Bloody Antlers

On August 30th we started off the day by visiting an information center in Anchorage on 4th Avenue. The street was pleasantly different from the other modern business style parts of the city. Although different smaller non-chain stores. The building just so happened to be a federal building with some park rangers about. We grabbed a few pamphlets and went on our way.

We started by filling up the tank with fuel and began to head south on Seward highway. I’ve been all around the country and this is the most scenic highway I can recall. Mountain after mountain with seemingly endless landscape panaramas. We stopped many times along the way. The day was set to explore the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.

We arrived at the conservation center and was greeted with a $15 dollar per person entry. We were provided with close views of native wildlife. From moose, wolves, wood bison, bears; both brown and black, snickers the porcupine,  black tailed dear, and even a lynx. Definitely worth the stop. This area kept us excited for hours. Longing to find our own experiences with observing them within their natural habitat.

We continued down Seward highway to search for our first camping spot. About 30 minutes later we came upon Bethas Creek campground, which lies within Chugach National Forest. We were tense as this was our first time camping in grizzly bear country! Luckily a few others showed up and camped in sites near ours. We cooked, laughed, and kept looking over each other shoulders; keeping an eye on our bear mace. Liz read me a bedtime story about Amy Pohler...