This is the Matanuska Glacier....in the Chugach mountains. Almost to Karen Lynn's home in Wasilla, north of Anchorage. Huge!
Isn't this awesome? It is Mt. Sanford and is 16,237 feet tall. And that's only 4,000 feet shorter than Denali! At least we were able to photograph this one.... 
Us using our 3-legged "friend" to take pics at the Grizzley Bear campground outside of Denali
Not the greatest picture, but it was soooooo far away....this blond colored grizzley in Denali Park
And here it is....what we traveled 5 hours up a steep & windy road to get to see....Mount Denali....and it was shrouded in clouds. It's so big that it has it's own weather. Well, we saw the mountains in the foreground, but there was an etching or chalk line on the window of where the "Great One" would be IF we could see it. I had little hopes of the picture actually turning out. But you can see how big the mountain is....and get the perspective.
The sled dog team just a whooping a storm rearing to get going. This demo was in Denali
A beautiful scene along the Denali Hwy.
just a car we saw next to a gas station 
More beautiful mountains
a quaint little 100 yr. old Episcopal Church in Nanana, on the way to Denali Park. Had a gorgeous hand beaded white elk skin altar cloth.
Didn't know that the official end of the Alaska Hwy was mile 1523 in Fairbanks....here's that
more beautiful mountains.June 28; Fairbanks to Denali’s gates
On Saturday we went to China Hot Springs, about 50 miles out of Fairbanks. The hot springs were wonderful and we soaked in it for an hour or so. They rest of the place was so commercialized that we didn’t stay for any of their other tourist-trap stuff.
On the way back to Fairbanks we visited with Rudy Laderach’s daughter, Shawna. She’s an engineer, got her degree here at U. of Alaska and has been here ever since. Far cry from Temperance, MI. The view from her home on the side of a hill/mountain (whatever…it’s all the same to me here) is astounding….you can see the mountains on the other side of Fairbanks…about 50 miles is her guess. It’s very beautiful. We enjoyed ourselves immensely, so much so that we camped last night in “Camp Laderach”. On Sunday morning Shawna made the super-best sourdough pancakes. Fantastic!
Sunday, June 29, 2008; on to Denali National Park
On Saturday we went to China Hot Springs, about 50 miles out of Fairbanks. The hot springs were wonderful and we soaked in it for an hour or so. They rest of the place was so commercialized that we didn’t stay for any of their other tourist-trap stuff.
On the way back to Fairbanks we visited with Rudy Laderach’s daughter, Shawna. She’s an engineer, got her degree here at U. of Alaska and has been here ever since. Far cry from Temperance, MI. The view from her home on the side of a hill/mountain (whatever…it’s all the same to me here) is astounding….you can see the mountains on the other side of Fairbanks…about 50 miles is her guess. It’s very beautiful. We enjoyed ourselves immensely, so much so that we camped last night in “Camp Laderach”. On Sunday morning Shawna made the super-best sourdough pancakes. Fantastic!
Sunday, June 29, 2008; on to Denali National Park
We went to church at Immaculate Conception Church in Fairbanks…that’s the church that was slid across the Chena River about 1911, to a new location. A nice surprise was that the Bishop of Fairbanks, Bishop Kettler, was filling in for the pastor and offered the Mass. Odd concept…the bishop “filling in” for the pastor. He seemed like a nice guy. Also need to remember that this diocese is like a mission diocese with one priest taking care of 3-4 churches many, many miles apart.
Then, on the way south to Denali National Park we stopped in Nanana, a little town with lots of character and a beautiful 104 yr. old Episcopal church, with a hand made & hand beaded white moose hide altar cloth, hand hewn pews. Really beautiful.
The day started out at 59 degrees and overcast. Now, sitting in Denali Grizzly Bear camp, it’s about 45 degrees and getting pretty chilly. We’re going on our 8 hour bus ride through Denali at noon tomorrow. Can’t wait….sure hope we actually get to see Mt. McKinley….Denali….the “great one”. On rainy/cloudy days it gets obscured with clouds.
Monday, June 30. Hopes to see Denali; the "Great One"
We awoke to a beautiful blue sky w/ no clouds….perhaps we have a chance to see Denali today. We took a taxi to the Park so that we didn’t have to break & set up camp late at night when we return from the tour.
