10 Alaska Sojourn

Saturday, August 10, 2024

Tok Cut-Off Highway, Alaska, United States

We left Snag Junction Territorial Park (TP) reasonably early and stopped at the “physical“ border for a photo opportunity (we have an equivalent picture with Bogie). The US Customs official was really nice and let us through without any hiccups and the canoe got a new sticker after being inspected for invasive species. The weather is awesome; cool but sunny. We continued to Tok where we are getting Storm's front brakes checked; needs work which will get done in Anchorage. We random camped at a Moose hunting area which gave Yukon lots of space to chase balls; at 04:00 Yukon barked to let us know that two Moose were ambling by our camper.

Left early with coffee in hand and headed to Anchorage to get our brakes fixed (appointment made for after our Denali National Park (NP) sojourn); we also dropped in on REI for a replacement SPOT, Petco for dog food and Costco for needed supplies. We then headed towards Denali stopping at a random semi-retired gravel pit for the night. Besides having a nice campfire we saw a beautiful Coyote on top of a remaining gravel pile.

02 Border Sign

We had rain all day but looked forward to the sunny forecast.

We arrived at Denali NP by 09:00, registered for our Teklanika campsite then had a shower and did laundry. A landslide at Pretty Rocks has isolated Wonder Lake and Polychrome for the past three years and it will take two more years before reopening the road. Zach, Shari, Iris and Dahlia arrived at the campground late (22:00) driving a Minnie Winnie rental. The next two days were spent hiking and riding the buses to stalk animals. Besides making rolls on a stick, it was great sharing our wilderness way of life with them. The girls have become great hikers and although we had to leave a day early to get our brakes fixed, we had a great time and got some good views of Denali mountain and local animals; Cindy's Grizzly pictures are awesome and she still has intact arms after the photo shoot.

On our way to Anchorage we stayed the night at Rocky Lake Recreation Site (RS) as the only camper but the day use denizens kept Yukon entertained (i.e. kids). Off early (05:00), we arrived at the Anchorage RAM dealer before it opened.

03 Border Folk

The rain was persistent all day so we remained mainly in our camper while the truck was being repaired; they did a great job getting us back on the road earlier than scheduled. From Anchorage, we headed Southwest into the Kenai Peninsula where we met up with Zach and Shari again at the Cooper Creek South Campground in the Chugach National Forest (NF). The girls entertained us near the campfire with their best dance routines.

While Cindy and the Bowers went rafting on the Kenai River, I fixed cabinet hinges, typed some of this Blog and entertained Yukon. We had lunch at Two Brothers and I ate delicious Halibut Tacos. We then hiked five miles return to the Russian River Falls where the Chinook Salmon were jumping slowly up these falls.

Without reservations, we found sites at Hidden Lake Campground in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) but the sky opened up and it rained all night. Off again we headed to Seward; it was too wet to hike on Exit Glacier so we all went to Seward Sealife Center; most of the marine exhibit members are being rehabilitated - the Sea Lions were my favourite, huge but extremely lithe.

04 Border Folk

After the weather cleared, we hiked a small part of the Resurrection Trail before settling into Resurrection Campground in downtown Seward. After Cindy's Birthday dinner at the Highliner Restaurant (my fresh Halibut and chips were delicious), the girls roasted marshmallows over a short lived campfire. This Municipal Campground only takes reservations and it was packed.

While Cindy and others went whale hunting, Yukon and I secured new campsites at Primrose Campground in the Chugach NF plus did trailer dump and refill. With no phone service, we had to drive back into town to leave messages for the others. I had a campfire going by the time they returned so we could burn the wood that can't cross the border; had an easy salad dinner with a Sticky Bun for h'ordouvres. Cindy also got to open her presents.

The next day it was time to hug the Bowers’ goodbye as they had to catch the Saturday redeye flight to Miami. Cindy and I then continued our drive towards Canada; we stopped at a Random site next to a pond with Trumpeter Swans on the Tok Cutoff (Highway #1).

05 Moose

Off again early, we stopped for brunch at Fast Eddy's on our way through Tok; we both had Reindeer sausages with our eggs, toast, coffee and hashbrowns - all delicious. We crossed the border easily and had no problems declaring an extra seven beer; weapons was the only question and Bearspray is not a problem. So ends our enjoyable Alaska Sojourn with the Bowers; stay tuned for our Whitehorse Return Blog.

Tidbits:

Bears 21:5 Moose
Denali NP Critters seen: Fox, Caribou, Grizzly & Moose
Iris got a great picture of a Black Wolf; Cindy's favourite animal :)
Jason who works at Anchorage RAM dealership got us back on the road ahead of schedule :)
I'm still adjusting to the new SPOT

SPOT: