/Denali?

Denali
(June 16, 2006 to June xx, 2006)

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June 16 - June 22 North Pole, Alaska (74 miles)

Road conditions: The road from Delta Junction to North Pole was pretty good with a posted speed of 65 mph. One could drive at that speed if desired, but I pretty much drove it between 50-55 mph. There were some frost heaves that were marked, as well as a couple of construction areas and several areas of loose gravel.

Campground: Santaland RV Park is the most popular RV park in the area. We stayed for a week at a weekly rate of $168 (pay for six, get one night free) for a full hookup site. Nice campground. Cable TV with about 30 channels. The park uses Nomad for it's WiFi network. Nomad charges $9.95 per day which, of course, is completely outrageous. To their credit, Santaland provides the WiFi FREE to its campers.

The first thing we did was to go to the nearby Safeway store to buy the tourist coupon book which is a must if you are spending any kind of time in Alaska. It cost us $99 and has a lot of coupons for various attractions and tours in Alaska. We figured we would have no problem saving $99 on tours we want to do. The other thing we did was to go across the road to a glass place to see if they could somehow stop the crack on our driver side windshield from spreading. They told us that if the crack was more than the length of a dollar bill there was pretty much nothing they could do to stop it from spreading. When I explained the size of the multiple cracks they told us there was already too much pressure on the glass and they couldn't do anything to stop the cracks from spreading. So I guess we'll live with it until we get back to the lower 48.

The first couple of days in North Pole was spent watching the US Open Golf Championship over the weekend. Thanks to the time difference of four hours, it was done by around 3 p.m. AT (Alaska Time). We did ride into Fairbanks to see a movie, "The Lake House" on Saturday, and to check out the Sam's Club and Wal-Mart stores. Sunday we spent watching the exciting final round of the tournament and, sadly, watched Phil Mickelson make some poor decisions that cost him the tournament. The Santa Claus House is next door to the campground, so we walked over there to check it out. Well, guess what. Santa himself was there, along with Mrs. Claus. They were very accommodating to folks wanting to get a photo with them, and we did get ours taken.

One of the attractions that came highly recommended in Fairbanks was the Riverboat Discovery, which is a three and a half hour cruise up the Chena River on a sternwheeler. We agree that is was well worth the ride.

The company is owned by the Binkley family and they are now into their fourth generation of captains on Alaska rivers. In 1950, Captain Jim Binkley, Sr. began a river excursion business with a 25 passenger boat that he bought from a local Episcopal church. When the business proved to be succesful, he had Discovery I built in 1955. It was a 150 passenger sternwheeler and it was built in his back yard. Jim and his wife, Mary, had three sons who all worked on the boat and who all became U.S. Coast Guard licensed riverboat captains. In 1970, Discovery II was built and put into service. It had a capacity of 300 passengers and is still in use today. Discovery I has been retired, but can still operate, if necessary. The large four deck Discovery III with a capacity of 900 passengers was built in 1986 and put into service in 1987. The sons had children and the third and fourth generations currently run the boat.

It was a narrated cruise and the narrator was great. During the cruise we got to see a bush pilot take off and land along the shore of the river; got to see float plane take off and land right next to the boat; got to see where Susan Butcher and her husband live and have their dog sledding kennel along the river; and got to stop at an Athabaskan Indian Village for a tour and some talks about their culture and way of life. There were some prime pieces of real estate along the river with some beautiful houses, especially the log houses.

Each of the pilots of the planes that demonstrated take off and landing also talked about their planes. One was a canvas covered plane and, apparently, that isn't a very common thing these days.

Susan Butcher and her husband, Dave Monson, live right on the river. Susan is the only woman to win the 1,100 miles Iditarod Dog Sled Race four times, and three of those were consecutive. Unfortunately, Susan is currently battling cancer at a hospital in Seattle. Dave happened to be home and came out to talk to us about dog sledding. There were pups out playing and a team of dogs ready to pull a sled on it's summer wheels (actually an ATV without the engine). It was incredible to see the dogs get whipped into a frenzy when they realized it was time to mush. They were barking and jumping and couldn't wait to start pulling. These dogs are all Alaska Huskies, although we were told not recognized by the American Kennel Club, and they are bred to pull sleds. Dave gave the command and off they went for a lap around the small lake. It was the highlight of the tour.

