Month: July 2023

July 1, 2023

On Monday, June 26, we left Fairbanks and drove 115 miles to Denali National Park. We checked in at the beautiful visitor center and chatted with one of the ranger about our plans. She signed us up for a ranger-led Discovery hike, which I didn’t think would be available as those opportunities disappear fast.

Getting ready for some unbearable fun in Denali!

The only moose sign we saw in Denali.

We drove over to the kennels and enjoyed the dog sled demonstration, though not as much as the dogs clearly did!

Pika was Larry’s favorite sled dog.

Our next stop was Riley Creek Mercantile where we were able to get our permits for camping at Teklanika and Savage River as well as our passes for riding the green buses while we are out at Teklanika.  This means that once we go through the checkpoint at mile 15 tomorrow we won’t have to come back to the park entrance when we move to Savage River campground! With that accomplished, we drove about 16 miles south of the park to boon dock right alongside the Nenana River on an abandoned section of the Parks Highway.  It was a quiet peaceful night beside the river.

Tuesday morning we were up very early to drive into Denali.

We hiked Mount Healy in total peace and solitude all the way to the top! Except for this dangerous fellow – do you see him?

The views from the top were spectacular!

After a short rest and another cup of coffee we hiked the Horseshoe Lake trail, where the picture of the beaver dam does not do it justice for the intricate engineering work of art that it is.

Although we didn’t see them, the beaver are still quite active here and I thought the pattern of their treework was pretty cool as well.

The start of this trail is up the hill to the right of the train tracks but we had plenty of warning to get out of the way.

We stopped at Riley Creek to make sure we had enough water to last several days and then drove out to our campsite at Teklanika. At 29 miles from the park entrance, “Tek” is the furthest you can drive your own vehicle. You need to make a reservation for a minimum of three days and the permit makes it clear that your vehicle or RV cannot leave once it is there.  This means you purchase bus passes to ride (only) the green bus either deeper into the park or no further back than the permit checkpoint at mile 15. A bit complicated but oh so worth it to be far away from the crowds near the park entrance! 

Denali cat!

 From the campground you can walk to the braided river bed for beautiful views (especially good with morning coffee).

Wednesday we had to meet the 8:30am green bus to join our Discovery Hike ranger and group who had started together at the bus depot near the park entrance.

We rode out to mile 43, which is where the road stops because of the landslide two miles further at Pretty Rocks. Essentially the road melted off of the rocky hillside so the park is figuring out how to build a bridge over the unstable area. This may take several more years at least, as no contractor is leaning in to do the project. The ranger took us down to explore along the riverbed several miles to the landslide area.

We learned what we have affectionately dubbed the “Denali Song” for walking through brush in bear country: “If you can HEAR me, don’t come NEAR me” with the capitalized words loudest and drawn out. “You should FEAR me” can be added as an optional line. Another variation is “ If you can SEE me, you should FLEE me.”  The Discovery Hike lasted several hours and included some stream crossings, talks about plants, wildlife, geology and other topics. We saw several caribou from a distance and then one trotted just behind us while we were eating the lunches we packed.

This one is well camouflaged .

We did see evidence of a brown bear and learned that the Denali brown bear are mostly vegetarian and thus smaller than the coastal brown bear who feast on salmon. I’ll still carry my bear spray!

From the bus on our way back to the campground, we could see some Dall sheep—those white dots are them!  

On Thursday, June 29, we rode another green bus from Tek back to mile 17 to do an off trail hike to Mount Margaret.

It is not an official trail so the start is an inauspicious looking break in the trees by the road.

We hiked up about a quarter mile through the dense brush until it thinned out. It was early, overcast and gloomy, we were alone and couldn’t see more than a few feet around us—yep, we sang the song we learned! The hike took us up through tundra to Mount Margaret on the Primrose Ridge and incredible views! Though we didn’t see any wildlife, we looked out over the other side to endless mountain views, rock pinnacles and green alpine slopes unknown to less adventurous travelers. We enjoyed a hot lunch we had brought as we felt in awe of the wilderness around us.

