through the Denali Hwy (at last) and much more

hi again!

well, how were my photos?
hope you got a feeling of what I've seen, though it's so much stronger in reality!

well, let's get to work...

well, leaving Sam with my camera on me, i had a ride back to Denali park with a nice professor from Tennessee.
from there a couple of tourist guides took me for a short way (and bought me lunch), and then some US soldier took me.
He went all the way to anchorage, but i went only as far as Cantwell, to try the Denali Hwy again...

well, that afternoon, after trying for a couple more hours, i decided that the next morning I'll try for 1-2 hours, and than I'll give up and head to anchorage.
but then - in that morning i got a ride. in less than 30 minutes, i was taken by 3 women who decided to spent this Saturday hiking and picking berries somewhere along the Denali Hwy!
they only went 20 miles in (the whole road is about 135 miles long), but that was surprising!
well, i knew that I'll just spend there a few hours and than they'll come back and take me back to cantwell, but i was happy all the same!

and than an even greater miracle took place - i had a ride all the way through!!! the carpenter guy, who took me 2 days earlier from Denali to heally... he's Jeff, his girl friend is Sue, and they gave me a ride all the way to Valdez. in their pickup. a closed pickup. with all their stuff... but it was very cool. i was just lying there comfortably, and the way was very beautiful - The Denali Hwy (a dirt road) but even more - the way down to Valdez...

well, in Valdez i found out that i don't have much to do, and i missed the ferry, so i decided to hitchhike to Homer (in a day or two - hundreds of miles). but i had a ride with two very nice ladies in an RV (Raven and Josy) that went all the way to Seward, and it was raining, and my tent, my shoes, my sleeping bag, etc. were soaking wet, so i decided to join them and go to Seward.
luckily enough someone just canceled a reservation in the only hostel in town, so i got room there...

next day i was hoping to do laundry, spend quality time on the Internet, use the post office and just relax, but i couldn't - it was Sunday, and all was closed. so i hiked to exit glacier (very neat!) and Harding ice field (couldn't see much due to the weather, but got to see 3 mountain goats from about 3m) instead. in the evening i met a British girl, Caroline, that is also alone here, and we decided to hook up for hikes sometime...
next day was a perfect sunny day, so i ended all my chores by noon and went hiking the most beautiful lost lake trail. i ate my way up through salmon-berries and blueberries, camped near the lake, and explored the area for a little while. next day was raining again, so i did the second half of the trail, the Primrose trail quite fast, went back to Seward - to collect my stuff, had some raspberries (my ride told me that they grow just out the back door of the hostel) and hitched my way to Palmer.

after 5 rides, i got there.
it turned out that there were elections that same day, which was good, cause the ride from outside Seward to Anchorage was with David who works for Sara Palin - the candidate who won the elections - and he went there on that regard...
and the last ride, C J Mann, was very very kind, did a detour for me, and since i couldn't get hold of Kim, he finally left me at a 24-7 bar-motel-restaurant and gave me his phone numbers just in case...

Kim? who is Kim? Well, Kim is this most wonderful woman who just love Israel so very much and she and her family are so hospitable! they just let you into their home, and they urge you to feel as if it was your very own. they even gave me a car to hang around with... they're just amazing!

well, i stayed here for two days, while the former visitors are flying out (i came on Tuesday, Mordechai flew on Wed. and Zaki on Thursday).
Than i spent a Sabbath with Reuven and Bracha, a very nice KHABAD couple. they had many other guests too, and they have this cutest baby, and we went to the synagogue, and ate, and slept and talked, and it was really very nice, relaxing and calm.

