Salmon fishing!

I'd love to include a picture of my day trip salmon fishing (on a charter boat, on the Little Susitna River) but I managed to leave the cord at home that allows me to download the pictures from my camera to the computer. I'll have Tom send it along in a box to our next appointed mail stop.
But imagine Mary getting up at 3AM, yes, you read that correctly. She has made her lunch the night before and at 4AM she leaves with her bro-in-law, Walt, for a one-hour drive down a dirt road, praying that there are no wandering moose on the road! She and Walt meet the charter boat and with two other men, they all set out on the river for a 5-hr fishing trip.
The men all elect to done hip waders and to fish from the sand bars once we've traveled about 5 miles downriver in the misty and rainy pre-dawn light. Mary wisely elects to stay in the boat and fish from it's side.
See Mary catch the first fish, about an hour into the journey. It's a very small silver salmon, a female, and the men are all very happy for me, but comment that it's a pity it's so small.
As the rain abates, see the other men catch-and-release several chum salmon (they don't keep them as it's taste isn't as good as the silvers and others.
Imagine in another 30 minutes of casting into the river, Mary saying, "Oh, I may have a fish, or I may be snagged on a log on the bottom." The guide comes over when he has finished working with another man's line, to give me a hand... landing an over 9-pound silver. That turns out to be the biggest fish of the day, and I'm now at my limit.
Mary sits down and watches the rest of the men fish for 3 more hours.
Was Mary going to say, "Oh, I need to step ashore and find a convenient tree?" NOT on your life!! There were fresh bear tracks in the clean sand on the sand bank! BIG bear tracks! And when we changed to another place on the river, there were fresh moose tracks! According to the rangers at Denali the moose are more dangerous than the bear!
It appears that we are going to leave the Palmer area tomorrow. We've been up to see the Matanuska Glacier (that was impressive!) and we've been to the musk ox farm (fascinating ice age animals) and we've visited the Ididerod Museum, the start of the race, dog kennels, etc. All in all, we've had a great time right here around Palmer. It's right next to Wasilla and I kept my eye out for Sarah, but she must be away right now!
I promise pictures for the next installment of this journey!

The Mat-Su Valley Region

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We've drifted south along the Parks Highway and stopped for 9 days in the Palmer-Wasilla area. It's in the Matanuska Valley through which the Suisitna River flows. You can see why they call it the Mat-Su! It's ringed with the Chugach Mt.s and I will try to send along a picture of these spectacular mountains which are visible from almost any window here in the library in Palmer.
We've been to the visitor center and then on to the Wasilla Farmer's Market where we bought some of the lovely produce grown locally.
In the early 30's the US govt had a program called Matanuska Pioneer where they moved 1000 people from the depleted farmland of Wisc. & Minn. They chose that area as those people had experience with cold climates! The families were given help (for which they were required to pay $6 an hour for a tractor/driver to clear land... not cheap in those days!) clearing land. They had to sell their produce through a local govt. co-op at set prices, too. The cabins were set plans, and the barns were too small for dairy purposes although they were expected to raise dairy animals. Hmmm. Govt. plans. It was a good idea but had too much oversight in some areas!
The produce is great though, since they receive 21 hrs of sunlight during their short growing season, the size and taste is wonderful. We'll enjoy the tomato, lettuce, chard, beets in the next few days.
From the visitor center we've found lots of interesting things to see & do. Here is the bronze statue of Balto of Nome, the lead sled dog in the Nenana-to-Nome sled rescue that has spawned the Ididerod Race. The team took the serum to Nome to prevent a diptheria outbreak in the dead of winter, and Balto became world famous. I have the book, needless to say! The start of the race is now Wasilla, although they do a media start in Anchorage and then a re-start from Wasilla.
We will stay in this area for 9 days, although the weather has changed on us. It's cold, in the 50's with a wind that feels as though it's coming right off the Matanuska Glacier! We've found a wonderful borough park (think County Park) which has RV spaces. It's just out of town and very lovely. Our walk this morning was fraught with bear-aware comments! Except the moose are more dangerous, which is kinda funny. There's a lot of moose-meadows and moose crossings signs on the roads. Hitting a moose will NOT be a fun day for you or your truck!

McKinley at Last!

We are delighted to show you this incredible photo of Mt.McKinley (or Denali, if you are being PC) which Garth took today on our 3rd 8-hr bus tour you must take if you want to see the mt. up close... well, 35 miles is considered up close! This photo shows the road we will continue upon as we finish the drive. Today we were all very fortunate to see a lynx, that most elusive cat, and we again saw caribou, golden eagles, Dahl sheep, and many grizzly bears. We even happened upon a wolf kill after the mother grizzly had run the wolves off and she and her two cubs were feeding on the carcase.. Many pictures later....and don't worry you don't see that it's a dead animal, you just see the two cubs 'playing'... learning fighting, no doubt! I wished to see wolves but we were not lucky in that. But the USFS Ranger said to us as we were coming here to get online that a lynx sighting trumps a wolf sighting so I guess we will have to be satisfied with our animal viewing.