Magical! The rain, wind and mountain mist that had been threatening swept over us, so for the journey down we put on extra layers and rain pants. That was most definitely our favorite hike of Denali and for our next visit (when the road is opened again) we’ll stay longer at Tek and do more explorations like this!

Flashback – before we came to Denali with our girls in 2009, Larry read an ad in his flying magazine about a lodge in Kantishna for one of the Denali aviation services. So we stayed there, slept in a very small cabin and ate family style with the pilots and staff. We rode serviceable bicycles of an uncertain age up and down hills to Wonder Lake and wandered the braided river bed before biking back again. All without a word of complaint from the girls in spite of biting bugs and tired legs! We hiked all day up past an old mine onto the tundra to a lookout where Larry identified a collection of instruments as a seismic monitoring station. Whereupon I pounded my walking stick into the tundra three times exclaiming “boom boom boom” much to his dismay!  No earthquake was reported in Denali on that day in 2009 and the story remains a family joke about how ridiculous Mom can be. So yes, we will come back when Denali is fully open again because there is still so much to explore and so many more memories to make!

Friday we left early and drove back to the Savage Alpine Trailhead where we were the first car in the parking lot! What a great hike, with a creekside trail to start, a narrow ridgeline crest at the end and panoramic vistas at the top.

And look who showed up! 

Just kidding, I meant this one! Only 30% of visitors to Denali actually get to see the mountain so we feel blessed.

We took the easy loop walk around the Savage River before taking the shuttle back to the camper in a full parking lot. We spent the night at Savage River campground where we had been warned the bears had been active, although we didn’t have any during our stay. 

Saturday morning we drove just outside the park to Denali Raft Adventures where we donned dry suits for an oar raft trip. The cast on my left arm was off now and the supportive wrist brace fit pretty well under the dry suit, although we all looked like colorful blow up holiday yard decorations.

Our guide, Andrea, kept us entertained and did a great job navigating the Class 1-3 rapids. During a float section we spotted a pair of bald eagles!

We celebrated afterwards with hot coffee and a pastry before checking into our Denali campground at Riley Creek where we were able to do laundry and take showers.

One of the campground hosts was from our Florida childhood hometown and his father had been a great mentor for Larry, so we spent the evening hours sharing stories around the campfire. On Sunday morning, July 2, we waited for the visitor center to open so Larry could get his Junior Ranger badge. Denali makes you work for this one but it was worth it!

Goodbye Denali, we WILL be back!

Jack Heine

1931 – 2021

Larry’s reflections on his childhood mentor

Everyone’s life is represented by the dash between the date you were born and the date you died.  That dash stands for the gift of time we get to live and make a difference.  Let me tell you about Mr. Heine’s dash and what it meant to me.  Mr Heine lived next door when I was growing up and he was the best mentor a boy could ask for.  He taught me how to work on boats, how to use tools, to keep a tidy and organized workbench (and life).  Long after I was grown and moved away, we stayed in touch and he continued to delight in my projects and successes.  His son, Mike, was kind enough to reach out to me when Mr. Heine no longer could.  The dash Mr. Heine leaves behind is that when I am at the workbench or contemplating how to tackle a project I am reminded that he gave me the greatest gift of all — the gift of his time and part of his dash.  I will always remember him and be grateful for that.  

Talkeetna, Hatcher Pass, and the Matanuska Glacier

July 6, 2023

After we left Denali National Park on July 2, we drove south to Talkeetna.  We were looking to reprise our fond memories from years ago of walking around the quaint little town and enjoying reindeer sausage and biscuits at Talkeetna Roadhouse.  It was a bright sunny day as we drove into the harsh reality that the world had also discovered Talkeetna since we were last there.  Multitudes of cruise ship passengers disembark at the train depot to clog Main Street. The Roadhouse only has a bakery window now, and meals are just for overnight guests.  The experience was so disappointing that we left without stopping.  Sigh – memories soften the rough edges and highlight the fun times and emotions, especially times spent with your children. But, ouch!

We had picked several boondocking spots on the banks of the Susitna River to choose from for that night’s camping, so we went to each to decide which was best. Our favorite choice involved a stream crossing to get to our camp spot. What fun! Other campers were fishing and riding their ATVs, so we felt like locals being there.

