1002 August 4, 2023 Denali National Park

Today we took the Jeep and drove the 30 miles from Cantwell to Denali National Park.  We spent some time in the Visitor Center.

Tim and I walked a trail through the woods.

We took the green transit bus into the park.

We saw caribou.

We passed the Savage River.

More gorgeous scenery.

The Sanctuary River.

More mountains.

We passed Teklanika River.  This is where the bus stopped.  Two years ago, the park road was closed beyond this point because of the deterioration and landslide along the road.  The road is expected to be repaired by 2026.

We got off the bus and hiked in the riverbed. 

All day, we had been hearing about the grizzlies in the park.   We found evidence as we walked.

Kyle and Allison had sat down by one of the small sections of the river.  Kyle had his shoes and socks off and had his feet in the river.  They saw a caribou running toward them.  It passed about 10 yards from them.  What a sighting! 

We could see the same animal far across the riverbed.

We got back on the bus and saw more pretty mountains.

We heard from the bus driver that there was a mama grizzly and three cubs up the road a piece.  The bears were high, near the ridge.  What a special thing to see!

We also go to see a moose.  This female was alone, without a calf.  Most calves don’t survive past the first year.  It would be unusual for a healthy female not to give birth.

What a great trip!  We got back to the Jeep and drove another 11 miles north to Healy.  We had a delicious dinner at 49^th State Brewing Company.

The bus is a replica of the shelter for Chris McCandless and sits on this property.  Chris’ story is told in the book “Into the Wild.”  If you haven’t read it, it is an incredible tale.

It was a very long day but we all had a good time and it was worth it!

1001 August 3, 2023 To Talkeetna And Cantwell

We had another long travel day.  We stopped in Talkeetna to break up the driving. 

We had a nice lunch at Homestead Kitchen.  I had reindeer sausage flatbread that was so good.

We walked down to the confluence of the rivers where we could see Denali.

This man was sitting on the rocks trying to catch a salmon as they swam along the bank and upriver.

We tried the fireweed ice cream.  It was bright pink and delicious!

We stopped again at Denali Southview where we could see the mountain.

We arrived in Cantwell in the evening. 

We were tired and happy!

1000 August 2, 2023 Matanuska State Recreation Area

We took another morning walk in town.  We went to Peter Pan Seafood Store and purchased some sea scallops and king salmon.

We packed and left Valdez at 11.

We stopped at a riverside turnout for a picnic lunch.

We spent the afternoon on the road and arrived at Matanuska State Recreation Area in early evening.

It was a quiet evening.  Kyle and Allison hiked the trail on the ridge.  We read and relaxed.  Tomorrow is another long driving day.

999 August 1, 2023 Lu Lu Belle Glacier Cruise

Kyle, Allison, and I started the day with another walk through town.

At 10:30, we boarded the Lu Lu Belle.  Captain Fred was at the helm.  We left Valdez behind.

We traveled into Prince William Sound.

A waterfall.

Sea otters.

Caves and rocky coast.

Birds.

Fishing boats.

A sea lion colony.

A puffin hiding in a cave.

Humpback whales.

A mountain goat.

Making our way through the icebergs up to the glacier. 

Otters on the ice.

Captain Fred got us within a quarter mile of the glacier face.

The Columbia Glacier calving.

On our way back, a school of Dall porpoises surrounded the boat.  They were such fun to watch.

We didn’t return to Valdez until 8:30pm.  We were tired and we were hungry. 

The guys tried the local brewery but it was already closed for the evening.  We went back to the Fat Mermaid and ordered and shared a bunch of appetizers.

What a fabulous day!!!

998 July 31, 2023 Valdez

Allison, Kyle, and I began the day with a great walk while Tim did his yoga and weights.

We wandered down to the ferry terminal.  We spotted a bald eagle.

We found a coffee shop and then walked around the harbor.

After lunch, we took the Jeep and went to explore.  Our first stop was the Valdez Glacier.