From the first vantage point to see Dinali we only saw clouds. The bus driver told us that he only responds to “Stop!” if someone sees an animal; and then we were to follow with the direction; i.e. clock directions; “stop, bear at 2 o’clock!” On
this drive we saw caribou, Dal sheep, golden eagle flying, a bald eagle flying also. Mew doves kind of hung around at our rest stops; kind of reminded me of pigeons. Some folks saw a grizzley’s butt going through the thicket. Later we had a wonderful view of a grizzley romping down the hill; and later, one sunning on the side of the hill. When we got to the Eilson Visitors center, 65 miles into the park, we had another chance to see Mt. McKinley. Of course the clouds were dark, threatening rain, and we had no hope of seeing the mountain. But, on a picture window inside, there was a great view of the mountain (IF we could see it), and there was a drawing on the window where the upper profile of the mountain would be if we could see it. It was enormously higher than the mountains that we COULD see. I took a picture of what we couldn’t see…and that line showed; so we have a “relative” picture.
Starting back down to the Denali Wilderness Access Center, the road got to be long; we had already been sitting for 4-5 hours. On the way back we saw a red fox up on the slope. It started to rain and we were glad that we had taken a taxi and didn’t have to put our camper up in the rain….it was just waiting for us. Some hot soup tasted good when we got back to camp.
July 1, 2008
We woke to chilly and dreary morning, about 50 degrees; rain threatened. Some fellow travelers had told us that the sled dog demo was well worth our time. So, this is what we set out for today at Denali Park, and we got there just in time for the shuttle bus. The dogs were very friendly and we had plenty of time to scratch their ears and play with them. They didn’t seem to phased by the interaction. Turns out that they get their heads scratched by some 50,000 people each summer. They were all chained individually to their little log doghouses with a “sun deck” on the top. Most of them were chilling on top of their doghouses like Snoopy. The ranger then gave a very interesting talk about the value of the dogs and the dog sled teams. After the park is mostly closed for the winter, one can only drive in the first 3 miles; after that the only access is by dog sled. The rangers use these for less impact (i.e. gas fumes, noise, damage to vegetation, etc.) on the habitat & animals to check out the Park, deliver supplies to people doing ecological or geological studies, to name a few that I can remember.
The ranger talked about the breed of dog they use: Alaskan sled dog. They breed their own dogs, and bring some breeders in from the outside. The training of sled dogs seems to be mostly done by the other dogs! Sounds good to me. The dogs were just quietly chilling; when they started to hitch them up they started yapping and yelping….ready for their FUN! They made a real cacophony in the background; they couldn’t wait to get going. It was awesome to watch. They all had a job they loved. When they get about 9 yrs. Old and don’t seem to be jumping for joy when it’s time to hitch up, it’s time to retire them. They find adoptive homes for them in a cold climate. These dogs are comfy in –20 degrees! And even at 50 degrees today they were kind of warm.
After the dog sleds, we drove the 15 miles of the park that is permitted to be independently driven…just looking for some animals; saw one moose. We then started on the road to Anchorage and at Cantwell we turned onto the Denali Hwy. Until the Parks road between Fairbanks & Anchorage was completed in 1957 this road was the only access to Denali Nat’l Park from Anchorage, then known as Mt. McKinley Nat’l Park. The road is delightful and beautiful; condition-wise it’s just about like the Dalton Hwy: dirt, washboard, dusty if it’s dry; but the view is stupendous. Snow capped mountains; we can see that their was fresh snow on some of them. This road is only going to be about 130 miles long; we then continue down to Karen Lynn’s home in Wasilla, north of Anchorage. We are camped about 40 miles from Cantwell, on a high point of the road, with view of low tundra, boggie area on both sides, with ponds and a river in the distance. Chris believes that we are certain to see moose here tonight. Wouldn’t that be cool????
We took about a mile walk to a beaver pond; saw the beaver and trumpeter swan swimming around. There was a nice dam and hut for Mr. & Mrs. Beaver. There was a Lesser Yellowleg (a kind of a sandpiper) squawking at us and doing circles over our heads, trying to distract us from her nest. We walked through loads of blue berry bushes. I imagine loads of bear sitting in the middle of it munching on blue berries when they are in season (not now). Never saw any moose. They missed a good chance to mosey down to the little pot hole ponds for a cool drink. I got drenched at one point with a quick shower while walking Tommy….saw the rain coming but thought it wasn’t going to get to me….tee hee. “Never leave home without your raincoat” is the lesson I learned.
July 2, 2008; Brushkana Creek to Tangle Lakes
Woke up to a beautifully clear blue sky. A bit chilly but a wonderful morning. Found out that we had missed a good view of Denali from this road, but it was (of course!) over cast & cloudy when we began the road yesterday, when we would have had our chance.
