Archives for August 2014

Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014 – Lunch in Town and Music in Denali Show

Decided that we couldn't miss the opportunity to see the other sights of Denali, so we started out by going to the visitor center and catching a bus to their Dog Kennel, where we watched yet another demonstration of how much sled dogs love their work. This time, it was a pretty laid back session, with the dogs only going on short run around the track before stopping for a photo op in front of the crowd. This was preceded by a short presentation by one of the young female rangers, and the dogs were obviously not racing dogs, but rather heavier pack dogs, more Malamute types. Didn't learn anything really new, but it's always fun to see what kind of digs the dogs have, and to see the 3-week old puppy curled up with Mama. After we got back, we decided we had to see Denali Central, which is really just a row of retail shops set up along the main highway, but Hubby had seen a Fish and Chips shop the other day, which got him in the mood. We also wanted to get into one of the two musical revues they perform here, but one, Cabin Nite, would only let us in for both the meal and the show, but their menu wasn't suitable, and we didn't need that much food, so we passed. The Denali Music Revue, however, let us in their 5:30 show after dinner was served, and didn't even charge us because they had a whole table of no shows, and didn't seem to mind slipping us in (though they had told us the show only was $15 each, which we would have paid), so we saw the show for free. The show was okay, nothing to write home about, not as good as the one in Fairbanks, but typical community theatre level work with a show designed to educate. By now, we've done enough homework where there wasn't really anything new for us, but I'm sure many of the tour folks hadn't heard it all yet, so I guess they were entertained. In any event, we had our fish and chips (actually a sample of fried salmon, which I wouldn't recommend, fried halibut, which seems a waste of really nice fish, and cod, the standard and excellent fish for the purpose), and we had our musical revue, so our trip to Denali was all but complete. We got back to the campground around 8:30, and I took a walk, discovering a great and historical trail down to the original site of the Savage River Campground, with placards once again describing the history of the place, with photos of how it looked in the 20's and 30's, really a tent city. Beautiful views of the mountain range, though non of Denali itself, being the elusive and shy mountain that it is. Once I got back to camp, another quiet evening, very nice!

Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014 – Kantishna Expedition

Up bright and early, a quick bowl of cereal before heading out to the bus stop at about 6:30. Our bus arrived a little after 7:00 (and was far from the first bus, numerous Tundra Wilderness buses came by first), and we loaded up onto an old but refurbished (or at least repainted) school bus. The driver got us a couple of lunch sacks, which also had a bunch of snacks in them to get us through the day, and we headed out, the bus only about half full. First order of business was to start spotting wildlife, and did we ever! During the first few hours, we saw Dahl sheep (well, white spots on the side of the mountain that we were told were Dahl sheep : -), caribou, a rare red fox (the woman at the Nature Center later told me she has worked here for 5 or 6 years and never seen one!), grizzlies and ground squirrels. We made several bio stops along the way, and munched our turkey wraps after the Nature Center. Finally we reached the end of the line, Mile Marker 92, which is as far as the road goes. Along the way, we had picked up a ranger who proceeded to fill us in on all the history of the town of Kantishna, and in particular a resident names Fanny Quigley, who sounded like a real character, but whose mark on the place is still evident today. There are a couple of wilderness lodges out there, and a busy airstrip that houses the Kantishna Air Taxi, and was evidently quite a popular place, as two planes landed in just the time we were there, which wasn't long. It was interesting history, but we really didn't need a ranger to walk us through it, so we found that part of the trip a little tedious. Back on the bus, and the trip back was even more wildlife, with lots of bears, including a mama grizzly and her two two-year old cubs, who walked right across the road in front of a bus that was parked in front of us, then up the side of a hill right next to us. More grizzlies were in a ravine below us at another stop, and I spotted a HUGE caribou with a giant rack which the driver stopped for. FINALLY, we saw some moose, the elusive moose I've been searching for ever since we arrived. We only saw females and a few babies, though, no big bull moose, but we saw plenty of those. It was a great day, everything we had hoped for! Except, of course, the elusive Mt. McKinley never peeped out of it's cloud coat, remaining hidden throughout the day, as it apparently does most of the time. Thank goodness we did the K-2 flightseeing last week! Arrived back at the campground bus stop around 5:00, and we had a nice dinner and settled down for the night.

Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014 – Travel to Denali

Before we left Fairbanks, we wanted to get a look at the famous TransAlaska pipeline, the one that goes all the way from Prudhoe Bay above the Arctic Circle to Prince William Sound in the south. We headed up the main highway until we came to a pullout around 8 miles out of town, where you had access to the pipeline. We were able to walk all around it, and read about some of the amazing effort it took to build it. Quite fascinating, actually. So, with Fairbanks accomplished we headed south for one of the shorter legs of our journey, to Denali National Park. I had already made reservations at the Savage River Campground, which is the farthest RV campground that you can drive in and out of (though there is one further back, once you're there, you're limited to park transportation until you leave again), and we had no problems checking in, filling with water, getting our tour tickets for the Kantishna Experience, and getting out to and settled into our campsite. We had a little problem trying to get them to pick us up at the bus stop by the campsite, though, for some reason they were trying to insist that we drive all the way back in to the Wilderness Access Center, just so that we could take a bus right back out past the campground again! It took several phone calls and numerous managers before we finally managed to persuade them that picking us up was more logical, not to mention more environmentally friendly, than driving 40 miles round trip just to end up in the same place. That solved, we headed out to the campground, and though sites weren't assigned, we only had a couple of choices that were open, so we found a nice one and moved in. We had a pleasant and quiet evening, with no particular plans other than to get a good night sleep, as our bus would be picking us up around 6:45-7:00. Good night!

Monday, Aug. 18, 2014 – Chena Hot Springs and Musical Revue

Made arrangements to meet a tour bus at the Convention Center, and, after picking up an interesting couple at a local hotel, we headed out to Chena Hot Springs, a resort, campground, bio-energy plant with an ice-house and a full selection of pools and spas, indoor and out. We had a pleasant conversation with the couple, who were South African but had been living in Perth, Australia, him as a mining engineer and her as a teacher. We all took the ice house tour, which is really a gallery of exquisite ice carvings done by two resident (married) artists, including a couple of ice bedrooms for those adventurous enough to stay overnight on a caribou quilt. We also took the bio-energy plant tour and learned how the facility is trying to become geo-thermally independent, helping to design a prototype that may one day be a viable option for energy. After that, we headed to the locker rooms, and spent an enjoyable 90 + minutes in the outdoor spa, where the geothermal water (at 165 degrees) is mixed with creek water to a temperate 105-110 degrees. It was wonderful! We enjoyed the water, and the company, and the conversation, until I'm sure our driver was afraid we'd never leave! We finally headed out, keeping our eyes peeled for moose, which our driver said they saw on nearly EVERY trip, but, alas, this was one where we never did see one. Darn it, still haven't seen a moose yet! We were dropped off back at the Convention Center, and headed down to Pioneer Park, where we enjoyed a crepe (not your usual crepe, these were more like calzone with a lighter crust) before heading down to the Palace Theatre (what else?) They put on a very funny show that had us laughing out loud many times, making it better than average tourist fare. Cute stories told by a cast of five (two guys, two girls and a male pianist) who seemed to be having as much fun as the audience. Broad and melodramatic, of course, but fun nevertheless. The show ran a bit more than an hour, and we were so relaxed from the day, we had no trouble sleeping well, despite it being in the parking lot. In hindsight, we would have driven out to Chena ourselves, as the day pass is only about $15, so the $165 each we paid was mostly inflated transportation costs. Another valuable lesson learned!

Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014 – Riverboat Discovery and Pioneer Park

