Saturday-Sunday, August 9-10 – Returning Home

It was raining when I got up at 7:30 and stumbled over to the Lodge for a shower...and the Lodge was still closed! I watched with binoculars from our cabin and dashed over as soon as the "Open" sign appeared. Bob and I shared another veggie omelet and then checked out from this unique, but very pleasant, lodging. As we drove out we passed some biking event as bikers were bravely pedaling up the 2500' to the pass in the cold rain. Those Alaskans!!

We returned to Palmer and took the old Glenn Highway through some lovely countryside before rejoining the main freeway into Anchorage. We drove around the downtown:  several blocks of 5-10 story glass and steel buildings, hanging baskets of flowers on every lamp post, and bright flower beds in the park. We had a little time, so we drove to the Alaska Botanic Garden that sits within the huge wilderness park just on the edge of town. We got in free with our Santa Barbara Botanic Garden memberships and were told that a moose had just been seen nearby and to be aware of bears!  Something the SBBG does not have to do!!

We walked through beautiful gardens scattered though the woods and saw more evidence of the effect of the very long summer days (and rain) on flowers, veggies and herbs. Everything was very lush and large!

We returned to the airport, left our car, checked in, and went to Alaska Airlines "Board Room" to relax with delicious curry chicken soup and our last Alaskan Amber Ales! At 3:15 we walked downstairs and boarded our jet in our mileage-earned First Class seats. The flight to Seattle took three hours and we had a really terrific meal of roast chicken, polenta and sauteed chard - Alaska has the best airline food! Also the most liberal drink policy. Our stew kept refilling my G'n'T and Bob's wine glass until we told her to please, stop!!

The sky cleared over British Columbia and Bob got great views of snow-capped mountains and hundreds of islands, inlets and bays that make up that area. We landed, visited the Seattle Board Room, got on our next flight to LAX and landed at midnight. We picked up a car from Alamo, got home, and to bed at 3 AM.

We've retrieved Miss Maddie, who came howling over to me at the Cat House Hotel, and who has been howling ever since!

Miss Maddie inspects her Bear Bell

Our two-week vacation was a great introduction to an amazing place - a scenic, wild country that seems like a foreign land to the lower 48. We'll have to go back in June when it's full of singing birds, or else in the long night of winter to see what that's like!!

Friday, August 8 - Exploring Hatcher Pass

I managed to sleep ten hours,  largely because our bed is built into the wall and I couldn’t get up until RRZ did and he goes to bed later than I do.   Plus, breakfast isn’t served until 9 AM, so why bother?  I couldn’t manage walking over to the main A-frame/restaurant/shower room this morning for a shower with a armload of towel, clean clothes, etc., so made do with  “moist” towelettes.

View from our cabin

We walked over at nine and the young woman on duty made us the best breakfast of the trip:  Veggie omelets with feta cheese and potatoes fried with onions and peppers!  Really delicious!  The Lodge is decorated with many paintings various people have done of the lodge and area - some very good.

The Lodge in Wiinter by Lili Buitron

Arctic Ground Squirrel

We drove the very short distance over Hatcher Pass, 3800’, and immediately encountered fog, rain, cold wind.  We attempted to hike and were passed by two young Alaskan men in shorts and t-shirts running along.  We turned back and returned to the Lodge side of the pass and identified some flowers and saw a Hoary Marmot sitting on a rock!! Another new mammal!

Hoary Marmot

Our lodge is located within Independence Mine State Park land so we drove up to see the mine itself.  For some reason the Visitors’ Center was closed today, but there are so many informational signs and trails around the mine that it was no hindrance.  The only upsetting aspect was that the mine operated in the 1930s-40s - an historic park covering a period when we were both alive!!   How to make one feel really old!!

View from the Independence Mine

Men's Dorm at the Mine

We walked around the old 3-story, very narrow dormitories, various machinery, woodworking shops and up to the mine itself.  Lots of very interesting information.  I spotted a Pika that lives in old crumbling mining ruins, carrying a colorful sprig of Dwarf Fireweed to its den for winter storage.

