Telkeetna - Cute Village

Leslie Friday, August 22, 2008

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.

Arriving in Telkeetna

Robert, Friday, August 22

We got packed up and were on our way to Telkeetna at 11:00 a.m. It is only about 70 miles so the drive wasn’t too long. The day started with blue skies and sunshine. Then as we drove north it became overcast and then foggy. Fortunately, it cleared up and as we approached Telkeetna, it once again was sunny and nice. We got settled in our campsite, had a late lunch, and decided to walk into town. It is only a half mile. Telkeetna is an old town that has a lot of old buildings that set along main street. There are a number of gift shops and restaurants and interesting places. We had asked in the campground if there were any restaurants in town that were any good. We got the name of two. We stopped in one for a drink and decided we would come back to eat there. As lunch was so late, neither of us was hungry but the food looked and smelled good. Telkeetna is the jumping off place for those want to climb Mt. McKinley. There are a number of air services that offer “flight seeing” trips to view the mountain. These same guys ferry climbers to and from the base of the mountain. There is a glacier that is the starting point for the climb. We checked with one in town and then returned to the campground. Here we asked if they could recommend any of the companies offering flight seeing. They recommended one and we made a reservation for tomorrow. As the weather can be so fickle, they said we could cancel without a penalty if the weather is cloudy. As the whole point is to see Mt. McKinley, if it is cloudy then we will cancel. We have been to Denali Nat’l Park twice before and we have yet to see the mountain. The manager at the campground said that only 8% of those who come to Denali ever see the mountain.



The lowest pin in Anchorage and the highest is Mt. McKinley. The other two are labeled. We were in Big Bear CG in Wasilla and now we are in Telkeetna Camper Park in Telkeetna. Maybe after I use this for a while, I will figured out how to include the names for places like Anchorage.