Fairbanks, Alaska - Haines, Alaska (1130miles, 15rides)

Haines - Prince Rupert, BC by ferry

Prince Rupert- Vancouver, BC (1498km, 8rides)

On departure from Fairbanks, Darren took me out of downtown, and I started hitching. It was, of course, hard as usual. I had waited for a couple of hours to get a ride. An old guy, heading to Denali NP, picked me up. Most of people I met on the way, even local one, suggested that I should go there, but honestly I didn't want, because Denali was such a touristic place. I don't like where people wanna go. I like the top or tip of the world, such as Himalayas in Nepal, Mt. Cook in NZ, Ayers Rock in OZ and Arctic Ocean. I already have been to them all and thought about McKinley, which is the highest mountain in North America, at that time. So finally I decided to stay and trek there for a couple of days.

In Denali, we have to reserve anything, even a public bus. At the information center, I was surprised at the long queue for booking buses, which was so crazy. What I wanted was just seeing Mt. McKinley so that I looked at the map and found the camping ground to see it very close, but it was already full for next few days. I didn't care the place wherever I could pitch the tent. We can pitch the tent almost everywhere in this NP, but whenever we do except official camping places, we have to buy an exact local map and draw the border line; the camping sites are divided in parts. I did as they told, and booked a bus. After that, I had to watch a video tape how to deal with and escape from bear, which was about 30 minutes. I was getting angry. I hate to do that. Besides this video, I had to have review with such a young girl at the counter who asked me some questions as if she dealt with me as a baby. I couldn't stand anymore. She told me,

"Yes, whenever you walk on the thick bush, you should keep yelling " bear, bear" on the way."

Then I picked on her,

"Well, what if I yell in Japanese, "kuma, kuma; which is bear in Japanese?" Can they recognize Japanese as well?"

She answered with smile,

"Yes, of course."

I wonder if she was serious or not. I felt worse anyway.

I stayed in the bush near to this information that night, and took a bus next day unfortunately in the rain, though. This bus was filled with some campers, but not filled up very much. On the way, I saw lots of wild animals, like moose, grizzlies, Dall sheep, caribous and wolves, but I've already seen them all on the way to Arctic Ocean. All I wanted was just seeing Mt. McKinley.

Denali NP itself is so beautiful. Wild animals are around, beautiful, amazing landscapes spread out. The problem was only heaps of tourists. I hate touristic place too much. On the way, lots of buses filled up with people bringing cameras passed away. A bus driver was so kind that whenever someone found the animal, she pulled over for our taking photos.

At Wonder Lake, I dropped off and asked this bus driver the direction to Mt. McKinley, then she pointed out. I looked around the best hill to see it, and started walking toward the hill under slight raining. I didn't care raining, but it was very cold and foggy. I stepped on the tundra plain where there were no big trees but low bushes. I walked up wet hill and finally reached where I was supposed to be. There were noting around except heaps of mos. When I pitched the tent, found the footprints of something. I was afraid of bear so that I was looking around carefully then set up the tent, preparing the junk dinner.

It was still bright around; the sun went down after mid night then, that's why. It kept raining and was cold, windy and foggy. Besides, I was terribly wet so that I slipped into the sleeping bag quickly, firing to dry my shoes and socks, then unconsciously fell in sleep.

Around AM, I was waked up by coldness, opened the door and faced the high peak through the sea of clouds. It must be Mt. McKinley I expected to see. It was too high and beautiful. I took a photo from inside because of heaps of mos. outside, kept watching for a while. Then I slipped into my sleeping back, an hour later I saw out of tent again, but this peak was already gone and I couldn't see anymore. I was happy and lucky because I imagined the person who could see this peak that morning was only I. By the way, I took a photo of this peak, but it couldn't develop well so that I was very disappointed and regretted that I should have took some pictures. My purpose was already attained. So I left from Denali NP.

