Mariner Park Homer, Alaska

Mileage:  44, 379

We decided to move down the road a piece to the beginning of Homer Spit.  We have a beachfront site, though there are no hookups here.  We are dry camping.  We have enough battery power in the coach to get us through at least a day and we can use the generator for backup.  We have enough fresh water in the tank for another night so we are going to enjoy the view.

After we were settled we decided to go for another excursion.  The weather is chilly and wet so sitting in the warm car was good!  We first toured around North Fork Loop, another scenic ride.  It was a ride in the country…very hilly with lots of trees and wildflowers.

The house up on the ridge was a log cabin with a green roof.  They are everywhere.  They belong here!

Because we had been on such a fun ride yesterday…this was a little tame.  We decided to do the Skyline Ridge Road.  The views of Homer Spit and the town of Homer and the valley below were magnificent.

That skinny piece of land jutting out into the water is the spit.  Earlier this week we were at the very tip.  Today we are camping 4 miles away, closer to town.

The views of the glaciers today were stunning.  The sun shone on them.  Even though it was very cloudy and grey, the clouds above the glaciers were lifted.

We found our way back to the beach.

You can see the rain cells moving across the water.

We saw this old truck while we were out and about.  Tim loves old trucks.

We stopped at a seafood store and bought red salmon…oh so delicious!  What a treat to have fresh fish!

We have the front window of the RV facing the beach.  It was raining and we were watching it rain.  We saw this eagle land on the beach.  We were able to watch him for a long time before he flew away.  The pictures were taken through the windshield.

Goodbye to Homer.  This was a great place to be!

 

Homer Spit Campground Homer, Alaska Day 2

Tim slept until almost 10!  Some much needed rest is part of the healing process.

Steroids…breakfast of champions!

We spent our morning exploring.  We had no destination…we were just out to enjoy the ride.  Years ago Tim and I used to go to a bed and breakfast a couple of times a year.  We would get in the car and Tim would want to go for a ride.  Where?? It used to drive me nuts.  I needed to know the plan.  We found a lot of cool stuff though while just driving around…festivals, farmers markets, live music, and I grew to love the freedom of just cruising around without an itinerary.

When we get to a new town, we like to go exploring.

We started out on a scenic road that took us way out of town.  Before long the road was gravel and then it was dirt.  Lots of times when we take these back-roads we get to a place that forces us to turn around…a dead end or a no trespassing sign.  That’s kind of frustrating because you never get to know what is really at the end of the road.  Today the road started like this…

We saw lots of beautiful scenery and some nice views of the glaciers.

The glacier is in the center in the picture below.

My favorite image of the day.  The wildflowers in the foreground with the meadow behind and the black spruce trees…the mountains and the glacier with  the gray windswept clouds…too pretty for a picture!

 

The road got like this…

and took us here!

It was great fun!

In the picture above…notice the blue area in between the mountains.  That is the glacier.

We went back to the RV and packed a lunch and took it to the deep water dock.

These gulls are nesting.  There were hundreds of nesting gulls.  Some have chicks but the mothers were not too keen about my presence there…so I let them be.

We saw a sea otter being tormented by gulls flying over and trying to swipe his lunch… it was amusing to watch.  The otter would get tired of the gulls and dip down underwater to swim a short distance away where they would ambush him again.

We rested for awhile this afternoon and then went out to the fish and chips place for dinner.  Halibut fish and chips is a thing here…so we had to try it.

 

 

Homer Spit Campground Homer, Alaska

Mileage:  44,375

We are so thankful for the excellent care that Dr. Chet provided yesterday.  We were in a place where we were lucky enough to see a good doctor and where there was a pharmacy.  Tim felt much better today and he was ready to move on!

The morning was chilly and misty.  The dramatic clouds made for some cool pictures.

The scent of wild roses hung heavy in the air.

We drove on the Sterling Highway on the Kenai Peninsula.  We were surprised that there was tons of traffic, but this is an area where the avid sport fishermen come for the spawning salmon.

As we made our way toward Homer, we encountered a marine layer.  This is a picture at the scenic turnout that has amazing views of the “Pacific Ring of Fire”  or the group of volcanoes across Cook Inlet.

Maybe we will get a better picture on the way back to Anchorage!

Mount Redoubt erupted in 2009, Mount Douglas has fresh lava flow, Mount Iliamno has had some earthquake activity, and Mount Augustine was active in 2006 with 13 eruptions in a 2 week period.

