Hope Verb. To desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment.
With all of the strife in the world right now it can be difficult to continue to hope for brighter future, hope for peace, hope that we can save our planet and thus ourselves, and hope that one day we’ll find the perfect balance of laws and enforcement to ensure all of us can live our lives any way we want to as long as it isn’t affecting the rights of others to live as they want as well. The reality is we could all use a little more hope in our lives and maybe it’s why a visit to Hope, Alaska sounded good for the soul.
The historians say that Hope, Alaska, wasn’t named after this kind of hope. They say instead that a few men decided to name the town after the next person off the boat to hope and that person was 17-year-old prospector, Percy Hope, but I’ve got to believe that this little town, where the first gold rush in Alaska occurred (yup, that’s right… before the Klondike stampede or the gold rush on the beaches of Nome) that miners that flocked to this town did so for hope. Hope they’d strike it rich and create a better life. If the next person off that boat had the last name “Doubt”, these hopeful people would likely have changed their mind!
When the discovery of gold in Six Mile Creek in 1895 reached Seattle, it set off one of Alaska’s first gold rushes. Within a year, more than 3,000 stampeders were headed to Hope. This resulted in a thriving community with stores, hotels, social halls, saloons, and a post office, but it’s hey-day was short lived and by 1898 the news of the Klondike gold rush in the Yukon had most miners packing up and moving on.
Today the little town of Hope feels stuck in time. I’m sure the 100-200 people that live there have cell phones, and microwaves, and waste their evenings with scrolling funny dog clips on TikTok, but it’s not obvious that much has changed since 1895. Many of the original buildings are still standing and in use. Their history museum doesn’t look like much more than a few log cabins from the road, but it’s wonderfully done so add it to your must-do list. The displays are well curated, there are lots of sign boards, and movies with stories about the town.
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If you’re in an RV, you can stay at the end of downtown Hope or at the Porcupine Campground just down the road.
Either way walk to the end of town and out towards the water of the Turnagain Arm. The thick swaying green grasses here reminded me so much of the large swaths of open grassy fields on Price Edward Island (post here) that I just loved, but in Hope there’s the added interest of the hills in the distance. You can also see the impact of the tides in this area.
If you stay at the Porcupine Campground, there’s some nice hiking along the shoreline of Turnagain Arm. Doug did this one evening so he could witness the Bore Tide a second time, but the Bore Tide can also be seen from the campground. It was more fun though to use a rope to get to the shoreline, walk along some spongey green matt algae, see a bald eagle and some huge leafy plants along with the Bore Tide.
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I can’t guarantee that all your hopes and dreams will come true with a visit to Hope, but I’d be willing to bet that you’ll enjoy your day in town, even if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed with everything else that’s going on.
JFK once said, “We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes” and we couldn’t agree more.
We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes
John F. Kennedy
Keep hope alive and if you’re travelling in Alaska, pursue Hope for a fun day along the Turnagain Arm.