We had seriously considered not taking this 3rd trip as it's so tiring to be jostled over 120 miles of gravel road, so we got up at 1:30 am, yes, AM, and drove 15 miles to the "lookout" place where you can first see the mt. if it's clear. It's the only place the private cars can go and when we saw that it was clear, we returned to the rigs, and some of the family got a bit more sleep then we took the 6 am bus, which requires that we be there at 5:15. Needless to say, I've been up since 1 am. and am a bit weary!

But it was WORTH IT. Only 30% of the visitors to the Park ever see the Mt. It is so immense that it makes it's own weather patterns and is most often cloaked in clouds during July. Last year during July it was only seen 3 days! We took tons of pictures, of course.

Tomorrow we will spend around the Visitor Center/Park HQ complex. They've some great movies (The Wolves of McKinley, for one) that we've heard about and want to see. Garth is hopeful of keeping me out of the gift shop but you all know how futile that will be!

Monday morning we pack up and drive 125 miles down toward Anchorage and the Kenai Penn. I'd really like to take a day-trip salmon fishing excursion but that's something that Garth can't do as you all know how badly he suffers from mal du mer. Oh well, maybe I'll get offered a salmon by an Indian as won't have to go to the trouble to spending a day catching one! The local tribes can fish for subsistence living and often sell their extra fish to tourists. Perhaps I'll get lucky!

Garth is going to treat me to an ice cream cone since we are out of ice cream at the rig. Have to get to a major store soon! Lots of errands for us to do in Anchorage area. Mail stop, buy ice cream, you know, life's important things!

This has been a wonderful week here in Denali and I'm thrilled to have been along while Garth & Walt saw The Mountain. Made it all worthwhile, believe me!

More soon. Mary

Denali Nat'l Park

We are staying here in Denali for two days longer than we'd originally planned. Mostly because it's so lovely, and of course, Garth is pleased to find that his 'Golden Age Pass' gets us a reduction in the nightly fee. He's looking at what Nat'l Parks will be on our way home, once we return to continental soil!

The Park is now closed to private cars & the only way you can get about is a shuttle system. We all bought the 2-day pass which gives you a 3rd day free. That appealed to our Scottish hearts! The 8-hr bus ride can be long and boring or you can open your eyes and watch diligently for animals which we did. And our bus trips have been rewarded with grizzly bear, moose and caribou, Dall sheep, golden eagle, and fox sightings. Today the grizzly bear that was really close was so exciting... you could hear the click click of the digital cameras; it sounded like a continuous wave of sound as all the folks on the bus were busy recording that bear's every move!

But then someone yelled, "Stop!" (which is the accepted method for the driver to hear you, honest.) and there below us on a bench of the valley (really close!) were 4 kit fox playing rough and tumble among the low willow bushes. Garth got great photos of them and I'll have them for another post.

The camp where we stayed in '63 & '65 is now closed, except to those few hikers who have applied for a special permit to stay there at Igloo Creek. It was an unofficial camp when we visited before and only found out about it because we met, and were charmed by, an old man named "Russian Joe". He had been living in the Park during the summers for at least 25 years (was a Russian, actually, who had grown up in Sitka when Alaska had just been sold to the US by the Tzar. He was older than my grandfather who'd gone to Alaska in the Klondike gold rush)

Fairbanks Stayover

We've had a lovely time here in Fairbanks. It was a heat record a few days ago with temps in the 90's! Yes, I was glad to have a small storm move through and cool it off a bit!

Mother, Jan & I went to the Univ. of Alaska to talk with them. Their Librarian had set up an appt. with their oral history archivist who spent 2 hrs. this morning interviewing Mother about her time with her grandfather, his time here in Alaska, all she remembered of his life, etc. It was fascinating to hear her speak of this man who thought nothing of setting out for Alaska in 1898! They taped the intereview and will send us a CD copy each.

We leave here Monday for 5 days in Denali (Mt. McKinley) Nat'l Park. We have hopes of seeing The Mountain as the storm has moved on and it did cut the smoke from the fires. Alaska has a stated policy of not fighting fires unless they threaten towns, homes, farms, etc. The news reports that there are 86 fires burning in the state currently! The burnt areas regrow and the fires are needed for good forest management.

(I did manage to download a picture of the hotel built at Manley Hot Springs. It's pretty impressive, huh?)

