It rained all night, pretty hard, and we woke up to a pool behind the campsite and a wet muddy road. We packed up and headed north towards Fairbanks. We stopped along the way at a quirky bar called Skinny Dicks. We hoped they sold burgers, but nope, just drinks and some funny shirts and adult humor fun. We got a laugh.
Next stop was Fairbanks, groceries, and some gas. I was still craving a burger and tried a local place. We struck out in the first, as it was Sunday and closed. We walked to another that had good reviews called Mommas kitchen. It turns out Mommas kitchen was an offshoot to Joes bar and joes bar was a dive bar, like a cross between a VFW and and the Elks club. The food was ok, not 4.5 stars like Yelp said.
About 90 minutes later we made it to the start of the Dalton Highway. 410 Miles north to Prudhoe bay and the Arctic Ocean, and that’s Mile 0 of the Pan American Highway. To get here we just passed 10k miles of exploring the western USA, Canada, and Alaska.
We will be traveling the Dalton for the next 6-8 days. We are camped in a gravel pit on the top of a mountain about 100 miles from the Arctic Circle. We will probably camp there at the BLM campground.
We camped in a glorified parking lot that the state of Alaska charges $10 for camping just below Independence mine. There’s not a lot of pull offs here for camping and it was 10 pm when we pulled in, so it worked. There’s view was impressive. The good thing is we paid for the site so when we pulled in to the state park a mile up the road, the receipt worked for parking there too.
Independence Mine was an interesting park to visit. It was small compared to the Kennecott operation in McCarthy, but it had some interesting aspects. And kudos to the entrepreneurs, engineers, and miners of almost a century ago. The extraction process for gold removed 97% of the gold from the ore, which was pretty impressive. I did a little mile or two hike up in the high valley and enjoyed walking in the spongy trails with alpine flowers. The pass is only 3800 feet, but that’s high by AK standards
We drove over Hatcher Pass and man was it crowded up there. For all of those reviews saying the road is dangerously and narrow, obviously don’t drive off road much. The road was pretty smooth, very wide, and has spectacular views. There were a couple of side shoots where a crew of Ford Broncos was going up a side road, but we decided to let them have their fun. Further down towards Willow there is tons of camping and it appears is a play land for quads and side-by-sides. Kathy and I found a neat property for sale and decided to inquire about it. We are a bit smitten with AK, especially now now having to deal with the AZ heat.
The rest of the day we drive north and found a free camp a bit outside of Healy. We settled in since it was about 7 pm. We don’t really drive all day, we just get started later, usually 10-11 am. The next few days we will be on the Dalton and the forecast is rain, so pictures may be scarce. It’s funny because as we drive north, we took tons of pictures throughout the western states, Canada, and Alaska. Everything is beautiful. We take fewer pics now, maybe because we are just enjoying the beauty up here more than being in awe of it.
The camp at the Susitna River crossing was peaceful. The pups, especially Zuzu, loved the kind walk along the beaches. The sections which were sandy she would dash off in full gallop, making quick turns, and throwing sand high into the air. It’s good to see her having a great time.
We made it to Anchorage, but not before stopping by the laundromat to take a shower. It was not warm, but we did manage to get clean. My appointment was quick (heart chemical stress test) and I’m hoping all the pictures of the plumbing look normal so I can finish out the Alaska Medical Tour. We will find out on Aug 18. The Drs and Nurses up here have been nothing but spectacular. We were so surprised at the care up here and how quickly they work things in.
We spent the day picking up a new coin for Kathy, exchanging a faulty purse bag, and grabbing some snacks, and driving a bit north. We headed to the Palmer Alehouse where Kathy’s friend said a good band was playing. (The Free Creatures from Oregon). They were pretty good and the Alehouse was a neat setting. The band had come from Salmonfest, which we hear is a fantastic local event near Soldotna.
We visited for several hours and then headed up towards Hatcher pass, which I have heard is stunning. Independence mine state park is just up from the campsite and along the pass we heard there is good berry picking. Tonight we should be in or near Fairbanks and ready to start the dalton highway to the Arctic Ocean. Here’s a view from Howie at the campground below Hatcher Pass.
