North to Alaska 2010

Wasilla to Eagle River and Anchorage, AK

Wasilla - population 7,028, home of Sarah Palin, and home of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race headquarters. Other than that, there is nothing exciting about the town. There was also nothing exciting about where we spent the night, either. We inquired about a Laundromat and were directed to the small building next to NAPA Autoparts. Parking in the lot across the street from NAPA, Ken went inside to get something he needed and they told him where we were parked was owned by the town and we could stay the night if we wanted - lots of people do. Very convenient as it was across the street from the Laundromat, behind McDonald's, Dairy Queen and across another street from Pizza Hut. What more could we ask for? How about peace and quiet. We have stayed in so many places that were virtually wilderness spots that this spot was an assault on our hearing and sanity. It did quiet down after midnight so that was acceptable but we were both ready to head out in the morning - which we did, making our way further south and closer to Anchorage.

After dinner at Pizza Hut we walked over to the Dairy Queen for dessert and stood in line with a Christian Motorcycle group that was also there for dessert and fellowship. They invited us to sit with them and it was a very pleasant evening. The topics were many and we found out Sarah Palin is the local hero. Not only is she "one of them" and just a "normal" person, she is also approachable and well liked in the area. We were told we needed to read her book to see what really happened during the campaign and we might, someday!

The next night found us in Eagle River at the Eagle River Campground in the Chugach State Park. Eagle River itself has a population of 22,000 and could be considered a suburb of Anchorage as it is only 13 miles from there. There wasn't much to see or do in Eagle River as it was pretty much a commercial area, but the park we were in had a great trail right beside the Eagle River and we were able to watch the rafters a couple of different times. We didn't see any bears but the evidence of them were visible, particularly at the dumpsters where a bear tried to break in. It wasn't successful, but as you can see, it tried pretty hard to conquer the lid and by the pile of bear scat on one of the trails.

We stayed four nights in the park and made a couple of trips into Anchorage to see what was there. We went to the Ulu Factory - Ulu's are special knives that have been in use for hundreds of years by the Native people of the Artic. They are used for everything an ordinary set of knives can do - chopping, fileting fish and whales, slicing and dicing to name a few. The blade is curved and it has a handle on top. Quite interesting. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of one but I was able to download from the internet. We walked along the Ship Creek to the Salmon Viewing area and watched some salmon fisherman, none of which were catching any. A ride out to Potter Point State Game Refuge was highly recommended, although the day we went there it was extremely windy and cold and whatever bird life was supposed to be there, wasn't. This is a remnant of the construction of the Alaska Railroad system and after the railroad was completed, it was decided the marshy area should be left as a game refuge for the public to enjoy.

A few facts about Anchorage: it is the largest city in Alaska with a population of 283,398. There are two higher education facilities - University of Alaska and Alaska Pacific, formerly Alaska Methodist. It has two military facilities, Fort Richardson and Elmendorf Air Force Base and it covers 1,961 square miles - 1,697 of land and 264 of water. There are five mountain ranges that surround the area -Chugach, the Kenais, the Talkeetnas, the icy peaks of the Tordrillo Mountains across Cook Inlet, and the dramatic peaks of the Alaska Range with Mount McKinley (Denali) visible on the northern horizon, weather permitting.

Now that we have gotten our mail, prescriptions and groceries we are ready to head further south but not until we have spent some time at Merrill Field, Lake Hood and Lake Spenard to watch the float planes land and take off. We couldn't believe there were that many small float planes anywhere. We talked to a woman that was walking her dog and she said 3 out of 5 residents have their pilots license and 1 out of 5 owns their own plane. That is amazing and they were certainly fun to watch for the short time we stayed. After that we headed out of the Anchorage area and will find out way to Crow Creek Mine in the Girdwood area.

North to Alaska 2010

Denali National Park to Little Willow Creek

From Denali we are heading for Anchorage - with a few stops in between. The first stop was at the Denali State Park North View. This was a parking lot with sites on it. A bathroom (chemical toilet), dumpsters and a beautiful view of Denali - when it isn't cloudy, which it was. So again, we didn't get to see the "mountain". We stayed one night and then the next night we went across the road from the park to a rest stop for the second night. The total mileage for this day was .4 miles - not a very big travel day for sure! We hoped to see the mountain as we traveled further south, but no luck at all.