Pika

It was past noon, so we returned to our lodge and  split a piece of Razzleberry pie a la mode which was indescribably delicious with really flaky crust.

As the weather showed no sign of brightening, we decided to drive down towards Palmer, a distant suburb of Anchorage, and visit the Musk Ox Farm, a non-profit operation that started 50 years ago and has one of three domesticated Musk Ox stocks in the world.  We read some signage about these animals who live in the really frozen north and defend themselves against their only enemies (except us, of course), the wolves and bears, by forming circles facing outward with their horns or by lining up alternating forwards and backwards - really smart creatures!  We walked around the large pasture land looking at the bulls, cows, yearlings and babies.  The runt of this year’s young, little Pearl, was very cute and, at the age of abut two month, about the size of a large collie!

Adult Musk Oxen

Two-month old Little Pearl

We drove through Palmer which actually has a downtown, I think because it was started as a New Deal project, called “The Colony”, for some dust bowl farming families to start again during the Depression.  It is located in a mild micro-climate, has very fertile soil, and is still farmed by the original families.

We returned to the lodge and started organizing our gear for tomorrow‘s departure to SoCal.  At 6:30 we went over to the restaurant and split another grilled roast turkey sandwich and another piece of raspberry/blackberry pie.

Thursday, August 7 - Driving to Hatcher Pass

Copper River Princess Lodge

Up early and down to the dining room at 7:30; I had oatmeal with fresh blueberries and Bob had eggs Benedict.  We followed the hotel trail map and walked about 2 miles through  birch-spruce woods before checking out and driving down to the old town of Copper Center which has a old school, post office and a closed general store.  We wanted to top off our gas tank before crossing between  the Talkeetna and Chugach Mountains on the Glenn Highway, but couldn‘t find any gas station there.  We retraced our path 15 miles north on the Richardson Highway and stopped at the Tazlina Trading Post where we got gas from a pump that had no working dials.  The lady running the trading post and Bob decided on six gallons which we paid for and then explored the store which has absolutely everything one could want to survive in the world from food, clothes, tools, gardening supplies, toiletries, moose and caribou bags (whatever they are), and school supplies. Quite amazing!

In a couple of miles we reached the east-west Glenn Highway and turned west in the direction of Anchorage.  We only had about 150 miles to drive today so we stopped and birded and explored a bit.  We drove a ways through flat land covered with the ubiquitous tall skinny Black Spruce that we’ve seen everywhere.  Eventually the landscape became more rolling and we could see large mountains rising up to the south.

We turned off on several side roads looking for American Three-toed Woodpecker and the Arctic Warbler to no avail.  We saw a lot of beautiful scenery - a huge glacier was spilling out between two mountains - but few birds and no large mammals despite the ubiquitous caution signs!

I was getting hungry so we stopped at a couple of roadhouses, but they had gone out of business; finally I pulled over at the Eureka Lodge, originally a tiny cabin built in 1936, but now a homey coffee shop, where we split a cheeseburger and pasta-veggie soup.

Original 1936 Road House

We stopped at the Matanuska Glacier State Park and walked 20 minutes to an overlook of this glacier which flows for about 27 miles out from the mountains and ends as a 4 mile wide, high, blue, glowing wall of ice!  Until we could see the apparently tiny spruces silhouetted in front of it, we didn’t realize quite how huge it is!

Matanuska Glacier

In Palmer  we saw farming for the first time: plowed fields, horses, sheep, and chickens. This must be where the giant vegetables are grown; We saw a sign listing the champions: 120 lb. rutabaga, 20 lb radish, etc!   We turned off on to Hatcher Pass road and drove from 500’ to about 3000’, well above the tree line and arrived at the Hatcher Pass Lodge about 5 PM. This is a rather unique place, consisting of a main A-frame and eleven small cabins scattered over the tundra.  Our reservation had been lost, but fortunately they had room and we moved into Cabin 4 which has a huge picture window overlooking glaciated mountains in the distance, a chemical toilet and a jug of water!  Quite like camping, but warmer!   We cleaned up, had a rum & coke in our room, and walked back to the main house where the cook whipped us up a delicious roast turkey sandwich and soup with a few beers.  One can have a shower in the main building, which I may investigate tomorrow!  Beautiful views of the setting sun on the green hills outside our room!