The stop at the Athabaskan Indian Village was very interesting. There were three talks as we moved from site to site. We heard how they lived, and how they made the clothes, and there was a pen with a team of huskies where we could watch them romp and pet them if they were so inclined to come over for a pat or a scratch. There were also several reindeer. Did you know that reindeer and caribou are the same specie? We learned that a reindeer is a domesticated caribou.

The Athabaskan Indians lived along the major riverways in Alaska. One of the talks was about the clothing and Dixie Alexander, an Athabaskan, showed us some of her work. One item was a parka that took her about six months to make and was valued at more than $16,000. The inner part of the parka was made with wolverine and the outer part was made of timber wolf. The main part of the parka was made of muskrat, which is a small animal with very warm fur.

A pleasant surprise was running into Gay and Don Chaffin who we met at Rika's Roadhouse. They were going on the same cruise so we sat together during the cruise and toured the indian village together. It was a fun afternoon.

Another highly recommended stop in Fairbanks is the University of Alaska Museum of the North. We visited the museum and spent about three hours looking at the exhibits. We enjoyed the time we spent there. After visiting the museum we drove to downtown where the Midnight Sun Festival was about to start up. It occurs every year on June 21, the summer solstice, to celebrate the longest day of the year. In Alaska, on the longest day the sun rose at 2:59 a.m. and set at 12:47 a.m. the next day. That meant there was a total of 21 hours and 48 minutes of daylight. However, the converse for the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year, will mean the sun will rise at 10:58 a.m. and set at 242 p.m. for a total of just 3 hours and 43 minutes of daylight.

Three streets were blocked off for booths filled with crafts and food, plus three stages for entertainment. We spent five hours walking around and eating and taking in some entertainment. We even bumped into Tim and Barb Campbell who we met at Rika's Roadhouse in Delta Junction. We had a fun afternoon.

One of the RV forums that I was monitoring for Alaska information was rv.net. Dick Jewel posted some stuff there and then indicated he was in North Pole. We made contact and Diane and I met Dick and his wife, Ann, for dinner one evening. As usual, we spent a couple of hours enjoying a meal and chatting.

I received a note from my oldest son that he had an aunt (a former sister-in-law of mine) who lived in North Pole. Her name is Sarah and I don't think we've seen each other for around 35 years. I made contact and she invited us over to her place for a cookout. It was nice to see her after so many years and we spent an enjoyable evening visiting with her and her husband, Allen.

We did manage to catch a couple of movies on our last day in Fairbanks. We enjoyed "The Breakup", but "Nacho Libre" would probably only appeal to Jack Black fans.

June 23 - June 27 Denali National Park (127 miles)

Road conditions: The road from Fairbanks to Denali is known as the Parks Highway (AK 3). The road started out smooth to a little bumpy. Then we saw a sign that said "25 miles of construction". At first, the road was newly paved and silky smooth. Then we came to the area where they were paving and we had to follow a pilot car on a single lane. After that section the road was very smooth for a long distance, but then became very rough with frost heaves. Some were marked, most were not. Lots of dips. Then the road became smooth again until about two miles prior to the Nenana River where the road was dug up and under construction. Finally, within 15 miles of Denali the road became very rough with frost heaves that were not marked. The posted speed was 65 mph, but we pretty much traveled the road at 55 mph except when it got rough and we slowed down to around 40-45 mph.

Campground: There were several campgrounds in the Denali area and they got more expensive closer to town. We opted for the Denali RV Park and Motel about eight miles from the park entrance. We also chose to stay in a water and electric back-in site for the four nights we planned to stay in the area. Part of that decision was caused by the fact that two caravans were in the park at the time. The park has FREE WiFI, however, it was very erratic and not always available. It would come and go at the most inopportune times. The problem seemed to be caused, at times, by the provider of the campground's DSL connection. The power in the park hovered between 111 and 113 volts most of the time. One heat pump took that down to between 106 and 108 volts most of the time.

