Denali

Denali National Park is a huge, scenic, wild life preserve covering nearly 25,000 square kilometres. That's 40 times bigger than Lake Taupo or over half the size of the North Island, and in its centre is Denali, the highest mountain in North America. It used to be called Mt McKinley (after a US president who never actually visited Alaska – sound familiar?).  However, in 2015, amid rejoicing from the Alaskans and (of course), opposition from Republicans, Barak Obama changed its name to Denali. To the Athabascan Indians this means ‘the high one’. And it certainly is one big chunk of rock. Standing at 6,190 metres, it has its own weather system and is more often than not, shrouded in cloud.

But we were lucky! We were lucky to get fine clear weather and lucky to be able to visit before the park officially opened for the summer. This meant that staying in the campground was free and every day we were able to drive ourselves 30 miles into the park on the only road, In 'the season' it is only possible to travel through the park by bus but having our own wheels gave us freedom and we loved it.

Because the area is so large and for most of the year animals have it to themselves, they don’t seem at all disturbed by motor vehicles or people. Although were not so great at wildlife spotting at first, we found if we stayed late, cooking our dinner while deep in the park and just sat waiting with binoculars, or drove very slowly along the road, the wildlife showed itself. Moose, caribou, dall sheep, ptarmigan and porcupine – we were able to ogle them all with Mac’s brilliant binoculars. Our best sighting though, was a big, dark wolf which passed close by as we sat outside the van eating our dinner. He looked like a huge, wary Alsatian. Unfortunately our little cameras could not reproduce the view in the binoculars so no brilliant wildlife photographs I am afraid.

We hiked high into the hills above the tree line with just sheep in the distance and little arctic squirrels darting around. The views were stunning. We learned later that the hungry grizzlies like to hang out there also, digging those cute little arctic ground squirrels from their burrows! Fortunately we can’t be much of a culinary delight to a grizzly as we never saw one and that bear spray is still unused! 

First world problems still plagued us though – no cellphone reception past Mile 6 in the park and we had run out of ground coffee!! This meant an emergency trip to the only coffee shop open – Starbucks in the Denali Princess Lodge. That latte with an extra shot and the free wifi soothed those caffeine and data addictions.

Eventually though we had to leave Denali and headed south towards the quaint little town of Talkeetna. After five days without a shower we felt we deserved a proper campground and celebrated our outer cleanliness with a lovely meal in town. It felt so good!

Next up – the big city of Anchorage and exploring the Kenai Penninsular.

Denali - the big white in the middle!

Hiking the trails

We climbed to the top of that!

The quaint town of Talkeetna

Out biking in Talkeetna - Denali in the background

North in Alaska - Haines to Fairbanks

From Haines to Fairbanks is 1030 km and Google maps told us we could drive it in 12 hours and 23 minutes! As if!! It took us five days and four overnight stops. These stops were certainly varied and included a remote rural airstrip in Burwash Landing and the back of a Chevron station in Tok (rhymes with poke). We enjoyed a meal at a fishing lodge next door to our State Park camp at Delta Junction and on our way back to the van discovered a young moose resting on a path just below us. Most memorable though, was the beautiful frozen lake surrounded by woods, complete with cabin and roaring log fire. It was very fittingly called Kathleen Lake and so forever now in our minds it is Kathy’s Lake. We had our first bear siting here too as a young grizzly walked across the ice. Unfortunately we were not quick enough with the camera.

We drove through hundreds of miles of spruce forest – but it was a ragged, ‘drunken’ sort of forest. The permafrost and very poor soil means that trees are shallow rooted, have sparse foliage and seem to be on a drunken lean. In addition, warmer temperatures have meant a proliferation of spruce bark beetle which has devastated thousands of acres of spruce forest leaving hillsides covered in dead trees – fuel for the hundreds of forest fires which rage during the summer, usually caused by lightning strike. It probably seemed more bleak because the cottonwood and birch trees that line the road were not yet in leaf.

