In the Rear View Mirror

Well it's been a few weeks now since I started writing this entry and Alaska is still in our blood.  We received the deposit cheque in US Dollars on the RV Rental, and the Aussie Dollar has hit record highs so it' worth less than what it cost when we paid the deposit :)

Some key thoughts upon reflection, learnings from the adventure include:

For the RV:

Check the kitchen utensils well before buying your food, so any specific tools like a pair of tongs, egg flip and the like are in the RV before you cook the meal and you can buy these cooking tools if they are missing.

We took our own Flannelet Sheets to add comfort in the expected cold weather as the RV only comes with those cold cotton sheets.  The weight was an issue to manage but a months worth of comfort was worth it. 

The Australian Commonwealth Bank Travel Money Card was perfect for a cost effective buying power.  One or two service stations in the Yukon were not geared to accept it, so we had to use our credit card.  To confirm our excellent choice, upon checking our Credit Card transactions where the Travel Money Card was not accepted, the bank fees were ridiculous, simply greed.

The Tomtom GPS with our researched 'favourites' from viewing Google Earth along our route prior to travelling in Alaska & the Yukon was excellent.  It afforded us to navigate to these points for great remote wild places that we would have missed otherwise.

Ensure you buy a box of disposable gloves for dumping the waste waters, grey and black.  It provides confidence in this slightly yucky task.

Accessing water became a problem toward the end of the trip, as camp grounds and other water points  had turned their water off as the ground was freezing solid and of course so were the water pipes. Petrol (aka Gas) Stations often provided both water and dump facilities.

Trip Panning:

The freedom of having an idea of places to visit, without committing to a timetable was truly liberating.  The research stimulated the senses, heightened our excitement and availed us of at least the ability of  'which way next'.  However, we never felt pressured to head off from any spot until we'd satisfied our hunger of the wonders where we were.

Engaging with the locals enhanced our experience, affording us of 'local info' for what was best to explore in an area.  Such conversations also allowed us to learn and understand Alaska and the Yuykon a little better.

Smart Buying:

We signed up for a Fred Myer Card and a Safeway Card, these are large supermarket chains.  I think we only gave an Alaska address that fitted into their forms  :).  The cards gave us discounts on groceries and fuel, saving us 100's of dollars.  We found Safeway to be the best place to buy (price) groceries, and Fred Myer for all those other items that made our trip comfortable, as well as some cheap tourist buys, as they have Alaskan Gifts.

The memories

For us the community of Haines made us feel very welcome.  Journeying to remote places like Dawson City and up over the Top of the World Highway and driving up to the Arctic Circle were true achievements to remember.  But most of all, it was the people we met, travelers and locals, that made the trip memorable.  Spending time talking was very important, and made this trip far better than our previous.  Having camp fires also made our evenings memorable for around camp fires, great conversations are had.  Buy firewood and keep a stash in the RV for camp fires.

Live without fear, just get out there and do it.  Enjoy.

Returning to Tranquility Base

Having returned the RV in good order, no real evidence of its true travels, we squeezed into a Motel Room.  This made us appreciate just how big the RV was.

Josh and I checked out a local car dealer that had the type of car that featured in the Movie Transformers - Bumble Bee.  A five mile walk back to the Motel via the Police Museum and a lock-smith shop, afforded us some time together.

Luckily the Motel had a set of scales so we turned our focus to packing less than 50lb bags, not an easy task, sacraficed a few things.

4.30am saw us up and getting ready to catch the bus out to the airport for our 7.30am flight.  You need to sacrafice so much of your life to getting through the security checkpoints when you are travelling these days.  It's a reflection of the State of Fear that is being instilled by governments.  This fear is driving expenditure, many people would not have jobs if it wasn't for all this fear.  As a tourist, it seems a joke, as it lacks true integrity of process and considering not one person has ever been caught at one of these checkpoints, but the deterent factor is difficult to measure.  Undressing in public becomes 'the norm' at international airports.  removing jackets, shoes and belts, separating your  carryon baggage, is just so time consuming, you feel like your in a processed meat factory.  Being organised is the key, having no metal on you, having wallet and mobiles in your backpack, laptop set to be removed from its bag, and shoes that slip on help.  Having the quarantined items at the ready got us through Customs OK.

The kids travelled extremely well for the 41 hours it took us to get from the motel to our home.  With 3 hours in Seattle, 6 hours at LAX, and 3 hours at Auckland aiports, certainly added to the flight times.  Travelling cattle classs didn't help, but we had an incident free trip home.

