Chasing Bears and Beers: Our Eight-Day Alaskan Road Trip
- Stan Manev
- Aug 1
- 11 min read
It was late May in the valley along Savage River. Most of the snow had melted, and the landscape was just beginning to come to life after a long-lasting winter. Denali - a twelve-year-old Grizzly bear was on the lookout for a much-needed meal after his seasonal slumber. The diet for a springtime grizzly bear in this part of the Alaskan wilderness mostly consists of the roots of Alpine Sweet-vetch or Biscuitroot. However, the main character in our story was in the mood for something else, something a bit more fulfilling. He knew that if he strolled long enough in the river flats it would only be a matter of time before running into a moose or a caribou. Now, trying to hunt for such prey is a big ask even for a grizzly bear. Their calves, on other hand, are defenseless and susceptible to predation. In fact, the probability of a calf dying within the first 30 days of life is 55%. (It's the type of percentage that we call a "coin flip" in poker terms, a classic example of which would be QQ being a slight favorite to win over AK). Denali knew the odds were in his favor and the only thing that was left to do was to try. He stood up on his hind legs to get a better look over the grassland and there it was, the perfect target - a female moose and her two newborn calves. He also spotted somebody else - an unforeseen factor that was going to play a role in the fierce race for survival that was about to unfold. Denali, exposing himself, didn't remain unnoticed by his prey. The chase had now started. He had to act quickly if he didn’t want the presence of an unexpected stranger to ruin...
Hello again everyone!
I've been granted the green light to continue writing blog posts for Iris and Poppy Travel Studio! Sorry to interrupt the story but I really wanted to bring you the good news before things turned really intense. Many thanks to all of the readers that reached out after my first post.
Before revealing what really happens to the two moose calves (a true story by the way), let me continue with a parallel story about a road trip Neli and I took in Alaska a few years back. Eventually the two stories will align.
The way this trip came about was as a birthday surprise - my birthday surprise. Neli possesses a comprehensive knowledge of my quirks and personality, but that wasn’t as crucial a part of her planning process as you might think. She only had to know that if I was going to enjoy Alaska, she had to plan a backpacking experience in its wilderness and explore as much of the Alaskan unspoiled territories as possible. Add a dive into the state’s signature craft beer scenery and that would be plenty for a short visit to The Last Frontier.
So, she took the idea, put it on a flight to her imagination, rocked it through the turbulence of a brainstorm and arrived with what she knew would be the perfect 8-day itinerary for us, as follows...
Day 0 - Arrive in Anchorage in the evening. Rent a car. Spend the night in a hotel near the airport.
Day 1 - My birthday is at the end of May. This is a great time to visit Alaska in terms of avoiding the crowds, but the weather can be unpredictable. The goal for the first day was to take the 240-mile drive to Denali National Park, get our permit (one day in advance as required), camp there and make a plan for a short backpacking trip on day 2 and 3. With that being said, we had plan-B ready in case the weather wasn’t cooperative.
On the way there we stopped at Denali Brewing Company in Talkeetna. Nothing extraordinary but they claimed the name "Denali" on their label first, so I got a box of bottled brew to take home more as a souvenir than anything else.
But let’s get back to our destination...
What distinguishes Denali from other national parks is their backcountry unit system. You can’t reserve your permit in advance but rather you pick it up in person on a first-come-first-serve basis one day prior to your trip. Trails are nowhere to be found in the backcountry. The park is divided into 87 units, each one has an occupancy quota and navigating in it is a lot like orienteering, except you pick your own ‘checkpoints’ and where to spend the night. More information can be found on the nps.gov website or just let Iris and Poppy plan your trip there!
Neli and I arrived at the visitor center in time to pick up the permit for the unit in which we were interested. The prospects of making good by our first-choice experience weren’t promising due to the obvious overcast and low temperatures. Despite that, we kept going as planned and would make a final call in the morning.
