July 2021, Alaska

After spending a week visiting places in Alaska, this post would be about my flights back home on the east coast, that’s plagued by delays and interruptions.

Eighth and final day of my 2021 Alaska trip. Weather wasn’t great today, so I visited Alaska State Museum in downtown Juneau, before checking out some sceneries on the city’s suburbs.

Seventh day of my 2021 Alaska trip and my first of two days in Juneau. Weather was fine today so I took the West Glacier Trail onto Mendenhall Glacier after exploring its famous ice cave. It ended up being such an awesome experience.

Fifth and sixth day of my 2021 Alaska trip. During these two days I visited Utqiagvik, the northern-most town of United States, where I experienced a polar day in this isolated town surrounded by tundra and arctic sea ice, before taking a connecting flight to Juneau where I would make a stopover on my way back to Washington DC.

Fourth day of my 2021 Alaska trip and last day in the Anchorage vicinity. I climbed and summited South Pioneer Peak, a magnificent YDS class 3 mountain on the southern bank of Knik River that’s an enchanting sight from much of the Mat-Su Valley. It’s a long day-hike with grueling elevation gains, but this time I was better prepared, mentally and physically, and it turned out to be a much memorable experience.

Third day of my 2021 Alaska trip. Weather forecast was occasional drizzle for the day, which wasn’t ideal for hiking. So I took the day easy, visited Anchorage Museum in its downtown, and a few parks on its coastline, before checking into a new Airbnb in its suburb.

Second day of my 2021 Alaska trip. Yesterday’s excursion to Matanuska Peak took quite a toll on me that I spent most of the day resting. But since I still wanted something done for the day, I decided to take a short hike to Marmot Mountain near Hatcher Pass towards its end.

First day of my 2021 Alaska trip, I would be climbing Matanuska Peak outside the city of Palmer, a grueling day hike that tested both my physical and mental capabilities.

I enjoyed last summer’s trip to Alaska so much that I decided to visit it again this year over Independence Day. The outbound flights followed the same routing as last year, with a different set of sceneries and stories.