Caught the shuttle out to the riverboat launch, which, as we've noticed the pattern here, was quite early, to give you plenty of time to spend in their gift shop (whether you want to or not). We sat around for an hour, helping ourselves to free coffee and browsing until we finally boarded the sternwheeler. The narrator was a local radio guy, and he told a number of fun stories, and though the ride itself was pretty bland and short, the stops along the way were interesting, albeit standard tourist fare. Just after heading out, we had a seaplane demonstrate a couple of landings on the water right next to the boat, and a conversation with the pilot by remote. The next stop was at Susan Butcher's kennel, where we saw the dogs hitched to a sled and run around on a track. Her story was very inspiring, being the first woman to ever win the Iditarod (every town in Alaska seems to have a champion, and they are definitely the home town heroes!), before succumbing to cancer years later. I have to stay that it was intriguing to see the different strategies for dog training. While Seavey's was all business and seemingly no play, these dogs were let off the harness as soon as their demo was finished, and allowed to run free around the yard and down to the river, where they all splashed around for awhile. They seemed a lot happier than at Seavey's, more like family dogs that worked rather than simply working dogs. We both liked that a lot. We also saw a fish wheel where, instead of being counted by scientists, they were caught and shunted into a box, so the indigenous people could use them, preserve them, and generally survive in the way they have done for generations. That was combined with a demonstration of how they were cut and smoked and generally used. We got a history of the river and some other interesting facts, before eventually making our way back to the landing, passing by numerous, very well appointed homes, as one would expect in any city on a river in America. We picked up the shuttle and asked about going to Pioneer Park, but was told they didn't stop there, which was a surprise to me, as I was sure I read on their website that they went there. Instead, we had to go back to the campground and pack up the RV and drive over there ourselves. We walked around Pioneer Park, which an odd combination of museum, amusement park and playground. There is an old sternwheeler grounded in the middle that is now a museum, with some of the best dioramas I have every seen, with details so incredible, they actually look real in my photos. Many of the buildings are original log cabins that used to be in downtown Fairbanks and moved to Pioneer Park, and are now used as local retail outlets for food, clothing, and arts and crafts, There is an old train that circles the park, an area that's supposed to be a replica of a gold dredge, and a picnic area that offers a salmon bake buffet for the unreasonable price of about $65 per person. An air museum in a geodesic dome also offers some interesting history of avionics in Alaska and beyond, so we had plenty to do for the rest of the day. We discovered they let you park overnight for $12, so we revised our plans a bit, and decided to leave the RV park tomorrow, take a tour out to Chena Hot Springs about 60 miles away, then come back and see a musical revue they do at Pioneer Park, then spend the night there before heading south. A fabulous, fun-filled day!

Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014 – Travel to Fairbanks

Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014 – Travel to Fairbanks

After breakfast, we headed north, with a long journey today, all the way to Fairbanks. We had a reservation at a local RV park, primarily because we needed to do laundry, and because they're website indicated they had a free shuttle to most of the sights we wanted to see. It was a beautiful drive, with incredible scenery once again, but cloudy and mostly raining until we got near Fairbanks, so no Denali sightings today. Arrived by mid-afternoon, got a little turned around thanks to a misunderstanding with my GPS, but arrived safely at a place right along the river that goes through the city. Had dinner and did laundry for the rest of the evening. Unfortunately, their change machine didn't take "new" $5 bills, and the only other bill I had was a $20, so I ended up with WAY more change than I anticipated. They charged a lot for their laundry, though, so in retrospect, I would have parked at Walmart and found a laundromat, it wasn't worth the expense. Plus, we had to change spots once, because the family next door was kind of encroaching on our spot, and had noisy kids and rowdy drinking buddies hanging around, and kept a campfire going, despite rules to the contrary. We had planned to stay for three nights, but now we are reconsidering. Kind of noisy right be a major road, too. Miss being out in the woods!