The next morning we decided to give Talkeetna another try, at least to have a pastry and walk around before the crowds. Sadly, none of the places we wanted to visit were open that Monday, and with the gloomy rain we decided some places you just can’t go back to.

On the drive south to Parks Highway, our spirits were lifted by the sighting of a moose grazing close to the road.  

We had a delicious reindeer sausage croissant with coffee at Black Bear Coffee, so warmed and nourished, we drove on into Palmer.

We refueled and re-provisioned before going to the Finger Lake State Recreation area campground.  Boondocking spots are usually available in the Hatcher Pass area where we would be adventuring, but I had reserved this sure spot nearby for the holiday weekend. Besides, it is always fun to be surrounded by celebrating campers!

The next day was July 4, Independence Day!  We drove up early to the Independence Mine in Hatcher Pass.  

The mine wasn’t open for the day yet, so we hiked the Gold Cord Lake trail. 

 It is hard to believe that there used to be a small town of homesites all up this hill for mine family, and thankfully this little one remains.  

The lake was just starting to thaw at the edges in early July, and you could see how lovely, clear, and blue the lake must be perhaps in August.

View from the lake looking down at the mine

Later, the historical mine tour took us into closed buildings to learn how the gold miners lived from 1938 to 1951.  

A century ago in the middle of nowhere, children read the classics in school!

After our tour, we met two pet reindeer out on a walk with their owners who said they are like “very needy dogs.”  

Only in Alaska!  While the lower 48 may have baked in the heat, our Independence Day at Independence Mine was cool in many ways!

On July 5, we returned to the Hatcher Pass area to hike the Gold Mint Trail.  Due to all the rain, recent reviews of our hiking trail options mentioned slick and muddy conditions.  

We opted for an 8-mile hike on the Gold Mint Trail, which goes further out to the Gold Mint Hut after a part of the trail that is currently “spongy.”  To explain, for one summer vacation our family hiked the Maine Huts & Trails system consisting of 4 huts with at least 12 miles of hiking between each of them.  We were told some areas were spongy, but what we didn’t know was that in Maine spongy means the trail boardwalks are washed away and you’ll be sloshing about up to your knees in water. (Our awesome teenage daughters took it in stride and did great!) The term stuck and now a spongy trail means it is underwater.  No worries, the Hatcher Pass area is gorgeous, and it would be a great spot to return for more hiking.  

July 6 was ice climbing on the Matanuska Glacier for Larry!  I talked to the guides at Matanuska Ice Climbing Adventures earlier in June who kindly refunded my portion of the trip as I was not a candidate for ice climbing or even spectating as my broken arms were not completely healed. We arrived early and were impressed to see the crew cleaning the interior and exterior of the vans that transported guests to either the glacier or the heliport.  That kind of attention to detail says a lot about a business! 

They carefully fitted Larry with boots, crampons, and a belaying harness before going to the heliport.

The helicopter then took him several miles to a remote area on the Matanuska Glacier.  

His guide, Thomas, did an outstanding job teaching Larry ice-climbing skills and then coaching him through climbs of increasing difficulty.  

For the last challenge, he rappelled down into a crevasse deep in the blue ice with a waterfall and river!  

 

Larry returned to the camper with a huge smile on his face and quite a story to tell about his day.  MICA guides let us stay in our parking spot for the night, and we had visitors!

Anchorage to Kenai

July 13, 2023

When we got up on July 7, Larry said his arms were only a little sore from the ice climbing workout the day before, though well worth it! Our plan for the day was a short 80-mile drive to Eklutna Lake along the beautiful Glenn highway.

We snagged a campsite at Eklutna Lake Campground in Chugach State Park before the campground filled that Friday afternoon and walked down to the lake.  

The weather was threatening to rain, but the lake was still beautiful.  

We hiked the Lakeside Trail where we found real bear signs (not the silly ones we’ve been showing you).

The locals we met were carrying firearms confirming our general rule to bring bear spray on hikes in Alaska.

The next morning on our way to Anchorage we took a quick hike to Thunderbird Falls. 

