Jul 08 2008
Arctic Circle Superdash, Part 1
It was time to undertake the most ambitious trip of my stay in Alaska so far - in a path that crosses the entire state, from the south-eastern islands where Juneau is located, to the Arctic Ocean shore.
The red shape is the part of Alaska within the Arctic Circle
Anchorage
The largest city in Alaska is medium-sized by the lower 48 standards. It’s about seven times smaller than Queens, with its 300,000 residents. Almost half of Alaska’s population lives here, and that gives you an idea of how unpopulated the rest of this enormous state is.
The city is often mocked as” Los Anchorage” due to its LA-like layout. Downtown is businesses and shopping, noticeably lacking apartment building clusters. This means you need a car to get pretty much anywhere.
Length of day in June here is about 1 hour longer compared to Juneau (pushing 20 hours of daylight), and the nights are even less dark. You need a thick set of blinds to go to sleep.
I decided to not spend more than a day in Anchorage for my urban life fix - it’s awash in cars and exhaust, as well as ravaged but construction all over.
One of the better known Anchorage things to do during a one-day stay is the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. I rented a bike at Downtown Bicycle Rental, to take it out onto the trail. This in-city paved path hosts the usual Alaskan wildlife fair right within city limits. You get the usual moose and bear warning before leaving the shop.
The trail goes along the mud flats, which are deadly if walked on, and people did die here. The flats look innocent enough, and just another proof that there are plenty of things in Alaska that can kill you if you don’t do your research. (When I was back in Juneau, a cab driver told me how he had to convince a tourist not to approach a bear for pictures, when the fluffy one walked into downtown a few days ago). As an interesting fact, the tides here are the second fastest and highest in North America.
The trail also crosses the landing path of incoming planes, and I spent some time “birdwatching”:
Overall, this is obviously a great convenience to Anchorage residents, but the path is within city limits, so noise pollution is abundant (occasional highway stretch or the airport). Of the places where you can actually rent a bicycle for a day, my Haines trip is yet to be beaten. I logged the paltry 12 km on the bike along the Tony Knowles trail, and went back to have enough time to catch the weekend downtown life.
Saturdays here are wild, with the weekly Saturday Market taking up multiple blocks. Live music stages are set up on every street, and here you can get anything from hot dogs to un-restored vintage car gazing. This event is a big deal - people from all over Alaska descend upon Anchorage for their shopping needs. This is the only city that has a Bloomingdales, for example.
Coincidentally, an air show was taking place at the local Air Force base, so military jets would occasionally pass low and fast over the city with a ground-shaking roar. I mean, I had to hold on to my burger.
I got tired of all the fuss fairly quickly, so I dived into one of the bars to drink some Alaskan and shoot some pool, followed by a downtown stroll. It was my first urban raid in almost three months, but I didn’t want any more of it. After one exhausting day in Anchorage, I continued in the only direction I knew - North.