Next, we went to the Valdez Fish Hatchery.  The pink salmon were returning to spawn.  There was a huge frenzy of fish in the water.

Huge sea lion bulls sat in the shallow water resting and hunting for salmon.  The picking was easy and the sea lions gorged themselves.

The gulls were content to feast on leftovers.

The old Valdez town site.

Lee and Claudia were in Valdez.  They had an extremely successful fishing charter yesterday for silver salmon.  They came to join us for dinner and to meet the kids.  We had a great evening.

At 9pm, we decided to return to the hatchery.  We were hoping to see bears fishing for salmon.  There were no bears.  The tide was low and the fish boiled and churned with the desperate, writhing salmon. 

Kyle was able to reach in a grab a couple.

What an amazing sight to witness!

997 July 30, 2023 Anchorage to Valdez

Our company arrived last evening!   The four-hour time difference meant it was bedtime when we got back to the RV.

We got up early and got ready to move.  We had a long day of driving and riding to get to Valdez.

We stopped along the way to enjoy the scenery.

We went to Worthington Glacier and hiked down to the edge of the running water.

We stopped again at Thompson Pass and walked along the ridge.

We got to Valdez in early evening. 

We had dinner at the Fat Mermaid.

We walked around the Valdez Harbor.

Even though we drove almost 300  miles, we had a great day!

996 July 27-29 We Are Ready!

We have spent the last several days shopping and cleaning and preparing for our guests. Kyle and Allison will arrive this evening. We will leave Anchorage tomorrow and travel about 300 miles to Valdez. We plan to be there several days. Then, we plan to go to Denali. I know that our time together will pass very quickly. I am not sure that I can promise to post a blog every day. If I don’t…no worries! I will catch up when I can.

In the meantime…we will be having the very best adventure shared with loved ones!

995 July 26, 2023 Matanuska Glacier

Happy Birthday Allison!!!  We will celebrate you when you get here!

This morning after completing our exercise, we left Kenny Lake.

We passed dozens of cyclists “Fighting cancer every mile.”

We drove to Matanuska Glacier State Recreation Area.  We were able to find a nice camping spot tucked into the trees.

After a quiet time, we went out and hiked the 1-mile Edge Nature Trail with views of the glacier.

We hopped in the Jeep, eager to find a road that would take us more directly to the glacier…but there is no public access.  There are two tour companies that take groups out to walk on the ice.  The fees are $150.00 per person.  Since Tim was able to walk out onto the glacier at Kennicott for free yesterday, this seems fairly unreasonable.  We decided to be satisfied with the long-distance view!

We took our quinoa bowls out to the viewing area and had a picnic there.

The next several days are all about getting ready for company.  Kyle and Allison arrive on Saturday evening. 

994 July 24-25, 2023 Root Glacier

On Monday, Claudia and I took a nice morning walk.  We said our goodbyes to the Harbers and then we packed up and we moved on to Kenny Lake.  We stayed at the RV park there.  We spent the day catching up on laundry.

On Tuesday morning, I took a short walk and then we left in the Jeep to travel toward Kennicott and McCarthy.

It was a beautiful morning.  We passed the Tibetan/Alaska Yak Farm.  Yak wool is used to make yarn and then woolen products.  We have also seen yak meat for sale at the store in Delta Junction.

These green fields and bales of hay seem out of place here…must be yak food!

The drive began on paved roads and then past Chitina, the road was gravel.  This road used to be the rail bed for the trains that would move the ore and copper from the mines to Valdez. 

McCarthy Road took us into the southern entrance to Wrangell St. Elias National Park. 

We crossed over the Kuskulana River.

This trestle bridge was part of the rail system and has long been abandoned.  It appears to be collapsing.

The scenery was incredible.  It was a little hazy but we were able to see the mountains.

