaska list here. Another pair of White-crowned and single Lincoln’s Sparrow were also present. The real show, however, was a pair of singing Blackpoll Warblers! Their trilling song immediately triggered in my brain as something new. We tracked them down and saw one perched atop a scraggly evergreen tree. Not close looks, but easily identifiable, particularly with the song. Summer breeding plumage comes in very handy here! We made some sandwiches to fight off the hunger crankies then packed up for the next stop.

Next up was Joe Lake at MP 126.5. There were quite a few birds on the lake when we arrived. A cluster of ducks to the east, a Horned Grebe to the west, and a small family of Trumpeter Swans across the way- and of course our “friend” the Short-billed Gull made an appearance. We also had Tree and Cliff Swallows picking off bugs just above the water and grabbing sips off the lake. M spotted a pair of Goldeneyes take off to the east but we weren’t able to determine if they were Common or Barrow’s before they got away. The gaggle of ducks turned out to be Greater Scaup and Bufflehead (one of Michelle’s favorite birds). It was a productive stop, to be sure. The rain and clouds continued, so we called it after about 20 minutes.

About two miles up the road is another pond/small lake at MP 124.5. Immediately we spotted a young male Common Goldeneye cruising around in the pond close to the road. The pond extended 1/3 to 1/2 mile away from the road, which warrants using the scope, but I didn’t feel like lugging it around in the cold. Instead, we relied on our binoculars and Michelle sniping far away birds with “Cinch,” her new 200-800mm zoom lens. (Side note: it was her Christmas present that I had preordered in November. It finally arrived in June- two weeks before our trip, barely in time!) We spied a small group of Green-winged Teal on the far side, along with four medium/large wading birds. Two took off and perched in a tree, luckily calling as they flew. Solitary Sandpipers! I don’t think I would have been able to ID them without the calls at this distance. (Note to self, always take the scope).

There was a lot of activity around the pond. A Common Raven, American Robins, Savannah and White-crowned Sparrows, a trio of Gray-cheeked Thrushes, Redpoll, Blackpoll Warblers, a Bohemian Waxwing and even a Merlin perched atop a tree across the highway! I really enjoyed this spot and it lifted my spirits a bit. I still had my “No Denali” grumpiness: as with the Isle of Skye in Great Britain, it was the area I was most looking forward to and this time it was a big chunk of our trip. Dreams of Dall’s Sheep and Gray Wolves, Willow Ptarmigan and (if we were crazy lucky) Gyrfalcon were floating just out of reach. Well at least “Plan B” was going well and we made the best of the hand we were dealt.

A quick stop at Well’s Creek at MP 117 for the views of the Nenana River Valley below yielded our first Wilson’s Warbler of the trip. An obligatory American Robin sang for us as we looked over the valley. It really is indescribably beautiful here. While they may be lovely, the pictures really just don’t do it justice.

Stop number 7 at MP 113.6 is described in The Milepost as having “views of extensive rolling hills to the east that are grazed by herds of Caribou”. Here we hiked southeast for about three-quarters of a mile. The hills and valleys were beautiful, for sure. We saw moose tracks, bear tracks, and oodles of White-crowned Sparrows. It was good to get our and really stretch our legs, taking in the fresh air. On the way back, we lucked upon two nicely perched and singing Arctic Warblers! Cute little guys with similar markings to a Warbling Vireo: an eye stripe and overall olive green/brown coloration. Luckily, we got a few decent pictures. On the way back we began to wonder if they really did have moose or bears here…

The final stop for the day was at Brushkana Creek. I had planned this as a potential last stop due to the distance (30 miles out on the washboard gravel roads in an RV can test your patience and sanity) and the possibility of seeing an American Dipper. We had tried for them in a couple spots in Arizona (yes, they do pop up there occasionally), but we always “dipped” on them at home in AZ. (Pun intended)

The “creek” turned out to be a raging torrent of noise and rapids here and is just wonderfully beautiful. It’s the raw power of nature on display, lined by evergreen trees and filled with polished river rocks. You can barely hear yourself think over the rush of the water- it’s perfect dipper habitat. We scouted around the bridge for a few minutes, and then I had it! Perched just past the bridge on a rock was our lifer American Dipper! We snuck over across the road and cautiously approached. He was very cooperative and relaxed, allowing a nice ten minute session of pictures, watching his behavior and enjoying his song (what small clips we could hear over the river).

After the Dipper decided we were done enjoying his presence, we hiked along the river, heading upstream. The mosquitos were quite happy to see us, particularly me. I was hoping for a White-winged Crossbill or another lifer, and this was great habitat for a few new species we hadn’t seen yet. We looped uphill to an old, abandoned cabin and barn, complete with a dilapidated outhouse directly facing the rushing river below (Great view for a number 2!). We made a three-quarter mile loop back downhill and found the RV after a bit of meandering. Along the way we made friends with several more White-crowned Sparrows, three Gray-cheeked Thrushes, an American Robin, and a Boreal Chickadee. It was very pleasant once we were away from the greedy blood-sucking mosquitos, who seemed to prefer the riverbanks.

Our lifer American Dipper- Brushkana Creek

Brushkana Creek- Denali Highway
(The view from the dilapidated outhouse)

By then it was about 7:30pm and we had 90 minutes of bumpy driving back west down the Denali Highway, so we called it for the day. We made good time on the return trip, resisting the urge to stop and check other places and viewpoints- it was VERY tempting.

Back at the Denali RV Park, we ate our leftover Picadillo and chatted about the highlights from the day. We may not have had our official Denali Tour and didn’t see any mammals (save a few very perturbed squirrels), but we had a long, exhausting, very successful day birding the Denali Highway. 6 life species and no flat tires. I call that a win.

7/7/24- “Nothing tests a marriage like soggy cold feet”

Whelp, on to Plan C. Since Denali National Park was still closed, we had to come up with yet another activity for today. This morning I overheard the RV Park attendant talking with another guest about fishing at Otto Lake, which was right up the road and stocked with trout. Birds and bears like fish, right? I’d also done some “research” last night and found an interesting hike at the Stampede Trail and Eightmile Lake. Both lakes were north of camp and only about 30 minutes away, which seemed like a good change of pace from yesterday’s massive washboard drive-a-thon.

We took our time getting ready, enjoyed a nice slow breakfast, then got dressed, packed up the rig and headed to Otto Lake. It’s set back in a wooded area a few miles off Highway 3 with a few cabins and houses around the lakeshore. We parked at the public access area and donned our new full rain gear (it was overcast and rainy ALL day). Numerous Violet-green and Tree Swallows greeted us as we exited the RV and I picked out a few Bank Swallows in the group as well. A very handsome Common Loon provided the picture-taking challenge of the morning, with his frequent dives for food. I got nothing, Michelle got a few decent shots with “Cinch.” A cheeky and very damp American Robin was foraging among the rocks on the shore and provided some easier and satisfying pictures of the morning.

