Alaska - Part VII - Denali NP to Cooper Landing, Kenai Peninsula

Friday, June 12, 2009

We departed Riley Creek Campground in Denali N.P. at 1:15 pm AT and headed toward Talkeetna. We stopped at Cubby’s for a few food items and took the 14 mile road into Talkeetna where we found a site at the Talkeetna Camper Park with water and electric. Our mileage was 25,530.3. We arrived at 6:00 pm. After checking in, we drove on into Talkeetna and had dinner at the Wildflower Café. (We parked next to the grass airfield where bush planes take off and land.) We both had a grilled Halibut sandwich and bought a small rock vase from the management made by a local artist for $30. Our campground was at the train depot and there were lots of folks from the tour buses loading and unloading onto passenger trains. Talkeetna is the base for mountain climbers that are climbing Mt. McKinley. It was wet and chilly so we stayed in and watched a movie and headed to bed early.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

After we checked out, we drove back into Talkeetna and bought t-shirts for the Burgers at the museum, bought another rock vase, and walked through the gift shops. We had elk sausage and veggie flatbread sandwiches at the Mountain High Pizza. We left Talkeetna at 2:15 pm in the rain headed for Wasilla. Wasilla is larger than we thought and is spread out along the Parks Highway. We arrived at Walmart for the night at about 4:00, however over-knighting was not allowed there. We met a nice couple from Nebraska that was having wheel bearing problems. We offered to help but what do we know about wheel bearings…nothing. He got it fixed temporary and we followed them to the Big Bear RV Park about a mile away. Mileage upon arrival was 25,600.5. The woman working there shared lots of information on the Kenai Peninsula and Katmai National Park. We had local Anchorage TV, watched a little and turned in.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

We spent most of the day housecleaning, doing laundry, etc. We stayed on the phone quite a while making reservations for the Marine Highway ferry and with the Bergers finalized our flight from Homer into the Katmai NP. We had tacos for dinner and just relaxed and read the remainder of the evening.

Monday, June 15, 2009

We left the Big Bear RV Park at 11:30 am on our way to the Kenai. We shopped at Fred Meyer in Wasilla and stopped at the post office to mail post cards and birthday cards to the grandkids. We drove through Anchorage intending to stop at the Creek wood Inn Campground with full services. It was less than appealing, on one of the busiest urban streets in downtown Anchorage so we decided to drive back to a Centennial Camper Park municipal campground. It was lovely, but because of political reasons the campground was closed from Monday noon until Thursday morning, so we continued down the Seward Highway, drove through the Bird Creek State Campground. The roads were more than rutted, and as Ed got out checking one of the sites, we found that it was mosquito-infested. He had about 10 mosquitoes on him getting back in the LD. So we continued driving along the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet. It was beautiful. The day was sunny and warm. We stopped along the way at a turnout and saw Dall Sheep up on the mountain behind us. We turned on Portage Valley Road toward Whittier. This was our first stop on the Kenai Peninsula. At mile 4, we turned into the Williwaw Campground (USFS) with lots of trees, wide paved roads and large sites. It is surrounded by mountains and glaciers on three sides and sits directly below overhanging Middle Glacier. It is right next to the Williwaw Creek Salmon Viewing Area. The salmon will not be running until late July, but there are trout in the creek. We had a glass of wine sitting outside while we enjoyed the view. Ed grilled chicken and Jeanne made a nice wine sauce and broccoli. It was a great having dinner under the glaciers!!













Tuesday, June 16, 2009

We awakened at 9:30 am, chilly and rainy. We caught up on our journaling. We drove into Whittier through the 2.5 mile single lane (shared with the train) tunnel. Whittier was depressed. It looks like something left over from WWII because it was. Founded in 1943, when the US Army used this ice-free port to build an Alaska Army Base. The town was made accessible by the road-rail toll tunnel which connects Arm with Passage Canal, an arm of Prince William Sound. What we discovered while here is that this is the only piece of land that connects, making the peninsula (instead of an island). After a short driving tour, we returned through the tunnel and pulled over on the other side to take pictures of the Portage Glacier and met four guys from Alabama; two from Montgomery and two from Birmingham. They had just flown into Anchorage and were headed to Soldontna to fish for 10 days. We returned to the Williwaw Campground. It was cold, but we took a hike on the trail next to the salmon viewing stream. (There was no salmon!) We grilled marinated salmon from our freezer (from Hoover’s Costco) for dinner. We hardly slept; the wind was howling and it was cold.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