Later on our drive today we will see the most rugged and tallest of the Alaska Range of mountains. We left camp about 9 am and it was 57 degrees. We drove slow; saw a marmont in the road eating the sodium chloride in the dirt; he really didn’t seem to mind that we were gawking at him. Talking to another car stopped on the road, found out that we had missed about 8 elk when we crossed a river because we were ooohing and ahing at the mountains (the tallest peaks in the Alaska Range, 12,339 and 11,940 feet!) instead of looking at the river bed. Oh well….can’t win them all. At “50 mile lake" saw 2 trumpeter swans swimming with their 3 signets. There was a huge beaver hut at one end with a new gull on top of it and arctic turns flying around him. A bit later we saw a moose (finally!) grazing a ways from the road. She had a white hump. We camped at 2 pm at the Tangle Lake Campground. It’s beautiful, 67 degrees and we only traveled about 85 miles today. We’re about 20 miles from the end of this hwy. We were thinking of spending another day here…but it really seems to be filling up with campers getting here for the Fourth of July w/ motor boats, air boats, etc. Looks like a noisy day tomorrow, so we will probably move on to a quieter place.
July 3, 2008; Tangle Lakes to Karen Lynn’s home
The campground really filled up last night…gee, I guess people go to these kind of places over the holidays. It’s going to be the 4th of July…duh. We’ve been having one big, huge holiday; so the 4th isn’t some biggie that we’ve been waiting for…get my drift?
We left camp around 10 am. It was warm, sunny and clear blue sky…perfect day to see Mt. Denali…rats, again! We headed toward Anchorage & Wasilla, where Karen & her long time friend, John live.
We came into view of the Chugach Mountains with the tallest peak being Mt. Staford at 16,237 feet. It’s only 4,000 ft. short of Denali and it’s a most clear day and we are relatively close and the mountains are very imposing from this view. There are 3 huge mountains right next to each other; very picturesque and awe-inspiring.
About noonish we called Karen and decided to drive the next 130 miles to her home in Wasilla. The drive on the Glenn Allen Hwy was totally beautiful, winding along a canyon between mountains. Saw lots of folks getting started on their holiday with their 4-wheelers, boats, campers and camps set up. Then got a good view of the Matanuska glacier; got a good picture of that, too.
Driving into her subdivision, which looks nothing like one I’ve seen before, we see a sign “Watch for Air Traffic”. Remember I saw a road gate on the way to Deadhorse saying “closed for air traffic”? What is this Alaska thing….do they land on the streets??? Turns out that everyone here has a plane and landing strip; so I suppose they could be taxy-ing down the road???? Later found out that in Alaska, on ANY , an airplane has the right away! This land is sure different that small town Indiana.
We arrived early afternoon (drove 260 miles) and relaxed with old friends. Karen cooks wonderfully and the conversation was enjoyed by all.
We woke to chilly and dreary morning, about 50 degrees; rain threatened. Some fellow travelers had told us that the sled dog demo was well worth our time. So, this is what we set out for today at Denali Park, and we got there just in time for the shuttle bus. The dogs were very friendly and we had plenty of time to scratch their ears and play with them. They didn’t seem to phased by the interaction. Turns out that they get their heads scratched by some 50,000 people each summer. They were all chained individually to their little log doghouses with a “sun deck” on the top. Most of them were chilling on top of their doghouses like Snoopy. The ranger then gave a very interesting talk about the value of the dogs and the dog sled teams. After the park is mostly closed for the winter, one can only drive in the first 3 miles; after that the only access is by dog sled. The rangers use these for less impact (i.e. gas fumes, noise, damage to vegetation, etc.) on the habitat & animals to check out the Park, deliver supplies to people doing ecological or geological studies, to name a few that I can remember.
The ranger talked about the breed of dog they use: Alaskan sled dog. They breed their own dogs, and bring some breeders in from the outside. The training of sled dogs seems to be mostly done by the other dogs! Sounds good to me. The dogs were just quietly chilling; when they started to hitch them up they started yapping and yelping….ready for their FUN! They made a real cacophony in the background; they couldn’t wait to get going. It was awesome to watch. They all had a job they loved. When they get about 9 yrs. Old and don’t seem to be jumping for joy when it’s time to hitch up, it’s time to retire them. They find adoptive homes for them in a cold climate. These dogs are comfy in –20 degrees! And even at 50 degrees today they were kind of warm.
After the dog sleds, we drove the 15 miles of the park that is permitted to be independently driven…just looking for some animals; saw one moose. We then started on the road to Anchorage and at Cantwell we turned onto the Denali Hwy. Until the Parks road between Fairbanks & Anchorage was completed in 1957 this road was the only access to Denali Nat’l Park from Anchorage, then known as Mt. McKinley Nat’l Park. The road is delightful and beautiful; condition-wise it’s just about like the Dalton Hwy: dirt, washboard, dusty if it’s dry; but the view is stupendous. Snow capped mountains; we can see that their was fresh snow on some of them. This road is only going to be about 130 miles long; we then continue down to Karen Lynn’s home in Wasilla, north of Anchorage. We are camped about 40 miles from Cantwell, on a high point of the road, with view of low tundra, boggie area on both sides, with ponds and a river in the distance. Chris believes that we are certain to see moose here tonight. Wouldn’t that be cool????