Having learned my lesson from yesterday, I got the spotting scope out. There were many waterfowl in the distance that we couldn’t quite make out with binoculars alone. They turned out to be Scaup (Greater and Lesser), Teals, Mallards, and Surf Scoters. We also snagged a Semipalmated Plover poking its bill into the sandy shores for invertebrates! The Scoters were our main target bird for Michelle (I had seen a pair of vagrants at a local park in Tucson the previous November), and they did not disappoint! Those huge, wacky orange/white/black bills are an easy field ID for sure! There were also some Bufflehead, a Least Sandpiper and a Lesser Yellowlegs to round things out.

A rather spirited group of “kids” in their 20s was hanging about and one of them was fascinated by our scope. I had him come take a look and the close up views of the distant birds blew his mind. We came across a couple who had seen a moose cow and one or two calves earlier in the morning near the middle of the lake, so we kept our eyes peeled. After another hour or so, however, we were a bit soggy, hungry and hadn’t seen any moose or new birds.

We had a snack and headed to Eightmile Lake. It was described as eight miles (duh) down a half-paved, half-gravel road. This turned out to be quite accurate. The paved portion is through a wooded residential area with small roadside streams and hills. It was quite pretty. After the gravel starts, the woods give way to open grassy/marshy fields with sparse trees. Prime Moose or Brown Bear habitat, one would think. The gravel road was only a little washboardy (OK really bad in a couple places), but didn’t give us TOO much PTSD from the day before.

We passed a very cool looking marsh research station with a several mile long boardwalk out into the fields. Alas, we were not allowed to walk it as it was only for field ecology research. Roughly eight miles in (ha!), we reached the end of the road at a big gravel turnaround with primitive campsites. Some mucky ATV tracks led northeast to the lake and the rutted gravel Stampede trail left the lot to the west.

Donning our rain gear yet again, we headed toward Eightmile lake. Along the track were lots of muddy puddles, soggy bog-like ground and a handful of hungry Sparrows. I lugged the scope, which made my hands icy cold as the metal of the tripod sucked the heat right out of them. I was optimistic that it would be worth it though, as three species of Scoter were seen here just a few days prior.

The star of the day, however, was not a Scoter but a Least Sandpiper. He was foraging, calling and flying around- including perching regularly on the tops of small evergreen trees in the area. He seemed very curious and wasn’t shy at all. I got several nice shots of him in very different habitat than we are used to seeing them in back home, it was quite the delight!

As we approached Eightmile lake, a small flock of five Mallards took off into the distance. Unfortunately for us, those were the last new birds we saw, as the lake was completely quiet. No birds. No mammals. Nothing. We thoroughly scoped the whole lake, hopeful something would pop up, but it was not meant to be. Oh well. On the way back, a goofy Savannah Sparrow teased me, staying just far enough away to miss several shots. Cheeky little booger.

Cold, wet, disappointed- it was time for lunch. We made some sandwiches and warmed up for a bit. I asked Michelle if we could hike the Stampede Trail for a few miles, I saw that it heads west into a forested area and we still have lots of target birds that prefer that habitat. She agreed. (Whoops- she really should know better by now!)

If the Stampede Trail sounds familiar, it should. It is the place where Christopher McCandless died in 1992 after hiking across the United States, trying to live off the land. He set up camp in an abandoned Fairbanks City Bus (#142), calling it “The Magic Bus.” He became trapped here by the Teklanika River as the water level rose in the summer. He died of starvation several months later.

In 1996 John Krakauer wrote “Into the Wild” telling Christopher’s story and Sean Penn adapted the book into a movie in 2007. Since then, several people have similarly become trapped here and two people have died trying to cross the Teklanika River. Due to the inherent danger of this hike and frequent rescues of stranded hikers, the Bus 142 was moved to the University of Alaska’s Museum of the North in June of 2020.

*Disclaimer for those wondering* I intended for us to hike a few miles, never getting near the treacherous Teklanika river. You’re welcome, mom.

Just west of the trailhead was an impassable stretch of road covered in ankle deep, frigid water. While our boots were water resistant, we had a sneaking suspicion at least one of Michelle’s boots had a hole in it somewhere. (She had some mild “soggy foot” already). We decided to slog through the flooded, uneven field adjacent to the trail for 30 minutes trying to get around the watery impasse. I found that sticking to the taller grassy hummocks kept my feet the driest, but they were quite unstable. I lost my balance and nearly took a spill a few times due to the poor footing. Michelle lagged behind and was producing grunts, groans and exasperated remarks about her husband’s life choices. I didn’t blame her in the least. At last I found the gravel trail again and made a beeline for it. Success! Michelle made it a few minutes later. She was (understandably) quite grumpy and had one completely soaked, cold foot (boot suspicion confirmed). Her other foot wasn’t much better either. The only new bird we saw was an Orange-crowned Warbler just adjacent to the trail. I apologized for my bad idea and we continued west on the gravel path. About one minute of walking later there was another water crossing on the trail, this time bordered by trees on either side. We called it. It wasn’t worth the frustration and soggy feet. We turned around and headed back. Rather than try the field again, Michelle suggested we try the other side (downstream, downhill) and stay close to the road. I thought it would definitely be wetter and deeper on that side, so suggested that we just take off our shoes and just wade straight through the water really quick. Michelle stuck to her guns though, which was for the better. We found some high ground and were able to make it back to the trailhead in just a few minutes and were no soggier than before. Thank goodness. Time to warm up and dry off! We were beat, the cold and damp really sucked the energy right out of us. We drove back to camp, heated up some spaghetti and passed out.

7/8/24- “No Denali for you”

The Riley fire continued to spread through Denali National Park. At this time, it was 432 acres with only 31% containment. Ugh, that made it official- no Denali National Park. Oh well. We had a long drive back to Anchorage today, again overnighting in Centennial Park. I wanted to get an early start so we could stock up and be ready for the following day’s drive, so we headed out around 8am. We stopped for breakfast at Black Bear Café in Denali Park Village. Even though town wasn’t bustling yet, the café was still quite busy and we waited 35 minutes for our food. Luckily it was good and the coffee was excellent.

We strolled around town for a while and found some cute souvenirs- but no official Denali National Park memorabilia since we didn’t get to go inside the park. Our favorite shop here was an art gallery featuring metal prints of a local wildlife photographer’s work. His pictures were wonderful and looked really sharp on the metal backdrop. M and I were both inspired and I joked (only kinda) that it made me want to quit my job and just do nature photography.

The Riley Fire- seen from Denali Village

We loaded back up in the rig just after 10am and began our journey back to Anchorage. We powered through to Wasilla, about 4 hours without stopping. Just west of Wasilla, grazing in a field next to the railroad tracks, was a bull moose! Finally! I pointed it out to M so we both checked that off our lists! It had been 22 years since I’d seen a moose, the last being in Yellowstone just after I finished undergrad, so this was very exciting for us both.