We had dinner at "Encounters" restaurant at LAX, it is the old Flight Control Tower, photo below.  We also got to photo our aircraft - The Rotorua - Air NZ.

It was great to get back to our home - "Tranquility Base".  The house had been set to "holiday mode".  We took some time to put it back on-line to habitate.  Unpacking and putting out those special collectables we gathered through our travels made the evening a joy before finding the comfort of our own beds.  Sleep came fast.

Views from Inlet Tower Motel - Anchorage

Downtown Anchorage

Anchorage with Turnagain Arm in the background

Turnagain Arm - Anchorage

Knik Inlet - Anchorage

Encounters Restaurant - LAX

Relaxing and using up transit time - LAX

The Rotorua

How not to see Alaskan Wildlife

After a wonderfully quiet night beside Rolly Lake South in the Nancy Lake Rec area, it was back on the road south.

At Wassilla, Fred Myer and Target stores were a big delay this morning, as well as the kids hitting a PC games shop.  A quick call to the Musk Ox farm established they had closed early for the season (they were to be open until the end of Sept.  So that dampened our spirits a little, but, we also had planed to go to the Alaska Zoo.

We had hoped our visit to the Alaska Zoo would avail us to view in a fairly pristine environment that wildlife we had not got to see in the wild ourselves.  However, we found the animals in rather small enclosures, most had poor feet/hoof care and we were very much saddened, especially with a small grizzly cub that had apparently been rescued, seemed more like imprisoned.

After about 90min at the Zoo, we'd seen everything and it was late, so we headed to our overnight destination, being the RV rental firm grounds, were we could park for free and allow us time in the morning to sleep in a little, pack and ahnd back the RV, without any rush, and that planned work.  We had agreed to one of their plans where all you have to do is return the RV, the fuel and gas refill was incorporated in the price of the rental agreement, so of course, we ran these two to the limit, the fuel light was on, on our way out to the Alaska Zoo, so we krept in on the fumes, to then recall the generator does not run if the fuel gets to low, needless to say, we had enough fuel for my coffee in the morning, but not for the toaster :)

The following morning we packed and handed back the RV with no issues, this firm was just great and I'd recommend 'Great Alaskan Holiday's' to anyone wanting to hire an RV to explore Alaska.

We then made our way to the Inlet Towers for the next two nights before our flight home, some shopping in downtown Anchorage and some quiet time.

These are photo's of wildlife at the Alaska Zoo, I think you'll agree, see this wildlife in their natural habitat is far more rewarding.

Bull Moose

Musk Ox

Bald Eagle

Wolves eating a carcas

River Otter - his usual home was being re-built, so no water here.

Rescued Grizzly Cub

Black Bear

Dall Sheep

Grizzly Claws

Grizzly Owner of Claws

The only "free" animal - a Squirrell

Josh having jumped the barrier to have some 'one on one' with the Musk Ox

Talkeetna - a "Northern Exposure" experience

100928

We found cloud had moved in overnight at Susitna River when we awoke.  Joshua drove the RV back along the river gravel bar to the edge of the highway and then we were off south again.  We had a plan to get to the Musk Ox centre at Palmer today, but our stop at Talkeetna put an end to that plan, for today anyway.

Talkeetna is the town where those wanting to summit Mt Denali access their air charter to the Kahitna Glacier and commence their climb to the 20,320 feet summit.  This year about 1,600 people successfully achieved the summit. It is also the small town that the TV show 'Northern Exposure' was based on.  We did some shopping and enjoyed the quiet atmosphere with no tourists in town, ate lunch watching a DVD episode of Northern Exposure and then got back on the road south.

That put us behind and some road work added to our delay, so we decided to camp in the Nancy Lake Rec area, at Rolly Lake South.  This rec area is a mosaic of lakes that are snow fed, not river fed and provide a tranquil spot, noted for Black Bear.

Armed with the Bear Spray and the kids packing their BB Gun, we explored the area into dusk.

View of Mt Denali looking north at the magestic mountain range.

Camp beside Rolly Lake

Ptarmigan - the State Bird - size of a chicken.

Looked like a Black Bear Den.

Tayla packing a BB Gun

Under the gaze of Denali

100927 Under the gaze of Denali


We slept in this morning, it was even colder this morning, it was below Zero degrees F, it was about minus 22 degrees C. We had breakfast, cleared the ice off the inside of the windows (see photo of Linda) and then headed back out to the area where we knew the scent had been laid for the route for the Moose to enter the valley, hoping to see some Moose and look for the Urmine seen the evening before.

We took a slow drive on the approach, when up ahead was a huge male, crossing the road, at the same point as the group last night, but as we approached he was in the trees and we were not able to secure a photo.