We stopped at the Islands and Ocean Visitor Center.  A neat place with great exhibits and educational and fun stuff for kids…of all ages!

Route 1 in Alaska ends at the end of the town of Homer.  Homer Spit is probably the remains of an ancient moraine from a glacier.  If people had not intervened, this piece of land would have washed away a long time ago.  Now it is a popular fishing spot.  There are also lots of shops and restaurants.  It’s a very neat place to be.  We went out for dinner and walked around a for awhile.

We saw a mama eagle with 2 eaglets in a nest.  As we approached, she moved in front of her babies to block our view.

Papa eagle sat on the next pylon keeping watch.

We are quite literally at land’s end!

Resurrection Bay RV Park Seward, Alaska Day 2

We were at the Seward Community Health Center before 9 am.

We met Chet, the doctor who cared for Tim.  He walked in wearing a plaid button down and jeans.  He looked like the very image of a small town doctor.  He was a kind and gentle man from Tennessee.  We wished we had taken his picture, I am sure he would have obliged.  Tim had a fever of 101.5, wheezes, and rattles.  Diagnosis:  pneumonia.  Dr. Chet treated him very aggressively with a nebulizer and injections of antibiotics and steroids.  He sent us home with two kinds of oral antibiotics, oral steroids, an emergency inhaler, and steroidal inhaler.

We knew we weren’t going anywhere today.

Lots of rest and fluids and soup for dinner.  Tim is already feeling a little better.

Resurrection Bay RV Park Seward, Alaska

Mileage:  44,201

As we traveled toward Anchorage today we felt like we were in a bit of a culture warp.  We were on a real highway with real interchanges, and exit ramps, and smooth roads and everything!  You could move this highway to the middle of Ohio and we wouldn’t know the difference.

Except for the moose crossing signs…

Anchorage has everything you could want…malls, cinemas, a major airport, Home Depot and Lowes.  We couldn’t wait to get out of all of the congestion and traffic.

We were headed to Seward.  This picture was taken at Beluga Point.  The drive from Anchorage to Seward is really pretty.

Tim doesn’t feel well at all so he stopped to nap along the way.  His allergies are out of control and what usually helps are steroids and antibiotics.  I went into town by myself.

I did a little shopping.  I got some halibut for dinner and a couple little things from the Safeway.

Tim had slept again but still felt awful.  He didn’t really feel like eating much.  Another gentle suggestion from me about seeing a doctor and he finally agreed at a little before 6 this evening.  The clinics in town closed at 6.  They were very helpful when I called.  I could take him to the ER…but he doesn’t need that.  Walk in hours begin tomorrow at 9 am and we plan to be there!

We did go for a short walk.  We watched some fisherman trying to snag some salmon and we did see a guy bring one in.  The salmon aren’t really running yet.

The view from our campsite.

King Mountain State Recreation Site Chickaloon, Alaska

Mileage:  44,004

I was driving 15 miles to the IGA in Copper Valley for groceries, this view of the mountains before me.

Sometimes it strikes me…I’m so far removed from home but even more so from my ordinary life.  We are definitely living outside the box.  How grateful I am to spend each day surrounded by nature and this incredible beauty.  This became a theme for the day.

Fruits and vegetables were procured…so expensive because we are in the middle of nowhere.

We took the Glenn Highway today toward Anchorage….as the Milepost says, “a vista of incomparable beauty.”

Lions Head.

These poles are the snow poles I referred to in an earlier blog.  When the snow is very deep, it helps plows to find the road.

At one point we stopped at a scenic view turnout and I had to take a moment and pause to appreciate it all.  I took pictures.

To the right.

To the right front.

To the left front.

To the left.

To the rear.

Surrounded…by spectacular scenery.

This was our lunch spot.

We saw several huge glaciers.

After lunch we had 25 miles of very windy and narrow road with a 7% grade and no passing…yes he’s glad he bought the diesel pusher!

In the distance I could see King Mountain.  It is pyramid shaped.  The guidebook said that it is at elevation 5,809 feet.  Tim said…”just  little more than a mile.”  I am always trying to put the scope of all of this into perspective.  When I was a small girl I can remember learning that there were 5,280 feet in a mile.  For a long time as a child…if there was a lot of something it was 5,280…it was the biggest number I knew.  The one mountain is a mile high…we are surrounded by lots and lots of mountains…perspective.