One of our friends in Fairbanks had recommended lunch at Tommy’s and they weren’t wrong.  The hamburger and onion rings were huge and delicious, but the chocolate peanut butter milkshake was outstanding!

We hadn’t been to Anchorage for over a decade so we revisited some of our favorite spots including Title Wave Bookstore before going to Mass at the Holy Family Cathedral. This car parked next to us and Larry got some information about sluicing for gold next week! 

We spent the next several nights camped overnight at the Lake Hood Seaplane Base.  While Airplanes have the right of way on all the roads, Anchorage locals jog, bike, and walk their dogs through the area. Larry was absolutely in paradise with the view out our back door.

He took photos of planes, the little huts by each seaplane dock, and planes taking off by water and land.

This half-truck takes float planes out of the water.

Sunday morning was a glorious sunny day so we hiked up Flattop Mountain for a panoramic view of Anchorage!  

The last part is an unmarked crab-walking rock scramble with down being decidedly more challenging than up.  

It was worth it for the views, and the reward—pizza at Moose’s Tooth!

On Monday, July 10, Larry made reservations for gold sluicing with Prospector Johns on July 12!  We ran some errands in town before heading down Turnigan Arm on the Seward Highway. This is the only route to the Kenai Peninsula, but unfortunately, a crash involving two RVs created a traffic delay of several hours. 

Eventually, we arrived at our boondocking site at Bore Tide Viewing #3.

The tide comes up the Arm with such a surge that it causes a wave either from a few inches to several feet.  For us, just seeing the silty quicksand bottom almost completely exposed and covered was incredible!

We spent a good part of Tuesday morning and afternoon at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center at the end of Turnigan Arm near the turn on the Seward Highway towards Homer.  Injured and orphaned wildlife who cannot be released get a good home here.  Animals at the Center include bears, wolves, moose, deer, caribou, musk oxen, an eagle, and other native wildlife.  The volunteers and staff were enthusiastic and eager to share information.  We arrived before morning feeding time and the wolves were especially active waiting for their meal.  After taking the walkable loop trail to the larger pens, we were pleased to see the parking lot full. Visitors support the work of the conservation center caring for and feeding their animals all year.

We found a sweet boondocking spot for the night on a forest service road overlooking a series of ponds. 

On Wednesday, July 12,  we were in Cooper Landing in plenty of time to get Larry geared up for his gold sluicing.  Prospector John has been featured in “Devil’s Canyon” on Discovery Channel and has a working claim on the Kenai Lake.  Prospecting is about finding gold and is different from mining gold where clearing access to a claim site, setting up and provisioning a camp, then moving in all equipment and supplies are key components. Sluicing is a lot of work, so this time I joined the adventure as a photographer. John took us out to his claim in his boat, where the group split up to work on two different sluices.

After John gave us a tour of the mining camp where miners Steve and Mike live, Larry and a father-son team received instruction on how to use the sluice and sluice box. 

 They got to work and rotated the duties between them for two and a half hours. 

In the end, Miner Mike cleaned out the sluice box and panned the pay dirt for gold.  

Wow—and  Larry got to keep 1/3 of it!

We camped that night at the Russian River campground before hiking to the Russian River Falls the next morning.  

Twice on our hike, we surprised some grouse hens with their chicks beside the trail, and they stayed long enough for photos. 

At the Falls, we were rewarded with views of migrating salmon! Larry took the top photo with the more athletic salmon.

We had a lovely day to drive into the town of Kenai and explore the Russian church and historic downtown. 

 From the bluff, we could see dip netters trying for salmon in the Cook Inlet below.  We looked at those expensive $150 dip nets at WalMart and they are several feet in diameter so they must take some skill to use successfully.

It was such a pretty day that a local commented “Summer came on a Thursday this year!

There are five species of wild salmon in Alaska, and we’ve been told multiple times how to remember them by the fingers on your hand:

Thumb – Chum (or dog) salmon. This rhymes so it makes sense.

Index Finger – Sockeye (or red) salmon because you use this finger to poke someone in the eye and make it red.

Middle Finger – King (or Chinook) salmon. The tallest finger is the king, and this salmon is the best-tasting of them all.