We woke at 8:30 am and Winkie and Hank Boemer, our friends from Georgia, were knocking on the door at 9:30 am. We decided to take another trip into Whittier with them. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center and saw a great little 20 minute film about how glaciers form and viewed the icebergs in Portage Lake. We went back into Whittier with them. A cruise ship was there, so some of the shops were open. We walked around, visited a coffee shop and had coffee, chai and fudge. We returned to the campground with quite a delay. There had been an accident in the tunnel and we waited an extra hour to return to the campground. We got back around 5:30 pm and visited with them in their travel trailer and made them a CD with their pictures on it, so they could format their camera card. We watched a movie and turned in around 11:00 pm.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

We left the Williwaw Campground with the Boemers at 9:00 am and drove up Portage Glacier Road to the Seward Highway. We saw eagles on Arm and one was sitting very close to the highway so we got some photos. We needed gas and propane, so we backtracked to Girdwood (home of Senator Stevens of the “Bridge to Nowhere” fame!) then headed toward Cooper Landing, where we luckily got two campsites at Quartz Creek Campground on the Kenai Lake. It was beautiful. When we arrived, we thought we had a propane leak, but it was overfilled and when the tank got to the correct level, it stopped leaking. We drove down to where the Russian River meets the Kenai River. It was amazing…there were hundreds of fishermen, combat fishing for migrating red salmon. We stood at the Russian River Ferry and witnessed many fish being caught. Ed and Hank were very excited to fish tomorrow.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Hank and Ed went fishing. Jeanne and Winkie were headed to Soldotna and got a call that Ed had fallen into the river while trying to catch a salmon. Jeanne drove the rig up to the river and brought him dry clothes. Ed and Hank returned to fishing. Jeanne and Winkie shopped at Soldotna. The guys were freezing so they came back to the campsite and the girls came in later. The guys had seen a grizzly about 400 feet away from where they were standing eating the discarded salmon carcasses.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Ed and Hank fished Quartz Creek. We later met Herb and Nancy Quinn from Eagle River, AK who had the site next to Hank and Winkie. They were canning salmon and we were curious, so we asked them how it was done. The guys went back to the river to fish with the other thousands of fishermen while Jeanne and Winkie visited with Herb and Nancy. They gave us recipes for canned salmon, barbecued salmon, and smoked salmon, along with reindeer food. Jeanne and Winkie were invited to eat dinner with Herb and Nancy. They ate barbequed salmon, salad, and watermelon. We have found that Alaskans are very warm and accommodating. The guys returned from the river around 11:00 pm and found Jeanne and Winkie sitting around the campfire. The guys had no dinner and too much scotch. We retired around 1:00 am.

Sunday, June 21, 2009 Father’s Day

This morning we decided to stay several more days here at the Quartz Creek USFS CG. We all (Jeanne, Ed, Hank, and Winkie) took off to Soldotna in Hank’s truck. We shopped at the Hardware and Fishing store, did our laundry, paid bills, went to Fred Meyers, visited Hank’s friend’s Walter and Wilda’s campsite, and took a drive through the Centennial Park CG where the Lazy Daze people, Pat and Lee Koontz, are staying for the summer. They live in NC in the winter. We were not taken by the Centennial CG. We left Soldotna and got back to Quartz Creek CG about 6:30 pm. All Ed’s kids and Tracy and Amy called today to wish Ed a Happy Father’s Day. We watched a movie and turned in.

