7-10-04 The trip begins to wind down

I headed down to Anchorage today and was hoping to catch a flight seeing trip up to Denali or over the Kenai. I went to what I think is one of the best float plane operators in Alaska, Rusts flying service. They said they were booked for the day and tomorrow as well but they would call my cell if they had a cancellation. I headed down to road toward Seward not really knowing where I was headed, Thinking I might revisit Seward or see Whittier and even possibly going back to Homer (the nice little drinking town with a fishing problem). As I drove along the Turnagain arm of the Cook inlet I noticed that the tide was out. I quickly checked the tide tables and saw that this was a sizeable low tide and that there was a bore tide forecasted for the incoming tide. A bore tide is when there is a large difference in the out going tide and the incoming. The large slug of out going water ends up being pushed by the more massive incoming tide and it creates a wave 3-6 feet high that sweeps all the way up the inlet. But when I checked the tide table I saw that I had just missed the bore again! for the third time! DOH!

I pulled in to the way side and watched these wind surfers as I tried to figure out what and where to go next. All of a sudden I got kind of frustrated that I was kind of stalling out and not seeing any thing new. The last few days had dealt me some bad luck getting tickets in Denali, Flight seeing in Anchorage and Talkeetna and even if I wanted to go to Whittier I couldn't make the last south bound passage through the tunnel tonight but that doesn't matter because all the glacier cruses there were booked. I finally said to my self the hell with this I have been here long enough and there will be other trips so lets start heading south. So I fired up the truck and headed back to Anchorage kept going up the Glenn Hwy past Glennallen and made it all the way to Tok (Toke) where I sacked out behind the visitors center.

Today's Map

Coming in to Glennallen and this time getting a good look at the Wrangall mountains

Heading up toward the Tok cutoff on the Richardson hwy and we get quite a few rainbows.

It is said that rainbows can be a sign of good luck to come and I have a reason to believe that now. Today I have seen at least a dozen or more. Many too faint to get a picture of or I would have posted them here. It was getting late about 11:00 or so and even getting dusk as the sun is dropping farther and farther south each day, I was about 45 miles this side of Tok and there was a semi about a mile ahead of me and an RV about half a mile behind me and I am cruising along at 50 or so. As usual at this time of day I am keeping a close look out for wild life and particularly moose as this is known to be prime moose country in this area. All of a sudden I spot this HUGE wolf just standing on the left side of the road. As I passed by he just watched me go turning his head as I went by, I swear we locked eyes my head turning to watch him and his to watch me. I stopped quickly but not too suddenly because I hoped to get a picture of him and didn't want to spook him. I grabbed my camera and jumped out but he was no where to be seen. The RV by this time had caught up to me and stopped to check on me and to ask what I had seen. I said didn't you see that huge wolf, He was standing right out in the road. They said they hadn't, I got on the CB and asked the trucker if he had seen him and he said nope and that he had been keeping a sharp eye out for moose so he was sure he hadn't been in the road when he passed that spot.

One of the things I wanted to see more than anything in Alaska was a wolf, but I knew that the odds were against it. I had really hoped to get some photos of a wolf but at least I saw one. You might not believe this but it really doesn't matter if you do or not, but I believe that, that wolf showed himself to me on purpose. And I am eternally thankful that he did as it was one of the highlights of my trip and a memory I will treasure for ever.

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