Welcome to Red Dog Adventures

We got up extra late this morning. We didn’t have anywhere much to go. We walked some of the short trails around the park. One of the trails gives an exceptional view of Denali. Unfortunately today, the clouds obscured the mountain. We were pleasantly surprised we had had decent Cell/Internet service. We checked to see if there was any restaurants close by and Mary Carey’s McKinley View Lodge was close by and popular. Lunch was really good and the lodge has an interesting history. After lunch we visited the Denali Princess Lodge where we stayed 5 years ago. While out we also explored the Troublesome Creek Trail Head on the highway and creek. Maverick had a great time wading around and the creek was beautiful.

 

Today is overcast and cooler at about mid-50’s this morning. We departed our RV park about 9:30. I got diesel in nearby Healy while Donna got us Diet Coke in the Denali villlage. We were underway about 10am and only had to drive about 100 miles to our next stop. We arrived at Denali State Park K’esugi Ken Campground at about noon.  The campground is fairly new and wonderful for a State Park. The park has paved interior roads, long gravel sites wide enough for car and coach. Each site has an extra large firepit and picnic table area with 30-100 ft separation from your neighbors. We actually have 50A electric, though no water or sewer. The park is about ½ mile from the highway so there is very little noise.  A 50A site costs $30/night and our site is maybe the nicest we’ve had in Alaska.  A posting says a bear was sited in the park 6/22 so wildlife is nearby.  Sites here are first come first served with no reservations accepted. When we arrived we had our choice of 3 spots out of the 40 or so RV campsites. By 1pm the two remaining sites were taken. Donna grabbed some charcoal she had hidden in storage and grilled hamburgers and hotdogs on the fire pit both for now and for later. Delicious. It was the first time we cooked outside since leaving home.

Today we planned to see the Denali Dog Sled Team presentation. Denali maintains a dog sled team to maintain the park and its trails. As a Wilderness Preserve no mechanized vehicles are allowed throughout most of the park. During the winter the dog-sleds are used to transport supplies used in the summer to build bridges, maintain trails, etc. The dogs are very lovable and the 30 minute presentation is informative and interesting. You get to pet a few of the dogs and see the rest up close.
After the dog sled presentation we drove the 15 mile public road again. We spend a fair amount of time at the Savage River turnaround enjoying the weather and the scenery. After completing our Park drive we drove up to the Denali Grand Lodge.  We thought we might eat there but didn’t care for the menu.  The view was very nice.  In the end we ate at The Bake again. This time we had a barbecue hamburger and it was excellent.

A word or two about Denali National Park.

For us this National Park is not an overwhelming reason to visit Alaska. The scenery is beautiful and at times there is good wildlife viewing. You can only see the mountain Denali from a few viewpoints and visitors to Denali only see the mountain about 30% of the time due to clouds. It is not the most accessible park nor the least accessible.  The 15 miles available to personal cars is nice but not spectacular in the sense of Yosemite, Glacier, or some of the other big names. On our second day we took the same bus tour as our previous visit 5 years ago in mid-May. This is the shortest tour and requires about 6 hours round trip. It is only $31 per person and takes you 52 miles into the park. We find 6 hours is pretty long on a fairly spartan bus. Our driver this time says at this time of year you see bears about 30% of the time on this tour. We saw a bear at a distance 5 years ago in mid-May but not this time. There are tours that take you to the 68 mile Eileson Visitor Center (7-8 hours round trip), and 95 miles to the Kitshna lodge (>12 hours round trip). Our guide says on these tours you see bear 80% of the time. There are also many day hikes and 4 million acres of open wilderness to explore if you are more outdoors inclined and more athletic than Donna and I. The wilderness is not heavily forested and the trees are small. Most of the terrain is tundra and shrub. There is RV camping at a variety of campgrounds in the Park but reservations may be required up to 6 months in advance. We didn’t try and chose to wimp out with full hook-ups outside the park. Most (all?) camping in the park is dry camping. Still, if you are in Alaska already you should visit this park. It is unique in many ways and is quite enjoyable.

