Williwaw National Forest Campground

Leslie Thursday, July 31, 2008

Here's a map of our current location. We've started down the Kenai Pennesula. The best mapquest could do is Girdwood. We're actually about 13 miles south. If you see the blue line running towards the east -- that is the road toward Whittier. We're about 5 miles up that road.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Girdwood&state=AK#a/maps/m::7:60.942499:-149.166397:0::/e

We were enjoying our time in the forest and today I thought we’d take a hike nearby. Unfortunately the weather threatened rain all day. We weren’t very excited about getting stuck on a trail in the rain. The temperature here is in the low 50s which is perfect for hyperthermia if the victim gets wet. We try to be very careful. Instead we piled all the laundry in the truck and went to Girdwood where they advertised a world famous laundry/hair salon/showers/internet access/ Mexican restaurant. Hmmm? Girdwood is actually only two streets, one block long each. In addition to the aforementioned building, there is a Post Office, hardware store, and the usual outfitter. We spent several hours at the laundry and accomplished that task.

On the way back to camp I noticed a state park road named “Moose Meadows”. Well, I HAD to check it out. Maybe there would actually be moose there? We took a short hike at Moose Meadows but alas although there were plenty of mosquitos we didn’t see any moose.



We built another campfire and enjoyed a quiet night except for one exciting moment. Because it is very chilly, I was wearing jeans, long sleeve shirts, hiking boots, jacket, and hat. As I sat by the fire suddenly I felt a stinging at my ankle. There were lots of mosquitos so at first I blamed the little bugs. The stinging continued. Then I looked at my ankle. Somehow an ember had jumped from the fire, under the cuff of my jeans and into my boot. One creative ember. It burned a hole in the inside of my boot and my sock (and my ankle). :-( OUCH! That was one creative ember. The burn wasn’t serious but it certainly was annoying to destroy a good pair of hiking socks.

We ran our generators for two hours in the evening to recharge our house batteries. That seemed to work fine. Our gas water heater is working well so we had hot water for showers. Our only functional problem is the amount of water. We didn’t fill our fresh water tank when we left Eagle River so we’re strongly conserving.

Laundry Day

Robert, Thursday, July 31
Last night Leslie looked at some of the guides and thought we would go on a hike today. That was before we saw today’s weather. When we got up, it was overcast and looked like rain. Beside that it was chilly and windy. We decided that if we got more than ten minutes away from the shelter of the truck, it would rain. Hence we went to Plan B. That was to load the dirty clothes and computers into the truck and head for the laundromat. Actually it was head for the laundromat-Mexican restaurant-hair salon-showers-WiFi hotspot, a real all in one kind of place in the town of Girdwood. We had a little trouble finding the town as we had always assumed that the town consisted to a gas station and train station right along the highway. We then learned by reading one of the guides that the town had been right on the highway but they moved it after the big earthquake in 1964. Now the town was two miles up a side road from where it had been. The guide said the land where the town had been dropped six feet from the earthquake. As the old location was right next to Turnagain Arm, what had been dry ground was now marshy. Anyway, we found the town by driving up the side road. While the laundry was going on, we had internet connections. The laundry finished, we went exploring in the truck. While it wasn’t raining, it still looked like it could at any minute and it wasn’t any warmer outside. We drove to the local ski resort (Alyeska), just to see it. It looked ritzy and probably really cold during ski season. It wasn’t all that warm when we were there. We then headed back to the trailer. Dinner and campfire finished the day.

Portage Glacier

Leslie Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Frugally we took showers and got hooked-up this morning. Everything went okay. We didn’t have to jump the trailer batteries. We visited the state park dump station and bear-proof dumpster and were soon on our way. The interstate battery place was easy to find. I stayed in the truck while Robert and the “guys” dealt with the battery issues.

We’re perplexed. At the battery place they tested the batteries and reported that the batteries are fine. Apparently there is nothing wrong with the batteries so we don’t know why we didn’t have sufficient charge to pull up the landing gear. After the battery testing we decided to keep the new batteries and the old ones as well. When we eventually get to Chanute, KS (the factory) we’ll have them add an additional battery tray so we can use all four batteries at once.

After noon we continued to Portage Glacier. We had visited Portage Glacier in 1986 when we first visited Alaska to visit our friends Carol & Jay McDevitt who were stationed at Fort Richardson in Anchorage. In 1986 we walked from the Visitor’s Center to Portage Glacier. Now due to the glacier receding, you can’t even see the glacier from the Visitor’s Center. Portage Glacier has receded around the corner of Portage Lake. We did take some pictures of the scenery around the Visitor’s Center.




See the ice block that fell off the glacier.



Our campsite is in the National Forest at Wiliwaw National Forest. It is a very nice national forest campground with widely separated sites. There are no hookups or water/dumpstation so we needed to be totally self-sufficient. We enjoyed the wooded site. Notice the wheelchair accessible space at the picnic table.

On to Portage Valley

Robert, Wednesday, July 30
We made it to the battery shop for new batteries. We were told it would take them at least a day to decide if the old batteries were defective and therefore covered under the warranty. We decided to just get two new batteries and leave the old ones. If they found a defect, we could come back for a refund. Then the owner of the battery shop came in. The first two workers there could have combined their IQs and still not managed to break 100. I asked the owner to test the old batteries as the two workers either didn’t want to or didn’t know how. I suspect the latter. He tested them and said they were fine. As that meant there would not be any adjustment on the price, we took the two old batteries with us. I will keep them charged and this fall I will get another battery rack put in the trailer so we can have four batteries rather than the two we have now. Then we drove to a campground in the Portage Valley called Williwaw Campground. Portage Valley is southeast of Anchorage about 40 miles. It is located just off of Turnagain Arm and is where the Portage Glacier is located. The campground is run by the Nat’l Forrest Service so with my Golden Age Passport it only costs $9 per night. I hope the name doesn’t describe conditions here. A Williwaw is a sudden, violent blast of wind that descends from mountains along the coast to the sea. After we got settled, we drove to the Portage Glacier Visitor’s Center and checked out the exhibits. When we were at the glacier in 1988, we walked from the visitor’s center about two miles to where we could touch the glacier. Now you can’t even see the glacier from the visitor’s center. We returned to the trailer and I ran the generators for more than four hours. After dinner we had a campfire but finally gave up and went inside.

Dead Batteries

Leslie Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Maintenance Day Number Three.

The sun is shining. This is cause for celebration (short-lived). I asked Robert what time he wanted to leave for the Alignment Center. Remember yesterday when I said that everyone in Anchorage is a speciality? Well the RV service facility doesn’t do alignments - you have to go to the Alignment Center. We had noticed that one of the trailer tires was wearing too fast and thought that the axle was out of alignment. Our appointment was for 1:00 pm so we should have plenty of time. We discussed lunch – i.e. where should we prepare it. Robert’s idea was that we should show up early at the Alignment Center and make soup in the rig. Mmmm I’m getting hungry.

At 10:30 we were ready to set sail. We’d both had showers and we hoped to dump our tanks at the campground dump station. We started retracting the slides. Trouble. When we began the first slide an alarm sounded – “high pitch squeal”. We know that the squeal alarm means that the batteries are low. In fact the batteries were so low that we could not retract our stabilizer jacks. (That means we could not hook up or move.) We’re sure glad we allowed lots of extra time this morning. Robert got out one generator. We hooked up the generator to try to charge the batteries. This was our first attempt at self-sufficiency and it wasn’t working very quickly.




Next we turned the truck around so that we could try to “jump” the trailer batteries. It was now 11:00. After another 30 minutes we had success in retracting the stabilizing jacks and could hook-up. It was near noon when we were able to pull out. We didn’t have time to visit the dump station.

Our analysis is that our batteries will not hold a charge and need to be replaced. I noticed that the batteries have a 30 month warranty (but are only 14 months old). I called the 800 number on the batteries and got the Interstate Battery Center warranty store. They have the batteries in stock and will be open until 5:00 pm.

