Saturday, June 29, 2019
It’s now the morning after the last day of the tour, and as
I write
The final day was probably the most scenic day of cycling. We departed Glenallen in the van and were
driven down the Richardson Highway about 20 miles to begin our 55 mile
ride. It was a day of mountains, streams, some
waterfalls, and rushing waters. Some of
the waters are crystal clear, but others are either
The morning was essentially downhill, but not to a notable
degree. However, as I rode and chatted
with other riders it made
the morning go by pretty quickly. One
thing that was very noticeable today was that as we got closer to Valdez, the
traffic on the Richardson Highway increased.
Of course by East Coast standards it was still pretty light traffic,
with there often being a minute or two between vehicles passing (as opposed to
three or four minutes
At the top of Thompson Pass there was a dirt trail that went
about 400 yards up to the top of a ridge which overlooked the Keystone Canyon
were we were headed. The road down to
the Canyon headed down in the opposite direction for about a mile, then went
through a 180 degree turn and continued its descent. For almost ten miles it was unnecessary to
pedal, with speeds down the hill in excess of 30 mph for those who didn’t ride
their brakes.
Finally at the bottom of the steep descent the road came up along the Lowe River. This river ran swiftly with gray colored water. It turned into a narrow canyon where we saw several kayakers braving the rushing waters. Several of us sped up trying to get ahead of them to get their picture. I was barely able to and then turned my attention to Bridal Falls which plummets several hundred feet down to the river below. Less than a quarter of a mile, after going around a turn to the right between the canyon walls we came to a pullout area at Horsetail Falls. We all pulled in there, marveled at the plunging water, took a group photo, and the bicycling portion of our trip came to an end.
In total, I rode 378 miles (would have had 400 miles if I had not needed to take a leg out of the trip on day 3) in 30 hours and 5 minutes. That's an average of 12.6 mph. I now have 2,226.25 miles this year.
On balance it was a very good tour. The biggest disappointment was that most of
the people did not get the chance to see a moose, with the exception of two
people on the third day who saw one of the big fellows come out on the road and
almost get hit by a car. But the moose
safely ran off and most of us never got the chance to see it. The closest I got was the chance to pose with
the moose statue in front of the lodge in Glenallen.
What made this tour so good was that instead of doing the
normal “tourist route” of riding a bus up the Parks Highway to Denali, staying
at a modern motel, and being herded in groups, we got to see the “real”
Alaska. A couple of nights we stayed in
cabins and comfortable lodges. We did
not eat in hotels. We ate in local
restaurants that Walt and Greg Rowland have discovered in their years of taking
cyclists and multisport tourists around the state. And by being on the bicycles we got to hear
the sounds of nature in Alaska—rushing waters, birds, and at times the most
pleasing sound of all. Silence.
We left Valdez about 45 minutes ago and are slowly making
our way out toward the Prince William Sound for the trip across to
Whittier. It’s easy to see why this
short trip takes about five hours. We
seem to be moving at the speed of a hybrid bicycle! As we sail down through the Valdez Arm toward
the Sound, there are still some traces of snow visible near the peaks of the
cliffs, but now the predominant color has become green.
Although this tour was disappointing in regard to moose
sightings, near the midway point we were treated to a whale sighting off in the
distance on the right, and soon after we enjoyed some even closer action as a
couple of porpoises paced the boat, breaking to the surface several times, no
more than about 25 feet off the right side.
As I have mentioned earlier in this blog, with the trip to
Alaska I’ve now been in all 50 states.
The states in which I’ve cycled now total 32, but it’s time to turn my
attention to making all of the arrangements for two more trips this summer—one
to Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maine in either late July or early August, and
a late August trip on which I hope to bring the cycled states total to 43, with
the addition of Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana
and Michigan. Included on this trip will
be ballgames in Atlanta and Detroit, leaving only four ballparks and seven
cycling states to plan for in 2020.
Tomorrow it’s off to Seward, Alaska on the Alaska Railroad
train and the Kenai Fjords National Park cruise, before returning to Anchorage
and flying back to Washington on Monday.
Although there will be no cycling involved, I will post some pictures of tomorrow's trip and then give everybody a break for awhile until I firm up plans for states 33-35!
Bruce
