On the road to Alaska

[Dick & Joanne]

27 Jun
Rained all day so we took the shuttle to the end of the park road. 12 hours. We saw moose, bears, wolf, bald eagle (very unusual), caribou, and hundreds of snowshoe hares.

28 Jun
Rained most of the day. We drove up to Fairbanks and bought some supplies. Toured the UAF Large Animal Research Station. Spent the rest of the day at the UA museum. All great places to spend a rainy day.

Dick

[Glenn Baglo]

Made it to Denali on the summer solstice, eh? Talk about good timing!

I continue to follow your adventure. And, don't take the following comment as a reflection on your journey.

Living in B.C. and having been to Alaska, I marvel at this desire for Americans to make this trip, through some of the most beautiful country ( B.C. ) to arrive in Alaska, where the mountains look more or less the same, just rounder and flatter.

I think they'd have a better trip if they spent more time exploring the road between here and there.

And wouldn't we all, no matter where we are headed?

baglo

[CarolnJim]

Thanks Dick. Yes, it is Marie Moore and her friend Kathy ... Nice gals.

Years ago we were in Fairbanks for 3 days - we found the University of Fairbanks to be so interesting we went twice. They had a film on the Northern Lights that was excellent..

Just another idea for you to go when it's raining, or not.

[Connie M.]

I continue to follow your adventure. And, don't take the following comment as a reflection on your journey.
Living in B.C. and having been to Alaska, I marvel at this desire for Americans to make this trip, through some of the most beautiful country ( B.C. ) to arrive in Alaska, where the mountains look more or less the same, just rounder and flatter.
I think they'd have a better trip if they spent more time exploring the road between here and there.
And wouldn't we all, no matter where we are headed?
baglo

When we moved up here in '79, we thought the Canadian part of the journey was marvelously beautiful.
Better roads, too.
But Alaska is, among other things, a handy-dandy way to experience the midnight sun!!

[Dick & Joanne]

I continue to follow your adventure. And, don't take the following comment as a reflection on your journey.

Living in B.C. and having been to Alaska, I marvel at this desire for Americans to make this trip, through some of the most beautiful country ( B.C. ) to arrive in Alaska, where the mountains look more or less the same, just rounder and flatter.

I think they'd have a better trip if they spent more time exploring the road between here and there.

And wouldn't we all, no matter where we are headed?

baglo

I have to agree. B.C. was beautiful. I wished a couple of times that I had time to "stop and smell the roses". Unfortunately, we had reservations and I did not allow enough time for stops in the outgoing trip. Next year I am thinking of going through B.C. on the way to Bandon if gas doesn't get too expensive to make another trip.
We left Denali on Monday morning and are in Anchorage until tomorrow. We walked over to the museum after I had the car oil changed this morning. It was very nice. Great volunteer tour guide through the cultural exhibits. Kind of depressing when she described the treatment of the native Aleuts during WW2.
Off to Seward tomorrow (Wednesday)
Dick

[Connie M.]

Will you be in Seward for the 4th of July? It's quite a nice small town celebration, and the runners that do the Mt. Marathon race are pretty amazing.
(We'll most likely head into Kenai for their parade, rain or shine. And maybe go to the Oilers baseball game in the evening.)
Anyway, watch out for idiots on the road. It's apt to be a madhouse this weekend.

[Dick & Joanne]

Will you be in Seward for the 4th of July? It's quite a nice small town celebration, and the runners that do the Mt. Marathon race are pretty amazing.
(We'll most likely head into Kenai for their parade, rain or shine. And maybe go to the Oilers baseball game in the evening.)
Anyway, watch out for idiots on the road. It's apt to be a madhouse this weekend.

Hi Connie.
We went to the Sealife center today and took the walk out to Exit Glacier. Not sure about the 4th. We didn't make advance reservations, so will have to move up to Portage for the next 3 days. I am hoping that something will open up here after the 4th. Otherwise we will have to commute to the boat rides. I have had plenty of experience with the road idiots already. Almost got to watch a 4-way coming out of the Kenai Fjords park this afternoon. Some fool tried to pass me and two other cars as the car in front was turning left and another was pulling out of the store parking lot into the oncoming lane. That was after the first car had cut off the car in front of me about a mile before that. Milepost had already warned us about the traffic on this stretch of road. I've been leaving lots of space for escape.

Take care,
Dick

[Connie M.]