We arrived at the Alignment Center about 15 minutes before our 1:00 pm appointment time. Apparently the problem was difficult to fix because we spent the next 5 ½ hours at the Alignment Center. I did read an interesting article in the Atlantic Monthly about Obama’s funding-raising system. The real bummer is that the sun shone all day – and we spent the day in the waiting area of the Alignment Center. :-( Obviously we didn’t get to the Interstate Battery Center before closing time.


Our next challenge was where should we go for Tuesday night? We’re not confident that we’ll be able to run anything electric because, as I understand the system, the trailer systems don’t run off direct electric current, rather they run off the batteries that are charged off the electric current. Anyway, we need electric power. I had always thought that electric power was a nicety; now I understand that it is essential. We decided to go back to Eagle River Campground, without power, because we’re fairly sure we can camp there without unhooking. We drove back to Eagle River and were luckily to get the same level campsite we had last night. We are currently running both portable generators to charge the batteries so that we can extend and re-track the slides. We’re staying hooked-up to the truck – luckily this site is pretty level. Tomorrow we’ll find the battery place and begin the voyage again. Hopefully we haven’t seen the only sunshine of the summer. Our plan is to go to a National Forest campground near Portage Glacier. If we make it there we will not have any hook-ups for a few more days.

Wheels Aligned

Robert, Tuesday, July 29
This afternoon we had an appointment to get the wheels aligned on the trailer. I had noticed that one wheel was wearing on the outside edge. Our appointment was for 1:00 p.m. so we figured we had plenty of time to get to the alignment shop. I told Leslie we should leave early and fix lunch in the trailer when we got to the shop. It’s a good thing we tried to start early because the trailer batteries were almost dead. As they are essential to bring the slides in and to raise and lower the hydraulic jacks, this is a problem. I hooked up a generator and turned the truck around to use the jumper cables. Eventually we got everything closed up and the trailer hooked to the truck. We got to the alignment place about 15 minutes early. As we had fully charged the batteries the night before, this is a problem. The batteries charge whenever we are connected to power. We left the rig and walked to a restaurant for lunch. We called the manufacturer to find somewhere in Anchorage where they provide warranty service for the brand of batteries. The alignment shop first said the aligning the wheels would take one to three hours. The alignment took until after 5:00 and the battery place closed at 5:00 so we drove back to the campground where we stayed last night. This time I hooked up the generators and ran them for three hours. Then we only turned on lights in the trailer when they were absolutely necessary. Tomorrow we will get to the battery shop.

Maintenance Day Two

Leslie Monday, July 28, 2008

Maintenance Day Two

Why would you number maintenance days? Hint – there will be more of them. I’m calling last Friday Maintenance Day One because we had to be in Palmer to have the oil changed in the truck. Because the truck is a diesel, we have to take it to a Ford dealer. Jiffy Lube can’t do it – (that doesn’t really matter because we’d only find Jiffy Lube in Anchorage anyway...)

Today is Maintenance Day Number Two. We had an appointment at the same RV Dealer we visited two weeks ago because the Water pump they installed still failed to hold prime. (That means it won’t enable you to use the water in the fresh water tank.) That means we could not dry camp or even use the WC enroute. Hey, one of the reasons to have such a rig is to be totally self-sufficient. This isn’t working. We showed up around 9:15 am. After several hours they decided that the water pump wasn’t working (duhhhhh) and decided to install a new water pump. In Anchorage it appears that every speciality is separate facility (i.e. the service center doesn’t stock any parts). The parts store is two long blocks away. After hours of waiting they finally came up with another water pump. (I think I've lost count is this number four of five?) In the interim I was bored waiting in the truck and decided to join Molly & Cody in the trailer. It was very chilly so all three of us got under a comforter in the bedroom and read (well I read, they napped).

We finally got out of the repair shop at 3:30 pm and drove to Eagle River Campground. Eagle River is part of the Chugach State Park. We’re about 12 miles north of Anchorage. The campground is a typical state campground, very pretty, no hook-ups. This is our first night of totally dry camping. First, we set off for Anchorage for dinner. We wanted to get King Crab at a tourist-trap place in downtown Anchorage. We had eaten at Phyllis’s Salmon Bake and Crab Café previously and thought it would be a fun night out. The crab was excellent -and we didn’t have to cook!

We returned to Eagle River fairly early. Here’s a picture of our campsite as the rain was beginning.



Since we didn’t have power, we retired early. It really started to rain! What, you think we’ve written of rain previously? No, that was just a sprinkle. (I just thought it was rain.) Tonight it poured rain all night long. It was dark – hey, it hasn’t been dark in Alaska. When I got up at 3:30 AM , I needed a flashlight to see anything. (I didn’t see any bear. Where was she?)

By morning the clouds had finally passed and the sun shone. Soon we would be off to Maintenance Day Number Three – or maybe not?

Water Pump Fixed (I Hope)!!!

Robert, Monday, July 28
We go going early (for us) this morning to get the water pump fixed again. After fiddling with it for an hour or so, the mechanic decided that the last pump was defective. Then it took them the most of the rest of the day to find a replacement. The dealership has a parts department with an inventory that would fit in a small room. Most of their shelves are empty and the water pump we have is a standard one. They finally got a replacement and installed it. It worked! We had decided to camp at a close by state park that doesn’t have any hookups. We got there and set up. We filled the fresh water tank before we left the dealership and we are hoping that the pump will continue to work as the level in the fresh water tank goes down.

Last Day in Palmer

Robert, Sunday, July 27
Wow! The day started with sunshine. Even the locals comment on how cold and wet this summer has been. We puttered around doing things in the trailer. Then we headed for the Palmer Flea Market. It was a bust. There were at least two vehicles with stuff setting out to sell. It was about an hour before the official end but we didn’t even get out of the truck. We went back to the trailer after driving around a bit in Palmer. By now it looked like rain so we cooked and ate dinner inside. All in all, an unexciting day.

Quiet Day in Palmer

Leslie July 27, 2008

We woke up this morning to sunshine! What an unusual experience. After working on a number of things around the rig, we headed out to the Palmer Flea Market. Unfortunately the Flea Market would end about an hour before we arrive and there were few booths left to visit.

Later I spent an hour or so researching our next travel points. I was trying to take all the ratings out of the Good Sam Directory and annotate the Church’s Camping in Alaska book. It was a tedious process because each book uses different reference points for the location of the campgrounds.

I think that I have worked out our travel plans for at least the next two weeks. We’re headed for the Kenai Peninsula, first to Cooper Center, then on to Kenai. Cooper Center is the location where a seasonal worker was attacked by a bear a few days ago. She was hiking near the lodge and strangely was attacked by the bear. We’ll be more careful if we end up there!

While it seemed as if we would escape rain for the day – we were wrong. In the early evening black clouds gathered on the horizon.



Although we had planned to cook dinner outside, we decided to retreat inside for a wonderful dinner of stir-fired veggies and teriyaki meatballs. Yum.

Tomorrow we'll get the water pump repaired (again). We plan to stay in a state park tomorrow night so we won't have internet access. Tuesday we have an appointment to have the tires on the trailer aligned. Tuesday we'll leave for the Kenai. More information later....

Anchorage Outdoor Market

Leslie Saturday, July 26, 2008

Rain, rain, and more rain. The local news reports that the summer of 2008 has experienced record rain and colder temperatures. Yes, we agree - it’s been raining non-stop. Today the NOAA predicted scattered showers – well, the showers scattered everywhere we were!

We wanted to visit the Anchorage Outdoor Market. The Outdoor Market is mostly venders selling "flea market" type stuff. We didn’t buy anything.



Notice the raindrops.



There was an interesting station for all the dogs.