The driver though, was required to keep eyes on the road to look out for ‘frost heave’. In winter damp soil freezes and forms mounds, often splitting the tarseal and causing large hummocks which bounce everything around in the van. This happens everywhere there is permafrost (so nearly every highway in Alaska and Yukon) and there is no shortage of work for highway maintenance crews repairing the roads every spring.

We were pleased to reach Fairbanks and were greeted by the howl of half a dozen airforce Tomcat jets flying past us at Eielson Airforce Base. However, they were nothing compared to the mosquitoes that greeted us at the provincial park we planned to stay at! They are huge! We abandoned that idea and headed for the city. We didn’t even stop at the Santa Clause House in North Pole on the outskirts. It was right next to the motorway, had lost all its snow and just looked a bit tacky as we sped by.

Fairbanks is the second largest city in Alaska and home to a large army and airforce base and the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. It is spread out, designed for cars and does not really seem to have a ‘centre’. Most shopping is done in a couple of malls. Because of the climate, buildings seem to be lacking in windows and really the only architect-designed buildings we saw were the university buildings high on the hill. 

Once oriented though we enjoyed our stay. The University of Alaska Museum of the North is magnificent as is the display at the Visitor and Cultural Centre. We stayed at Pioneer Park, a historic theme park which allows RV parking in the carpark area and cycled along the river into town. We visited an outstanding antique car museum, walked for miles in a waterfowl sanctuary and treated ourselves to a cruise in a paddle steamer up the Chena River. It was the first day of the season and we shared it with three bus loads of cruise boat tourists.  A sign of crowds to come as summer approaches! Neverthess, we enjoyed the afternoon and even had our photo taken in a room where the temperature was -60F degrees! Didn’t hang about in there!

The College Coffee House close to the university became our home away from home though – great wifi, good coffee, friendly staff and comfy leather armchairs. We could imagine that on those -40 degrees winter days with the fire roaring, it would be a popular place to hang out. They even had a regular gathering of ‘good old boys’ – just like Ozone in NP! 

Beautiful Kathy's Lake

View from cabin  at Kathy's Lake - bear walked across the lake

Our airfield camp - views aren't too bad!

Dead spruce on the hillsides

Border between Yukon and Alaska

Sled dog transport - mushing is big up here!

Our first moose!

University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum

Blue Babe - 36,000 year old steppe bison preserved in permafrost

Getting ready to do our tourist thing

Note the temperature - yup it was cold!

Car museum

The last of the inside passage - Juneau to Haines

The Mendenhall Glacier is the premier tourist must do in Juneau – and it doesn’t disappoint. Just 15 minutes’ drive from the city, it is big and white and it has little bergs floating off it. As an added bonus a beaver paddled his way around in the lake for us. We were able to walk along a woodland track to the face of the glacier then back along the sand beach. We looked up and high in a tree top was a female black bear and her two cubs. Our first wild bear sighting – so exciting - and we clicked away with our cameras. But Oh the disappointment when our best shots showed just a small back blob. Wildlife photographers we ain’t!

Up to this point our RV has been very reliable but on the way back to town it started to miss. This presented a problem as it was 3 pm and we were to sail on the ferry to Skagway early next morning. After being sent from one garage to another and phone calls to Cruise Canada, we eventually found an obliging mechanic who put the scanner on it to see what the problem was. It was a faulty spark plug/coil and they managed to find the hour required to replace it for us. Apparently if it had been a plug on a different cylinder it would have required the engine to be removed. We were lucky it was that plug, lucky to find such an obliging garage who put other work aside for us and lucky it happened in Juneau rather than on the Alaskan Highway with miles and miles between towns.