We stopped here for a potty break and I was craving french fries (my junk food of choice). We found a McDonald’s and of course I ended up getting a full meal. M splurged and had an M&M McFlurry (her junk food of choice). Walking back out to the RV it became apparent that I made a rookie RV mistake. The spot I had parked in was easy to get into, but someone parked in the spot next to us and it was going to be VERY difficult to back out. I had M get out and give me visuals on my corners (the RV did have a backup camera but the corners were challenging to see). We managed to back out without incident (barely) and were back on the highway to Anchorage. Phew!

Our hiking/birding/mammaling stop for the day was only an hour away from Wasilla, the Eagle River Nature Center just east of Anchorage. The drive takes you through 12 miles of beautiful winding road down into an idyllic valley within the Chugach Mountains and Chugach State Park. We arrived around 3pm and there was just enough space left to park the RV. Once again we loaded up our hip packs, cameras, binoculars and headed out. The trails were beautifully maintained and took us immediately through lush forest and lowland marsh. A boardwalked path looks over a portion of the river where you can see salmon swimming upriver to spawn. We walked both the Rodak trail- a short ¾ mile easy hike, and the Albert Loop Trail- a roughly 3 mile, also easy path. Both were breathtaking and really helped us decompress after the long drive. The highlight of the hike was definitely seeing a pair of Ruby-crowned Kinglets feeding three or four greedy, vocal little fluffball fledglings! The nest was right on the trail edge and we got spectacular views and pictures. These little guys are indescribably cute, what a joy!

Ruby-crowned Kinglet Fledglings- Eagle River

This Kinglet fledgling clearly has some opinions

Along the way we saw numerous Black-capped Chickadees, a myriad Yellow-rumped Warblers (Myrtle subspecies, not our typical Audubon’s), calling and swooping Violet-green Swallows, many Swainson’s Thrushes, Dark-eyed Juncos and a vocal pair of Hairy Woodpeckers. Unfortunately, when we were as far as possible from the entrance and RV, nature started calling me- with the volume turned all the way up, if you know what I mean. This led to some pretty severe abdominal cramping and a less leisurely return hike uphill to the RV. (Actually, panicked would be an apt description). Luckily I made it back just fine. It was a wonderful hike despite that, particularly after I was comfortable again. We were both loathe to leave, but still needed to pick up a few things, fill up the gas tank and prep for our trek to Seward the following day.

Chris taking it all in- Eagle River Nature Center

Michelle’s Hideout- Eagle River Nature Center

We hit up Target (as one does), which was conveniently right across the highway from our campground. After five hours of driving and 3 and ½ hours at Eagle River, we were spent. We heated up some soups, transferred/copied/backed up all our pictures from the day and called it a night. Bonus: no fighting for a campsite this time around and our spot was in a nice quiet corner of the campground. Well, other than the crazy lady yelling at her dog and unhelpful friend while she struggled to get their camp set up…

7/9/24- “Off to Seward”

Plan for the day: a 2.5 hour drive from Anchorage to Seward, with 6 places to stop and check things out. How many do you think we actually did? (Hint: 3). You’d think that I would learn to temper my expectations a bit, given how much more time we spend at places compared to how much time I *think* we’ll spend. Maybe in a few more decades I’ll figure it out.

Maybe.

Probably not.

First things first: $130 to fill up the gas tank. Oof.

OH WAIT. REWIND. THE MOOSE(S)! Meese? Three of them!

First thing in the morning, as I was taking out the trash to the dumpster before our departure, I noticed several people milling around the sledding hill on the east side of the campground. Some of them had cameras out. As I approached, I saw an enormous tall brown furry creature in the field. I dropped the trash bag and sprinted back to the RV to get M. “Babe! Grab your camera and come quick! We have a moose!” She hurriedly tossed acceptable clothes on and we speed-walked back to the hill, where we found a moose cow and two young calves feeding in the grass. So cool! They were clearly used to having people around, kept a safe distance (as did we) and were quite relaxed. The youngsters approached us a little closer than they probably should have while mom kept a cautious eye on us. We watched and photographed them for about 15 minutes and both ended up with some fantastic shots. I was also rewarded with six remarkably itchy mosquito bites for my troubles. Totally worth it.

Moose calves- Centennial Park, Anchorage

As we headed out, we discussed the intended sightseeing options for the day with the lowest priority being the Arctic Valley Ski Area, which was a short 20 minute drive directly east up into the Chugach Mountains. Since we didn’t get to look for Willow Ptarmigan in Denali, this was likely our last chance to get the state bird here. (One of our lifetime goals is to see all 50 US state birds in their respective state). There was also a chance for other grouse up there as well. Michelle said we could do it if we strictly limited ourselves to a half hour or so, since we had several other places we wanted to stop. That Sounded reasonable.

We filled the gas tank (for real this time, $130), and up we went! As it turns out, the last 5 miles of this road is a horribly winding, steep, washboard gravel road that nearly shook our teeth right out of our heads. It was a bit worse than the Denali Highway, but there was no warning in our RV agreement about this one!

(It should be noted that at this time during my journaling, my pen ran out of ink. Who brings only one pen on a two week trip for two people? Ugh. Luckily, I managed to scrounge up a pen at the Seward campground that night, so the accurate memories continued- temporarily.)

Now where were we? Aah yes, losing our teeth to yet another washboard gravel road. Yikes. As we pulled into the parking lot, there was a running group finishing up their morning run. You know, guys running shirtless with tiny little shorts in 50ºF weather- just bonkers. We put on our fleeces, rain jackets, hats, etc (like sane folk) and headed out. The path I wanted to take was occupied by a grade school field trip, their teacher blasting Miley Cyrus tunes on her phone. I briefly contemplated how appropriate Ms. Cyrus was to be playing for grade school kids (damnit I’m getting old) and decided to take an alternate trail. We hiked across a valley between two snow-covered peaks. There were oodles of wildflowers and wet grass with a bubbling stream cutting down the center of the valley, it was very picturesque. After 30 minutes, we had seen a couple Golden-crowned Sparrows, a Hermit Thrush and Redpoll. I wanted to go higher up into the true tundra, but we were trying to be cognizant of the time. We headed back towards the RV.

On the way back down, we had a pair of Wilson’s Warblers in the creekside brush, and then I spotted another moose! It was hanging out behind the closed ski shop and spooked when a truck came up to pump out the septic tank (yuck!). This young female was quite wary of us, but also seemed somewhat used to seeing people. She let us get some pretty close shots while grazing on plants and wandering around the vicinity of the ski shop. After 20 minutes, she meandered down to the parking lot area, where an off-leash 30 pound fat poodle mix came bolting up the road barking at her. The clearly suicidal poodle chased her off up the trail. Side note: having your dog off leash in Alaska seems like a great way to get them killed from any number of dangers. People are so dumb.

