A few days in Talkeetna

I almost hate to put a new post up to replace the High Point one, but time does move on.

I scheduled a week in Talkeetna because we wanted to take a flight and ride the jet boat. We did both on our first day. The rest of our time has just been taking it easy and relaxing.

One of the afternoons we found a nice path through the woods to walk.

I think it was called the Ridge Trail. There were a couple of unmarked trails starting from the same parking lot.

The temperature was pleasant, but the humidity was a bit high in the woods.

I think this picture looks like a paperback book cover!

In spite of the many small planes buzzing overhead, and the frequent train horn honking, it was very peaceful compared to the streets of Talkeetna that were very busy with tourists. We saw many large busses that had Cruise Line names. Talkeetna is a stop on their inland bus tours. 

We choose not to take the train ride since we see so much as we drive, and we had just taken that great boat ride. It would have been easy since the train station was adjacent to our RV park. 

On one of our wanderings we stopped out at the Kahiltna Birchworks  to taste and buy some birch syrup. I thought the 8.4 ounce bottle of first run syrup that we bought was a bit pricey at $35. But it is very good and everything seems to cost a lot in Alaska. 

Another place along the Talkeetna Spur, that has a fun name,  is the Flying Squirrel Bakery and Cafe.






We bought a very nice loaf of olive bread, and were properly amazed by the display of giant Talkeetna-grown zucchini.

Another curious site in Talkeetna is the Susitna Salmon Center.  Out front is this remarkable tower of glittery tile salmon sculptures.  No we don't know what kind of fruit is on the tree.

The best feature of the Salmon Center is a video story of a salmon that got tagged with a radio frequency transmitter, on its way into the Susitna River.  By monitoring the transmitter, salmon trackers followed this "Super" fish as he ignored all the side tributaries that other fish were going into to spawn, until he reached the glacier at the start of the Susitna.  He then turned around and swam back down the river until he reached the tributary in which he was born, which he had missed while swimming up the river.  He entered and presumably happily spawned.  Full disclosure: the real purpose of the film is to rouse opposition to a proposed dam on the Susitna.

To emphasize how lucky we felt to have had that beautiful clear view of Denali last Saturday, the above pictures were taken on Monday and Tuesday. The skies have remained mostly blue during the day, with overnight rain showers, but there have been clouds around Denali every time we got a glimpse of her. I think the flights would have been pretty good in spite of the clouds. Maybe even more interesting. Wednesday and Thursday were quite cloudy, and Friday the sky was totally socked in and the day started with light rain.

One warning I do have for anyone who wants to camp in Talkeetna. Do your grocery shopping before you come. 

I had Googled "grocery stores" in advance, and came up with what looked like a bigger store, Cubbys. But it turns out that  it is 14 mile away, at the junction of the Spur Road and the Parks Highway. 

The only little store in Talkeetna, Nagley's, is tiny and although it has a few  emergency supplies, and foods like pasta sauce and frozen bread, it is not much of a grocery store. It does have wonderful ice cream cones however.

We left Talkeetna Friday morning and drove to Fairbanks, 280 miles away. The morning rain let up by mid-day, but we were not able to see any of the mountains because they were obscured by clouds. 

Shortly after arriving at the River View RV Park in Fairbanks, we discovered our hot water heater had a leaking incident. We have a call in to a mobile RV Service Company, so we hope someone can take a look at it, and fix it quickly if necessary.

Oh well, a hot water heater might spring a leak in a house as well, and of all places in Alaska to have this happen, Fairbanks is a lot better than most of the small places we have been.

Fingers crossed... 

Mahay's Jet Boat ride, Talkeetna, Alaska

When I made a reservation for our big adventure next week, I also looked at several other things to do in Talkeetna during our seven day stay. Friday was bright and sunny, and Saturday promised to be the same.  After so many rainy, overcast days, the blue sky was a beautiful sight.

Saturday morning we took the Devil's Canyon trip in a Mahay's jet boat. Click here to see a commercial YouTube video of our ride.

After only a few minutes on the water, we went around a bend in the river, and got a dramatic, clear view of Mount Foraker, Mount Hunter, and Mount Denali. 

We were told that only 5% of tourists who come here actually get this clear a view. 

From the stories I have heard about the mountain peak just showing of a few minutes at a time, I believe we were very lucky.

  Denali sure is big, given that she is almost 60 miles away.

The jet boat ride was fun. The boat was completely enclosed, but we could open the windows.  When the captain stopped for a picture-op, two front doors were opened and we could use them for a window-free direct shot.

The trip was a 130 mile round trip, and went up into the white water of Devil's Canyon of the Susitna River.

We only went in part way up the canyon because it is too rough to go all the way.

We were told that only two people have made it through in boats. In fact the canyon itself is a demarcation line between dialects of the indigenous people of the area.

We saw a few eagles and this bear along the river banks. He didn't stick around for long, and our pilot said that was good because they do allow hunting from boats along here.

One thing I found interesting was the color change of the waters coming into the river from the sides. The main channel is clouded with glacial silt. The side creeks are fresh and clear. We stopped to see the salmon who were starting to gather at this creek mouth. Only those who were born there will go up to spawn. Each salmon seeks the creek in which it was born.

After a light box lunch, we stopped at a dock and disembarked for a short nature walk.

Perhaps in was just for "show" but our guide carried a shot gun in case of a bear encounter. 















We visited a demonstration Native fish camp and a replica trapper's cabin.

If nothing else, it was a chance to stretch our legs before the last half hour of the boat ride.

Coming back, we once again stopped to get a good view of Denali!

I know this same image is shown above, and is being used as the header as I write this post, 
but when the header is changed it is lost from the blog, and I want to keep it in view.

As nice as that trip was, our day was not yet over

To be continued...