Dunfey Alaska Journey

Show Low, AZ in White Mountains

Milly and I left Vail, AZ on the morning of June 29th heading for our 1st stop Show Low, AZ in the White Mountains.

We are staying at Fools Hollow Campground run by AZ State. Here are the pictures we took on the way to Show Low AZ:

Pickleball and Kayaking at Lakeside-Pinetop 7/1/2014

After our arrival at Fools Hollow Campground in Show Low,  Bob and Barb Merow came over after supper. They are friends from Vail. They frequently stay in Lakeside-Pinetop near Show Low. They are new to Pickleball but invited us up to Show Low to show us the local Pickleball scene.

We played Pickleball the next morning starting with a group of A-level players at 7:30 AM in a Lakeside-Pinetop Gym. There were three quality courts. We were welcomed and introduced to their open play board signup rotation system. The Pickleball Club there in Lakeside-Pinetop had renovated an abandoned gym. The Gym was now used primarily just for Pickleball.

We had a good time playing Pickleball with players of various skill levels.

We went to lunch with a bunch of Pickleball players at a Taco “Palace” up the street from the gym. After lunch, we kayaked on Rainbow Lake with Bob and Barb. Then, we visited with several of Bob’s friends on the shores of Rainbow Lake.

Kayaking at Show Low Lake 7/2/2014

On our last full day in Show Low, we went to Show Low Lake to Kayak. We met Bob and Barb there. They planned on taking their sailboat out for a spin.

Show Low Lake is a deep water lake. It is fairly large. It took us about an hour and a half to paddle around it. There are no homes on it. It is nestled in the pine forest.

When we unloaded the kayaks at the boat ramp, a fish and game truck loaded with rainbow trout  arrived. They dumped about 900 trout into the lake. These poor fish were clearly stunned by the processed of being flushed into the lake. We saw people in fishing boats scooping up some of the stunned fish with nets, We also saw a heron swoop down to snatch one of the newly arrived fish.

We stayed at the Fools Hollow Campground last year. We loved both our stays here. The camp sites are nicely set in the woods and rocky terrain with lots of privacy. There is a man made lake and “river” that almost surrounds the public beach and campsite areas affording many camp sites with excellent water views. On this trip, we spent most of our time appreciating what the local towns in the area had to offer for recreation.

When we left the Stewart-Hyder area on 8/27/2009, a black bear was eating at the side of the road as if saying goodbye for our Alaska visit. 

We pulled into Tyhee Lake Provincial Campground just south of Smithers, BC. We bought a stack of firewood and enjoyed a campfire after dinner.  In the morning, we got the oil changed for the car and shopped for groceries in Smithers. Then we paddled on Tyhee lake. A float plane came in for a landing right over our heads. A little while later another one took off just before reaching us. 

On Saturday 8/29/2009, we were planning on going to a provincial campground between Prince George and Whistler, BC. It was sunny all day with the temperature getting to 84. After passing through William Lake BC, the right trailer tire blew up. This was our first tire problem of the trip. It took us about 2 hours to change the tire. We had to figure how to do this. It is a good thing we decided to buy a bottle jack in Watson Lake, Yukon a week ago. It came in handy.

When we pulled into an RV Park. it was pitch black. We put on beans and franks for a 10 PM dinner.

In the morning, we will depart for Whistler for a couple of days before going to visit Vancouver.

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.

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.

One of the highlights of our trip was planned to be our guided tour of the Root Glacier in Wrangell-St Elias National Park. It exceeded our expectations on July 10th. Our guide, Kate, spent 5 hours with 4 of us. We spent about an hour hiking from Kennicott up to the foot of Root Glacier. We added a layer of clothing and put ice crampons on our feet. Kate instructed us on what to look out for and how to climb and walk on the glacier.

Then, Kate led us up the foot of the glacier and onto the base glacier. We viewed blue ice and blue water pools. We hiked up to the edge of a large moulin and looked down into the depths of the ice cliff. We saw beginner ice climbers going though their paces.

The scenery was outstanding. The experience of walking up and down various formations was exhilerating.

Kate gave us a lot of information about what we were looking at whether it was wild flowers or moraines.
One outstanding experience!!

On our way back on July 11th to our campsite on McCarthy Road, we found a spot on Long Lake for our kayak put in.

We had a beautiful paddle. The hills didn’t seem as blocked by the smoke as in the prior days.

We saw remote homes accessible from the lake only and how self sufficient they seemed. They pumped water from the lake, had solar panels, had hydroponic gardens on their docks and seemed prepared for winter.

A dog came along the shore to guide us down the lake. We even saw a plane land on the main camp grass as we were taking out our kayaks.