Day 53-57: Russian River-Whittier-Anchorage-Chugach Mountains

August 5-9

Day 53. Fishing day. With fishing rod in the box and license picked-up on the way, we drove to Russian River Ferry, crossed Kenai River and joined many other people catching salmon. We were busy all afternoon and did not waste time to take pictures. Everybody around was pulling fish, but not us. Clearly our understanding of the problem and technique were poor. It was interesting experience anyway. We drove to nearby Cooper Creek CG (Russian River CG was full) and cooked veggies for dinner.

Day 54. Next morning we drove back to look at salmon one more time. Walking along Russian River we were rewarded by good sighting (quite long observation) of grizzly bear. It didn’t even have to catch anything, more than enough leftovers (discarded by people) to go through. We then walked to Russian River Falls, nice and easy hike, where we watched many salmon still going upstream, struggling to pass the rapids. Everybody comes here in season to fish as salmon pushes upstream to spawn.

We hit Sterling and Seward Highways knowing this stretch already. The weather changed to rain of different intensity. Stopped at Summit Lodge for late lunch/dinner. Good food. With not so good weather we did not want to cook dinner later. Short breaks in heavier rain helped us settle at Williwaw Campground. It was good campground, many sites to choose from and close to next destination. We just walked in light rain to the creek to explore possible stop on the way back.

Day 55. Next destination: the historic town of Whittier (built from scratch for military purposes). The town can be only accessed through road tunnel which is interesting. Wanted also to see if we could get on a ferry to Valdez. But first, at Portage Lake we got a full taste of different Alaskan weather: cutting rain and strong wind. No chance for a hike to Portage Glacier and no view. We warmed up at the Visitor Center. There was not much to do in Whittier. Rain didn’t help. No luck with ferry. We drove around to get a closer look at some historic buildings and one apartment building where nearly entire town population lives, complete with store, post office, laundry, church and more. It is interesting “town” to see.

We headed back out in the afternoon stopping on the way at viewpoints to look at mountains and glaciers across flooded Portage Valley and then to watch spawning salmon in Williwaw Creek from trail with access to the stream every 100 m or so to peek in. As we were walking between two such points Piotr turned around (instinctively) and saw a medium-size black bear running quietly across the trail 30 m behind us. It was interested in salmon, we guessed, and did not want to be seen. They know how to disappear. We drove in the rain to Anchorage, it was quite tiring. We had better weather on the way in. Stayed at airbnb. Restocking and laundry.

Day 56. We could not take the ferry, but decided to go to Valdez anyway. Started driving east on Glenn Hwy through Chugach Mountains. Just 280 km ride took us most of the day. The highway is scenic with good viewpoints. We planned to walk to quite famous Matanuska Glacier. We knew about private enterprise blocking access to public land and were prepared to pay an entrance fee, but expensive guided tour offering little was the only option. Retreat. Glacier views from the highway and short trail at one of the stops were distant, panoramic but quite good. The weather improved. In late afternoon, we reached good camping spot with great view (Joanna found recommendation somewhere) on short stretch of old road running for a while along paved Lake Louise Rd. We walked it in the morning. Many camping options, but nobody around.

Day 57. In Glenallen we turned south on Richardson Hwy to Valdez. Stopped at Wrangell-St Elias Visitor Center to collect good info about the park and hikes (where to go later) and refill water containers, and then at Tonsina River Lodge for Russian lunch (borscht and pelmeni). Nice weather, easy driving. Next stop: Joanna was hoping to reach the edge of Worthington Glacier, but ice already retreated too far since a few years ago when she read about it on her favorite travel blog. No easy access now. She tried to climb-up, Piotr stayed around the lake as back-up and taking pictures.

At Thompson Pass we just parked at the entrance of a service road and walked-up to the highest point with great views, not really hiking as we spent most of the time watching changing clouds and fog fast running through mountains and valleys. Very nice Blueberry Lake campground was full, except for a couple not so good overflow spots. We decided to continue and somehow found our way on (pipeline) service roads ending at Sheep Creek and we stayed there. An evening runner on local trail was very surprised to see us. We were happy it was not a bear coming out of the bushes as we just started cooking dinner. He was happy we took all (abundant) mosquitoes away from him.