Exit Glacier - yeah! (How were the flies? The last time we were there, everybody was waving and waving, so friendly...)
Well, the Portage area is awfully pretty, but hope you can find something closer to Seward so you don't have to drive too much to go out into Resurrection Bay.
FYI Sites #5 and #7 (and #14) at Ptarmigan Creek CG (our favorite) have nice stream noise to cover up road sounds, and anything at Trail River is farther from the road. Primrose is nice, too, but small. (We've never stayed right on the waterfront in Seward) Lots of bear scat up the trail at Ptarmigan last weekend.
Wishing you a safe and happy 4th of July up here in the north country...

[Dick & Joanne]

Exit Glacier - yeah! (How were the flies? The last time we were there, everybody was waving and waving, so friendly...)
Well, the Portage area is awfully pretty, but hope you can find something closer to Seward so you don't have to drive too much to go out into Resurrection Bay.
FYI Sites #5 and #7 (and #14) at Ptarmigan Creek CG (our favorite) have nice stream noise to cover up road sounds, and anything at Trail River is farther from the road. Primrose is nice, too, but small. (We've never stayed right on the waterfront in Seward) Lots of bear scat up the trail at Ptarmigan last weekend.
Wishing you a safe and happy 4th of July up here in the north country...

Flies weren't too bad. Portage was a little too primitive for the price. Electric, no water, no dump. And they put everyone in our line on the wrong side of the elec pedestals. We are back in Seward at Miller's Landing. Not bad, but I was disappointed not to get a spot on the beach. Pretty place. And I can get a wifi signal again. We drove over to Whittier for the 4th, but ended up on a glacier cruise all day so we missed the parade. Had a good time. The weather cleared and we saw lots of glacier and small animals.
Yesterday we took the NP cruise out of Seward. Saw Glaciers, whales, sea lions, seals, puffins (cute), and our first black bear of the trip. Today we took the Northwestern glacier cruise and saw a whale calf jump vertically completely out of the water! Lots of glacier activity all three cruises. Dall porpoises swimming circles around the ship. Great day.
Tomorrow we are heading down to Homer for 2 or 3 days. We are hoping to get a flight into Kat Mai to see the bears eating fish. I understand this is supposed to be exciting.

I still can't get iPhoto to let me get my pictures to upload to this page.

Dick

[Connie M.]

Driving that railroad tunnel to Whittier is kinda fun, eh?
We really enjoyed our trip to Katmai back in the 80's. First thing when we landed, other pilots suggested we turn our float plane around so the bears wouldn't destroy the tail section. Did that, then started walking up the trail, encountered a park ranger who was gathering up all the people to avoid the bear coming our way, so we all squeezed into ranger's truck. (Platforms also available) Bears and fish and fisherfolk all over the place, but all well managed. We flew over to an island to camp for some small degree of peace of mind...
One of these days we'll have lots of your photos to enjoy!
Sounds like this unusually cool and damp summer isn't slowing you down one bit!!

[Dick & Joanne]

8 Jun.
We got to Homer this morning. Checked into the campground. Water, elec, dump and clean shower. Yay!
The campground desk clerk called about 25 different float planes and everything was booked up for most of July. We finally found Alaska Air with two seats available on jun 13, so we are adjusting our schedule to make that flight. We don't have to leave Anchorage before the 17th, so we will explore around here for a few days. I was reading the literature for KatMai and they recommend avoiding the bears whenever possible. We were at Pack Creek on Admiralty Island last summer and the ranger emphasized that we should not give up the trail to a bear. They did not want the animals to get the idea they could push people around. We didn't think much of that idea, so we spent the day sitting on a log next to a stream watching bears fishing. We were about 5 days early for the heavy salmon run, so we saw only 9 bears (1 cub) all day. Still nice being that close.
The tunnel was fun. We got there about 45 minutes early and the toll collector sent us back to the visitor center to wait. We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon there and drove into Whittier the next morning. Just as well--Whittier turned out to be a pretty quick tour. It was funny camping near the road to the tunnel. No traffic 45 minutes, and then all of a sudden about 15 minutes past the hour--here came a mile's worth of cars, buses and trucks. If you didn't know about the tunnel you wouldn't have a clue what was going on.

Dick

[Connie M.]

Whittier - pretty, and pretty tiny....
Is your campground in Homer on the spit?
I always enjoy the drive down to Homer. Cruising through the Kenai lowlands near the bluff, then suddenly at the crest of the hill above Homer, all the beauty of Kachemak Bay spread out before you. (Wow)

[Dick & Joanne]

Whittier - pretty, and pretty tiny....
Is your campground in Homer on the spit?
I always enjoy the drive down to Homer. Cruising through the Kenai lowlands near the bluff, then suddenly at the crest of the hill above Homer, all the beauty of Kachemak Bay spread out before you. (Wow)

No. We are up the hill a bit. $45 vs $78 for full service and free wifi. I'm spoiled, but I like my toast in the morning and "Warm & Toasty" does a nice job. Plus, my converter isn't charging the battery, so I have to plug a battery charger in to use the lights if I am stopped for more than a day.
It is beautiful here. The plus is that being on the hill I can look out on the Bay when I get up in the morning.

