Day 18- Talkeetna

June 29

No accurate driving data.  forgot to reset after getting into Denali

Stayed at Talkeetna Lake Retreat

Started off the day getting the camper in order while I did laundry quick.  I really liked the campground we stayed at but the guy was insane about his dump station.  He keeps it locked up, puts catch pans under everything and he does not allow you to back flush your black tanks.   My front black and grey tanks are super slow draining for some reason.  I really need to pull down the underbelly and find out why.  Anyways, because it's slow draining I usually have to give a couple shots on the backlash to get the black tank flowing.  Since he wouldn't let me do that I tried to lift up the drain tube so the grey would backwash into the black.  He was not a fan of that either.  I finally got some out but I ended up stopping at a gas station and paying to dump as we will not have campgrounds with dumps for the next several days.   I wanted to make sure everything was totally empty.

We got into Talkeetna about 3:30.  We made a few stops to watch a moose and to get a look at Denali as it was mostly in view today.

The campground we are at is relatively new.  No electric, water or dump.  It's a nice day but a little humid.  If I didn't have to lift the generator from the front of the truck I'd run the a/c for a bit.

Getting into our space was a bit of a trick.  They have signs showing one way, but for some reason mine and two other sites, the only way to back into them is to go the wrong way.  Once I got turned around I was able to slide in fairly easily.

There are three types of people at the campgrounds when people are trying to get into their spaces.  Th Looky Lou's that are watching for entertainment.  Either laughing at the people that don't know how to back up or the husband and wife team screaming at each other because one says left and the other goes right.  These are the people that watch NASCAR for the crashes.  Then we have the overly helpful man.  Always a dude, offers help without asking and gives it wither you want it or not. He always gives instructions that are less than helpful and after your finally parked has to talk your ear off about all the tight spots he's had to park and usually had a job as a trucker.  And then we finally have the helpful guy.  He lets you give it a couple try and if he thinks your struggling will ask if you need help and is actually helpful.   He usually will leave after a quick check that you're good.

Today we had the looky Lou's.  It was kind of a tight area to back into.  I'm sure they were waiting for me to turn to sharp and hit the camper into the back glass.  Jokes on them since I have a long box and can jack knife up to 100 degrees before I'll strike anything.  However, if your swinging left, you can't see the right and vice versa the other way.   There were some birch tree's to my right and I almost clipped them.  Luckily I stop and assess so I caught it in time, but there were about 15 people just sitting there and none of them said a word,

We decided to head into town to see what was going on.  On the way was a great view of Denali.  The best we have seen so far so we stopped for just a second for me to get a photo.

I'm not sure if we were in the actually heart of Talkeetna, but it was an area with a lot of shops and places to eat.  If your Iowian, think Upper Amana's, but smaller.  My laugh of the day was what I'm guessing was a tour group of older people.  They were in a single file line being lead by a lady holding a pole with a little blaze orange flag on the top.  Reminded me of the childcare center across from work when they go on walks.  The girls wanted mini taco's at the camper, but we will be in the middle of nowhere in a few days and kind of wanted something good to eat, plus not heating up the camper using the oven.  I talked them into eating out.  We ate at a brewpub.  It was excellent.  Unfortunately the girls are just not nicer places to eat so they got stuff off the kids menu.  Even still dinner was over $100.  I don't think I've spent less than that for dinner in Alaska yet.  I want to try all the local places, but I can't afford it either.

I promised the girls ice cream if we ate out.  By that time the only place that had ice cream was a homemade place.  Davan did want any.  Even still, the three of us cost $27.  I need to go back to Fairbanks and find a stream to pan for gold.  

After a quick stop at the grocery store we are all relaxing at the camper.  Bedtime will be early as we found a cute cafe we would like to stop at on our way to our glacier flight in the morning.

Tomorrow is up in the air.  We have our glacier flight first thing, but there is a fire just out of  town in the path we are headed the next day.   They have been flying helicopters and planes and sending in smokejumpers so one person told me it will probably be contained quickly.  Plus the road we travel is a major trucking road so they do their best to not have to close that down.

Day 17- Denali

June 28 

Another late start to our day.  It was significantly cooler out.  We planned to spend the entire day in the park so we made sandwiches and packed snacks and drink.   

