Stan: Tolsona, Tuesday July19, 2005.
Thursday was clear calm and a good driving day. Leaving Soldonta, we were confident that at last we would finally see “it”, Mt. McKinley.
We enjoyed much of the scenery we missed driving from Anchorage last Saturday. The mountain peaks and distant glaciers, weren’t obscured by clouds or haze. I’ve mentioned before how green the vegetation is and, seeing it in full sunlight, heightens that impression. It’s not only the intense color, but the foliage is dense, almost impenetrable in many areas. There couldn’t be a better backdrop for fire weed and other colorful wild flowers. In another setting, some of the smaller blossoms would look a bit washed out and might go unnoticed.
Coming around the East end of Turnagain Arm, we had a surprise. The tide was out and the bay was a big mud flat. We don’t have a tide book, something you get for free in Anchorage, so we didn’t know when the next tide was due, or how high it would be. But I suspected a fairly high tide was on its way just from the number of people gathering in the scenic pull outs. It seemed to me, expert that I am, that a lot of turbulence was forming, which might indicate a rising tide. When we were in Anchorage, a guy in the RV park told me, from looking at his copy of a tide book, that the next big tide is due around July 20 and would be five feet or so.
Traveling is a frustrating business. We can plan where we go, but not always when. If we wanted to see a high riptide, we would have to stick around until it happens. So, we sigh and say “Next time for sure.”
As soon as we left Palmer, heading toward Denali Park, we kept our eyes on the horizon hoping to get a glimpse of McKinley. We were about 130 miles away when we topped a rise and, there it was, straight ahead in the mist. The weather had turned out to be just about perfect. As we got closer, we would see it ever so often through the trees. Johnna read the Milepost book and kept up a running narrative of where we were and what we should be seeing. McKinley is just big; it dominates your view and I had to be careful or I would forget about driving, trying to get another peek at it. The best viewing area coming from the south, has a big parking lot, viewing ramps, interpretive signs, the works. I missed it. I didn’t know the pull out was even there, until I had passed, and asked Johnna, “What was that?” Up the road a few miles is another large parking area, but the view of McKinley isn’t at all as good, it’s mostly blocked by the Alaskan Mountain Range. Instead of going back we continued on to Cantwell.
Friday was another great day but, from Cantwell, you have to be in just the right spot to see McKinley. We didn’t know this until late in the afternoon, when viewing isn’t the best, since you’re looking West into the sun.
So, after two clear days in a row, we still hadn’t had a really great view of McKinley – people around here refer to the mountain as Denali, its original name – in all its glory. Our next best chance would be the shuttle bus into Denali park. Friday we went to the park visitor center. Twenty-seven miles from Cantwell, and bought tickets for a shuttle bus ride on Saturday. There are many ways to see the park, self guide hikes, guided nature walks, short, medium and long shuttle bus rides. We chose the eight-hour bus trip that stopped at Fish Creek, a good viewing area for McKinley, weather permitting. Well, the weather didn’t permit. It was overcast down to around five thousand feet and since McKinley is more than twenty thousand feet, we had to exercise our imaginations to picture even the faintest of outlines, somewhere over there. What you do, is conjure up a mental image of McKinley, mentally superimpose that picture on the distant clouds and then convince yourself that you’re really seeing the mountain. The long and short of it is, we didn’t get to see McKinley as clearly or get as close as we wanted. Next time for sure, weather permitting of course.
Saturday.
Sight seeing on a shuttle bus is a real trip. The buses are diesel and seat 30 to 40. There’s no food or water in the park; in an effort to keep the park as pristine as possible the National Park Service imposes some heavy restrictions, like no vending machines, or hot dog stands. Non park vehicles are allowed 17 miles into the park. From there, you walk. If you take a shuttle bus, you can get off and hike around, then board another bus when you’re finished.
We boarded a shuttle bus, numbered 538, you gotta remember the bus number so you can get back on the right one after rest stops. Right away the driver asks if we all had plenty of food and water. Johnna and I brought crackers, a cut up orange, a couple of granola bars and water. Some people provision themselves for a three-day stay in the remote tundra, in the dead of winter. They haul back packs full of stuff. Anyway, we all admitted that we had on the right clothes, and wouldn’t starve, for at least a fortnight.