Friday, Aug. 15, 2014 – Mahays Devil’s Canyon Jet Boat Tour

Today's adventure started out at Mahays Jet Boat Tour building, one of the first you see when you drive into town. I had asked yesterday where to park the RV and they were quite happy to let me park it right out front, very convenient. Their big bus had broken down, so we had to be shuttled over to the dock in two vans over several trips, but it was so close by it didn't take long (had I know, we would have walked!) We loaded up into their fully enclosed jet boat, a fascinating vehicle powered by three 454 engines, with speeds up to about 45 miles an hour, especially when going downstream. Fully loaded (with about 60+ people), we headed upstream at a speedy 35 mph, gaining about 10 feet of elevation every mile, so you can imagine how fast the current was going! We stopped for wildlife a few times on the way, spotting a bear by the shore, and several bald eagles, as well as to check out a number of fish wheels, devices designed to catch salmon so scientists could count them to insure continuation of the species. After about 90 minutes of pleasant river boating, we finally reached Devil's Canyon, so named because of how treacherous the water was. In fact, the original Mahay is only one of two people who have every successfully jet boated (or any kind of boated for that matter) all the way into the canyon. (What we found out later was he wrecked 11 boats before the 12th one finally made it.) We traversed up Class IV, and then Class V rapids, until we reached a large set of rocks, where beyond lay Class VI (the most dangerous) just beyond. Our driver Israel (who we found out later was the owner's son, though he humbly didn't mention it) tucked the nose of the boat just below the biggest rock, and somehow, with engines revving, kept it there for over 20 minutes, with front windows open, while everyone in the boat had a chance to take their pictures and videos of the raging torrent behind them. It was an amazing rush! The power of the water was like being at the base of Niagara Falls, but we were right on top of it! Eventually, with great care, Israel turned us around practically in situ, though I'm not sure how. He said he used to just back up a ways till he got the hang of managing the waves carefully enough to turn around. Incredible. Then we raced down the river like a roller coaster, bouncing up and down on the waves as if we were white-water rafting without the work of oars, and with the additional speed of the boat, we were up to nearly 45 miles an hour! Whoo hoo!! Eventually the river slowed down (though the boat didn't), and we raced back down the river until we reached a replicate of an Athabascan fishing camp (the local indigenous people), and got out for a tour around the camp, a nice peaceful nature walk which was an amazing juxtaposition to the thrill of the ride. After spending a half hour or so there, we loaded back up into the boat and headed back to Talkeetna. From there, we decided to walk through the town rather than take the bus, stopping off to have a beer at the famous Fairview Inn, then decided to stick around for a show at the Sheldon Hanger Theatre, where there was a show called the "Iditaprov," and improvisation show put on by some locals. Not quite the kind of improv we're used to, but it was very entertaining and we did laugh a lot, albeit an amateur production. Lots of fun. Afterward, we headed out to our little turnout outside of town again, anticipating another good night's sleep.

Thursday, Aug. 14, 2014 – INCREDIBLE K-2 Aviation ride around Mt. McKinley

Had a decent night at this fairly quiet pull-out, though we weren't exactly level, we were fairly sheltered from the road. Headed back to town around 9:30 to see about tickets for the Hurricane Turn flag stop train (which we learned about on Trip Advisor), but as we came over the brow of the hill, we noticed a bunch of cars parked in a scenic view off to the left, and in moments, we knew why. Despite the fact that it was cloudy overhead in Talkeetna, off in the the distance, the mountain range, including Denali (Mt. McKinley) was absolutely clear as a bell. The clouds were moving from the south fast, so immediately after going to the train depot and learning they didn't even open until 10:00, we headed straight for the airport, to K2 Flightseeing. Though we didn't have a reservation, they managed to get us on a flight that took us exactly where we wanted, around the entire summit, no glacier landing, leaving within 30 minutes, perfect! It did leave a little later, but we still managed to reach the mountain while it was still clear, and we worked our way around to the Wickersham Wall on the north side, just as the bank of clouds starting butting up against the south summit, it was gorgeous! What a fantastic ride! We came so close to the mountain, we felt like we could reach out and touch it! Our pilot was a former Cessna test pilot, and the plane was a larger twin engine (two engines always make me feel safer than one), and he did a fantastic job of weaving in and out of peaks and valleys, it was breathtaking. It will be very hard for anything after this to top this experience. Outstanding! We passed over several glaciers, and he pointed out all the highlights without getting overly chatty, we couldn't have asked for more. Worth every nickel! By the time we headed back, we ran into some rain, so our timing was absolutely perfect! Afterward we drove into town and spent a little time walking around, spending nearly two hours in the local historical museum (while other tourists raced around us... their loss) had a bite to eat and a beer at the Brewhouse, before eventually heading back out to a different overnight spot just a bit further out of town than the last one, but it's set back more off the road and has a better screen of trees in the front for more privacy, plus it was more level. A perfect day!

Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014 -Kenai Fjords Tour Canceled, Drive to Talkeetna w/shopping, Musk Ox

Woke up early to the alarm, and since it had rained all night, and we couldn't imagine our Kenai Fjords 9 hour tour would take place, so I called right away, and was told they were still planning on going! We rushed around, and managed to get there on time at 8:00, only to THEN be told that the two longer tours were canceled, but if we wanted to take the shorter cruise around Resurrection Bay that they would adjust the price. We declined, and managed to get a full refund, since the clouds and rain were so thick, we couldn't imagine seeing much wildlife anyway. We took the opportunity to head our of town, and thus gained a day in our schedule. Frankly, we had seen mostly rain since we arrived in Alaska, and were ready to start heading north, where apparently the skies were a bit clearer. Off we went, first to Anchorage for gas and shopping, then on to the tiny town of Talkeenta, which is the jumping off point for most climbing expeditions, flightseeing and jetboating in the area. As we were driving through Anchorage, Hubby noticed in a magazine some information on a Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, so we decided to take the detour and go there for a bit. It was fascinating! The wool of this critter is so soft, and the yarn was weaved and knitted into incredibly soft material. By the end of the tour, Hubby decided to adopt one, with a special sponsorship program they have, so we decided on a 16 year old female named Luna, whose claim to fame was that when they were out playing with large balls, she got stuck up on one, with all four legs off the ground, and it apparently took her some time to finally figure out how to come down. Two years later, she did it again! Anyway, she seemed like such a character, we just had to adopt her! It's for a great cause, in any event. After that tour, we continued on our way, reaching Talkeetna in the afternoon. After taking a drive around town to see what was there, we walked around a bit before heading back out of town to a pullout camping area that we found.

Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014 – Seavey’s Ididaride All Alaska Tour with Grayson and Todd

Slept pretty late, knowing we didn't have to hurry anywhere, had a cold breakfast of cereal knowing we would be eating a big lunch at a restaurant, and eventually moseyed down to Seavey's Ididaride. The Seavey Family has won the Iditarod on several occasions, and placed many times, so they're rather famous in the dog-sled world. We started out doing the dog sled section of the tour first, learning a great deal about how they live, how they're bred and maintained, saw how they lived in plastic barrels and seem to love it, how they can't wait to work, it was very enlightening. Then three groups of us piled into three wheeled carts, and watched in fascination as the dogs were hooked up, leaping and barking in anticipation, but not moving forward, not yet anyway. Before long, we were off and running! We rolled through the woods for about a half mile before stopping for a designated rest stop. Apparently, 50 degrees and raining was too hot for them to work too hard, as they apparently are more comfortable in 15 below, so the rest was to cool them down. After a bit of rest, off we went again for another half mile, another rest. During each rest stop, our guide, Grayson, a young man who did a pretty good job throughout the activity, answered all our questions and gave us lots more insights into the whole racing world. We traversed along the side of a river, then back into the woods, finally arriving back at the kennel, where our next stop was to cuddle puppies for a few minutes. Nine pups in one litter, only 16 days old, so it was easy to cuddle. Next we headed indoors to watch a demonstration of how the equipment worked, from showing us the brakes and steering on the sled, to dressing up an old and very cooperative sled dog in all the gear from booties to jackets to tummy (and privates) warmer. Then, with a young girl from the audience, we got to see all the human equipment as well, also from booties to jackets to snot wiper (yes, really). Finally, the kennel tour came to an end, and we then joined Todd our tour driver on the bus, and our first stop was a nearby restaurant. We had ordered our meals when we first arrived, so they were waiting for us by the time we got there, and were served moments after we sat down. I had a delicious salmon sandwich, Hubby a seafood chowder that was deliciously creamy. After lunch, we loaded back up on the bus and headed out to the Exit glacier, which was just up the road from Seavey's and walked to the river downstream from the glacier, and found chunks of ice all along the edge. I walked downstream a bit, and found I could see the glacier from there, it was quite remarkable. Then we all decided to head up the trail, though Hubby decided not to, since it was quite a bit of uphill climbing, so he headed back to the visitor center. The rest of us headed uphill, and eventually got all the way as close to the glacier as we could, though we did have any member of the party quit about halfway. Got lots of pix, and gaped and gasped at some of the facts that we learned along the way, like, every inch of glacier was made by compressing 100 feet of snow, making it so dense that no wavelengths of light can come through, except occasionally, when the conditions were right, a vivid aqua blue. Amazing. Afterward, we headed back down the trail, catching up to our stragglers, boarding the bus once again, and making another stop at a fish weir, where scientists count the salmon as they run upstream, and when they reach a certain number, they prevent any more from going upstream. This apparently insures that just the right number reach the lake, allowing for good runs every year, rather than boom and bust years. It's the latter ones that you find in the store as "Wild Alaskan Salmon." By now, we were pretty much wet through, as it had been raining steadily for several hours now, and, after a short drizzly ride through downtown Seward, we made it back to Seaveys. From there, Hubby and I went to the Safeway to pick up a few groceries, and briefly considered staying overnight in their parking lot, but fearful there was a city ordnance prohibiting it, we headed out to a turnout by the river that we found, almost directly across from the road that led to Seaveys. Looked like a pretty good spot, as several other RV's were there, and more joined us as the evening passed. A great day!