It rained our entire trip to Anchorage. Yes, it continued to pour rain for the hour we spent visiting the Outdoor Market. We were dressed in our Gore-tex jackets but unfortunately my jacket had given up. Eventually even Gore-tex gets sufficiently saturated (or dirty) that it no longer works. After the Farmer’s Market we stopped at REI to purchase some spray-on water-proofing. I selected the larger container – it’s not like it will never rain again in Alaska!

We wandered in downtown Anchorage for awhile but the rain was really something else. Robert did attempt to catch this fish—???



Driving back towards Palmer we decided to check out another campground. Near Eagle River I had seen a highway sign for a campground. We were thinking that it would be nice to find a place closer to Anchorage for Monday night so that we don’t have to come all the way back to Palmer. The campground is a state park, no hook ups, but only $15/night. We saw a few sites that we could fit in so we may return there on Monday. And the rain continued...

Oh, our other activity in Anchorage was to get diesel fuel for the truck. We were really empty; we hadn’t gotten fuel in over two weeks. Okay, this hurts but we put 55 gallons of diesel fuel in the truck at a cost of $5.12 per gallon. That’s with the Safeway 10 cent per gallon discount. OUCH!

When we got back to Palmer we enjoyed a delightful dinner of left-over cold salmon and rice. Mmm... I think that we eat better on the road than at home in Colorado.

Off to the Street Fair in Anchorage

Robert, Saturday, July 26
Today we went to Anchorage. We had a whole list of things we needed to do. Specifically we wanted to mail the latest replaced water pump back to get a refund, pick up a FedEx package, get fuel, and go to the street fair. We decided to go today as the weather forecast was for rain in the morning changing to scattered showers in the afternoon. As the forecast was exactly the same as for Sunday, we went today. It did rain all morning long as forecasted. After we were a few miles down the road, I realized that I had forgotten the invoices to send with the water pump. Scratched sending that today. We kept on going and headed for the street fair. While we walked through the various booths, it continued to rain, sometimes rain a lot but never turning into scattered showers. Maybe it was the rain but I was disappointed with the fair. The last time we were there, I remembered a lot of booths with interesting things. This time I didn’t see anything like that. So in a downpour, we headed to pick up the FedEx package. On the way we passed REI and as Leslie’s GoreTex jacket had soaked through, we stopped to pick up some spray on water proofing. Of course, once there we had to get a few more essential things. I got another shirt like those I bought before we went to Brooks Camp. We also got some spray on bug repellant that goes on clothes rather than skin. It is supposed to last through several washings. Finishing up at REI, we headed to FedEx. We got the package and headed for fuel. On the way there we passed Costco and Leslie wanted to stop so we did. Then we headed for fuel. We wanted to get to the station where we could get a ten cents a gallon discount. We got fuel (55 gallons @ $5.059 per gallon) and headed back home. Given that most stations around here are charging as much as 40 cents per gallon more, that seemed like a pretty good deal. On the way back we checked out a state campground to see if we would fit in any of the sites. We may stay there on Monday night as we need to get the water pump fixed on Monday and we have an appointment to get the trailer suspension adjusted on Tuesday. It would save us hauling the rig back to Palmer on Monday and then back to Anchorage on Tuesday. After we finish on Tuesday, we plan to head south and Palmer is to the Northeast of Anchorage. We got back to the trailer and it was still raining. So much for "scattered showers." We were in rain all day long.

Palmer Fair, Farms and a MOOSE

Leslie Friday, July 25, 2008

We had heard that every Friday in Palmer they hold Friday Fling. It was supposed to be a street fair with music. After lunch we headed out to see Friday Fling. It was a “Farmer’s Market” type venue with around 25 booths. Most of the venders were selling things other than vegetables such as pottery, tie-dye shirts, and jewelry. There were also booths selling hotdogs and cotton candy. We didn’t buy anything.

The Visitor’s Center/Museum and test garden is located across the street from the fair. The Mat-Su valley, in which Palmer is located, is the area known for growing the huge vegetables often seen on television – such as a 40 lb head of cabbage. While the vegetables in the test garden aren’t that big yet, we could see where they are going.

I did a quick tour of the museum. During the 1930s depression “Colonists” were sent to the Mat-Su valley from the lower 48. Each colonist family was given between 40-80 acres, a house, barn, and one outbuilding. Carpenters were also brought up to construct the buildings. The carpenters were not invited to stay and even though the colonists arrived destitute, they treated the carpenters as second class citizens. To ensure that the uninvited carpenters didn’t stay, part of the carpenter’s wages were withheld until the carpenter returned to the lower 48. Palmer was the trading post for the colonists. For a period of time, the US government issued script that was known as “Bling.” The colonist venture was considered a success and most remained on the farms.

Next to our RV park is a small organic farm. On Fridays between 5-7 pm they sell vegetables to the public. We had missed the time the last time we were in Palmer. The farm has a small metal building from which they sell produce picked that day. We bought zucchini and broccoli for a planned stir-fry meal.



Several times the goats from the organic farm have wandered into the RV park. Here’s one of the younger goats.



Our last mission of the day was to find a moose. As we drove along a wooded area not far from the RV park, I suddenly spotted this moose in the woods.



It may have been the same moose we saw yesterday. Now that I have a few pictures of female moose (cow?) I’m hoping to spot a male.



We than grilled wild sockeye salmon for dinner. It was excellent although I think that I like King Salmon even better.

A Day in Palmer

Robert, Friday, July 25

I got up this morning and got the oil changed in the truck. I drove to Wasilla, which is about 10 miles from Palmer to get it changed. On the way back to the trailer I drove by an outdoor market in Palmer called Friday Fling. We had been told about it and I just wanted to see if it was worth going to see. It looked like it was worth a visit. I got back to the trailer and Leslie and ate lunch. Finishing that we set out for Friday Fling. Worth a visit? Yes. Worth much more than a visit? No. We wandered through the 20 or so vendor tents and had seen enough. The Palmer Visitor’s Center was right next door so that too got a quick visit. We then drove to Wasilla as it seemed to me to be larger than Palmer. It is larger but that is about all I could say for it. We stopped by the grocery store on the way back to the trailer. We really didn’t need much but if we spent another $54, we could get 10 cents a gallon off on fuel. With today’s prices for groceries, it doesn’t take much to add up to $55. One thing that caught our eye and made its way to our cart was a filet of fresh salmon. When we were a quarter mile from the campground, Leslie yelled, “Moose!” Sure enough, there was a small bull moose about 20 feet from the side of the road. It was in the bush but we got a good look at it and Leslie got a few pictures. By the time we got back to the trailer it was close to five o’clock. Next door to the campground is a truck farm. On Friday they pick vegetables for the Saturday Farmer’s Market in Anchorage. Between 5 and 7 on Fridays, they sell vegetables right there. We went and got some of the fresh stuff. When we got back to the trailer, it was lightly raining so I put the awning out. By pulling the picnic table under the awning, it provides a dry place to grill the salmon. The salmon was great. This was Sockeye salmon. By now we have eaten enough fresh salmon to start grading the various types. We like the Kings best. That is followed by Sockeye and Humpbacks in the order. We haven’t eaten Coho so I can’t rate that one.

Back to Palmer

Robert, Thursday, July 24

We drove to Palmer today. Actually, Leslie drove to Palmer and I was the navigator. We wanted to try a different campground but the one we wanted didn’t have space so we ended up in the campground where we were before. After we got set up, we went to get fuel and groceries. We got to Palmer with low fuel warnings on both fuel tanks. I’m guessing we had five or six gallons of diesel left when we got here. Just after we left the campground, we drove past a small parking lot. Standing in the middle of the lot was a young moose. He was less than fifty feet from us. I pointed and said, “Look at that!” to Leslie. Her response was, “What’s that?” I now think I know why we haven’t seen many moose. If you don’t know what a moose looks like, how can you spot them? Normally I am driving and watching the road while she is looking for things like moose. And this was one of the few times we didn’t have a camera with us. We got to the store and got groceries and then got fuel. We only got ten gallons as it is much cheaper in Anchorage and we plan to drive there on Saturday. We also got a propane tank filled. Ours are 40 pound tanks and this is only the second time we have had one filled since we left home. When we got back to the trailer, one of our neighbors had a cat on a lease outside their RV, The cat was friendly and really wanted to be petted. We stopped to talk and then unloaded groceries. The sun came out and it was actually warm so I grilled supper outside.

