Palmer and Eklutna Lake

Wild Geraniums along the highway

Still pretty hot in Alaska. We had to leave Talkeetna, because the Moose Dropping Throwing Contest was coming to town, and the campground was all booked up. So we headed on down the Parks Highway toward Anchorage. South of the Takeetna Spur Road, we entered the Denali State Park, loaded with little off roads to hiking trails, camping sites, and fishing lakes and brooks.

Along the way, we passed through Willow, the “almost” state capitol. Seems that back in the 1970s, Alaska wanted to move its state capitol to a more central location. After reviewing the options, Willow was chosen as a central site, platted, and the land boom was on. Soon thereafter, the legislature found out what it would cost to move the capitol, and refused to fund the move. Then the land bust was on. A few businesses sprung up along the road, and a state rec area lives there, but otherwise, little goes on.

Airplane parked at Palmer Elks Club

After Willow, we passed through a few smaller towns, then the edge of the big city began to appear. By the time we got to Wasilla, it was clear that we were nearing a population center. Whereas Talkeetna had the charm of Grand Rapids, MN, being 100 miles from the next nearest city (although Grand Rapids held 4000 folks and Talkeetna only 800), Wasilla reminded me more of White Bear Lake, only 30 – 40 miles from the big city. Big box stores appeared along the highway.

It was time to reload our larder, so we stopped into a Fred Myer* to fill the fridge. We also stopped into a Chucky Cheese... no, it was a Carl's Junior, whre they are determined to invent the next Big Mac. This one is called the Teriyaki Burger, topped with sauce and grilled pineapple. Definitely not your standard California Burger, but pretty good nonetheless. We shopped for groceries then headed off to Palmer.

We chose Palmer for a couple reasons. One is, it would give us a few days to spend before our 7/19 reservation in Anchorage. Another is that they have an Elks club with 21 RV sites, members only , all with electric. We drove all the way to Palmer from Wasilla (10 miles of road under repair), called the Elks Lodge to discover that they were a good way back along the road we had just taken. Nut no matter, we called, got directions, and parked there for the night.

Little Susitna River

Our general experience of the Elks is that they have some pretty good property around the country, at least the ones that have good management. The club in Palmer is on the edge of Finger Lake, a resort scene complete with ski boats and jet skis. From the club deck, overlooking the lake, you can see the mountains off to the northeast. Really pretty. One of the best we've seen.

On Saturday, we decided to cruise into Palmer to check out the town. The sky was overcast with the ceiling at about 500 feet. We stopped in the visitor center, got more information than we asked for, nut all of it good. We went to check out the “Great Alaska Flea Market” at the state fairgrounds, only to find it was about 4 tables, and we didn't even stop. There were apparently about a thousand garage sales in town, but we passed on those, too. We drove out to the Musk Ox Farm, and checked out the gift shop, but they jealously guarded the musk ox from anybody seeing them without paying $8.00 per head for a guided tour, and we'd had a tour in Fairbanks, so we skipped that, too. We chased down a couple odds and ends we needed at Fred Meyer and a gourmet shop called “Non Essentials”, without luck, requiring a trip to Wasilla in the future, or wait until Anchorage. We then had a wonderful lunch at a little restaurant, where I had a fresh red salmon salad, delicious it was. After that, we cruised home for a nap, and that too was outstanding, but I awoke having a dream in which I was being attacked by a moose. Interesting...

Independence Mine

On Sunday we hopped into our dirty Beetle and drove up to the Independence Mine, an Alaska State Park about 15 miles north of Palmer, in the Talkeetna Mountains. The road passed along the Little Susitna River, a charming emerald rocky river with lots of water in it. We then climbed up into the mountains to about 3500 feet to the site of the mine.

