August 13 - 15, 2024 Denali State Park

 August 13th, 2024

We left our little place in Talkeetna and headed north in the fog.

Oh My!  We have some blue skies!

And the mountains:

We stopped at the Denali South Viewpoint:

The mountain is in there but cloudy.  If you look in the middle of the picture, Denali is behind the break in the clouds.  Hopefully we will be able to see it in its full glory!

Heading north to the campground:

We landed at Byers Lake Campground in Denali State Park.  The reviews said that the road had potholes and it did.  As long as we took it slow, it was okay.  The campground is beautiful and it is almost empty.  The sites are large and spread apart.  We will be here for three nights so hopefully the weather will cooperate.

After setting up, we went to the Alaska Veterans Memorial near us.  This has been on my bucket list.  We have passed by many times but never stopped.

"The memorial consists of five 20-foot tall concrete panels, one each to represent the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, arranged in a semi-circle. A statue of two Alaska Territorial Guards, carved by Canadian sculptor George Pratt, greet you at the entrance. On each panel is a short history of that branch's contribution to Alaska."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Veterans_Memorial

Territorial Guards Statue:

The panels:

Back of the statue and the view:

Inscriptions on each of the panels:

Other smaller panels:

Andy at the panels - they are huge!:

Next to the panels is a display area on Alaska and the wars. 

Interesting article on bush pilot rescue:

So sad:

A good read - they found the plane remains in 2016:

Around the area is lots of plants, flowers, and trees - it is beautiful:

Not sure what these berries are but they are a rich red color and then turn to orange:

Fireweed turning to fluff:

There is a saying: "When fireweed turns to cotton, summer will soon be forgotten".  

"As each successive flower blooms above the one underneath, Alaskans begin to mark their calendars. As the older blooms seed and turn to cotton and the last of the flowers garnish the top of the reed, one can be rest assured, that according to legend, winter is six weeks away."

Yep, it is soon time to head out.  Bummer!

This is the height of some of the fireweed.

https://medium.com/usfws/fireweed-c0b0f07d905c

Back home, we enjoyed a campfire and made steak and baked potatoes over the fire - YUM!

I found a website, that had a live picture of Denali.  We checked it a few times to see if the clouds had  cleared.  After supper, it looked like there was some clearing so off we went to the viewpoint.

A little hard to see but there she is!:

What a treat!  One of our views heading back to camp:

"Denali (/dəˈnɑːli/; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base-to-peak on land, measuring 18,000 ft.  With a topographic prominence of 20,194 feet and a topographic isolation (the distance to the nearest peak of equal or greater height) of 4,621.1 miles, Denali is the third most prominent and third-most isolated peak on Earth, after Mount Everest and Aconcagua. Located in the Alaska Range in the interior of the U.S. state of Alaska, Denali is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denali

https://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/historyculture/denali-origins.htm

What a great day!

Stats for today

Miles Traveled:  62 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Alaska:   Talkeetna Spur Road; Parks Highway - AK3;

 August 14th, 2024

Today was road trip day.  We headed south to the Denali South Viewpoint State Park but no view.  We decided to head north to the Denali North Viewpoint State Park with a quick stop at K'esugi Ken Campground.  We were going to stay at this campground but it was reservation only and it was all booked.  They do have four first come first served sites but I didn't want to chance it.  The campground is more modern than where we are staying and they have electric.  Maybe next time.

Along the way:

Glaciers on the mountains:

Denali is hiding today:

Our last stop for the day was Hurricane Gulch Highway Bridge.  We were on the Railroad Bridge a few days ago so we had to check out the highway bridge.  It is 558 feet long and 254 feet above the gulch.

The gulch is breathtaking.  Because of the traffic (plus the lack of space), I did not take pictures from the bridge.

More information can be found here:

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/alaska/hurricane-gulch-bridge-ak/

https://www.alaska.org/guide/alaskas-most-photo-worthy-bridges

I did find a little path that took me to an overlook of the gulch:

Another look up the gulch - no traffic, so I stopped the car and took a picture:

Beautiful!