The 90-mile drive from the campground took us about 2 ½ hours.  We parked the Jeep and crossed the pedestrian bridge where a shuttle was waiting to take us to Kennicott.  We had come here during our last trip to Alaska.  We had wandered the main street of McCarthy and then we had walked through all of the restored buildings of the historic mining town.

5 years ago, we had started to hike the Root Glacier trail when we realized that we were ill prepared.  We did not have the proper footwear, nor water, nor bear spray and so we didn’t complete the hike.  Our goal today was to get to the toe of the glacier.  After hiking more than 2 miles and seeing other groups of people out on the glacier, Tim decided as we walked that he definitely wanted to hike out onto the ice.  I did not feel as self-confident.  I was just so happy to be there and see it and I really had no desire to walk out.  I found a ridge where I could sit and watch him and he descended the steep slope and stepped out onto the glacier.  Another couple worked their way down the trail and joined him.  The threesome traversed across the crunching ice.

From where I sat, I could see the rushing glacier melt running from beneath the terminus.  As I sat in the quiet, I could hear the tinkle of gravel falling down the hill and splashing into the stream.  I could feel the cool breeze as the wind carried the chill across the ice and the warm sunshine on my face.  I sat, trying to take it all in.  Tim was thrilled to be out there and I was proud of him.  We are out here, living our best lives.

We hiked back into Kennicott and found a food truck.  We enjoyed an early supper and sat with the couple from New Hampshire that Tim had met out on the glacier.

We caught the shuttle to McCarthy and then instead of waiting for the second shuttle to take us back to the parking lot, we hiked down the hill. 

Tim stopped and filled his water bottle at the spring.

It was a long ride back to the RV.  We stopped to look at the changing light on the rivers and mountains. 

Landslide!

Fish wheel.

We stopped to see Liberty Falls.

We didn’t get back until after 8pm. 

It was a 13-hour day.  We had driven almost 200 miles, hiked more than 6 and I had 22,000 steps!  We were tired but so happy.  It was an amazing day and worth every bit of effort.

993 July 22-23, 2023 Klutina River

On Saturday morning, I walked laps at the Grizzly Lake Campground.  This is a really nice place to take a walk.  The mountain showed up completely different today.

The loons were out on the water with their two fluffy brown chicks.  They were some distance away and it was hard to get a good family picture!

The campground owner has a nice greenhouse where she had harvested beautiful fresh butter lettuce and spinach.  They have chickens.  They also have two enormous white furry dogs.  Happy is the 5-month-old baby.  He must weigh about 135 pounds.  He is rambunctious and he is a thief.  He has taken apples, oranges, balls, and a broom from campers.  He almost stole our dinner.  He took the water bowl and food bowl and treat from the poodle next door.  He is friendly though!

We left Grizzly Lake and traveled back toward Glenallen.  We saw a porcupine munching on the roadside vegetation and we saw a moose cross the road ahead of us.

View of mountain from Glenallen.

We called Salmon Grove Campground at Copper Center and they could accommodate us for the weekend.  We stopped in Glenallen for some fuel and groceries and wine.  We called Lee and Claudia and told them we were coming.

We enjoyed a nice visit and we grilled some steaks.

After dinner, Tim and I took a walk in Copper Center.

Sunday morning, Claudia and I got a good walk in.

Later in the morning, we followed Lee and Claudia in their Jeep for an adventure on the Klutina River Trail.  It was such a pretty ride!

We drove for about 21 miles on dirt and gravel road and over streams and through muddy puddles.  We stopped and had our lunch at the airstrip. 

Lee did a little fishing.

Claudia and I put our feet in the water.  It was really cold and felt delicious.  It was more than 70 degrees out today.

It was slow driving and it took about an hour to go the first 8 miles back through the muddiest puddles. The view though was worth it!!

We got back in late afternoon, tired and happy.

Lee and Claudia drove into Glenallen and came back with pizzas for dinner.  We had another great meal shared with good friends.

Tomorrow, we plan to move on to see the Edgerton Highway.