I've seen so many amazingly beautiful things in the last few weeks that I think I'm becoming desensitized.  Oh, there's another lake with mist coming off of it.  Oh, there's another river with powerful rapids.  Oh, there's another snow-capped mountain range.  But today, I saw a new one for this trip, a glacier.  I wasn't really expecting to see it, and that was the cool part.  A watched pot never boils and an expected glacier never...um...moves.

I had planned on waking up early (yeah right) and heading east on the Denali Highway, a mostly-gravel road that travels east-west and links up AK-3 and AK-4.  It's supposed to be in a good condition and my dad had read that it's supposed to show you what Alaska used to look like.  I was looking forward to the trip, that is, until I woke up and heard rain outside my window.  Dirt/gravel roads + rain = mud...yeah, you remember. I decided to at least drive up a little ways and see how bad it was, but after fishtailing twice I said, "No thank you" and turned around.  There was another route to where I wanted to go, and I'd ridden on about as much mud as I could stand for one trip. Yeah, I know, I'm a big sissy...

As I took the road south towards Anchorage, I went in and out of rain, and almost caught a view of Mt. McKinley off in the distance.  For being the tallest peak in North America, and having the greatest rise from base to peak in the world, it sure is an elusive bugger. I drove through Wasilla and turned east onto AK-1, the Glenn Highway.  I didn't really know what to expect from this section as I hadn't really planned on coming this way, but I was blown away, (almost literally).  The views were spectacular, starting with Hatcher Pass and ending with views of Wrangell-St. Elias in the distance.  The highlite of this run was the Matanuska Glacier.  Glaciers are incredible things and no matter how many times you've seen one in person, you still can't help but wonder at it's immense size, power and history.  They shape, carve and otherwise alter the landscape like slow motion wood carving.  (The glacier near Kluane Lake in the Yukon actually altered the flow of it, turning its inlet into an outlet.)  I've been on and near glaciers in the past but am still struck by the sight of them.  The not so fun part of this journey was the rain.  I caught some pretty good downpours, one of which set in as I was waiting in line at a construction site. 

After I passed the glacier I entered a wide open stretch where the winds were so strong I had to lean into them to maintain a straight line.  Normally on bikes you lean only when you want to turn...here it was like I was in one, constant, straight turn.  As I neared Glennallen at the end of AK-1, I came across two not so pleasant things.  First, I saw a large, black wall of rain up ahead...(great, that should be fun), and second, I passed a scene where a moose had just been hit.  Nothing gory...just sad.  They get confused when the get on the road and don't know what to do with cars.  With thunder and lighting up ahead, I began a race to Glennallen in the hopes that I would make it there before the rain set in heavy.  I lost.  I finally found a gas station to wait out the worst of it and ended up sticking around the town for a dinner.  I met, and ended up having a great conversation with a couple from Salt Lake City.  There names were Wayne and Ellen and they were gracious enough to invite me over to their table after we had all eaten.  We had the common bond of a nice, but slow and forgetful waitress.  (I've met so many great people on this trip...Wayne and Ellen, Jerry and Mary Ellen on the Dalton Highway, Scott and Andy, Adam, Rick at the B&B in Cantwell (I hope I remembered his name right...I'm terrible with names), David and his Dad down in Fairbanks, the guy at the Coldfoot visitor's center (see, I can't remember his name), and so many more.  If any of you are reading this, thanks for making my trip so much fun, and may your own adventures be good and safe.)

So, now I'm at a little, one-room cabin near Wrangell-St. Elias, typing this out and hoping that the park will be rain free in the morning.  I'm going to post this in a second and then maybe write another one in the morning, addressing some of the questions I've received here but haven't answered.  Also, I was thinking it would be fun to have a little "Ask the Biker" deal where you can ask questions about what making a trip on a bike is like, i.e. "what do you do when you have to sneeze?" or "does your butt ever go numb?" or "how are you so ruggedly good looking?"...things like that.  So, ask away, and I'll try to respond promptly.  Video of the Glacier below, as well as pictures from the drive.  Oh, and I added the video to yesterday's post...and, I think I'll be in Canada tomorrow night so I'm not sure how often the posts will be coming at that point.  Thanks again for reading and sharing my trip with me.  I can't answer all your comments but I do read them, and laugh at most, except for the ones that aren't funny.  Those ones cause me to cry.