Driving the Alaskan Backcountry

July 29 - 31, 2007

We put the rental car on a ferry from Juneau to Haines and drove through the Yukon territory to make our way to Anchorage. We crossed the Canadian/U.S. border (twice). It was hard to imagine what the landscape might look like during the winter. It was so beautiful and seemed suited for the bright greens. There was water everywhere. I later learned these were called kettles, water-filled pits left behind by retreating glaciers. Tyler and I were fascinated by the “drunken forests”. The black spruce trees are crooked due to the shallow root sytem in the permafrost. We initially thought some trees were toppling over until we read about the black spruce tree’s ability to survive and thrive in the harsh winter. They only look like they’re falling over. According to local lore, most Hollywood movies that are supposedly located in Alaska are actually filmed in British Columbia…because the black spruce tree doesn’t make for an attractive landscape.

Tyler and I disagree.

The rivers were also amazing. They seemed massive. We drove along the Copper River.

We also came across a number of glaciers. And the meadows of flowers were gorgeous.

This entry was posted on October 6, 2007 at 1:12 pm and is filed under travel, pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.