Lake Creek Campground - Yukon

Mother black bear and cubs

We left Tok, with an easy day ahead of us.  Made it thru customs, with minimal effort.  decided to take a short hike to Hidden Lake (a kettle pond, in the Yukon....one of probably a million, but it had a boardwalk to get there...a nice little one mile hike, with complementary children's life jackets under the sign, "Kids don't float." Then came the realization that there is a time zone change, and our anticipated arrival time is now 5:00!  Fortunately, there were plenty of nice spots left, and we cozied up under some tall spruce trees.

Awhile back an Alaskan asked if we had seen any wildlife, we excitedly said we had seen moose...yeah, yeah, but besides that have you seen any real wildlife! It's a different world.

Anyway back at the campground, we have pulled down all the shades, because the sun is still up at 11:00 at night, when there is a banging at the door.  We figure it must be the Royal Mounties, searching for an escaped murderer or even worse...nope...mother and daughter pull into the campground, find a place and are trying to self register and pay their $12, but they don't have change for a $20.  Our visitor is a 10 year girl asking for change at 11:00 at night...only in the Yukon!

It's off to Haines Junction...back a few weeks ago we stopped there for lunch...and we are anxious for a repeat!

Sourdough Campground - Tok, AK

Sourdough Campground is according to their ad, the "funnest" campground in Alaska.  Not hard to believe, given that they are the only campground with a daily pancake toss contest, where the winners get free breakfasts!

For us, the fun was in going to the laundromat in town, catching up on bills, and washing the RV....well to each his own, as they say.

The drive here, along the Tok Cutoff a short, by Alaska standards, 120 mile road with large sections of frost heaves...they're not bad, just sort of a roller coaster kind of ride at 25 mph...probably a terror at 55 mph with some serious airborne experiences.  Of course, the trip was lined with tall mountain peaks, the entire way.

From Tok, we redo a few hundred miles of the Alaska Highway, back to Haines Junction from where we head south.  Today is less than 200 miles, so it should be an easy day.

Dry Creek Campground - Glennallen, AK

Lunch stop on the Matanuska River

When we planned the Alaska trip, we booked our reservations at those places that fill up quickly, such as Denali National Park, and the Alaska Marine Highway (the ferries, making sure there is space for an RV)...then we fill in the middle, dividing it into fairly equal segments.  So we are traveling only about 3 hours a day...between Anchorage and Haines, where we catch the ferry.  When the drive is scenic, it's a great way to travel.  Today was one of those days.

We stopped for lunch beside a rushing river, gray with silt.  With the extra time, Deb made a chicken pasta salad.  Awhile later, we were at the toe of the Matanuska glacier...then over the ridge to start getting incredible views of Mt Drum.

Matanuska Glacier

Finally, at around 3:00 we tucked ourselves into Dry Creek Campground...we were finally joined by a couple of tenters, but that was it.  In Denali, I had bought some firewood...you have to buy it at the entrance and cart it the thirty miles to your campsite...but there was always a lot of wind, so I made a small fire, but we were too nervous and we put it out pretty quickly.  I have been carrying the rest of the firewood with me for a week...looking for that perfect time...this was it.

Somewhere, Deb got the idea that we could make pizzas on the grill, so I made some dough, and Deb fixed up some toppings.  IT WORKED! Two awesome personal pizzas

Pizza on the barbie

with sausage, onions, and celery (we forgot to buy any green peppers).

Tomorrow is another 3 hour drive to Tok.

Ship's Creek Landing RV Park - Anchorage, AK

Seward cruise ship

Seward shoreline

We have returned from our southern sojourn.  A gorgeous night in Homer, driving to Seward for lunch and then back to Anchorage for date night.  So first of all, it was cloudy on the way down to Homer, and sunny on the way back...it turns out there were huge...I mean really huge snow covered mountains on the other side of the bay, who knew?

Seward is a quiet little fishing village, and a cruise ship destination...there was a large cruise ship in port as we pulled in, but the cruise dock is about a mile from town, so I think we were pretty safe. We ate lunch at Zudy's Cafe, right on the water, splendid view, awesome food (way too much however...obviously our over indulgence at lunch is going to cramp our style for date night).

Seward is the start of the Iditarod dog sled race

On the return trip, we stop for a few groceries and a quick oil change.  Everyone we have met here is very friendly, extremely helpful, with no shortage of opinions!  Once back at the campground, we plan our date night.  It's got to be local...no chain restaurants, it's got to be close and it has to have a place to park the RV.  And tonight it has to be small plates, since lunch is still very much with us.  We find Spenard's Roadhouse, with a bank next door (big parking lot).  The menu included reindeer pizza.  As we sit down for diner, the woman at the table next to us says I look familiar, she thinks I'm some brain surgeon from her past!  Sorta like the old "didn't we go to different high-schools together? pick-up line.  Anyway, we talked all through dinner.  We told them about RVing, and they told us about all the places in Alaska that we missed seeing, with no shortage of opinions.  They were very nice people, and we had a lively time, and besides the food was excellent.