It was, of course, not easy to get rides to Anchorage, but I got a chain of short rides and got Anchorage within a day. In Anchorage, what I had to do was to decide how to get back to Vancouver. Be honest, I didn't want hitching anymore. It was enough. So I checked the flight and ferry, which were terrible expensive. I had no choice except hitching. Anchorage is beautiful but bored, which is just a city. I have never imagined that it was such a touristic place. I saw only tourists in downtown. At night, I went to a pub which was filled up with almost tourists. It was not interesting for me. Even in hostel. This hostel had lot of rules like the hours of the reception, how long the kitchen and the bedroom was opened, or so. The kitchen was closed even early morning, so that whoever left earlier, they couldn't eat anything. How ridiculous? I couldn't feel cozy here. Not Anchorage, either.

From Anchorage, I firstly took a public bus out of downtown, and got a short ride immediately. It was still not easy to get a ride, and unfortunately was gonna be raining. I waited for a couple of hours and an Indian old guy gave me about half an hour ride, then hit a road construction. In my mind this construction was not far, so that I started walking with a heavy backpack. On the way, I met a construction worker who told that it kept on 5 more miles. Oh my God! How could I do that? I continued walking in disappointment, and a pilot car was coming and luckily picked me up.

A couple working at outdoor college took me next, and I started walking again. No cars went by and nothing was around, what I did was only keeping a walk. Then a car was passing away, stopped suddenly, and turned toward me. An old couple was waving their hands. Well, they were Mr. and Mrs. Kirshner who picked me up on the way from Arctic Ocean. What a small world! They recognized that I was there and came back. They rescued me twice. They were so kind as before. As soon as they picked me up, it started raining. I was so lucky. Unfortunately we had to separate at the intersection between Tok and Valdez.

At that intersection, a guy gave me a short ride and we went to a pub to have beer. It was his treat-thanks. He was supposed to take me camping ground a few miles away, but I wanted to get Tok; it was still bright, though it seemed to start raining. I said my regards to him, and kept walking with hitching. My bad prophecy, however, came true, heavy rain was coming down. It was too bad, because there were nothing to escape from it except going on. I got wet, but no car was passing beside me. It was nightmare. I should have stayed somewhere. I might keep walking about an hour under heavy rain. A car passed and stopped then. A guy and his mother were there, but unfortunately there was no spare room for me so that I jumped on the back carrier, which was no problem for me. I was happy just I could get a ride. That's all. They were heading to Tok.

When we got Tok, it was almost mid night-still bright, though. I hesitated to stay there, because they were off to Minnesota within four days. If they gave me a ride, I didn't need hitching for a while. But they were a son and a mother. So if I bothered them, I felt sad. At last I asked a guy working at GS and pitched the tent on the back yard. It was such a long day.

The next day, the weather was so nice. The hitching that day was supposed to be hardest, I guess, because I had to cross the border twice to get Hains. But against my mind, I got a first car, which was heading to Whitehorse, easily. I got a long ride. Crossing the border between Tok and Beaver Creek was too easy. I mean, the worker at the border was lazy. American or Canadian people just show the driver's license and certification of car registration. For us, we just show the passport and he asked me,

"Don't you have some weapons?"

That's all. It was also ridiculous that it was too far between Alaskan border and Canadian one, which was about 25 miles. Unbelievable. On the way to Hains junction, the driver told me about his job which was to take care Indians. He was a kind of government worker in Indian village. He gave me useful and interesting stories a lot.

In Hains junction, I was a little happy, because I was in Canada again. I recently spent in Alaska and had to waste US dollar. You know, I worked for 6 months in Canada so that I could get only Canadian money, which was weak comparing, to American. I used to waste US dollar for a while, so when I got into a supermarket there and looked on the price, I felt those were so cheap. I got a lot of stuff unconsciously.