Back to Palmer

Leslie Thursday, July 24, 2008

Our plan for today was to drive from Glennallen back to Palmer. As we were unhooking our water and electric connections, a woman (mid 30s) who had ridden in on her bicycle stopped by. She asked, in a strong French accent, if we were going to Palmer today. We replied, yes. Then she asked if we had room for two bicycles – in unison we replied, “no”. We’re guessing that they had ridden from Palmer to Glennallen and knew that the road consists of many up hills and down hills ...and if the weather held as it began .... very low clouds threatening rain... it would not be a pleasant ride. While observers may think that because we have a large rig we have lots of extra storage, in fact that is not the case. With four slides, when we close the slides, all of our floor space is gone. There is no extra storage. While I’m always looking to “adopt” foreign exchange students, we really don’t have room for bicycles.

I drove the trip from Glennallen to Palmer. We traveled 130 miles in slightly over 4 hours. There is one section of blasting where we had to wait for a pilot car. The journey through the blasting area takes 20 minutes and is over dirt “roads” – ha! Our rig that was so recently clean is dirty again.


We’re staying in Palmer at Mountain View RV Park, the same place we stayed when we were here previously.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Palmer&state=AK#a/maps/m::4:61.599701:-149.112793:0::/e

I’m sure some of you are wondering why we are doubling back on our route. The reason is that we had little time to make the trip from Haines to Anchorage to fly to Katmai to see the bears. We weren’t able to go to Valdez on the way. We wanted to go back and see Valdez before we continue down the Kenai Peninsula. That meant that we had to double-back on the Glenn Highway.

Unfortunately like our earlier trips on this route, the clouds remained low and we didn’t see any great pictures of the Matanuska Glacier. We returned to the Mountain View Campground in Palmer. After unhooking and getting things organized, we decided to head out to Three Bears (a COSTCO owned grocery store) and Safeway. It was around 5:00 pm and as we drove out the access road what appeared but a MOOSE. YES, A LIVING, SMALL MOOSE. She (I think) just stood there about 20 yards away and watched us. She was in the front yard of an auto repair place. She stood there and looked at us as if to say, “well, you wanted to take pictures so here I am.” Unfortunately for probably the first time since we left Colorado on May 9th — I didn’t have a camera! What – we had long ago decided to always leave the little camera in the truck in case we saw something along the way. Blast it – the little camera was in Robert’s backpack in the trailer. Bummer. It gets better tomorrow.

Three Bears and Safeway were welcome places to resupply. We learned that if we spend $100 at Safeway, cumulatively, we get a 10 cents discount on fuel. We’ll come back tomorrow to ensure that we get the fuel discount.

Pretty Day in Camp

Leslie Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Beautiful day in our favorite campground. Here are two pictures of our site.






The day started at 47 degrees and breezy. What a wonderful time to be camping! Because we determined that it was quite chilly outside, I started home made bread and stew for lunch. Nearly 4 hours later they were both ready for eating. This time the bread came out quite well and we were pleased. My "peasant bread" recipe is one I used often in Virginia and it seems to work well at lower altitudes (it’s around 2,000 ft here). (At 7,500 ft in Colorado, this recipe is a disaster!)

Cody and Molly spent most of the day curled up with each other sleeping. I think they knew it was cold outside.



By mid-afternoon the temperature had risen to 52 degrees. That was the high point for the day. Because it wasn’t raining, I decided that we should take a hike. After a short walk Robert’s hip began to bother him so I took him back to the rig. I continued for another hour plus, mostly looking for moose or bear. The woman at the registration desk had told me that they had seen both bear and moose in camp in the past week, but I was not successful in finding either.

In the early evening we decided to build a campfire. This is really the perfect campfire weather. The temperature is around 50 degrees and the breeze is strong from one direction (here the south west). That means that campers appreciate the warmth of the fire and the wind keeps blowing in the same directions os we don’t have to keep moving to stay out of the smoke.






I started at the fire with one of the silver "emergency" blankets around my legs. Soon I decided that the silver blanket didn’t provide much insulation so I opted for our picnic blanket. We have a wonderful picnic blanket – it is fleece on one side and tough "duck" cloth on the other. It effectively blocks the wind and provided warmth where I needed it.

While we were at the fire our next door neighbor stopped by. They are from Quebec and are driving a class C. They were most interested in where they could clean their rig (we referred them to Eagle’s Rest RV in Valdez). They also told us that they were most sorry that they had brought their bicycles – attached to their hitch. They reported that they had ridden only once but that the bicycles had been a pain on more occasions. (Ferries) More information to process. ... We decided not to bring our bicycles and I guess that was the right decision. Anything extra eventually gets to be a pain to transport. We currently are carrying extra cat crates and an extra cat litter box that we would gladly ship home – but that’s not easy.... (I guess that’s not fair – we each are probably carrying extra stuff but we only focus on the extra stuff that the fur-kids have. We all have surplus stuff! We learn as we travel – there are a few things I wish I’d brought and many things I wish I’d left at home. Unfortunately the lessons from one trip don’t translate to the next. The weather in Alaska is likely very different from our planned next trip in the southern states in winter.

Cold in Glennallen

Robert, Wednesday, July 23

Cold today. The temperature this morning was 47 F and it barely got above 50 F all day long. I guess that summer is over. We have both noticed that it is getting darker at night. Although it is still light at 11:00 p.m., by 1:00 a.m. it is getting dark and it stays dark until a little after 4:00 a.m. It was good enough weather that I grilled outside but we ate inside. In the late afternoon we had a campfire but weny back inside due to the cold.

Valdez to Glennallen

Leslie Tuesday, July 22, 2008

After another day or cold rain, we left Valdez this morning at 10:00 am in the rain with the temperature at 48 degrees. This is seriously chilly. Although the road from Valdez to Glennallen is reported as one of the most scenic in Alaska, the low clouds and rain made any pictures fruitless. As we crossed over the pass, I was able to capture this truck driving beneath the snowplow markers. I wanted to show the perspective of how high the snowplow markers are along this road. You can see the truck barely passing beneath the bent arm of the marker.



On the other side of the pass I did see the Alaska pipeline through the trees.

Eventually we got far enough away from the coast that the clouds broke. We arrived back at our favorite campground, Tolsona Wilderness Campground 16 miles east of Glennallen at mid-afternoon.

Here's our current location.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Glennallen&state=AK&country=US&latitude=62.1092&longitude=-145.546402&geocode=CITY#a/maps/m::4:62.109197:-145.546402:0::/e

The woman working the registration desk recognized me as I got out of the truck and said that we should just go ahead to our usual spot. (Gee, it’s nice to be recognized.) As we’ve written before, this spot is on the elbow of a very fast moving stream. There were a few people out trying their luck in fishing. I didn’t see anyone successful.

Last week at Costco we had bought some lamb chops that we had been anticipating grilling (once the rain stopped). Tonight was a great night to grill. Robert grilled the lamb chops and we started a campfire. Perfect campfire weather. The temperature was 52 degrees and quite breezy – no mosquitos! After awhile of sitting by the fire in a hat and gloves, retired to the warmth of our rig. We’ll only stay here two nights because the truck needs to get its 20,000 mile service in Anchorage on Friday.

