Link to our pictures with descriptive captions.
This is a special blog entry, our son, Jay spent a few minutes pounding the keyboard. His entry was finished up beside the campfire at our Seward AK, campsite. I wish he had more time to help with these entries as he is much faster on the keyboard and a much better writer. If I had these skills in the past, they have diminished in past few years.
I'll try to retrace our southern adventure trail from Denali National Park where we spent a wonderful 10 day adventure to Seward AK. At this time we have Jay and Rahel, John and Barbara, Brad and Beverly in our little caravan. Jerry and June Bauler will meet up with us in Seward.
I will insert Jay's blog first, and then mine after that.
From Dallas to Denali was a blur, replacing a kitchen sink and getting ahead with work. Rahel and I spent less than 12 hours in Anchorage before catching the Denali Star train to the park (highly recommended) and a campsite at Riley Creek. Didn't even have time to seal the leaky seams on my tent so we got the full rain experience! July is the wettest month in Alaska, I'm told. Backcountry hiking in the tundra is a spongy thing, taking a lot of effort to walk, and a bit of planning to bush-whack through the willows and alder bushes. Upper Teklanika River was too wide to cross comfortably (ask the wet kid from NYC we spoke to after his fall with backpack into the main braid) so we made camp on the west side, content to do day hikes in the rain and eat mostly rehydrated backpacker food. Other that the glacier view and mountain scenery, finding just-ripe wild blueberries was my highlight. Push forward to Saturday, Rahel and I climbed back to the park road, thumbed down a camper bus, and got back to the park entrance for a rendezvous with ma and pa Harris. Luxury!!
Flashback three years (to the week) when I was camped at Wonder Lake, Denali, and missed a chance to hop a plane around Mt. McKinley, aka Mt. Denali. This time, we booked a two hour summit tour out of Talkeetna, with our fingers crossed for good weather. Lucky us with the blue skies, and lucky for my dad Talkeetna Aero had one extra seat (copilot spot, naturally) for my dad. Dave was a great pilot and the trip was something we agree will be a highlight for the rest of our lives. Look for the photos to come. Hard to compare, but imagine circling Mt Everest, seemingly close enough to touch the face outside your window, then down the glaciers and crevices to the base camp.
Forget Anchorage, let's push south to the Kenai Peninsula for royal RV camping, hot meals, and cold IPAs (ok, and Alaskan White ales for Rahel). We stayed two nights at Williwaw campground, which was situated below a series of glaciers, south of the spur road to Whittier, AK. Short hikes, dense understory vegetation, lingering snowpack, and superb mountain views there. Up early with my dad! Want coffee? Start the generator! :)
Sitting at the table under the rain-sheltering canopy here in Seward for the third night. Dying fire is giving in to the rain drops but we've had our lucky fill of sunny days while here. Rahel and mom played cowgirls for the day, taking a horseback ride around Resurrection Bay, across braided rivers and up the forest for a true adventure experience. Dad and I hiked up Marathon Mtn for several hours, making almost 3000 feet of elevation gain before the snow-laden bowl above town. Good sleep awaits tonight. I'd vote for sleeping in tomorrow but we're dropping them at the port in the morning for a day-long boat ride out to the bay and Prince William Sound.
Ten days can fly. Vacation is winding down and brutal Texas heat await. Maybe I'll quit my job and come here to work on a fishing boat. Train for a ranger position at the park. Or brew IPAs in the forest. Rahel will work on a horse farm, specializing in Friesian horses and Border Collies. Probably not, but everything has been as amazing as one could hope, and we'll come back. Check for more later.....
Jay & Rahel
7/19/2011
Our destination is Seward, AK, but first, lets stop in Talkeetna. Talkeetna is a historic small town near the base of Mount McKinley. It is located on a 15 mile spur road that spurs from the Parks Highway, the main highway from Anchorage to Fairbanks.
We have spent time in Talkeetna in 2009 and Jay in 2008. It is a laid back place with roadhouses, museums, gift shops and adventure air flights to the summit of Mount McKinley. Jay and Rahel had researched reviews on the charter services and booked a flight on Talkeetna Aero Service. The night before the flight we had a hard rain and the prospects didn't look good for a sight seeing flight. As most everything works out, the skies cleared and we had a "perfect 10" weather day. Jay asked if there was a single seat available and the pilot said the copilot seat was. Jay asked if I wanted to go and that was all it took, the three of us were in the air headed for the summit for a 11/2 hour flight. Jay treated and that made it even better. What a day to remember. The flight was spectacular and Dave the pilot was the best in the business. I don't have the space to show all the photos but flying directly into the snow capped mountains was a big "WOW". This year 9 climbers have lost their lives on this mountain, a little more than the normal average of 4 per year. At the 14000 foot camp we saw a small plane stuck in the snow. Inexperienced pilots fly in and get stuck in fresh snow. They have to walk a path before the plane can get up on the new snow. Our pilot was a first responder with updates to the emergency responders.
7/19/2011 - 7/20/2011
Our travel south took us to Anchorage and then around the Turnagain Arm to the spur road toward Whittter, a port and an old army base back in WWII days. We were going to camp at the US Forest Service Williwaw campground. Very nice scenic spot at the base of the Portage Glacier. Lots of hiking trails filled with beautiful wild flowers at their peak time. Good weather and a day hike to the USFS visitor center was nice. Camp fires and camp ground talk made the day pass quickly.
7/21/2011 - 7/24/2011
Today we welcome Jerry and June Bauler, our neighbors across the street on 79th street. They have driven up from Lubbock to fish the Kenai. We will visit with them here in Seward and Soldotna. He is booking fishing charters for salmon and halibut.
Seward AK years ago was the ice free deep port that most of the freight for the state came through. It had a large Alaskan State Railroad switch yard and that took the trains north past Anchorage to Fairbanks. It also carried tourist from the large ocean going cruise ships. In 1964, that changed somewhat. The largest earthquake recorded caused much damage to Seward and especially it's rail system. The town recovered and the Alaskan State Railroad survived, but tourism became number 1 business in Seward.
We had been to Seward in 2009 and marked it as a must return. It is a great place with the small boat harbor, the enormous fishing attraction, and the daily excursion boats out into the Gulf of Alaska. We like this place and it did not disappoint. We hiked, rode horses, took day trips to study geography wildlife, flowers and people.
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