The drive from Haines to the Interior Alaska, is uneventful. Hrs of mountains, snow, lakes and trees are skipping by. The beauty and the hitchhiker are getting boring. Well the beauty not really and its time to explore a new National Park.
Wrangell Elliot national park is situated 60 miles away from the main road. Only a dirt road in very bad shape will bring you there. Bears are on the loose, there are no shops, no gas and probably nothing is open yet. Always nice to get good advice at a visitors center. That all the rangers are on a course might explain the no knowledge of the lady behind the counter. When I walk outside a woman grabs my arm. We sit down and she tells me all I wants to know and more. She and her husband moved a couple years ago to the region from Minnesota and became trappers. Pictures of wolfs, bears and other death animals are shown to me. Of course the impossible to be avoided pictures of the grand children follow.
One thing is clear to me. I need a shotgun to protect myself against the bears. So I go to the nearest shop to checkout some riffles and guns. As a foreigner its possible to buy one, but my background check might take a while. I am not concerned about that, because with a Green Card in my hand, this country knows more about me, then I even know myself. In the mean time I sign up for a course to learn how to shoot a gun.
The dirt road to McCarthy is not bad at all and the road leads along a river to the village of McCarthy. A foot bridge separates the parking lot from the city and I stroll into town. Also here everything is still closed and waiting for the tourist season to be opened, but you can feel the outdoor spirit running through the little tiny down town. In the evening A comes by and he explains a little bit more about the surrounding. The 2 glaciers pouring down from a close by mountain, the mines high on the mountain tops and the mining city Kennicot in the distance. I also get advice of the best hike to make the next day and the bear situation. The weather has been also pretty warm around here, and indeed the bears are waking up and are hungry.
Singing and talking out loud I walk the next day the 5 mile to Kennicot. In summer people live here and tourist walk around. Now there is nobody. I put on my snowshoes and continue the trail along the glacier. The snow gives away under my snowshoes and the going is hard and slow. But at least I make enough noise to scare of any bear around. After 4 hrs going I am still not at the viewing point, but decide to go back. This is gonna be a long enough hike already and the clouds are building up above me.
When I am just crashing down tired but happy in my Oto, A comes by again and invites me to his house. His small cabin, which over time became a very nice house is sitting in the middle of a cleared lot. Above the house 6 cabins for rent are situated overlooking the river and the mountains. We talk a lot, cook some food and I help cleaning the cabins and burning a huge bonfire the next day. A learns me how to shoot his riffle and his shotgun.
But serious, just take another look at the picture above, me shooting. There is something wrong with it. Is it the hair, or the clothes, the pacifist holding a gun? Its just not right. But don't worry, I just try to be open minded, I try to understand the people I am surrounded with. I can see that people wear shotguns to protect themselves against bears. I understand the subsistence hunting of the locals. I can not understand the enjoyment of the hunt or voting republican because the democrats might take away your gun. This might take some more time, if ever. In the meantime, I am singing to scare of the bears and carry my bear spray if things get out of hand. And I will not buy a gun or sign up for a shooting course, its just not me.
Iris (McCarty, 5124 miles)