Time Machine: mountain hiking in Poland 1963-1976

Sorting through family documents I came across old hiking log-books (Książeczki GOT PTTK): twelve  multi-day mountain treks in southern Poland and one in Slovakia from 1963 to 1976, and a series of day-hikes in Tatra Mountains in 1964 and 1970. Over 1500km and many major mountain peaks hiked. The map traces roughly connect 30-50 waypoints recorded for each set/trek. We mostly followed established hiking trails and used public transportation only occasionally.  Many local roads were still quite walkable, some  were not even built yet. I remember quite a few names on the map, some viewes and events, but it is all very fuzzy.

Recommended resource: ☞ trail map for mountains in Poland and Slovakia (Mapa Turystyczna)

List of summer treks and day-hikes 1963-1976
YearStartEnd
1963BieszczadyLeskoKomańcza
1964TatryZakopaneday-hikes
Tatry WysokieTatrzanska LomnicaStary Smokovec
Pogórze Przedtatrzanskie-PieninyChochołówSromowce Niżne
1965BeskidyPtaszkowaUstrzyki Górne
1966GorceZabrzeżRabka Zaryte
1967PieninyKrościenkoTylicz
1968Beskid MałySkawceCzernichów
Beskid ŻywieckiRycerka DolnaUjsoły
1969Bieszczady-Beskid ŚlaskiLutowiskaGrybów
1970TatryZakopaneday-hikes
1971Beskid Wyspowy-Beskid Mały-Pogórze RoznowskieWapiennicaCieżkowice
1973Góry Izerskie-Karkonosze-Góry Wałbrzyskie-Kotlina Kłodzka-Góry BystrzyckieŚwieradow ZdroóBystrzyca Kłdzka
1976Beskid ŻywieckiZwardońUjsoły
1976Gorce-Beskid SÄ…deckiNowy TargRytro

Subaru life – part 2 (more improvements)

After initial design and multiple prototypes of our Forester minimalistic camper described in ☞ part 1, and testing on the road we are introducing additional improvements before heading west and north to Canada and Alaska on our longest road trip yet.

  • Quick set-up side-awning. Two telescoping poles and two brackets are attached along and at the ends  of cross-bars. Tarp packed in bag travels in roof box. Two webbing straps with grommets were added to off-the-shelf tarp. 1/4 in fiberglass poles are inserted into tarp channels on each side of the straps to keep the tarp stretched. Machine sawing was necessary. Car-side-end (top in the photo) hooks on pins on top of the brackets, side straps with buckles attach short flap to the poles and car roof rail. At the other end, grommets are hooked on metal tips of the poles which are extended to span the tarp. Short side-straps with grommets at this end can be used for additional vertical poles and/or cords to secure awning to the ground. No light-weight awning would work in strong wind.

 

  • New removable/washable cases for mattress and pilows. All foam pieces are  enclosed in additional inner cases. Comforter(s) is rolled-up with the mattress and pillows are bagged during travel (sometimes loaded in roof-top-box).
  • What goes into the roof-top-box (we could not do without it): folding table, two telescoping poles for awnings, our side-awning tarp, Hasika awning and its “vertical” poles, shovel, tarp and towel (wrapping and silencing), two folding chairs, rakes. We always keep walking poles in the box. Our stove packs in the box as well as recovery traction boards and backpacks with camping gear. Not everything goes on every trip.
  • Roll of plastic tablecloth and cutting board (in dedicated bags) travel on the back shelf. The board serves also as a temporary side-table supported by armrest and plastic strip with a pin attached to dashboard, in case we need mealtime shelter from rain or biting insects.
  • Two short rails were added on top of the back shelf (both sides) for extra attachment points for “stuff” and corner brackets were added to strenghten the shelf/drawer box.
  • Reading lamp is clamped on side-rail above the shelve and hooked-up to power bank. Baskets for small frequently used items are attached to the rails as well – pieces of bungee cord weaved through basket walls hold items down.
  • Three straps attach to buckles mounted on the shelf plus a piece of carpet  wrap around and hold rolled-up mattress.

 

  • The two plastic containers described in part 1, are now used one for kitchen items and one for food storage. All personal belongings are now packed using multiple organizers in easily accessible large duffel bag  sitting on the platform and on driver’s seat at night.

The improvements eliminate/streamline some packing-unpacking and moving stuff around.