Heading back, had to stop and wave to folks on the train:

We spent the rest of the evening outside with a campfire.

This is our site:

Even Gray came out for a while:

Another enjoyable day.

August 15th, 2024

Today was a cloudy, rainy, sunny, cloudy, rainy, sunny kind of day so we just hung out.  By evening it was raining!  Oh well!  

Tomorrow we head to Denali National Park so stay tuned and enjoy today.

August 9-10, 2024 Travel to Talkeetna and More Rain

August 9th, 2024

We woke to another cloudy, raining, day and after filling with water, dumping our tanks, and getting fuel, we headed north to Talkeetna.

Most of the rivers were very muddy (more than just the glacial silt) and running fast:

Patches and patches of fire week - it was beautiful:

Past a few burned areas:

And some very green areas:

We made our way to the Talkeetna Camper Park, set up, and decided to check out the town.  We spent some time here in 2009 and had a blast.  

The TV show "Northern Exposure" was modeled after this quirky town.  It was the base for those folks who wanted to flight see or climb Denali. Did it change - oh my yes,  There must have been at least 10 tour bus loads of folks here.  Main Street is now full of restaurants, people, touristy shops, people, vendors with trips like flightseeing, climbing, dog sledding, boat touring, train touring, people, etc.  It was crazy.   I am hoping that I get a chance to walk it - LOL!

We made our way to Riverfront Park:

Talkeetna River to the Right:

Susitna River - it was really flowing:

Chulitna River - way down there:

This little area was near the parking lot and we watched it fill with water very fast.  It continued to a pond behind it.  We were wondering if all the rain from the mountains is not flowing to the rivers:

We continued our drive and found this quirky place - LOL:

Hopefully, if it stops raining, I can get a chance to walk the town.

Late afternoon, we stopped at the local VFW and had a great time.  This is where they held the Moose Dropping Festival until 2009.  We did find out that they still do a Moose Drop, just not the festival.

So what is a Moose Dropping Festival?  In 2009, the Historical Society sold moose "poop" turds with a number and a pin.  In the parking lot of the VFW, a moose outline was drawn.  On the day of the dropping, the "turds" were put in a big net, raised up by a crane, the net was opened and all the turds dropped on the outline.  There were prizes for closest, furthest and a whole host of other quirky prizes.  The year we were here, the closest won over $3000.00.  Big money.  All the profits went to the Historical Society.  

So after 2009, PETA got involved and they thought that the town was dropping an actual Moose and if they did not cease, they would be fined heavily.  Since PETA refused to come to the festival and they could not convince them that it was "poop" dropping, the town decided not to fight.   After a few years, the VFW now runs it but there is not longer festival and it is more like a drawing.

So sad, because we had a blast.  Folks from all over would come to the festival.  It was a big thing!

We did make plans to do a boat trip tomorrow with Mahay's River Boat Tours.  We did a tour with them in 2009 and it was great.  So since I had a coupon, we made plans to do it again.  This tour will take us on the Susitna River to the Chulitna River and to the Chulitna River Gorge.

Then on Sunday, we have reservations on the train to Hurricane, Alaska (round trip).

Looking forward to both!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 84 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Alaska:  South Cobb Street; West Evergreen Avenue; Palmer-Wasilla Highway; Parks Highway - AK3; Talkeetna Spur Road

August 10th, 2024

Since our boat tour was in the afternoon, this morning, I took advantage of the RV park's laundry facilities.  When it was time, we headed to the dock and then got a call.  The tour we were going to take was cancelled due to flooding and dangerous conditions on the Chulitna River.  We had the opportunity to go on the shorter tour on the Susitna River but we decided not to go.  It had been pouring rain since noon with no let up (in other words, it would not have been a nice trip on the water).   As I write this at 8 PM, it is still pouring.  Oh well.

We made a stop at Riverfront Park before heading home - it is running very swift so I am glad we made the decision not to go.  In town, there was many tour buses with lots of people milling around - it had to be miserable in this rain.

Tomorrow is our train ride so stay tuned and enjoy today.