Then I was waiting and waiting. Cars were going by just on Alaska high way, not to Hains. Although I could stay in Hains junction, as I got a long ride easily, I had enough time to carry on. I might have waited there more than 4 hours. A couple and a lovely kid picked me up, yes, they were off to Hains. I was so lucky. A lady, Jelly, drove that car, a guy, Kevin, was next to her. A kid, Emily was hooked to the child seat next to me. Jelly, with drinking beer, drove roughly and fast, music in CD player being on loudly. It was so crazy. She drove at more than 80 mph in the middle of road. At the back seat, a lovely little girl kept telling me something, but crazy music faded her voice so that I couldn't get her. She didn't care this situation, so went on her crazy questions. I was looking forward to seeing out of window where beautiful landscapes were spread, but I was not able to do. Jelly let me drink; of course, I did. Why should I be in such a stupid situation? I was already terrible tired, you know. But I kept surrounded by those devils until Hains.

Before the border, our car pulled up suddenly and Jelly chewed a gum to fade the smell of beer. That border was, however, also lazy. An old guy came out of the building and asked us something not important, that's all. Don't you think that Alaskan people waste their taxes? We don't need them.

Hains is small town, but beautiful, surrounded by awesome mountains and sea. It was also touristic, though. Much better than Anchorage. They suggested me to stay in their house. Be honest, it was troublesome for me to pitch the tent then. They, Jelly and Kevin, didn't go out with each other anymore. Their relationship was very complicated, even for Emily who was Jelly's kid, not Kevin's. I stop describing those things here. Kevin was a manager of a supermarket. They sometimes went to Juneau to have Japanese food. I wanted to give them something in return of picking me up. My ferry would depart the next night. So I decided to make Japanese food for the next lunch and dinner. They accepted my offer and seemed to look forward to.

The next day, I thought the menu thoroughly. The important was ingredients, especially spices. We actually use special ones for typical Japanese food. But Hains was such a small town. I could find sushi vinegar and mirin which is like sweet fermented rice sake, and decided to make Japanese-style fried noodle with sauce on top for lunch, and teriyaki chicken, deep fried tofu and chirashi-sushi for dinner. As some guys already knew, I'm a sort of cook; exactly just I called it for myself. So it was not big deal to make such easy meals. That fried noodle was a little hot for kid, but they enjoyed all of dishes. Kevin told me,

"You should stay a couple more days."

They usually went out for meals. So I wanted a sweet kid to feel at home with my handmade meals. I was satisfied with her also enjoying my dishes. Kevin took me to the ferry terminal and suggested me to come back there when northern light was coming out. He was nice guy. Thanks you guys and a sweet girl.

I could go back to Vancouver only on road, but I already got rides from Whitehorse to Vancouver, which must have be bored on the second time. And I also wanted to catch an inland ferry so that I decided to take a ferry from Hains to Prince Rupert. I transferred in Juneau, spent one and half days all the way with fuckin' rain and thick fog. They said that the cruising through inland should be wonderful, but I could say it would be so without raining. In the ferry, it was terrible hard to kill time. I sat the sleeping chair on the top deck, but we could see nothing around. I've been to a restaurant and a bar, which didn't make sense in terms of killing time. Once I talked with other passengers, it also must have been hard to interrupt our conversation if I got sleepy; was it only for Japanese? I didn't remember what I was doing there exactly, I guess all I did might be sleeping. It seems to be cloudy very often there, so I actually don't recommend taking this ferry.

Anyway, I was quite happy to be back in BC again. What I did at first in Prince Rupert was walking in that downtown and had something to eat. Prince Rupert was a city, I mean it was not big but not small so that I thought that catching a car in the city should have been hard. I went to the library to check e-mail and walked out of town. It was likely to start raining soon, local people said that they couldn't see blue sky often over a year. The hitching there was, of course, hard. I guess, people living in Prince Report wouldn't need to get out of there except special time like on commutation. I was waiting and waiting, then got a couple of short rides, finally was out of Terrace which is 170 km east from Prince Rupert.

I was standing in front of a small chapel. It was already 7PM past. If I was in Alaska then, I would keep on moving, but had to keep in mind that the sun went down. Terrace was not in Alaska anymore so that night was coming earlier. I was looking for the tent site around, but couldn't find good enough for it. As I was walking around, I met a couple who took a doggie a walk. I asked them the camping place and they suggested me to pitch the tent in their back yard. They were so kind. I accepted their offer.