Fuel: Our tank was just under three quarters, but we decided to fill up at what was a great $2.880 per gallon price compared to the over $3 we've been paying. We filled up in North Pole at the Tesoro station. One interesting thing about the station was a sign that said the diesel fuel contained extra sulfur (15 ppm). It also said Federal law prohibited selling that diesel fuel to vehicles 2007, or later.

The drive from Fairbanks did not offer much in the way of scenery until we got closer to Denali and saw mountains in the distance. We set up the motorhome in the campground and then drove into Denali National Park to the very nice visitor center. The short movie about the park was very good, as were the exhibits. The next day we drove to the Wilderness Access Center to pick up our tickets for the tour we were taking the next day and to watch the short movie about the history of the park. That movie was also very good.

You can drive into the park about 13 miles to the Savage River turnaround. We drove out there to see if we could spot any animals, but we came up empty. On the way back we stopped to visit the Denali dog sled kennels. The dogs were the same Alaskan Husky breed we saw when we were on the Riverboat Discovery tour. However, these dogs looked different than the ones we saw in Fairbanks. We stayed to listen to a talk given by a park ranger about the dogs and the work they do in the park. It was very interesting. We learned that Alaskan Huskies were bred for different tasks. The dogs we saw in Fairbanks were bred for speed and racing. The dogs in Denali were bred for hauling supplies to outlying ranger posts in winter.

Mount McKinley National Park was created in 1917 as a game refuge and was the first national park established after the creation of the National Park Service. It was renamed to Denali National Park and Preserve in 1980. It's crown jewel is Mount McKinley and is the official name of the mountain that is part of the Alaska Range. It is better known in Alaska as Denali, the Athabaskan name for the mountain. It means the "High One". It rises to 20,320 feet above sea level. From the lowlands at Wonder Lake it rises 18,000 feet, which means its vertical relief is great than that of Mount Everest. Today the park encompasses 6.8 million acres which is about the size of New Hampshire.

We lucked out with the day we chose to take a bus tour into the park. We selected the 9:15 a.m. Wonder Lake tour and the weather was pretty nice all day except for the last hour of the drive back to the Wilderness Access Center when we ran into a rain and hail storm. Our driver, Mike Reifler, was very knowledgeable about the park and did a good job explaining what we were seeing and stopping when wildlife was spotted. He told us that this was his ninth year driving in the park and that his wife also drove a bus in the park. In the winter they go to a small town in Mexico to tutor people in learning to speak English.

On our drive out to Wonder Lake we saw 11 grizzlies, some caribou, a red fox, some Dall Sheep on some rocks right above us on the road. The drive took us 86 miles out into the wilderness. The views were magnificent. The extend of the land out there was incredible. At one point, Mike told us the mountains just across from us were five miles away, but appear closer and has fooled many a hiker.

We suggest that anyone looking into a but tour into the park take a look at the Denali website and do some research. There were two types of tours: park shuttles and narrated tours. Both were operated by outside companies. The park shuttles offer more departures and more choices. There were shorter tours lasting four to five hours and longer tours, such as the Wonder Lake tour, that lasted 11 hours. There were two narrated tours. One was a four hour tour that went 17 miles into the park and the other was a six to eight hour tour that went 53 miles into the park. The big difference was in price. We paid $33.25 for our tickets for the 11 hour Wonder Lake tour. The six to eight hour narrated tour cost almost triple the price at $90. Unless you feel the need to have a narrated tour, we recommend the park shuttles. The park website says that the drivers are not obligated to narrate on the park shuttles, but do attempt to answer questions. Mike did do some narration and answered questions. We were satisfied with our tour.

We met Al and Sandy Olson at the dog sled demonstration yesterday and they were on the same bus so we hung out together all day. They were from a town in southern Utah and were heading to Fairbanks. We chatted about their stays in Skagway, Valdez, Seward, and Homer, and we told them about some things we did in Fairbanks and Delta Junction.

Seldovia seen in country discoveries magazine
nestled on Kachemak Bay
ferry over
287 people
more wildlife than people
name means herring in russian
st. nicholas russian orthodox church 1891 now restored
mad fish restaurant lunch
herring bay mercantile

To be continued.....

Until next time, safe travels.....

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