Next we were instructed on what to do if we spotted wild life. Wildlife means any thing that walks, runs, flies, crawls, or blinks. If we spotted any thing that remotely resembled a living organism, we were to yell, as loudly as possible of course, “STOP.” The driver would slam on the breaks and wait for the “STOPPER” to tell everyone else what he, or she had observed. At this point whoever spotted the Lessor Yellow-Breasted Twit Finch, as an example, would say “I saw, whatever, at 10 o’clock in that brush colored bush 300 yards up the right-hand side of that slop over there. Or, I’m almost sure I did. Can you all see it?”
Now, everyone on the three o’clock side, would jump out of their seats into the isle, lean over whoever was seated on the spotter’s side, and attempt to get a picture, or even a glimpse of the creature in question. The sighting would be verified, or declared a false positive. If it was a true sighting, the driver would turn off the engine and wait for everyone to take pictures, or have a look through their binoculars. Other wise he would drive on, staying alert, with his foot hovering close to the break pedal, waiting for someone else to holler “Stop.”
Grizzle and cub.
Rogue Grizzle. We all stayed in the bus until the Grizzle was shooed off.
If the bus driver sees another bus stopped, that can only mean something moved in the bush, close, or three miles up the mountain side. Everyone starts speculating on what that could be, grizzle bear, caribou, partridge, whatever it is, it’s worth looking at. The drivers also have a set of hand signals they supposedly us to tell each other what’s out there. Two fingers pointing in the air means sheep, three fingers, caribou, a claw like scratching motion with the hand, grizzle, and so on. I doubt if they ever use these signals, our driver never seemed to know why the bus ahead had stopped.
Unknown creature.
I really admire the birders; they have unnaturally keen eyesight, Chuck Yeager eyes. Some of these old geezers, as old as or older than I, and we know that’s old, can spot a bird perching on a limb in the thickest of brush and claim to know precisely what species it is. I think some of the wild life sightings had to have been made by them. For instance, the bus was stopped for a sighting of mountain sheep. They were barely discernable on the mountain side, tiny white dots moving just below the ridge line, a mile or more away. And we stopped again, when someone, a birder no doubt, spied a grizzle with her two cubs. A very small brown spot and two really tiny black ones, moving slowly across the slope. Again, they had to be more than a mile away, on the far side of the valley. Not to brag, but I have spotting talent myself. When I see vehicles stopped on both sides of the highway with people standing around pointing, I instinctively know something is out there waiting to be photographed. But, I’m definitely out of my league when compared to others on our bus. I did spot something in a stream bed. I thought it must be a couple of moose, turned out to be hikers.
By days end, we had seen sheep, grizzles (three times), caribou, some moose, ground squirrels, various birds, hikers, but no McKinley – Denali if you’re politically correct. It was a good day, exceeding my expectations and not all that expensive, $22.00 apiece. I’m generally not into guided tours of any kind, but this worked out pretty good. And, I have to say, the park service has done an admirable job in preserving the park, while providing for hordes of visitors. Danali is not that easy to get to, but almost everyone coming to Alaska, thinks of the park as a must stop on their journey.
McKinley is somewhere in the weather.
Caribou out for a Sunday stroll.
Road side lunch bereak.
Sunday.
