Trapper Creek, Alaska

We spent 5 days in the Denali area, driving the park every day looking for wildlife.  It was a very relaxing time and we enjoyed it very much.  On Sunday we left the pups at home and went down to Glitter Gulch to see if there was anything we just had to have.  Nothing sparked our interest as they were mostly trinket shops all selling the same thing with different prices.  I did purchase a cross stitch pattern of Denali to do as therapy ;).

We enjoyed the trails in the area.  Near the RV park they had a trail that ran up to a ridge with the river flowing below.  Very scary for someone like me who doesn't like heights.

The pups are ready for a walk

Parts of the trail were a little snow covered, even the pups sank in

The icy river below

Spring may come eventually

We visited the Park on Monday evening around 9:00.  We saw a Ptarmigan that was calling his girlfriend in the meadow....

And Mama Moose and her two wobbly legged babies.  They were real unsure of their footing crossing the road.  We had been watching her in the trees from the road and when she came out of the brush, we saw her babies.  Very Cool!

We enjoyed Denali, but it was time to move on.

The Nenana River on Sunday....

The Nenana on Wednesday..........

With temps in the 70's the ice is melting fast.  Spring should be here shortly.













The drive from Denali to Trapper Creek was beautiful.  The Alaska Range is on the right side of the beast with views of McKinley and the glaciers between the trees.  Spring has arrived in this part of Alaska finally!  I was so happy to see green popping out on the trees.  I swear I could hear spring popping out as we drove along.

We are in Trapper Creek, a town of about 400 people.  There is one RV Park in town and one RV in the park (ours!).  They have 50 amp service, water (hooray!), wifi and a quiet place to spend the next couple of days.  Tomorrow we will take the Talkeetna Spur road to see Talkeetna and probably stop by the brewery there.  The girls in the gas station here say its good.  Friday we are off to Wasilla.  The forecast for the weekend was calling for a 60% chance of rain, but that percentage is going down.  We had to run the air conditioner this afternoon for a little bit.  The weather is perfect, I'll take it over the sub freezing temps any day!  

Denali and Mt. McKinley Glacier Landing

After calling ahead to Denali RV Park to determine if they had water yet, we headed a little SW to the little town of Healy, Alaska.  The RV Park is very close to Denali, but just far away from what they call Glitter Gulch, a small area full of touristy things to do and Lodges the cruise lines use for their Ship N Shore packages.  After a late morning start we arrived mid afternoon with lots of time to set up camp, start a load of laundry and head to Denali National Park.

You can only drive the first 15 miles of the Park Road, even though it stretches for over 65.  The remaining stretch must be reached by Park Shuttle ($26.50 pp) or narrated bus tours ($67.00 to $125.50)  The prices go up from there if you wish to go deeper into the park.  We decided to just do the drive in to the park and see what we could see.  It was a very sunny, pleasant day!

Mt. McKinley looks like a ghost mountain behind the range

Checking the weather for the next day we see that sunny clear skies and no wind is on the forecast.  We bite the bullet and sign up for the Denali Air Mt. McKinley flight and glacier landing.  We said in the beginning of our travels we wanted to do this, but kept going back and forth due to the unexpected expenses (two rock chips and $300.00 to rewire the brake cord, and lets not talk about my ticket!).  You only live once and you can't take it with you, right?

We were on the 8:30 flight and they picked us up at the RV Park.  After telling our weights and getting fitted with gore-tex shoe covers, we jumped on "Jaws" with JJ our pilot.

We are go for flight

I just kept saying WOW!

hanging glacier, the blue was spectacular

Glacier below

On Ruth Glacier

The sky was the most amazing blue!

McKinley's peak is just above the little puff of cloud

The landing strip

AMAZING is all I can say!  This trip was well worth the money and is an experience I will not forget.  The two and half hours went by way too fast.  I wanted to go again, but once in a lifetime is ok too.

RV Park reviews:
Denali RV Park has worked hard to get up and running.  Nice hosts, excellent Wi-Fi, cable TV, sites are a little close for our size rig, but beautiful views.  There is a very nice trail next to the park that runs up to a ridge with a river flowing below.  Lots of snow melt created little marshes.
  
Riverview RV Park in Fairbanks-working hard on overcoming the water issue, brought water to us from town, very nice hosts, excellent Wi-Fi, cable TV, quiet except when the nearby base is practicing with automatic weapons, taps in the late evening and reveille at 6:39 am.  Didn't bother us.  The Chena River runs next to the park, with a spot to just sit and watch the water go by.  

Creamers and Tanana Farmers Market

Creamers Dairy was a local dairy that sold the usual goods to the folks of Fairbanks, milk, orange drink and of course ice cream.  Seems a lot of folks eat ice cream in Fairbanks.  They need the calories for the winters.  On every street corner is a Sunrise Coffee Kiosk with a soft serve cone on top.  I even saw a Hawaiian Shave Ice cart in town.  Anyway, I digress...

Creamers Dairy was a family operation until Pan Am started flights into Fairbanks and brought with it outside goods.  The dairy closed and for several years just sat.  The dairy grew barley in addition to the dairy operations.  These fields attracted many different types of birds on the migratory path.  At certain times of the year, it is said that thousands of cranes make a stop here.  Not this time of year of course....

The people of Faribanks put their money together and purchased the dairy to allow the migratory birds to have a place to stop over.  The commercial area of town has reached the farm/dairy, so you can imagine without this spot, the birds would have to keep on going.

They have a one mile trail into the Boreal Forest.  The birch trees are not yet budding out, but there are hopeful signs....

The pups enjoyed the mile long walk, but are really tired this afternoon.  I guess it is probably twice or three times as long to them.

Some shots of the trail.. They did a really nice raised wooden platform in spots and dirt trail in others.  A very nice trail.  Lots of little songbirds, robins and sparrows where looking for food on the ground.

 

We visited the Tanana Valley Farmers market on Wednesday.  Since most everything is closed this year until Memorial Day, I didn't expect it to be open, but it opened last Saturday.  There were no vegetables or fruits, but there was a honey booth, pottery, goat soaps, fabric crafts and wood carvers.  The market was started in the 1970s and everything has to be grown or made in Alaska.  I purchased a sweatshirt for the upcoming Homer nights.   They had a Thai booth, crepes, reindeer sausage and a taco booth.  We enjoyed the fresh air and just being out and about around nice people.

After the Farmers Market, we ventured into downtown and had lunch at Big Daddies BBQ.  This placed was awesome!  It was on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network.  

The portions were huge and we have lunch/dinner for tomorrow while we are on the road.  

Yum, Yum, Yum.

We had to visit Santa's House in North Pole, Alaska.  I was positive they would have a miniature ornament for my miniature tree since they have so many RVer's come through.  They didn't so they are missing a little piece of the market.  We improvised and got little 1 inch license plates from the North Pole with our names on it.  That will work!  We saw Santa's Reindeer.  They are resting and eating up for their December flights.  

Tomorrow (Friday), we are heading to Healy, Alaska in search of the elusive full hookup.  Hopefully, water will be available and the dumps will be unfrozen.  Sunday is the Indy 500, so I must find a place with cable so I can watch the race.  My needs are pretty simple...Water, a place to dump it, and one channel on the cable.....