We took off at 7 PM for our flight to Mt. McKinley area and a landing at Eldridge Glacier.
We took many pictures. We warn you that this slide show is very long. It has been cut from 200 pictures to 99.
Today, we are headed for Byers Lake in Denali State Park for a couple of nights. After that we will stay a night at entrance to Denali National Park before traveling into the park 30 miles to camp at TEK campground. We plan on taking shuttle bus to end of road and also taking some hikes.
When we asked about places to kayak at Talkeetna Ranger station, we were directed to a park south of Talkeetna where there were three lakes. We were told we may be able to get a view of Mt. McKinley.
We found a place where we could carry our kayaks down to Y Lake. The 3 lakes where labeled X, Y and Z – only in Alaska! We paddled around the whole of Y Lake before finding a march channel that brought us to a point where we could see McKinley off in the distance.
We also found a place to portage to X Lake. At the other end of X Lake, we got wonderful and exciting views of the Mt McKinley mountains!
Talkeetna Campsite and Scenic Overview
Our campsite was right off the Talkeetna Spur Road. We had a good spot about 100 yards from the Alaskan Railroad tracks. It was interesting to watch the tourist trains arrive. Thank God the trains didn’t seem to run much at night. There were some coal trains.
After our kayak trip, we passed the Telkeetna Scenic Overlook. The views of the mountains were clearer than the day before!
We left Wasilla after staying overnight. We went to camp 2 nights at North Rolly Lake campground in Nancy Lakes State Recreation Area located on Parks highway about 30 miles north of Wasilla and 30 miles south of Talkeetna.
We had a lovely campsite in the woods and right on the lake. The campground was 6 miles in from the parks highway on a recently paved road. All our maps and documentation has the road as gravel.
We paddled the circumference of the lake. It was a non-glacial lake and was clear. It was 1st non-silty lake we had paddled in quite a while. After our morning paddle, we hiked 3 miles from our campsite to Red Shirt Lake. Fred took a nap in the grass there before we headed back to start a campfire.
The weather was partly cloudy and it cleared in the afternoon. It was great to see the sun for a change.
Talkeetna and our initial views of Mt Mckinley
On Sunday 8/2, we headed for Talkeetna hoping we would see Mt McKinley. On any day, there is only a 40% chance of being able to clearly see it. Since the early morning had clear skies, we were hopeful.
When we reached North Willow at milepost 90, we got our first view of the majestic Mt McKinley! It was crystal clear and beautiful!
When we registered at the Talkeetna Campers RV Park, we discovered that the owner had known Fr. Ron Dunfey. He had downed beer with him on many an occassion but didn’t know him very well.
We checked at the ranger station to meet a friend of Fr Ron’s, Roger Robinson, a park ranger who helps climbers plan their accents of Mt. McKinley. Unfortunately, the summer climbing season had ended and Roger was on vacation.
From our fullservice campsite, we took a walk along the Talkeetna River where we found outstanding views of Mt. McKinley. We also walked across an Alaskan Railroad bridge over the river. We viewed some Tour Jetboats going and returning from their trips and witnessed one getting stuck on a sand bar.
The village of Talkeetna is a tourist location with many shops, restaurants and Adventure Trip vendors in a place that was once reserved for climbers. Fr. Ron Dunfey, the Glacier Priest, spent many years here.
Last night, we had beers and listened to Jazz at the Fairview Lodge. This was an old locals hangout pub where we are certain Fr Ron must have spent some time. Then we moved up the street where there was lively bluegrass music. We had more beer and wine with Pizza as we listened to the local musicians. We had a good time!
Tonight at 7 PM, we are booked on a flighseeing trip to fly around Mt. McKinley. We will also land on a glacier there. We are hopeful that we will see the same sights that Charles Kuralt saw when he visited Fr. Ron on a glacier on Mt. McKinley for the national evening news.
The sky is now very blue without a cloud in the sky. We haven’t seen Mt. McKinley this morning as yet. It can have its own weather system. You never know what you are going to see.
We pulled into the Williwaw Campground in Chugach National Park. It was just a good stones throw from Portage Lake. We were able to use Fred’s National Parks Senior Pass to get the Campsite at 50% of normal cost. We also got same break at Russian River!
