Denali National Park

Denali National Park   August 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st

We drove the Parks Highway to Riley Campground just inside Denali National Park. While we have not been making campground reservations for the majority of our trip, we thought it best to do so here and we were glad we did. The campground is full  every night and were we not able to get in here, we would not have been happy in a commercial one outside the park, behind the gift shops in a parking lot..

Tundra Wilderness Tour

On the 19th, we took an eight hour round trip wilderness tundra ride on a school bus to Eielson Visitor Center which is 65.9 miles into the Park. The first 15 miles were paved and two lane. The next 10 miles were gravel with two lanes and the rest was a  gravel one lane road with pullouts for oncoming traffic to veer off and let you pass.

One Lane Road

Sure glad we weren't driving our RV on this road! We brought our lunch to eat on the bus for this long day. We anticipated seeing a lot of wildlife. We did see some and were happy with the trip overall but greedily we wished we had seen more of the animals up close and personal. We couldn't get off the bus unless we were at a rest stop, but we were able to take pictures out the top of the open windows. We were dressed in warm layers once again for the rainy and cool weather. Among the animals we saw were two grizzly bears, many caribou, one moose and one Dall sheep and one two legged animal who was waiting for our bus to move so he could get more pictures of the sheep.

Grizzly

Dall Sheep

Female Caribou on Road

Male Caribou

Grizzly

Two legged animal

We kept trying to see Mt. McKinley again but to no avail. There are only a few places on the road that you would be able to see it were it clear, but it wasn't.  The vistas were wonderful and you could really see the "braided river" effect that happens here.

Photochrome Point

Vista

Low Cloud Cover

Friends of ours, Marlette and John, and their traveling companions who we also know, Bev and Dave, Denise and Rich from Connecticut were on a tour with Celebrity and Marlette had sent me their itinerary. They would be in Denali for a day at the same time we would be. And, they were taking the afternoon wilderness tundra tour while we were taking the morning one on the same day. On the way back down from Eielson, we stopped at a rest stop and there they were. What are the chances! We made plans for breakfast the following morning at their lodging before they leave for Anchorage. It was great to see them.

Marlette and Kate

John, Marlette, Kate and Tim

White Water Rafting Trip

After breakfast on the 20th, we went back to the campground to change clothes and get ready for our white water rafting trip down the Nenana River. We dressed in layers as instructed and made sure we had our extra socks and headed out for our afternoon of fun.

The company, Explore Denali Rafting, expertly fitted us into dry suits with neoprene booties, made sure we had our life jackets on, and hats and gloves to keep us warm. The water in the river is about 36 degrees so you really couldn't go without all of that equipment and stay warm by any stretch of the imagination.

We walked behind their shop to the river, loaded into the boats and we were off. James, our oarsman, was quite a character and definitely knew what he was doing. As we crossed over the first of many Class III and IV rapids, the company had a photographer on the shore taking our pictures..many of them you will see here.

Wave Everyone!

I also brought a waterproof disposable camera with us and took pictures when I was able to let go, but those won't be on this blog. On one of the very first rapids, I got hit extremely hard by one wave that caught me full on my face and gave me an instant "brain freeze" headache like the kind you get when you eat ice cream too fast, which, fortunately, only lasted a few minutes!  It was a total of 2 hours on the water with many exciting moments. One of which was when the kayaker, Jay,  from the company who was traveling with the rafts attempted a pass through a dangerous rapid called "the knife."

The rafts did not go through the narrow part and were already down the river just a little bit when he attempted the narrow passage. The Guide in the other boat, Wayne, yelled that the kayak had flipped and Jay was not any where to be seen. James was quite concerned and tried to row back up the river which was impossible. Both rafts eddied out to the side of the river waiting to see if he would reappear. After a long, tense five minutes, Jay came around the bend in his kayak. From what we could gather, his kayak flipped and he had to remove the skirt over the opening to get out, but there was a lot of wood (trees and brush) that he got entangled with under the water. He was able to hold onto his paddle and retrieve the kayak once he got himself free of debris. He also cleared out some of the wood and completed the passage from start to finish. He performed amazing feats in the kayak!