Sunday was moving day. Our ultimate destination is Valdez. We didn’t want to drive that far in one day, so we thought we would stop in Glennallen for one or two days before going on to Valdez. From Cantwell, there are three routes. We could go South through Palmer to Glennallen, more than290 miles, North to Fairbanks and south, a 350 mile drive. Or we could take the Danali Highway from Cantwell to Paxson, 135 miles, and another 75 to Glennallen. That doesn’t seem like a hard decision, a bit more than 200, versus 290 plus. Well, not so fast. This is after all Alaska and there always seems to be a small catch. The Danali Highway is gravel for all but the final 20 miles into Paxson. The BLM brochure warns travelers to check the spare tire, carry extra water and sufficient food for an emergency. You can’t predict how long it will take to get help if you become stranded. Maybe this isn’t a short drive to the corner store. So what, you ask? The Top of The World Highway is gravel, and we survived that. Why worry? It’s in my nature to fret and think bad thoughts. Once I’ve thought of a way to overcome the worst I can imagine. I’m good to go. On Friday, we took a 25 mile test drive from Cantwell and decided the highway wasn’t impassable pulling the trailer. After all, tour buses come that way. We had also read, it is well worth ignoring the rough road to experience the great scenery. After a bit of hand wringing, mostly mine, we decided to be uncharacteristically brave and adventuresome and take the shorter way, through caution to the wind so to speak.
Along the Danali Highway.
Glaciers in the Clear Water Mountains.
The Danali Highway is, without a doubt, a drive for the scenery junky. One of the best scenic drives we’ve taken in Alaska and we’ll remember it as another high point of our trip. For the first forty miles, the highway runs thru boreal forest called “taiga”. This was a wide valley of tundra, stunted spruce, kettle lakes, and in the distant Clearwater Mountains, three glaciers. It was picturesque. The only thing missing were vast herds of caribou, mastodon, and a band of hunter gathers. Further on we crossed the Susitna River. It’s not often you get to see a rivers source and the major valley it runs through all from the same vantage point. From the highway, you see the source, the Susitna Glacier, and to your back the Susitna River valley. This is what I call serious scenery, worth driving 5,000 miles to see.
Susitna River source.
It was that much better since we really weren’t expecting much, just a short cut; so we made a real discovery. And, the road isn’t all that bad. Five miles from Cantwell the pavement runs out and the next 110 miles are gravel. Te first 40 miles are in poor repair; I had to drive 20 to 25 miles per hour. After that stretch, it’s good gravel or pavement. With numerous stops to take pictures or just look; it took us five hours to cover the gravel portion and six hours overall from Cantwell to Paxson. From there, the road is narrow and pretty well beat up. We made it to Glennallen, through rain showers, in another two and half hours or so. It was a long day, but memorable. However, from what I’ve been told, we may still have some of the best scenery ahead of us. When we go on to Valdez, we can expect a spectacular drive. People tell me the trip is one of, if not the best, in Alaska. I can hardly wait.
Johnna: July 14, 2005
Left Soldotna at 7:00 AM. Beautiful morning. Just a little hint of clouds to the east. When we got to the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet we were surprised that it was about 80% mud flat. The tide must have been at its lowest ebb. When we passed here on the 9th, the whole arm was covered with water almost all the way to its head waters. We did not then realize that it was shallow enough to be emptied by a low tide.
Started getting clear views of Mt. McKinley north of Trapper Creek. Missed the turnout to the Denali View Point South which we later learned was the best viewing place for the big one on the Parks Highway. Stopped at the Danali View Point North about 25 miles further north. The view of the mountain was ok, but the clouds were beginning to build up and the mountain was starting to be obscured. It was completely covered by the time we go to Cantwell RV Park. Finished cooking the stew and ate dinner.
July 15, 2005
Drove up to the Danali Park Access Center and made reservations to take the 8 hour bus tour into the park the next day. Stopped by the new Visitors Center. They have a small but very informative interpretive display about the history of the region and formation of the park. Returned to Cantwell to make arrangements to have Sheila fed and walked while we are in the park.
After lunch, took a drive east on the Danali Highway to check out the road conditions. This highway is only paved for 20 of its 135 miles. We drove for about 25 miles and determined that the road was no worse than the Top of The World/Taylor Highway we took from Dawson City to Tok. So we think we will take it over to the Richardson Highway and south to Glennallen. This will save us from having to backtrack to Palmer to take the Glenn Highway over to Glennallen. It will be slow going, but we have been told that the scenic views will be worth it.
During the afternoon, thunder clouds brought high humidity and the temperature rose to the high 70s. After taking a shower it seemed that short pants would be the best attire for the rest of the day. One of the clouds produced a shower which cooled things down a bit making for a pleasant evening.