We caught the last boat tour of the Portage Glacier that left at 4:30 PM
The weather was rainy and somewhat windy. On the way down to Seward, we had stopped at the Portage Visitor’s Center but skipped kayaking on Portage Lake and the Glacier tour due to the rainy weather and a howling wind.
Two weeks later, we had almost the same weather!
The boat tour of Portage Glacier lasted an hour. Most of the hour was spent right in front of the glacier wall. We hoped to see parts of the Glacier drop into the water. This didn’t happen when we were there. The sight of the Glacier was quite majestic. The National Parks naturalist on board gave an excellent talk about Glaciers and this particular one.
Back at our campsite, Milly prepared an outstanding chicken dinner while Fred poured over the travel and campground guides trying to figure out where we would spent the next few days. Since it was rainy, we had our wine, appetizers and dinner in the camper. This was followed by a DVD movie and an episode of MASH.
We forgot we had generator going past 10 PM. We also thought we were far enough away from other people that the generator wouldn’t bother people. We were brought back to reality when a neighboring camper rather rudely demanded we shut off our generator. Even nice people like us occassionally screw up!
We arrived on Wednesday evening in Wasilla at the Big Bear RV Park. In Wasilla, before “you can see Russia”, you must first smoke some weed!
Before we left portage Valley, we visited the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center. There were Elk, Carabou, Black and Brown Bears, etc. that had been saved. Where possible animals are rehabed for return to the wild. Their habitats at the Center were spacious. This is a must see when and if you are in the Anchorage or Portage area.
We also went to Girkwood but didn’t take the Ski Area Tram to the mountian top. The weather was too cloudy and views would probably have been blocked.
On the morning of July 28, we packed our rig up, said goodby to Sallie Dodd Butters. As we left Homer, we visted the Alaskan Ocean and Islands Research Center. It was a very worthwhile stop.
The Kenai area is a paradise for fisherman! This cannot be overstated.
We decided to camp overnight at the Russian River Camground. This was located about half way to Portage from Soldatna at the confluence of the Russian and Kenai Rivers near Coopers Landing. It is a favorite spot for salmon and trout fishing.
When we got there at 4:30 PM, all the campsites were taken. We had to park overnight in overflow area. There was no water right there but our “overnight” spot was great. We had a 24 hour pass so we didn’t have to be out until 5 pm the next day.
Once we set up, we took a 2.5 mile one way hike up to the Russian Falls to watch the salmon try to jump up the falls. It was quite the sight. We could see the packs of salmon gathered in pools just below a stretch of falls. Occasionally, we would see several salmon attempt to jump up the rushing waters to get to the next level of the falls. We never saw one make it! We did see that a few had made it into the pool a level up. This gave you an real appreciation of the tough journey these salmon take. How any of them make it is amazing!
In the morning, we embarked on a Raft Float trip down the Upper Kenai River from Coopers Landing to Jim’s Landing. It was a peaceful ride down a rushing river. There were a few low class rapids. We didn’t see too much wild life. We did spot eagles, other birds and ducks. They put us in full wet suits with “petersburg” sneakers. (Rubber boots).
We passed many, many fishing spots and saw many “combat” fishermen and other fishermen who managed to get to more remote spots. We learned that “combat” fishing refers to the closeness of people that may result in lost tempers. We went by the Russian ferry that brings fishermen to the other side of river.
After the 2.5 hour raft trip, we packed up our rig and headed for the Portgage Glacier.
Sallie and Kima Butters had never paddled in a kayak. We planned to put our kayaks into Beluga Lake to give Sallie and Kima paddling lessons in calm waters. Beluga Lake is used primarily as a Float Plane airport. As we watched one take off, we decided that just maybe we weren’t suppose to be there. Instead, we put our kayaks into the small boat harbor at the end of the Homer split. Sallie and Kima took turns paddling with Milly touring the harbor out to the rougher water and back.
Afterwards, we all went for drafts of beer at Land’s End at the tip of the spit.
Kima prepared a seafood feast of salmon and scallops that evening.