Alaska - Part VI - Fairbanks, AK to Denali Nat'l Park

Sunday, June 7, 2009

We are in Fairbanks at the River’s Edge Campground with full hook-ups (incl. TV and wi-fi). It sits on the Chena River, which is good for fishing, as well as boating and swimming. Arriving, our mileage was 25,202.4. That means our mileage from Birmingham is right at 5,000 miles. We cleaned the LD up a bit in the morning then took the 2:00 pm Discovery Riverboat tour. We met the tour bus at 1:00 along with several other couples from the campground and lodge. The riverboat offered several demonstrations along the bank as we boated down the Chena River. We saw a float plane take off and land within feet of the riverboat. The captain stopped the riverboat at the Susan Butcher Dog Kennels (she won the Iditarod 4 times with her dog Granite; in 2006 she lost her life to leukemia at the age of 52) and saw how they train the dogs for a race in the summer, by pulling a four wheeler around instead of a sled. The dogs get so excited; once they are in place they just want to RUN. Just down the river, an Eskimo gave us a demonstration of how her people had smoked salmon for centuries. What made these demonstrations so nice was that the people on the banks had microphones which came through on the riverboat’s audio system so there was dialog between the captain and the Eskimos giving these talks. We were able to get off the boat at an authentic looking Indian village with numerous demonstrations of the life and culture of the Eskimos centuries ago, i.e., how animals were trapped and how their fur and meat was used for clothing, housing, and food. There was a caribou exhibit. Know the difference in a caribou and a reindeer? Reindeers can fly! The experience was interesting. People from the banks that gave the earlier demonstrations were also in the village to answer any questions. Susan Butcher’s daughter was there to sign her mom’s book appropriately named “Granite”. After a trip through the gift shop, we boarded the bus and got back to the LD around 5:00 pm. We walked over to the campground-owned Chena’s Alaskan Grill for dinner. Nice restaurant but a little pricey. We had a glass of wine and light fare and then back home to our cozy bed to watch a little TV before turning in.
Monday, June 8, 2009











12:00 midnight

We visited the North Pole and Santa Land. As we were driving back to Fairbanks from North Pole, the battery door opened and the tray that hold the two house batteries came sliding out. We had the tray repaired at Alaska RV. We then headed to the Pump House on the Chena River for dinner. We both had their fresh Halibut and it was delicious. We went back to our campsite and proceeded to do laundry with 7 or 8 other couples. We took pictures of the daylight at 12:00 mid-night and finished the laundry about 12:30 am.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

We made phone calls, dumped, cleaned and re-arranged. We went to Fred Meyers for gas, groceries and bear spray, and went to the post office to mail t-shirts and post cards to the grandkids. We left Fairbanks about 2:00 pm. Mileage 25,248.3. We arrive at the Riley Creek Campground about 4:30 pm. We checked in and picked up our tickets for tomorrow’s bus trip. It was a really nice, updated campground with lots of trees, new restrooms and picnic tables, and a well-stocked Mercantile for supplies. We had cell (ATT) service and wi-fi was available at the Mercantile. Highly recommend for dry camping. When we first arrived, we drove around the campground and found two other Lazy Daze rigs. We talked to one of the owners. Both owners were women traveling alone, one from MA and the other from CA. We grilled salmon for dinner, packed our backpacks for tomorrow’s bus trip into the park and went to bed early.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

We woke at 6:00 am, dressed quickly, and caught the shuttle to the Wilderness Center. We left on our bus tour to Kantishna at 7:45 am. That is as far as you can go on the Park Road, 90 miles one way. Our driver was Kim Turnbull and was very entertaining. We saw 16 grizzly bears, some very close to the road, lots of caribou, Dall sheep, Alaska’s state bird (Ptarmigan), Bald Eagle, and arctic ground squirrels. We saw lots of wildflowers that are indigenous to this area. We are now in the 30% club, only 30% of the people that visit Mt. McKinley get to see the top. It is generally clouded over, but we saw it! It was a long trip, but worth every minute. As we returned to the campground, Kim dropped us at 7:45 pm at the Murie Science Center where Verna Pratt was giving a talk on Alaskan wildflowers. She is very well-known and published several books on wildflowers in this area, but has a Baa Haabaa accent!! She did a great job, but we were exhausted so we left early and caught the shuttle to our campsite.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

It is so gorgeous here that we decided to stay another day. We biked into the village of Denali, had lunch at the Salmon Bake restaurant (no salmon on the menu for lunch). We took what we thought was a shortcut to the Denali Park Visitor’s Center that ended up on the “wrong side of the tracks” at Denali station, so we carried our bikes across about 6 pair of tracks and headed the 200 yards to the visitor’s center where we saw many (stuffed) wild animals and a nice demonstration of how the Eskimos lived before the white men arrived. We bought several books, one was Verna Pratt’s wildflower books. The bike trail was downhill, so it didn’t take us long to get back to the Mercantile where we bought a few items and then back to the campsite for a pasta dinner. We took a short walk around the campground to see if we could find a brown Lazy Daze we saw drive through, but no luck. Ed tried to sit outside for a while, but the mosquitoes here are very aggressive! We were both exhausted from our bike rides today. Tomorrow we will leave Denali for Talkeetna.