Our first stop was the hiking trailer the ranger suggested.  It was an easy hike but since it was right at the front of the park it was busy.  Way too busy to see any wildlife.  There were several beaver dams and we did spot fresh bear and moose prints.  

We were on the trail for several hours as we stopped several times.  We used the backpack we borrowed to test both a lake and the river's PH.  The lake was very basic and the river slightly acidic.  I thought it would be opposite.

After the hike we drove up to the visitor's center for bathroom's and a snack.  A snack turned into a $80 pre-dinner.  Food is very expensive in the park.  

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We caught our tour buss about 4:45.  We really didn't see much of anything until roughly 20 miles in.  There we saw a family of Ptarmigan along the roadside.  They are a member of the grouse family and are hunted as a game bird.  Outside of the park of course.  Everything is protected in the park.

Ptarmigan

Not to long after we spotted some Dall Sheep way off in the distance on the side of the mountain.  Further in we saw a couple of caribou relaxing on a patch of snow.   Their winter coats are so think even these cool days are miserable for them.  They are in the process of loosing those coats so it is looking blotchy.  

We saw more dall sheep and they put on a little show for us.  Three males and they kept rearing back on their hind legs.  Almost like a dance.   Two of them even started butting heads.  A rare treat this time of year.

We also saw some ground squirrels.   They are very similar to prairie dogs.  

We also got to see the north peak of Denali!

After we turned around we say the same animals on the way back arriving back at the station just before 10.  

No fire tonight as we used all our firewood.

Tomorrow is the drive to Talkeetna

 

Day 16- Denali

June 27

We all needed a sleep in day.  We started moving around about 10.  We all kinda fended for ourself for breakfast and just kinda hung out most of the morning.

I got a call from Tim who was having issues with the truck.  I'm reasonably confidant of what's wrong and it's probably easier to just leave it for me when I get home.  Not a hard fix, I've done it several times, just an area the wears down every few years and needs rebuilding.

We all fended for ourselves for lunch as well, although I found out later that was probably a mistake.  

The plan for today was the Denali visitors center and some hiking.  The visitor's center was really good.  We talked to a ranger about what to do in the park.  For being 2 in the afternoon she was very energetic and excited about all things Denali.  In the time I was in line she repeated the same info 4 times, plus us.  I told her what we were up to and she gave us some awesome recommendations.  I wanted to confirm what types of sheep we had seen and she loved my pics.  I then showed her the pic of the survey marker.  She flipped out.  It was like I showed her a pot of gold.  She wanted to know exactly where I found it and her and her coworker were going to go find it first chance she had.

We of course had to visit the gift shop to buy things we didn't need.  We made it out with only a few stickers for the camper, Summer's scrap book and a water bottle.

After we were off to drive into the park.  You're only allowed to drive yourself 15 miles into the park.  We got out and walked down to the river.  From there we could see a caribou just chilling under the bridge.

There was supposed to be great fishing but you had to hike about 30 minutes blazing your own trail along a river.  I unfortunately could not get any of the girls to go.  

On the way back we stopped at a point called Savage Cabin.  There just happened to be a tour group there so we were able to join in.  There girls had been getting increasingly cranky so we planned to go to dinner and then come back for the hike.  

We got to the restaurant.  I had been wearing my bear spray on my belt.  It has a trigger lock of sorts but somehow it got knocked off.  As I was getting out of the truck the trigger hit the steering wheel.  This gave  a quick shot of spray that saturated my shirt and then hit and coated the door.  Luckily the door was open and it only sprayed for a fraction of a second.  It also was such a close shot that it did't atomize.  So while my belly and left hand got coated, we didn't inhale any.   30 seconds later the burning started.   Got to the bathroom and tried to wash it off.  After 20 minutes my hands and arm was feeling reasonably ok but because my shirt and shorts were saturated and touching my skin it continued to burn.   

I hated to have to cancel the hike so I wasn't that upset when it started raining.  We got back and I jumped into the shower.  Soap and water didn't work as well as it said it should on the internet.  Luckily the burning wore off after an hour or so.  

The raining stopped so the girls had a little fire.  Hopefully tomorrow we can get that hike in.  It's been super hot here.  And for being so far north the sun is pretty intense.  I also have a bus tour into Denali planned.  It goes 43 miles in.  The road actually goes 89 miles but due to thawing permafrost the bridge became unstable at the 43 mile mark and they are rebuilding.