A visit by the state bird (Squirrel Creek Campground, AK)

 

In case you didn’t know, the unofficial Alaskan state bird is the Mosquito. 

We are sitting in a state campground just outside the Wrangle-St. Elias NP.

It is a beautiful campground with each site tucked into the trees surrounded by mountains on a small lake and infested with Mosquitos. Most of the trip it was not bad, but here the Mosquitos will suck every ounce of blood from your body if you sit outside too long. 

We took a drive to the Kennecott Copper mine within the National Park.  It is abandoned now so the NP took it over and made it into a museum.  It is about a 3 hour drive from the campground.

This time we only took the truck.  The road started off a well maintained paved road.  Then there came the dreaded sign, “ End of Payment”.  With memories of Hatcher Pass still fresh in our memories.  We ventured on.  As usuall  the scenery was unbelievable. Mountains to the right mountains to the left. 

The road got rougher and bouncier.  After about 2 hours, we had enough and turned around.  It just wasn’t worth the effort.  We turned around and came back to my little buzzing birds, mosquitos.  Tomorrow we leave for Valdez and civilization.

Life is still good on the Roan Road…

Frontier Town USA (Palmer, AK)

 

Palmer, Alaska was started during the depression to bring farming to Alaska.  About 203 families were chosen from the northern counties of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.  The thought was that these people, who were destitute because of the Depression, knew how to farm in the cold climate of Alaska.

We visited a typical 1930 colonist home.

 

Below are the things Ann remembers from her Grandparents and parents homes,

We also visited a Musk Ox farm. The Musk Ox farm was started in 1954 as a project to domesticate the Musk Ox.  I was also a way to provide economic supplement to remote Alaskan communities.  The farm is a non profit project.

		Musk Ox Farm VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Next we head across the Glenn Highway to Wrangle-St. Elias NP and then to Valdez.

Life is good on the Roan Road …

Wrong Turn? (Palmer, AK)

 

We left Talkeetna yesterday and stopped at to Visitor Center to get some info as to where to go in the Mat Su valley.  They suggested going to Hatcher Pass and Palmer.  Going down AK 3 to the Willow cutoff to Hatcher Pass and Palmer.  Sounds good, the Hatcher Pass is supposed to have some great views we thought, and it did.  Only 45 minutes down on AK 3 you will see the Willow cut off, no problem. 

Well off we went.  About 35 minutes later we saw a sign, “ Hatcher Pass”, camper in tow we made a left, first mistake.  Down the road we went when we came to a sign, “End of Pavement”.  That does not sound good, I thought, but the road looked ok.  Not paved, but ok towing an 9 ton camper with at pickup.

Not paved is an understatement.  The road got worse and narrower as we drove on.  There was no place to turn around.  There were workers fixing the road,  they just waved us on with a smile.  To the right, a rock face going staight up.  To the left a drop off of about 500ft, with no guard rail.

But the views were unbelievable. The scenery indescribable. The pictures do not do it justice, but  to say that Ann was upset, was an understatement (once we arrived in Palmer, she didn’t get out of the truck for about 10 minutes and couldn’t even eat).  We never went over 25 MPH, the road were rough and twisty.  There were grades over 10%, up and down.    If we knew what we were in for, we would never have tried it.  Especially pulling a 5th wheel camper.  All of the locals we talked to since then could not believe that we make the trip.  I was not worried at the time, and the truck came through, so far, OK.

		Hatcher Pass VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

So here we sit in Palmer.  A OK.  One more tale to put on the Blog.

The next day we back to Hatcher Pass.  This time through Palmer, which is what we should have done the first time.  We visited an old Gold Mine, which is now a state historic site.

		Gold Mine VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

Life is good on the Roan Roan...

Denali by Air (Talkeetna, AK)

 

We took off from Talkeetna airport with 8 souls on board in a single engine turboprop Otter.  We even returned in the same aircraft with 8 souls on board, safe and sound.

So here are the pictures I promised.  This is not all of them, if you want to see them all then go to Mt. Denali by Air

Picasa Content

Here it is, the big one. It is the one in the back covered in snow.

Just to prove I was really their.

This is a picture of the base camp for the climb to the top. If you look really close you can see Dustin waving his arms.

Well it was taken at about 8000 feet above the ground.

Here are the rest.

		Mt. Denali by Air VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

Life is good on the Roan Road…