Yesterday, at the recommendation of the RV park, I made reservations for our Denali Bus Tour. Because you can only drive 15 miles into the park in your own car, buses are the only way other than biking or hiking to get to the interior of the park. We chose the shortest 52 miles Toklat tour. It was only $31 per person and takes about 6 hours round trip. You travel from an alpine ecosystem to an arctic tundra ecosystem. We seriously debated about the next longer 68 mile Eileson Visitor center tour but the extra 1-2 hours sounded like a long time and Maverick was staying the in coach. The RV park offers two dog-walks for $15 which was a GREAT deal for us and let us take this tour worry-free. They walked Maverick at 11am and at 2pm. Our bus tour departed at 9:30am and we got back around 4pm. There are two types of tours, ours was “unguided” and the other is guided. The difference is that our tour relies on the bus drive as the tour guide and the other bus has a dedicated tour guide. The guided tour bus also has a long range camera that will image wildlife on monitors inside the bus so you don’t rely on binoculars or telephoto lenses. The guided tour is about $110 per person for the Toklat tour. Be sure to take lunch and snacks. The tour is very long and we were ready to get off the bus by the end. The Toklat tour does stop a few times along the way and once for a bathroom break. The turnaround at the end is about 30minutes and you are free to stay longer and take a different bus back. If you are going, be sure to read up on the different tours so you can select one that best meets your personal needs. On our tour we saw about 6 Caribou close enough to see good detail using binoculars and saw some Dahl sheep from a great distance.

After the tour we ran back to the coach to get Maverick. He and the coach seemed no worse for the wear and the dog walker said she loved Maverick and they had a good time. After a resting a bit we headed back to the village and ate at the Prospector. We had a very nice pizza. The Prospector was the ONLY restaurant open in May 5 years ago. The Prospector offers pizza, pasta, and american food.

Another beautiful 70 deg F day with mostly clear skies. We drove AK-3 South from Fairbanks to the Denali RV Park and Motel. It was about a 120 miles or about 2 hours. Setup was routine but the sites are very close together. Not super level either. After setup we drove to the Denali village and into the park. The park was much as we remembered it but the surrounding area had many businesses open that were closed when we were here before and the nearby town of Healy had new stores and fuel since our last visit. As expected the park was at least twice as crowded as our previous visit because this time we are at prime season. We drove the 15 miles available for personal vehicles. The drive has beautiful scenery and ends at the Savage River trailhead. We were treated to a nice view of Denali at a couple of spots. We only saw one Caribou from a significant distance. We didn’t see tons of wildlife last time but we did see more than this. On our way back we checked out the Savage River campground to see if it would have been good for our big-rig. The answer is not really. There were only a few select sites that would have accommodated us.

After our round trip drive we stopped in the “Denali Village” and chose to eat at The Bake. It was a quirky, moderately priced restaurant with seafood and normal american variety. We had the fish and chips and it was excellent. The restaurant itself is nearly like a “funhouse” the floors and wall all seem to be at a slant from poor or old construction. Where we sat actually was inside with a canvas ceiling. You felt like you were eating in an old mining camp structure. It was kind of cool in a weird way.  The Denali Village is my name for the collection of businesses and hotels just outside the Denali National Park entrance.  As far as I can tell it doesn’t have an actual town name.

This morning we first headed to the highly recommended Cookie Jar restaurant for breakfast. We each had Belgium Waffles, eggs, and bacon. The amount of food was overwhelming but it was really great. After brunch we headed to the North Pole.  Ok, just the town just down the road from the RV park, not the real North pole. At the North Pole is a Christmas gift shop complete with live Santa for pictures, a 50ft tall Santa outside for pictures, and typical Christmas gift items. Next door to the gift shop is a Reindeer stable where for $10 you can visit, pet, and feed the Reindeer. The Reindeer were named after Santa’s sled team of course. We had a great time getting to know the Reindeer.

We ate on the Chena River in Fairbanks at Pikes Landing.  The food and service were fair but the view was very nice and entertaining.   After lunch we headed back to the coach to prepare for our departure tomorrow. We cleaned the coach and the car. Both really needed it.

This morning we ran errands at Walmart then took Maverick to a off-leash dog park. We were killing time waiting for the Summer Solstice Festival downtown. At about noon we headed downtown. We found parking easily enough near the visitor/cultural center. The festival had food vendors, crafts, and art. The festival had a wholesome local fair feel and we really enjoyed wandering around. We grabbed a tasty lunch from the food vendors.