It was still early, so there was time to drive down to mile-mark 15 of the park road. While the road continues into the park for over 90 miles, this is the furthest point allowed to drive to with a personal vehicle. When we reached Savage River Trailhead (mile-mark 15) there were already cars parked in a small parking lot and tourists were walking around, taking pictures, and admiring the unique landscape dramatically backdropped with the snowy peaks of the highest mountain in North America.
The landscape had another layer to it as numerous moose and caribous could be noticed everywhere. It was calving season for them, and they seemed surprisingly comfortable with the human presence. We were all enjoying the peaceful ambiance, until someone yelled the word you came for but didn't really want to hear – ‘BEAR’! Everybody looked in the same direction where a grizzly bear was targeting two moose calves accompanied by their mother. So exciting! It’s our first day and we have already witnessed a grizzly. Thankfully, it was far away, and bears are not really interested in attacking people (unless they have to). Now the attention shifted towards the cow moose. How was she going to protect her little ones? Surprisingly, she led her calves directly to the parking lot and us. Oh oh! That can’t be good! Perhaps she felt more protected around people, but the park rangers weren’t in agreement. They started evacuating the parking lot immediately, fearing everyone’s safety. The two calves were hesitant about getting so close to people. Their fear was amplified when a group of (I’ll say it) ignorant tourists crowded them to snap a close-up picture. One of the calves went through with its mother to safety but the second one remained behind, spooked by the crowd thus giving its sibling the chance to live.
Eventually, someone showed sympathy and asked the rangers if they were going to meddle and help the newborn to be reunited with its mother. “We don’t interfere with nature’s ways,” their prompt answer was, “it’s all part of the natural selection,” and continued to focus on getting everyone away from the hotspot.
We never learned the calf's ultimate fate, but as we were driving away, we saw the mother and the sibling seemingly embracing the idea of being a family of two. We remained silent when we were finally alone in the car, but the ranger’s words “natural selection” were still echoing in our minds. It kept me wondering, was that truly a natural occurrence? How can I really know? That 'condition' was ‘cured’ a long time ago from our everyday life! One thing became clear, though... Encountering an interaction of this sort is much more probable in a place as well-preserved and otherworldly as Denali National Park.
The last stop for the day was Savage River Campground where we had a tent site booked in advance.
Day 2 - We woke up with 2-3 inches of fresh snow covering our tent and everything around. Overnight, we even had to escape the freezing temperatures by moving into the car. No matter how peaceful and picturesque the mountain looked that morning, our 3-season gear wasn’t up to the task in such conditions. We had to call it off, forget about the challenge and out of the ordinary exploration of the park and experience it like everyone else - from the comfort of the heated seat in our rental vehicle. Ok, not quite that! We weren’t going to leave without at least a short off-trail day hike. We acted on our alternative plan, left the car at the campground and caught the park's transit bus at the nearest bus stop. We asked the driver to drop us off around mile-mark 30 and took a strenuous hike with some rock scrambling near Cathedral Mountain.
The conditions were far from ideal, and the blasting wind wasn't making it any easier, but in the end, we found what we were looking for. Here we were near the top of the mountain with a 360 view of it and no one else to be found for miles. Only us sharing this intimate moment of mere serenity!
To return, we had to get back down to the road and ‘hitchhike’ the bus back to the campground.
Day 3 - That day was going to be a little more relaxed. We moved the car to the Denali Bus Depot and boarded the transit bus again. We rode it to its final destination at mile-mark 43 and there was a lot of wildlife to spot along the way.
This was our glance at exploring Denali. We knew that we were going to come back to the park eventually, but for the time being we weren’t going to camp another night in the winter. So we took the highway northward towards Fairbanks. Before getting to a hotel for the night, we stopped at 49th State Brewing for an amber ale and dinner. Alaska's red ales are known for having caramel/toffee malt flavor and being less hoppy in comparison to their west coast counterparts. Beer felt great after two days of primitive camping. There was another reason to visit that particular taproom. Out on their grounds they had an exact replica of the "Magic Bus" as familiar from the movie Into the Wild. The shooting of the movie and the real story of Christopher McCandless had taken place not too far from this location along Stampede Trail.
