The End of The World
Yesterday we arrived at McCarthy (technically a footbridge and a half a mile across from Mcarthy). It took us 4 hours on a gravel road and, as we found out, majority of people who visit McCarthy and Kennecott fly in, as they are worried about the condition of the road (and their car insurance does not cover gravel roads). The views on the road were astonishing (you must all be quite surprised to read it, as I haven't mentioned 'beautiful' or 'breathtaking' views even once. The lodging conditions at our accomodation are pretty crude but the view makes up for it. (Once again, the only word suitable to be used here is indeed 'breahtaking). We can actually see glacier from our cosy wooden cabin.
Yesterday evening was pretty uneventful but we did manage to make some acquaintances with a couple from Israel and played scrabble, trying to keep warm. (Temperature fell to 5 degrees). We also went to McCarthy and felt thrill when walking through some gooseberry bushes. (Apparently, bears adore feasting on gooseberries and they can consume up to 250 thousands(!) gooseberries per day). McCarthy turned out to be slightly disappointing. We didn't manage to find a grocery store(which is pretty problematic considering we don't have breakfast here) and there wasn't much apart from two restaurants (and 'restaurant' is not a good word to use here). Food was way overpriced and its quality was nothing compared to wonderful halibut burgers we had in Talkeetna. We shouldn't have been surprised, however, considering the fact that McCarthy used to be a brothel set up for copper mine workers from Kennecott, who couldn't amuse themselves in Kennecott due to strict rules. Kennecott, which we saw today, turned out to be a charming town with old mill towering over it
and Mount Blackburn, the fifth highest mountain in the United States as well as impressive glaciers in the background.
Today we went on glacier hike. The whole hike lasted 4.5 hours and we did 12 kilometeres and every minute of it was absolutely worth it. About half an hour into the hike, our guide suddenly stopped and she pointed towards black bear devouring gooseberries. The bear was enormous and looked quite cute with its yellowish ears and beautiful smile-like expression. Apparently, one can tell grizzlies(also known as 'brown bears', as I've already mentioned in previous posts) apart from black bears by their looks. Grizzlies look 'mean', as if they were angry, whereas black bears look cute, just like the toys kids play with. Once again, nature shows that looks can be deceiving indeed.
We also learnt that the poohs of the bears (attached) say a lot about their diet- the red ones means that the bear is a veggie and prefers gooseberries over salmon, whereas normal ones point to a meat-eater. We saw many of those on our trail, a sign that bears were close. Apparently, at the moment there are over 60 black bears in tMcCarthy-Kennicott area and 8 grizzly bears.
After a two-mile hike through beautiful streams and forests with gooseberries we arrived at the glacier. We had to put 'crampons', which felt funny, especially at first. A little bit like walking in ice-skates but definitely more stable. When we reached the glacier we thought we understod what Neil Armstrong felt when he stepped on the Moon.(Of course, don't get me wrong, no one here is comparing themselves to Armstrong!) The landscape was moon-like, we were there alone and the crampons made a wonderful cracking sound beneath our feet. Every step was an adventure, especially when going downhill when one had to be very careful not to slide down the glacier. We spent over two hours hiking on the glacier, admiring lakes and holes made by sliding rocks (one was so dangerous that we had to approach it one by one, being closely supervised by the guide), it looked like something straight out of Dante's Nine Circles od Hell- if anyone was to fall down, nothing could be done to help the unlucky person. We drank water straight out of glacier, purer and tastier than even Evian and ate lunch being surrounded by ice rocks. Funnily enough, on our way back we bumped into an Israeli couple that we met few days ago while staying in Copper Moose Lodge. (that breakfast!!). They've also seen the bear but the bear must have had enough of gooseberries for one day and on our way back we didn't see it. (Although as our guide said, it's highly probable that it was very close, just lurking around in the bushes).
Kennicott with its good food was like bonanza. Far more exciting than copper or gold could be at that time of day for us.
Right now, we are sitting in our car, trying to catch Wifi which comes and goes with the wind and waiting for 'midnight shower' of comets.
Koniec Swiata.
Wczoraj dotarlismy do McCarthy (zeby byc bardziej precyzyjnym- znajdujemy sie pol mili od McCarthy, oddziela nas takze most dla pieszych). Dojazd zajal nam cztery godziny, mimo iz odleglosc wynosila zaledwie 64 mile. Wynika to z tego, ze do McCarthy prowadzi tylko zwirkowa droga z wieloma wybojami (takich drog nie obejmuje ubezpieczenie), wiec wiekszosc ludzi (tych, ktorzy moga sobie na to pozwolic) przylatuje awionetka. Widoki byly powalajace (moznaby uznac, iz naduzywam tego slowa ale naprawde inaczej sie ich opisac nie da). Warunki w naszej 'kabinie' sa bardzo surowe ale widoki na lodowiec (zaprawde POWALAJACE!) wynagradzaja wszystkie niewygody (nawet brak sniadania). Z naszej drewnianej, przytulnej kabiny mozemy podziwiac najprawdziwszy lodowiec!
