A Journey to the Last Frontier (Day 2)

WARNING: The pictures below do not do the actual scenery justice. I am also very much so not a photographer. End of warning.

Train Day! Cho Cho! My first full day in Alaska and I’m ready to see what makes this state so special. I make my way down to the train station at the lovely 5:45 a.m. (sun has been up for almost 2 hours at this point) to take the train from Anchorage to Seward. I head to my train car and seat and get ready for the 4 hour journey ahead of me. This is where I tell you that I have become completely sold on train travel. Why aren’t we doing it more! You get to sit back and relax, no worrying about driving or needing to pay attention to your surroundings and it often times gives you a different perceptive of views that you just don’t get to appreciate from the air. I definitely have added a few different train trips to my bucket list after this trip. And just like that we somehow have a whole paragraph about my hidden love for trains. Ok back to Alaska.

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I wasn’t really sure what to expect for the train ride. I mean my experience with trains kind of revolved around the Amtrak from Milwaukee to Chicago and the no AC Metras in Chicago. I had googled Alaska Railway to get an idea of what kind of train I would be on and the possible views but none of it could hold a candle to what I actually saw. As we started heading south, we found ourselves riding along the Turnagain Arm, the main body of water that Anchorage is settled against. It’s rather difficult to explain the true beauty that Alaska is. My face was pressed up to the window the entire time unable to spare a single second of not looking. The staff who was in charge of our train did an amazing job of letting us know about different facts/comments while we passed certain landmarks and making sure we had enough time to get a picture if there was a wildlife spotting. Being able to see moose, bald eagles, mountain goats, and bears all from my train car was one of my favorite parts.

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The reason I was on the train in the first place was that I was getting picked up in the small coastal town of Seward for an all day tour learning about the Iditarod. For those that didn’t have an Iditarod week every year during library in elementary school, the Iditarod is a 938 mile dog sledding race from Anchorage to Nome. It’s every year starting in early March and usually takes the mushers 8-15 days to complete. The Musher (human) and their 14 dogs, sled and sleep through some really wicked environments during the Iditarod. One of the craziest facts that I learned about this race is that the dogs will burn almost 10,000 – 26,000 calories every 24 hours when running this race. They have multiple check points to grab supplies along the race and at each check point they send over 1,000 pounds of food for the dogs. Unreal.

The tour I was on was located at The Seavey Family’s ranch where they board their many, many dogs. The Seavey’s have won the Iditarod more than 8 times between the father and son, so they know a little bit about dog sledding. While we were at the ranch we got to learn about the Iditarod in more details from a few of the mushers, experience having to put on all the materials that are needed to keep both the musher and the dogs safe, actually get to mush a team of 14 dogs through different trails around the ranch and my favorite part, play with 3 week old puppies that will one day go and run the race. The tour brochure had me at play with puppies. I did ask if I was able to adopt one and was turned down. Multiple times. I would make such a good sled dog mom but whatever. Since I was one of only two solo travelers doing this tour, I found myself on the back of the sled with the main musher helping direct the dogs through the trail. Wonder if I can add that to my skills list on LinkedIn. Musher apprentice.

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Once our long day of hanging out with dogs had come to an end we had a few extra hours before we had to be back for our train. Our guide brought us to this little river bend where we got to see hundreds of salmon swimming up the river and jumping from one level to the next making their way back to the ocean. After hanging with the fishies we traveled to Exit Glacier and did a quick hike to the lookout point. It was crazy to see how much the glacier has shrunk in size over the years. I’m glad I was able to go when I could and see these glaciers as who knows where they’ll be in another ten years.

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Time for train ride part 2. I would say the way back was a little bit more reflective and peaceful for people. It was time to sit back and take a little nap before being glued back to the window. I really wanted to watch Brother Bear after going through the Alaska Wilderness. Felt like that was the vibe. Nothing like a little Phil Collins to set the mood. Of everything I did in my short trip I think taking the train was one of my favorite parts. I would recommend it to anyone who is able to make their way up to Alaska to take the train in some way. It goes to many locations all over the state and is an experience I am so glad I ended up doing. Stay tune for Day 3!

Until Next Time, The Library Abroad