Subaru life – part 1

We started thinking about road trip from Chicago to Alaska a while ago. We are hoping to finally make the trip this year, at least part of it to Canadian Rockies. Piotr started designing modifications we would need to make to be able to sleep in our 2014 Forester and have well organized space to load all the stuff. The work started in earnest in spring of 2020 with first parts/equipment purchased in June.  See also ☞ part 2.

There was no way we could make comfortable living space without replacing back seats with a platform extending from and leveled with the trunk floor. Piotr decided to use 30mm aluminum extrusion system (easy to install, modify or disassemble) for the support structure (strong, lightweight and using little space). No modifications were made to the car, no drilling holes for screws, nothing was glued. The design was flexible and many improvements followed. Photos illustrate design and main features. The platform was fully assembled in 2021 and tested for the first time (just 3 nights) on ☞ our trip to Isle Royale. Two plastic containers (with seals and latches to be water/dust-proof, and to keep rodents and pests out) are for food/kitchen and clothing. For the night they are stacked on passenger’s seat and duffel bag goes on drivers’ seat.

Driver’s seat does not have to be moved – Piotr takes longer space behind passenger’s seat which is moved forward for the night. Piotr made cut-to-shape foam mattress and pillows. On ☞ 2021 trip to California, we did not yet have roof-top cargo box:  our backpacks fully packed and ready for John Muir Trail had to be moved around which was rather annoying. They traveled behind rolled mattress, plastic containers and other stuff was on the platform behind front seats. For the night, we placed mesh screens on back windows to keep them slightly (1-3 cm) open (later we added rain protectors). It all already worked quite well.

 

Before long “true” ☞ road trip to the Southwest in 2022, we added shelf (workbench) with drawer, extra mattress memory foam layer, cargo box, straps to hold rolled mattress. The bottom of the drawer on the outside is covered with the same carpet as the platform. Plastic containers, our portable wash station and 20L drinking water container fit under the workbench when mattress is rolled-packed. Surprisingly, clearance between mattress and work bench which looks rather low was not a problem at night. The mesh pocket on the workbench did not work and is no longer used. We packed more tools, spare parts, repair kits and car recovery tools as driving on more remote dirt road was planned. All hidden away in places not really usable for everyday items.

 

Addition of the shelf and drawer was the biggest improvement and time-saver. Finally, we had place for all small, frequently used items, work space to prepare quick meal, place to keep many items within reach at night etc. See-through containers work well. They are easy to move around, keep everything dry and clean, and can serve as side-tables. We learned to keep them closed all the time – a mouse boarded our car when we were cooking dinner and travelled with us for a couple of days. It did not get to our food.  We always travel with portable wash station and now added basket for soap, bug sprays, dishwashing detergent, sunscreen etc., everything easily accessible. Roof-top cargo box makes packing a lot easier and faster (backpacks packed and ready for Buckskin/Paria Canyon hike traveled there out of the way). Hasika awning fits Forester very well and can be easily packed in the cargo box. Piotr shortened legs of the Eurmax canopy so folded it fits snugly behind front seats, but it is heavy and bulky, not good for long trips.

There is quite a bit of packing space below the sleeping platform for items used less frequently.  Air compressor for tires, car battery jump-starter, reserves of paper towels and toilet paper etc. It took us a bit of practice to figure out what to pack where. Space on the floor behind front seats is relatively accessible – we keep extra food there, bottles with drinking water, small cooler. There is flat bag behind passenger seat for small items. And we have mesh pockets on both sides for shoes (up to 3 pairs each), easy to load from the side before shutting doors for the night, or getting different shoes. There is enough space on the platform (with mattress rolled) to load groceries or firewood we pack away or use later in the day.

This is really quite minimalistic life-style – experience from multi-day hikes made the transition easier (Joanna thinks we take too much of everything). We already have a good routine for everything from what stuff to take with us, how and where to pack it to seting-up camp in different environments, preparing our car for the night and packing in the morning, sourcing and cooking food. Being prepared for mechanical problems and emergencies (lucky so far). Good organization and compartmentalization make huge difference. We have been quite lucky with weather. Extended rainy or very cold weather could make living out of Forester camper more challenging.  But there is always a weather forecast to get ready and wait the bad weather out in a motel or guest house, if necessary (we do it every 5-7 days anyway). Piotr is already on the next wave of improvements with new experience from 2024 ☞ Eastern Canada road trip.

Explanation of  shelf installation (in place of standar cargo area cover).

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