Wczoraj wieczor byl bez wiekszych przygod- wybralismy sie na spacer do McCarthy (i prawde mowiac bardzo rozgladalismy sie po drodze zarosnietej krzakami z ich ulubionymi poziomka- gooseberries, czy nie grasuja w okolicy. Podobno misie potrafia zjesc dziennie(!) 2500 tysiecy tych owocow. Nic dziwnego, ze sa takie potezne. McCarthy troche nas rozczarowal- nie udalo nam sie znalezc skelpu spozywczego, a oprocz dwoch chatek na krzyz znalezlismy tylko dwie restauracje, a slowo 'restauracja' takze uzyte tu jest na wyrost. Jedzenie bylo niedobre i bardzo drogie. Ale nie ma co sie dziwic. McCarthy bylo kiedys, brzydko mowiac, burdelem, w ktorym zmeczeni pracownicy kopalni miedzi z Kennicott mogli na chwile zapomniec o codziennych troskach. Miejsc takich w
Kennicott nie bylo ze wzgledu na wyzsze standardy moralnosci, jakie rzadzily tym miasteczkiem. Kennicott, ktore zobaczylismy dzisiaj, bardzo nam sie spodobalo. Drewniane domki z wielkim mlynem gorujacym nad miastem i lodowcami w tle oraz piata co do wysokosci gorac w Ameryce Polnocnej, Mt Blackburn, robi niesamowite wrazenie.
Dzis wybralismy sie na hike po lodowcu. Cala wyprawa trwala 4.5 godziny i przemierzylismy 12 km ale kazda minuta byla tego warta. Okolo pol godziny po rozpoczeciu marszu, nasza przewodnik zatrzymala sie i wskazala na buszujacego w krzakach gooseberries misia. Powiedziala, ze jest to black bear i ze latwo mozna go odroznic od grizzly'ego patrzac na ich mordki- black bear ma zoltawe uszka i 'slodka' mordke, podczas gdy grizzly wyglada 'wrednie'. I cos w tym jest. Mis, ktorego widzielismy przypominal wlasnie...misia, pluszaka, ktorym chetnie kazdy by sie pobawil. Wygladal zupelnie inaczej niz grizzly, ktore widzielismy pare dni temu. Kolejny raz natura pokazuje, ze wyglad moze byc bardzo zludny. Pani przewodnik pokazala nam takze niedzwiedzie odchodzy i wyjasnila, ze czerwone sa zostawiane przez misi wegetarian - tych, ktore zywia sie glownie gooseberries, podczas, gdy normalne naleza do miesozercow. Odchodow na sciezce bylo wiele, co swiadczy o tym, ze jest to terytorium niedzwiedzi. Podobno w okolicy Kennicott i McCarthy grasuje 60 czarnych niedzwiedzi i 8 grizzly.
Po dwumilowym hike'u przez piekne gory, strumienie i lasy pelne pysznych dla misiow poziomek, dotralismy do lodowca. Przed wejsciem musielismy nalozyc kolczaste 'crampons', czyli metalowe kolce, ktore pozwalaja na wspinaczke po lodowcu. Gdy juz tam dotarlismy, zrozumielismy co musial czuc Neil Armstrong (a raczej wydaje nam sie, ze zrozumielismy). Krajobraz byl zupelnie ksiezycowy, nie z tej ziemi, a wokol nas nie bylo nikogo, tylko czubki lodowcow. Nasze buty wydawaly wesole trzeszczace dzwieki i przez nastepne dwie godziny cieszylismy sie pieknym sloncem i wspaniala wedrowka po lodowcu. Zobaczylismy zrodelka, z ktorych pilismy czystsza i lepsza wode od Eviana oraz dziury, ktore przypominaly dziewiec kregow z Piekla Dantego. Do jednej z nich moglismy sie tylko zblizac pojedynczo. Gdyby ktokolwiek wpadl, nie moznaby go w zaden sposocb ratowac. Gdy pochylilismy sie nad ta przepascia zrozumielismy dlaczego- nie bylo nawet widac dna.Zjedlismy takze uroczy lunch w otoczeniu lodowych skal. Co ciekawe, w drodze powrotnej, wpadlismy na pare z Izraela, ktora poznalismy dwa dni temu przy sniadaniu w Copper Moose Lodge (ach to sniadanie!). Opowiedzieli nam, ze takze widzieli 'naszego' niedzwiedzia. Jednak w drodze powrotnej juz go nie bylo i pani przewodnik powiedziala, zebysmy sie trzymali razem, bo nie wiadomo gdzie sie teraz znajduje, a mzoe byc tak, ze czai sie gdzies blisko w krzakach. Dodala jednak, ze niedzwiadki nie przepadaja za duzymi grupami (bylo nas osiem osob) i raczej zejda nam z drogi, choc nigdy nic nie wiadomo. ( to ostatnie nie bylo zbyt pocieszajace). Kennicott ze swoim dobrym jedzeniem wydal nam sie bonanza i byl znacznie bardziej ekscytujacy niz zloto czy miedz (oczywiscie w tamym momencie).
