Denali Highway Revisited (08-19-14)

After our adventure to the Arctic, we stopped overnight in Fairbanks to regroup.  Regrouping consisted of doing laundry, rinsing the grime off the rig, and picking up my new glasses, which had been delivered to the RV park.



While we were busy taking care of business, Dozer was outside trying to climb into some nearby bushes.  That's not unusual for him.  He loves to explore, so I thought nothing of it, but took him inside for dinner a short time later.

 
After chatting with my neighbor for a few minutes, he told me he was getting a kick out of a mommy mole who was quickly relocating her babies by carrying them one at time in her mouth, from one bush to another. Of course, the bush she was evacuating was the one Dozer had been exploring!  So cute to watch and I am so glad he didn’t catch them!



Once our chores were accomplished we decided that we needed to go in search of a few things. What were we searching for?

1) Denali.  We’re here, and didn’t really see the mountain so we decided that one more shot at it would be worth it.

2) The View- We had already driven down Denali Highway in the rain and fog.  With improved weather in the forecast, we were hoping to actually see the mountains that line the highway.

3) The Aurora Borealis- The aurora forecast is saying that we might be able to see them for the next few nights- IF we have clear skies.

So, here’s how we did on our quest:

1) Denali- Nope, sad to say, after spending more than 2 weeks within sight of Mt. McKinley, we just got one glimpse of it one day.

2) The View-Yup!   We were a little nervous since the clouds were thicker than we hoped and it kept raining on us, but that just created numerous rainbows for us.

We spent a great day driving down this dirt road again.

The mountain views were outstanding and made up for not seeing “the big one”.

We spent the night along this road and Dozer got to get out and explore. The weather was perfect.

We even got to watch a Bald Eagle go about his business.

This is where we spent the night.  We both agree that its our favorite spot so far.










3) The Northern Lights (aurora borealis)- Yes!  This is still ongoing.  We saw the lights for about 5 minutes one night- not enough time to even get a camera.  It was mostly cloudy so it wasn't the best display, and just whetted our appetite.  But at least we saw them!



Every night that the weather might cooperate, we make sure the window is facing north (where the lights would appear). One night that looked particularly promising, we actually slept on the dinette so we could watch out the window.  The lights did NOT show up that night.

I did take the opportunity to play with the settings on my new camera, since I was awake most of the night.  Not many stars were visible. mostly just the big dipper.

We’ll keep trying to see them as we make our way out of Alaska and through Canada.

(We are in Canada now, so internet will be spotty for a while)

On to Fairbanks (08-09-14)

Just because we weren't on a scenic drive anymore doesn't mean the great scenery went away.  The Richardson Highway to Fairbanks is still a scenic road.  It just isn't made of dirt. We followed a tributary of the Copper River most of the way up to Fairbanks.

Salmon lovers may know that Copper River has the reputation of producing some of the best tasting salmon in the world. We were happy to watch a ton of them making their way upstream.  Salmon will swim hundreds of miles to return to the stream where they were born, so they can continue the cycle of life by spawning and thereby creating the next generation.

The salmon turn more red as they reach the end of their life cycle, heading up the river to spawn and die.  And where there are spawning salmon, there are grizzly bears, so we kept a sharp eye out (no luck though).

We stopped overnight in the town of Delta Junction to regroup. The place we stopped to get an ice cream has a sense of humor, with some (slightly) bigger than life size sculptures. I will say though that although the mosquitoes haven’t been as bad as we thought they would be,  the other night there was one in our bedroom that we couldn't catch, and he pretty much kept us awake all night.

I was surprised to realize that it had been 9 days since we’d had electric hookup and 11 since we’d had full hook up. With all the travel down dirt roads, the inside of the camper was overdue for a thorough cleaning, not to mention we had 10 days worth of laundry to do. We accomplished all that in Delta Junction.


  Delta Junction is the terminus for the Al-Can highway, the road that was built during World War II.  We’ll probably be back through this way when we leave Alaska.

Continuing on down the road, we stopped to enjoy the view as we slowly made our way up to Fairbanks.

Although these peaks aren't quite as tall as McKinley, Mt. Hess, Mt. Deborah and Mt. Hayes are pretty impressive in their own right. We still haven't seen a day without haze and clouds, so the pictures aren't as good as I would like.

Talkeetna and Another Shot at Denali (08—8-14)

  After leaving Hatcher Pass, we drove north to the small town of Talkeetna.

Along the way we were teased with some glimpses of Mt. McKinley. Sometimes its hard to tell what’s cloud and what’s mountain. McKinley sits so far above the other mountains in this picture, that it looks like clouds.






Talkeetna is the jumping off point for people who want to climb or fly over Mt. McKinley. Climbers are flown from Talkeetna to a peak close to “the mountain” and they climb from there  The ranger’s station had a display comparing climbing back in the early 1900s and climbing today.

In 1951, climbing Mt. McKinley changed forever when Bradford Washburn successfully landed his plane on a glacier. Since then the time required to climb the mountain has been reduced from months to weeks.

Talkeetna is a small but active town, that in some ways hasn't changed much in the last 70 years or so.  There are quite a few restaurants and shops.  Since we had seen the mountain briefly earlier in the day we decided to take a flight seeing tour to McKinley.  While we waited, we ate lunch in one of the many restaurants.  By the time our flight was set to leave, the clouds had come in and they weren’t sure we’d see the mountain, so we elected not to spend $400 and take the chance.

We spent two days driving across Denali Highway, but don’t be fooled by the word “highway”. Years ago this dirt road was the road used to get to Denali National Park. It has since been replaced with other roads, but Denali Highway is purported to be one of the most scenic drives in Alaska.

      
The road is only 135 miles long but there is so much to see that it takes a long time to drive it.








Mountains and glaciers were everywhere we looked.









Out in the middle of nowhere we came across a tree, all decorated for the Christmas.








When we stopped for the night, this was the view from our window. Although driving down a dirt, scenic road doesn't give me much to blog about, it’s one of our favorite things to do, and its so much more fun to do it in the camper!






 

There were several very small roads that we explored.(although we did have to turn back on this road).  We would never have ventured here while towing.

We've been trying to let Dozer out as much as possible so he doesn't feel cooped up.

He decided he liked the water outside better than the water in his bowl. He tested out All the puddles!



Our next stop will be a brief one in Delta Junction…..