On Sunday i met with Caroline (the British girl from Seward) and Depna (an Irish girl that Caroline met in Seward, after i left) and we went hiking along the Williwaw trail.
well, actually it's a bunch of trails and you just hike along and among them.
Basically it's an overnight trail, but since we started only at around 15:00, and it started raining at ~19, and it's already getting dark ~21:30, and we had a little navigation error, it became a 3 days hike.
but it was such a brilliant hike! we had less than 2 hours of rain all together during this 3 days (of course that when the rain was the hardest we decided to pitch my tent and wait inside, and the moment i finished him - just final touches left - the rain ceased all together), and the views were so gorgeous! small lakes, snowy summits, nice rivers, all covered with different shades of green, red, white, brown... just so beautiful!
and at the end, after losing our way for sometime, bushwhacking through high bushes and dense thickets, going from moose trail to bear trail, seeing coyotes, finding bear poop, getting a little frightened and on the verge of losing it (at least some of our little group), we ran upon a well-trodden-human-made trail that led to another trail head - not the one we left our car at, but Suzanna came to our rescue, willing to drive us to our car. But since we had an Irish girl with us, there was no choice and she took us first to pizza place that serves also beer...
when we got to the car we had another few moments of embarrassment, when the car wouldn't work. it turned out that the alarm went off, so the battery ended, and we had to fix both things, but Suzanna rescued us again!

than we went back to Kim's, and today i rested and made a SHAKSHUKA and a salad.
(it was written on Aug 30th)

that's about it for now.
have fun!
I know i will!

hi there.

well, just a short one - my first bunch of pictures...
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbNGzFq3Ys2LlQ

the pictures have dates and a basic name indicating where they were taken...

have fun and remember that mirrors do not lie, though cameras do.
it's far more beautiful in reality...

all well that ends well. but if it doesn't end well?

well hi again!

where was i? oh, right, in anchorage. well, i was trying to find partners for hiking, but than...

i forgot my camera. well, i discovered it a minute after i dropped off the ride i had from the head of Denali Hwy to anchorage.
with 411 photos on it.

now what do i know about the driver and his friend?
the driver's name is Sam (Samuel).
the car is a KIA, with a red right-side mirror.
the other one is a very big guy and has a daughter and a mother in a little far away village called marshal and located some 220 miles from one of the ends of the Yukon river.
they are both from Fairbanks (~500 miles north of anchorage), sam just drove his friend to meet the mentioned mom and daughter (they came to anchorage for the weekend).
Sam has a daughter that works in some shop. her name is something like janita.

and there was another hitchhiker in the car - mark - and i have his mobile phone number.
but i couldn't get him.

well, having nothing much to do, and wanting that camera really badly, i spent the next afternoon running all over downtown anchorage (~3.5 hours) searching for a somewhat brownish KIA car with a red right-side mirror. but of course i couldn't find any.

well, in the evening i managed to get mark, and he said he couldn't help me, but when i asked him a little more he remembered the name of the shop where this daughter works. "magic carpet" just outside of Denali park.

i tried to find the shop's phone number on the net but couldn't, but Paul (the guy working in the salmon bake, just outside the Denali park, and took me to prudhoe bay and back) came to my rescue, and gave me the number.
so i called the store and was told she's out of town for the whole weekend (it was Saturday).

so i spent Sunday hanging around in the hostel.
On Monday i called the shop again, and was told she ain't working that day either, so i went with my roommate on a short hike just outside anchorage - "flattop mt.". we were gone for ~7 hours though the trail itself took about 1.5 hours round trip - it took us hours just to get to the trail head and back from there, though there are houses less than a 100m from it (very bad public transportation system). well, at least the hike was nice, the weather was good (it started raining heavily only when we were on the bus, going back to the hostel) and Jeremy, my Australian roommate was very nice too.
Tuesday morning, when i called, i was told she won't come to work until after 14:00. So i couldn't take it anymore, and i hit the road. i got there at around 17, and went to see her.she called her parents, but there was no answer. She said they won't get home before 18, so i waited and when i came back she said she got hold on them, and they still have it... so the next day i went to fairbanks... got a ride with a nice carpenter person from denali to a gas station next to healli (a town a little north to the Denali park) and from there i had a ride with the most nice couple from alabama, that took me with their RV (first ride in an RV!) to Fairbanks, and dropped me off at sandy's work (Sam's wife). But than i discovered that for some reason Sam didn't leave the camera there, as i've asked him to do, but rather he took it with him! well, i waited for some more hours, and when he finally arrived, i took my camera, and i now i only put it down when i'm in the shower... anyway, it's not the end of the story yet... he took me to a ride, saying something about replacing some of the money i had their with a check, and cashing it in the bank. so i thought that this is where we going, but he just drove around, telling me all kinds of facts about Fairbanks ("here used to be the main st.", "that was once the court house", "that the school my wife attended", etc.). after a while, i tried to ask him, but it was very hard for me to understand him (it turned out he's a portorican that grew in Brooklyn, plus he spoke as if i know what's going on).
);