We woke to true weather predictions and the sky did not have a cloud in it. We packed up for a hike and headed to the bus to catch a ride to Sable Pass where we could get a glimpse of Mt McKinley (Denali). The first bus was full and we caught the second. The high one did not disappoint and was shining in all the 20,300 ft of glory. Simply gorgeous. The day was about 65 degrees and we wanted to walk down sable pass and see what animals were out and about.
We did see some Dahl sheep, WAY WAY up on the ridge. Looked like little rice specs. And that is all we saw in the 5 mile trek down the pass. The hike was spectacular.
We caught the bus at the Igloo Creek Campground and made it to the Teklanika rest stop where the bus broke down. We thought about hiking the two miles to the campground, but figured once we started the rescue bus will show up. We ended up waiting 90 minutes for a walk we could have done in 45. But we met some really nice people who were waiting too. We finished out the night watching the fire in the campground and enjoying the beautiful night.
The 4th day I decided to bake some biscuits in the Dutch Oven over the fire. I still had two bundles of wood but since collecting was allowed here, I gathered several large loads so I could have a fire until we left. The biscuits did not turn out ton well as they were not homemade and the container had popped open sometime during the week and were not “fresh”. Oh well. They still tasted ok.
We cleaned up camp, the TC, and packed up to head back south. I had another appointment in anchorage and we didn’t want risk or rush the 5+ hour drive. We have gotten the packing down to 5-10 minutes and with the pups walked and freshly satisfied with treats, we headed out of Teklanika Campground and back out of the Denali Park Road.
We had been fortunate and had seen an Eagle, caribou, Dahl sheep, rabbits, squirrels, marmots, and ptarmigans so far, and this time the park did not disappoint. On the drive out, three brown bears were grazing doing the road and we had about 15-20 minutes to watch them. They were as close as 20-30 yards from the truck. These were the first brown bears (grizzlies) we have seen.
We finished the drive and stopped at the little village at the entrance of the park to browse the shops and get some lunch.
We continued the drive south on AK 3 (parks road) and camped at a site recommended be iOverlander at the Susitina River crossing 1hr north of Wasilla. What a neat place to camp with lots of spots, plenty of space, a 1-mile beach for walks. Very nice.
We finished our chores in Fairbanks (laundry, dump/fill tanks, propane, groceries, Alaska Public Lands Visitors Center and headed back south to Denali. We have 4 nights reservations at the campground in Teklanika River, although will likely leave late on the 7th since I have another cardio appointment on the 8th in Anchorage. We made it to the park around 2pm, checked in, got a shower, and checked out the visitors center. Before 1957 you could not drive here with the only access by train. People still use the train to get to Denali from Fairbanks and Anchorage.
We drove the park road and made it to camp around 6. Since we were here a few days we set up the shelter. It’s a good thing we did since the rain started at 10PM and went all night.
The next morning we had bus passes to ride up to where the end of the road is. Apparently the visitor center at mile 60 some is not open because the road is still being repaired from a landslide several years ago. We enjoyed the ride, and walked 3 to 4 miles at the very end through the river bed, across the bridge, and then up several miles on the Park Road. We checked out a little side road to one of the Rangers cabins, and found some fairly fresh bear prints. We didn’t actually see the bear fortunately, but we did see a caribou running down the creek.
it rained again once we got back to camp, but then the sun came out and it’s supposed to be really nice for the next couple days. Maybe we’ll get to see Mount McKinley. Tonight it’s grilled chicken for dinner over a fire that will hopefully be able to have.
Well the appointment went well. My heart has returned to normal Sinus rhythm and the cardiologist said my heart and valves all looked like things were normal, except for the AFib. So he wanted to schedule a heart monitor for 48 hours and then a chemical stress test. We set it up for August 8, and he said I should be good to continue to enjoy our trip. We headed into Anchorage to pick up some coins Kathy missed at the Alaska Public lands Center, and the hospital called back and said I could pick up my monitor. We headed back there and finally got on the road to head to Talkeetna.