Skagway, our next port of call, is the historic “Gateway to the Klondike”. Countless fortune-seekers (and many planning to relieve them of it!) made their way here during the Alaska gold rush. They had to prepare themselves for the tortuous trip over the Chilkoot or the White Pass. The Canadian Government determined each person going to Dawson from Skagway needed 3lb of food per day for a whole year. So food alone weighed in at a half a ton and many trips up and back down were required to transport all their gear up the steep slopes. An excellent display in the Parks building gave a graphic account of life for goldminers and others who made their way to the town. A railway and a road goes over White Pass now. We drove - it was a beautiful winter wonderland at the top and impossible to imagine how after surviving the climb through the pass, anybody would have had the ability to crash through bush for another 500 miles to reach the goldfields.

Skagway has kept its old buildings and boardwalks and now relies on the stampede from thousands of cruise ship visitors who start arriving in town from the beginning of May. We attended the season kick-off party for locals and the large number of college kids from the lower 48 states who come to town to work for the season. There were lots of happy reunions, dancing and (very average) music.

Our tourist thing though was to take a flightseeing trip over Glacier Bay – 3.2 million acres of coastal islands, scenic fiords and the highest concentration of tidewater glaciers on the planet – it was spectacular. Our pilot was a character – he was very pleased to have Kiwis on board because it meant he could safely bad-mouth Donald Trump. We were pleased too as we had been keeping our mouths firmly shut for the past few weeks at the sight of Trump/Pence stickers on the back of utes!

Haines was our last ferry stop. It was a dull, overcast Sunday evening when we arrived so we free-camped along the waterfront and decided to push on towards Fairbanks the next day. It is over a thousand kilometres up the Alaskan highway and we figure that at the pace we travel it will take us about 5 days. Best we get moving!!

Mendenhall Glacier

At Mendenhall Glacier

Top of White Pass - still cold up here!

Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay

Lining up for our last ferry trip - this time on the Le Comte

Sailing the Inside Passage

Our next destination, Sitka, involved 2 nights and 1 ½ days on the ferry. Getting back onto the “Matamuska” was like returning to the womb, with the steady thrum of the engines, and the crew playing ‘Mum’ providing us with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Although the cabins are basic with upper and lower bunks, each has a shower, hand-basin and a toilet.  On deck the scenery was spectacular with snow-capped mountain and islands covered in trees. Once again we could not have been more fortunate with the weather and were blessed with cloudless blue skies.

We studied the water - scanning right to left as we were instructed – the way they do in sniper school apparently!! Near the shoreline there was a dark shape in the water, then a column of misty air as the whale blew. The tale came up and it dived below – our one and only sighting.

­­­During a 5 hour layover in Juneau we took the RV ashore to explore. It was quite cold, semi-deserted and did not impress us much.  We had a meal with a view, and ran back to the Matamuska (Mum) ready to sail off again into the night, snugly tucked up in our bunks. ­­

Next morning we travelled through the Sergia Narrows. At times the shore was only 50m away as we sailed amongst dozens of small islands, with blue sky and mirror-smooth waters. Our cameras were at the ready as whales are often seen here. We became friends with the purser who is a keen photographer. When he appeared on deck our excitement mounted, our cell phone cameras held at the ready but nary a whale to snap.  We heard that one was seen on the other side of the boat but it had gone by the time we got there. The purser of course, was in the right place at the right time. We learned the lesson, and followed him around like faithful puppies, but no more whales for us. 

Sitka was founded by the Russians as a trading post for the fur trade. Once they had trapped sea otters to near extinction Sitka and Alaska was of no further value to them and they sold it to the US. It has a lot of Russian and first nation history and a permanent population of around 8900. Like Juneau there is no road access - you can only get here by ferry or by air.  For much of the year it is a fishing village but come 1 May the cruise ships arrive and there can be up to three ships and 5000 tourists ashore. For us though it was peaceful, sunny and lovely as we walked and cycled.  

The Fortress of the Bear is a large enclosure that is home to five very big grizzly bears and three black bears all orphaned as cubs. The centre is run by a young English couple who have dedicated themselves to saving as many bears as they can. Unfortunately Alaska law prevents them being returned to the wild and as these bears have long life spans it is a long-term commitment for them. Although officially closed they gave us a tour and passionate talk about their work. We also visited The Raptor Centre, another conservation centre that takes in injured birds such as owls, bald eagles and the like.  Fortunately they are able to return most of their charges to the wild, but there are some that have to remain for life due to disabling injuries. Our final visit was to the Sheldon Jackson museum, a beautiful historic building and former first-nation school campus which now houses a huge collection of native art, artifacts and photos.