I tried to get good picture of King Mountain.

We ended up camping across the Matanuska River from the mountain.  Pictures from our campsite.

On the way into the campground we met this pothole.

It threw the camper in an unexpected way.  The fridge door opened.  Guinness was the only thing that was harmed in the mishap.  Tim cried and I cleaned up a major mess.  So, the world is good.  We don’t let things like that slow us down, upset us, or ruin our day.  That’s why this RV thing works for us.  We know that stuff is going to happen…it’s all part of it.  When you drag your house down these roads you are going to have things to clean up!

For our Jeep excursion today we took the narrow gravel road to Lower Bonnie Lake.

This guy was on the back of the rock so you could only see him as you left.  We stopped and asked him for directions.

 

 

 

Tolsana Wilderness Campground Glennallen, Alaska

Mileage:  43,905

We woke up a little chilly at 5 am.  We decided to pack up the tent and go.  I was hoping for 3 things…pretty morning light, wildlife, and little traffic.  I got all 3!  We saw tons of rabbits and on Tim’s side a moose and on my side an owl.  We also saw the swan family again.

We got back to the RV and unpacked our tent stuff, showered and we were on out way out of Chitina.  We were not sure where we were going to end up but that is hardly surprising!

We stopped at a roadside turnout and took a nap…tent camping is not very restful…though still very worth it!

When we woke up we made a plan to stop at the Tolsona Wilderness Campground.  The office was on the other side of this bridge…you want us to drive our 24,000 pound RV over THAT???

It was perfectly safe and we did!

I asked about hiking trails and the camp host told me of three.  #1 on  a gravel road round a meadow.  #2 in the woods on a gravel path.  #3, for the more adventuresome, a hike to see the mud volcanoes.  The trail is a little rougher, over some roots and trees, but only  a mile and it leads you to these bubbling mud puddles that are pretty cool.  We chose 3.  We were prepared today with water, bug spray, bear spray, and even mosquito nets.

Years ago we went to Ocracoke in the fall.  When we entered the campground we saw a whole family tent camping and dressed in mosquito netting…and we laughed…it didn’t take us long to understand why.  So we have head nets that we have never used…until today…and we were incredibly grateful to have them!!

The beginning of the trail looked like this.

Several times we took a trail around the trail because the ground was so loamy and boggy that it was difficult to negotiate.  We walked about 3/4 of a mile and it became too marshy for our tennis shoe clad feet. 6″ water all around and no way past…we turned around.

It is my theory that this is an area where the permafrost has melted.  The ground was heaved up thrusting roots of trees out of the mud.  Many trees were toppled and the short stunted black spruce trees were everywhere.  The ground-cover was all moss and lichen.  Even when we walked uphill it was very wet making me believe that the wetness was coming from beneath the ground.

It’s a little buggy but the creek is pretty.

No fireworks for us tonight…it doesn’t get dark enough.

Happy 4th of July!

 

 

Wrangell View RV Park – Chitina, Alaska AND Root Glacier Base Camp McCarthy, Alaska

Day 2

We woke up and it was 57 degrees with a cloudless blue sky and a forecast for low 70’s.

Today we traveled the McCaarthy Road with the Jeep, leaving the RV behind in Chitina.  Sixty miles of washboard gravel road.  This road sits on top of an old railroad bed.  With the process of freezing, thawing, and regrading the road every season, the railroad spikes often emerge.  Flat tires are common and there are tire repair guys at both ends.  If you have a flat tire on the way to McCarthy, you take the tire off your car and leave it with your cash by the marked post by 3 pm.  The guy comes to pick up the flat tires and brings them back around 5 pm…fixed and ready to roll.  That’s the kind of place this is!

We saw more than 100 wild rabbits all sitting right on the edge of the road.  We had to swerve and brake quickly a couple of times.  Hide and be safe little bunnies….there are lots of dangers in your world…cars, lynxes, raptors, wolves…

A trumpeter swan pair and their 4 cygnets.

Going to McCarthy is as much about the adventure of the ride as it is about the town.  We were treated to sweeping views of the river basin below.  The rivers are braided rivers.  The course of rivers of this type is determined by the sand and gravel carried along and by the depth of the water which varies significantly from one season to the next.  These deposits and the rise and fall of the water level, changes the direction the river takes creating intertwining fingers of river.

