Anchorage Area and The Valley

Alaska – the last frontier – a state that Adam and I have been curious about and craving to get to for a long time. When our awesome travel PT friend, Nyssa, asked us to come out and do a crazy hike with her in Alaska, we were all in! We were able to swing a week trip to this northern wilderness between our Virginia and Massachusetts contracts. Per usual, we packed a lot into this trip, so we have decided to split our Alaska blog into three parts; this first one will cover our time in Anchorage and Wasilla.

49th State Brewing

We landed at the Anchorage airport in the afternoon on my 27th Birthday! We followed signs to the People Mover and caught a bus to downtown Anchorage for $2. Naturally, our first stop was a brewery. We chose 49th State Brewing and were impressed by their rooftop views of Anchorage and the surrounding mountains, their tasty seafood, and their McCarthy Stout. I liked this beer a lot and I will still officially be a McCarthy for another year, so I figured it was only fitting to get a McCarthy Stout T-shirt!

Tasty seafood at 49th State Brewing!

Views from the rooftop!

Adam found a great moose’s butt chair at this brewery!

Tasty seafood at 49th State Brewing!

Views from the rooftop!

Adam found a great moose’s butt chair at this brewery!

Downtown Bicycle Rental

After filling our bellies, we were ready to start exploring. We made our way to Downtown Bicycle Rental where they let us store our luggage in the back of their store while we rented bikes to check out the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail and more of downtown Anchorage, which is pretty spread out. Within 10 minutes of biking on the coastal trail, we saw a moose! And then we saw several more, one of which was a bull moose with a large rack, but we were too close to comfortably take a picture! The full distance is roughly 11 miles one way (all paved) and ends at Kincaid Park. We ended up turning around at mile marker 9.5 and decided to head inland to wander back via the streets of downtown Anchorage. We highly recommend this adventure right off the plane! 

Downtown Bicycle Rental

Tony Knowles Coastal Trail

We spotted a moose right away!

You enter a green wonderland pretty quick!

We caught a nice view of downtown Anchorage (though the mountains are a bit hidden).

Downtown Bicycle Rental

Tony Knowles Coastal Trail

We spotted a moose right away!

You enter a green wonderland pretty quick!

We caught a nice view of downtown Anchorage (though the mountains are a bit hidden).

Glacier Brewhouse

After our 20-mile bike ride, it was time for food again! We met up with Nyssa after work at Glacier Brewhouse (another brewery!). It was quite busy on a weeknight evening compared to 49th State during lunch, but we were able to snag a table in the bar area. They have a great menu where you can’t choose wrong. We were particularly impressed with their seafood chowder here!

Glacier Brewhouse

The seafood chowder in the upper left corner is quite delicious!

Glacier Brewhouse

The seafood chowder in the upper left corner is quite delicious!

Wasilla

After dinner, we drove 45 minutes north to Wasilla. This is where Nyssa has been living for about nine months for an extended travel PT contract. She lived with a very nice native who has a chicken coup in her backyard and a lovable pup in her home; we were very fortunate to enjoy fresh eggs for breakfast and to play fetch forever! And we soon learned that it’s common (basically necessary) for all Alaskans to demonstrate some sort of self-sufficient practice. 

The chicken coup in our host’s backyard.

Pioneer Ridge Trail

Here IT is! This is THE hike. The ONE that Nyssa asked us to do with her because she couldn’t find anyone else crazy enough to. It’s called the Pioneer Ridge Trail and it’s 13.6 miles out and back with 6,637 ft elevation. This isn’t the longest hike we’ve ever done, but it sure is the most elevation we’ve gained in a day! The first several miles of this hike are a somewhat normal “strenuous hiking trail” with a steady incline. It gets a bit trickier when you get to the actual ridge though, requiring some more technical climbing, crab walking, and careful stepping. The hike wouldn’t have taken us so long if it wasn’t for the trail being unmarked once you get to the ridgeline, so we found ourselves stuck in several dead ends. Our best advice is to try to stay on top of the ridgeline and always STAY RIGHT! You’ll yearn to go left- BUT DON’T. For goodness sake stay to right as best you can and practice mental fortitude. Once we finally got to the peak, the summit beer and stellar views of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley were totally worth it! You can see the Matanuska glacier very well along with some other glaciers off in the distance. This is the highest peak in the valley that houses the towns of Wasilla, Palmer, Big Lake, Houston, Willow, and Talkeetna. Our hike down went a lot smoother because we were able to spot the trail easier (this time STAY LEFT!), but the never ending eccentric quad work was a bit tough on the knees. We started this hike at 10 AM and ended at 8 PM. Needless to say, we were sore for a couple days after this day hike! 

