Exploring Alaska brings mosquitoes, memories

I think every Alaskan likes to get out there and explore Alaska. And by “Alaskans” I refer to everybody living in Alaska, not Anchorage. It still makes me scratch my head that I know so many people in that city who never travel outside of it.

Glenny and I have always loved road-trips and getting out there to see new things, so she was very happy to move when I came back home in 2007. And over the years we’ve seen many things we loved and some things we liked. Lots of hits, few, if any, “misses.”

Our many trips down to the Kenai have been great. One of the things we miss from Washington state is the big trees, and Seward comes close to seeing those again. Dipnetting on the Kenai, camping in Soldotna, the funky little town of Homer – they are all a blast.

And we always enjoy an excuse to head to Valdez, which is simply a beautiful part of Alaska. Who doesn’t stop at Bridal Veil Falls and snap pictures?

We loaded up the family one year and did the long trek to Kennicott. That trip was kinda so-so. Weather wasn’t that great, and 60 miles of washboard road took their toll on my wife’s patience. But when the weather finally popped out, we had a kick walking around McCarthy.

I’ve lost count of the number of trips we’ve made to Fairbanks. Aside from having what we consider to be the state’s best restaurants, Fairbanks is … meh. Yawn. But the drive there is pretty. I think my favorite part is going through Cantwell and up to the entrance to Denali Park.

But we’d never done the Denali Highway. So when my good friend Jon said he really, really wanted to spend three days to go see it, I was thrilled.

OK, that’s a lie. In reality, I thought, “500-plus miles in three days? That seems more like a hurry-hurry-hurry road trip without much time to relax.” But Jon is a great guy, and we love spending time with him, so if it meant that much to him, we were game. Besides, it was something I hadn’t done yet, and I can’t deny I was curious.

On a Thursday after work we left — four Jeeps — taking advantage of the Alaska summer sun to put as many miles under our belts as possible. On we drove up and up through Sutton, Eureka and finally to Glennallen, where we all pulled over to re-fuel.

Trying to pump gas while dealing with a dense cloud of mosquitos hell-bent on draining you dry is a hoot. A few minutes and a couple hundred swats later, I was back in the Jeep and we pointed her toward Paxson.

We finally made the Denali Highway and found a place to camp at around 1:30 a.m. It was freezing cold and the wind wanted to blow my tent back to the Valley like a Wizard of Oz movie. But we didn’t care — we were exhausted. We didn’t even eat dinner. We just collapsed in the tent and passed out despite the tent furiously whipping about.

Up the next morning and – hallelujah! – the wind had died down and I could tell the sun was shining brightly. I stepped outside to enjoy it and take in the daytime view and into the thickest swarm of mosquitos and flies that I have ever encountered in my life.

I dove back in the tent as Glenny got up saying, “Looks nice out there!” Yep, it is babe. You should go check it out. It’s beautiful. She gave me that look before saying, “What is it? There’s mosquitos out there, isn’t there?” Been married to that woman a long time!

A few dozen bug coils and a can of bug dope and we were ready to wolf down a quick breakfast and spend the next couple of days checking out the Denali Highway’s various scenery. Only there wasn’t “various scenery.” It was the same scenery – beautiful mountains in every direction, which you enjoyed looking at while standing in Shrek’s swamp being annihilated by mosquitos. Even our dog went crazy in the endless swarms.

We didn’t do three days on the Denali Highway. On the second day we tore through to Cantwell, hit the Parks Highway and turned left until we were in our driveway. We shook our heads at the copious amounts of dust all over our gear and decided to go fishing. My wife counted 87 bites on my arms and chest that night.

I think the part that makes me laugh the most is the reaction I get from my Lower 48 friends after posting pictures on my Facebook. “Oh so beautiful!”…. “That is truly God’s country!”

Yep. It’s beautiful alright. You should come to Alaska and go check it out sometime. But I’ll be busy, so you’ll have to ask somebody else. Maybe one of those Princess Tours buses

I saw.

Ben Compton is a Palmer resident and publishes his column as “Compton’s Corner,” the same title used by his grandmother, Phyllis Compton, a longtime Frontiersman columnist. Contact him at bcompton1971@yahoo.com.