Alaska - Part V - Lake Watson YT to Fairbanks, AK

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

We left the Watson Lake campground at 10:20 am PT and stopped downtown to take pictures of the Signpost Forest, 60,000 signposts from all over the world. It was amazing. We stopped for lunch at the Continental Divide Lodge where we had a chicken sandwich and bean soup. It was a very boring drive from Watson Lake to Whitehorse. Not much in the way of scenery and saw only one black bear. We arrived at Whitehorse at 4:30 pm PT and checked into the Hi Country RV Campground. Our mileage was 24,588.7. We met a nice couple from Georgia (Hank and Winkie) and another from Florida and spent the evening talking about our trip plans. The mosquitoes were terrible. We had insect repellent on and the pests didn’t care, they bit us anyway.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

This was a rest day. We finally got to Whitehorse yesterday and right away met two really nice couples, Hank and Winkie from Valdosta, Georgia and Larry and Carol from Florida. We really like this park, it has good wi-fi and TV cable and TREES, unlike some of the CGs in the Yukon that are sitting on a gravel lot. Today, we did laundry, visited the local community fair (every Thursday they sell their wares, pottery, jewelry, homemade bread and jellies, that sort of stuff). We got groceries, went to the Visitor's Center, and went to large local market, named Super Store, which turned out to be a mini-Costco. The highlight of the trip so far was today, visiting the Whitehorse dam and the Whitehorse Rapids Fish Ladder. It is run by the Yukon Energy Corp and built for the salmon, actually detouring the salmon that come back to spawn from getting killed in the dam. We got a great deal of information about when and where the salmon spawn. The end of the run is about 30 miles upstream from Whitehorse. The salmon come back from the Berring Sea, where they grow for 5-6 years, swim 1,800 miles back to spawn within one meter of where they were born. Kinda unbelievable. We saw salmon that were about one year old. They were the same size and looked a lot like a minnow. I never thought I would care that much, but it was so interesting. This is the longest Chinook Salmon run in the world. We sat around with Hank and Winkie during the evening discussing our Alaska plans.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Left Hi Country RV Park in Whitehorse at 9:50 am YT. Traveling with Hank and Winkie, we stopped at the Kluane National Park Visitors Center and saw Dall Sheep on the steep slopes through telescopes and binoculars. Dall sheep and Stone sheep are smaller and considered thin-horned as opposed to Big Horn sheep. The First Nation (Indian) ranger gave us a lesson on First Nation jewelry. The real trade beads are over 100 years old and beautiful. From Haines Junction to mm 1085, the road was not good. We stopped to camp at the Lake Creek (gov’t) campground at 5:00 pm YT. No services. Ed and Hank put on their waders and fished, caught nothing but had a blast. We were worn out and in bed by 10:00 pm YT. By the way, the further north we travel, the less dark we have. It was still sunny at 10:00. Our mileage was 24,833.7.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Left the Lake Creek Campground around 8:00 am YT. To date we have driven 4,376 miles. The road was bad from this campground to the AK border. There were parts of the highway where we could only drive 10-12 mph. We crossed over the AK border at 9:30 am AK (we gained one hour). The border crossing was a piece of cake. The rangers are so nice, asked a few questions, and bingo, we were back in the good ol' US of A. Woohoo!! We stopped at the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center. After we got closer to Tok (but still in the middle of nowhere at mm 1300) we got cell service after one week of having none. Woohoo, again!! In Tok, we stopped at Fast Eddies for lunch, sandwiches, with Hank and Winkie. They then took the low road to Valdez and we went north toward Fairbanks. The roads were great after we crossed the border all the way to Fairbanks. We saw a moose with two calves at mm 1367 and got some pictures. We got on Hwy 2 at Delta Junction and stopped at Rika’s Roadhouse (mm 275), built in 1910 for wagon and barge travel. It sits on the Tanana River and is a museum of sorts. Lots of old farm equipment, traps, old outboard motors, etc. We were very excited to get our first glimpse of the AK pipeline here. At this location the pipe looks to be about 4 feet in diameter. We continued up Hwy 2 and arrived in Fairbanks at the River’s Edge Campground with full hook-ups (incl. TV and wi-fi) at 6:30 pm AT. It sits on the Chena River, which is good for fishing, as well as boating and swimming. Arriving, our mileage was 25,202.4. Long day!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