Our clothing stayed dry and the heater was turned way up on the bus on the way back to their shop. We had done some white water rafting in Vermont years ago, but this river was much faster and the rapids were much larger. What a great time we had!

On our last day at Denali, the sun came out just in time for us to do our laundry, download photos and write this blog!

Talkeetna , Mount McKinley, and Train to Hurricane Gulch

Talkeetna August 16th and 17th

Our arrival in Talkeetna was under stormy skies once again. We have had rain for a portion of almost every day in Alaska thus far. But, the flowers are beautiful!

We stayed at the Talkeetna Boat Landing and RV Park on the Talkeetna River. The first day, we explored the downtown area. The streets were very busy because not only do the cruise lines bring folks here on buses, there is also a train that stops here from Anchorage and Fairbanks. Charming little place really with its restaurants, gift shops, tour companies and street vendors. They say that on a clear day at the end of the street where three rivers merge; the Talkeetna, the Susitna or "Big Su" as the locals call it, and the Chulitna, you could see Mount McKinley. No luck today. (The na at the end of each of these rivers means water in the native tongues.)

Mount McKinley (or Denali as the locals call it) August 17th

We checked out several flight seeing companies and opted to do a flight on the 17th with Talkeetna Air Taxi to see Mount McKinley as we are sure we won't be seeing it from the ground.  Sure enough, it was raining again and our flight was to be at 8:30 am. We checked with the company and they told us it looked good for landing on the glacier today so off we went hoping for the best. Some people from the tours the day before told us that they went up but couldn't see the mountain very well and couldn't land. The company would refund the landing part of the flight if unable to land, but it would be very disappointing.

It was still raining when we took off but as we rose above the clouds the skies were blue with cotton candy white clouds. The vistas were breathtaking! The pilot told us that only 20-25 days a year they get a day like we were having to be able to see so far and actually see the top of Mount McKinley which stands at over 20,000 feet and is the tallest peak in North America.

We crossed the Alaskan Range to the northern stretches of the 6 million acres of Denali  National Park. The pilot banked and looped through the walls and crevices with the wing tips not far from the sides of the mountains. We flew up to the front of Mount Foraker, behind Mount Hunter and to the back side of McKinley to see the Wickersham Wall, which is a 14,000 foot wall on the north face of McKinley and one of the largest walls in the world. We then rounded McKinley to the south side and descended into the landscape surrounding  the Don Sheldon Ampitheater,  soared through the Great Gorge and into the "gargoyle" at the head of the Ruth Glacier where we landed at about 6000 feet. Unbelievable!

After about 20 minutes on the glacier, we took off and veered to the right and most of us gasped as it looked to us that we would not make it through the two mountains with the wing tips so close to their walls. The pilot knew what he was doing, of course, and we flew back over a plane that landed exactly where we had been just minutes before. Tim had the opportunity to ride in the co-pilots seat on the return trip and was thrilled to do so.

Our Shadow below

This was definitely the best two hours and the highlight of our trip so far. We were so privileged to see what so many come here to see and don't because of the weather conditions. The pictures tell the story!

Train to Hurricane Gulch August 17th

Yes, we crammed one more thing in to the day. We took the Hurricane Turn Train ride that took us through the back country where folks can get off where they want to and just flag the train down to get on it.

The Conductor

Hurricane Turn Train

The train travels north from Talkeetna along the Susitna River and through the Indian River Canyon ending in a ride across the Hurricane Gulch Bridge. It travels through a wilderness that is only accessible by train and returns back to Talkeetna at the end of a six hour day. The characters getting on and off were quite interesting including, an elderly woman leaning on a cane on one side with a rifle slung over her other shoulder.