Young Moose munching on Fireweed
Arctic Ski Valley, Anchorage

We were again headed down towards the RV when a darkly colored gray-brown medium sized bird came frantically flapping up the roadside stream. We both followed it and Michelle exclaimed “That’s a Dipper!” We followed the bird’s trajectory up to a little retaining pond near the trailhead and there she was, bobbing around in the water! We spent a few minutes watching her dive, forage, and bob her little tail up and down on the shore. Then she decided our time was up and she flew back downstream. Our time here had indeed come to an end, and we only spent twice as long as we planned! No Ptarmigan, bah.

A few miles back down the washboard road, a lady had her pickup pulled over and was pointing her camera high up in a tree adjacent to the road. I thought I was seeing a huge wasp nest or something when Michelle pointed out “It’s a porcupine!” It took me a few seconds to make it out, but sure enough, I saw the prickle-beast perched at a branch point in the trunk. We spent another 30 minutes scoping him out and listening to a few more birds, including a flyover Red Crossbill. Then we continued on our way.

North American Porcupine- Arctic Ski Valley

We had several more potential stops along the way to Seward- Beluga Point, Bird Creek, Bird Point, Girdwood/Alyeska Resort and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. (See previous statement about trying to pack too many things into a day- my typical M.O.)

Beluga Point was crazy/dangerously windy and we didn’t see the need to trespass down past the railroad tracks like everyone else that was stopped there. A few minutes was enough here. Belugas not encountered.

Due to the lackluster experience at Beluga Point and the time of day (already after 2pm, whoops!), we powered through Bird Creek, Bird Point and even passed up the Wildlife Center. We did see some Bison hanging out as we drove by though, that was neat.

Girdwood and the Alyeska Resort is a great stopping point, and I wanted to check out the tram. The resort is gorgeous and very nicely maintained. RV parking was a bit of a hassle, but we figured it out OK. The aerial tram looked really sweet, but at $50 per person we just weren’t feeling it. I suggested a “quick hike” (hahahaha) through some wooded trails, which M was OK with. We chose the Lower Winner Creek Trail and it was simply magical. In total, we walked 2.3 miles over about 2 hours through a towering woodland with perfectly kept woodchipped trails. It was easy on our feet, beautiful, smelled divine and was super relaxing and reinvigorating. I commented that the stroll was much better than Sweetwater Wetlands back home in Tucson, to which Michelle replied “Like 1000 times better.” This spurred a discussion regarding the appropriate multiplier of awesomeness and we settled on 100x.

Lower Winner Creek Trail
Alyeska Resort, Girdwood

Here we were serenaded by the ethereal calls of many Hermit and Swainson’s Thrushes, got our first Alaska Pine Siskin, saw/heard more juvenile Ruby-crowned Kinglets and some of the other usual suspects. The most memorable bird, however, was our lifer Varied Thrush! Such a cool bird: a robin-like thrush with a blue-gray back, rusty orange belly, wing bars, throat and eyestripe. A black breast stripe completes the ensemble. This handsome male was hanging out in an area with a lot of cut/downed trees, likely nomming on bugs. He was poised on a very picture friendly log behind us, but flew off before we could get any decent captures. On our return trip, we spotted him again in the same area and narrowly missed getting pictures before he flushed again. A young mom with two kids came down the path chatting away loudly, all three had obviously broken volume knobs. We didn’t see the thrush again and this encounter made M particularly spicy for a time. She just can’t tolerate people being loud outside in nature, it gets her hot under the collar instantly. She cooled off on the rest of the hike back, it was incredibly lovely. Fighting off the hangries, I had the last of my Moose’s Tooth pizza (yummy!) and M had a PB&J. Time to keep moving!

Michelle capturing the views
Alyeska Resort, Girdwood

We pushed on to Seward. Along the way, around the Colorado Creek bridge at MP 46, I caught sight of a silly Spruce Grouse (life bird) foraging directly on the side of the road (apparently a lot of people see them this way) while M was journaling. I didn’t recognize it in time to get her on it- she missed it. Oof.

We arrived in Seward around 7pm and found our campground with only a little difficulty. (Turns out it sometimes helps to have active directions even if you *mostly* know where you’re going). We set up camp and needed to stretch our legs a bit. We achieved this by walking the waterfront and spotted a Sea Otter! The furry guy/gal was floating on Resurrection Bay chowing down on a crab! We also spotted a pair of Marbled Murrelets! I could tell they were Alcids and had a hunch about what species they were (despite not having seen a Murrelet prior) just from reading the bird alerts and descriptions for this area. They were in basic plumage, so they were a bit tricky to ID, but we figured it out after a few minutes. We were both very hungry again (no surprise there) so headed to The Cookery for a nice dinner out. It was packed, but we got a table fairly quickly.

I tried a tasty local IPA, M had a virgin mule- both were quite good. We shared a delicious Brussel Sprout starter and each got the local Sockeye Salmon. It was great. (Not quite as good as the King Salmon in Seattle, but still delicious). We got desserts- M had the Chocolate pots de crème (a French chocolate pudding), I had cheesecake flavored ice cream with strawberries, balsamic syrup and bacon! Wow! It was even better than the salmon- not joking. We waddled back to the RV, packed up our day packs, transferred pictures and cleared our camera cards to get prepped for our big day on a boat tomorrow! As we unwound for the night, we discovered that both of us were independently looking up RVs/campers and thinking about how we could get one before waiting for retirement. Good minds…

The world’s best ice cream- The Cookery, Seward

7/10/24- “American Sea Sickness Meds Suck”

(Unfortunately, the pen that I swiped from the Seward campground office also ran out of ink. Blast. From here on out, we don’t have any journal notes from myself or Michelle. We are reconstructing this from the printed itinerary, pictures and memory (exactly one year later). Hopefully we learned our lesson and will bring at least TWO pens from now on!)

Fire Update- Denali National Park opened back up today, but the Riley Creek Campground, Day Use area and two nearby trails (one of which we had planned to hike) remained closed in support of ongoing firefighting efforts. Currently 432 acres, 96% contained.

Today was another potential highlight of the trip, an 8.5 hour wildlife and glacier cruise out into Resurrection Bay, the Gulf of Alaska, and Harris Bay through Kenai Fjords National Park. It touts oodles of wildlife including land mammals, marine mammals and birds, along with spectacular views of multiple glaciers and the beautiful Alaskan shoreline.

We got an early start to make check-in at the harbor for our 8:30 departure time. After checking in at the Seward Harbor 360 Hotel and buying some seasickness prevention (sea-sickness meds and those pressure bracelets for M), we grabbed a hot coffee and walked across the street to the Seward Lagoon. (We had checked in nice and early and had almost 45 minutes until we had to be back and lined up on the jetty to board the boat). The lagoon is half boardwalked/half trail and was a nice stroll to kill time. We saw plenty of birds including a singing Fox Sparrow, two Bald Eagles, Arctic Terns, Black-billed Magpies, and eight Orange-crowned Warblers. The birds were a little overshadowed, however, by a family of three North American River Otters! They were swimming, fishing and playing on the bank and in the lagoon. Always nice to start the day with a cool new mammal for Michelle.

