I met an older woman from Anchorage camping here for the weekend. She slept in her van like I used to, but I noticed that she did not have a little cookstove, so I offered her coffee. Of course, she said. Then, I saw another lone female camper who is also from Anchorage and sleeping in a tent closer to the river. She came over for coffee as well. Suddenly, we had a small party. How unusual to find two other solo female campers.

Anyway, I asked them questions about camping in Hope. They both said that they try to get away from Anchorage when they can in the summer. Too many shots, they said.

” Huh? What kind of shots?” I asked.

I learned that Anchorage has an extremely high crime rate. I never thought about it before and even now it doesn’t’ make sense to me. Somehow, because Alaska calls itself the Last Frontier, I expect a more honest culture in the cities like I see out here in Hope.

Here is an eye-opener and another, regarding Alaska crime. Murder! Mayhem!

Not long after our coffee/social hour, the rain, which we had expected, started falling. Again, a gentle, soft rain falling on and off. I hung 2 tarps along 2 sides of the screen house to keep things dry, which created a nice place to sit out of the rain. Now, I can sit in comfort if the rain continues during tonight’s live music across the street. Hanging the tarps was super easy using ball/bungee cords connected to the screen house framing. I also hammered in stakes through the grommets along the bottom edge of the tarps. Voila!

On the weekends, Hope draws all kinds of people from all walks of life. Presently there are the two other solo women and me. Last night a group of 2- something young men drove in with their cases of beer and camped not far from me. They were back and forth to the saloon, which has Open Mic night on Thursday. They were never rowdy and in the morning they cleaned up their site and took off. Also yesterday, a group of young Europeans on an organized tent-camping tour of Alaska, pulled in. They arrived in a sleek passenger van towing a trailer with all their gear. They set up 6 tents and a kitchen area on the grass not far from me. They, too, enjoyed the saloon music and in the morning, they packed up and took off. Hope was the last night of their tour. I talked to a young woman from Belgium on the tour, and she was flying out from Anchorage shortly.  Today in the rain, a young family with two kids rolled in with a pop-up camper. Mom and dad popped it up and set up for the kids in the pouring rain! I am wondering who else will come in for Friday night festivities. With the rain, it might be less than last weekend; however, Alaskans seem to ignore a bit of rain and carry on.

What next on a rainy day? Time to check out the Hope Library. It is housed in a beautiful, rustic building and staffed by local volunteers. I felt like an honored guest when I arrived. I was carrying my laptop and the man on duty greeted me and showed me the best easy chair near a plug. Then he offered me a cup of fresh-brewed Keurig coffee and told me how to log onto their Internet. The collection here is decent, including the DVD and children’s sections. The Alaska history section is amazing.

The library is within easy walking distance to the campground, but I drove because of the rain showers. The building is in a small group of buildings: the espresso shack, a library gift shop with tons of books, and the main library building.

Two photos of the library building:

The other buildings in the cluster:

The library is shown on the map below. I am not in the Porcupine campground, but in one not shown, at the foot of Main Street. The closest landmark on the map is the Social Hall. You can see the river to the left and the tidal flatlands at the foot of Main Sreet, to the north. 

A rainy day in Hope is far better than a rainy day in Juneau. For one thing, I have a better setup, with my tent inside the screen house and, now, with tarps on 2 sides for extra protection. For another, I can sit under my shelter and listen to live music or go over to the saloon and listen. I also have lots of company, especially this weekend.

I am starting to glance through my 2 camping and travel books in anticipation of my next bit of travel, over to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The park has a visitor center but not much else to do besides ooohhhh and ahhh at the magnificent mountain scenery — unless you want to hike into the backcountry and camp with the bears. I will settle for car camping for a night and then move up towards Tok and then the Klondike Loop and Top of the World Highway which will take me deeper into the Yukon Territory (YT). I will venture way north of the Alaska Highway and then join it again in Whitehorse, YT. The draw is Dawson City, which was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush and the setting for many Jack London novels.