Independence Mine is a hard rock gold mine, similar to the mines in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Most of the gold mining we have seen in Yukon and Alaska is placer mining, meaning that the gold is essentially loose buried in the soil and rocks, thus panning, sluicing, and dredging work well for placer mining, since water can be used to wash away the lighter dirt. The Independence mine used blasting and mucking to remove ore from the mountain. Rock crushers then reduced the ore to gravel, and liquid mercury attached itself to the gold, forming amalgam, which was then sent off to be processed elsewhere.

This was a fairly large operation, requiring dozens of people to operate. Numerous buildings supported the operation, housing the staff, providing space for engineering, pipe fitting, and lumber operations. The mine operated in the early part of the 20th century, and was finally closed during World War II when the war department determined that gold mines weren't necessary.

After a wonderful "Cook Your Own" dinner of steak and chicken with the Elks, we packed up and departed for Eklutna Lake. We stopped along the way to dump our tanks and get fuel at a Chevron station in Palmer.

Eklutna Lake

The trip to Eklutna was only about 40 miles. The last 5 miles climbed up to about 1200 feet in the Chugach State Park. The campground was excellent, lots of space between paved sites. No hookups, but only $10/night. Quiet. The lake was just a short walk away from our site, and it was grand, about 6 miles long and surrounded by mountains. The lake is a major source of water for Anchorage, so no motorboats are allowed. Kayaks can be rented. And a 16 mile trail takes tou right up to the glacier that feeds the lake.

We deposited payment for 5 nights of camping, but discovered right away that our inverter batteries were not operating properly. I did some troubleshooting and determined that 2 of our 6 volt batteries were only putting out about 4.5 volts, suggesting shorted cells. Since they are 5 years old, it time to replace them. We packed up, got a refund from the ranger, and headed into Anchorage. We really hated to leave there, as we had planned several things for the downtime... me to hike, Consuelo to sew, etc. But we can come back here in mid August, so we'll get our batteries fixed and save this pleasure for another time.

* Fred Meyer is a Walmart alternative in the Northwest and Alaska. They have food, housewares, clothes and lots of other stuff

Holy Smoke – Talkeetna

(Note: we've been out of Internet connections for a while. This was written on July 8)

Downtown Talkeetna

Well, maybe it wasn't really holy, but the smoke was there. And they say, where there's smoke, there's fire. We didn't see any fire, but it was hot enough. Talkeetna was setting record highs, with temps around 90 on Tuesday, 7/7. It was so hot, we ditched our dry camping ideas and booked into a campground with electric so we could run our air conditioner. Didn't expect to need that very much in Alaska!

The campground is very compact, but grass, wildflowers, and a few trees give a sense of separation to the sites. We had not even finished parking when Kathleen Baird called us on the phone. Kathleen was one of Consuelo's knitting students at Jekyll Island last winter. We enjoyed a dinner with them, and made them breakfast the next morning before they left.

The smoke lingers on. While there have been numerous rumors of being able to see Mount McKinley from several places in Talkeetna, the smoke is still to thick to see that far. I'm guessing that visibility is now up to 15-20 miles, but we'll need a lot more than that to see the mountain.

Talkeetna Ranger Station

Talkeetna is a nice little town, definitely experiencing an overdose of the hormones that spur on tourists. Main street is only about 4 blocks long, but people seem to be walking up and down it from 9 in the morning until 9 at night. The blocks are filled with gift shops, guided tours, quilt shops, and restaurants, with a few lodges scattered here and there, and a museum or two. Much of the Main Street area is a registered historic district, many of the buildings are original homes and stores from the area, dating back to 1900-1920. Tour busses find their way into town and disgorge passengers, as does the train.

Looking seriously out of place, there is a Ranger Station here for Denali National Park, although we're not in the park. Talkeetna is the jumping off point for those crazy people who feel the need to climb the mountains, Denali and others nearby. And in true Alaskan style, you don't drive to the mountain to climb it, you take an airplane, which lands on a glacier at 7,000 feet. And, as it turns out, Talkeetna has the closest airstrip. It also has a train station, so folks can fly to Anchorage or Fairbanks, train down to Talkeetna, then fly up to the mountain.