Back to Glennallen

Robert, Tuesday, July 22

It continued raining all night and was still raining as we packed everything to go back to Glennallen. The temperature this morning was 48 F. In the rain, that is cold. It’s hard to believe that it’s so cold in the middle of summer. We left the campground right at 10:00 a.m. As we were leaving town, I was checking the fuel gauges. Based on my memory, we should have had a full main tank (30 gallons) and a partial auxiliary tank (10 gallons). We didn’t want to buy fuel in Valdez as the price was $5.639 per gallon! The fuel gauge indicated that we only had about 20 gallons total. Thinking maybe I had used the main tank and just forgotten, we turned around and headed back into town. For the first time ever, I pulled the rig into a service station. Always before, I have gotten fuel after we have unhooked. As I would be comfortable with having the main tank full, I added fuel to it. It took two gallons with me forcing it. When I checked the fuel gauge, it now showed the tank was full (30 gallons). So much for accurate fuel gauges. We once again headed out of town in the rain. While the road between Glennallen and Valdez is very scenic, we had low clouds and rain and that rendered it just another road. Once we got over the pass north of Valdez the weather improved steadily until the rain stopped and we saw some blue sky. We stopped to get a few things at a grocery store and drove the remaining 15 miles to the campground. Once again we got our favorite campsite. I took a nap while Leslie work on her computer. It was nice enough that I got the grill out for supper. After that we had a campfire. It was pretty cool (52 F) but NO RAIN! There was a nice breeze and I’m not sure if it was the temperature or the breeze but we had no mosquitoes.

Rain, Rain, and Rain

Robert, Monday, July 21

It rained today. It rained last night. It just kept raining. It rained so much that we didn’t do much outside the trailer. We did carry all of the laundry to the campground laundry room in light rain. Just after we had loaded all of it into washers and walked back to the trailer, it started a heavy downpour. Leslie managed to get back to the laundry room during a short lull to switch things from the washer to the dryer. Then the rain resumed. It was bad enough that I drove to the laundry room to pick everything up although it was only 100 yards from the trailer. We did walk back to the hamburger place to try the fish and chips. It was good. So after a cold and wet day, we crashed.

Touring Valdez

Leslie Sunday, July 20, 2008

Today we decided to visit the town of Valdez. The weather was still very cloudy with rain threatening. Although we had discussed taking a boat trip out on Prince William Sound, the weather just wasn’t cooperating.

First we went to the seafood processing plant to see about buying fresh fish. The Peter Pan processing plant, like most of the processors we have seen, provides dormitories for the workers. They are usually quite shabby but have gotten rid of the former tent cities.


To get to the Peter Pan office we had to walk through the worker’s break room, into the processing factory, and up some metal stairs. (Hint, you probably don’t ever want to go through a cannery tour.) Peter Pan had no fresh fish for sale. They told us that they were canning all available fish. Apparently much of the salmon is canned rather than sold as filets. Based on conversations with Alaskans it seems that they prefer canned salmon, both regular and smoked. We weren’t interested in canned salmon.

Next we decided to walk along the small waterfront. As was the case on Friday, there appeared to be many fishing boats in the harbor. I was wondering, if this is the prime fishing season, why are so many boats in the harbor. Later I learned that instead of issuing a quota to each boat, the Dept of Fish and Game opens fish season every few days. For example, the season might be open only Monday, Wednesday and Friday of a particular week.

You can see the fish cleaning table in the front of this picture.

We hoped to take an ocean kayak trip from Valdez – but not in the rain. I thought these kayaks were pretty as they floated waiting for customers.

It does appear in most places we’ve been that there is surplus capacity. Places are not crowded and there don’t appear to be many tourists.

As we walked along the waterfront we noticed that every car had a plug sticking out of the hood. The plug is to plug in the electric engine heater in winter.

In addition to being known for the Good Friday Earthquake and the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, Valdez often receives record snowfalls. The town averages 325 inches of snow each year plus 64 inches of rain. This place is wet!

We went out to the old Valdez town site (pre-1967) that is 4 miles away. There isn’t much to see there, only the concrete foundation of the former post office.

A day in Valdez

Robert, Sunday, July 20

When we got going today, we decided to see if there was anything in Valdez that we missed the first time around. We drove to the only place where we were told er could buy fresh fish. It was a fish processing plant and you walk in through the break area where 50 or so workers were taking a break. Then you actually walk into the area where there is a production line. Finally you climb the stairs to the office. After all of this they had no fresh fish, only frozen. We then walked the area along the docks where you would describe it as “downtown.” We drove around to see if we had missed anything else. We hadn’t. When we got here, we thought we might stay five nights but we only paid for four. We decided that four nights it is. We also want to get a little further from the coast where the weather has been better. The best weather we have had here is no rain and mostly cloudy skies. We did eat at a little place right on the edge of the campground. They advertize that they have the best hamburgers in the world. They were good but not that good.

Cleaning the Trailer and Fresh Fish

Robert, Saturday, July 19

It was house cleaning day. Leslie took the inside and I took the outside. Most campgrounds do not allow washing rigs but this one has no such restrictions. The nose of the trailer was covered with bugs we had killed and the rest of the outside was covered with road dirt. It was hard to see out the back window as there was so much dirt on it. Inside there was a lot of dust and the floors had gotten dirty. The clean the nose, we back the truck up like we are going to hitch up the trailer. That way I can stand in the truck bed and reach the top of the nose. I do have to use a small step ladder to reach the very top. The best way we have found to get the bugs off is to use used dryer sheets. I spray with water, scrub with a brush on a pole using soapy water, and then used the dryer sheets and a lot of elbow grease. The sheets are just the right texture and they don’t fall apart like something like a paper towel would. About the same time I finished the outside, Leslie finished the inside. We both sat down in the recliners and took a break I then went outside to finish putting away things like the step ladder. Someone from the campground came by and said there was free fish over at the cleaning station. As Valdez is a magnet for those who like to fish, the campground has a table that is about 10 feet by 6 feet where fish can be cleaned. The outside edge is the plastic like you can find for cutting boards, The center is lower and had a hole leading to a grinder. There are multiple hose bibs with short hoses attached so you have fresh water. You clean the fish and when the center fills with fish heads and guts, they run the grinder and flush it all down the drain. I grabbed a couple of knives and headed for the free fish. When I got there, I was directed to a tub that must have had 30 salmon in it. They were all two feet long and weighed about 3 pounds each. I grabbed one and proceeded to remove two fillets. These were “pinks” or humpbacks. There are several different kinds of wild salmon and just to confuse you, they all have at least two names. There are Chinook (King), Sockeye (Red), Coho (Silver), Humpback (Pink), and Chum (Dog). The first four are the ones that people eat. Dog salmon are so named as they are used to feed dogs. I guess they don’t taste very good. Pinks are so named as the flesh is pink rather than the red color that most associate with salmon. We had talked about going out to eat as we were both tired after spending most of the day cleaning. The arrival of fresh salmon changed those plans and we had salmon for dinner. It was very good but we both agreed that we like King salmon better. We hope that we didn’t waste a day when it didn’t rain to clean the trailer but it really needed cleaning.

Glennallen to Valdez

Leslie Wednesday, July 16, 2008 and Thursday, July 17, 2008

Wednesday, July 16


Today was a quiet rainy day. We spent most of the day indoors watching the rain in our stream. I made soup for lunch. We did plan our travels for the next few weeks.

Thursday, July 17

We left Glennallen around 10:30 am headed towards Valadez. Before we left we had to stop by the dump station because this campground doesn’t have full hook-ups. Near the dump stations I noticed these cabbages. They are extremely large due to the many hours of daylight they enjoy.

This little squirrel showed off for me.

We had been told that the scenery on the route along the Richardson Highway from Glennallen to Valdez is amazing. Although there was cloud cover, the scenery did not disappoint. The road was pretty good with not too many frost heaves.
Great views of wide open scenery.

As we started up to the mountain pass (slightly over 2100 ft) we got several excellent views of the Worthington Glacier.

After the pass we saw many waterfalls.

















Here's Bridal Vail Falls.





















