I signed up for a trolley car/bus city tour along with a guide supported mountain bike ride at Chugach State Park ahead of the trip so I had all my ducks in a row.
The trolley/bus tour was outstanding as we learned about the earthquake of 1964 and why the mud flats off of the shoreline prevented some serious tsunamis from happening. In addition, we got a sprinkle of some Iditarod dog race history, fireworks in the daylight (it's light at 11 PM on July 4th in Alaska) along with learning that every person with multiple generations growing up in the area seems to have a two seat Cessna plane, handed down from each generation.
The mountain bike ride unfortunately got cancelled. The company doing the ride also do guided tours on the Coastal Trail, a paved path along the coast that has a bit more demand than the mountain bike ride. Not too many vacationing senior citizens go mountain biking for some reason... Long story short, one of the guides for the paved path tour threw his back out so they pulled the mountain bike guide onto the paved tour and cancelled our ride. I was bummed but understand as there were only two of us mountain biking and probably about 10 on the paved tour. Alaska has a short summer tourist season and it came down to numbers. I ended up taking the paved tour and enjoyed it; saw a couple moose in the process.
While winding down after the ride, I texted friend Rob as he sometimes works in the state and it turned out he and wife Wendy were in town and we had dinner with another couple.
A great, beautiful state. While I don't think I could ever live there on a permanent basis, I will be back to get that mountain bike ride in, guide of no guide next time. I'll just make sure to pack the bear spray.
Trail Head
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| Chugach Mountains |
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| salmon snaggers |
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| large melon in tourist mode |
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| Iditarod dog tribute |
