Tag: Anchorage

Denali National Park

In this article we circle back to Anchorage where we meet up with a friend before heading to Denali National Park. We only stayed in Anchorage for two days at Centennial Park. Victoria knew a fellow travel nurse, Regina, from Savannah and so we planned to meet up after arriving to go hiking. There are hundreds of trails of all types in the Anchorage area. Regina also allowed us to have items shipped to her home before we arrived, which was a huge help to us as it can be very difficult to find a lot of items up in the north.

Victoria and her friend Regina

Unfortunately the breaks on the trailer had decided to stop working, not good when your driving in the mountains. So I tried to make an appointment but most businesses said they were a few days to a week out. Luckily we found Midstate in Anchorage which agreed to at lest take a look. They are electronic brakes and are apparently quite cheap and easy to install so we got all new electrical connectors and brakes for about $700 (seemed reasonable, have no idea) for our dual axle trailer and we got it done that day which was important as we had to keep moving on.

Leaving Anchorage we got a late start so we stayed at the South viewing area along the Parks highway. There are no hookups at the viewpoint and it was $14/night. There was a really nice boardwalk that took you to two different viewing areas. After a couple nights we decided we wanted to get closer to the mountain so we drove to Cantwell and boondocked by a creek, a really nice spot we found on I Overlander. There was a beaver dam and each morning we watched them working. We also had a excellent view of Denali when it decided to show itself the day we left.

We were excited about going to Denali, until we actually got there. I realized that it is my least favorite National Park. Reason being first off the bus and flight system is elitist and completely un-family friendly.  You can’t drive any further than 15 miles into the park.  If you want to go deeper they make you take a bus.  You have a choice of 6,8, or 12 hour bus rides.  The cost varies from $60 up to $200 (approximations) per person depending on if you want the bus ride narrated or not.  The bus doesn’t take you to what I would even consider the base of the mountain. It needs to be setup up like Zion or the Grand Canyon where you drive IN to the park, and then take buses around. It’s a terrible setup all around. The only way to get a decent view of the mountain is to helicopter in, which is several hundred dollars an hour, then being Denali it’s booked for God knows how many weeks or months in advance, and then it ,may be cloudy anyways… The apparently great view was beaten by nearly every other mountain on the way up or down here because they’re up close and personal.

In Denali National Park

What we actually did in Denali park was drive the 15 miles in or so that they allow.  We couldn’t do the moderate sized hiking trail near the end of the 15 mile turnaround point because the small parking lot was full.  We therefore turned around and did a short 1.5 mile trail and then headed back to our awesome campsite.  The beavers are cool at least.

Walking a short trail

Denali maybe an amazing mountain to read about, rising from 300ft to 20,300 ft unlike say Colorado where mountains start at 8,000 feet. Unfortunately it and the and the mountains in the area cause near constant clouds to block the summits as they create their own weather. I was told they only have two clear days in June. We were therefore very lucky when we got a full clear view of the mountain the last day we were there. Even the people who ride the bus in 8,10, 12 hours apparently get less of a view of we did for FREE (na na na na boo boo).  It is an impressive mountain, but it is kinda overrated.  It is so far away that you don’t get that “WHOA!” feeling like you feel when you can get close to a giant mountain, like Mount Rainer.

Denali zoomed in

Next up we head down the old Denali highway, making the first leg of our long journey back to the U.S. For some reason we thought it would be a good idea to take the old road, its only 130 miles of gravel…

-Written by Tim and Victoria collectively, pictures by Victoria

Boondocking by the river in Palmer, AK

On a gorgeous sunny day we left Valdez. We wanted to stay longer, but the campground was fully booked for the holiday (July 4th.) Instead we had other plans. It was July 3rd and our plan for the holiday was to attend the parade in Glennallen. On the way back on the Richardson highway we were able to see all the gorgeous snow capped mountains that were obstructed by clouds on the way in. We stopped by Horsetail falls, which like Bridal Veil falls you literally drive right past it, and the Valdez glacier. After seeing the glacier we were back on the road when Tim noticed the passenger side door to the RV was flapping in the wind.  Well it just so happened that our generator fell out somewhere between the Valdez glacier and mile 72.  We drove back the 35 miles or so looking for a bright yellow generator but it was gone.  Either someone scooped it up or it fell too deep in the brush for us to see it.  Another “Dope!” moment for us.

We boondocked at a rest stop off the Richardson highway right before the junction with the Glenn highway (which we will be taking towards Anchorage and the Kenai peninsula). The morning of the 4th after Zygi’s morning nap we drove to Glennallen for the parade. We simply parked the RV right off the Glenn highway. Our timing was impeccable as we arrived right as the parade was starting. It was a small parade and only lasted about 30 minutes. All the cars and floats threw candy as us (I guess for Zygi?…But we ate it of course). After the parade they had a free salmon bake. We decided to skip it since the line for food was so long.

We found a boondocking spot off the I Overlander app in Palmer off the old Glenn highway. We pulled in and found it was a nice spot right along the Mantanuska River. It was interesting because the river was flooded and it was washing away the dirt along the riverbank. There was a tree and each day we watched it slope deeper and deeper into the strong, merciless current. We saw many locals come out and check out the river. We talked to a couple of them and found out that a tragic accident had occurred only a week prior to our arrival. A mother and her children were playing by the water. Somehow one of her little ones fell into the rushing river. The mother instinctively went in after her baby and both of them drowned.

It was so hot while we were here, a little too hot for boondocking with a baby. We ended up leaving after a couple days and headed for the Kenai peninsula. We knew bad weather was coming but we decided to go for it anyways. Staying in 80 degree weather with no AC and the inability to swim was getting old. Little did we know that we were trading feeling like sweaty, hot pigs for cold, wet dogs.

Palmer, AK hiking trail off the Old Glenn Highway

Our journey continues…

We’re headed to Alaska (+1 This Time)

I’m sure many of you probably thought we were done traveling, in fact we’re just getting started. In fact the entire time Victoria was pregnant people said “Oh you’ll be settling down now” and I thought, “You don’t know us obviously.” Victoria finished her nursing assignment a few days ago.  I was the stay at home dad/business owner.  Now I’m excited to say we are finally going to take that road trip to Alaska we’ve been talking about. I’m so glad to be on the road again, we haven’t been traveling since we went to Ecuador when Victoria was just pregnant. We’re eager to get back on the road and Victoria is happy she will be able to spend more time with Zygi while he is still a baby.

If you want to know what routes we are taking, so do we. We’ll be traveling the same way we always do. Just a general idea of where were headed, Anchorage and Fairbanks, and the next place or two that we’ll be stopping. We already bought the Milepost and will be reading it along the way. We usually drive a couple hours, 3 to 5 hours and then spend 3 to four days there. We plan to spend four months on the trip two there, two back. We’re not sure where we’ll be going when we get back but we’ve been thinking about Reno. The first place we’ll be stopping is Lake Shasta where we’ll be boondocking right on the lake for $10 a night.

Other than that any of you that aren’t friends with us on Facebook I’m going to post some pictures of Zygi and the places we’ve been Pacifica and some places around Modesto(uh…). We’ll be posting every couple days during the trip just like we always have while traveling. If you have any suggestions on where we should go or what we should see, please comment.