Horseshoe Falls




















The town of Valdez is quite small. The original town was wiped into the sea by the Good Friday Earthquake in 1964. After the earthquake they determined that the ground was too unstable to rebuild in the same place. The current town of Valdez is about 4 miles away from the original site. People come here to fish. There is a small city harbor, two hotels, four campgrounds, a few bar/restaurants, and a fish processing plant. Unlike many coastal towns, Valdez doesn’t have typical tourist tee shirt shops.

We decided to eat dinner out at a Chinese restaurant recommended by an on-line friend. It was pretty good. Later, around 9:30 we saw these interesting cloud formations on the mountains surrounding the town.

Drive to Valdez

Robert, Friday, July 18

Today we drove to Valdez. Thankfully, the rain of yesterday stopped and the sky had broken clouds. We packed things up and were on the road by 10:30. The road to Valdez from Glennallen is one of the prettiest drives in the state. It winds through mountains with snow fields, glaciers, and waterfalls. Periodically you can see the pipeline that runs from Prudhoe Bay. Then about 15 miles before Valdez is a glacier that we stopped to see. Just after the glacier is a mountain pass. Approaching from the north as we were, the grade to the pass is very gentle. The elevation of the pass is only about 2,500 feet. On the south side of the pass, the road goes down to sea level and it does so in one long hill. This is one where you down shift and coast. I didn’t check it but it seems the downhill side was almost ten miles of constant downgrade. When we got to Valdez, we checked the first campground where we were interested in staying. They actually have two campgrounds, one for adults and a second for families. The adults-only was filled and we could only get three nights in the family campground. As our plans were to be here four and maybe five days, we checked our second choice. This one is right on the water and while they had spaces, we decided not to stay there. The downside to this one is that it doesn’t have sewer hookups and it is located next door to dormitories that are used by the workers at a fish processing plant. The people we saw hanging around the dormitories made it look like a homeless shelter. So we drove to our next choice. Where we are staying is a big, gravel parking lot but they do have full hookups with free Wifi and cable TV. After we settled in, we drove around town and ate dinner in a Chinese restaurant. The evening entertainment was provided by a group of about twelve people setting up tents. If they had been teenagers, we would have thought that it was a bunch of scouts, but these guys looked to be 30ish. There was a stiff wind blowing and some of them looked like they didn’t have a clue how to set up a tent. After that I watched a little TV and went to bed.

Map of Valdez

To help readers find our location, I'm trying to post a map at each new location. Scroll down the maquest map.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Valdez&state=AK#a/maps/m::4:61.130798:-146.348297:0::/e

Boring Day

Robert, Thursday, July 17

The weather forecast for today was for rain. Well, they have to get it right once in a while. The day started overcast and soon it was raining. It rained all day long so we both just hung out in the trailer and didn’t do much. The TV had cartoons all day so we turned that off. We did have good internet service so most of the day was spent surfing the web. I didn’t even get outside.

Hike to Tolsona Mud Springs

Leslie Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Our big activity for today was a hike from the campground to Tolosona mud springs. The mud springs are caused by methane bubbling up from coal beds deep underground.

http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/333646658_UoV9r-M.jpg

http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/333646526_QMjow-M.jpg

The dead trees along the side were caused by an increase in the mud flow after the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake.

The trail is described as primitive – I would second that. It was extremely muddy and crosses several areas of muskeg. If you recall from Petersburg in the southeast, muskeg is a swampy area that is partially underwater. There were places where it was impossible not to walk in cold water ankle deep. This picture doesn’t do the trail justice. Without our hiking poles it would have been impossible to get through the swamp. The poles are useful in determining how deep the water is -- before stepping in.

http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/333646891_owDhy-M.jpg

We saw a number of animal tracks along the trail and thought it might have been bear. When we got to the mud springs, there were very clear moose tracks. Here’s an moose tracks followed by small moose tracks. (But no moose)

http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/333646620_3Lkec-M.jpg

http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/333646823_NpBtP-M.jpg

Around the springs I saw some pretty wild flowers.

http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/333646459_rCGT9-M.jpg

A family of ptarmigans was slightly off the trail. There must have been a nest nearby because there were 6-8 of the birds.

http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/333646718_7LZmK-M.jpg

Notice the very shallow roots on this tree. That is typical of a tree that lives in permafrost. The permafrost doesn’t allow the roots to grow deep.

http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/333646785_jijss-M.jpg

Parts of the trail had this unique trail marker. You can see the old trail marker just below.

http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/333646578_j9Seg-M.jpg

Mud Spring

Robert, Wednesday, July 16

We hiked to Mud Spring today. It is located about a mile from the campground along what is described as a primitive trail. The trail is actually far better than many improved trails I have hiked. The only drawback to the trail itself is that it goes through muskeg. For those not familiar with the term, think “swamp.” There were numerous mud holes along a third of the trail. It was impossible to keep your feet dry unless you were wearing rubber boots that reached at least mid-calf (we weren’t). We only lost the trail one time on the way up but found it again pretty quickly. One thing is certain, mud spring correctly describes the spring. The spring was located in the middle of a large expanse of willow. The spring was a clearing about 100 feet in diameter that consisted of dried mud, not so dried mud, and several pools of water. The water bubbled with methane gas and supposedly was salty. To say it was uninspiring puts it mildly. Fortunately Leslie suggested we take our hiking poles. They made it easier to take giant steps across some of the mud holes on the trail. The whole hike took slightly less than two hours and it was good to just get out and walk. We saw lots of moose tracks and thousands of mosquitoes. When we got back to the campsite, there was a nice breeze which kept the mosquitoes away so we sat outside for a while after washing the mud off of our shoes. After dinner, we built a campfire but as the breeze slacked, the mosquitoes returned enough that we came inside.

Map to Glennallen

I had been wondering if I could add a map to our blog. Here's my first attempt at linking to a mapquest view of our location.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Glennallen&state=AK#a/maps/m::4:62.109196:-145.546402:0::/e

Weapons of Mosquito Destruction, Caught Up Blog

Leslie Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A wonderful day in camp — killing mosquitos and enjoying the out of doors. I did get a chance to finally post the last bear pictures from Brooks Camp. They are under my July 10th posting. I also posted weekend in Anchorage July 13th, and Palmer to Glennallen, July 14th. I'm now caught up with the pictures.

The mosquitos are fierce – here and almost every where else we’ve been. We have two new weapons to address the mosquitos. First, we have what I think of as being traditional mosquito coils.

http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/333078575_jCqYE-M.jpg

I remember these coils from the 1960s. Robert said that he thought they would be just folk-junk science. At this campground they were selling the coils for $4.75. I thought that was outrageous but when we got to Anchorage I found them for $1.09. I bought 10 of them. We tried lighting the coils last night while we sat at the campfire— the mosquitoes left! This was wonderful.

We had picked up another mosquito killer that we had never seen before. I think that I wrote about the mosquito racket a few week ago but I didn’t have ap picture for you.

Here she is:

http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/333078616_5sg3k-M.jpg

This racket takes 2 double AA batteries. The racket face gets "charges". When you hit a mosquito with the racket face, it FRIES! YEAH! Zapp the mosquitos!

We hate to stay inside when the view from our campsite is the elbow of a fast moving stream. We don't see any other campers from our back picture window.

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On a walk around the camp roads, we saw many wild roses.