Dick

[Dick & Joanne]

12 Jun.
Moved up to Kenai this morning. Staying at Beluga Lookout for two nights. We have a flight out to Katmai at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Joanne is so excited she can hardly sit still. Right now we are sitting on a bluff overlooking the river. Couple of hundred people down on the shore using nets to catch big fish. I think they must have just opened the river to fishing.
We saw The Fantastiks last night at the theatre on the spit in Homer. I hadn't seen it in about 40 years and it was the first time for Joanne. It was a nice little production. The voices weren't bad and the theatre was so small that we were almost on the stage. Really nice.

Dick

[Connie M.]

Hope those dipnetters behave themselves - and catch a lot of salmon for the winter.
Was that a Pier One Theater production of The Fantastiks?

[Dick & Joanne]

Hope those dipnetters behave themselves - and catch a lot of salmon for the winter.
Was that a Pier One Theater production of The Fantastiks?

Thought I replied to this, but I don't see it anywhere
Yes. Pier One. $16 each. Same as I paid 40 years ago. Still a bargain.
Kenai was lovely. Another place I could live if I ever decide to move.
The flight to Katmai was great. We saw 19 bears at one time at the falls. Maybe as many as 10 more wandered in and left. And the pilot took a different route back through the glaciers and we counted another 43 bears (brown and black) between us. And two moose. Alaska West Air--excellent people.

14 Jul
We drove to Valdez today. Beautiful drive. Every time we go on the road, the scenery is different. Met a couple at a pullout who rode their Harley all the way from Virginia--not too far from where we live. Another glacier float trip tomorrow. And then it will be time to start home.

Sigh.

Dick

[Connie M.]

Well, darn. I have to go to Kenai on Tuesday, and was going to look for your Casita, but now you're in Valdez.
Every time we've gone over there, we've seen a remarkable abundance and variety of alpine wildflowers at the Blueberry CG near Thompson Pass. Beautiful vistas, and little beauties at our feet.
You have quite a few miles still left in your journey. Hope you have a delightful trip home.

[Dick & Joanne]

15 Jul
Connie, sorry we missed you.
I forgot a story: We were crossing the bridge at Katmai on our way back to the plane when the ranger called us back because a bear had just wandered on to the trail at the other side. As we waited more and more people showed up and after about 15 minutes someone began complaining about the wait since we couldn't see any bear from our side. The ranger finally said: "If you all would like to form a bait ball and take your chances, have at it." That was the last complaint I heard.

We took another glacier cruise today. That makes 4 this trip. It was the best weather day we have had on the water and we saw the least amount of animal activity and the most amount of glacier calving of any trip so far. We went to Meare glacier and saw 2 HUGE pieces slide off into the water.

Mileage is up to 14.5. I don't know why. Better quality gas?

Dick

[Connie M.]

A "Bait Ball" - I'll have to remember that!

[Dick & Joanne]

16 Jul
Another quiet driving day. No animals all day. Not even a bird.
We woke up early as a cruise ship docked about 2 blocks away--nice horn.
Drove up to Tok.
Paid $50/gallon for gas at one point. No gas open in Valdez when we left. The next two stations in the Milepost were permanently closed. I finally found an open station about 3 miles after the warning bell chimed. Put 21.8 gallons (at $5.05) in my 20 gallon tank. Didn't look at the gauge until the bell chimed again about 26 miles later. Pulled into Copper River and put 18 more gallons in. Called the station and explained we got only 2 gallons for our $108. She was nice and called me back about 20 minutes later to say she had cancelled the charge. Hopefully when I check my account there will be a charge for only the 2 gallons I got.
We spent about 2 hours in Wrangel-St Elias Park. Really nice visitor center and loop trail. We got a ranger talk and a short movie. If they had a campground I could have driven to, I would have stayed there.
Once more we are camped with the same group of Fantasy Tours we have been with twice before. They are on their way to Skagway and Juneau, so this should be the last time I see them this trip.
Got to Tok about 6, hooked up and kicked back. More tomorrow. Mileage is up to 14.8. Probably because we drove so long at 45 - 50 on the wavy road.

Dick