If you find pictures more expressive than words, we recommend going directly to the gallery. Otherwise, here is a detour via the text…
Our journey through Alaska so far has been nothing more than a significant detour. If we had travelled directly from Anchorage to Palmer, it would have taken us half a day. However, it took us two weeks.

Staying with Warmshowers host Stacey in Anchorage was once again a stroke of luck. A warm bed and fluffy towels were waiting for us, and the food supplies were designed for big eaters. We lacked for nothing at Stacey’s; she fed us wonderfully and provided us with lots of helpful tips and route suggestions. Her enormous enthusiasm for Alaska was so refreshing that it immediately infected us!

Our top priority during our stay in Anchorage was to add two bear sprays and two bear canisters to our equipment for the safe storage of our provisions. We kept sightseeing in the beautifully situated city and its surroundings brief, as we “had” to get on our bikes to be in Hope on time. We couldn’t have asked for better conditions for our first days of riding in Alaska: mild temperatures, cloudless skies, and a tailwind. We couldn’t stop marveling at the magnificent snow-covered mountains and made countless photo stops.

Stacey and her adventure buddy Tony have invited us to camp with them and their friends in Hope over the weekend, feast on moose burgers, and attend a concert. When we arrived in the village, we were greeted by Salome and Dan, a lovely Swiss couple. The two have been traveling by bike since 2019, with interruptions due to COVID-19, and had also been guests at Stacey’s just a few days earlier. They introduced us to the secrets of Hope, showed us where to camp, the cleanest outhouse, and the nearest water tap😉.

After a delightful weekend, Salome and Dan, just like us, continued on from Hope to Seward, where we encountered each other twice in front of the supermarket. Where else would insatiable cyclists meet😊? We caught a friendly weather window for our short stay in Seward and enjoyed good views of the village and Exit Glacier. In between, we spent a lot of time in a warm café and constantly checked the weather forecasts to make the best possible plan for the onward journey. That was quite difficult, because with 5’450 mm of annual precipitation, it’s “always shittier in Whittier,” and that’s exactly where we wanted to go. We had to admit that we were in the wrong place in Alaska if we only wanted to cycle on sunny days, so we set off.

After a delightful weekend, Salome and Dan, just like us, continued on from Hope to Seward, where we encountered each other twice in front of the supermarket. Where else would insatiable cyclists meet😊? We caught a friendly weather window for our short stay in Seward and enjoyed good views of the village and Exit Glacier. In between, we spent a lot of time in a warm café and constantly checked the weather forecasts to make the best possible plan for the onward journey. That was quite difficult, because with 5’450 mm of annual precipitation, it’s “always shittier in Whittier,” and that’s exactly where we wanted to go. We had to admit that we were in the wrong place in Alaska if we only wanted to cycle on sunny days, so we set off.

Together we took the four-hour ferry from Whittier to Valdez. On the ship, we made use of the warm shower and were very happy when the clouds cleared and we were greeted by friendly weather in Valdez. Salome and Dan rode on directly into the evening, while we did some major shopping and spent about an hour stowing our supplies in the bear canisters. Making the most efficient use of the limited space in the bear barrels takes practice. The Tetris game is fun, but it’s also very time-consuming and frustrating when fresh vegetables and fruit are too bulky.

Apart from having to limit ourselves when shopping, there are other things we still have to get used to: distance measurements in deceptive miles and feet, temperatures in Fahrenheit, and quantities in ounces or pounds. Not only the units, but also the dimensions are slightly different: a large coffee contains 24 ounces, i.e. 7 dl, and a medium-sized cookie measures 5 inches, or 13 cm😉. Another thing that is completely foreign to us is that it never gets dark, so we have to sleep during daylight hours or could even ride our bikes until midnight. In addition, we had to adapt our well-established camping routine to the bear territory: we no longer cook at our overnight campsite, but a few kilometers before it. By the way, we only saw bears as pool table covers or wall hangings.