Ring Finger – Silver (or Coho) salmon. You can wear silver on your ring finger.

Pinkie Finger – Pink (Humpy) salmon. These are the smallest salmon

Seward

July 27, 2023

On our drive into Seward from our comping spot on Upper Trail Lake, we stopped to hike the Exit Glacier terminus. 

The trail was a little more than two miles, and along the way, we passed the spot where the glacier ended the last time we were here in 2010.  Exit Glacier has receded so now the toe is around the corner.

The Herman Leirer Road to the Exit Glacier is known for moose sightings and we were not disappointed.

We stopped in at the Seward Visitor Center to get additional suggestions about the area and mug it up with this guy.

I had made reservations for the Seward Municipal campground the first day reservations opened, and we got a quiet spot on the water near the marina.

The Kenai Fjords National Park Visitor Center was a short walk away where we both picked up Junior Ranger booklets to complete. 

Larry got his Junior Ranger badge the very next day!

Our big adventure for Seward was to kayak the Aialik Glacier.  Aialik is pronounced ignoring the first vowel and pronouncing the next two vowels long.  Our paddle tour involved a 2.5-hour boat ride each way out to the glacier and we both are prone to motion sickness.  On the suggestion of a fellow traveler, we took meclizine first thing in the morning the day before and the day of our tour.  Bottom Line Up Front–this technique worked perfectly so we repeated it later on other water adventures.

We met our tour group at 7 a.m. and got fitted for the gear we would need to paddle before the 24 of us walked over to the marina to our water taxi. 

The weather did start foggy at first, but that added to the ruggedness and mystery of the scenery.

On the way, our captain found a pod of bubble-feeding humpback whales.  This behavior is new for whales in this area who normally feed alone.

At one point the whales even went under our boat.

Some orcas also cruised by.

The folks at the back of the boat must have great pictures!

The water taxi dropped us off at a beach about 2 miles from the glacier and unloaded the boats. 

Bears like this beach as well so we walked up the hill behind us as a group to scare them away.  We didn’t see any bears but it was a fun exercise.

After settling into our kayaks, we paddled several miles until we were in front of the glacier. 

We ate lunch with an awesome view! 

All too soon we were paddling back to the beach and loading up for our ride back. The weather cleared up nicely, and the captain spotted seals and puffins for us.

On top of this 650-foot cliff is Fort McGilvray, an abandoned WW2 US military installation built to protect ice-free Resurrection Bay.  The Fort was never completed once the Aleutian Islands were recaptured since construction was a huge challenge.  It is now part of the Alaska Division of Parks and you can hike to it!  Something to do next time!!

We took a day off to wander around Seward and enjoy all the murals and monuments downtown. 

Now that we know how to avoid being seasick, maybe next time we can go halibut fishing!

During our last visit to Seward, we went to the Sealife Center, rode a helicopter up to a glacier for dogsledding, and climbed Mount Marathon—so we didn’t repeat those this trip!  I had wanted to go back up Mount Marathon but with all the recent rain it reportedly was more treacherous than “normal.”  When I climbed it before, the fastest route down was a snow chute you had to exit before a waterfall into heaven knows where.  Yeah, not very smart. Every July 4 Seward has a grueling 5K race up the mountain so risky that a runner once disappeared never to be found. Only in Alaska!

Early one morning we drove back out to the Exit Glacier and hiked up to the Harding Ice Field. 

This hike was 11-plus miles round trip with a 4000 ft elevation change.  We started in the fog and had the trail to ourselves.

As we climbed, we found ourselves above the fog with spectacular views. 

As Larry was taking photos, I spotted a black bear poking his nose up from the bushes 25 yards uphill. 

We have a rule that you only say “bear” if there is one, so he turned around pretty quickly to get this video. 

The bear decided the trail was getting crowded and left—black bears are almost a daily sighting along this trail.  As always in Alaska, we were wearing our bear spray!

The scenery slowly changed to subalpine then alpine with snow fields to cross.

 

 

There is an Emergency Shelter just before the Icefield where we stopped to make a hot lunch for the end of the trail.

The Harding Icefield covers over 700 square miles and is the source of at least 40 glaciers. 