We arrived in the afternoon and the town was packed. We looked for a campsite and ended up at the VFW for $20. I took the pups for a long walk, and we watched the salmon fishing on the shore of the river. When I got back, Kathy and I were wanting to browse the cool shops, and then had some great local pizza. By then the town was vacating and we headed back to camp for a great nights sleep.
We decided to try some salmon fishing and hired a local kid who was renting poles and gear. He showed us how to fish, which was surprising without bait. The chum and pink salmon were running in the river and all we had to was wait for them to get hooked. Well it took me about 90 minutes and I caught the biggest fish I’d ever caught (I’m from AZ, not known for big stream fish). About 20 minutes later I snagged an even bigger chum salmon. We got our guide and he offered to fillet them, so we said why not. By the time he was done, we probably had 10 lbs of salmon.
I cooked two pieces in the oven and made cilantro lime Rice. This was the first time Kathy had experienced Freshly caught salmon and she loved it. We shared some with the pups as well. We have 6 more salmon fillets in the freezer.
Since we decided to stay two nights in Talkeetna, the next day we got up and did some shopping/browsing through this quaint little town. It turns out it’s pretty barren the morning, but the train stops here and unloads cruise ship passengers as well as folks coming from Fairbanks and Anchorage. So the town fills up for the day and then at about six or seven at night. It shuts down again, similar to Skagway. I wanted to do a bit more fishing, and since the Alaskan tag was still good until 2pm that day, I looked up Landon again and rented his poles. I did catch one small pink salmon, but decided not to take it.
We packed up around 2pm and made the long drive north to Fairbanks. We had a package to pick up from Amazon in Fairbanks that we had ordered two weeks prior. We had no idea at the time that would be spending so much time in Anchorage. So we camped at the University of Alaska Fairbanks parking lot, which amazingly had power so we could top off our batteries. Tomorrow we head to Teklanika Campground in Denali National Park. We’ve had reservations there since April. Teklanika is at mile 29 on the Park Road for some remote camping.
We spent two nights camped below Exit Glacier just outside the Kenai-Fjords National Park. We decided to stay an extra day since it was raining and i was feeling a bit under the weather and wanted to ride it out. It was a good day to do it since the weather was cold and drizzly all day. On the 27th we packed up and headed to Seward to look around.
Seward is Mile 0 for the Ididerod dog race to Nome, AK. Also has hundreds of campsites owned by the town set up along the shores and marina in typical sardine fashion. There was a cruise ship in the harbor so tons of additional tourists were mulling about.
We browsed through some interesting shops and had a delicious hot sandwich from a bakery on the Main Street. The town had free dumps and water fill so we took care of that after filling up with fuel.
We drove back to Anchorage to get a medical checkup for me as I was not feeling better. It turns out it was a problem so after admitting me to the emergency room, I was referred to the cardiologist and prescribed some medicines. We could not fill the prescription as nothing was open past 7pm in Anchorage, so we had a dinner at a bougie Mexican restaurant called Sorrenos. The food was good and service was OK. We retired to the Bass Pro Shop parking lot for the night.
The next day we headed in to get the Rx filled and topped off the cupboards. The pharmacy helped with some coupon pointers and a ridiculous cost for a medication went from $800 to $23. This trip has definitely thrown us some curve balls.
We went to downtown Anchorage and hung out at one of the public parks, walked the pups, did some reading, etc and then headed up to Eagle River to get a campsite at the state park. We set up and then met one of Kathy’s former students who lives in the area. She’s a hoot and we had a great visit and learned much about the area, its quirks, and politics.
On Monday, the 28th, I got a call from the Dr and have two follow up’s on Thursday and Friday, so we are in the area until then. We took off after lunch to check out two local parks, did some hiking with the pups, and then met Noria again for dinner and some laughs. We camped again at the Eagle creek State Park. It’s easy, and only $20 for the night.
We are goning yo break camp in the morning, head around the Turnagain Arm and visit the Wildlife refuge, and the. Continue on towards Solditna, the Russian River, and Homer. We have to be back Thursday morning for my appointment.