We stopped at Talkeetna, a quaint little town with a population of 848. Talkeetna began as a trading post in 1896, and grew as a riverboat supply base following the Susitna River gold rush in 1910. The population boomed during construction of the Alaska Railroad, when Talkeetna was headquarters for the Alaska Engineering Commission in charge of railroad construction, but declined following completion of the project. Talkeetna is the jumping-off point for most climbing expeditions to Mount McKinley (Denali). The town is also the site of many flightseeing businesses. There was one nice pull off on the road to stay the night but we decided we would try to get out on the river bank. When we got to the river we realized that we would not be able to take the RV out on the gravel as there were some steep slopes to climb so we turned around and tried another river access which wasn't a good spot either. We could have fit there nicely, but it was where the local fire company fills their tankers and there were signs posted for no parking. We went out to the main road looking for a pull off, but for the next 12 or so miles, there was heavy construction on the highway so we wound up going about 20 miles from the Talkeetna Spur Road and parking along the Little Willow Creek. With this being the 4th of July holiday weekend, we realized that camp sites were going to be few and far between so we settled in for a 4 night stay along the quiet creek! Hah! Quiet it was not! The locals park at places like these and bring all of the family toys - mostly 4 wheelers and dirt bikes - in all sizes from kids to adults and everyone has a good time!! We were on the side of the creek that was posted no ATV's - habitat area, so we were the only ones parked on our side, but the opposite side has at least 4 small motor homes, 1 or 2 small trailers and 2 or 3 tents plus a large community eating area. With there being almost 24 hours of daylight, the toys made noise almost the entire time. When the kids went to bed around midnight, the adults took over. Mornings were pretty quiet as everyone slept in.

The 3rd of July started the celebration. Lots and lots of fireworks - on the opposite side of the creek. When the fireworks dwindled, out came the guns. Now around Alaska, if you are going to carry a shotgun it has to be big enough to down a bear, so they were shooting off 10 and 8 gauge guns - which sounded like cannons! And they were automatics. The 4th of July, the celebration continued - this time with a limited amount of fireworks and more guns. Not only were they shooting the shotguns, the pistols came out. It made for a loud, nerve wracking two evenings. The 5th of July was a little better, no fireworks, some guns and now the music blasted from the opposite side of the creek. Music I can handle, but not the bass that rocks the earth. I wanted so much to be able to make a lot of noise the next morning, but we didn't come equipped for that. Darn it!

We did do a little sightseeing while we were at Little Willow Creek. We went into Willow - population 2,048 and the true starting place for the Iditarod. The Iditarod actually starts in Anchorage, but they have what they called a "restart" which is the official start. The Anchorage start is a ceremonial start on the first Saturday in March. Mushers make their way across by trail from downtown Anchorage to Eagle River, then drive to Willow for the "real" start of the race the next day. Between Willow and Nome, they are on the trail for 1,049 miles. Willow was a virtual ghost town after the mining slacked off but the community made a comeback upon completion of the Parks Highway in 1972. In 1976, Alaska voters selected the Willow area for their new capital site. However, funding for the capital move from Juneau to Willow was defeated in the November 1982 election.

On one of our day trips we went to the Nancy Lake Recreation area and walked down to the lake where we met a family just starting to pack their rented canoes. They were going to canoe across 6 lakes and portage between the lakes to spend 3 nights in a remote cabin. The man kept saying, "what was I thinking?" as he diligently packed and repacked. The best part was the dog - Ruby, a boxer who had never been in a canoe. Mom and son headed out first, then Dad put the dog in the canoe with the daughter and he proceeded to push the canoe into the water. With that, Ruby gets up and turns around as if to say - what do you think you are doing? It was comical and the daughter and dad kept say to Ruby - "Ruby - sit down, it will be OK". I hope they enjoyed their trip and had an easy time of getting the dog into the canoe each time they had to cross the water. Better them than me!

Another day trip was to Hatcher's Pass. This takes you into scenic alpine country and up to the historic Independence Mine. This 49 mile long road loops over Hatcher's Pass - elevation 3,886 feet and the views are breathtaking, although when we got to the top by Summit Lake, visibility was next to nothing which made going down the other side a little more breathtaking - as in not knowing where the road is exactly.

The next destination will be Wasilla - the home of Sarah Palin. It will be another laundry, grocery shopping day.

North to Alaska 2010

Denali National Park

We have left Fairbanks and are now heading for Denali National Park and Preserve. This park was established in 1917 as Mount McKinley National Park, designated a park and preserve - and renamed Denali - in 1980. Denali "the High One" is what the Athabascan Indians of the region called it. In 1896 a prospector, named the mountain for presidential nominee William McKinley of Ohio, although McKinley had no connection with Alaska. Protests that the mountain be returned to its original name, Denali, ensued almost at once. But it was not until the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Ace of 1980 changed the park's status and name that the Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name back to Denali. The 1980 legislation also enlarged the park from 2 million acres to its present 6 million acres to protect Mount McKinley on all sides and to preserve the habitat of area wildlife.