Tomorrow we are off towards Haines (4 or 5 days away) for the first of two ferry rides to "get back down" (that's the way us Alaskans talk about the lower 48).

Mariner Campground - Homer, AK

Scenic Byway - road to Kenai Peninsula

It's one of my overused words...serendipity...but if that's what it is, why not!  The dead battery took us out of Denali a day early, so we had an extra day for the Kenai Peninsula.  We have been trying to decide between going to Seward on one side or Homer on the other (a quick google search brought up a website - Homer vs Seward).  So with the extra day, we could do both.  With snow covered mountains dropping right into the sea, it was a breathtaking trip.

Our campground in Homer

Our little problem was where to stay...as a type "A" person, I have researched most of the places that we are planning to stay at...but here I have no idea.  As we drive through Homer, I am not too excited about staying here.  The road extends to Homer Spit which is where the ferries land.  Just as we get to the spit, there is a city campground, with two rows of campers...one, right on the beach, the other backed up against the road.  Of course, all the beachside are taken, so we back up next to the road...get out our chairs and settle in for an almost perfect view.  As we are sipping our adult beverages, one of rigs in the beachside row pulls out at 5:00 in the afternoon,  so quick as a wink, we pull into the empty site, dragging our chairs behind us...and now we settle in for the absolutely perfect view....

Tomorrow an early start to to Seward and then back to Anchorage to start the trip home.  Today marks the halfway point, and coincidentally, the longest number of consecutive days in the RV, thirty-one!

Ship's Creek Landing RV Park - Anchorage, AK

Anchorage is sort of a maintenance stop, and where we are launching our southern excursion from. We have no real plans, and with the dead battery issue behind us, we actually have an extra day. Every person we talk to tells us about the best place to visit...Homer....Seward...Whittier...Valdez.

We have decided that what was to be a day trip, is now an overnighter...but to where? No idea.  In Alaska, everything is driven by the weather.  So there is rain all overhead Kenai Peninsula, and tomorrow it will be cloudy and the next day sunshine, maybe.  So with that info and a full tank of $3.00 a gallon gas, we head out.

In our campground we saw a very unusual RV, Mercedes Benz, looks very rugged and has been all over the world.  Check out their travel blog, which is on the side of the camper.

Denali National Park - Alaska

View from our campsite in Teklanika

We left Fairbanks, ready for three days in the wilderness of Denali.  The rules for Denali are complex.  The park (which is larger than New Jersey) has a single road 92 miles long running through the middle of it.  Anyone can drive the first 13 miles of the road. With a special permit, we were allowed to drive 29 miles of the road to the Teklanika Campground (with a minimum 3 day stay) but no further.  At that point, we were not allowed to leave (once you leave, you're done...you can't go back).  There are shuttle buses (basically school buses) that run up and down the road ($35 for a bus pass).  It takes 12 hours to get to the end of the road and back.   We can go from our camp to the end and back to our camp, if we go any further towards the entrance, it will cost us another $35 to get back!  There are lots more rules, but I will them leave for later.

Road into Denali - no guardrails!

Since we have the dog with us, and he is not allowed on the shuttle bus, we realize that a 12 hour trip to the end is out of the question, so we opt for Eielson Visitor Center which is 66 miles from the entrance or 37 miles from our campground and only 6 hours round trip.  Every 60 minutes there is a potty break and lots of wildlife and scenic vista opportunities.  Even with all of the restrictions, it was one of those incredibly memorable days.  Within the first hour, we came across a grey wolf that decided to trot slowly down the middle of the road for nearly a mile.  After that a grizzly bear and her two adolescents (2 year olds), were working on the remains of a dead caribou, and Dahl sheep, that appeared as small white dots on the side of mountains.  According to several sources, the chances of seeing Mt Denali (the tallest mountain in North America) is about 30% because it is always shrouded in clouds, but saw it - one of those sites that pictures won't do justice to.

Denali in the distance

Now comes the interesting problem!  We have gone on the only road in the park as far as we can go with a dog waiting for us.  There are no real hiking trails.  It was the best day anyone who has been in the park has ever seen, perfect weather, lots of wildlife.  So what do we do on day two?  Well a flashing light on the dashboard told me that the engine battery was dead...and besides it was raining.  So we decided that we had seen the best of Denali, and headed for Anchorage with a brief stop in Wasilla to replace the battery.