After waking up, we picked up some more food from the grocery store and headed out along the Old Glen Highway into the vast wilderness of Alaska. Even along the highway it is almost all wilderness. No commercial development and few private residences.
The biking is becoming more steep, with some long steep climbs. We stopped in Sutton to buy postcards. The towns are few and far between, and so getting water from taps is difficult. We hoped to fill it in Chickaloon, 17 miles down the road. When we got to Chickaloon, all there was was a post office that doubled as a very limited general store. I asked the man if he had a place I could fill water. He said "No I don't have a well," and then added a bit of wistfully "Maybe next year." The rest of chickaloon was 1/2 mile of vacant buildings and boarded up shops with junk surrounding them all. And this was one of 4 or so cities to be included on the state highway map in a 200 mile stretch. It made me nervous to think about running out of food or supplies.
We found a spot to camp by a boat landing on a small lake. The water was clear, but the landing was dirty. Cigarette buts and beer cans were strewn about, and Nicholas found a package of bacon next to a toilet paper wrapped human turd. Had we been thinking a little more critically, we would have realized that it was an animal magnet and not the safest place to camp. But it was beautiful and convenient so we camped there.
A man, aka "The Crazy Frenchman" aka "The Wanderer" is lost and presumed dead after Kayaking in the Katmai National Park. What cool aliases.
Mileage: 45 miles
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