Alaska July 12-21, thoughts welcome

[David Thomas]

REI Anchorage closes at 8 pm on Saturdays, so that’s out.

Inga House is really convenient to lots of venues and restaurants downtown, but somewhat far from the malls (except the 5th Avenue Mall which is mostly clothing stores).  Let me know how it is – those are crazy-low rates for Anchorage in the summer.  Their weekly rates are less than most nightly rates!

The Walmart south of Benson, east of A street is kind of shabby and racist but midway between the airport and your lodging.  Bear spray and butane fuel are normal stock items for them, not sure how they’re doing this year between everyone’s supply issues and travel to Alaska rebounding a lot.

The Walmart (open till 11 pm) south of Dimond Center, south of Dimond Blvd and west of Old Seward Highway, is a bit more suburban.  Due east across Old Seward Highway is Sportman’s Warehouse (open till 9 pm on a Saturday) and, at least in Soldotna, does a better job of keeping all three sizes of butane in stock.  You could start by Uber’ing there first for bear spray, butane and an AR-15 (or a real bear gun like a .338) and have Walmart across the road as a back-up.  Sportman’s has a modest selection of FD food, but none of the $1 Pasta Sides, granola bars, and basic cheap groceries that Walmart does.

If a trip to Anchorage comes up for me in the next 8 days, I’ll let you know – I could leave bear spray and fuel at Inga House for you – I’ve done that before, but at this point, I don’t have anything planned.

There is a store in Denali NP near the campground at the park entrance.  They’d probably have fuel and bear spray but you have no alternative once there, other than doing a deal with a departing tourist.  Maybe give them a call and see if they’ve been keep fuel and spray in stock recently.

[Russell Biser]

That is awesome information about all the options. Thank you!

Regarding the guns though, they are heavy and I can’t afford ammunition anymore. I guess I could buy one and use it as a club against a bear.

[Russell Biser]

14 days out by email is the correct answer for permits, even though parts of the website are still saying one day out. Between the website being confused and the death in the family that spurred me to reschedule I didn’t get an application in exactly 14 days early, I got a route though. Unit 6, Unit 7, Unit 8, Unit 9, Unit 10, Unit 13, Unit 34. It looks like it will be 45-55 miles in seven days. for 7-12 mile days.

Question for those with more experience of this terrain: Is that reasonable?

[Russell Biser]

A guess:

https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=7.0/-150.2043/63.1872&pubLink=l3NgEr8SJPHcwFmNXPoVfpkF&trackId=8b72c7f0-8541-4b17-9537-dc37df6fa0f6

It goes right next to a bear closure and a wolf closure though.

[David Thomas]

7 miles a day would be akin to 15-20 miles a day on a trail.  Those alders, willows and braided streams are a PITA.  Accept that your foot will be wet all day long and plunge in.  Accept that your arm/legs will get thrashed if you don’t have long-sleeve and long-legged pants on.

There’ll be times when you just want to sit on a rock and look (maybe through a monocular) at a bear or sheep.

There will be times you have to backtrack to find a better place to cross a river or because the thickets got too thick.

If 20 trails a day doesn’t sound fun (or at least doable), don’t plan to average 7 a day in Denali.

Remember, though, if you’re near the park road, you can hop a park bus and get 5 miles further along in 3 minutes.  And you don’t even have to tell anyone you did that.

[Russell Biser]

Thanks.

And I don’t know why my gaia track is messed up on that shared link and following the road instead of the breadcrumb’s I laid out south of the road from Igloo to Eielson.

[Author]

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