On Monday i called the shop again, and was told she ain't working that day either, so i went with my roommate on a short hike just outside anchorage - "flattop mt.". we were gone for ~7 hours though the trail itself took 1.5 hours round trip - it took us hours just to get to the trail head and back from there, though there are houses less than a 100m from it (very bad public transportation system).
well, at least the hike was nice, the weather was good (it started raining heavily only when we were on the bus, going back to the hostel) and Jeremy, my Australian roommate was very nice too.

Tuesday morning, when i called, i was told she won't come to work until after 14:00.
So i couldn't take it anymore, and i hit the road. i got there at around 17, and went to see her.
she called her parents, but there was no answer.
She said they won't get home before 18, so i waited and when i came back she said she got hold on them, and they still have it...

so the next day i went to fairbanks... got a ride with a nice carpenter person from denali to a gas station next to hili (a town a little north to the Denali park) and from there i had a ride with the most nice couple from alabama, that took me with their RV (first ride in an RV!) to Fairbanks, and dropped me off at sandy's work (Sam's wife).
But than i discovered that for some reason Sam didn't leave the camera there, as i've asked him to do, but rather he took it with him!
well, i waited for some more hours, and when he finally arrived, i took my camera,
and i now i only put it down when i'm in the shower...

anyway, it's not the end of the story yet... he took me to a ride, saying something about replacing some of the money i had their with a check, and cashing it in the bank.
so i thought that this is where we going, but he just drove around, telling me all kinds of facts about Fairbanks ("here used to be the main st.", "that was once the court house", "that the school my wife attended", etc.). after a while, i tried to ask him, but it was very hard for me to understand him (it turned out he's a portorican that grew in Brooklyn, plus he spoke as if i know what's going on).
\nbeing some sort of a hostage due to the fact he used 70$ of mine, i just came along...\n \nwell, at the end we picked up his wife and drove to his home - it turned out he lives in sulcha, which is ~50 miles east of Fairbanks. \nand than we had dinner, i saw "Greek wedding", and spent the night there.\n \nnext day we drove back to Fairbanks, his wife gave me the money back, and he took me a little south of Fairbanks to continue my trip - with my camera!\nby the way, for some reason he thought i\'ll stay 2-3 days at his place. \n \nwell, after that i had a few more adventures (that ended at 17/8/06), but i got to go now, so i hope i\'ll update again soon enough...\n \na few lessons i\'m taking with me\n\n- all well that ends well\n- when you take a ride, it\'s a good thing to talk with the driver. not only it\'s very interesting and lots of fun (usually), but also if you forget something behind...\n- even an RV vehicle can give you a ride\n- there are nice people all over the states. well, in fact, all over the world...\n- I should download my pictures more often.\n \n\n",0]
);
D(["ce"]);
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being some sort of a hostage due to the fact he used 70$ of mine, i just came along...

well, at the end we picked up his wife and drove to his home - it turned out he lives in sulcha, which is ~50 miles east of Fairbanks.
and than we had dinner, i saw "Greek wedding", and spent the night there.

next day we drove back to Fairbanks, his wife gave me the money back, and he took me a little south of Fairbanks to continue my trip - with my camera!
by the way, for some reason he thought i'll stay 2-3 days at his place.

well, after that i had a few more adventures (that ended at 17/8/06), but i got to go now, so i hope i'll update again soon enough...

a few lessons i'm taking with me
- all well that ends well
- when you take a ride, it's a good thing to talk with the driver. not only it's very interesting and lots of fun (usually), but also if you forget something behind...
- even an RV vehicle can give you a ride
- there are nice people all over the states. well, in fact, all over the world...
- I should download my pictures more often.

