Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Twelve Mile Circle

  • Talkeetna

    Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, USA (July 2010) We left Anchorage, heading up the George Parks Highway with Talkeetna on our minds (map). We cut up the Talkeetna Spur and arrived soon enough at the rural outpost situated along the confluence of three glacially-fed braided rivers, the Susitna, Chulitna and Talkeetna. It’s an unusual place for a…

  • Harding Icefield

    Kenai Fjords National Park, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USA (July 2010) Flightseeing is a great way to view the expansive Harding Icefield (map) on the southeastern side of the Kenai Peninsula, a part of Kenai Fjords National Park. Tours operate from all of the major towns in the vicinity including Seward, Homer and Soldotna. Options…

  • Kenai Fjords National Park

    Near Seward, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USA (July 2010) We continued on our exploration of the Kenai Peninsula, leaving our base in Cooper Landing heading towards Seward (map). Here we’d booked a day-long sea excursion through one of several companies that operate moderately-sized boats that cruise through Resurrection Bay and Aialik Bay, two of the…

  • The Homer Spit

    Homer, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USA (July 2010) We drove along the Sterling Highway, curving south and passing towns like Clam Gulch, Ninilchik, and Anchor Point, heading ever further down the Kenai Peninsula until we could drive no further. We arrived in Homer and headed towards the famous Homer Spit. Part of the appeal, naturally,…

  • Southeastern Alaska and the Inside Passage

    August 1995 Southeast Alaska Travel Index We captured this image a long time ago on our initial trip to Alaska in 1995. We took a small-ship cruise through Glacier Bay and to Juneau and Sitka. Then we spent several days in Juneau where we did a lot of hiking, went to a nearby glacier and…

  • Exit Glacier

    Seward, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USA (July 2010) The vast preponderance of Kenai Fjords National Park is not accessible by automobile. It’s ruggedly inaccessible with the easiest ways to see it by air [see my Harding Icefield page] or by sea [see my Kenai Fjords page]. There is one notable exception: Exit Glacier. It’s not…

  • Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel

    Whittier, Alaska, USA (July 2010) I’d long wanted to traverse the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel heading to Whittier, Alaska and the Prince William Sound (map). The tiny town of Whittier holds a couple hundred people where nearly the entire population lives in a single building. You might wonder why the government built a tunnel nearly…

  • Captain Cook State Recreation Area

    Near Nikiski, Alaska, USA (July 2010) We traveled along the Kenai Spur Highway, heading past Nikiski on the way to Captain Cook State Recreation Area where the road ends at milepost 36. Literally, one can go no further on the public road system on the northwest side of the Kenai Peninsula (map). This remote area…

  • Sitka National Historical Park

    The City and Borough of Sitka, Alaska, USA (August 1995) Sitka National Historical Park became the first park in Alaska to become Federally designated (map). It commemorates the 1804 Battle of Sitka that took place between the native Tlingits and agents of the Russian-America company. The 113 acre park also features totem poles placed at…

  • Somewhere Between Juneau and Sitka

    Inside Passage, Southeastern Alaska, USA (August 1995) One of the benefits of small-ship sailing was our ability to fit through tight spaces where ordinary cruise ships would never dare to venture. To prove the point our ship threaded a needle between a rocky island and the shoreline, barely wider than the boat. The wall on…

Latest Comments

  1. The law in the 1800s when most of the countries was being broke down into smaller one stated that you…

  3. Hi Mr. Howder — Just going from memory, I recall that your “rule” for counting a nation/state/county is “if I’m…