We took about a mile walk to a beaver pond; saw the beaver and trumpeter swan swimming around. There was a nice dam and hut for Mr. & Mrs. Beaver. There was a Lesser Yellowleg (a kind of a sandpiper) squawking at us and doing circles over our heads, trying to distract us from her nest. We walked through loads of blue berry bushes. I imagine loads of bear sitting in the middle of it munching on blue berries when they are in season (not now). Never saw any moose. They missed a good chance to mosey down to the little pot hole ponds for a cool drink. I got drenched at one point with a quick shower while walking Tommy….saw the rain coming but thought it wasn’t going to get to me….tee hee. “Never leave home without your raincoat” is the lesson I learned.
July 2, 2008; Brushkana Creek to Tangle Lakes
Woke up to a beautifully clear blue sky. A bit chilly but a wonderful morning. Found out that we had missed a good view of Denali from this road, but it was (of course!) over cast & cloudy when we began the road yesterday, when we would have had our chance.
Later on our drive today we will see the most rugged and tallest of the Alaska Range of mountains. We left camp about 9 am and it was 57 degrees. We drove slow; saw a marmont in the road eating the sodium chloride in the dirt; he really didn’t seem to mind that we were gawking at him. Talking to another car stopped on the road, found out that we had missed about 8 elk when we crossed a river because we were ooohing and ahing at the mountains (the tallest peaks in the Alaska Range, 12,339 and 11,940 feet!) instead of looking at the river bed. Oh well….can’t win them all. At “50 mile lake" saw 2 trumpeter swans swimming with their 3 signets. There was a huge beaver hut at one end with a new gull on top of it and arctic turns flying around him. A bit later we saw a moose (finally!) grazing a ways from the road. She had a white hump. We camped at 2 pm at the Tangle Lake Campground. It’s beautiful, 67 degrees and we only traveled about 85 miles today. We’re about 20 miles from the end of this hwy. We were thinking of spending another day here…but it really seems to be filling up with campers getting here for the Fourth of July w/ motor boats, air boats, etc. Looks like a noisy day tomorrow, so we will probably move on to a quieter place.
July 3, 2008; Tangle Lakes to Karen Lynn’s home
The campground really filled up last night…gee, I guess people go to these kind of places over the holidays. It’s going to be the 4th of July…duh. We’ve been having one big, huge holiday; so the 4th isn’t some biggie that we’ve been waiting for…get my drift?
We left camp around 10 am. It was warm, sunny and clear blue sky…perfect day to see Mt. Denali…rats, again! We headed toward Anchorage & Wasilla, where Karen & her long time friend, John live.
We came into view of the Chugach Mountains with the tallest peak being Mt. Staford at 16,237 feet. It’s only 4,000 ft. short of Denali and it’s a most clear day and we are relatively close and the mountains are very imposing from this view. There are 3 huge mountains right next to each other; very picturesque and awe-inspiring.
About noonish we called Karen and decided to drive the next 130 miles to her home in Wasilla. The drive on the Glenn Allen Hwy was totally beautiful, winding along a canyon between mountains. Saw lots of folks getting started on their holiday with their 4-wheelers, boats, campers and camps set up. Then got a good view of the Matanuska glacier; got a good picture of that, too.
Driving into her subdivision, which looks nothing like one I’ve seen before, we see a sign “Watch for Air Traffic”. Remember I saw a road gate on the way to Deadhorse saying “closed for air traffic”? What is this Alaska thing….do they land on the streets??? Turns out that everyone here has a plane and landing strip; so I suppose they could be taxy-ing down the road???? Later found out that in Alaska, on ANY , an airplane has the right away! This land is sure different that small town Indiana.
We arrived early afternoon (drove 260 miles) and relaxed with old friends. Karen cooks wonderfully and the conversation was enjoyed by all.
Fourth of July: Hatcher Pass
We took a wonderful ride over Hatcher Pass, saw beautiful rocky rivers, glaciers, varmints, gold mines and on some of the roughest roads I've ever been on. Took lots of pictures of wild flowers; hoping to do a nice scrapbook page of all the pretty colors. Soon we may take a side trip, while staying with our friends, to Seward. We'll be going by ourselves, again, after we take leave of our friends.
I hope you are enjoying my musings, pictures, etc. of our trip. It has been wonderful and I love looking at all the pictures. I can't believe we've been gone for a month already. We have so much yet to do....but I can't believe all we've done already!
So, until we "connect" again....
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