Alaska blog -3 posted 6/26/24

6/21/24

I opted out of Tek Campground in Denali NP a day early. 

Tek campsite

There aren’t any hiking trails in the area. Since I had already done 5 miles RT outbound on the road and had taken the bus as far as inbound as one can go, i decided to move on. The bus is the only way to see the interior of the Park from Tek Campground to the closed section of the road. We didn’t see ant wildlife except two bears from a distance, one is pictured below. The scenery is awesome, a number of people got off the bus at various spots to walk the road, I chose not to do anymore road hiking.

The next day, I had a relaxing morning, refilled the water tank in the camper, got some steps in and headed out. I stopped at a few roadside views including Mountain View trail head, where I hiked an easy 0.7 mile trail thru the historic camp where visitors, circa early 1900s, would stay in canvas cabins. Nothing is left in this beautiful meadow indicating there had ever been a camp. It must have been quite the experience to ride a stage coach to this meadow and then “camp” with staff handling all the meals.

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I returned to the parking lot had lunch and enjoyed a leisurely drive to Ryan Creek mercantile store for a much needed shower, ice cream and a 12 pack of assorted local IPA beer. The shower was well with the $5 for a 10 minute, fully adjustable hot shower. I ran in to a couple from Massachusetts driving a Ford 250 with a FWC Hawk. 

Hawk next to the Alum Cab rental (pic)

This should give you a good idea of the size difference between the units.

I also talked to a distressed couple with a flat tire on a rental car, they with originally from MA and RI but now live in Denver. Not much I could do except drive back to the couple in the Hawk from MA and ask them if they had a tire plug kit. They did, so I told them where the couple in need were parked, asked if they would help and they headed off to find them.

I hung out in the day use area, posted the previous blog, had a beer, then headed back to the gravel pull out where I slept the night before entering DNP, for the night.

I learned a valuable Alaska lesson when I got there. Just because the rain stopped and the sun comes out, it doesn’t mean you won’t get rained on 30 minutes later while cooking dinner. I was able to quickly deploy the awning and continue cooking. It really poured buckets but the awning kept me nice and dry. My Batwing awning would not have been as easy to deploy in the rain.

On Saturday, 6/22/24, i left the gravel parking area and headed to the Denali Hwy. Fuel at the intersection was $4.99 a gallon, I topped off, grabbed a coffee and turned left onto the Denali Hwy. A few miles down the road, there was quite the grouping of RVs, cars trucks, easy Up awnings and lots of people. I stopped and learned that today there was a 135 mile run the length of the road. I didn’t see many people, and those I saw were walking. But, shit, most of them had already come more than 100 miles.

At one point down the road I pulled over at a random creek and flipped a few flies for awhile, I saw fish, they saw me and needless to say, I was not successful. I drove thru the BLM campground at Brushkana River but didn’t stay. The campground is heavily wooded, and loaded with mosquitoes. A couple of miles down the road, I found a nice open spot, high on a ridge to camp, with 360 degree views of mountains. 

Campsite 1 on Denali Hwy

After a late lunch and organizing my fly fishing gear for the next day, I headed down a two track trail from camp. Even though I had an air horn, bear spray, music playing on my phone and a .357 revolver on my hip, I wimped out after a half mile or so and headed back to camp. The brush is hip to waist high and I decided I would never see a bear unless it was on the trail. I even blasted the airhorn once just to let any bears know I was there.

Many years ago when I was writing for Escapees Magazine, I coined the term “geezer backpacking” long before “overlanding” was a term. So, I’m geezer backpacking in this rental unit now. You really don’t have to leave the gravel road much more than 20 yards to be alone. By 4pm, there were very few cars driving on the road and it was completely quiet. So far I would not have needed a truck to travel the Denali Hwy, but it was nice to have it to pull up a steep shoulder into my site. A SUV would have made it easily, but I like trucks, just for the added clearance and confidence. 

The next morning, Sunday, I headed out, stopped a few places to fish, no luck, but its just nice fishing someplace as pretty as it is here.

I had been wondering how many days I would need to carry my trash with me and suddenly I came upon a trash transfer station. Perfect

Transfer station

About 1 o’clock I saw a sign for the Alpine Creek Lodge, open year round 24 hours 7 days a week, food, bar and lodging. I drove in and just as I entered the porch, I met a gentleman from Texes who was there on a Grizzly Bear hunt. Although, I have no problem with people hunting for food, I do have a problem with trophy hunting, however, not being judgmental, we talked about travel. The guy, 85 years old, evidently had some bucks, he had been all over the world, and was still active. Putting aside his hobby, I have to admit he was an interesting guy. After about 20 minutes, I pulled away from him, and headed inside for a $20 burger and a $9 beer, the view and wifi were free.

