This morning was an awfully early morning. Pepsi woke us up at 5:15AM and wanted and then didn’t want to go to the bathroom. She’s been scratching herself more recently and we were a bit concerned about her and weren’t able to sleep after that so we got up, fed her, walked her, had breakfast and departed for Anchorage on the Parks Highway.

We drove for a about two and a half hours and turned onto the Talkeetna Spur Road and stopped at Kahiltna Birchworks where they make birch syrup (like maple syrup, but with birch sap). They had a short video on the production of the syrup and we saw the huge evaporator that they use.

After that we were hungry and stopped at the Flying Squirrel Bakery/Cafe for a smoked salmon, tomato and cream cheese bagel. Ruth had a tasty cappuccino. Yummy!

The town of Talkeetna was filled with tourists and we wandered through some gift shops and an outdoor market. This town is also accessible by train and appears to be part of a Princess Cruise line trip.

We returned to our van and drove non-stop to Anchorage enjoying the Chugach Mountains along the way. We are staying at the Ship Creek RV Park Campground right downtown in Anchorage. There appear to be many homeless people in Anchorage and when we inquired about it, the woman at the campground office said that Alaska doesn’t charge people for non-violent crimes anymore which basically means you can walk into a grocery store, fill a buggy with merchandise and walk out without fear of any consequences. I wonder how that works out for them. In any case, the campground appears safe, is very clean and full of new coaches and other RVs and we will be departing early tomorrow morning.

We got our oil changed at Jiffy Lube and did some quick shopping for dinner at Costco. A 3 pound BBQ’d chicken is only $4.99 here! Since it was still hot, we had it in the van in the parking lot. Some will be lunch tomorrow.

We drove through the downtown core to get an impression of Anchorage. We recognized the hotel we had stayed at when we were here in 2003 with Holland America as well as some of the streets. Anchorage is a mix of old and new buildings, some chic and some run-down.

6:30AM was shower time and without breakfast or coffee we drove straight to the Wilderness Access Centre at Denali National Park to catch our 8-9 hour bus tour through the park. Thank God there was coffee available at the centre.

The weather was rainy with low clouds which made us fear that we wouldn’t see much of the natural beauty or animals, but those turned out to be unfounded.

Brian Burnett was our more than competent driver and guide. He has been driving as a guide in Denali for 27 years and had a vast knowledge of the history of the park, the people, the climate and above all, of the animals.

Speaking of animals, we did not see a moose but we had seen two a couple of days ago right beside the highway. We did however see quite a number of animals, starting small with the state bird of Alaska, the modest Ptarmigan. This was followed by witty, charming and curious Arctic Squirrel.

For a while nothing happened until we were able to a see a couple of white dots on the side of a mountain slope. We were told they were Dall Sheep but they were too far away to be photographed.

Now it became more exciting. As we turned a corner we were waved down by a surveying team who pointed down the road. As we approached, right in front of us we saw a mother grizzly bear frantically digging and pawing her cub out of the way. What was she looking for? We never found out, but a few minutes later, a second cub appeared from the other side of the road. Happily, mother bear and her two cubs were reunited.

Constantly scanning the landscape for more animals paid off and we found a herd of caribou on a hill.

At the end of the day we saw another single caribou with a great rack.

We had been so disappointed that the weather was rainy when we left but this accentuated the landscape and put the mountains into a wonderful mysterious fog.

By the afternoon the clouds and mist had lifted somewhat and the gorgeous colors of the landscape were more visible.

The road into Denali Part is mostly gravel and the hairpin turns are very tight and so narrow that two vehicles cannot pass each other. Access on this road is limited to the buses and very few private vehicles that are given passes to camp in the park.

We had frequent stops at viewpoints and rest stops. At the Eielson Visitor Centre we were pleasantly surprised by a youth orchestra playing rock music with classical instruments.

After 8 or 9 hours on the bus we were ready for an afternoon nap. This was followed by dinner at the picnic table outside, a stroll through town visiting the shops and an ice cream dessert.

 

Today was a quieter day. We bought some new hiking boots for Ruth as the soles of her old ones had just simply disintegrated on our hike in the Northwest Territories. The new ones are super snazzy.

After buying some groceries we drove to Denali National Park without further delay and visited the information center to enquire about hikes and bus tours for tomorrow. No guided hike was available anymore, but we were able to purchase tickets for an 8 hour bus tour tomorrow starting at 8:10AM.

Our campground (Denali Rainbow RV Park) is super conveniently located in town and is within walking distance to pretty much everything.

We had a nice home cooked pasta dinner in the van and caught up on our blog while listening to the gentle rain which started upon our return to the campground.

The morning progressed really quickly because there were no showers and the fridge was empty. We headed for the restaurant where we had breakfast and met Sue, the super energetic owner of this establishment. Everything we ate was homemade by her and she also had cinnamon buns, scones and oatmeal cookies for sale that will become breakfasts for the next couple of days.

We photographed some more and stopped at the chicken poop, a four stall outhouse that is even wheelchair accessible.

Given yesterday’s gravel highway experience, we hoped for the best.  It wasn’t long before the gravel ended and the paved road began. Our van and its inhabitants were relieved to be able to enjoy a smoother ride.

The scenery wasn’t all that interesting and we didn’t stop often until we reached Delta Junction, the official end of the Alaska Highway.

Ruth was attacked by a gigantic mosquito but defended herself admirably.

We drove on to Fairbanks, found a spot for the night, and then headed to the fairgrounds to visit the Tanana Valley State Fair where we saw Elvis, some chickens, food stalls, craft vendors and rides.