Day 45, 9 July 2015
Fairbanks, AK to McKinley Park, AK 127 miles
Parks Highway, called the Gateway to Denali, follows the beautiful Nenana River. It was in pretty good shape, until we reached
Denali area where road construction was in full swing. Morning sunshine clouded
over, rain started as we approached Healy. Smoke from a distant fire filled the
air. We did go to the Denali National Park visitors center. There we got the
“lay of the land” of how to schedule a
trip to this park – decide ahead of time what you want to do, make
advance reservations, rain or shine execute the plan, hope for clear weather
for a view of Mt McKinley (Alaskans want the name changed to Denali which means
“the great one” in Athabaskan, but Ohio, home of McKinley, blocked the
legislation). We pondered when we might come back to see the mountain, since
the weather was so bad. And the only place in the park you can see McKinley even
on a clear day is from Wonder Lake 85 miles into the park. We did find a great
lookout at the top of a hill outside the park overlooking the range in front of
McKinley – Grande Denali Lodge – and had a drink in their bar with a great view
of the clouds. They once had a GM who thought it would be cool to put some
humor into the road signs up the switchbacks, and we appreciated his sense of
humor.
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| This looked interesting, but we didn't stop |
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| Nenana River |
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| Denali road traffic |
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| We made it to the park |
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| Deanli Visitor Center |
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| ???? |
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| TGuess the mosquitoes get pretty big |
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| View from Grande Denali Lodge |
Day 46, 10 July 2015
McKinley Park, AK to Trapper Creek, AK 153 miles
Started out cloudy and foggy, but it gradually turned into a
nice, sunshiny day. We drove into Denali National Park, as far as we were
allowed to go – Savage River – and we hiked the Savage River Loop Trail. Not
strenuous - just fun - down stream for a while, across a footbridge, then back
upstream on the other side. The small valley turned into a larger canyon. Nice
view from the top, and a very enjoyable little hike. Heading south,
construction on the Parks Highway slowed us down quite a bit. We passed over
the Hurricane Gulch bridge and saw the deep canyon and rapids below. Checked
out the views of McKinley from Denali State Park, both north and south, but
clouds were still in the way. When we
got to Trapper creek, however, we could see the top of McKinley over the trees,
so we drove up Petersville Rd (a former mining trail leading to foothills south
of the mountain) and found a clearing to finally get a glimpse of North
America’s tallest mountain. They say the mountain comes out of the clouds only
30% of the time, so we were lucky to catch it.
Trapper Creek, AK to Palmer, AK 148 miles
Great highway and no construction south of Trapper Creek. We
heard Alaska’s four seasons are Winter, Breakup, Road Construction, and Winter.
Well, we have been in road construction season for a while now, so it’s nice
not to have to deal with it. Talkeetna is a very nice community – a great
“walkabout” town, as well as the prep center for climbers attempting Mt
McKinley. I should mention it is also home to two breweries, as well as one of
six places you can view Mt McKinley. Of course, clouds covered the mountain, so
we did not enjoy the view. As we entered Wasilla, we saw a reference to the
historic town of Knik’s Museum and Musher’s Hall of Fame, so we thought that
might make a good side trip. Located in one of the two remaining buildings of
the Knik historic town site (the other is a log cabin that was a bar), the
museum holds a collection of clothing, furniture, tools from the 1800s on the
first floor, and, on the second floor, the Sled Dog Musher’s Hall of Fame,
which honors famous dogs and mushers who have contributed to sled dog racing
and travel. The Iditarod is the most
popular Alaskan sport, and Knik was at one time the “Dog Mushing Center of the
World.” After the railroad passed it by, Knik became a ghost town, then most of
the buildings were either removed or destroyed. Early maps and diaries from
locals have preserved the essence of the early years. While we were there, a
woman drove up with her son and daughter-in-law who said she hadn’t been there
for 50 years, and she left when she was 20, after spending ten years in Knik.
Just a day trip for her from her home in Anchorage, but an interesting moment
for us to meet a real pioneering soul. We continued on to Palmer on the Glen
Highway. Palmer was established in 1916 as a railway station on the Alaska
Railroad. Before that, the area had long been used by the Athabascan Indians
and, in 1890, the site of a trading post run by George Palmer. Interesting to
note that, in 1935, Palmer was the site of one of the most unusual experiments
in American history – the Matanuska Valley Colony. The Federal Emergency Relief
Administration, born in FDR’s New Deal, established an agricultural colony to
utilize the great potential of the valley, and to get some American farm
families struck by the dust bowl and then the Great Depression, off the dole. Over
200 families from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were chosen to join the
colony and, although failure rate was high, many of their descendants still
live in the valley. Palmer was the only Alaskan community that developed
primarily from agriculture (vs gold or mining). The Mountain View RV Park was
named appropriately – we have a nice view of the neighboring Takeetna mountain ridge.
Palmer is also the home of Humdinger’s Gourmet Pizza – with really unusual –
and really tasty pizzas. And we were camped near a group of Germans traveling
in a 24-passenger bus – i.e., 24 seats and 24 bunks in four stories. It’s a
travel club that rotates both passengers and locations throughout US and
Canada.
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| Market in Talkeetna |
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| Didn't wait around for it to open - darn! |
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| Knik Musuem |
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| Site of the original Iditarod trail |
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| Original route |
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| Hand painted portraits of Iditarod hall of famers |
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| Susan Butcher - first woman to win 4 out of 5 sequential races |
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| Original bar in Knik |
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| Mountain view rv park |
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| Yummy Greek Pizza with authentic Tzatziki sauce |
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| German tour bus - Rotel |
Day 48, 12 July
Palmer, AK to Glennallen, AK 146 miles
Started out cloudy, ended up cloudy with rain, with periods
of sunshine in between.
The Glenn Highway is a National Scenic Byway that follows
the Matanuska River for over half its length. The river is braided, like many
in Alaska, meaning it is a network of small channels separated by small and
often temporary islands called braid bars, occurring in rivers with high slope
and/or high sediment load. The scenery is indeed impressive. The mountains were
formed by volcanoes, and the valley was carved out by glaciers. One of the
highlights was viewing the 18,000-year-old Matanuska Glacier – the source of
the river - and the rock glacier across the highway. Yes, rock glacier, where
rocks are embedded in ice and slowly move down the mountain (which we learned
from an interpretive sign). At Caribou Creek, there is a free gold panning
recreation area run by the state, but you must bring your own pan and shovel. A
few resort lodges overlook the valley, including Sheep Mountain Lodge, with hot
tubs where you can soak and look for sheep on the mountains licking the
minerals in the soil, and a great restaurant with different Alaskan specials
every night. We biked around a bit to explore the area, stopped at another nice
visitor’s center and cooked some wild caught local sockeye salmon – yum.
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| Matanusca river with braid bar |
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| Matanusca River with white water |
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| Matanusca Glacier |
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| Different view of glacier |
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| Never heard of a rock glacier |
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| Lunch at Sheep Mountain colored by iron oxide |
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| Chugach Mountains |
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| Another view of Chugach Mountains |
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| Real moose antlers at the visitor's center |
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