While waiting, Joshua armed with the Bino’s spotted some Dall Sheep up on the side of the foot of the mountain, in the area we suspected was the pass through which the Moose were moving. The photo below is the best we could get with our camera, these sheep are very elusive and stay high in the mountains, or rocky edges as their defence against the Wolf.

The valley on the left we considered as the Moose route Denali NP

We left the park and proceeded south along the Parks Highway. This provided us with ever improving views of Mt Denali, also known as Mt McKinley. The Inuit call it Denali, the high one, so I take it as it’s original name. Below are some photo’s from varying spots along the road.

The photo below with the Trumpeter Swans on it in the foreground was taken, after driving past this lake, taking 5 miles to find a turn around spot for the 30’ RV, and then having to go about another mile past it on the return to find a safe enough spot to pull off the road. Then Joshua and I hiked back in a strong wind, the wind chill factor was almost unbearable. I saw an approach to the lake that avoided having to walk though the dying blueberry bushes and the mounds of Peat, however when we started on this ‘grassy area’ we were to find out it was in fact the lake, it was icy but I didn’t feel it would hold up our body weight and I did not consider falling through this ice to be a good option, so we had to scout around up and through the icy peat bog and blueberry bushes, but we got there, not as close to the waters edge as I’d hoped, due to the ice, but, felt the hike was worth the photo, though Joshua may disagree.

Mt Denali

Trumpeter Swan's under Mt Denali

After thawing out back at the RV and checking Joshua fingers for frostbite, we turned around and headed south again. The road then ran along side the Nenana River for a while, so we were able to stop and wonder at this large river icing up. We also took a movie of it, as the river produced interesting sounds as the ice proceeded along the river.

Nenana River ice flow.

Ice Flow - Nenana River

Joshua and I were in search of a viewing point we’d seen Mt Denali from back in 2006. Having revisited the Veterans memorial and checked out Byers Lake, where we’d camped last time, in hope of finding water to fill the RV but again we were to discover the water turned off.  Due to the freezing of the ground, campground water is turned off, hence why all the RV parks were closed. Soon after this, we found ‘South View Denali’ day use area and dry camping.

We found the spot, Denali View South.  A hike up and out toward Denali provides the best view from this point.

Mt Denali from Denali View South

We decided not to camp here as our water was low. We stopped to get some fuel at Trappers Creek, to find that they also had showers and access to water. We spent a few hours here after refueling, enjoying hot showers with no time limit, ice creams and afternoon tea. We chatted to some of the locals. As Linda put it, it could get a bit scary here after dark, as some of the characters were fine in the daylight, but….

We were to learn that their power had only just come back on, as three days before there were winds of 125 mile an hour that had blown through and taken down the powerlines. Most of the area south of here was blacked out for 3 days. It explained the huge trees that had broken off about 3 metre off the ground and the other debris at the Veterans Memorial back up the road. We hadn’t experienced any of that back at Fairbanks.

Veteran's Memorial via Byers Lake.

A short drive down the highway and we found a gravel bar along side the Susitna River, to camp on, to enjoy a campfire and a warmer evening. It only got down to Zero Celcius and the river was not as yet starting to freeze.

Weather: Bright and Sunny Clear Sky. Morning Temp at Denali NP minus 22 C. High at Trapper Creek warm and sunny 5 C.

Wildlife: Bull Moose, Trumpeter Swans.

O/N N 62 10.282 W 150 10.921 (Yes this may appear we are in the middle of the river, we were out on the gravel bar, this would be under water in the thaw)

Camp beside Susitna River.

Moon Rise - Susitna River

A day in Denali National Park in September

100926 A day in Denali National Park in September with no tourists.


Having gained an insight into the current wildlife sightings along the Park road in Denali, we decided to spend the day exploring. The other photographers commenced heading out a little after 7am.

We set off about 7.30am, however all but the driver stayed in bed, as it is about 13 miles to Sanctuary River, where two wolves had been sighted over the past two days, one black and one grey and tan. Travelling at 10 – 20 miles per hour for effective wildlife spotting, it was a slow trip out.

I’d noticed that it was a great deal colder then previous, it took a while to get the windscreen clear, however, once we stopped at Sanctuary River, it became clear how cold it was.

The RV has these pull down window shades, in two stages, the first stage is white and allows filter light in but affords privacy, the second is more of a block out and also has a thermal block as well. When Linda put the blinds up, to allow a view over the river while we ate breakfast, the usual condensation that we wipe clear was in fact about 5mm thick of ice, on the 'INSIDE'. The usual ‘wipe’ was met with total resistance and a sound of scratching. This was awesome. As predicted by Russ, it was about 0 degrees F, equalling about minus 18 C.