63% of rain tomorrow

hi again!

let's get to business...

I spent a few days in Fairbanks, trying to organize a bunch of people to go north to Prudhoe bay (the northern point in the US there's a road to). But failing to do that, i just hitchhiked my way there, and after 5 hours i was ~80 miles north of Fairbanks.
but than i got a ride all the way up (and back again, and even to the Denali park!). i swam a little in the arctic ocean - well, swam is too big a world. but i did get my whole body wet...

The ride was with 2 young Americans - Andrei & Paul and it was a lot of fun. we practically drove for hours, until they were to tired, than we slept for a few hours, and kept going. they are both working at the "world famous Salmon Bake" restaurant near the Denali park entrance, and they had 2-3 days off so they just drove all the way there and back again - we spent 3-4 hours at prudhoe bay, including the guided tour to the arctic ocean, and we got back like half an hour before Andrei's shift began...

well, after that i spent 5 days in the amazing Denali national park. the 2.5 first days were just wonderful - though quite hard (there are no trails, and i had a lot of bushwhacking) - the scenery was just fantastic! the mountains have the most gorgeous colors! (i was hiking around a mountain called polychrome).

Than i took the bus to Wonder lake (further in the park, and that was nice), and a little back, and started my next hike in the park. this time it was rainy, foggy and cloudy all day long :(
after 2 nights, i woke up in a drizzle (and some of the water found there way into my tent). but and having permit for yet another night there, i decided to give it another chance, and climbed up for like 2 hours. but than i sat down, looked around, and seeing almost nothing but fog, i just decided to go back, pack my stuff and let it be.
and so it was, though during my packing up the sun came out - but as i thought it was only for 2-3 minutes.
the next day was very sunny...

about wildlife - from the various buses there i saw brown bears, lots of caribous, lots of hawks, owls and stuff and a gray wolf! hiking i only saw doll ship, a caribou and an eagle. oh, and tons of squirrels...

well, i got out, and went to visit Paul (Andrei was away). i spent 2 nights at his cabin, and we had a wonderful little hike just near the entrance of the park to "horseshoe lake" - and we even crossed a beaver dam, and had a great time.

well, next day i hitchhiked south, to the beginning of Denali Hwy, camped there, and the day after, failing to hitchhike along that road (and considering the fog and rain) i went to anchorage, where I'm staying now, resting a little, hoping to find partners for a hike in the area...

bottom lines
- it's a crazy summer by Alaskan standards much colder than usual and with much more rain. and that affect my trip quite a lot cause i found out i hate to walk in the rain (yes, i know, I'm going to New Zealand). but still, it's just great being here. and i do get to see wonderful views, and I'm having so much fun!
- don't trust things like "Alaska hostel association" - it turns out they have no standards, they're quite expensive, and sometimes there are just such better alternatives! my current hostel (arctic adventure hostel) belongs to no organization like that, and it's the best (found it on the net)
- costumer service in the US is so much better than in Israel! i had a problem with the bag i bought a month ago in REI Seattle, so i came to the local REI store, without any receipt, and they just took the bag and gave me a "zikuy" on the whole sum, allowing me to buy whatever i want (which was the exact bag, but new...)
- i decided i can be a weather man. it's easy. 50% chance of rain tomorrow. you can't be wrong... what does it even mean "63% chance of rain"? why not 61%? i mean, the exact situation has never occurred, so what statistics can they run resulting with "63% chance"?

well, i guess that's it for now.

hope you're all happy and that this cease fire will prove to be the right thing, even when looking back years from now