Alaska Trip

[KJRR]

I could never adjust to that, I'd be a walking zombie! ? I had a hard time in WY & MT when it would still be light out at 9:30 pm. We would get up early (around 3:45am) so after hiking all day I was ready for bed by then.

C'mon old man. Lot's to see and do. Sleep when you're dead is my motto.
We would be waking up at 2:30AM (6:30AM ET) some days but still not going to bed until 10 or 11PM local time. We usually went back to sleep since we would have woke up the people we were staying with. When we were heading out for trips, we would be up around 4:30 AM and gone by 5:30. We were early for all of our scheduled excursions, sometimes getting on an earlier tour, and would get in other sightseeing that wasn't on the schedule. We packed in a lot considering it was visiting and sightseeing.

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[KJRR]

OK, almost to Denali but needed lunch first. There weren't a lot of choices between the dredge and Dinali and my traveling cohorts get a little hangry so we found a place called Monderosa in Nenana.
Small bar and restaurant and we were the only ones in there but the food was ready quickly, burgers were good and fries plentiful. If you happen to stop there, make sure you have cash since its no credit cards.
As we walked out, we noticed dragonflys and looking around there were 100s of them flying around the parking lot. Now we see dragonflys where we live but not in the numbers we saw there.

We get to Denali and go right to the visitors center to get our pass. Now funny thing about the pass is we never used it anywhere. In and out of the park for 3 days and never had to show it. But we were good citizens and paid our dues. We found we could still get in for the tour of the sled dog kennel and demonstration so off we went to board the bus.
Denali is the only National Park with a sled dog kennel and they have continued the tradition of using them during the winter months for over 100 years.

My wife wasn't happy with the short leashes they were on and thought it was cruel. Then she found out they stayed outside all year, even through the winter. I can tell you the dogs weren't mistreated. They have volunteers that walk them regularly and they all looked well cared for. As we were walking around, and talking with the volunteers about the dogs, there was sudden excitement that spread throughout the kennel. We found that one of the dogs was being harnessed for the sledding demonstration and they were all excited like "pick me, pick me!" They were definitely happy.

The summer sled for training

Winter sled

Musharingum

More about the dog sled teams.

We still had time before we could check in and spent a little time in the visitors center. We had some hikes planned for the next day and took a ride to scout out the area. We had tried to catch sight of Denali from a few spots in our travels but the clouds always got in the way. It's said only about 30% of the people actually get to see the top of Denali. Mile 11 has a pull off on the park road where you may be able to catch a glimpse. Is was not to be this day.

We stayed at Denali Lakeview Inn about 10 miles outside the park in Healy, AK. We had a beautiful view of a small lake, a fridge, microwave and comfy beds.
They had bagels, cereal, juice, coffee, tea, fruits and other breakfast foods for the morning, in the room.

We were all tired so we made PB&J sandwiches and snacked on the jerky we had picked up the week before. We then planned our next days hikes.
You can only travel to mile 15, Savage River on the Denali Park Road. You can get to Mile 43 by bus. The rest of the park road is closed due to a landslide. We knew that going in and decided we would skip the bus tours and stick to the hikes we could get to by vehicle.

The next morning after breakfast, we drove to Savage River and got a parking spot. The hike is a 2-mile loop and an easy trail. The weather was comfortable with just a light jacket and a slight breeze kept the mosquitos away.

We stopped again to try to catch sight of Denali but still no success.
We did another 2 mile hike, near the visitor center, went back to the visitor center and finished looking around there and decided to have lunch.

We ended up at 49th State Brewing in Healy. I had a 8 Star Lager and my daughter had a Blonde Eagle Ale. Both good beers. We each got a different burger, Elk, Caribou and Yak, split them into thirds and each had a piece. The Caribou was the best followed by the Elk though they were all good. They had video monitors around the resturant playing webcams of various places. The one closest to us was a bear standing in a river waiting for unsuspecting salmon to come by. He was a couple weeks early as they hadn't started their journey yet.
We grabbed a few beers to go for later that evening.