The general public is prohibited from traveling by personal vehicle more than 30 miles into the park itself. This is at the Teklanika Rest Stop and the campground that is there at that mile marker. Once you are at the campground, you may only go back out once. If you leave the campground you lose your site. This is done to protect the land and wildlife. There are shuttle buses that run back and forth from various points in the park but you can only go forward.

We didn't get into the park the day we got there as they were full in all three campgrounds that take big RV's so we camped about 15 miles south in a pull-out along side the Nenana River. The view was great and although there was some traffic noise it wasn't too bad.

On Saturday we moved to the Riley Campground in the park for 3 nights. We had also made reservations on the shuttle bus - the shortest loop - that goes 59 miles back into the park to Toklat River. We chose to do the 5:00 pm shuttle - 3 hours out and 2.5 hours back - as there is always wildlife out at dusk. Oops - forgot - there isn't any dusk this time of year but I don't think the wildlife knows that! We took the opportunity to check out the commercial area just outside the park. What a congested area. Lots of motels, hotels, restaurants and tourist trap shops. We did go into a couple of them and what passes for a grocery store but being what this area is, the prices were sky high and we passed on any purchases. Back in the park we went to the Wilderness Access Center - this is where you get your bus to go into the park - and they also have things you can purchase. This center is operated by a concessionaire as are the campground positions other than the camp hosts. From there we headed to the parks visitor's center - which is operated by the national park system. They have a wonderful display with lots of information about the terrain, animals and life in the park.

Back at the campground we packed some snacks and drinks into a back pack just in case we had the munchies then headed back to the Wilderness Access Center to catch the bus. We were the only ones doing the tour tonight. There were 6 young people that were hitching a ride to a campground for tenting and that was the extent of passengers. Once we dropped them off we had a personal tour. The bus driver was a young man named Michael, that was very personable and knowledgeable about the area and animals. On the way out to Toklat River we spotted a wolf crossing the road, some Dall sheep and a moose. We also passed by a mother grizzly with 2 cubs some distance from the road. Hopefully they will be there when we get back. The "tundra" that we were traveling through wasn't anything like what we expected. We thought we would be going through mountains and passes, and we did do some of that, but for the most part it was mostly alpine with shallow hills and lots of foraging grass, some pine trees where the moose frequent along with some moose ponds. An area called Polychrome Pass was a little nerve wracking and there is no way I would want to pull an RV through that area - and this is past the 30 mile point, in fact, it is at the end of the 60 miles that we paid to see. Steep mountains on one side and steep mountains going down on the other with a one way road that handles two way traffic. Mike, driving the bus did an excellent job both going and coming back. Coming back the grizzly and cubs were closer to the road and we stopped and watched for some time. The cubs were doing the cub thing - fighting, running at each other, tumbling and not paying much attention to mom who was off a little bit munching on the grass and plants. When the cubs got tired of rough housing they both went over to mom, nudged her and simultaneously all three of them walked up a slight knoll where she laid down, rolled over and allowed the cubs to nurse. This was awesome to see - and amazing as the cubs were almost as big as she was. The bus driver guessed they were probably 2 years old so this would be there last year with the mother. We saw more moose and sheep on the way back and the wildlife total was 3 grizzlies, 1 wolf, 21 Dall sheep and 2 moose. Not too bad for a day and a great way to celebrate our 46th anniversary.

The next morning, Ken had a close encounter with a moose and calf at the bathroom area. He said they were just walking through the campground and camp sites like they owned the place - and they probably were there first! More stuff to see in the park today - another trip to the visitor's center and to the National Park Sled Dog demonstration. The rangers use sleds during the winter to traverse the park and breed their own sled dogs. They had a nice display and all of the dogs were in there areas wanting attention from the visitors. Once the "visiting" was done, the sled was brought out and the mushers got the dogs ready to go. What a commotion - each dog barking and yipping like kids wanting to be picked first. Once the team was in harness they quieted down. The musher got on the back of the sled runners, released the team and away they went. There is a small gravel trail that they follow and they really move fast. It was fun to watch, although I would have liked to be the one on the sled. I have always wanted to do a sled dog vacation but couldn't convince Ken it was the trip to take.