From Valdez, our route led us into the beautiful mountains, and behind Thompson Pass we were even greeted by sunshine. Brilliant! Highly motivated, we decided very spontaneously to take advantage of the two-and-a-half-day window of good weather (i.e., no rain) and make a detour to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. But the momentum from our snap decision didn’t even last halfway down the side road, let alone the 100-kilometer gravel section.

In the rather run-down village of Chitina, we visited the tavern, which had also seen better days, to warm up and recharge our batteries. We spent well over an hour at the bar without saying a word, listening with amusement to the conversations of the five guests and the barman. They remembered the good old days in the 1970s when life in the US was much better and free of rules. Back then, children were still allowed to take their guns to school so they could go hunting on their way home. And if there was ever a scuffle and someone pointed their gun at someone else, a few hard punches were thrown, the gun flew across the schoolyard, and that was the end of it. Today, children are threatened with suspension from school if they carry a knife or their cake looks like a gun… Welcome to America. To make the moment even more authentic, the bartender gave us two tickets for the Alaska lottery, the only legal form of gambling in the state. In fact, I would have won a dollar with my one-dollar ticket and wanted to give it to the bartender. No, no, that’s not how it works! Normally, people would invest the money directly in new tickets to maximize their chances of winning. Hahaha, that’s how you do it😊.
As we left the tavern, we decided to cycle just a few kilometers further to a free campsite, spend the night there, and continue our journey towards McCarthy the next morning with fresh legs.

Said and done. The 100 km long road to McCarthy was exhausting… This little town at the end of the road really had to offer something to justify such a journey! And it certainly did… Wow, even with the sky overcast, the 360-degree panorama was simply sensational! And because you can’t drive directly into the village, McCarthy has retained its charm despite tourism. We fortified ourselves with a few treats and coffee at the general store before visiting the former Kennicott copper mine in the evening and walking a little closer to the Root Glacier. Dog-tired but extremely satisfied, we lay down in our tent and fell into a wonderful sleep.

Because bad weather was forecast, we packed everything up the next morning and made our way back to the main road. This took us a day and a half. Fortunately, the rain didn’t catch up with us until Glennallen. This village wasn’t a highlight, but we remember it for the (hopefully) most expensive oatmeal of our entire trip, the hot shower in the coin laundry (thanks for the tip, Salome and Dan!), and the cozy library where we were allowed to spread out our picnic. We were in no hurry to head out into the cold, wet weather and preferred to flick through the Guinness Book of World Records for a while longer. It was already after 5 p.m. when we finally set off.

Thanks to the never-ending daylight, we made it far enough to reach the town of Palmer in another two days. The Glenn Highway between Glennallen and Palmer had been recommended to us as the most beautiful road in Alaska. In fact, the rain was followed by a glorious sunny day and we couldn’t get enough of the incredible panorama of the Chugach Mountains! As if the views from the road weren’t impressive enough, we decided to take a short hike up Lions Head at 6 p.m. Luckily! The view over the Matanuska Glacier in glorious sunshine was simply phenomenal! Once again, we ended a stage exhausted after 11 p.m… in broad daylight😉. However, we were quite happy to put up with the short “night,” because the next morning we woke up to cold, rainy weather again, with fresh snow covering the mountains around us. We were glad that Palmer was only half a day’s ride away and that we would have a warm place to stay there.

After a long visit to the supermarket, we went to see our Warmshowers hosts Merry and Mark. We were welcomed warmly, as if we were old friends, and moved into the beautiful guest room. After showering and changing into fresh clothes, we sat down at the table, which had been set for us. The former professional fishermen spoiled us with the finest Alaskan salmon. Mmm… thank you so much, Merry and Mark!

The break in Palmer was very good for us; we enjoyed the warm home, the shared meals, and the interesting conversations. We were also able to sleep really well and deeply in the darkened room! This morning, we said goodbye to our wonderful hosts with a touch of sadness and are now sitting in a café to finish this blog. The weather forecast for tomorrow looks excellent, and we can’t wait to discover more of Alaska!