When we were here in '63 you could drive a private vehicle in the park. Now it's tour buses only so we've made reservations for early departure times as that's best for animal viewing. Bears, mt. sheep, wolves, foxes, moose, wolverine, you get a chance to see them all. They've never been hunted in the park as the natives (First Nations) thought the area sacred & named the mountain Denali. It's been changed back to that from McKinley since '65 so I think of it as both!

From there we will go down through the Anchorage area, picking up our good friend, Mary K, who is to travel with us for 10 days. Garth's brother and his wife, Rob & Sue, are due to arrive in Anchorage mid-month and join us in a rented RV also. We'll be a real caravan then!

We've met some of the nicest folks here; helpful and gracious and delighted to show off their wonderful state.

Manley Hot Springs

We've just returned from our one day side trip up to Manley Hot Springs. It was amazing, just amazing. The original hotel was built by the man who assumed the name of my great-grandfather, when he went to Alaska one jump ahead of the marshall. The "new" Frank Manley built a huge hotel (think Victorian splendor/4 story/impressive) in 1898. That hotel burned in 1929 and a roadhouse was built and named the Manley Roadhouse. We stayed there lastnight and saw 4 moose while we were there. Great cooked breakfast! We were introduced to several folks at this town hundreds of miles from nowhere, one lady opened the school & let us investigate the library to see if we could find an unpublished manuscript written by a gal who researched the entire Manley Hot Springs area & especially about "Frank Manley". She did discover that he had assumed that name but did not know that there was a real Frank Luther Manley. The two ladies there at the town really want my mother to contact the library at the Univ. here in Fairbanks to talk with them and update their historical information. We may be able to do that within the next two days.
On Sunday we leave here and will take 1-2 days to drive 125 miles down to Denali Nat'l Park. We've reservations there for 5 days & I have to assume that they won't have wi-fi but you never know! You may be hearing from us while we stay in Denali, viewing animals & hoping for a view of the Mountain. The internet here is very slow so I won't try to upload a picture.

We've Reached Alaska!

After an incredible drive (unpaved & almost unimproved!) over The Top of The World Drive from Dawson City to Tok, Alaska, we spent the holiday weekend at the Tok River State Park, just a mile outside Tok. As you can see from the photo, it was a lovely spot, with our picture window overlooking the fast-moving river. Now, Sunday, we've moved our rigs to Fairbanks, to the State Park here, along the Chena River.
The frost heaves on the paved roads make for a very bumpy ride. The gravel roads don't suffer from frost heaves, although you pay for that with the dust, dirt, and mud!
We will stay here for about 5 days, using this as our base camp for day/side trips. We will go north up a gravel road just to the Arctic Circle (have to have that photo!), and a special overnight trip out to Manley Hot Springs, named after my great grandfather. We will leave the rigs here as that road is gravel and there are no accomodations for RV's out there. And of course, a visit to the University of Alaska Museum here in town. It's recognized as one of the best in the state.
Good things we got great pics of the Alaska Range while in the Tok State Park. Today, as we drove along them, there was a fire with smoke covering them totally. We stopped at Delta Junction to lunch, visit the museum and the famous Sullivan Roadhouse (moved to this spot courtesy the US Army of all people!). My great-grandfather would have stopped at that Roadhouse on his 2nd, of four! trips to Alaska, as it was on the Valdez-to-Fairbanks trail. The trail was 10 feet wide and 268 miles long. He told my mother that he walked the entire way and as it was winter trail, he did it on a snow-covered trail! As best she recalls, it was either 1904 or 1908.
Contrast that with our trip today.... I prepared my mini-crockpot with a roast to slow cook, and gave it to Jan. Their 5th wheel has solar power and she puts her crock pot in the sink, lets it cook while they drive and voila! a meal ready at dinnertime. Since it's Sunday it's my turn to host the whole group. We will have broccoli/cauliflower/carrots for a veg, boiled Yukon Gold potatoes, the pot roast done in the crock pot, and I baked a mincemeat pie (last night) for dessert. Life on the open road....
Garth hung the clock I gave him. All it has are days of the week on it so we know today is Sunday. Had we not been traveling we'd have found a church to attend for services but that didn't work out today.
It's warmer weather now, in the high 70's in Fairbanks and we've opened every window in the rig to cool off. We'll do some shopping here in town and do laundry (of course!)
Garth says he's having a great time. We have walkie-talkies to use while traveling so we are always in contact with Jan & Walt. He likes to hear Walt's pithy comments about the roads and the other RV drivers. Whoever is in the lead gives warning of upcoming stops and the following rig gives notice of cars needing to pass. That arrangement seems to work really well.
More later!