Aug 8, 2012 - Matanuska to Glennallen

Wednesday -- After breakfast we backtracked to the Edge Nature Trail for views of the Matanuska Glacier in the spectacular Chugach Mountain Range. The easy one mile trail follows the ridge of a morain pile left by the glacier when it covered the land where we were now walking. The Matanuska, a valley glacier, is 27 miles long with an active face four miles wide. It has an inactive lobe covered in gravel on one side but has been holding its own since its last retreat 10,000 years ago. We did not drive down the road and pay the day fee to...

Jul 21, 2012 - Glenn Highway

We left Anchorage behind us this morning and headed across the Glenn Highway to just west of Glennallen and the Richardson Highway. It was a beautiful drive even though it was drizzling rain the first part of the drive. The gray mountain shapes loomed over the highway on either side as it followed the winding Matanusca River through the narrow valley. We left the rain behind just beyond Palmer but the heavy mist obscured the mountain tops and slices of mist seemed to cut the mountains in half. We stopped at several beautiful overlooks; at...

Jul 17, 2012 - Glennallen, AK

Tue, 18 Jul: We ended today once again parked at a scenic turnout along the Glenn Highway about thirteen miles west of Glennallen, Alaska, the same one we stopped at last week. This time, however, we had company as another motorhome rolled in about dinnertime. Other than that we had the place all to ourselves. We took our time getting underway as there was no big rush to be anywhere. We awoke to sunshine streaming in through our windshield—again! All these sunny days, what can happen next is we'll start to expect them all the time....

Jul 17, 2012 - Day 57 Palmer to Glenallen

Day 57: 140 miles Palmer to Glenallen. The drive today along the Glen highway was spectacular! As you can see from the pictures we had gorgeous mountain scenery. Our first and only stop (other than stops to take pictures) was Matanuska glacier. We drove in three miles on a very potholed dirt road to get to the trail head. From there we hiked about 1/2 mile to get to the edge of the glacier. We then proceeded to walk around on the glacier for 15 minutes or so. Although the wind blowing across the glacier was somewhat cold, we were...

Jul 16, 2012 - Glennallen, Alaska

On the way to Glennallen we stopped at the Matanuska Glacier. To get to campground we had to cross the narrow wooden bridge in picture. Charlotte said we must be on the wrong road. We made it anyway. We camped on a fast moving stream and Charlotte finally got to do some fishing. No luck though.

Jul 9, 2012 - Glennallen, AK

Mon, 09 Jul: We ended our day parked at a sceniwc turnout along the Glenn Highway about thirteen miles west of Glennallen, Alaska. It was a nice quiet spot off a lesser travelled road. Nobody bothered us, in fact nobody even used the turnout, so we had the place all to ourselves. We departed the Big Bear Campground a bit after 0900 and drove a mile to top off our diesel tank. When we tried to fill the tank the other day the automatic pump wouldn't allow us to use our credit card more than twice. That wasn't enough to fill the tank, so we...

Jul 4, 2012 - Glennallen

Northern Lights RV Park. One of the nicer campgrounds we've stayed in. However, I can't get my ipad to connect to the internet. John's computer works fine. Had a nice drive, started out rainy but changed to sun around noon. Got set up at campsite then took a short walk down the highway. Tried an interpretive walk, but lost the trail. The campgrounded hosted a free barbecue for the 4th. They had salmon lasagne, hot dogs, hamburgers, and all the trimmings. As an added bonus they had a group of young native Athabascan Indians perform. They...

Jun 11, 2012 - Day 12

Day 12-June 4 We were camped with mtns. all around us & when we woke up it was sunny & clear so the mtns were quite the picture! Hardly describable! Went to the Valdez Library & got on their computers to send a message to folks – but it wouldn’t send. Frustrating! But we went on the Columbia Glacier & Wildlife Cruise from 12:00-7:00 and it was excellent. Saw lots – beautiful mtns, otter, humb-backed whales, sea lions, porpoises, dolphins, bald eagles, a bear and Columbia Glacier & all the chunks that had come into the water-huge &...

Jun 11, 2012 - Day 10

Day 10-Saturday, June 2 - temps were between the high 40’s & low 50’s Before leaving Delta Junction we checked out the Visitor Center-excellent animal display. Turned on the Richardson Hwy & headed to Paxson (79 mi.). Stopped to see the Alaska Pipeline & read the info signs. Another unbelievable sight & work. As we traveled south we saw it again & again but of course not all the time. At Paxson we took the Denali Hwy for 35 miles – Aldie fished, saw a couple moose, a couple bald eagles & just enjoyed the beauty of the land – huge lakes with...

Jun 9, 2012 - Seward, Ak. to Glennallen, Ak.

Saturday June 9th we first went to Exit Glacier at Kenai Fjords National Park which is about 12 miles from Seward, Ak.. Joanna and I walked about 6 tents of the 9 10 tents of mile to the base of the glacier. Then the trail got to rough for Joanna and she sat and waited while I went another 2 tents of mile to take pictures of the glacier. When we got back to the ranger station I told the rangers there was a new species of Dhall Sheep. It was my wife, she is a Meadow Sheep, one that doesn't do mountains. Then she got back at me by throwing...

Aug 11, 2011 - Slana, AK - Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

(Ron Writing) We enjoyed a beautiful sunny day with just a few clouds now and then but a pretty stiff north wind which made it feel quite chilly outdoors in spite of temperatures in the high 60’s. We spent all day traveling around the northwest corner of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and National Preserve. Perhaps we “don’t get out enough” but to be honest we don’t recall ever hearing of this national park before coming to Alaska. We won’t forget it after this trip. At 13.2 million acres it’s the largest unit in our national park system....

Aug 4, 2011 - Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Lake Louise

At 13 million acres, Wrangell-St. Elias is the nation's largest national park, and is larger than the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island combined! It equals six Yellowstones! Established in 1980, the park is home to some of the tallest mountains in North America, but it also has 122 miles of coastline within its boundaries and a glacier called Hubbard that is actually surging into the Pacific Ocean. It protects the nation's largest active glacial complex. Four major mountain ranges meet in the park, which includes nine of...