After the festival it was still early. We decided to head to the Chen River Hot Springs. We ran back to the coach and grabbed our bathing suits. We had heard the drive was fairly long and were under the impression it was partly gravel. As it turns out the entire drive was two-lane paved road the entire way. All along the road is the Chena River State Recreation area. There are many river access sites all along the way. The Chena River Hot Springs road (that’s the name) dead ends at a nice privately owned lodge. The lodge had rooms, cabins, and RV camping. It also has a pool, and of course the hot springs. It also has a grass airstrip big enough that a DC-4 four engine transport was parked there. The hots springs were really nice, but again, VERY hot. As a matter of fact, it was hot enough I couldn’t go all the way to the hottest end before it became too hot to stand. The spring require a $15 per person entry fee that also gives you access to the pool. We stayed in the springs about 45 minutes. They provide changing rooms, showers, and dysfunctional lockers. I enjoyed the clean shower before getting re-dressed for the drive back. After the springs we also explored the nearby creek with Maverick.  On the drive back we also stopped at one of the many Chena River access areas.

First thing today we headed downtown Fairbanks to check out the riverfront park near the visitors center. We took the obligatory picture in front of the Antler arch pergola. After the park we headed toward the farmers market. Along the way we stopped by a local sporting goods and hardware store called Frontier Outfitters. The store was really nice and fun to browse. Continuing on to the farmers market, we arrived about noon. We got lucky and scored a close parking spot. The market wasn’t really large but we enjoyed it. We ate local market grilled chicken and grilled corn. It was really tasty. The weather today was 69F with occasional short and light showers. On the way back to the coach we decided to cruise the Fairbanks airport. The Fairbanks airport is interesting to because it is really four different airports. One is the international commercial airport, the second is a long “pond” used as a float plane runway, the third is a small airplane paved runway, and the fourth is a snow-ski runway. The snow-ski runway is for winter operations and not used in the summer. The airport includes a camping area for small airplanes to park and camp. I really enjoyed seeing the float planes and bush planes.

For the first time in a while we didn’t pack up and travel. Not that traveling is hard, we like it. That said, it is nice to take it easy for a change. After bumming around the coach this morning we headed out to explore. It is cooler and rainy today with a temperature of 59 deg F this morning and an expected high of 70. First we headed by an RV supply store to see if they had a replacement cabinet latch for one that recently broke. They did not.

Next we took the highway a short way out of town to the official viewpoint of the Alaska Pipeline. The summer before college in 1982 I had a job offer to work the pipeline and have always wondered how my life would have been different if I had accepted. After the pipeline we headed to lunch at Banks Brewery. Banks is a very nice and modern lunch place. The sandwich was excellent and we really enjoyed the meal. After lunch we dropped by Home Depot and bought a simple cabinet latch. We decided to go to the Pioneer Air Museum. It turns out the museum is part of the larger Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. Pioneer Park appears to be one of the major parks in Fairbanks. It contains playgrounds, the air museum, a railroad museum, and a train ride. We paid $4 each to view the air museum. It has some interesting history but is pretty small. While here we tried the railroad museum. Like the air museum it is pretty small with only one old steam engine, but its free.

We slept well last night and it was very quiet in this park. It didn’t take us long to break camp this morning and we headed for Fairbanks Alaska. We chose the Riverview RV park just East of Fairbanks based on online reviews. I wasn’t able to call ahead so I just showed up at the park. Only because we were very early we were able to get a 50 Amp Full Hook-Up site. We booked 5 nights here to recuperate from the long drive up the Alaskan Highway. There is a fair amount to do around here and I hope we don’t get too bored. We’ve got a really nice roomy back-in spot but trees keep the satellite from working. We are likely going to run out of recorded shows soon. (cue sympathetic “awww” ). There is good Verizon coverage so Internet works pretty good. The temperature today is a high of 84 deg F. 50Amp electric hook up is nice so we can run the A/C as much as we want. When we are on 30Amp we have to be careful about how much we run simultaneously.
We headed to downtown Fairbanks for lunch. We chose to eat at The Crepery. It was just OK. We shopped a few gift shops and checked out the Chena River frontage. Afterwards we headed to Walmart to re-stock. Even though we found a couple of Walmarts in Canada, they didn’t stock any frozen breakfast sandwiches or other items we have come to prefer. With the Jeep full of groceries we headed back to the coach. We want to be stocked up before we go to Denali National Park. Last time we were there we found very little available in the area.

One item of interest we bought was Bear Spray. Bear spray is a highly recommended item hiking anywhere in the vicinity of bears. The spray is like human Pepper Spray and is proven effective to deter a provoked bear. You hope to never need it. I would have bought some in the US before heading this way but we had heard Canadian customs sometimes wont let you bring it in. I wish we had it while in Canada because we were at some risk. Bear spray at Walmart was much cheaper than many other places I checked, but its still not “cheap”. It will be a nice security blanket while in Denali National Park and Southern Alaska.