We had a nice night with only one interruption. A black SUV with some loud people pulled up after midnight across the road from us. I was able to get back to sleep but when I got up in the morning to let the pups out, there was some campfire smoke in the air. They pulled out and left the thing burning. The worst part is they lit it in a grass area, on the grass, and just left. These kind of people are why we lose access to public places. Uggh. I pulled a bucket of water from the lake and put it out.
I managed to work on the electrical a bit on the truck. It turns out some of the repairs I did in Idaho and two days ago in Wasilla were the cause of the issue. I had connected the ground on the center reverse light pin on the 7-pin cable. This was blowing the trailer reverse fuse. And Ram keeps 12V on all of the time to sense a trailer, so I disconnected the 12V power lead from the 7-pin to remove that sensor. Finally, since the truck camper does not have trailer brakes, I clipped that connection as well (in the patch cable between the truck and camper). This fixed everything, at least for now. I am still seeing a loss of brake controller connection in the codes, but I’ll watch that for a bit. I hope the initial crossed wiring in Idaho that started all of this didn’t kill that truck component.
Now on to the travel. We headed over to the Portage Glacier visitors center and enjoyed the exhibits. We decided not to go to Whittier and headed towards Seward. This is a busy road, as it’s the only one to the lower peninsula. Along the way we were treated to a moose foraging in a pond. Very neat to watch
We continued on to the Exit Glacier and the Kenai National Park to have lunch, hike, and get some park stamps. We headed back toward the highway after several hours and found a great place to camp along the river. The pups and I took a nice long walk along the river and enjoyed the cool evening.
We drove into Downtown Anchorage and paid for parking so we could walk the pups on a trail that winds along the coast. The pups ended up walking 2.4 miles on this walk and had a blast with all the smells.
There was a brewery called 49th State Brewery, so I stopped in for an IPA and an Elk Sausage sandwich. Kathy came up the hill to join me and we sat in the beautiful weather. We then hiked up the road to the Alaskan Public Lands Visitors center. They had some great exhibits and we enjoyed the education. We purchased the coins, fit the stamps, and picked up some postcards and stickers before heading out to the tourist stops.
We praised many shops and found a few trinkets we wanted. I had checked the tidal schedule and low tide was 2 PM, and since it was now 3:30 we headed towards the Turnigan Sound to watch the tides at Beluga Point. We didn’t see and beluga whales but the dogs enjoyed playing on the beach.
we continued onward to top up on water and found a nice campsite in the Portage Valley. We quickly set up and had a peaceful evening of sleep. We took a few photos today. The one below is the Anchorage Visitors Cabin and in the you get to address and send free two free postcards home. Yeah, that was free.
We got to bed really late, even though the sun was still up, had a great night sleep. Today was chores day: showers, laundry, refuel, water fill, grey and black tank dump, etc. So we headed back in to Wasilla to take care of that. There was a NAPA store next door to the showers/laundry so I did some troubleshooting on some electrical issues I’ve been experiencing with the truck/trailer connection to the camper. I found 2 blown fuses so I replaced them (only to find out one blew again right away). Later that day we noticed the running lights were on after the truck was shut off, so I pulled the fuse in the camper for the running lights. We don’t drive at night here anyway. I have to do some thinking about the issue.
We went on a search for Dr Pepper zero and after three stores, I ended up with 20oz 6-packs of them and headed on to get fuel for hungry Howie. The muskox farm was a few miles from town and we wanted to see these gnarly beasts.
We decided on the tour, which was OK. And we got to see about half of their herd of 75 animals. They comb them once or twice a year to get the fine hair from them and use it for making super soft and warm clothing. $60 per skein, wow! $200 scarf.
I was getting late so we headed out towards anchorage. We found a free dump and another free water source and then got to Bass Pro Shop about 8 pm. We met a couple of other overlanders there and had some nice travel discussions. One gentleman from NY named Emory had been all over the states off and on the past few years. Another was from Quebec and his don is a fishing guide up in Yellowknife, NWT. Two others were from Brazil and Argentina. Kind of cool.