We went back to Denali and did another short hike and my wife decided she was done walking for the day. So my daughter and I decided we were going on an 3 mile hike around Horseshoe Lake.
We spotted the lake from above and were told there was a moose and her calf down there.

Once we descended the stairs, we walked by the river.

Back near tthe lake, I started noticing trees that looked like they were chopped down. Then noticed the dam.

And then this guy in the middle of the picture. Beavers are a lot larger than I thought.

Then we ended up back by the moose.

There was quite a crowd wathcing him. We headed back towards the visitor center and caught up to a large group about to head up the stairs. Now there must have been 100 steps we had to go up., 250 ft up, 20% grade. I'm not in the best of shape but made it up without stopping and passed just about everyone in front of us. Stopped for a minute at the top, took another look at the moose below and finished the hike.
I think my daughter said we had like 14,000 steps that day. I was ready to head back to the room and have a beer.

While enjoying the view from our room, we spotted a moose. Her would wander back and forth between the water and the woods for about 45 minutes.

The next morning, we checked out and headed back to Denali for a couple short hikes and to see if we could finally see the peak.
Well we did catch most of it in the picture and briefly saw the peak through binoculars. Didn't get a shot of all of it. You are looking at the white in the middle of the picture.

Got a little creative with the binoculars.

My wife decided she was done hiking after a 1 mile hike so my daughter and I did the McKinley Station Trail.

And we headed back to our friends place for a couple days before heading home.
One last shot I got of the Alaskan Range and probably Denali, from our friends place.

A few weeks ago in a team meeting we asked the question "What do you collect?"
Well I've got quite a few t-shirts and when I was younger collected beer cans (which are in my garage attic ?) but really don't collect anything. But thinking about it more, I'm collecting memories with what I have.
So many sights we didn't get pictures of but will be in our memories like the porcupine we saw scrambling across the road. The eagles nests though no one saw any eagles but me. Skinny Dicks Halfway Inn (Yes, that is the name of the place, should have stopped and got the t-shirt), The seagull crapping all over the windshield while were traveling at 55 mph in Anchorage traffic, turning on the wipers and spraying washer until I could see again and seeing it all run down the side of the car. ?? The smell of the pine hiking through the woods and even on the highway at times. Smelling skunk while hiking trails (as in skunk weed). The rivers you seem to cross 25 times over 100 miles. The never-ending roads through wilderness. The openness and lack of traffic.
When looking at the map of Alaska and seeing the very small portion we covered in our time there, you begin to realize how much land is out there that has probably never been set foot upon by humans.

Get out there and enjoy!

 

[BS67]

Again......great pics and write-up, KJ! What a wonderful trip for you and your family! Appreciate you sharing it all!

 

[KJRR]

Again......great pics and write-up, KJ! What a wonderful trip for you and your family! Appreciate you sharing it all!

Thank you! It was fun going through all the pictures again and seeing how much we really did.

 

[AzScorpion]

Thank you! It was fun going through all the pictures again and seeing how much we really did.

It fun looking back at them and seeing/remembering things you did. I've also caught things in them I didn't remember well because I was more focused on taking pictures.

I love the pictures and you're now making me wonder if I should change our plans for next years trip. I'm 2/3 finished in planning them and it takes a lot of time trying to organize everything for 5 weeks. You were lucky to have friends there to stay with and help you around the area. I might plan this for '25 or '26 so I have time to gather more info. I might need a little help and pick your brain on what area(s) to stay in.

 

[KJRR]

It fun looking back at them and seeing/remembering things you did. I've also caught things in them I didn't remember well because I was more focused on taking pictures.

I love the pictures and you're now making me wonder if I should change our plans for next years trip. I'm 2/3 finished in planning them and it takes a lot of time trying to organize everything for 5 weeks. You were lucky to have friends there to stay with and help you around the area. I might plan this for '25 or '26 so I have time to gather more info. I might need a little help and pick your brain on what area(s) to stay in.