3D Model of Mount McKinley

Ranger Bob gave a nice talk using the 3D model of the mountain that was donated by the Boston Science Museum all about climbing and what people have to know to get started up the mountain. The NPS provides 8-12 rangers and volunteers on the mountain through climbing season, which lasts from late April until, well, about now. Next week, they will haul all their gear off the mountain, as the snow is becoming too soft to be safe where there are crevasses along the mountain. Actually, it has become too soft this week, as they are having to land the planes at the second base camp, at around 10,000 feet altitude, as the first one at 7,000 feet was becoming unsafe.

Sunset where the rivers join

About 1200 people climb the mountains every year, and about 50% of those make it to the summit of McKinley. 4 people died trying in the last year. Many, if not most, of those that die on the mountain are still there. Some were never located. Others were in places that were far too difficult to try to retrieve. The Talkeetna Cemetery honors the climbers who died trying.

Talkeetna means either “Where the rivers join” or "Place where food is stored along the river", depending on who you ask. At the end of Main Street, a short walk over the sandy delta brings you to the junction of the Talkeetna, Chulitna and Susitna Rivers. It's a place where Thumper likes to go to cool off in all this heat.

Dock at Talkeetna Lakes

We asked about trails, and were directed to the Takeetna Lakes Trail by the campground manager. This is a cooperative project of the residents of Talkeetna and the borough (Alaska has boroughs instead of counties). We were told the trail was about 3 miles, but it felt more like 10
by the time we finished it. It traveled through the woods around several small lakes, with several easy climbs. Wonderful scenery, interesting to see what the Alaska forest is doing at this time of year. Lots of mosquitoes. We made noise along the way so we wouldn't surprise any bears.

Denali National Park

(Note: We were out of Internet range for a while, so I'm catching up. This was written on July 5th)


We've parked our house in a scruffy RV park in Healy, 12 miles north of the entrance to Denali National Park. We thought this would be cheaper, and we'd avoid the crowds in the Denali campgrounds. However, we're right next to the highway, in a tiny site designed for a 30' trailer, I think. They have bigger sites, but we just wanted electric, and this was it.

Visitor's Center Interior

This morning, July 3, we drove our bug down to the National Park to see what was going on. There is a strike by the local bus driver's union, and since the buses are the only way to get very far into the park, so we had low expectations. It turns out there was nothing to worry about. The buses are running, and we don't know what the strike is affecting.

We stopped first at the Visitor's Center, a beautiful building. We found the crowd to be active but not overwhelming. We watched a live presentation by one of the rangers on the life and biology of the 65 wolves living within the park boundaries. Partly scientific, partly emotional, and all designed to support the notion of the wildlife preserve. After that, we walked through the various displays in the visitors center, describing in good detail the animals, flora and history of the park. The park was founded in 1917 as a game preserve to protect the Dall sheep in the mountains. It has since expanded to 6.6 million acres. The fact that Mount McKinley is within the boundaries is more of less coincidental, as the Alaska Range is the natural habitat for the sheep.

After checking out the displays, we went back to the theater and watched a video called “The Heartbeat of Denali”, one of those incredible video presentations that had to have been filmed over several years in the park, edited to perfection, showing unimaginable scenes of wildlife in action, up close and real. Wonderful scenes of the flowers and tundra, and covering all the seasons as the park evolved throughout the year.

After that, we wandered into the book/gift store, found a couple books and do-dads to buy, then got some lunch at the restaurant. Lunch was mediocre. After lunch, we went to the bus ticketing area to see what was available. We had been warned by our several guidebooks that buses were always full, and it might be two days before we could get a ticket as a walk-in. But the recession seems to have done its job for us here as it has elsewhere. We decided to take the 8 hour Tundra Nature Trail bus, and we could have gone on the spot, or at any time the next day. Out of the dozens of bus trips available, only one was full, and that one left in a few minutes. I bought the tickets, which set us back $104 apiece.