Most of the drive looked like this.

We passed over several bridges.  It is difficult to imagine how these roads and bridges were constructed back in the early 1900’s.

We chose to stay at the Root Glacier Base Camp.  We have a tent site by the Kennicott River.

McCarthy was founded when explorers found bright emerald streaks in the rock face.  They knew that they had found copper ore.  McCarthy was the town for all the miners at the Kennicott Copper Mining Company.  It had dance halls, women, and saloons where the cold, tired, and lonely men could spend their earnings.

You cannot take your car into the town so we took our bikes across this footbridge.

We ate lunch and bought tickets for the Kennicott shuttle.  Kennicott is another 5 miles up the mountain on a fairly rocky and rough road.

When  we first arrived we saw enormous piles of what looked like mine spoils.  We were told that all of these piles are actually the glacier!  Once you know what you are looking at…it is astounding!  The rocks and dirt that cover the glacier are known as the moraine.  Moraine is deposited as a result of glacial melting and erosion.  Those “hills” were 200-300 feet of ice.

We walked through the mining town touring the exhibits.

We hiked out of town for a couple of miles to get a better view of the glacier.  As we walked we could hear ice cracking and boulders breaking loose.  We didn’t plan for a big hike and we weren’t prepared (no water, after eating a big lunch, and NO bear spray) so we headed back before we got to the toe of the glacier.

We were actually in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park.  This park has 12 of the 15 highest peaks in Alaska.  Mount Wrangell is actually Alaska’s largest active volcano.  The goal is to preserve this “extraordinary relic from America’s past.”

One thing that surprises me every day is how different every place has been.  From fishing villages to glaciers to gold mining towns to copper mills…the adventure and the beauty just keep on keeping on!

Wrangell View RV Park Chitina, Alaska

Mileage:43,828

As we climbed out of Valdez the snowy peaks sparkled in the morning sunlight.

One road into Valdez and the same road back out. Back through the Keystone Canyon, Thompson Pass, and the Copper River Valley.  We saw a mama moose and her baby standing on a dirt turnoff road.

And of course…

The Alyeska Pipeline runs along the road.  Tim figured that there are at least 4,224,000 barrels of oil in the 800 miles of pipeline.  The oil company is able to slow production of oil but cannot stop it.  If the flows halts, then the oil will become a sludge and harden.

We are taking another side trip.

We turned onto the Edgerton Highway toward Chitina.  The road is paved for 33 miles.  At the end of the paved section we camped at Wrangell View.

It is sunny and in the low 70’s.  A gorgeous day in Alaska.

We left the RV and went to explore the gravel road for a short distance.

We saw a moose feeding.  She was standing belly deep in a pretty little lake.

I don’t know if you can make out the little white cottony things floating in the air and there is a pile of them on the ground too!  They are hanging from bunches of cottonwood trees.  They are really making Tim sneezy and congested!

The gravel road is bordered by the Copper River to the north and the Chitina River to the south.

In this picture the white objects that you see are actually RV’s.

We aren’t sure why they were parked out there but it looks like the river consumed them.  I’m not sure how long they have been there but it is unlikely that anyone is coming back for them.

What in the world are these flowers?!?  At first glance I thought dandelion…because they turn into puffs but the “flower” is this twisted, worsted kind of thing!?!

This highway is unlike anywhere else I have ever been.  Tomorrow we will leave the RV behind and continue down the gravel road for another 60 miles to a town named McCarthy.  We are packing the Jeep with our tenting supplies and we will see where the road takes us.

Right now, the country music is on and the wine is flowing.  Shrimp on the barbie for dinner and a nice night for a fire.

Bear Paw Camper Park Valdez, Alaska – Day 3

We decided to spend one more day in Valdez.  We slept in after our long day yesterday.  There is a bike path around the harbor and the town and we wanted to get outside and do something active today.

We stopped for lunch a a cute place on the corner called The Potato.  We had excellent salmon rolls.

We checked on the leader board for the current standings for the halibut derby.  Apparently the Valdez record for the largest halibut ever was 374 pounds!

Today was also about doing ordinary things…like laundry and groceries.

And a second bike ride before dinner.

We spotted a second vessel from The Deadliest Catch – The Northwestern.

And predinner drinks by the harbor.

After eating we went back to the fish hatchery to see if the salmon were running…but not yet!