Riverboat Discovery @ Fairbanks / Arctic Circle

The Riverboat Discovery

     We left Denali and headed north for the 3 hour trip to Fairbanks. While driving through a construction zone just out of Denali we had a flat tire. The tire had a large screw in it. I put the spare on and headed to Fairbanks looking for a tire dealer. I decided to replace my tires as they were getting down on treads and this was our second flat. We found Giant Tire and replaced our tires in about an hour or so. We then met the rest of the crew at the Riverboat Discovery parking lot for our 2pm river tour. It was a nice warm day. The boat went past Susan Butcher's sled dog kennels. Susan was a top notch Iditarod racer for years (2nd woman to win) but she lost her battle with cancer in 2008. Her daughters have continued to run the kennels raising first rate sled dogs. We also stopped at Native Culture Center where several college students did demonstrations of various things from trapping and making clothing from the furs, catch salmon and smoking them, raising reindeer, building log cabins, etc. It was a relaxing and entertaining cruise up the river. 

Susan Butcher's Sled Dog Kennels

Native furs being demonstrated

Reindeer

Fish wheel used to catch salmon

     After the Riverboat it was time to say goodbye to Steve and Leanne as it was time for them to head home. Gary and Janet were staying in Fairbanks for a few days waiting for parts to show up at the dealer for their truck. We headed north out of town and camped at a free state rec campground. The next morning we drove up the Dalton Hwy with plans to make the Arctic Circle and camp overnight there. The road was actually in pretty good condition and we were able to travel along 45 or so most of the time. There was a nice BLM campground right at the Arctic Circle to stay at for free. As it turns out we probably spent our warmest day in Alaska at the Arctic Circle with temps in the 80's. Even overnight I don't think it got below 70...not quite what you would expect.

Lots of Fireweed along the road to the Arctic Circle

 This bridge over the Yukon was built in a short time with a large crew of 700. It is nearly 1/2 mile long and 200' above the river. The decking you drive on is made of lumber and the oil pipeline crosses here.

We were very happy that we made the trip to the Circle. We came back south the next morning and headed down the Chena Hot Springs road and found a nice free campsite by a pond. 

Beyers Lake to Denali NP

Bridge on hiking trail the circles Beyers Lake

    We enjoyed a restful night at Beyers Lake even to the point of sleeping in a couple extra hours. It was a pleasantly warm day so Joyce and I decided to take the hike around the lake after we ate lunch. It was a nice 6 mile hike with nice views across the lake and of the mountains beyond. We had hiked about 30 or 40 minutes when Joyce spotted a black bear out in a meadow at the north end of the lake. We continued on after taking a few pictures of it and completed the the hike in a couple of hours or so. By then Gary and Janet had caught up to us and we made plans to head up to Denali the next day. In the morning we headed out and drove up to Denali NP, seeing a young black bear and a cow moose along the way. There is lots of construction going on along the Parks highway so a trip that might normally take an hour or so can take twice as long with all the hold ups. We got to Denali around 11 or so and checked in at the store for our reserved campsites at Riley Creek. The camping is run by a concessions company (Armark) and seems to be fairly well maintained. We spent the afternoon exploring the front area of the park, visitor center, museum and the wilderness access center where we would depart early the next morning on our bus into the park. 

Black bear near Beyers Lake

Cow Moose in a pond a few miles from Denali NP entrance

      We got up by 5 the next morning and had to be at the WAC to catch our 6am bus into the park we had reserved. We were lucky that Pigeon (Toni) our friend that we befriended while hiking the Appalachian Trail was able to join us for the day. She has worked for several years in the Denali area leading guided tours into the back country as a naturalist. She spent a day off and drove nearly 2 hours to spend the day on our bus tour with us. Toni has spent quite a bit of time hiking and backpacking in the park. We started off the bus ride seeing a pack of wolves run across the road in front of us within the first 15 minutes. Along the way we saw a couple of grizzly bears grazing and eventually a few caribou and a couple of moose. The day dawned gray and before too long it began to rain. You are in a bus so you are protected from the rain but it pretty much killed the scenery as the roads turned muddy and the buses splattered mud on the windows as they passed. We ended up about 65 miles inside the park to the Eilson Visitor center. If you take the green buses you can get off any where and catch another one later on. We wanted to go on a day hike with Toni and decided not to let the rain stop us. Gary and Janet decided to stay on the bus but the rest of us got off and hike up a gorge with a stream flowing down it. 

We bushwhacked our way for a couple of wet miles before heading back to the road. We had a good time and were glad we made the effort in spite of the rain. We did appreciate the warm bus that picked us up to return to the WAC by 5pm or so. After getting into some warm dry clothes Joyce and I met Toni, Desiree (Toni's daughter who works at a coffee shop in the park) and Mike (Desiree's boyfriend) for pizza at a local pub. It lots of fun to meet Desiree and Mike, they make a very nice young couple. We finalize plans with Toni to meet at the park in a couple of weeks to go backpacking together.

A view from one of the rest stops the bus made

Steve tried washing the bus windows on a rest stop...but they were soon muddy again

On our day hike with Toni in the rain

Sled dog program at Denali NP

     After a nice warm nights sleep in the camper we all drove out to "Glitter City" which is a bunch of tourist stores and eateries across the road from the Princess Resorts just outside the park entrance. It was a good place to look for t shirts and other gifts. That afternoon we took a bus over to see the sled dogs program the park runs. They use dog teams in the winter to explore the park as snowmobiles are banned. Tomorrow we head to Fairbanks area.