This place was the perfect ending for the camping stage of our trip. For the rest of this post, I’ll just list the stops we made along the remainder of our road trip. I must shorten this somehow. Focusing on the first couple of days made sense to me as they really emphasized the appeal for visiting Alaska and showcased the uniqueness of the state.
Day 4 - Fairbanks
Walked around the city's downtown and checked out the local breweries and bars in the evening. Our personal choices were HooDoo Brewing and The International Hotel & Bar where we met with locals and was also our way of celebrating my actual birthday.
This was the northernmost point of our trip, and if we had the time we would head even further north towards Yukon River and Gates of the Arctic National Park.
Day 5 - Over 500-mile drive to Seward
We had breakfast at The Crepery (a Mediterranean diner right down our alley) and embarked on the longest drive of our trip all the way down to Seward. It was a unique drive crossing remote and isolated territories with its own vibe. You must enjoy driving as much as I do to make this worth an entire day out of an 8-day vacation.
We drove through where, apparently, Santa Clause lives, turned south at Delta Junction, and made a short detour to the Visitor Center of the largest US national Park - Wrangell-St. Elias .
We reached Seward in the evening and explored the small downtown. The town was more crowded than usual as our night there overlapped with a cruise ship that had anchored there for the night, which is another popular choice for visiting Alaska.
Day 6 - Kenai Fjords National Park
In the morning, we visited the Kenai Fjords visitor center which is located in downtown Seward. The park is well worth a longer visit and there are plenty of ways to explore and enjoy it. Kayaking would be one of our first choices, but that would also be most appropriate in the summer months. Boat tours are also a great option for witnessing the dramatic scenery of the coastline. With only one day to spare in the park we planed to go on a day hike.
The drive to Exit Glacier was about 20 min. We started at Exit Glacier Trailhead and took the trail that goes alongside the glacier. It was snowy and foggy once again, but at least we had the mountain for ourselves.
Our next stop? Homer - approximately 3.5 hours of scenic road that goes around Kenai Fjords National Park.
Day 7 - Homer - "The halibut fishing capital of the world"
Okay, calm down, "capital of the world"? Only if the halibut was half as flavorful as it was pricey!
Homer, a lot like Seward, is one of the most popular tourist destinations. The Homer Spit is beautifully situated in Kachemak Bay with dramatic fjords and snow-peak mountains in the background. It offers a small boat harbor, restaurants and shops, also a fishing lagoon with a lot of playful otters. This is where we spent most of the day.
In the afternoon, we headed back towards Anchorage with a stop for the night at the Gwin's lodge. What appealed to us there was the side roadhouse where locals gathered and shared their stories. That was another great opportunity to taste whatever local brew was currently on tap. If you happen to find yourself there, no matter how tempting, do not bang the bell hanging over the bar. It's low-abiding to buy a round of drinks for everybody at the place.
Day 8 - Anchorage
On the last day, we drove back to Anchorage completing our loop as originally planned. We had a flight back later that evening. Once again, we used the extra time to explore downtown and sample some of the local breweries.
There it is. That was our first adventure in the north. It wouldn't be a blog post about Alaska without mentioning Aurora Borealis. And no, this is not an American singer-songwriter (Do you get it? Borealis/Bareilles? Never mind). I suspect one of our next trips to Alaska would be in the winter to witness precisely the phenomenon of the northern lights.
Good luck everyone!
Until next time.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the wilderness, the sun was setting. Zion - an exemplary specimen of his kind - was laying in his den. With his eyes closing, he was finally at peace rejuvenating from another harsh day of the uphill battle called life. He has been through a lot lately, but his struggles didn’t seem to be ending. There was another unknown disturbance coming from the entrance of the den. Zion raised his head in the air and put his nostrils to work trying to catch the drift that was going to give it all up. Suddenly, uncontainable excitement filled his entire presence. Next, the sound of a doorknob click made any residual restraints vanish, and he was on his four legs galloping towards the door, sliding with every turn on the vinyl floors while whimpering in joyful ecstasy. Zion’s kind is a Dalmatian and his status - Neli’s and my dog and we were his peeps finally coming back from a weeklong absence.
Comments