Back at the harbor, Michelle took her seasickness meds, strapped on the pressure bracelets and we got in line to board the “Orca Song.” The boat was nicely appointed, with an enclosed lower deck complete with a heated cabin, a drink/snack bar and plenty of seating. The upper deck is partially covered, with the back half completely open for the best wildlife/scenery viewing. This is a smaller boat, taking a maximum of 60 people. This allows it to get closer to shore, access places not available to larger vessels, and is quicker and more maneuverable for finding rare wildlife. This came in very handy towards the end of our cruise when the captain got word of some exciting animals to track down off the typical cruise path. Stay tuned!

We were both giddy with excitement as the engines powered up and we maneuvered out of Seward Harbor. Right off the bat we were treated to views of a pair of playful Sea Otters cavorting in Resurrection Bay. Several Bald Eagles were in and around the harbor as well, with a very statuesque bird decorating the top of a tall equipment pole.

Our first surprise just a short duration into the trip was Captain John spotting a Mountain Goat resting high up a cliff right on the water’s edge! That was quite unexpected and we took some time watching him relax and chew his morning cud. The ride was fairly smooth so far and we were both loving the crisp, refreshing sea air. We came well prepared with rain gear, extra layers and gloves, so we remained nice and toasty (for now). After leaving our goat friend, we visited Spire Cove, a gorgeous area of rugged, wave-eroded rocks and caves along the shores of Kenai Fjords National Park. As we were approaching Spire Cove, a pair of Red-faced Cormorants took off from the rocks. Una, one of the deckhands for the trip, spotted them and alerted us just in time to get decent looks before they got too far away. Thanks Una!

Shortly thereafter, we were treated to one of our favorite birds of the trip, Horned Puffins! These adorable birds look quite similar to our friends the Atlantic Puffin that we saw in England, but with a spiky black horn just above their eye during the breeding season. We just can’t get enough of these birds, they are so cute and charming! Shortly thereafter, we got to see our first Tufted Puffins! These are the largest puffin species, standing nearly 16” tall. They are mostly black, with a white face and thick red bill, similar to other puffin species. However, these guys have jaunty yellow “tufts” of feathers just behind the eyes. They extend several inches backward, somewhat similar in appearance to horns on a sheep! We got some nice views of this species and ended up seeing about 20 or so (at least before I lost track of the count…)

We kept cruising south, past Cheval Island and Pony Cove. Unfortunately, the gently swaying and occasional choppy movement of the boat out in the gulf was starting to get to Michelle. She was a bit green and not feeling so well. For whatever reason, the seasickness meds available in the US just don’t work for her at all. She toughed it out, but her stomach ended up winning the battle and she got some intimate views of the water alongside the edge of the boat….right when a pod of Dall’s Porpoise showed up. They swam and played along the ship for a few minutes. Luckily Michelle did end up seeing them before they disappeared. At this point M bit the bullet and busted out the last dose of backup anti-nausea meds we picked up for her in Australia in 2019 for our Great Barrier Reef boat ride. The meds were 5 years old at this point, but what’s the worst that can happen, right?

As we passed through the Chiswell islands there was a large raft of Parakeet Auklets, a cousin to our friends the puffins. These chunky little guys look kind of like mini-puffins, but with a much smaller orange bill, black head/face and a thin white stripe behind their bright silvery eye. So very cute. Here there were also forty or so Steller Sea Lions hauled out on the rocks trying to warm up and digest the morning’s fish breakfast. Numerous bird species were present out on the open waters of the Gulf of Alaska including Marbled Murrelet, Pigeon Guillemot, Common Murre, Black-legged Kittiwake, Glaucous-winged Gull, and both Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorants.

Here we headed west toward Granite Island, where just off the southern tip of the island we got a rare sighting of two Fin Whales! These are the second largest whale species on the planet (second only to the Blue Whale) growing up to 80 feet in length! Some call them the “Greyhound of the Sea” as they can swim up to 45 kilometers per hour! They are seen much less often than Humpback Whales (which we got brief, short glimpses of as well), so we were thrilled to be able to spend a few minutes with these wonderful creatures before they took a big breath and left us for the depths of the bay. Miraculously, the ancient Australian seasickness meds had kicked in for M and she was feeling MUCH better. She was able to enjoy these spectacular leviathans and the rest of the trip in much better condition.

Fin Whale Surfacing

Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

We turned north and headed through Granite Passage. I took the opportunity during a short lull in the action to photograph a pair of Glaucous-winged Gulls that were tailing the boat. We slipped through Harris Bay and into Northwestern Lagoon. Here the water took on a more green color and started to have oodles of ice fragments floating on the surface. We were lucky enough to see a group of six Kittlitz’s Murrelet’s, a cute little Auk that nests near glacier-fed coastal waters in Alaska and eastern Russia. They are quite shy and spooked easily as we approached. We kept moving, passing McCarty, Anchor and Ogive glaciers, finally arriving at our ultimate destination, Northwestern Glacier! Here we saw several groups of Harbor Seals cavorting about in the water and posing on floating bits of calved glacial ice. Captain John turned off the engines and we floated next to the glacier in near silence. The beautiful pale blue wall of the glacier seemed like a quiescent, static piece of ice, but it’s alive! Floating on the waters of the bay, you heard the groaning, creaking, and popping as the huge sheet of ice slowly makes it’s way into the sea. We stayed long enough to see a small “calving” as a chunk of ice broke off the edge of the glacier and fell into the murky waters below.

Northwestern Glacier- Northwestern Lagoon

After some quality time with the glacier, we had to head back towards Seward. Shortly after starting our return journey, Captain John got word of a sighting of a special animal that’s high on the wish list for this tour. We zipped back south through Granite Passage and made a hard turn to port, heading north through Dora Passage and into Aialik Bay. Just after passing the Chiswell Islands, we spotted a raft of about 40 Rhinoceros Auklets! This special bird is a bit misnamed, as it is actually a species of Puffin! It looks very different than the other three species (thus the misnaming before DNA sequencing revealed it’s evolutionary relationship to the other Alcids). This bird has an entirely black and gray body, medium sized orange bill, and a large horny projection straight up at the base of the bill, thus the nod to the rhino. Personally, I prefer their nickname of Unicorn Puffin! They also have a deep red eye and two wispy lines of white feathers on the side of their head. They are a very cool looking bird! As cool as they are, however, they were not our target. Onward!

