Tag: glenn highway

The return to the lower 48 begins

Leaving Denali, most people head to north to Fairbanks or south to Anchorage. But we wanted to see some nature so we decided to head east and take the Old Denali highway. It’s about 130 miles of gravel with a few sections of asphalt. The worst part was for the first 70 miles the road was so rough we could only go 20 mph max. Sometimes we were going so slow the speedometer was at zero. The worst part is because it was so rough Zygi couldn’t nap so we had crying and screaming to go along with bumpy road. We did find an amazing camp area at the old airfield (Yes it REALLY was shutdown there was abandoned equipment in the middle of it and fire rings everywhere, plus a new strip a quarter mile a way). Anyways it had gorgeous views of both the mountains and a glacier. It was one of my favorite campsites of all time. Unfortunately, Victoria disagreed because of the bugs (what bugs;). It was so amazing because not only did it have a great view of the mountains and glacier, but we were all alone, out in the real middle of nowhere, no road noise, no neighbors. It’s nice to camp with just the family.

Luckily the next day the road started to improve (if I was to do it again I would approach and leave from the east). However the next day I noticed someone looking at my trailer wheels odd. I took a look myself and they seemed closer than my other side. I thought it was because we were parked on a hill. Turns out the buckle the holds the leaf-springs on didn’t just break but brought some of the frame with it. We noticed when we were smelled burning and stopped at a rest area, our tires were touching. Time to call shops on a Thursday again, a week out they say. Victoria managed to find not only the AAA rep in the area but that same shop was happy to take the business on Friday. We arrived at about 5 pm behind our trailer. Lucky for us at not extra cost some mechanics agreed to stay after and finish it that night as they were worried they would be too busy to look at it the next day. I was surprised at how young they were, the two of them couldn’t of been older that 18. But they did a great job. Three hours later we were ready to go, a little less than $300 lighter but happy for it. This was back in the town of GlennAllen and the shop was named GlennAlenn Fuel, I highly recommend them.

The next day we were back on the Glenn highway heading for Tok. (You have to go through Tok either way you enter or leave Alaska as the junction is there). We found a nice little rest area near a river to spend the night. When we first pulled in, we were the only RV there. Then I had an interesting thing happen when another RV pulled in. Where did they park? Directly next to us , with their generator running, with the rest area having room for maybe 15 RV’s. I asked him about it nicely, he smiled, an hour later he parked on the other side. That’s like the first rule of camping, unless your camping with friends of course, you park away from others. By the end of the day, it looked like an RV park at that rest area.

Next we passed through Tok and turned onto the Taylor highway. We stopped by the famous town of Chicken. Chicken is a tourist trap that didn’t used to be maybe ten years earlier. Didn’t matter Victoria loved it for the name. There isn’t much to Chicken. The town is all dirt road. There is a saloon, and a handful of gift shops. We camped at the Walter Fork BLM Campground ($5 with America the Beautiful pass discount.) I liked the river at the campground. I skinny dipped (no one around) along with skipping stones, I had at least a 15 hopper in there. Nothing like bathing in a mountain river like God intended. All these roads were gravel but decent gravel, you could run 40 or 50 mph down it no problem unlike The Old Denali Rd. The was a lot more assents and descents than usual for up here but when it takes you to the Top of the World Highway, it’s worth it.

 

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…