Note the Rifle over left shoulder

We also met Mary  T. Lovel and her husband at the Sherman City Book Store. Mary has written two books on pioneering in the wilderness in Alaska where she raised her family and still lives even though she is now in her late 70s or early 80s. They live 32 miles up the track and depend on the railroad, as do all of the inhabitants along this route, for supplies and transportation and their mail.

Sherman City Hall

Sherman City Depot and Book Store

Another author, Sharon Cartwright, came on board after waving us down. Sharon writes children's books and comes aboard to sign and sell them to the passengers. For Mary, the train stops at her "book store" on the return trip. We saw many travelers, hikers, and fishermen boarding and disembarking as well as a group of kayakers who hitched a ride up the river to paddle back to Talkeetna.

Hikers

Unloading Kayaking Gear

Not much wildlife along the route which was disappointing.The Discovery Channel features the Alaskan Railroad and this train route and an extension past the Hurricane Gulch Bridge on a program called "Alaska Railroad." We met the engineer who will be starring in the next episodes of the show. The railroad is extremely important for the way of life in rural Alaska.

Engineer on Discovery Channel Show

Mount McKinley from the Train

Eklutna Lake and Nancy Lake

Eklutna and Nancy Lake August 15th

Our journey this day took us off the beaten track again so that we could stop and see Eklutna Lake which is a beautiful green glacial lake with wonderful views of the Chugach mountain range. We were told we shouldn't  miss it and we were glad we didn't. It even had a paved road all the way in and an ice cream parlor to boot!

Eklutna Lake

We traveled through Palmer on the Old Glen Highway, to the Palmer-Wasilla connector and on through Wasilla (no we didn't see Russia) where we picked up the Parks Highway. We stopped for the night at Nancy Lake where Tim washed the car the old fashioned way!

Nancy Lake

Getting Rid of Mud

Anchorage

Anchorage August 13th and 14th

We left Kelly Lake on the 13th and headed across the Sterling Highway back onto the Seward highway and headed north along the Cook Inlet into Anchorage. We continued on north of Anchorage and camped at Eagle River in the Chugach State Park for two days. The river is swift with rapids and it is full of the glacial "flour" which makes it look dirty but isn't.  We were surprised to hear that the Salmon can actually get up this river to the  head water to spawn.

We drove back into Anchorage to visit the Alaska Native Heritage Museum. Wonderful experience. There were children there that explained and demonstrated the games that keep them in shape during the long winter days with no sun and too cold to go outside. They have established their own "olympics" for these games competing with other Native cultures not only in Alaska but also Russia and Canada. The young lady below holds the women's record for jumping the highest and kicking the ball with one foot and landing on one foot.

Women's Record Holder

The Museum itself was nicely done with exhibits from all of the Native tribes: Eyak, Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Haida from the Southeast; Unangaz and Alutiiq from the Southwest; Inupiaq, St. Lawrence, Island Yupok in the North; the Yup'ik and Cup'ik from the West and the Athabascans from the East. We toured the villages that were built outside to see in more detail how these cultures live(d) and survive(d) in this wilderness.

Totem Pole at Museum

We also toured the Ulu factory. An Ulu is a device designed and created by native Alaskans for chopping and cutting foods and in previous days,  scraping hides. An Ulu is a rounded blade made out of stainless steel now (previously just steel) with a wooden handle (previously antler horns, wood, ivory) and is used in a rounded out cutting board for chopping and dicing. The "factory" was more or a less a gift shop but they were packing the Ulus as we went through.

The following day, we went to the Eagle River Nature Center in Chugach State Park for the afternoon.  We did a hike around the grounds but saw no Bear just Salmon in the river.

Eagle River with Chugach Mountain Range

They had closed the trail we were hoping to walk on due to a lot of Bear activity there. Relaxing easy walk.. the hard part was just getting there for all of the road construction along the way.