Enjoying the Park View

After buying the tickets, we drove the 12 miles of accessible road into the park to look at what there was. There was one viewpoint where the Mountain was theoretically visible, but the day prevented seeing much. Although it was mostly clear where we were, it was hazy and clouds shrouded our view to the peak. We did see one caribou resting in a wash. At the end of the open road (only the buses can go further into the park) we turned around and went up to the shops along the highway near the park entrance and got an ice cream cone. The thermometer was reading 82 degrees. After that, we wandered back to our home. We had spent 5 hours doing very little at the park, but had lots of fun.

Tundra Wilderness Tour – Day 2

Bus on the Park Road
Saturday, July 4th. We wake to find the day clear but apparently very muggy, visibility limited by the haze. We would later discover that this is smoke, not haze, from a forest fire burning near Nenana. The bus tour tickets disclose that there is no refund if we miss the bus, and no accounting for the weather. We arrive at the bus stop over ½ hour early. We've brought all the things the books says you should bring... extra socks, our own food and water, rain gear, bug spray, and of course cameras and lenses. It turns out that the book is preparing you for a day trip; on a tour, you pretty much stay inside the bus, so most of that is unnecessary.

Our pick up point is the Chalet Resort, just outside the park boundary which is the Nenana River. Our bus arrives, and we are first aboard. We sit apart, since we both want windows, Consuelo to breathe, me to take pictures. The bus is nearly full. The tour includes a box lunch and water, and we end up waiting about 15 minutes while 2 vegetarian box lunches arrive. We stop at another hotel to pick up 4 more passengers.

The name of our driver/naturalist/tour guide is River. He's been doing this for 20 years. He starts by giving us the ground rules, safety instructions. We then start the long ride into the park, with River telling us about the history and mission of the national park, setting our expectations for what we may or may not see. He describes wildlife sightings as something of a poker game. He says he's never been skunked, and tells us about one really bad rainy day when they only saw one fox. He tells us to shout “STOP” if we see something, then call out the location based on clock directions: The front of the bus is 12:00, the back is 6:00, etc. In a few minutes, we see another bus stopped to look at something, and River gets hand signals that describe what and where it is. It's a couple of caribou hiding in the trees in the taiga (the thin evergreen forest). Everybody helps everybody else look in the right direction, and soon we move on to what we hope will be a better sighting.

Dall Sheep

The bus ride is described to go to the Toklat River, about 57 miles in from the Parks Highway (Parks Highway is the road from Anchorage to Fairbanks... the bus is on the Park Road). At mile 12 is a ranger station, which prevents private cars from driving further along the Park Road. A ranger hops aboard to welcome us, and further remind us that we are entering a wilderness area. Indeed, in 6.6 million acres, this one road is the only encroachment resembling civilization.

We continue on, making occasional stops to view Dall sheep along one of the mountain faces, grizzly bears scratching for roots along a grassy hillside, more Dall sheep along one of the braided rivers. River tells us about the animals, their habits, ranges, diets. The interaction between the bears, the wolves, the sheep and so forth. He compares the grizzlies here with those that feed on the salmon down in the Kenai... bears in Denali are primarily vegetarians, though they may catch game from time to time. But there are no salmon laden streams here, so Denali bears top out at around 600 pounds, and Kenai bears can reach 3 times that.

Grizzly Sow & 3 Cubs
We continue into the park, crossing Sanctuary River, making a pit stop at the Teklanika River. We climb through Sable pass and Polychrome Pass. Top speed for the bus is 35 mph. We eventually wind down to the Toklat River for another pit stop.

At the Toklat River, our driver tells us that he has the option to continue on another 20 minutes to Stony Overlook, where we could see Mount McKinley on a clear day. After a quick discussion, we proceed to this point. He tells us that the mountain will not be visible today, there's just too much smoke, and when we get to the stop, we'll still be 45 miles away. We arrive to find just the faintest glimmer of the snow on the mountain virtually invisible, and unnoticed if River had not pointed out where it was. But I was happy to get a few good pictures of the tundra flowers along side the overlook parking area. After a few minutes we loaded back onto the bus and headed back the way we came.

