We drove from Wasilla to Telkeetna. Telkeetna is a very cute little village located 14 miles down a spur road from the Parks Highway (Alaska Rt 3).
Its claims to fame are that it serves as the starting point for climbers of Mt. McKinley and it is the hub for flight-seeing trips to and around the mountain. (While the national park was renamed Denali some years ago, the mountain remains Mt. McKinley.) Downtown consists of one street with two or three restaurant/bars, one dry goods store, a liquor store, several old small hotels/roadhouses, and 5-6 gift shops.
The Alaska Railroad also stops here, right behind our campground. When we made our plans we were a bit concerned that 3 days would be too long in Telkeetna. After we saw the town, we’ve decided it’s just right.
We’re staying in an RV park, Telkeena Camper about a half mile from town. Since we’ve been treated to SUNSHINE — you might remember that ball of fire in the sky — after we got set up we walked in to town. We were hoping that we could see Mt McKinley from the river. Unfortunately there were clouds around the top of the mountain so the view was obscured.
We did enjoy a lovely afternoon wandering around town.
Here are some pictures of the flight seeing offerings.
The local fire department has this old truck out in front.
And along the street we saw several old vehicles.
And even older lodging establishments.
Nagley’s Store is a dry goods store on one side and the liquor store on the other. The cash register is in between. The West Rim Pub and Café is located in the back.
By late afternoon we stopped at the Westrim outdoor café for a drink. The food looked very good as well; we’ll come back tomorrow. We learned that the mayor of Telkeetna is a cat named Stubbs.
The town has some sort of competition to decorate moose. Notice that the first one appears to be shedding.
As we walked back to the campground it started to rain. The farther we walked, the harder it rained. Soon we were wishing for jackets.
I made it just in time to capture the Alaska Railroad pulling in to the station behind the campground.
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