Alpine creek lodge

I drove on down the road to a larger river to try my luck. The current was fast but there was an eddy that looked “fishy”, no luck. but what a spot. Thought about spending the night, but decided to seek higher ground to catch a breeze, a view and try to get away from the mosquitos.

Regardless of what some might say, the mosquitos are not large enough to carry away a small child. 

View from Campsite #2 on Denali Hwy 

I’ve been in Alaska a week now and except for the National Park, I have not paid to camp. The Denali Hwy has been much smoother than people and guide books have stated. The posted speed limit has been 40-50 mph on the gravel, I crossed onto some sort of made man road surface which is much rougher than the gravel shortly after the lodge, with quite a few potholes, so I was wishing to be back on the gravel. Needless to say, even with fishing, sight seeing, talking to strangers, I made much better time than anticipated, so will probably be off this road on Monday.

Here is the inside of the rental unit. It's a great place to escape the mosquitos, and well ventilated.

6/24/24, Monday, left camp early and stopped at Glacier Lake. It was 3/4 mile hike, saw fresh moose print, and fish rising on the lake. Fished for an hour or so, tossed dry flies, and then a wooly bugger. No luck, but what a beautiful spot.

Shortly thereafter I came upon the McLaren Lodge, stopped for coffee and a danish, pictures will be in next blog, Then around lunch time, I stopped at the Tangle Lakes Lodge for pizza and more coffee, with the idea of getting to the McCarthy Hwy, since it was starting to rain. 

After stopping at the Kenny Lake Mercantile to fuel and do laundry, I headed up the McCarthy Hwy and camped at a parking area for Silver Lake around 9pm Monday night.

It's now Wednesday morning, and I am behind on my blogging, so the next installment will be my adventures on the McCarthy Hwy and the town of McCarthy.

Stay tuned

 Alaska Part 2

6/20/24 - Pinch me, I can’t believe I’m really here.!!!!!

And on Solstice no less, Wow.

😆😆😆😆😆

I entered the park around 10 am and began the drive to Tek Campground. It was still clear this morning and so it was a beautiful drive. The road turns to hard packed gravel, that is incredibly smooth. The speed limit is 35 mph, but I could have easily gone much faster;  I didn’t. Some of you are calling bullshit, but it's true, I really wanted to cruise, but kept it slow, to enjoy the scenery and out of respect for that fact that the rig belongs to Michelle. 😇

You can’t drive past the Visitor Center or so, unless you hold a reservation and permit for Tek campground. After a few miles I came upon a check point on the Savage River. They checked my pass, told me all the rules again and sent me on my merry way. The pass is only good for one trip in to Tek and one trip back to the exit.

I was able to obtain a nice level, private campsite on a corner, next to the river. The river bed is 200 yards or so wide, but the water only flows in a narrow channel a good distance from my site. It’s a braided river so the channel can change day to day, and is never bank to bank.

I went for a five mile round trip walk on the road, there aren’t any designated trails here. The road seemed very safe from bears and moose, since I wasn’t closed in by brush. I did however play music. That’s away from the wilderness experience, but beats the heck out of surprising a bear or a moose.

There is one very different feature at here at Tek Campground. They do not have bear proof steel boxes at each site, there are a couple of food storage buildings in the campground, with open shelving to store food etc. safely. One shelf is mark free stuff. 

This place draws an assortment of campers, from all over the lower 48, I met a couple from NH. There are also an assortment of campers, tents, vans, bumper pull trailers, fifth wheels, large motorhomes, even a huge Entegra luxury coach. I can’t believe they drove that out here. let alone got a site they could fit in. The sites are all reserved, but not assigned, you just grab one upon arrival.

Logistics

Some of you will find this boring but I know a few will ask, plus this blog is as much for me to detail my adventures, as it is a sharing, so bare with me or just stop reading and enjoy the pictures.

I rented a Alu Cab camper mounted on a 2015 Toyota 4WD Tacoma extended cab TRO Off Road truck, from Alaska Overland Adventures located in Anchorage. Michelle is the owner and great to deal with. You can check out her website for details and pricing at alaskaoverlandadventures.com. She provides much of the basic camping stuff. The unit I rented is nicknamed “Mac” and includes a 13 gallon fresh water tank, 2 lb propane tank to run the propex furnace, a comfortable bed, 200 watts of solar, an All Cab 270 degree awning, and a separate house battery.

Then there are add-ons if you want them. When all was said and done with the fees, taxes and add-ons, I was just under $7000, but that includes a refundable $1,500 damage deposit. I don’t plan to damage it. The truck even came with an Alaska State Parks annual decal, which has saved me $10 in day use fees to date. Thanks Michelle.