      

Hatcher Pass to Talkeetna

Camping at Gold Mint campground along the Hatcher Pass road

      After our fishing charter in Homer we worked our way back up to Anchorage stopping to shop for supplies. We then headed to Hatcher Pass road that runs between just north of Palmer west to Willow Alaska. It is a very scenic drive with several gold claims still being used along it's 40 some miles. Gary and Janet stopped by their nephews place in the Eagle River area and met us at a campground in the Willow area. We, along with Steve & Leanne, camped at a state rec campground (Gold Mint) Friday night before meeting up with Gary and Janet near Willow. We enjoyed a nice meal of Halibut while camped together Saturday night. Sunday we were scheduled to take the Hurricane Ridge ride on the Alaskan Railway.

On the way across just a few miles beyond the summit of Hatcher Pass we came to the old Independence Mine which has been restored and is now a park. I'll write more later about the mine.

Independence Mine

 Enjoying a nice Halibut supper

Very yummy!

     Sunday we headed into Talkeetna and visited the quaint little town. We were scheduled to depart on the Hurricane Turn rail trip at 12:30pm. We grabbed a bite to eat before getting on the train. The train trip headed towards Hurricane Gulch, about a 3 hour plus trip, located in or near Denali State Park. The trip was very comfortable with lots of great scenery and a very informative conductor named Earl. Earl was a lot of fun and truly enjoyed his work. The trip was a very worthwhile adventure that I would consider doing again someday. Gary, retired from the railroad, was able to spend some time riding up front in the engine. 

 Alaska  RR

Hurricane Gulch

 The upper deck crown car has great views

 We stopped along this stream for a leg stretch

The cars had nice large windows and comfortable seating

     After we returned to Talkeetna around 7 we drove on up to Beyers Lake to camp for the next couple nights before heading to Denali NP. We settled in by 9:30 and went down to the dock and saw these 2 kayaks just heading out. As you can see it looks like mid day when it would be nearly dark back home.

      

Halibut Fishing Trip - Homer AK

Homer Marina is huge

     We had to be at the boat by 6:15 in the morning to get an early start on our day of Halibut fishing. Besides  the 6 of us there were 9 others signed up for our charter on the Sundy. The morning was pleasantly warm and offered a beautiful sunrise. After our captain, Garrett, and deck hand, Jeremy, gave us our safety instructions we were off and going. We cruised along for over an hour before we got to our first fishing area. The water was around 200' deep in this area. The bad news at this point was that Joyce was seasick. But she's quite a trooper and loves to fish so even though she was in misery she was out there fishing with the rest of us. In fact I believe she was one of the first to catch a Halibut. Alaska fishing rules state that there is a limit of 2 Halibuts per license. One has to be over 29" long and the other under 29". Because of that Joyce and I each actually caught 4 or 5 Halibut each due to having our over 29" and not catching any under 29". It takes a long time to reel in a fish from 200' and it can be very tiresome. 

Morning rush hour on the water as many charter boats head out fishing

Joyce has one on

Jeremy helps land her Halibut

The scenery was very beautiful

Joyce was finely feeling better and ended up catching the boats largest fish of the day

Steve & Leanne relaxing after having both caught their limits

My largest Halibut...but I had to throw it back due to already having my over 29

Everyone on the boat limited

Jeremy and Garrett filet our fish

We enjoyed seeing a few Humpback Whales along the way

     We had a wonderful fishing trip and would recommend Ninilchik Charters to anyone. We fished in 200', 90' and 150' depths. The captain and first mate were lots of fun and worked hard to make sure we all had a great experience. It was an expensive outing but we all felt it was money well spent.

Headed to Homer

    After we left Seward we drove up and across the Kenai over to the west side. We stopped at Fred Meyers in Sodoltna to resupply. We continued south on the Sterling Hwy to Ninilchick and camped on a bluff overlooking the Cook Inlet. The next morning we completed our drive down to Homer and found a campsite out on the Spit at a municipal campground. We did take time to explore the marina to find the boat we would be taking Halibut fishing the following day.

View from our campsite at Ninilchik

Mt Redoubt across Cook Inlet

The view from our campsite on the Spit

Our boat the Sundy that we were to take fishing

The next posting will cover our fishing trip

Kenai Fjords Boat Tour

We were camped center/lower part of Pic here - Marathon Mountain in background to the right

      Sunday morning we met our Kenai Fjords Tour Boat at the Seward Marina around 9 am. We spent the day on tour to Kenai Fjords Nat. Park visiting the Alalik Glacier along with viewing a few others. We saw lots of wildlife along the way: Humpback whales, Orcas, porpoise, Sea Otters, Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Puffins, Eagles, Mountain Goats, etc. The weather wasn't too bad even though it was rather gray. Lots of fishing boats were out as well.

 

Waiting in line to board the tour boat

Bald Eagle

Leanne & Steve on our boat

Orca whale

Pod of Orcas 

Ice floating from calving glacier

Sea Otters floating on ice chunks

Alalik Glacier calving

Alalik Glacier

Humpback Whale spouting

Sea Lion diving

Sea Lions

We had a Prime rib and Alaska Salmon dinner at Fox Island about hour before we made it back to the  marina

Seward Marina

This chalkboard sign in Seward is filled out each day by tourist passing by

     We enjoyed the boat tour and meal at Fox Island a lot. We also thought Seward was a very nice area...probably one of our favorite places in Alaska.