Hatcher Pass Lodge

Wednesday, August 6 - Driving to Copper River

We awoke to dense fog, checked out of the Best Western and drove over to the Cookie Jar, a coffee shop Bob had discovered on Trip Advisor.  It was a classic place with a very nice heart-of-gold waitress, decafe, and a very good breakfast of home-made corned beef hash with two over-easy eggs on top that we split.  Afterwards we drove out of Fairbanks, heading southeast on the Richardson Highway.

We stopped for gas at the junction of Santa Claus Lane & St. Nicholas Drive in the town of  North Pole, a Fairbanks suburb.  Every pole is candy cane colors, and the main economy is collecting fees from answering Santa letters from around the world!

The Pipeline

The fog gradually lifted, becoming a partly cloudy day.  We joined the Pipeline as it flows from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Gulf of Alaska.   As we drove along the large, full Tanana River flowing to the Yukon River and the Bering Sea, The Milepost recommended a stop at Rika’s Roadhouse, built in 1910 and now part of Big Delta Historical Park.  As soon as we pulled in, Bob heard the call of the White-winged Crossbill and eventually we saw the red bird with white striped black wings - another new bird!   We walked around Rika’s admiring the very well-done park with vegetable gardens, antiques, workshops and informational placards.

Rica's Roadhouse

We gradually climbed to 3200’ from Fairbanks’s 500’ and soon were seeing fantastic views of snowy mountain tops. After 170 miles we passed Summit Lake and started down - all the water now flowing towards Prince William Sound.  We were pretty hungry by now and were counting on the Paxson Roadhouse…but it had closed in late-2013.

After 255 miles we arrived at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Visitors’ Center - I had never heard of this park, but it’s the largest NP in the country and covers 13 million acres of beautiful ranges of mountains and countryside.  Most of it isn’t accessible, but it’s great to have it all protected.  We watched an informational film and got some pamphlets and may hike a bit on our way to Hatcher Pass tomorrow.

Gulkana Galcier

Shortly we arrived at Copper Center and found the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge where the Princess Cruise Line busses some of their passengers who want a land option after cruising.  We got a lovely room with an amazing view of glacier-covered Mt. Drum, a classically conical volcano.

Mt. Drum from our bedroom!

We relaxed a bit and then went down to dinner and got a booth with a Mt. Drum-centered view so we could spend our dinner watching the cloud cover dissipate and the volcano come into full view in the twilight.  We both had salmon, a bottle of pinot noir, and huckleberry ice-cream for dessert.

Bob has us booked into a rather primitive "Alaska Experience" for the next two nights - no wifi, no running water!! So we'll see!

Tuesday, August 5 - Exploring Fairbanks

Bob and Grizz

When we arrived at our hotel yesterday afternoon, it was warm and sunny and I even put on shorts, but in an hour it was raining!  And it’s been raining on and off ever since.  Fortunately one of our fellow guests at the Homer B&B went on and on about the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, so that seemed like an ideal activity for a rainy day.

We had a meager breakfast at our hotel and headed over there.  We got a 4-hour packing permit and used almost every minute of it.  What a fabulous museum!!  First of all, the building is a large white swooping shape built to resemble ice, snow, glaciers and arctic ridges.  Inside we rented head phones that allowed us to listen to short lectures by professors, natives, etc about all aspects of the exhibits.

"Two Uniaks Under Sail" by Rusty Heurlin

Kayak of birch and walrus skins

Caribou hide cape

Dress with bead work

We first saw an art exhibit of older paintings by famous Alaskan artist and then entered a large hall full of displays of native culture, crafts, tools, toys, and clothing, and others discussing the animals, geology, natural resources.  We found a bench and sat down to watch a very interesting film on the aurora borealis.  Afterwards we went up stairs to see an exhibit of contemporary art.  One could go to that museum again and again and learn something new!  Really wonderful!