We were blessed with beautiful weather and stunning views. 

This was hands down the hike with the best views of our Alaska trip!

The hike down always seems longer than the hike up, and we rewarded ourselves with dinner at the Salmon Bake as recommended by some locals. 

Although they advertised warm beer and lousy food—the meal was a delicious way to finish this trip to Seward.

A younger me at the top of Mount Marathon (on the left 😀)

Whittier

July 29, 2023

Spoiler alert — it was Epic!!
From Seward, we retraced our steps back to just before the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center on the Seward Highway and then turned on Portage Glacier Highway towards Whittier. Whittier is accessed by road only through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, a 2.5-mile controlled one-lane tunnel with alternating train and vehicle traffic. We knew the tunnel schedule and had plenty of time, so we made an unplanned visit to the Begich Boggs visitor center. In addition to very informative exhibits, we especially enjoyed the award-winning movie. Curtains sweep aside at the end for a stunning panoramic view of Portage Lake. Next time, we plan to take the boat ride across to view Portage Glacier!
We took our turn going through the tunnel to Whittier—it is long, dark, and feels narrow even though a train travels through it.

Whittier is as small as we remembered it, though we did explore out to the end of Shotgun Cove Trail for a view across the Passage Canal.

Our jetski tour company kindly allowed us to stay in their parking lot, and we took the tunnel connecting the more industrial area to town where we wandered the shops and watched the activity at the boat ramp.

Next morning was our Jetski tour down Passage Canal, around Decision Point, and up Blackstone Bay to several tidewater glaciers. It is thirty miles one way over very cold water 🥶. Glacier Jetski was very serious about keeping us warm and safe. Our guides checked our clothing to be sure we had on the clothing layers they had requested before putting us in dry suits, life jackets, neoprene booties, and gloves. Our tour leaders could even talk to us on the one-way intercom in our helmets!

After a quick van ride and launching the jetskis, we climbed aboard and listened to the instructions to ride single file following the wake of the person ahead.

We started slow and stopped a time or two for sightseeing and equipment checks before reaching Decision Point. Big and small boats peek around the corner here to check out the waves, wind, and weather before deciding whether to continue. The waves were a bit bigger here as we navigated around the corner into Blackstone Bay. Blackstone Bay is a magical place with glaciers, waterfalls, icebergs, wildlife, and stunning views.

Photos cannot do it justice.
For the return trip, we all agreed that we were comfortable going faster—my jetski registered 55mph as we rode in wide swinging arcs back to our beach in Whittier! What a rush!! Glacier Jetski company and our tour guides were thoroughly professional, friendly, and deeply respectful of the special places they travel through. I could do this all season to see this beautiful place each day!!

Back on land we cleaned up and headed to town for dinner. We think we found the same place we ate last time we were here; at least the inside was familiar and it was on the water as we remembered. We enjoyed our halibut and chowder overlooking the marina and reliving our day’s adventure.

Our Alaska Marine Ferry trip to Valdez the next day didn’t depart until after lunch so we drove back out Shotgun Cove Trail to Lu Young Park. Cove Creek runs down into this protected cove and when we walked down to the beach we found spawning pink salmon.

We checked in at the ferry terminal and lined up behind another Hallmark camper.

It was an easy 5-hour passage to Valdez with clear weather and smooth seas.

We docked in Valdez where we’ll be for a week during Gold Rush Days!

Whittier Glacier and Whittier itself are named after John Greenleaf Whittier, one of the greatest poets of the nineteenth century.

Here is an excerpt from his poem

“The Worship of Nature”

The harp at Nature’s advent strung

Has never ceased to play

The song the stars of morning sung

Has never died away.

And prayer is made, and praise is given,

By all things near and far;

The ocean looketh up to heaven,

And mirrors every star.

Its waves are kneeling on the strand,

As kneels the human knee,

Their white locks bowing to the sand,

The priesthood of the sea!

They pour their glittering treasures forth,

Their gifts of pearl they bring,

And all the listening hills of earth

Take up the song they sing.

Exactly how Larry and I often feel when surrounded by the profound splendor of the world we get to explore!