Due to my paddle trip I had only four days left in North America. Saturday ended up as a classic Canadian day with watching the Canucks play against the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals (National Hockey League), beer and nachos ;). Oh, and it was raining. Whole evening could have taken place in Vancouver. Anyways, on Sunday my bus left at 6am for Anchorage. It was a long, long journey in a very, very uncomfortable bus (and I am used to more or less comfortable buses). At least we saw two grizzlies beneath the road, some moose and overall - the amazing landscape! It is just such a beautiful region, all the mountains and the vastness... So much space where nature is still the way it is supposed to be. Huge glacier tongues came out of every valley and different mountain ranges can be seen from the highway. Just wanted to jump out of the bus and ran into the trees... exploring and living out there.
After 16 hours on the road we finally arrived in Anchorage - the biggest city of Alaska (~300 000 people). Many people say that the only good thing about Anchorage is that it is so close to Alaska. A quote I could agree with. Anchorage isn't what Alaska is about, but it is close. Within a short period of time people from Anchorage get out of town and into real nature and wildness. Most people have their own little plane to fly out to their recreation sites. Anchorage itself is nothing special, just wide streets, tourist shops and many fast food places around downtown. It is very widespread and within the city boundaries (which is not to be compared with our towns enclosed by city walls) live 250 bears and 900 moose. There are great cross-country and biking trails.
Full with energy after the long bus ride I explored the city running and walking: Monday morning I ran the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail to the Earthquake Park (Anchorage had an earthquake of 9.2 in 1964).
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| Westchester Lagoon with Chugach Mountain Range |
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| earthquake park |
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| äääh ja. tourists. |
It got really nice and sunny so I joined a shuttle tour to the Glen Alps (a 20 minute drive) and hiked up to Flattop Mountain I and II (1070m). It was wonderful out there, you have a nice view over Anchorage, the ocean, the Chugach Mountain Range and you feel like being in the middle of the Alps.
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| view of Anchorage |
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| sleeping lady |
After a long walk on Monday evening trying to get to a supermarket although several people warned me to go there (don't go alone, take a car, take bear spray... (not because of the bears but because of the people). I still made it and got back alive being finally tired out after all the walking that day and could sleep during the everlight night. Tuesday morning I ran down to the Ship Creek (Trail) and watched people fishing for King Salmon which start to run in June. It started raining, so perfect day for spending the last hours in a café, enjoying breakfast and good talks with other travelers before heading out to the bus station and waiting there in the midst of Anchorage's saddest reality: the broken and drunken Natives. To see this proud and amazing people like that... so sad.
Ten months have passed and I had an amazing time in Canada and Alaska. Unforgettable experiences and moments I am so thankful of. Hope you enjoyed reading the blog :) Now I have to manage being back in Germany, which is a mixture of happiness to see friends and family! and a serious problem of coping with so many people, buildings, roads,... But I learned a lot about myself and things which are important to me, so now it's my challenge to integrate and shape my life to remain being the "happy German" :).
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