At 11:30 am, I drived out of the parking lot heading towards Palmer. This part of Hatcher Pass is especially nice since the road parallels the stream. The water is clean green. I've driven across the country a few times, and Hatcher Pass is one of the most beautiful drives in North America, even though the road is rugged; however, the ruggedness adds to the beauty because it's undeveloped and makes people drive slowly to take in the scenery.
The reason I'm making the last run of road trips in Alaska is because summer is coming to an end, and in the fall and winter, it's difficult to take these roadtrips. Next weekend, I'll try for one more roadtrip.
While on the road, I thought about my friend Gilly, who passed away recently. Somehow, I feel as though it must have been a jinx to stop at Cecilia Barkley's memorial on my last roadtrip to Denail National Park. But I know the stop has nothing to do with Gilly's passing. Just terrible luck. Now Gilly and I will never meet again in this lifetime.
I headed north and made a quick detour at Glacier Park Resort off Highway 1 at Park Road. It's a private park, not sponsored or maintained by the state. The gates to the glacier were closed. Glaciers are big tourist business here in Alaska: that old blue ice attracts tourists all summer.
As I headed further north, I took the detour towards Chitina, and made a stop at Libery Falls camp site. This looked very much like a state maintained park, but it is privately owned. The view of the fall is beautiful. There were some nice domed shaped tents set up by campers. (The tent I have is a low-end square tent.) Camping fee here is like most other camping places in Alaska: $10.
I decided to keep driving to Chitina and possibly turn back to Libery Falls to spend the night. Chitina is a very small town with a grocery store, restaurant, and a nice rest area. A native American man walked with a woman towards the rest area- nothing unusual about this except he carried a rifle out in public.
The grocery store also served as town's gas station with only one grade of gasoline. Outside, it looked like a shack. Inside, a lady with half her right upper teeth missing operated the counter. She and an older woman were talking about having an engine of a truck replaced. The frozen food department consisted of a refrigerator, and only a refrigerator. The homey feel of the store gives me a happy feeling. A deck in one corner of the store contained clothing and toys. Some of the clothing and toys looked like they may have been donated. I purchased a frozen ham and cheese pocket and heated it up in the microwave. Then, purchased $8 of gasoline and headed on out. Outside, a man worked on the side of the "hut", as if the little store is expanding.
What's great about Alaska and Canada is that I don't feel out of place anywhere I visit.
I didn't mind paying the slightly higher prices here for food and gasoline because these people here are trying to make a simple living, and they probably need the influx of money from outside the city. Maybe one day I'll be in their position working at my own business, and I would want customers to support me. It's admirable these people have a little desire, a little heart, and a whole lot of dreams to support themselves. I salute them.
At the end of Chitina begins a 100 kilometer dirt road with leads to the little remote town of McCarthy. I decided not to go back to the Liberty Falls camp site. After the long drive in the drizzy rain, McCarthy layed ahead at the end of the dirt road. Only camp sites and parking areas and one pay telephone were here. Probably the only pay telephone sinch Chitina.
I parked the rodeo at the Copper Point parking area, which is packed. I payed the $10 camping fee even though I was just going to sleep in the Rodeo in the parking lot and not over at the camp site. There were no enforcement of camping and parking fees as far as I could tell. In fact, the sign for the fees were barely noticable because faced exiting traffic instead of entering traffic.
In one corner of the parking lot a recreation building stood where fees were to be paid, bicycles could be rented, and souvenirs may be purchased. Next to the building, a little trailer sells fast food- a lady worked and a couple were eating. The parking lot is packed even though there were barely cars any cars on the dirt road coming to McCarthy.
McCarthy is really neat because there were a lot of young people, who look like like college students. No one really looked like a typical tourist, but we were all visitors. The people who live here are secluded from civilization, and in the winter, probably nothing much happens here.
I tried calling my friend Eileen to tell her everything is okay, but I couldn't get my phone card or my pre-paid phone card to work. (She would later be angry I didn't get a hold of her when I told her I would let her know what went on before the trip began.)
After deciding to hike to Kennicott, a neighboring town about 7 kilometers away, I hiked for about 3 kilometers before heading back because it was already dark. I feared encountering a bear during the back because of the darkness- the dark does create a sense of fear when people are in unknown places especially in the wilderness. I'm always thinking to myself if I hear a bear, I would try to climb a tree to get out of reach; so I'm always looking around for trees which are climbable should the encounter ever occur.
In the morning, I plan to visit the local museum and head over into the "business district" of McCarthy for breakfast. Then head on to the port city of Valdez.
I'm so glad I made this trip. In fact, I regret not making this trip sooner because it would have allowed me to see more of Alaska this summer. Next weekend is the last weekend of summer, and there is so much of undeveloped Alaska to experience.
Went to bed at 11:00 pm.
