We had a great but very quiet weekend hanging out at Celeste's. Mostly we just stayed around the house as one day it was hot and sunny, the next cold and wet. This made for a perfect time to relax, get out of the truck, drink some beer, reaquaint with a long time friend (and her 2 dogs, 2 cats and horse). Monday was our scheduled day to move on and Celeste and Joe decided to go to Talkeetna with us so we followed them to this town about an hour north.
Talkeetna is best known today as the starting point for anyone that wants to climb Mt. McKinley. The climbing ranger station is located here so anyone that is scheduled for a climbing expedtion must begin here. Climbers shuttle from here to the Kahiltna Glacier by plane where base camp is set at about 7,000ft. Over a period of three +/- weeks the climbers attempt to reach the summit at 20,320 ft. Only about half are successfull and this year the success rate is about 36%!
Scorecard in ranger station of 2014 climbers
But Talkeetna is also a major tourist stop with the requsite shops, breweries, art galleries, etc.
Cynthia and Joe in the historic Farview Inn bar
Beautifull downtown Talkeetna
Rules at the Fariview Inn
So we spent the afternoon here with Celeste and Joe then they headed home and we made camp for the night. Early the next mornning we headed back into town for breakfast then left to move further north.
We still had several days until our Denali reservations so we headed toward Cantwell, AK and the Denali Hwy (not to be confused with the Parks Hwy which Denali NP is on). The Denali Hwy is a 130 mile unpaved "highway" connecting Cantwell on the west with Paxson on the east. The first night we drove about 10 miles in and found a nice pullout next to a small lake, just perfect for our small trailer. Later that evening a lady, her son and grandaughter parked next to us to fish. As the young man gathered his gear he shoulderred a nice size rifle-necessary fishing gear here, used to ward off the moose and bear. A little while later they returned with only one fish and no shots fired. Although the road and 100ft of right-of-way are public, along this stretch the land is privately owned by the Ahtna (Alaskan Athabascan People). Several miles further out the land becomes public.
Camped along the Denali Highway
Later that night around midnight we discovered a moose grazing in the lake behind us. Unfortunately she was too far for photos but we discovered that early the next morning she was still around and I got this photo of her.
Moose grazing in the lake
The next day we moved further in to about mile 35 to a BLM campground. Once setup we drove further up the road to check it out. Along the drive we passed several cyclists moving west and a cabin which (somewhat) looked to be under construction.
Cyclists heading west
Cabin
We also discovered the "Sluice Box" something of a bar, grocery store, flightseeing whatever. Fun place to check out.
Cynthia inside the Sliuce Box
The Sluice Box
Susitna River bridge
When the road crossed the Susitna River we turned back and headed to camp. A wet evening made for a difficult fire but Cynthia got it going and we enjoyed that. The next day we headed back toward Cantwell and still a few days out from Denali we got a space in an RV park for 2 nights.
After setting up a couple questioned us about our TT. Turns out she and her husband are somewhat locals, living here in summer and AZ in winter. We were invited to their place that evening and of course we went. It was a short distance from our RV park and they own an acre or so with a cabin and a nice covered visiting area with a wood stove. We enjoyed our visit and it was great to hear the "local way" here.
The next day was pretty quiet and then on Saturday we headed toward Denali NP.
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