We kept heading north past Three Hole Point (a famous scenic rock formation in Kenai Fjords National Park) to Bear Cove. As we were approaching the Cove, straight ahead we saw a tall, black, triangular dorsal fin emerge from the water- a male Orca!!! Using the appearance of the dorsal fins, the crew identified this as Pod AD-16, a group of 16 animals including males, females and calves. AD-16 is a pod of resident salmon specialist Orcas with unique vocalizations. We spent 15-20 minutes slowly following them around the bay and Bear Cove. We got to see a few breaches and the Captain lowered a microphone into the water and we could hear them communicating with each other! The pod cruised into Bear Cove together and several of them swam into the shallows and engaged in “Beach Rubbing.” This is a rarely observed behavior where the Orcas rub their bellies and bodies on the pebbles in the shallows together. It is only seen in a few northern resident pods of Orcas in British Columbia and Alaska. Not very many people get to witness this and Captain John and our crewmembers were visibly excited about seeing the behavior. It was an a surreal experience, and we felt so privileged to be able to share it with these amazing animals.

Orca Pod AD-16- Aialik Bay

As the Orcas started to head back out into Aialik Bay, we had to say goodbye. Because of the fantastic detour, we were a bit behind schedule and needed to get back to Seward. Captain John had to stay focused- no more detours for us on this trip. While he made a beeline for the Harbor, Michelle and I chatted with a really nice couple from New Zealand and another guy from New England (I can’t remember which state he was from). The male Kiwi was an avid birder (his wife not so much), as was the state-sider. The speedier trip back kicked up the wind factor and we were both a little chilly, so M and I got some warm drinks, snuggled up together on the deck and basked in the glow of this fantastic experience. The scenery, the wildlife and the (nearly) stress-free time together was just what we needed and honestly exceeded expectations on all levels.

Northwestern Glacier Tour Path & Highlights

Once we docked back in the harbor, we bid adieu to Captain John, Una and Andrew and disembarked. We were all smiles and took a quick stroll around the Lagoon again for 40 minutes or so, then headed back to the RV. We drove back to our campsite and didn’t feel like cooking, but everything was booked in town, so our hand was forced. We made dinner (Soup? Spaghetti? Whatever it was is lost to time). We backed up our oodles of pictures/videos from the day (between 4000-5000 for each of us) cleared our memory cards, and relaxed for a bit. While I was doing a quick review of the day’s pictures, my stomach suddenly dropped in horror. Where were all my videos??? I pulled my camera back out to find them on the memory cards…that I had just cleared. Shit shit SHIT! It was only then I remembered that when setting up our cameras years ago we chose to save videos to only one of the two memory card slots. Pictures were saved to both cards in case of card failure, videos were not. I had managed to back up the card without the videos on it, then stupidly erased both cards. I did some panic googling and found software that could reconstruct picture/video files from formatted camera cards and downloaded it ASAP. $75?!?! TAKE MY MONEY NOW! Unfortunately, the download speed was less than stellar at camp, so it had to run overnight. We hit the sack early to prepare for our next day of travel to Homer. Frustrated at myself, sleep wasn’t easy.

7/11/24- “To Homer!”

As soon as I woke up, I hopped on my computer to install the file recovery software and see if I could salvage my lost videos. Thank the lord and baby Jesus, it worked! I saved the videos to both my back up drives (you can never be too careful!), then set about making coffee and starting the normal morning ritual, much relieved. I also changed the settings on my camera to put videos on BOTH cards from here on out, storage space be damned.

Today’s agenda was driving to Homer, on the southwestern end of the Kenai Peninsula. The drive on the Sterling Highway is about 3.5 hours and very scenic, making the time pass quite quickly. We had to arrive in Homer before 5pm to check in for our guided Coastal Brown Bear tour in Katmai National Park the following morning! After the “Denali Disappointment,” I was very antsy about this tour, as it was the other part of the trip that I was most excited about. I have been itching to see a Grizzly Bear for over 20 years, since I was last in Yellowstone (where I saw a Black Bear, but no Grizzlies)!

Around MP 42, just before Cooper Landing was another roadside Spruce Grouse! Thankfully I saw it in time and alerted M, so she got eyes on the plump little goofball! We also had a pair of Ring-necked Pheasants foraging in some tall weeds right on the side of the highway just north of Ninilchik. We saw a few other birds along the way, mainly Bald Eagles, but no moose or bear. Booooo.

We arrived in Homer just past 4pm and went right to the tour company. They operated out of an adorable log cabin right on the shores of Beluga Lake. There were fresh baked cookies and pastries on a small kitchen counter prepared for that day’s tour, who returned shortly after we arrived. The group of four was beaming, chatting about the amazing time they had and how much fun we would have the following day. “You’re going to have such a wonderful time out there tomorrow!” I could not have been more excited! We read over the tour itinerary, recommendations, gear/food list and signed the waiver. It was a typical liability waiver- you know: “The bears are very acclimated to people and not a threat, but you must follow instructions from the guide at all times. Also, we’re not responsible if you die… yadda, yadda.” Sign me up!!! (I don’t think Michelle was quite as amped up about the prospect as I was for some reason).

With check in accomplished, we headed through town and down to the end of Homer Spit, a 4.5 mile long thin strip of land projecting out into Kachemak Bay. Our campsite was down on the very end in the aptly named Homer Spit Campground. We had a bayfront site with an unobstructed view. It was fantastic. After getting parked and set up at the campsite, we took a stroll around the end of the spit and soaked up the nearly 360º view of Kachemak Bay and the Kenai Mountains. What a breathtakingly beautiful place. We strolled from the campsite southeast around the point of the spit at Land’s End Resort, back northwest past the harbor, up through the shops/restaurants and back to camp. The most notable part of the experience was the several thousand Black-legged Kittiwakes roosting, flying and swimming at the harbor. The sound was was deafening! It very much reminded me of the Short-billed Gulls in Anchorage, turned up to 11! Back at camp, I spent a few minutes watching numerous species of sea birds flying south to roost for the night through the scope. It was a bit nippy and windy, so M stayed in the warm confines of the RV. I busted out a small propane grill and cooked up some chicken breasts while seawatching and we had a nice stir fry dinner. We prepped our day packs for our big bear day, then relaxed and tucked ourselves in for the night.

Kittiwake Convention- Homer Spit

7/12//24- “We’re gonna need another Plan B”

The morning broke very stormy and cold. Our spirits high, we brewed our coffee, made breakfast and got dressed. Just a few minutes before we were set to leave for the tour, my phone rang with an Alaska number.

Me- Hello ?

-Is this Chris ?

Me- This is he.

-Hi Chris, I’m so sorry to have to tell you this, but we have to cancel your tour for today. I’m sure you’re experiencing the storm down there on the spit, and it’s causing a 20-foot swell on the lake. It’s not safe for our planes to take off, all of the tour companies including us have to cancel for today.

Me- *Heavy Sigh* Alright.

-I’m so sorry, this is the worst part of my job. I know you came up here specifically for our tour and it’s a huge let down. Are you still in Homer for a day or two? We are all booked up, but I can reach out to some of the other companies to see if they have any availability in the next couple days.

Me- We’re not, this is our last day here and we have to head back to Anchorage to head home.

-I’m sorry this didn’t work out Chris. I know how disappointing this must be.