Visibility along the way was quite different between the two sides of the bus. Consuelo and I both sat on the left side of the bus, and on the way out, we had the best view of the landscape and animals, since the road tended to hug the hills and mountains on the right side. Even with my one bad eye, I was the one that spotted the Dall sheep along the river. On the way back, I was almost as vigilant in looking for game, but the hillsides were more difficult to see and provided better cover for the animals, so none was seen. We did stop at one overlook for photos, and a pair of red foxes came walking down the road toward us, but disappeared so quickly that nearly nobody got any pictures.

The bear sow and 2 cubs that we saw on the mountainside were still there when we returned, but had moved closer to the road, so we stopped again and took more pictures. We also saw a couple another bear in a hollow with 3 younger cubs, and caribou in a couple of places.

The bus, which was an old Bluebird, developed a complaint about being too hot, which presented itself with an alarm buzzer. River did what he could to keep it cool, but it was annoying. The mechanics happened to be on strike, so getting it fixed might be a problem at this time.

River carried a video camera with a fairly long lens, and the bus was equipped with flip down TV monitors every 4 or 5 seats. When we sighted animals, he stopped the bus and found them with the camera, bringing them fairly close so that all could see them clearly on the monitors. This really did help people see what was out there, because many sightings were of animals 3 or 4 hundred yards away.

As we left the tundra and returned to the taiga, many folks started conversations among themselves. I talked with Sigfried and his wife, from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Consuelo and I discovered that most of the people on the bus were travel agents on a tour from Holland America, taking in what we had seen in over 2 months in about 12 days. We appreciated their experience but were just as glad we didn't have to be up at 5:00 AM as they did to start most every day.

Just before we left the park, we had one more sighting. A crowd of people had stopped on the park entrance road to look at something. We soon discovered that it was a lynx, hiding in the trees, and apparently ready to pounce on a rabbit close by. I never did see where it was, but I snapped dozens of pictures, hoping that I would be able to see it when we got home. Consuelo saw it, and pointed out where it was in the trees in my pictures. A terrible photo, but River told us that in 20 years and thousands of trips into the park, he had seen lynx only about 15 times, so it was definitely a rare sighting.

The bus finally dropped us back at the hotel. The 8 hours on a bus, went by fairly quickly, so busy was I scanning the landscape and taking pictures of the few animals and flowers, and the grand landscapes that we were able to view. We agreed that the $104/person price was a bit steep for what we got, but we were glad that we did it.

The Last of Fairbanks

(Note: We were out of Internet range for a couple weeks so I'm catching up... this was written on July 2)

We're coming up against 2 weeks in Fairbanks. We've still got a few things to do and see on our list before we leave.

Birdwatching at Creamer's Field

On Monday, we went to Creamer's Field Wildlife Preserve. This is a bird refuge that is operated and maintained by the State fish and game department. It serves as a migratory stop for several species that pass through Fairbanks twice a year. A number of species travel as far as South America, and one goes all the way to Antarctica, based on records of banding birds here and finding the bands there.

The Field is just that, a large field which was part of Creamer's Dairy Farm for many years. The open pasture with several permanent ponds provided a perfect place for birds to stop and rest. Hay and grains that were raised for the cows, along with seeds recovered form cow dung provided a feast for the avian travelers. The state acquired the farm in the 1970s, the farmhouse is an interpretive center. Well built paths around the field provide walking space for the many visitors. Covered viewing areas along the entry road provide space for bird watchers to spend afternoons or evenings watching the birds come and go. While we were there, a flock of sand hill cranes were mostly sleeping alongside one of the small ponds near the viewing areas.

