Seward is literally at the end of the road. My outbound leg ended there. The return leg started on the ferry to Valdez. Then it was 692 miles on the road and 25,692 vertical feet of assent and desent on the way. That was like climbing Denali, or about 20 total hours of climbing plus another 50 hours of riding on the flat. At 7 hours per day that comes out at 10 days of serious riding. Piece of cake.
I camped at Forest Acres Campground, out in the woods (duh!) and a couple of miles from the main part of Seward. I discovered there was a free shuttle bus and I took it downtown. According to my notes, I had an Americano (coffee) and a big bran muffin when I got there. Then I picked up my ticket for the ferry to Valdez at the ferry building.
I spotted the Alaska Sealife Center a few blocks away and decided to go in. It’s right on the water’s edge and it’s the main attraction at Seward. The grand opening had been in May. The main exhibits are a Seabird Aviary, a Harbor Seal Habitat, and the Steller Sea Lion Habitat. The best aspect was big underwater viewing windows.
I can still see a big Sea Lion swimming around in his pool. He swam fast and went around and around up over a submerged rock and back down past the window. He took a breath on each pass and zoomed down past the window to look at all of us.
I wandered around town, bought a couple of books, and spotted a barber shop. I needed a haircut so I went in. The barber told me he wasn’t a real barber but he would do his best. I said I wanted it short and he asked if I wanted it Ross Perot style. What the heck, that was all he could do and it would grow back by the time I got home.
The intermittent rain turned to rain so I caught the shuttle back to camp. I intended to come back to town for dinner, but the shuttle didn’t show up. So I put on my rain gear and rode to a McDonalds along the highway. I had a Big Mac and returned to camp to start reading one of my books.
It was raining lightly the next morning. I put on my rain gear again and rode down to the ferry. We cruised along some cliffs as we left the harbor. There were hundreds of Puffins flying all around. Their dramatic coloring was quite a sight.
We came across a whale out in the open sea and watched him spouting along for a while. About 25 miles before we got to Valdez, we went into an inlet to see the Columbia Glacier. There were many small icebergs before we got to the glacier so we slowly weaved our way up to it. That little side trip was quite a treat. Of course, the glacier is now a shadow of its former self.
It was about 11:00 pm when we got to Valdez. I went right to the campground in town, but it was full. I asked a camper there if there were any places out of town to camp. He said there weren’t, but that many people went up in the Mineral Creek Preserve, even though camping wasn’t allowed there.
So I asked myself, “Self. If everybody else does it, why not me?” I had to put my tent up in the dark because dense clouds had cut off the light, but I was home and dry. There were no trees, so I left my food on the ground. It was OK in the morning, probably because I was well off the beaten path.
Bicycle touring is a 24/7 kind of endeavor. You need to balance and pay attention to many elements.
Thinking back to my journey and looking back at what I’ve been writing put the elements in perspective for me. I saw them as an overlay on Maslow’s triangle.
Much of my story here has been about access to clean water and ample food (I ate about 5,000 calories per day.) These elements of touring put particular emphasis at the bottom layer of Maslow’s triangle. Shelter and protection from the weather come next in importance. You can’t afford to make mistakes there while touring either.
I’ve written quite a bit about my chance encounters on the road, and those fit into the social level of the triangle. It would have been mighty lonely after a week or so without them. It was natural to capture and write about them.
When you put all those elements together you end up with a steady flow of challenges matched by short-term accomplishments, plus steady progress toward a long-term goal. You might sense that long distance bicycle touring can be very satisfying. I miss it greatly.
Didit.Live 