Teraz siedzimy w samochodzie, probujac zlapac wifi, zeby opublikowac tego posta i czekamy na 'deszcz komet', ktory ma nastapic tuz po polnocy.
Yesterday evening was pretty uneventful but we did manage to make some acquaintances with a couple from Israel and played scrabble, trying to keep warm. (Temperature fell to 5 degrees). We also went to McCarthy and felt thrill when walking through some gooseberry bushes. (Apparently, bears adore feasting on gooseberries and they can consume up to 250 thousands(!) gooseberries per day). McCarthy turned out to be slightly disappointing. We didn't manage to find a grocery store(which is pretty problematic considering we don't have breakfast here) and there wasn't much apart from two restaurants (and 'restaurant' is not a good word to use here). Food was way overpriced and its quality was nothing compared to wonderful halibut burgers we had in Talkeetna. We shouldn't have been surprised, however, considering the fact that McCarthy used to be a brothel set up for copper mine workers from Kennecott, who couldn't amuse themselves in Kennecott due to strict rules. Kennecott, which we saw today, turned out to be a charming town with old mill towering over it
Today we went on glacier hike. The whole hike lasted 4.5 hours and we did 12 kilometeres and every minute of it was absolutely worth it. About half an hour into the hike, our guide suddenly stopped and she pointed towards black bear devouring gooseberries. The bear was enormous and looked quite cute with its yellowish ears and beautiful smile-like expression. Apparently, one can tell grizzlies(also known as 'brown bears', as I've already mentioned in previous posts) apart from black bears by their looks. Grizzlies look 'mean', as if they were angry, whereas black bears look cute, just like the toys kids play with. Once again, nature shows that looks can be deceiving indeed.
We also learnt that the poohs of the bears (attached) say a lot about their diet- the red ones means that the bear is a veggie and prefers gooseberries over salmon, whereas normal ones point to a meat-eater. We saw many of those on our trail, a sign that bears were close. Apparently, at the moment there are over 60 black bears in tMcCarthy-Kennicott area and 8 grizzly bears.
After a two-mile hike through beautiful streams and forests with gooseberries we arrived at the glacier. We had to put 'crampons', which felt funny, especially at first. A little bit like walking in ice-skates but definitely more stable. When we reached the glacier we thought we understod what Neil Armstrong felt when he stepped on the Moon.(Of course, don't get me wrong, no one here is comparing themselves to Armstrong!) The landscape was moon-like, we were there alone and the crampons made a wonderful cracking sound beneath our feet. Every step was an adventure, especially when going downhill when one had to be very careful not to slide down the glacier. We spent over two hours hiking on the glacier, admiring lakes and holes made by sliding rocks (one was so dangerous that we had to approach it one by one, being closely supervised by the guide), it looked like something straight out of Dante's Nine Circles od Hell- if anyone was to fall down, nothing could be done to help the unlucky person. We drank water straight out of glacier, purer and tastier than even Evian and ate lunch being surrounded by ice rocks. Funnily enough, on our way back we bumped into an Israeli couple that we met few days ago while staying in Copper Moose Lodge. (that breakfast!!). They've also seen the bear but the bear must have had enough of gooseberries for one day and on our way back we didn't see it. (Although as our guide said, it's highly probable that it was very close, just lurking around in the bushes).
Kennicott with its good food was like bonanza. Far more exciting than copper or gold could be at that time of day for us.
Right now, we are sitting in our car, trying to catch Wifi which comes and goes with the wind and waiting for 'midnight shower' of comets.
Koniec Swiata.