Sleeping Sand Hill Cranes
The mile long walk along the edge of the field leads to the main office of the Alaska Bird Observatory, a scientific organization whose mission is to gather and report on the health of the avian community in Alaska. A biology team was working in the main room while we visited. A gift shop offered numerous birding books and other related items. We bought some trail mix and water to quench our thirst and hunger. We returned to our car and our home.

Pink Plumes on the Trail

On Tuesday, we planned a 60 mile trip up to Chena Hot Springs, northeast of Fairbanks. The weather was wonderful, sunny and temps in the mid 70s. Chena Hot Springs Road is a paved road up to the springs. Along the way, we stopped for a hike in the Chena River Recreation Area, another large state operation. The recreation area has facilities for camping, ATV trails, many places to enter the Chena River for kayak or canoeing, a shooting range, and trails which ranged from 1-1/2 miles to Angel Rocks or 35 miles for the adventurous backpackers. The road crosses the river and numerous creeks in many times, and many ponds and still backwaters also line the roadway. We were told that the moose are there, but you have to look for them.

We came prepared for the hike. I had my photography monopod which I use for a walking stick when I'm out hiking for pictures. Consuelo picked up an adjustable walking stick in Fairbanks soon after we arrived there. Both got a lot of use on this hilly, rock trail that followed Angel Creek. We also made good use of our bug spray, as swarms of mosquitoes followed us up and back. There were few mountain views, but there were lots of wildflowers to take pictures of. We got a good look at Angel rocks and then returned to our car. Thumper went with us, and got a couple swims in the cool river.

We continued up the road, on the constant lookout for moose, but mostly hungry for lunch. We finally arrived at the resort. This year round, off-the-grid facility is quite a place. 80 rooms provide lodging for guests who come for extended stays. Our first stop was the restaurant, which had a nice menu and was situated in a wonderful old log lodge building. Prices were steep, but we were at the end of the road to nowhere. We spent $50 for a roast beef sandwich, Alaskan haddock and chips (best fries Consuelo has ever had, she says) and one slice of cheesecake between us. Well worth it, though.

After lunch, we walked around the grounds, checking out the various pools and ponds. One is designated as a skating rink. We also looked at the lodging, which ranged from dry cabins to yurts to hotel style rooms.

Chena Hot Springs

The hot springs are offered for relaxing in a large outdoor pool, water temp around 105 degrees, no kids allowed. The kids have an indoor pool for their use, along with a couple hot tubs. Locker rooms are showers provide changing space, with a day use fee of $8 for seniors like us. We changed into our bathing suits and went into the outdoor pool for a bit, then went in and played in the pool with the kids. Consuelo went to change, and I took one more trip to the outdoor pool. It was all very relaxing, but it left me wanting to take a nap afterward. But we still had to go home.

Driving back down the hill, we took our time and looked more carefully for moose along the way. We saw a mother and calf at the far end of a pond, did a quick U-turn and got some pictures. A few miles farther down the road, a stopped RV clued us into a solitary bull in another pond. More pictures.

Grazing Bull Moose

I noticed that the relaxation from the hot springs lasted well into Wednesday, when we took a ride over to the Fairbanks Farmer's Market. We've now found that early farmer's markets tend to look the same, a variety of crafts, home made jellies, honey, breads, woodworking, etc. Very little produce at this point, and what there is must be hothouse, and is very expensive. $6.00 for tomatoes is a bit too much for me, though probably worth it for the taste.

We had planned to take a look at North Pole after the Farmer's Market, but I was too relaxed to shop anymore, and Consuelo's shopping urge couldn't overcome her desire to relax, too. So we stayed home, napped, and watched a movie, Blood Diamond. I got a few pictures of the setting sun a little after 11:00 PM.

On Wednesday, we packed up our home to move on down the road. This took a while, since we had time in 2 weeks to spread out quite a bit. We finally got underway about 10:30, traveled down to the little town of Nenana, where we shopped, bought a couple things, and had lunch. We then continued down the Parks Road to Healy where we stopped for the night.