Talkeetna to Denali National Park

We got up early this morning for our planned flightseeing tour of Denali/McKinley.  Due to the rain and the clouds around the mountain, we weren’t able to take that tour.  As we are going back to Anchorage to have the RV worked on at Cummins, we scheduled another tour for the 30th on our way back.  Before leaving, Ken made reservations at the campground for our return trip and we were soon on our way toward Denali National Park in the rain.  The fireweed is getting closer to being fully blossomed but still has a ways to go yet.

We crossed a bridge over Hurricane Gulch east of where we were on the train a couple of days ago.  Due to reflections the photos of that crossing didn’t turn out too well.  We also crossed the Nenana River a couple of times as seen in the next two photos.

On our arrival at the park, we checked in at the campground and were able to secure a site in Riley Creek Campground for the night prior to heading in 30 miles to Teklanika in the morning.  We found a site, got set up, had our lunch and took a drive to the Savage River area which is the furthest we could drive in our truck without a special permit.  On our way back to the campground, there were vehicles parked along the road, so we stopped to see what was going on.  There was a caribou grazing by a dried up river near the road.  He had very impressive antlers so we got quite a few photos of him.

Back at the RV, we just had a quiet evening.  We’ll plan on an early start in the morning to get to our next campground.

A Little Sightseeing and a Lot of Cleaning

It’s really difficult to travel in such a beautiful state as Alaska and still have to do laundry and housecleaning.  But this was one of those days where it just couldn’t be ignored anymore and we took advantage of the full hookup site at Talkeetna Camper Park.  After completing one of my major cleaning projects and some laundry, we headed toward the Parks Highway on the Talkeetna Spur Road, then traveled east on Birch Creek Boulevard.  The road went back about 10 miles before it looked like we were getting into rougher roads and/or private property.  We were hoping for a glimpse of wildlife, but that didn’t happen.

Beavers had built a few dams on this small creek along the road, and we didn’t even see those busy creatures.

Following that drive, we continued to the Parks Highway and purchased a few additional grocery items that we needed before getting to Denali National Park tomorrow.  On our way back, we took a couple of other side roads.  One was on the road pointing to Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge.  It is situated on the hill above Talkeetna and I’m sure it has a fantastic view of the mountains when it is a clear day.

Getting back closer to town, we passed the entrance to the campground and explored a few more roads in Talkeetna.  It is much larger than what a visitor usually sees by just touring the downtown area.  From there, we headed back to the RV where we continued to catch up with the laundry and cleaning.  Ken filled the water tank, and we’ll dump the holding tanks in the morning.  It’s been raining all afternoon, but we’re still planning on our flightseeing trip in the morning before we leave.

Talkeetna–Hurricane, Alaska Flag Stop Train Ride

Today we took the flag stop train from Talkeetna to Hurricane and back.  We’re waiting at the station as our train arrives.

Our engineer is Chuck who has just returned to work after having had surgery.  He looks very happy to be back to work.  Being retired, we don’t understand that feeling!

The train follows the Susitna River for most of the trip.

This is the railroad’s first yard in Curry, Alaska.

Continuing on up the track, this building is signed as the City Hall.

Turning a corner.

This is one of the flag stops where passengers who have a cabin somewhere off the track are either loading or unloading their stuff from the train.

The photo didn’t turn out too well, but there are a couple of red blips in this shot of king salmon on their way up the river to spawn.

Going around another turn.

Shannon Cartwright illustrates children’s books which are sold in various locations in Alaska.  Her home is along the flag stop between Talkeetna and Hurricane and the train stops there for passengers who wish to purchase her books and have them autographed.

In addition to the inventory of her books on the train, she packed in several others and did quite well in her sales.

Our last stop was Hurricane where we had an opportunity to get off the train and take photos.

Here it looks like Ken is holding up the ceiling of the train.

Ken took this photo of me standing by the train.

Once a southbound train has passed, we continue north another 3 miles and stop on the bridge 300’ over the Hurricane Creek.

Heading back south, we saw this family of swans.  They were pretty elusive earlier in the day.

We got so many more photos today, but I decided to stick with just a few for the blog and hope you enjoy them.  When we returned to Talkeetna, we had dinner with Ashley, Ian’s good friend and co-worker.

The weather all day was beautiful and the scenery along the route was fantastic.  Tomorrow will be a quieter day for us to catch up on laundry and cleaning things in the RV.  Thanks for stopping by.

Wasilla to Talkeetna, Alaska

We left the Palmer Elks in Wasilla, Alaska and headed north on the Parks Highway.  We stopped along this beautiful lake where we had a fantastic view of McKinley/Denali on the left.