Mask

Decorated window pane made from intestine

Grass baskets

We drove to just off campus and found a good bookstore with a little café upstairs where we got some mochas and split a roast beef sandwich.  We then returned to the Large Animal Research Station; they were open but we missed the last tour which had just started.  We saw our Musk Oxen again and I bought some Qiviut, the amazingly soft and light Musk Ox undercoat.

I wanted to see the University Georgeson Botanic Garden and as it was only drizzling we stopped there; it was half closed, probably due to flooding, but we saw some lovely flowers and veggies. The extremely long summer days can produce oversized plants with some extraordinary results!

We returned to the Best Western; I ran next door to get a frozen custard from a tiny drive-through which seem to be all over Alaska selling bagels, espressos, etc.   I stood in line with the autos and got my treat.

Just before seven we drove “downtown” to Lavelle’s Bistro, the best restaurant in town according to the travel guides.  Downtown consists of a few old log cabins made over into businesses and large hotels and a few office buildings.  The total lack of planning and zoning in Alaskan towns of any size results in a total hodge podge of businesses and housing with great open spaces of asphalt, weedy lots, or birch forests in between.

Anyway, Lavelle’s Bistro, located in the Marriott, was a total surprise.  A large, full, very noisy place, but run by a very professional staff of cooks and wait people.  We both had a cup of really good mushroom soup chock full of mushrooms.  Bob then got his prime rib which could easily have been pretty bland, but was really flavorful, and my grilled scallops in an Asian sauce with coconut rice were delicious!  We split banana wontons in crème anglaise with raspberries which were Really Good!  A very well-run restaurant!

Banana Won Tons

We’re planning to get up early tomorrow, go out for breakfast and then drive south 300 miles through some very scenic country.

Monday, August 4 - Driving to Fairbanks

We woke up to clouds, showing what luck we had yesterday!  Decided to breakfast at the Perch where we had had dinner two nights ago.  We split a delicious plate of marinated steak, fried eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, potatoes and a blueberry muffin., and then returned to our room to pack up and head north.  Carlo Creek Lodge turned out to be the perfect place to stay while at Denali as the lodge is simple but comfortable and the three restaurants across the road are all good, and that‘s all there is to the place.  The most popular location to stay is just north of the park entrance, nicknamed “Glitter Gulch,” which consists of several large hotels surrounded by tee shirt joints, hot dog stands, cafes, rafting shops and general chaos.

Bob drove north on the Parks Highway while I followed along in The Milepost book. What should have taken an hour took two as we entered one highway repair project after another.  With such a short season to work on the highways and with such weather and truck abuse as the roads are subjected to, when the weather cooperates, the highways crews are out working!  And usually 24 hours a day! On the good side skies gradually cleared as we headed northward and temperatures rose into the 70s.

Nenana Train Depot

After 70 miles, I suggested we turn off into the town of Nenana as The Milepost suggested that it was interesting.  Bob humored me as we have seen so few charming towns, or at least  ones with a real center, so far, but Nenana while tiny is a real town!  We parked by the historic 1923 train station and I walked a block to St, Mark’s Episcopal church, built of logs in 1905, and went inside to see the hand-hewn pews and the native-beaded moose hide covering on the raised altar.  We stopped in the depot, now a museum, and a docent in 1930’s dress came out and chatted with us.  We bought a locally made Alaskan Ulu, a very lethal-looking curved knife for chopping herbs, or skinning game!

St. Michael's

Native-beaded Moose Hide Frontal

Hand-hewn pews

After 60 miles more we reached Fairbanks and turned north a bit to reach the University of Alaska Large Animal Research Station.  I wanted to go there to see a Musk Ox, not that I could count them on my life mammals list, but I’m unlikely to ever see one elsewhere.  The facility was closed but we could look through a triple fence and there were about six of the wonderful huge horned critters!  It was about 70 degrees and I can’t imagine that they were comfortable with their massive thick coats, but they just wandered about munching grass and chewing their cuds.