Sitka was a delight and we were sad to be reaching the end of our inside passage wanderings. The next stop was Juneau for one night, then the gold stampede town of Skagway and finally leaving to drive north from Haines. We would really recommend the Alaska ferries as a great way to travel the inside passage. It gives the freedom to hop off where you choose, has good basic facilities and food, and is a fraction of the cost of a cruise ship. 

Tranquil and stunningly beautiful

Approaching Sitka - Mt Edgecombe

Binoculars at the ready

Scanning, scanning! 

Kitchen crew on Matanuska

Sitka

Sitka harbour

Moma & Poppa bear carers

And a couple of the babies

Well - actually this baby weighs  about 470 kg!

View from Sitka library - and free wifi

Our camping place

No bears here!

Alaska Marine Highway - Prince Rupert to Wrangell

The bit of the Alaskan panhandle known as The Inside Passage stretches for 773 km and is 160 km wide. There are numerous settlements all through the myriad of islands and it has a rich history of gold mining, fur trading, logging and fishing. But there are no roads links to the mainland – just at the far northern end at the towns of Haines and Skagway. Even Juneau, the state capital of Alaska has no road link. Of course, there are roads within the communities but nearly every family owns a boat of some description.  An excellent ferry system services all these communities. The ferries we travelled on are somewhat smaller than the Inter Islander but able to carry cars, trucks, RV’s etc. Because they travel such huge distances, they come complete with cabins (grandly called staterooms), showers, cafe, observation room, upstairs covered ‘solarium’, movie room etc.

We have 10 days cruising The Inside Passage on the ferries, stopping off for a few days at settlements along the way. Prince Rupert to the island of Wrangell was our first leg. It was dark and wet when we arrived and we were tired after a very early start- and 14 hours of scanning the seas for the tell-tale spray of passing whales. The town roads had no markings and our satnav completely lost the plot. As we pulled over to cuss the satnav, the local sheriff pulled in behind us -  he thought we were intoxicated! Nope - just old, lost and confused! Welcome to Wrangell and Dave’s first run-in with the law!

Actually, we loved Wrangell – it’s not very big and by the time we left three days later we seemed to know quite a few folk. We were greeted at the RV park by a young man, who actually was intoxicated, but he handed us a lovely bit of frozen halibut and didn’t seem too put out when Dave suggested he might prefer listening to his wife’s directions for backing the RV back rather than the rather slurred instructions he gave.

We are very early-migrating tourist birds so nothing is really geared up for the season yet. Everything in Alaska starts on 1 May! The town was devoid of tourists so our flight path backwards and forwards for the next 3 days attracted lots of waves and cheerful greetings. Tourist boat excursions haven’t started yet but we were lucky enough to find a very obliging chap called Eric who was running his light landing craft up the Stikine River, past the Canadian border in order to pick up some gear for the equivalent of DOC. They had been micro-chipping salmon smolt up-river in order to track them as they grow. As we sped over the water we munched on dried, smoked ‘hooligan’ fish and spotted dozens of bald eagles, colonies of fractious sea lions and sea otters. In April as many as 1600 bald eagles arrive to feast on the annual hooligan run. No moose or bear though – still too early after an unusually cold winter.

Our final night in Wrangell we treated ourselves to a meal at the Stikine Inn – the place where everybody goes for a meal and no-one can get through their portion. We were greeted as long lost friends by one of the men we had picked up-river and given lots of advice on what to do and what to see at our next destination Sitka – the old Russian capital of Alaska.

Wrangell harbour

Boats galore

"Crew" up the Stikine River

Our small landing craft

Final evening in Wrangel

Aboard ship - all that cloud cleared