Me- (Trying to cope with bad humor, per usual) You’re correct there, but I understand. Injuring/killing your clients and staff isn’t a great business model.

- *chuckles* I hope if you make it back up to Homer you’ll consider booking with us again.

Me- I will make it happen for sure. I appreciate the offer of help, take care.

-end call-

*F$&K!!!*

I narrowly resisted the urge to throw my phone out of the RV (through the closed window, mind you). I could not have been more upset. Seriously. As with our experience on the Isle of Skye in 2023, Mother Nature gave us the big middle finger on the day I was most excited about. UGH. I was fuming mad, but at no one- it was no one’s fault and I knew it. I needed a little time to cool off, but eventually I came around and logic prevailed. I suppose this is where my overpreparing tendencies come in handy. I knew of several places on the Kenai Peninsula that we could go hike and look for cool birds and wildlife. The weather would suck, but hey, that’s why we bought/brought rain gear, right? Let’s put it to good use.

We grabbed coffees at La Baleine Café and headed to Anchor Point, one of the best places to see Bald Eagles on the peninsula. Anchor River State Recreation Area was about 30 minutes back along the Sterling Highway on the southwest corner of the Kenai Peninsula. The parking lot was chock full of trucks and SUVs, complete with empty trailers for hauling boats. The boats were all out on the bay fishing, despite the crappy weather. It was cloudy, windy, drizzly and pretty cold, but we bundled up, put on all our rain gear (including rain sleeves on the cameras) and headed out. Right off the bat, it was great. There was a pair of Bald Eagles in an evergreen tree right at our parking spot. Down on the shoreline there were birds everywhere. Bald Eagles, American Crows, Herring and Glaucous-winged Gulls, Black Turnstones, Whimbrel, Surfbirds, and more. The reason for the density of birds became apparent as we headed down to the beach. Strewn along the beach were several piles of offal that had been dumped by fisherman after cleaning their catch. The gulls, eagles and crows were in constant competition for the fish carcasses. We witnessed some fantastic behavior and snapped some spectacular (sometimes kinda gross) pictures. We spent about two and a half hours here taking it all in. We stayed surprisingly dry and fairly toasty given the conditions. Yay for good gear and being prepared!

I had seen some notes online about an Aleutian Tern colony just north of here, so I though we’d check it out. The Aleutian Tern was a bird that I knew we’d have to get lucky to see, but hey- this spot was labeled as the Aleutian Tern Colony. Might as well give it a go. Whelp, it was a no go. The hotspot is halfway along a short dirt road immediately off the Sterling Highway, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I was quite confused, as there were no close trees, just a field of tall grasses and soggy mudholes. There was very little bird activity, no calls, not much of anything. We spent about 20 minutes here, slowly driving up and down the road and even parked, turned off the RV and just listened. Nothing. I didn’t even bother making an eBird list. So it goes sometimes. We tempered our disappointment with a snack and decided to head back to Homer and check out another spot I had seen online.

Back in town, we parked at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center (boy that’s a mouthful) and headed inside. On the way in, we saw five Sandhill Cranes grazing in the adjacent grassy fields. The center is a fantastic museum-style education/visitor center with tons of information about the local environment, weather and wildlife. It’s free and well worth a visit. When we were fully warmed up, we headed outside and explored the Beluga Slough Trail and Bishop’s Beach. It was still cold, overcast and drizzly, of course. The trail is a little over a mile and winds down around Beluga Slough, a saltmarsh where Beluga Lake empties into Kachemak Bay. There were shorebirds, ducks, gulls, swallows and warblers. The trail has interpretive signs and poems penned by a local writer. It was quite cute and we had a good time despite the suboptimal weather. After about an hour and a half, we were feeling a bit soggy and chilly again, so decided to pack it up for the day. We drove back down the spit, grabbed a coffee at Coal Town Coffee to warm up while we strolled around town. We checked out all the shops (it is very tourist-centric, as expected) and grabbed a few souvenirs. Then it was back to RV to warm up and dry off!

Later on we popped across the street to the Harbor Grill to celebrate our “anniversary dinner,” just a couple months late. We splurged and got the King Crab appetizer (how expensive could an appetizer be, really?), along with a beer for me and mule for Michelle. For the mains, I had the Halibut Fish & Chips, Michelle got the “Tour of Alaska-“ a sampler of salmon, halibut, scallops, shrimp, and crab. The food was delicious and our server was great. However, for some reason there was a mixup with the appetizer order and it came out after our mains. So, we pivoted and had the best dessert ever- a huge King Crab leg slathered in butter. It was honestly the perfect end to the meal. The bill came and we found out exactly how expensive an appetizer could be…$110! Holy crap! However, it was worth every penny. Every. Single. Penny. We still talk about it.

We waddled back to the RV and spent the rest of the night together just relaxing. M was scoping birds out the back window of the RV, I was looking over pictures and culling out the numerous non-keepers. Sleep was good.

Do I have something in my teeth?
Harbor Grill, Homer

7/13/24- “I’m on a (little) boat!”

The weather was absolutely beautiful. Because of course it was. (Grrrrrrr). Just a light cloud cover and no wind, no rain. Well, we made the best of it yesterday. Breakfast and some coffees from Coal Town Coffee and we headed down to the harbor. We had another date with a (smaller) boat! I had booked a two-hour Kachemak Bay Wildlife Cruise with Seabird Ventures to try and see a few more target birds and maybe get lucky with some mammalian wildlife as well. We showed up at the dock at 9:30am and I got a text shortly thereafter that they were running a bit behind schedule. Seabird Ventures is a water taxi service that also runs Wildlife tours on the side between taxi services. The taxi run prior to our tour had them a bit delayed. It was no big deal and I appreciated the updates. We hung out at the harbor for about 20 minutes until the boat docked. We noticed there was also a group of 5 college-age kids waiting with a bunch of camping gear on the docks. When our boat arrived, it became apparent that they were boarding our boat as well. As it turns out, Seabird was taxiing this group over to Kachemak Bay State park for some ecological research, then Michelle and I had the boat all to ourselves for the next 2 hours. Sweet!

We all boarded the Seabird with Captain Davey and his very sweet Lab mix Coco. Thankfully the water wasn’t too choppy, and Michelle did really well without any seasickness, which was nice for a change. We made a straight shot across the bay to the Peterson Field Station and the conservation group disembarked. Then Davey asked us what we were hoping to see on the tour. We of course relayed that we were birders and there were a few species in the area we hadn’t seen yet (Harlequin Duck, White-winged Scoter, Black Oystercatcher, and Ancient Murrelet being the reasonable targets). He relayed that the Murrelet was pretty unlikely, but he thought he could get us the other three species! We also mentioned that we like all wildlife and if there was any chance of seeing a bear along the shore, that would be fantastic. He said that was also pretty unlikely, as he had only seen a few in the four years he’d been running Seabird Ventures. Off we went!

