Sep 18, 2012 - #8 Ann's Additions from Denali NP

#8 Ann's Additions to Denali NP Hi, Y'all, One of the things related to our Denali experience that I wanted to mention was the really excellent program presented by the Forest Ranger the afternoon before our flight-seeing excursion. The little museum operated by the Historical Society in Talkeetna had a wonderful 3 dimensional scale model, about 12 feet on a side, of the mountain range including Denali and neighboring peaks. The Ranger's scenario assumed we, his audience, were part of a party of climbers preparing to challenge the...

Sep 12, 2012 - Kantishna Tour (approx. 12 hrs)

We spent all day touring Denali via bus. Denali has one road which goes to mile marker 93(?). We went to the very end seeing bear and moose along the way! It was a long, but exhausting day! By the time we reached the lodge, we were ready for bed and not for packing. Our suitcases needed to be outside our door by 7AM!

Sep 11, 2012 - Denali Princess Lodge

There are no words to describe Denali. After several hours on the bus driving through all sorts of beautiful landscapes, I realized just how inadequate words are. Awesome! Beautiful! Magnificent! just didn't cut it. Throughout the ride up, we found all sorts of wildlife! We saw grizzlies including a sow with two cubs! One bear came up on the road. All we could think of was the hiker just a few feet behind us. Luckily we were able to warn him. Can you imagine him turning around the corner and facing the teeth of a grizzly? We saw lots of...

Sep 7, 2012 - Denali

We got to Denali National Park Wednesday afternoon. We spent that afternoon setting up camp and checking out the visitor center campus. We were allowed to drive 15 miles into the park so we planned some hiking for the next couple of days. Thursday we were up early and did a hike up the Savage River. We spotted some Dall sheep and decided to hike up and see if we could get close enough for some pictures. By the time we got up there it was socked in and the sheep were nowhere in sight. But the hike was fun and the scenery was amazing. The...

Sep 6, 2012 - Haines photos by John Harris

These pictures were taken by John Harris and copied without permission from his blog. Hope he doesn't sue me!! We meet John and Barbara who are from Lubbock, TX, at Casita Rallies. They are friends of Brad and Beverly Cottingham and were invited to the rallies by them. Neither the Cottinghams or the Harris' own Casita's! Tony and I went to Quartzite, California, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with both couples in Jan-Feb. They had emailed us when we were in Whitehorse but we didn't get in touch and we were very surprised to meet them in the...

Aug 30, 2012 - Prince George to Ashland, KS

I had a wonderful blog letter written on the rest of our trip but managed somehow to delete it. I will write a very a short description of our return trip. We drove from Prince Geo. B.C. to a campground just west of Jasper National Park so we could spend a day visiting the town of Jasper and driving from Jasper down the Icefields Parkway. It was a beautiful sunny day for a wonderful drive. We spent the night at a campground near Lake Louise before heading out for the U.S. border. (All you friends of Jane, ask her about the tree experience...

Aug 22, 2012 - Tour Denali National Park

It was a very early morning since a tour bus picked us up at our RV park at 6:10 am. No cars are allowed in the park so you must go by tour bus to keep traffic down. It was 90 miles to the best close view of Mount McKinnley, the tallest mountain in North America...over 20,000 feet tall. It was a gorgeous clear day for great views of the mountain, which is rare they say. We stopped for multiple animal sightings of caribou, dall sheep, ptarmigan (the state bird), and grizzly bears. Most we saw in binoculars, but were too far away for good...

Aug 21, 2012 - To: Denali

On the move again to one of the most recommended places in Alaska...Denali National Park. Got our earliest start at 9am, but the swivelwheel tie kept giving us fits. Tread would beep high pressure on the sensors lose tread and then go flat. NOT GOOD! Not 100 miles further we lost another swivelwheel tire. We decided it may not have been from an old tire and luckily we had a 3rd tire but it had to be mounted. Luckily a turnout was available just after this happened and we pulled in. We had to disconnect from the 5th wheel and use the truck...

Aug 20, 2012 - near the end

Although we will leave Denali National Park with our goal to see the mountain from the ground unmet, we have done our best to enjoy the park within the rules and limitations already described. With the poor weather we’ve endured this summer, we have had few opportunities to hike, so it felt good to finally put on those hiking boots. The mountain generates its own weather and microclimates and on one ranger walk we learned that the entrance of the park gets only about a foot of precipitation a year. We wouldn’t have guessed this since the...

Aug 18, 2012 - user unfriendly

One of the reasons we stopped in Talkeetna was to see Mt. McKinley from afar in the south. Ironically, it's not possible to see it from Denali National Park where it is located without taking a school bus sixty miles down a a gravel road. Foot hills and lower mountains in the chain get in the way. More on that later. But since the clouds and overcast are back and the forecast is for five days of rain, we decided to head north to the national park and see and do what we could on ground level. As we drove the traffic ahead of us slowed way...

Aug 15, 2012 - denali national park

driving to denali, stopped for pic, going to get a lot closer. going on plane ride around and over mt mckinley, on the way their flew right over our rv park, if you have ever taken cruise to alaska, you might reconigize this place. across street is the princess hotel. As we climed approaching mtn, oxygen was required (plane not pressurized) As we got closer took lots of pictues, but were so close (about 1 mile away) pic's do not do it justice, but the view was awsome!! The next day took bus ride through denila park about 6-7hrs saw lots...

Aug 13, 2012 - Skagway to St. George

Wednesday, August 8, we left Haines for Skagway via the Alaska Ferry System. The trip took only an hour and saved us hundreds of miles! This afternoon Skagway was packed with people. No, not from the ferry but from the cruise ships, 4 of them. They each hold about 2,000 people and the estimate is that about 10,000 people were here shopping their hearts out in the usual rain and fog. Yes, it has continued to be dreary but thank goodness does not make us feel uncomfortable just a little wet. My very generous sister treated us to a King Crab...