Pick away, I'm pretty low budget on where we stay and prefer pb&j to eating out all the time. I believe you were planning for Lake Tahoe next year. Just read “Lake Tahoe has a people problem,”
No such issue at Denali or anywhere else we went in Alaska though the cruise lines have tours all over the place there. 5 weeks would be awesome and can't wait until I can retire and do that.
I've been to Yellowstone twice, Grand Tetons and from south to north Utah and figure we are pretty much done with that area for a few years. Zion was way too crowded for my tastes when we went but maybe it was just that we were at the end of our trip and pretty tired.
As far as pictures, I probably don't get enough as I'm always enjoying the moment rather than grabbing my phone to snap a picture. It's more of an afterthought for me.
Glad you enjoyed the pics.

 

[AzScorpion]

Pick away, I'm pretty low budget on where we stay and prefer pb&j to eating out all the time. I believe you were planning for Lake Tahoe next year. Just read “Lake Tahoe has a people problem,”
No such issue at Denali or anywhere else we went in Alaska though the cruise lines have tours all over the place there. 5 weeks would be awesome and can't wait until I can retire and do that.
I've been to Yellowstone twice, Grand Tetons and from south to north Utah and figure we are pretty much done with that area for a few years. Zion was way too crowded for my tastes when we went but maybe it was just that we were at the end of our trip and pretty tired.
As far as pictures, I probably don't get enough as I'm always enjoying the moment rather than grabbing my phone to snap a picture. It's more of an afterthought for me.
Glad you enjoyed the pics.

Thanks KJ and we're pretty low budget too, remember I'm part Polish. ? I try and rent places (been using more Airbnb's lately) that have kitchens so we can cook meals there and not eat out all the time. I also carry my 12V cooler with use so we pack lunches, water and snacks for the day. We do occasionally eat out but we're not "foodies" by any means and enjoy a good burger/beer place opposed to the newest/best overpriced restaurant that just opened up.

We've been hitting all the places (cool in the summer is a must) in driving distance from here the last 2 years. I figure after next year we've just about done the ones we've wanted to see. We want to do Yellowstone as we didn't have time this year and I wouldn't mind doing Tetons again as it was great there. I agree on Zion and we both didn't care for it. We've been in that are several times and usually skip going there because it's way to crowded and there's very limited parking there. I hate taking shuttle buses and refuse going to places where that's your main option. We'll be going to Lake Tahoe in early June so we should be able to avoid the crowds then. We've never had a crowd issue during that month (sometimes late June will get more crowded) seeing as most families don't travel until later because of school.

 

[Tracy Bowman]

OK, almost to Denali but needed lunch first. There weren't a lot of choices between the dredge and Dinali and my traveling cohorts get a little hangry so we found a place called Monderosa in Nenana.
Small bar and restaurant and we were the only ones in there but the food was ready quickly, burgers were good and fries plentiful. If you happen to stop there, make sure you have cash since its no credit cards.
As we walked out, we noticed dragonflys and looking around there were 100s of them flying around the parking lot. Now we see dragonflys where we live but not in the numbers we saw there.

We get to Denali and go right to the visitors center to get our pass. Now funny thing about the pass is we never used it anywhere. In and out of the park for 3 days and never had to show it. But we were good citizens and paid our dues. We found we could still get in for the tour of the sled dog kennel and demonstration so off we went to board the bus.
Denali is the only National Park with a sled dog kennel and they have continued the tradition of using them during the winter months for over 100 years.

My wife wasn't happy with the short leashes they were on and thought it was cruel. Then she found out they stayed outside all year, even through the winter. I can tell you the dogs weren't mistreated. They have volunteers that walk them regularly and they all looked well cared for. As we were walking around, and talking with the volunteers about the dogs, there was sudden excitement that spread throughout the kennel. We found that one of the dogs was being harnessed for the sledding demonstration and they were all excited like "pick me, pick me!" They were definitely happy.

The summer sled for training

Winter sled

Musharingum

More about the dog sled teams.

We still had time before we could check in and spent a little time in the visitors center. We had some hikes planned for the next day and took a ride to scout out the area. We had tried to catch sight of Denali from a few spots in our travels but the clouds always got in the way. It's said only about 30% of the people actually get to see the top of Denali. Mile 11 has a pull off on the park road where you may be able to catch a glimpse. Is was not to be this day.