Wczoraj wieczor byl bez wiekszych przygod- wybralismy sie na spacer do McCarthy (i prawde mowiac bardzo rozgladalismy sie po drodze zarosnietej krzakami z ich ulubionymi poziomka- gooseberries, czy nie grasuja w okolicy. Podobno misie potrafia zjesc dziennie(!) 2500 tysiecy tych owocow. Nic dziwnego, ze sa takie potezne. McCarthy troche nas rozczarowal- nie udalo nam sie znalezc skelpu spozywczego, a oprocz dwoch chatek na krzyz znalezlismy tylko dwie restauracje, a slowo 'restauracja' takze uzyte tu jest na wyrost. Jedzenie bylo niedobre i bardzo drogie. Ale nie ma co sie dziwic. McCarthy bylo kiedys, brzydko mowiac, burdelem, w ktorym zmeczeni pracownicy kopalni miedzi z Kennicott mogli na chwile zapomniec o codziennych troskach. Miejsc takich w
Dzis wybralismy sie na hike po lodowcu. Cala wyprawa trwala 4.5 godziny i przemierzylismy 12 km ale kazda minuta byla tego warta. Okolo pol godziny po rozpoczeciu marszu, nasza przewodnik zatrzymala sie i wskazala na buszujacego w krzakach gooseberries misia. Powiedziala, ze jest to black bear i ze latwo mozna go odroznic od grizzly'ego patrzac na ich mordki- black bear ma zoltawe uszka i 'slodka' mordke, podczas gdy grizzly wyglada 'wrednie'. I cos w tym jest. Mis, ktorego widzielismy przypominal wlasnie...misia, pluszaka, ktorym chetnie kazdy by sie pobawil. Wygladal zupelnie inaczej niz grizzly, ktore widzielismy pare dni temu. Kolejny raz natura pokazuje, ze wyglad moze byc bardzo zludny. Pani przewodnik pokazala nam takze niedzwiedzie odchodzy i wyjasnila, ze czerwone sa zostawiane przez misi wegetarian - tych, ktore zywia sie glownie gooseberries, podczas, gdy normalne naleza do miesozercow. Odchodow na sciezce bylo wiele, co swiadczy o tym, ze jest to terytorium niedzwiedzi. Podobno w okolicy Kennicott i McCarthy grasuje 60 czarnych niedzwiedzi i 8 grizzly.
Po dwumilowym hike'u przez piekne gory, strumienie i lasy pelne pysznych dla misiow poziomek, dotralismy do lodowca. Przed wejsciem musielismy nalozyc kolczaste 'crampons', czyli metalowe kolce, ktore pozwalaja na wspinaczke po lodowcu. Gdy juz tam dotarlismy, zrozumielismy co musial czuc Neil Armstrong (a raczej wydaje nam sie, ze zrozumielismy). Krajobraz byl zupelnie ksiezycowy, nie z tej ziemi, a wokol nas nie bylo nikogo, tylko czubki lodowcow. Nasze buty wydawaly wesole trzeszczace dzwieki i przez nastepne dwie godziny cieszylismy sie pieknym sloncem i wspaniala wedrowka po lodowcu. Zobaczylismy zrodelka, z ktorych pilismy czystsza i lepsza wode od Eviana oraz dziury, ktore przypominaly dziewiec kregow z Piekla Dantego. Do jednej z nich moglismy sie tylko zblizac pojedynczo. Gdyby ktokolwiek wpadl, nie moznaby go w zaden sposocb ratowac. Gdy pochylilismy sie nad ta przepascia zrozumielismy dlaczego- nie bylo nawet widac dna.Zjedlismy takze uroczy lunch w otoczeniu lodowych skal. Co ciekawe, w drodze powrotnej, wpadlismy na pare z Izraela, ktora poznalismy dwa dni temu przy sniadaniu w Copper Moose Lodge (ach to sniadanie!). Opowiedzieli nam, ze takze widzieli 'naszego' niedzwiedzia. Jednak w drodze powrotnej juz go nie bylo i pani przewodnik powiedziala, zebysmy sie trzymali razem, bo nie wiadomo gdzie sie teraz znajduje, a mzoe byc tak, ze czai sie gdzies blisko w krzakach. Dodala jednak, ze niedzwiadki nie przepadaja za duzymi grupami (bylo nas osiem osob) i raczej zejda nam z drogi, choc nigdy nic nie wiadomo. ( to ostatnie nie bylo zbyt pocieszajace). Kennicott ze swoim dobrym jedzeniem wydal nam sie bonanza i byl znacznie bardziej ekscytujacy niz zloto czy miedz (oczywiscie w tamym momencie).
Teraz siedzimy w samochodzie, probujac zlapac wifi, zeby opublikowac tego posta i czekamy na 'deszcz komet', ktory ma nastapic tuz po polnocy.
No comments:
Post a Comment