July 16, 2005
Rained lightly on and off during the night. Low clouds obscured the mountains and it rained and misted while driving up to the park (30 miles). Clouds began to lift as we boarded the tour bus. The bus driver said that he would stop every time someone saw wild life.
The first wild life we saw was a couple of ptarmigan hens with chicks along the road side. There was a couple of birders on the bus and they wanted to stop every time they spotted a bird. The bus driver told them ok but that the ubiquitous magpies didn’t count. Just as we reached the tundra area, sighted a grizzle sow with a year old cub on the mountain side about a quarter of a mile away. A little further on, sighted another with two small cubs about a mile away. We also sighted a lone caribou about a half mile away. As we were crossing the Toklat River a male grizzly came down the river bed and went under the bridge. Park rangers were waiting on that side of the bridge with rifles. The bus driver said that the rangers would be shooting ruber bullets to scare the bear away from the rest area on the other side of the bridge. We had to wait in the bus until they convinced him to go away. They had to shoot at him several times before he got the idea. The last we saw of him he was headed down river at a pretty fast clip. The whole episode was quite exciting. Finally people were let off the bus for a comfort break. We then continued on to the turnaround at Fish Creek (63 miles from the start).
On the return trip saw several different kinds of falcons according to our birders. We also came upon two caribou walking down the road. A little later on there was a lone caribou about 200 feet up the hill from the road. As we were approaching park headquarters, there was a moose cow with a calf along side of the road. All in all, it had been a good wild life sighting day.
The road into the park is gravel and very narrow in some places. At times it ran along side of the mountains with deep drop offs. It was comforting to us that our bus driver told us he had 12 years experience. The low clouds obscured the mountain tops most of the way, but views of the river valleys were interesting. Rivers typically do not run in a single channel, but form many small ones, making a very wide river bed. Geological features of the mountains went from granite to sandstone and every thing in between. One feature of interest was Polychrome Mountain which displayed many mineral colorations. Did not get to view Mt. McKinley this day.
July 17, 2005
Got started at about 8:00 AM. Partly cloudy with a high overcast. The road condition on the Danali Highway turned out not to be any worse than we had expected. We averaged about 30 mph hauling the 5th wheel. This is one of the prettier drives we have seen while in Alaska. There are many pull outs for scenic viewing. This is the kind of drive I would take at least once a year just because it’s there. This is mostly BLM land and many people were taking advantage of the BLM campgrounds and informal camping spots along the way. I would recommend this drive to anyone who has the patience to drive slowly and carefully. We caught several good views of the glaciers on the mountains on the east end of the Alaska Range before the clouds began to hide them.
It took us about six hours to traverse the 135 miles to the Richardson Highway. It began to rain as we started south toward Glennallen. It was raining hard by the time we got to the Tolsona Wilderness Campground about 15 miles west of Glennallen. It is a very pretty campground with campsites shaded by 60-80 foot tall spruce trees. All campsites are spacious and are located next to a fast running lake feed creek. The water is very clear. It is about a mile from the highway, therefore very quite. Got fairly wet getting setting up. However, after starting the heater and heating up the left over stew for dinner, we were soon warm and comfy. It had been a fatiguing trip from Cantwell, so we were happy to call it a day.
July 17, 2005
Rained most of the night. Decided to drive over to see if we could view the Matanuska Glacier any way. Rained on us most of the way. Stopped at the Eureka Roadhouse for breakfast. Bought an Anchorage newspaper to find out who had won the British Open yesterday. No real surprise that it was Tiger Woods. When we got to the view point the clouds lifted enough to let us get a look at the lower end of the glacier. Due to the rain and fog, missed seeing the Nelchina and Tazlina Glaciers which should also have been viewable from the highway. Came back to the campground and worked on getting caught up on our journal entries. Fired up the little gas grill to cook dinner; fish for Stan and chicken for me. No TV or radio here, so put a Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young CD on the little boom box. Kinda nice.
Matanuska Glacier.
Tolsona Wilderness Campground