Bob’s bird finding book took us to Creamer’s Field, a former large dairy farm run by a family called Creamer, funnily enough.  When they closed in the 60’s, the community chipped in and bought the whole farm as a wildlife park.  A small pond near the entryway was full of Canada Geese and Sand Hill Cranes, but when we walked a mile along the trails and boardwalks, which have suffered some damage from the torrential rains and floods of the last couple of months, we hardly heard anything.  Lots of mushrooms and some flowers and squirrels, but no birds!  Lovely and sunny, though. We have never seen or heard fewer birds than in interior Alaska.   Late May and early June are supposed to be the birdy months, but you would think we would see/hear a few?

Creamer's Dairy farm house

There is supposed to be an “old town” in Fairbanks, but we missed it on the way to our Best Western.  We settled in, relaxed, and I did a load of laundry. Then we drove a short ways to the Pump House, a former mining pump station, now a large restaurant full of antiques and a good menu of fish and meat.  Since we haven’t seen a cow or pig in Alaska, all the meat must be imported from the lower 48.  I had delicious

halibut cheeks on polenta and Bob had grilled salmon, then we split a rhubarb/strawberry crisp.

KBHZ with her flight of Alaskan beers!

The Pump House garden

Sunday, August 3 - Bussing into Denali

Denali

We got up at 6 AM to totally unexpected partly cloudy skies and went back to the Creekside Café to split an enormous cinnamon roll and pick up a bag lunch.  Then we drove back to the Park and the bus terminal at the Wilderness Access Center.  Several weeks ago Bob had reserved spaces on the 8:30AM bus that goes to Eielson Visitor Center 66 miles away.

We climbed on board and took off, past Savage River where we had parked yesterday for a drizzly walk.   Our bus driver, who, as he informed us, is retiring in two days after working in Denali for 20 years,  said he has only seen clear views of Denali three times since May.  Somehow we lucked out and, as our driver came around a bend, he stopped so we could all marvel at the sight of this magnificent snow-covered mountain!  Groups speaking Italian in front of us and French behind were all exclaiming at the sight!
Half an hour later clouds were already starting to swirl around the mountain and it was soon enveloped.

The other task of our bus driver was to show us Grizzlies, Caribou, Moose, and Dall Sheep.  As Bob and I had had good views of Caribou and Moose yesterday. we were mostly concerned about the Griz.  The bus came to a screeching halt a couple of times and we saw large bears walking across river beds and foraging in meadows, but they were pretty far away.  We stopped at a couple of rest stops as the drive takes four hours each way, and got a good, but distant, view of some sheep and Bob pointed out a ram with big horns.  We continued on, passing little traffic, most of which is other tour buses, permitted Rvs, researchers and photographers and vans from the few lodges within the park.

Trail closure due to Griz!

We finally got to Eielson 12:20.  Bob and I went to look for the nature trail we wanted to hike, but it was closed because of a bear sighting…and there was the big Grizzly, peacefully grazing on the next ridge!  We found a spot inside and split our bag lunch and then saw that the bear had wandered away and the trail was open again.

Mountain Harebell

Whitish Gentians

Arctic Ground Squirrel

 We walked through the tundra for a mile spotting several new flowers, and then  returned to the Center to catch a bus back as it was already 2 PM.  Our new driver was chattier and more enthusiastic about animal sightings, or maybe she was just luckier, as we stopped for several bears that were considerably closer to the bus. We also saw some more caribou - the poor critters are really tortured by flies and will be much happier when winter comes!

Caribou

We got back to our car at 5:30, tired but happy after seeing 8 Grizzlies, 10 Caribou, about a dozen sheep, 2 Collared Pika (small rabbit-like mammals with round ears),

and several Alaskan Ground Squirrels.  Bob also spotted four Willow Ptarmigans from the bus - a new bird for him.

We cleaned up and went back to the Creekside Café for pork and hominy chili for me and a lovely chicken pot pie for Bob.  Quite a day!

Warning!  Alaskan Mosquitos!