We cleaned the LD up a bit in the morning then took the 2:00 pm Discovery Riverboat tour. We met the tour bus at 1:00 along with several other couples from the campground and lodge. The riverboat offered several demonstrations along the bank as we boated down the Chena River. We saw a float plane take off and land within feet of the riverboat. The captain stopped the riverboat at the Susan Butcher Dog Kennels (she won the Iditarod 4 times with her dog Granite; sadly, in 2006 she lost her life to leukemia at the age of 52) and saw how they train the dogs for a race in the summer, by pulling a four wheeler around instead of a sled. The dogs are beautiful and get so excited; once they are in place they just want to RUN. Just down the river, an Eskimo gave a demonstration of how her people had smoked salmon for centuries. What made these demonstrations so nice was that the people on the banks had microphones which came through on the riverboat’s audio system so there was dialog between the captain and the Eskimos giving these talks. We were able to get off the boat at an authentic looking Indian village with numerous demonstrations of the life and culture of the Eskimos centuries ago, i.e., how animals were trapped and how their fur and meat was used for clothing, housing, and food. There was a caribou exhibit. Do you know the difference in a caribou and a reindeer? Reindeers can fly! The experience was interesting. People from the banks that gave the earlier demonstrations were also at the village to answer any questions. Susan Butcher’s daughter was there to sign her mom’s book appropriately named “Granite”. After a leisurely float trip back we departed the boat, walked through the gift shop, and boarded the bus. We were back around 5:00 pm. We walked over to the campground-owned Chena’s Alaskan Grill for dinner. Nice restaurant but a little pricey. We had a glass of wine and light fare and then back home to our cozy rig to watch a little TV before turning in. What a great day! We may stay here another day, update our journal, talk to the kids while we still have cell service, and leave for Denali on Tuesday. What a great, once in a lifetime experience we are having!!

Alaska - Part IV - Dawson Creek, BC to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory

Alaska – Part IV – Dawson Creek, BC to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory

June 1, 2009
This part of the trip has been very fast moving. We left Dawson Creek and drove to Safeway, bought supplies, took a picture of the world famous Mile O sign, stopped at the liquor store, and stopped in Farmington (just outside Dawson Creek) for gas and propane and started up the Alaska Hwy toward Fort Nelson, BC. We arrived at the West End Campground in Fort Nelson, BC about 7:30 pm PT. It is probably the worst campground we have ever stayed in. The young man that checked us in was drinking and had been for quite some time, maybe days. One men’s toilet worked for the entire campground and it leaked. The saloon was busy, noisy and seemed the only hot spot in the campground. The Milepost boasted free wifi which worked in the three campsites closest to the router, which was located in the office, which was located next to the saloon. Are you getting the picture? Wifi and noise?

June 2, 2009
We left the West End Campground about 8:45 am PT, bought gas, got Canadian money at the bank, and headed toward Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory. We saw a black bear between Fort Nelson and Steamboat Mountain Summit. A must stop is the Tetsa River Services and Campground. It is very unique…a real world primitive frontier wilderness campground and fishing/hunting lodge. We bought cinnamon buns and homemade bread. The lodge/campground is still owned and operated as it was in the 1940s four generations ago but the same family. We saw a moose, passed through Summit Pass the highest elevation on the Alaska Highway, 4250’. Summit Lake is still frozen. We stopped for gas at the Toad River Lodge at mm 404. There we saw two wild horses and a herd of elk. At mm 420 we saw two Stone (or Big Horn-couldn’t tell) sheep and we saw our first road kill which was a porcupine. We saw one caribou at mm 430. We drove past Muncho Lake and saw 3 Stone Sheep at mm 455, a black bear at mm 468, three buffalo at mm 472, and two black bears at mm 477. Also at mm 477 is the Laird Hotsprings. We did not stop, but drove on about 12 miles and saw smoke. It could only mean a forest fire. We got stopped for about an hour waiting for the lead car to escort us through the fire. It was very exciting. The flames could be seen for miles. After we got through, we saw three buffalo at mm 578 and four beautiful wild horses at mm 592. We took lots of pictures. At mm 605 we crossed over into the Yukon Territory and the highway number changed to Hwy 1, YT. We finally arrived at Watson Lake, YT (mm 612) at 5:15 pm PT and stopped at the Campground Services CG, the first CG as you enter town. It was wooded and very nice. There is wifi, and a RV/truck service center. We ran into a couple (Bob and Judy) checking in that we had met earlier at the fire and chatted them up about their 41’ 5th-wheel. Seeing all the wildlife made it a very nice day. Our mileage is 24,320.7.