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Quiet Day in Glennallen

Robert, Tuesday, July 15

As we have a good internet connection in the campground, I spent some time downloading software updates to my computer. Sometimes a campground internet restricts how much you can download in a day. As some of the downloads are quite large, you can quickly use up your limit. We also did the laundry. The campground laundry only has two washing machines so this meant multiple trips back and forth. Fortunately, our site is fairly close to the laundry room. I bought a CB radio just for this trip as most places on the highway there is no cell phone coverage. When I tried to get it to work before we left home I didn’t have much success. The problem there was that it was indicating that I needed to tune the antenna. Tuning the antenna means that you must change the length of it. You do this by either raising it in its base to make it longer or you cut small pieces off to made it shorter. I didn’t want to try at home as the truck was sitting right next to the house and it should be away from things like that before you tune it. Therefore I just threw it in the truck and decided to tune it later. So when I set it up here, I moved the antenna on the roof of the truck. It is a magnetic mount and will stick wherever it is placed. Maybe moving it worked or maybe not sitting next to the house worked but for whatever reason, today it indicated the antenna did not need tuning. We also decided on the next couple of weeks. We will stay here until Friday. Then we will go to Valdez for four days. Then back here for a couple of days and then back to the Anchorage area. We want to be in Anchorage on a weekend to go to the open air flea market. After that we will wander south toward Homer. We had another camp fire tonight. The mosquitos came out in force so we got out our bug zappers. We bought one coming up the southeast coast (mine) and then bought another in Palmer (Leslie’s). They are a little different and the second one is far better than the first. When you get a mosquito with it you can actually see a spark and it makes a popping sound as it zaps the bug. The first one often doesn’t do anything. It seems that the wire grid might be too spread and it allows small mosquitoes to pass through unscathed. Now I have zapper envy. When we see another like the second one we bought, I’m going to upgrade. The mosquitoes finally drove us inside for the night.

Back to Glennallen

Robert, Monday, July 14

It was back to Glennallen today. The trip was only 130 miles so it was an easy drive. From Palmer to Glennallen is uphill almost all of the way but we had a tailwind to help out. The drive goes past the Matanuska glacier. This glacier is a little unusual as it is down in the valley while the road climbs up the side so you can look down on it. Usually you are either on the same level as the base of the glacier or you are looking up at the glacier so you really don’t see too much of it. When we left Palmer, it was overcast and it looked like rain. As we drove east, the clouds broke up and we saw blue sky and sunshine. I think that it was getting further away the coast that caused much of this. We have noticed that the weather changes a great deal when we drive just a few miles. The mountains that surround us can easily be the reason as well. In Colorado it can be bright, sunny, and warm on one side of a mountain pass while it is cold, windy, and snowing like crazy on the other side. In any case, sunshine was welcome. We got to the campground in the midst of a caravan pulling in. Caravans are commercial ventures where people with RVs pay to have someone lead a group to Alaska. They normally start in Dawson Creek, Alberta and drive up the Alaska Highway. They have a leader and someone who brings up the rear who can help if someone breaks down. Between the two there are 15, 20, or more RVs. Sometimes they travel in a “train” and sometimes they are spread out over miles. They last for 30-40 days and cost about $5,000. For that cost they pay all campground fees and some tours. Some people like them as everything is planned. Some people hate them as everything is planned. They only plus I could find in them is the social aspect. That being said, I would never sign up for such a thing. I think a lot of people take them as they are fearful of the unknown and coming to Alaska for the first time has a lot of unknowns. This caravan had 28 rigs. They had a campfire meeting where everyone was expected to tell a joke, tell a story, or perform a skit. The way we know what they were doing is that the leader posted a schedule of events on a whiteboard displayed in front of his rig. While we were sitting outside before dinner we tried some of the mosquito coils that Leslie bought. I was of the mind that they would never work but we lit two and placed them a little upwind from where we were sitting. Like magic, most of the mosquitoes departed. We lit a campfire and that too helped ward off the mosquitoes. The weather held and we grilled dinner outside. As we were told when we checked in that a black bear came through the campground the night before, the grill was packed away so it didn’t tempt the bear.

Palmer to Glennallen, Matasuska Glacier

Leslie Monday July 14, 2008

Today we moved from Palmer back to Glennallen. We’ve returned to a campground we stayed in just before we went ot Palmer. We’ve decided that this is the nicest campground we have ever visited – anywhere! Considering that we have both camped most of our lives, that’s a real compliment. We were told that the owners of this campground began with just 4 tent sites in the early 1970s. They are now in their 70s and are trying to decide whether to continue to invest in the campground or to just close it down. (It would be a beautiful campground for someone who wants to live in Alaska.)

The route from Palmer to Glennallen is past the Matasuska Glacier. Because the trip is mostly uphill, we were able to pull over frequently and capture some good pictures. Here’s a picture of the Matanuska glacier. This is unique because you can see the glacier from above, not looking up at the glacier. Look at how the glacier comes around the corner of the mountain.

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Since we’ll come along this road at least one more time, we were also noticing places to stop. There were quite a number of places where people were dry camping. Apparently this guy avoided the roads.

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Along the road we saw these strange bent poles.

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The purpose of these poles is to guide the snowplow operators. I’m guessing that the snow generally doesn’t get higher than the bent part of the poles.

Throughout Alaska we’ve seen this rock graffiti along the side of the road. Because most of the roads are lower than the surrounding hills, there is black colored gravel along the hillside. People have taken lighter colored rocks and written words. This was the first time we’ve been able to stop for me to capture a picture. I guess it’s better than spray paint.

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I also captured this pretty wildflower.

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At our campsite we have WIFI and we were able to build a campfire. What more could you want from a campsite — a nice campfire and a site along the elbow of a fast moving stream. Our only gripe is that the mosquitos are really fierce. The mosquitoes are dense in much of Alaska. We have two new weapons of mosquito destruction that I'll show you in tomorrow's posting.

Errands in Anchorage

Robert, Sunday, July 13

Today was for fuel and food. We drove into Anchorage to get fuel as the price pet gallon of diesel was 25 cents less there. We also wanted to get to Costco to get meat. We filled up, loaded up, and headed back to Palmer. We hit the grocery store there on the way back to the campground. While we like Costco for food, most of what they sell just comes in sizes far too big to fit in the trailer. After the grocery store we returned to the trailer to cram everything into the available space. Once that was accomplished, we ate dinner and hit the bed.

Weekend in Anchorage

Leslie Friday, July 11 to Sunday, July 13, 2008

Back in Anchorage, we spent the next few days dealing with errands great and small. On Fridya morning w e had an early appointment at an RV repair facility to have our water pump replaced, the gas portion of the water heater replaced, and a recall done on our refrigerator. It was a cloudy, chilly, day. After a few hours spent in the service waiting area, I decided to move to the back couch of the couch to hang out with Molly and Cody. We were even able to make lunch in the rig as we waited for parts to arrive. All in all, it wasn’t that much of a hassle but we certainly hope that the water system is now in good repair. (Hint – within a day we’ll learn that it still doesn’t work right!)

Saturday and Sunday we ran city errands – two visits to COSTCO, grocery store, Sports Authority, etc. We did lots of low level shopping. Anchorage is the first real city we’ve seen since we left Colorado in early May. We’re leaving Anchorage on Monday for a camping spot in the woods, then on to Valdez which is a small, coastal town. We used this opportunity to stock up on staples as COSTCO and the grocery store, get prescriptions filled, and generally restock for the road. Laundry, however, can wait for the next town. Because so many people in rural Alaska don’t have running water and electricity at home, every town, regardless of how small, has a laundromat.

Sunday night we took our traditional walk around the campground. We hadn’t noticed the time but wondered why we didn’t see other campers out. After we returned to our rig, we figured out why, – it was 11:30 pm. Because it is light so late, we often forget that it is as late as it is. I guess Alaskan parents can’t have to "come home when the street lights come on" rule. The kids would be out until after midnight! We are losing 3.5 minutes of daylight every day. In a month we’ll really see the difference.

Running Errands in Anchorage

Robert, Saturday, July 12

We went to Anchorage today. I wanted to get the wheels balanced on the truck and Leslie wanted to get her hair done. We also wanted to restock the trailer for our next campground. This is the campground we stayed in on the way to Palmer where we are now. While it is a beautiful campground, it is miles from anything that resembles a grocery store or anything else for that matter. It’s just easier to stock up now so we don’t have to drive miles to get food when we get there. We got most of our errands completed and then ate dinner in town. One of the things we wanted to do was to go to the outdoor market that is held every Saturday in Anchorage. We ran out of time so we will have to plan a Saturday in Anchorage as we will pass through at least two more times in the next six weeks. Tomorrow we will have to finish our errands.