Michelle “capturing” birds
Kachemak Bay, Homer

We motored around the shores of Peterson Bay and right off the bat he spotted us a rock with Black Oystercatcher, Black Turnstones and Surfbirds perched on top! We floated as close as the boat (and birds) would allow and got great views and some nice pictures as well. What a great start! Not even ten minutes later, we spotted a group of seven Harlequin Ducks resting on another rock in the bay. They were very shy and spooked easily, so we didn’t get very close before they all scooted off the rock and away through the bay. We had a pair of Marbled Murrelets and a few Pigeon Guillemots at the north end of the bay as well.

From there, we circled around “Gull Island” a small rocky island between the spit and the state park that is a roost for Common Murre, Black-legged Kittiwakes and a few Tufted Puffins. There were thousands of Murres and Kittiwakes- it was loud, stinky, and very cool. We also saw one Tufted and one Horned Puffin, a few Bald Eagles, Pelagic Cormorants, American Herring Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls. It was a sight to behold and stimulating for all the senses!

Once we were a bit overstimulated and satisfied with our experience of Gull Island, we headed south into China Poot Bay. Here we saw a few more Harlequin Ducks and even a trio of Black Oystercatchers with a youngster foraging on the pebbled shoreline. We passed a scraggly pine tree that had NINE Bald Eagles perched together in the same tree! Davey had never seen that many all roosting together, it was quite the sight! He took us by an area of very interesting layered, waving rock formed by volcanic deposits being twisted by tectonic plate movement. It was very interesting and only occurs in a few places on earth.

Black Oystercatcher- Kachemak Bay, Homer

Raft of Common Murres- Kachemak Bay, Homer

As we continued southeast we came across a large group of about 50 Harbor Seals snoozing on the beach. He let us in on the secret that if you keep decent speed you can get pretty close to them, but if they sense you slowing down too much, they scatter. Pretty smart animals! We got nice looks at their nap as we zipped by and true to Davey’s word, they stayed put and barely noticed us. As we neared the farthest spot in China Poot Bay that we could safely travel (tide was low and it was getting quite shallow), we saw a mixed flock of Scoters off in the distance. There were obvious Surf Scoters with their bright orange and white bills, and then we picked out several White-winged Scoters with their namesake white wing patches and their funky white eyeliner. That made three new lifers thanks to Captain Davey, as promised! At this point, we were all having such a good time (Davey included) that we had already been at it almost two hours. We still had a nearly half hour boat ride across Kachemak Bay to the harbor, so we had to call it. Davey put the pedal to the metal (so to speak) and started zipping across the Bay back to the harbor. However, as we passed Gull Island, we spotted a cute Sea Otter floating next to the island. We paused for just a few minutes and got some pretty spectacular shots. Then we resumed our cross-bay return to the harbor. It was such a fantastic little tour and we got so see a ton of birds (21 species in total) and mammals quite up close!

Unfortunately, it was time for us to say goodbye to Homer. We had to make the drive all the way back to Anchorage today in order to return the RV first thing in the morning. It was around 1pm or so when we got back to the RV and had everything packed and ready for our return to Anchorage. We were super sad to say goodbye to this quirky little coastal town, but with the cancellation of our Katmai bear tour, we KNEW we would be back!

North along the Sterling Highway we drove, still enjoying the beautiful landscape and chatting about our favorite parts of the trip. We both felt that it wasn’t completely out of the question for us to get a second house up here some day, we shall see…

We stopped in Soldotna for a potty break and lunch. I couldn’t resist a McDonald’s burger, fries and Diet Coke and avoided nearly getting us stuck in the parking lot this time around. We kept on moving for about another hour until we were in Cooper Landing. It was around 3pm and we needed to stretch our legs. I had seen a great hiking/birding/wildlife spot here- the Russian River Falls Trail. We decided to check it out and get one last hike in!

This was a simply gorgeous hike through heavily wooded landscape alongside the rushing Russian River. We added an Olive-sided Flycatcher to our haul of Alaska birds, and saw 15 other species like Hermit and Swainson’s Thrushes, Black-capped and Boreal Chickadees (lots!), Red-breasted Nuthatch, and another pair of American Dippers. Our favorite bird of the hike, however, was a pair of female/immature Spruce Grouse that were nibbling along the trail edge (just like on the road previously, I see a pattern here). We got decent looks at them on the trail and snapped a few (very grainy, low light) pictures before another very loud group came up on us and spooked them off the trail. We waited a bit to see if they would come back down once the noisy folks were gone, but to no avail. We moved on, down to the falls itself, which was about 3 miles from the trailhead. The waterfall was fantastic and here we met a very curious and cooperative American Red Squirrel. After a short time admiring the falls, the American Dippers, and our squirrel friend, we had to head back up the trail. No Spruce Grouse on the way back, but just before the parking lot we discovered a lovely mixed flock of Boreal Chickadees, Red-Breasted Nuthatches, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers. We finally got some decent pictures of Boreal Chickadees, which we had been hoping/trying for since our first encounter up in Denali. Success!

American Red Squirrel
Russian River Falls Trail, Cooper Landing

The rest of the drive back to Anchorage went smoothly, it was much less windy/rainy than on the drive down. We stopped for just a few minutes at Tern Lake, where the Sterling Highway meets the Seward Highway. Not much activity there, so we kept moving on and didn’t stop the rest of the hour and a half back to Anchorage. Before parking for the night, we filled up the gas and propane tanks, then headed back to…Cabela’s. Why? Because I’m an IDIOT and didn’t want to park anywhere unfamiliar. How bad could it be, really???

Boreal Chickadee- Russian River Falls Trail

7/14/24- “Return of the screaming gulls”

I awoke from nightmares of screaming gulls.

Just kidding, I didn’t actually GET any sleep because of the damn gulls. Again.

I’m so sorry Michelle.

Coffee. Lots of coffee was required to get us up and going after the morning of our third gull “serenade.” (Never again- seriously). We drove over to Great Alaskan Holiday with everything ready to go. Checkout was an absolute breeze. We donated a few non-perishable leftovers and our bear spray- they were very thankful. (Side note: I can’t recommend this company enough, it was such an easy process and they were all great people to work with, start to finish).

The shuttle to the airport was bittersweet, as it always is when we have to leave a place we fall in love with. This is one place, however, that we will certainly return to. Likely several times. After all, who goes to the wilds of Alaska for 10 days and doesn’t see a single Bear? Ugh.

Final Trip Summary:

National Parks Seen- 1 of the 3 planned

“Alaska Big 5” Seen- 1 of 5 species

Birding- 94 Alaska species, 26 lifers (My goal was 30)

Despite missing out on my two most anticipated locations and most of the mammal species we expected to see, the trip was fabulous and we are already planning a second trip. The beauty and splendor of Alaska can not be overstated.

Until next time, Alaska.

-CCC, July 2025

Alaska- July 2024

“Bears, what bears?”

-or-

“Beware the Screaming Gulls”

England & Scotland- May 2023

Rio Grande Valley 2024-25