After setting up at the Talkeetna Camper Park, we walked over to the train to see Ian’s friend Ashley and give him a DVD we made from our trip to the Russian River.  After that, we headed into town and had lunch at Twister Creek at the Denali Brewing Company.  It was just as good as we remembered from our trip here two years ago.

After lunch, we went to K2 Aviation and signed up for a flightseeing trip on Sunday morning.  We drove out of town a bit for another view of the mountain.

After dinner, Ashley and his dog Bandit came over to visit for a while.

Tomorrow we’ll be taking the Alaska Railroad on the whistle stop to Hurricane and back.

A Drive on the Hatcher Pass Loop

Today we packed our lunch for a drive to Hatcher Pass on a loop that goes between Palmer and Willow, Alaska.  We started off from the Palmer Elks lodge where we’re camping and picked up the Hatcher Pass Road a little north of Palmer.  The road parallels the Little Susitna River and this next photo was taken from a viewpoint looking back at the bridge crossing the river.

The area we traveled today had some spectacular sweeping views and I tried experimenting with the panoramic feature on my new camera.  With the camera set on panorama, I took my first shot, then standing in place it shows a plus sign in the viewfinder that I move to and it automatically clicks on the next photo, and then the same thing again for three photos that it combines into one.  Looking at the photo I can see the obvious three photos where there is a slight point in the road base.  I’ll have to work on that a little bit more.

We arrived at the Independence Mine located close to the summit of Hatcher Pass and took a few photos of the mine which is now a State Recreation Area.

This hillside had a very interesting texture to it.

Continuing on up and over the pass we stopped at Summit Lake.

And here are a couple of scenic shots along the Willow Creek which originates from Summit Lake.

Coming down the pass and into Willow, we had a terrific view of Mount Denali aka Mount McKinley.

It was still early afternoon when we got down to the Parks Highway, so we took a side trip on Big Lake Road and drove into Martin Buser’s Happy Trails Kennels.  We didn’t have our toursaver coupon book with us and didn’t want to start a tour anyway, so we continued on down the road.

When we were in Seward over the 4th of July, we camped next to a retired teacher who had written a book about Joe Redington, Sr. that was due out in 3 weeks or so.  We stopped by the Iditarod Headquarters to see if it was available yet.  In asking about it, it sounded like she might be there for a signing during the time we’re scheduled to be in Denali National Park.  We picked up a few things in the gift shop and then drove into Wasilla to get stocked up on groceries for our trip to Talkeetna and Denali National Park.  There were a few puppies outside doing their puppy thing looking cute and cuddly.

We will be leaving Wasilla tomorrow and have reservations in Talkeetna Camper Park for the next three nights and are looking forward to seeing that area again.

Eagle River to Wasilla, AK

It was another day of plans made in jello. After uploading yesterday’s blog, I started reading on my new Kindle. Taking a short break from it, I turned it off and came back a few minutes later and it would not start again. There were no lights, but I left it on the charger all night, but from everything I could research, the battery was dead. So we decided to take it back to a Best Buy this morning to see what they could do for us since we wouldn’t be near one for close to two months otherwise. As they didn’t open until 10am, that delayed our start to Wasilla. We drove down to the Best Buy and waited until they opened and we were sent to the customer service counter. The clerk looked at our receipt and had me go back to the Kindle area, pick out a new one and bring it up for an exchange, and we were on our way. We were hoping to meet up with Cool Judy of Cool Rvers, but she was unable to meet us. Fortunately with the RVing lifestyle, we’ll meet her and her husband Luke some other place down the road. We drove back to Ian and Jennifer’s and got the RV ready for travel and were on the road soon after that. We crossed the Knik River bridge as seen in this next photo.

As we drove to Wasilla, the engine dropped in voltage again. Drat!!! We thought we had taken care of that problem when we had it in to Cummins last Friday and paid close to $1200 for a new alternator. Ken made a few phone calls, and it looks like we’ll have a change of plans for our future travels. We’ve decided to continue on to Talkeetna on Thursday, then on to Denali National Park next Monday for four nights. From there, we’ll return to Anchorage to make sure the engine problems are resolved as we certainly don’t want any problems as we head back to the lower 48.

After getting settled in at our new site at the Palmer Elks in Wasilla, we drove the Knik-Goose Bay Road as well as the Point MacKenzie Road. This next photo is of Sleeping Lady, the mountain in the background.

We got out to a point where there was a view of airplanes taking off from the airport in Anchorage.

We even got a glimpse of Anchorage across the Knik Arm.

This is looking back at Eagle River where we left earlier in the day.

Our plan for tomorrow is a sightseeing trip to Hatcher Pass. We hope to have some great photos to upload for that trip so stay tuned.