Their back yard, where they had a volleyball court, was huge. Behind that, the river was running. They, David and Marilyn, invited me into the house and we had a chat. After that, their son, Jrew, and I went out of the house, made a fire near to my tent and talked about traveling, outdoor sports, and something. He was still 18 years old, but his point of view was as if growing-up guys'. He had clear mind in near future and tried to straight up to that goal. He was great. You know, almost those who had some goals tend to lose the way, affected by surroundings. It is not easy to be as they were supposed to be, as they survive, especially younger generations who are generally likely to be under other controls. But he was not so far. I gave him some advises as much as I could.

The next day, I was standing in front of same chapel, of course, for a couple of hours. It was cloudy and cold. I considered that I should get some sympathies form drivers and started acting as if I was shivering because of coldness. Well, I made it. A truck stopped immediately and he said that he felt sorry for me standing outside. This driver, Wily, was really funny guy. We got friendly soon. I like to ride and sit in the truck, because of its great view out of the front window. He just emptied the stuff he had carried in Prince Rupert. He drove fast and pulled the other out one after another. It was quite cozy.

I came back to Prince George again. We went to GS for truck drivers and took a shower. I didn't realize yet that those stations existed around. Those were quite useful and reasonable. We went to a restaurant for dinner and kept going on for a while. He pulled the truck over aside the road out of town and we stayed. He slept in the couch inside the car. How do you think about me? Well, I could stay anywhere around, but found the huge space on the back carrier, which was emptied as if it was waiting for me. I pitched the tent on the special round without any hesitation. As we were talking inside the truck, we got a voice from wireless which was from an another truck driver just went by, and he was teasing us. It was so funny.

Next morning, Wily picked lots of timbers up at a factory, which were supposed to be carried to Calgary. He told me join with him to Alberta where he lived, then would take me to Vancouver on the way of his carrying the next stuff. What a good idea! We would pass through Canadian Rocky Mountain I've not been to yet. I agreed with him and we were supposed to be. But the something trouble was happened, which was that he had to pay fine at a scale. Generally, truck drivers have to stop by at each scale station where they have to be checked how much height they carry, how the truck is going or so. It is very important. The scale stations are almost in each district. If they miss it or run short of some information, they would be punished. In that case, I didn't know exactly what was happened, but some of his records were not enough, he had to pay. He said that if it was in Albert, he shouldn't have been in such an unfortunate situation. He was terribly disappointed, because its fine was much higher than we expected. I also felt sorry for him so that I changed mind and was off to Vancouver directly.

Wily dropped me off in Chache Creek, he was so kind that he found me a new truck driver through wireless at that station. We felt sad each other and said good-by with big hug. This new driver kept silent inside. Not like Wily. But he shouted me a lunch at the restaurant on the way. Although he dropped me off near to Vancouver, I didn't recognize where I was. Besides, the bus strike, which started on 1st April, was still on. I had no choice except hitching, but on highway to Vancouver, hitching was prohibited and I found a signboard described "No hitching" at the entrance. I had to anyway. I kept walking away from the entrance, then immediately got a car to downtown, Vancouver. I made it, didn't recommend doing it, though. Ha, ha, ha---.

Downtown, Vancouver, was as if totally different another planet. Lots of people, cars, buildings and green leaves. I used to be in small towns without people and with wild animals. I thought, Vancouver was such an artificial and trendy town. From there, I could have had a taxi, but, of course, didn't want to. So I started hitching in such awkward style; with a huge backpack and a strange plastic bag filled up with spices, my face being sun burnt. A kind couple took me to Kerrisdale and I stopped by at Bean Bros. I worked before. I got a cup of coffee I used to drink everyday, which was still yummy. Finally I could get my sweet home and met my best friend, Christa and lovely puppy, Frankie; unfortunately another roommate, David, was already away to South America.

I got unforgettable experiences, hospitalities, and kindness on the way to Alaska, which should make me strengthen. But I feel sorry that all I could say is just "Thanks," which is such a tiny expression, in stead of that.

Thanks again anyway. See you guys.