On our way up the Pioneer Ridge Trail!

We found the Alaska state flower: forget-me-nots!

It was so clear out that we could see Mount Denali over 100 miles away! (look closely for the white on the horizon)

Sometimes the trail looked quite simple like this…

Sometimes we had to put our hands to use too…

And sometimes the shale was pretty loose like so.

The summit is so worth it though!!

Especially if you have a beer!

Or a kiss!

On our way up the Pioneer Ridge Trail!

We found the Alaska state flower: forget-me-nots!

It was so clear out that we could see Mount Denali over 100 miles away! (look closely for the white on the horizon)

Sometimes the trail looked quite simple like this…

Sometimes we had to put our hands to use too…

And sometimes the shale was pretty loose like so.

The summit is so worth it though!!

Especially if you have a beer!

Or a kiss!

Palmer Ale House

As any hiker knows, a post-hike meal tastes extra great! We chose the Palmer Ale House because it’s located where you have views of Pioneer Peak, which we just dominated, so we could point out how high we were while eating our calories back! This was definitely the place to be with live music and what seemed like the entire town dancing!

Palmer Ale House

Iditarod Trail Race Headquarters

One of the highlights in Wasilla is the Iditarod Trail Race Headquarters. This is a museum where you can learn everything you need to know about the Iditarod! There are several knowledgeable people here. They have a 30-minute video you can watch, you might be able to see dogsled puppies, and you can get pulled by a dogsled team! When we went you could hold newborn puppies of the “Bean” litter, so we got to cuddle with Pinto and Lima! These are a few fun facts we learned during our time here: the dogs that race are Alaskan Huskies (way smaller than you’d expect because they are bred to be endurance athletes), their resting heart rates are 50-60 bpm versus a normal dog at 100-110 bpm, the dogs alternate running and resting every 4-5 hours during the race, they like to run in the bitter cold of night, and some of the sled dogs actually have to be held back at the end of the 1,000+ mile Iditarod Race because they love to run so much!

The Iditarod Trail Race Headquarters in Wasilla.

The room of champions in the museum.

They have an interesting movie you can watch about the Iditarod!

This is what an average sled looks like.

They let us hold some 2.5 week old sled dog pups!

And we even got pulled by a dogsled team!

The Iditarod Trail Race Headquarters in Wasilla.

The room of champions in the museum.

They have an interesting movie you can watch about the Iditarod!

This is what an average sled looks like.

They let us hold some 2.5 week old sled dog pups!

And we even got pulled by a dogsled team!

The Last Frontier Brewing Company

After learning lots at the Iditarod Museum we found a local brewery, The Last Frontier Brewing Company, to fully digest the information. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but I especially enjoyed the Apple Ale and the French toast burger! Adam enjoyed an enormous bowl of seafood chowder which held its own against the Glacier Brewhouse chowder.

The Last Frontier Brewing Company

French Toast Burger!

The Last Frontier Brewing Company

French Toast Burger!

Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria

Before leaving Alaska, we had to go to one of the touristy restaurants, so we picked the Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria. It sure did not disappoint! It’s definitely a busy place- as we had to wait about an hour for a table during the Tuesday dinner time rush. That hour went quick though because they allow your party to grab beers and find a seat in the outdoor patio area while waiting! Once seated we ordered different pizzas that were all tasty; I really liked the mac and cheese pizza with reindeer sausage! We’d recommend splitting a pizza if you go here though, so you have room for one of their delicious desserts. We made the mistake of ordering two desserts for the three of us to share and we definitely would have been satisfied splitting one! Let it be known- Alaska does everything bigger!

Mac and cheese pizza with reindeer sausage!

Moose Pie and Cookies and Milk

Mac and cheese pizza with reindeer sausage!

Moose Pie and Cookies and Milk

That wraps up our time spent in the Anchorage and Wasilla area! But not to worry, our Alaskan adventures didn’t end here. Keep a lookout for Alaska part two coming soon!

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Kris Peterson

    Can’t wait for part 2 and 3!

    1. Adam Urick

      Glad you enjoyed it! Part 2 coming at you soon!

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