Trailer Repair Day

Robert, Friday, July 11

Today was the day to get the water pump and hot water heater fixed. To do this we had to haul the trailer to Anchorage. We made it to the repair place before 9:00 a.m. and soon they were working on the trailer. We had to go to an RV supply store and buy the water pump as they didn’t have the right one at the repair place. By early afternoon they announced they were finished. I went to check on their work and discovered that the hot water heater still didn’t work. The problem was that it wouldn’t heat on propane. It would light one time and then not light for three or four times in a row. One of the service managers came to see and agreed that it wasn’t working right. The heater, like almost anything these days, has a circuit board that controls what it does. They decided that the circuit board needed to be replaced but they didn’t have a board in stock. They called around, found a board, and informed me that the board would cost $160. The reason we were at this repair place is that it is one of three factory authorized repair facilities for the water heater in all of Alaska. When I reminded them that the water heater was under warranty and the repair cost to me was zero, they quickly got frowns on their faces. It turns out that they normally get their repair parts from the factory at a greatly reduced price. When it is warranty work, they return the defective part to the factory and it doesn’t cost them anything. This part was at some other place in Anchorage where they had to buy it at retail price. I was ready to call the factory if they didn’t get the part and repair the water heater but they did the right thing and another hour or so they got the new board installed and we were on our way home. We had planned on pot roast for dinner but we didn’t get back to our campground until after 5:00 p.m. so it was too late. We had chicken and some left over pasta and I headed for bed.

Last Day at Brooks Camp

Leslie Thursday, July 10, 2008

We had to get going earlier today because we had to have all our gear at the lodge by 9:00 am.

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Unfortunately the rain fly of the tent and the ground cover underneath the tent were wet so we’ll have to put them up somewhere later to dry.

Robert thought it was too risky to cross the footbridge this morning because he was afraid that we’d get caught in a bear-jam and miss our flight. He stayed in the lodge by the fire. I went off in search of more bear pictures.

First I went to the platform. For awhile a sow and her cubs were hanging around the platofrm. They gave me some good photos.

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After awhile they moved into the distance so I went to the falls. The salmon were jumping.

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I watched this male bear on the top of the falls for nearly an hour.

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He got so close several times.

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Finally he caught a salmon.

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And he quickly took this salmon back to the banks to eat.

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It was difficult to avoid vertigo watching the bears at the falls. While I had my right eye to the view finder on the camera, my left eye was watching the falls and the other bears. Occasionally I had to leave the falls just to catch my balance.

There was one bear who I especially enjoyed watching. This guy stayed deep in the water (that was probably 40 degrees) waiting and waiting for the perfecft moment to catch a salmon. He was a pretty good fisherman but some of the bigger boys stole a number of his catches.

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See all the dots in the picture just above, those are mosquitoes!

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Thief!

I think we mentioned a few days ago that instead of camping in a tent a visitor to Brooks Camp could stay in one of the cabins. Here’s a picture of the cabin that you can rent for $300 PER PERSON per day – maximum of 2 nights per season.

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Our tent site cost only $8.00 per night.

Our last big thrill was to see a momma bear and three new cubs. I understood that these cubs were born this spring. This was the first time that the rangers had seen his spring’s cubs. Some of the cubs we’ve seen earlier were either born in January 2008 or were yearlings, i.e., 18 months old. These cubs were very small. Momma bear was very protective, yet she needed to fish. She seemed to prefer to stay near the bridge where the humans were rather than stray too far upstream near the male bears.

While we had lunch in the lodge, Robert had stepped out the back for a bit and I got to see the momma and cubs walk up the path towards the lodge. A ranger was going ballistic! She was trying to herd the bears away from the lodge and the people back in to the lodge. Maybe 15 minutes later, the sow brought her cubs right up between the lodge and the cabins. I ran to the other end of the lodge to grab our camera and missed the shot but Robert got to see the cubs up close. What a thrill! The rangers herded the bears away from the lodge towards the water. Maybe 30 minutes later the while we were boarding our floatplane we saw the same mamma bear and new cubs on the peninsula. I took this picture out the window of the floatplane.

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Robert got to act as co-piolet on our floatplane trip back to King Salmon.

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Back to Anchorage

Robert, Thursday, July 10

Today was the day to return to civilization. Our flight by floatplane was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. but our luggage had to be back at the lodge by 9:00. The reason is that they start flying passengers in around 8:30 and no one wants to leave that early. Therefore, on the early return flights, they just haul luggage. By 1:00 they start hauling people and with no luggage they can put more people on the planes. I hung out at the lodge while Leslie went off to take some more pictures. We brought enough memory cards to hold about 1,600 pictures and she still had over 100 remaining! As we had to pack every thing up for the early flight to King Salmon, we decided to eat in the lodge. While we were eating there was a loud commotion outside. It was a ranger yelling at everyone to get inside. A sow with three small cubs walked by within 10 feet of window in the lodge where we were eating. Unfortunately, Leslie rushed to get the camera at the other end of the lodge and missed a great shot out the window. There were the first of this year’s cubs we saw. All of the previous cubs were 18 months old while these were much smaller and only six months old. We got back to King Salmon and our flight to Anchorage was on time. This was important to us as the flight was due in Anchorage at 5:00 p.m. and the clinic where Molly and Cody were being boarded closed at 6:00. We wanted to get to pick them up rather than making them spend another night there. The luggage quickly arrived, I got the truck from the parking lot, picked up Leslie and the baggage, and we headed for the clinic. We made it with time to spare. We made it to the trailer and I headed for the hot showers. After that it was dinner and bed.

Glorious Day of Bear Watching

Leslie Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Glorious day of bear watching.

The sun was out (along with the mosquitoes) and we started out for the falls. When we got to the footbridge the ranger told us that if we moved very quickly we could cross but that a bear was headed down river and that the bridge would soon be closed. As soon as we got to the other side the ranger there told us that we had to come up on the platform immediately. There was a sow and two cubs very close to the bridge. Although we never got to the falls before lunch, several sows and cubs kept us entertained for hours. We stood on the platform watching the cubs play, and sleep, and wait for mom to go fishing. You’ll notice that one of the cubs has an injury above her eye. The range told us that they do not know how that occurred and that for awhile they were afraid she would lose the eye. The eye now appears to be open so they are hopeful that the cub will retain her vision. The pictures are great. Enjoy!

Mosquitos are fierce!
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Sleeping with mom
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Injured Eye
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See my teeth
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Two cubs
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Eyeing some grass
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Nose with mom
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After several hours we were able to cross the bridge back to camp. (A number of people who were flying out at noon were trapped with us on the platform; the staff had to shuttle them acoss the river by canoe for them to catch their float plane back to the airport.)

Later in the afternoon we finally made it to the falls. The fish were jumping and the bear were still fishing. I waited hours for the bear on top of the falls to catch a fish attempting to jump over the falls.

From the top of the falls
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Other bears were having a dispute over fishing grounds.
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The bear on the right gave up.
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Since it wasn’t raining the mosquitos were extremely thick. We both wore our headnets almost all day. After awhile you get used to looking through the netting. We had bought the nice headnets at REI in Boulder. Early in the day some people would look at us as if we were dredded weirdly. Later in the afternoon those same people had purchased the cheaply made headnets at the camp store. I discovered later that even though I had on long nylon pants with elastic bands around the cuffs, the mosquitoes had bitten my knees through the pants! Those are fierce bugs!

We got trapped at the platform for over an hour on our way back to camp. There was another family of sow and two cubs playing around the foot bridge. These cubs were really active and had a good time playing while mom was fishing.

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Waiting for mom
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Mom is fishing. All is okay.
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