Also this morning, there was some low cloud. Mt Denali was not in view nor was the tops of the adjoining mountains.

Joshua and I explored Sanctuary River which was significantly icing up. We found an ice bridge to cross out to a further gravel bar. We took some photo’s and scouted around for a wolf and other wildlife, but nothing. Soon after it started to snow. This was the first snow of the season. If the day was to be cloudy, then enjoying it snow was a delight.

Just before lunch we drove along the Park road to Teklinika Camp ground and noted though it was shut, the gates weren’t locked, a plan was forming. Up past the camp is a parking area and ‘bus stop’ with toilets and a viewing platform overlooking the Teklinika River. We parked here and had a small walk, looking for Lynx. A few Lynx’ had been sighted in this area over the past two days, one had some kittens. The road was closed to us from this point, but hikers could proceed.

Tayla, Joshua and I took a hike down the steep embankment to the gravel bars of the river and walked out to the middle. Like the Sanctuary River, this river was also icing up. We had more than an hour of playing on the ice, testing ice bridges to access gravel bars further out, making it to the flowing river. The kids threw rocks to test how solid the ice was, some would go through, but many others would simply bounce off.

After lunch, I decided to hike along the road, up to the bridge that crosses the Teklinika and scout around for some Wolves that had a den up here.  Upstream of the bridge had been closed during the season, as a wolf den was upstream a little. I took some great photo’s however, while taking the one below, I was in the prone position (lying on my stomach) to put the natural ice feature in the foreground and Igloo Mountain in the background, when I heard some ice cracking steps over to my right. After re-starting my heart, I looked over to see a Park Ranger, walking down the edge of the river. After enjoying a laugh, he explained he was removing the signs that prohibited venturing further up the river from this point, as the pups were old enough now to travel and he’d expect the mum and pups would be moving on for the winter.

While we were returning along the Park road, we discovered that Teklinika Camp gate had been locked, a plan foiled. Joshua and I had a very quiet walk around the camp, attempting to spot the Lynx, as it was late in the afternoon, but no luck.

We returned to the lookout where we’d had dinner the night before, and enjoyed dinner and hoped the sky might clear for a view of Denali. All the mountains were now shrouded in a cloak of snow. They were a beautiful sight.

It was starting to get dark as we headed back toward Riley Camp, when we came across two parked cars within the 5 mile road area posted by warning signs of Moose rutting in this area. As advised by Rus and his mate the Moose researcher, no Moose had moved into the valley as yet, they were late again this year, due to the warm weather.

However, things had commenced to change. The first Moose were coming through, three cows and one HUGE bull, this bull was so big, his ‘paddles’ (as the locals call the horns) where enormous. As he walked along he was grunting and from time to time attacking a tree to show off his fighting skills. If only there was another bull we’d get to see the full Rut ritual. It was quite dark, however I got one successful photo when he stopped to look around. The Rut had begun. We spent just under an hour watching them come through and cross the road.

In the middle of this, Linda, Joshua and Tayla spotted a slim white creature, bigger than a squirrel but acted a bit like a squirrel. It was too dark to get a photo as this animal was very active. One of the other photographers on the road with us advised them it was an Ermine, a very rare animal to see in the Park.

On returning to Camp we found Rus and advised him of the Moose sighting, so he was delaying his plans to return tomorrow and would go out again.  He gave me some insight to a great camera I should get, another plan was forming.

Weather: Rather Cold Low minus 18 C High about minus 3 C.

Wildlife: Moose in the Rut.

O/N N 63 43.891 W 148 53.861

Sanctuary River icing over - Denali NP



Joshua standing on a small ice bridge - Sanctuary River Denali NP



Ice forming and river flowing underneath - Sanctuary River - Denali NP

Teklinika River with Igloo Mnt in background

The number of toilets let you know how many tourists in Summer Season

Tayla testing our an icebridge to get out to the flowing river.

Tayla and Ice

Graham testing out ice bridge - Teklinka River

Joshua testing how cold the water is.

Tayla testing how cold he water is.

Just shows how quick the cold came in at this drain under the road.

Another angle on the Drain Freeze Up.

First Snow on Igloo Mountain

Icing Up

A view of the Denali Range from the same dinner spot as the night before, with first snow.

The Park Road into Denali NP

Sunset

Savage River and First Snow

Park Road - First Snow

First Bull Moose into the Rut - Denali NP