Alaska Day 7

Fortunately, the crying kids slept through the night. In fact, the entire campground was quieter than we expected. Or maybe my ear plugs just worked really well. Either way I got another decent night of sleep. I was perfectly warm. In fact, so warm I didn’t even need to zip my sleeping bag up all the way. When I woke up it was a balmy 51 degrees.

At seven o’clock, the kids in the tent next to ours woke up and the crying commenced. We needed to get up anyway. As we were eating breakfast, the man on the other side of us asked Gary for help folding his tent. While Gary was helping him, he asked where we were from. When Gary said Jersey, he told us he was born in Cape May. He moved to Alaska as a child because his father was military and ended up stationed here. The couple two sites over overhead the conversation and said they too are from Jersey and live outside of Atlantic City. Unlike us, they actually drove from Jersey to Alaska. There were very personable and we ended up chatting for quite a while awhile, swapping travel and camping stories. It’s always a pleasure to meet other avid travelers while on the road.

The nice thing about a KOA is they have showers so it was lovely to finally be able to take one this morning. It was our first time showering since Anchorage. Needless to say we all needed it. However, I opted not to change my clothes since we were starting the day with a hike. Sweating in clean clothes made no sense to me especially since we are spending another night at the KOA. I can shower again tomorrow and change before we move on.

After chatting with the Jersey couple this morning, we drove up to Chena State Recreation Area. As we were driving, Kati and I agreed that the scenery wasn’t nearly as pretty as it was heading to Denali. In fact,Kati commented that she felt as if she could have been driving through Maine. Yesterday, the ranger recommended we hike the Angel Rocks Trail. It is a short 3.5 mile hike with a 900 foot elevation gain. We started out hiking together but Kati ended up turning around. It was nearly as steep as the hike we did in Denali and her knee hasn’t quite recovered. Plus, she wants to preserve it for the more interesting places we will be visiting over next few days.

G3 continued along the trail with me and as we trekked through the mud I was happy I chose not to put clean clothes on this morning. My boots kicked up the mud and it splattered on my pants. My cuffs are now mucky and brown. G3 grumbled that the hike was boring and that it wasn’t anything we couldn’t do in New Jersey. I did not agree. Yes, it was a hike through a forest with lots of tree coverage and the views were not even close to what we experienced in Denali, but it was definitely more scenic than Jersey. There were a few rocks jutting up out of the mountain which of course G3 just had to climb. The view from the top may not have been awe inspiring but it was pretty. Green hills rose up and surrounded the Chena River which we could see snaking through the valley below. The mosquitoes were much worse than they were in Denali and I was extremely grateful that Kati insisted on buying and making us bring head nets. We might have looked funny walking around with nets covering our faces but they kept us from getting attacked. The net also made my face sweat which wasn’t exactly comfortable but it wasn’t nearly as miserable as enduring the itchiness of bug bites.

Our next stop was the Chena hot springs. We had planned to take a dip in the springs but when we got there it was extremely disappointing. The hot springs weren’t much more than a glorified swimming pool. It even smelled like chlorine and it was crowded with people just standing around. it took about three seconds for it to completely lose its appeal for all of us. I think we had all been expecting something that felt less man-made, or rather less manipulated by man.

While Kati and I were chatting with the awesome ranger yesterday, G3 picked up a brochure for Edge of the Arctic Trading Post Custom Knives and Art Gallery. if you know G3, you know he enjoys learning about and collecting swords and knives. He asked us if we could go to the trading post to look at the knives. They were closed by then but we promised him we would go before leaving Fairbanks. Since the hot springs were a bust we headed to the knife shop. The knives are forged by Mark Knapp and right on one of the glass counters was a plaque that read “Mark Steele Knapp Champion Forged in Fire.” There was a time that was one of G3’s favorite shows. It was even a show I enjoyed watching.

Eight years ago, when G3 was intrigued by blacksmiths and could watch  them work for hours, we visited Williamsburg Virginia. While we were in the forge, we learned that one of the Blacksmiths, Mark Sperry, was a Forged in Fire Champion. G3 was so excited, you would have thought he met a rock star. His smile in that picture with Sperry is shy, but his body position speaks to his excitement. Now, at sixteen, G3 is far more reserved in his excitement, but his smile expresses more confidence as he stands next to Knapp. Before leaving, G3 purchased a handmade filet knife. Not a bad choice for a souvenir.

For a late lunch we had pizza—again—at East Ramp Pizza. It is the place the Scoutmaster we met yesterday recommended. The restaurant overlooks the airfield so we could see the small planes taking off and landing. It’s Sunday, so there wasn’t too much action, but it was still something a little different. The wood fired pizza—at this point it isn’t even surprising—was good. Not as good as House of Fire or Prospectors, but still better than the average pie back home.

Since we are staying in the North Pole, we had to stop in to see Santa at the Santa  Claus House. Really it’s nothing more than a Christmas shop selling all sorts of Christmas attire, decorations, and ornaments. But Santa is there and he is more than willing to take a picture with you. G3 is too old and sophisticated for such foolery but his moms are not. We were happy to pose with Santa in his house. We also bought a moose ornament—since we finally saw a moose—and had our names printed on their hats along with the year. The place was cute and very Christmassy, but it was tiny and not nearly as exhilarating at Bronner’s in Michigan. Still, I’m glad we made the stop.

After meeting a Forged in Fire champion what else could we do this evening except—considering we can’t have a fire—sit at the campsite, eat ice cream, and huddle around Kati’s phone watching the episode that Knapp won. Not much different than when we met Sperry and watched his winning episode in a hotel room in Virginia.

Forged in Fire is on The History Channel. If you are interested in watching and seeing Knapp’s calm skill develop an impressive deadly weapon, he was on Season 4 Episode 20.