Michelle didn’t cheap out on any of the equipment, it’s pretty much top of the line overlanding stuff. I have a bat wing 270 degree awning which wasn’t cheap, the alt-cab is way more, but now that I used it, I was I had sprung the extra $$$ for it on my rig.

I think I have out over 400 miles on the rental unit to date and it runs great and was immaculate when I picked it up. I am a bit concerned that I may not be able to get it looking that good when I return it. Michelle currently has two units for rent, the other is a roof top tent, on a truck.

I flew non-stop from Denver to Anchorage, on Alaskan Airlines. It was a five hour flight and no doors blew out, Round trip was $940, plus $70 for two bags. There was no additional charge for checking a firearm and ammo.

Except for Tek campground, I have not paid for a campsite. I drove into one RV park just outside the Denali NP last night and they wanted $66, ouch, of course if you read the 6/18/24 post you know I elected to drive south 9 miles and boondock. 

I did ship an Amazon order to Michelle, so I wouldn’t run the risk of being over weight and she was gracious enough to let me do that. 

My float trip on Willow Creek was with Fish Hound Expeditions, owner is Adam. Pricing is similar to the lower 48. Cost me just about $400 plus tip. Alaska annual fishing license without and special salmon permits, $100. They supplied all the gear, flies and lunch. I opted to use my own waders and boots.

I think for one person, it’s almost a wash compared to driving up here, obviously, two people could do it cheaper driving up depending on the camper and number of days of paid camping on the way up. It’s definitely cheaper than flying, renting a car and staying in motels or cabins. I’m very happy I did it this way. I miss my rig, but I don’t miss the 6000 mile round trip drive alone.

If I plan another trip with someone, I may compare the cost of a ferry at least one way with my own rig.

That’s it, I probably bored everybody except Scott. :)

Pilots say any landing you walk away from, is s good landing. Up here my motto is, any day I don’t get stomped by a Moose or eaten by a bear is a good day. 

Thursday, I take the bus to as far as it can go, due to a major rock slide it does not go to Wonder Lake. The road will not re-open past the slide until 2026 or 2027. 

Tight Lines and safe travels

 ALASKA Part 1

Saturday, 6/15/2024, Harvey picked me up at my place at CORA at approx. 11:15 am, he drove me to Denver, on the way we stopped for lunch and then checked  into a motel. My cousin Lou and his wife Kathy live in Aurora, so we visited with with them and went out to dinner. Sunday morning I grabbed a 6 am motel shuttle to the airport, made it to my gate about 10 minutes before boarding began, at which time I discovered my phone wasn’t working. The problem was a bad SIMS card. I was able to buy WiFi on the plane and touch base with Michelle, the owner of the Alaska Overland Adventures, she was picking me up at the Anchorage, AK airport. 

After my camper orientation, and signing documents, I headed to the Verizon store which was about 2 mies from Michelle’s house. Verizon replaced my SIMS card for free. Next stop was Three Bears Store for groceries, wine, beer and Bourbon. Having fulfilled all the essentials, I headed north to visit my “on the road” and good friends, Rene and Jim in Willow, and camp in their driveway.

The next day, Monday, I went on a guided fishing trip. The put in was about two miles from Rene & Jim’s house. It was a beautiful day. Cody, my guide, was from Denver, CO. The river had come up due to the warm temps and melting snow, which made it a bit murky. I did manage to net three nice Rainbows, the largest being 20 inches, two spit the hook and a number just tapped my fly, that’s why it’s called fishing and not catching. All fish were released.

That night, we headed to Talkeetna, for drinks and dinner. Jim and Rene headed home and I camped in a gravel pull off about 15 minutes out of town. 

Tuesday, I headed north to Denali National Park and was treated to a spectacular views of her majesty, Mt Denali.

I arrived at the Denali NP bus depot around 2 pm to check-in and get my documents. Oops, I was a day early. I forgot that I had changed my reservation to arrive on 6/19/24. SHIT !!!!!!! No worries, I was able to get all my documents required for 6/19/24, they didn’t have any camping space available, so I headed south 9 miles from the park to a very nice gravel pull off and settled in, had a beer, cooked lemon sautéed scallops with rice, got a little more organized, did dishes and then kicked back with a glass of wine. Live is good.

Alaska is a land of opposing energy. One minute, you are alone surrounded by amazing scenery, 15 minutes later a big tour bus pull up and vomits 60 people. But I have been fortunate to enjoy that 15 minutes of solitude a number of times. Only had two vans camping with me Tuesday night.

This morning, Wednesday, 6/19/24, I head to my campsite at the Tea campground, tomorrow I have a Tea pass for the bus ride into the interior of the park which is closed to private vehicles.

Three nights of camping, no connectivity and maybe some fishing.

Tight Lines and Safe Travels

Larry