We stayed at Denali Lakeview Inn about 10 miles outside the park in Healy, AK. We had a beautiful view of a small lake, a fridge, microwave and comfy beds.
They had bagels, cereal, juice, coffee, tea, fruits and other breakfast foods for the morning, in the room.

We were all tired so we made PB&J sandwiches and snacked on the jerky we had picked up the week before. We then planned our next days hikes.
You can only travel to mile 15, Savage River on the Denali Park Road. You can get to Mile 43 by bus. The rest of the park road is closed due to a landslide. We knew that going in and decided we would skip the bus tours and stick to the hikes we could get to by vehicle.

The next morning after breakfast, we drove to Savage River and got a parking spot. The hike is a 2-mile loop and an easy trail. The weather was comfortable with just a light jacket and a slight breeze kept the mosquitos away.

We stopped again to try to catch sight of Denali but still no success.
We did another 2 mile hike, near the visitor center, went back to the visitor center and finished looking around there and decided to have lunch.

We ended up at 49th State Brewing in Healy. I had a 8 Star Lager and my daughter had a Blonde Eagle Ale. Both good beers. We each got a different burger, Elk, Caribou and Yak, split them into thirds and each had a piece. The Caribou was the best followed by the Elk though they were all good. They had video monitors around the resturant playing webcams of various places. The one closest to us was a bear standing in a river waiting for unsuspecting salmon to come by. He was a couple weeks early as they hadn't started their journey yet.
We grabbed a few beers to go for later that evening.

We went back to Denali and did another short hike and my wife decided she was done walking for the day. So my daughter and I decided we were going on an 3 mile hike around Horseshoe Lake.
We spotted the lake from above and were told there was a moose and her calf down there.

Once we descended the stairs, we walked by the river.

Back near tthe lake, I started noticing trees that looked like they were chopped down. Then noticed the dam.

And then this guy in the middle of the picture. Beavers are a lot larger than I thought.

Then we ended up back by the moose.

There was quite a crowd wathcing him. We headed back towards the visitor center and caught up to a large group about to head up the stairs. Now there must have been 100 steps we had to go up., 250 ft up, 20% grade. I'm not in the best of shape but made it up without stopping and passed just about everyone in front of us. Stopped for a minute at the top, took another look at the moose below and finished the hike.
I think my daughter said we had like 14,000 steps that day. I was ready to head back to the room and have a beer.

While enjoying the view from our room, we spotted a moose. Her would wander back and forth between the water and the woods for about 45 minutes.

The next morning, we checked out and headed back to Denali for a couple short hikes and to see if we could finally see the peak.
Well we did catch most of it in the picture and briefly saw the peak through binoculars. Didn't get a shot of all of it. You are looking at the white in the middle of the picture.

Got a little creative with the binoculars.

My wife decided she was done hiking after a 1 mile hike so my daughter and I did the McKinley Station Trail.

And we headed back to our friends place for a couple days before heading home.
One last shot I got of the Alaskan Range and probably Denali, from our friends place.

A few weeks ago in a team meeting we asked the question "What do you collect?"
Well I've got quite a few t-shirts and when I was younger collected beer cans (which are in my garage attic ?) but really don't collect anything. But thinking about it more, I'm collecting memories with what I have.
So many sights we didn't get pictures of but will be in our memories like the porcupine we saw scrambling across the road. The eagles nests though no one saw any eagles but me. Skinny Dicks Halfway Inn (Yes, that is the name of the place, should have stopped and got the t-shirt), The seagull crapping all over the windshield while were traveling at 55 mph in Anchorage traffic, turning on the wipers and spraying washer until I could see again and seeing it all run down the side of the car. ?? The smell of the pine hiking through the woods and even on the highway at times. Smelling skunk while hiking trails (as in skunk weed). The rivers you seem to cross 25 times over 100 miles. The never-ending roads through wilderness. The openness and lack of traffic.
When looking at the map of Alaska and seeing the very small portion we covered in our time there, you begin to realize how much land is out there that has probably never been set foot upon by humans.

Get out there and enjoy!

Amazing and beautiful! What a wonderful trip!

 

[KJRR]

Amazing and beautiful! What a wonderful trip!

Thanks Tracy!

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