Later that night, we went for a ride out to Savage River Flats. This is at mile 15 and as far as one can go in their own private vehicle. We saw 6 moose, one of which was a calf, Caribou, and of course the ever present Dall Sheep. We took a hike on the River Loop at Savage River - which was a mountain vista walk through the wildflowers, rocks, streams and small hills that line the river and on the way back to the campground we were able to see the bottom half of Denali. They say only 30 to 40 percent of the people coming to the area are able to see the mountain. We hope at some point we will be able to see the entire mountain. It was still beautiful - brilliant white with the sun shining on the snow.

Tomorrow we will be leaving the park and heading further south towards Anchorage. Would have liked to stay longer but hopefully we will be able to come back to Denali before leaving Alaska.

Some more views of Denali:

North to Alaska 2010

Fairbanks and surrounding area

First a little about Fairbanks. It is the second largest city in Alaska; it is the start of the Alaska Highway; it was named in 1902 by Captain E.T. Barnette convincing 25 or so miners in the area to use the name "Fairbanks" for the town that he expected would grow up around his trading post. The name had been suggested by Judge James Wickersham who admired Charles W. Fairbanks, the senior senator from Indiana. The senator later became vice president of the United States under Theodore Roosevelt. The town has grown from a census population in 1910 from 3,541 to 31,639. More than 30 percent of employment in Fairbanks is through the government. Fort Wainwright - formerly Ladd Field - was the first Army airfield in Alaska, extabslished in 1938. Eielson Air Force Base, located 25 miles southeast was completed in 1944. Originally a satellite base to Ladd Army Air Field, it served as a storage site for aircragt on their way to the Soviet Union under the WWII Lend-Lease program.

North to Alaska 2010

Delta Junction to Fairbanks, AK

On the road again - and passing several lakes, rivers and ponds. In our Milepost, they always tell you what fish can be caught at each lake, river and pond and when it is. This book has been worth every bit of the $30.00 we paid for it. It would be nice if there were books for every state!

We are looking at the Tanana River with a panoramic view to the south of us of 3 great peaks of the Alaska Range: Mount Hayes - elevation 13,832 feet, Hess Mountain -a 11,940 feet and Mount Deborah - 12,339 feet. It is every bit as beautiful as the last mountains we were in near Valdez. A short stop at the Birch Lake rest stop - the lake is full of lily pads with yellow flowers on them.

Another stop along the way at The Knotty Shop - this time for ice cream. There is an advertisement in the Milepost for one free one scoop ice cream - dish or cone. We are never ones to pass up a bargain on ice cream. This is the most unusual place - every where you look there are logs and animals made from burls. The burls are abundant on the spruce trees - it is caused from a foreign substance that makes the tree grow around it to get away from it - and this is what forms. The shop had several items made from them - bowls, platters and that sort of thing, but mostly they are used as posts - porches, mail boxes - and these unusual animals.

Getting closer to Fairbanks, we are going through the North Pole. We stopped to see Santa but the parking lot was full, so we will come back another day to see Santa and get our picture taken with him. I can hardly wait!!

Finally we arrive in Fairbanks and find John and Fran at the Pioneer Park parking lot where there are several RV's parked there. This park was built in 1967 as the Alaska Centennial Park to commemorate the 100th anniversary of U.S. territorial status and provide a taste of Alaska history. They have a gold rush town with a narrow, winding street of authentic old buildings that once graced downtown Fairbanks; the First Presbyterian Church, constructed in 1904; and the Pioneers of Alaska Museum, dedicated to those who braved frontier life to establish Fairbanks. Of course, there are the "tourist" shops that sell food and crafts and an art gallery. Pioneer Park is home to the renovated SS Nenana - a twin to the stern-wheeler we saw in Whitehorse.

This van was also parked in the lot - he is from California and we saw him there the last time we were there. He got more attention from people and had more pictures taken than anything else around. The sign on the side say "It is hard to soar like an eagle when you are surrounded by turkeys". As you can see - he has his entire van covered with eagles - all screwed on tight!

After getting set up, we discussed what to do for dinner and decided we would splurge at the Alaskan Salmon Bake which is part of the Pioneer Park. It is an all you can eat buffet with salmon, prime rib, halibut, cod and on Fridays they offer snow crab legs, plus there is a salad bar, bread bar and dessert bar. The cost is $31 per person so we were determined to get our fair share - I started with a small salad and crab legs - Ken started with the salmon and prime rib. I tried everything - small bites - and went back 4 times for the crab legs. They were done to perfection!

After dinner we walked through the park - at 10:00 pm and it was pretty light out still. We are only 3 days from summer solstice so it will be light for most of the night - takes a little getting used to.

Tomorrow we will go exploring and see what this area has to offer.

A few final pictures.