Cruising 7/1/2015

2015 Boating Season

Cruising 7/5/15

Hello from Petersburg, Alaska.

What new adventure should we do now??

Denali National Park of course! We walked up to Viking Travel Agency and they helped us plan a trip. We flew from Petersburg to Anchorage and stayed one night then caught an Anchorage to Denali Bus connection at 7am. The bus trip took five hours and 237 miles, to the Denali Park Village. You can drive a car or RV but can only go 15 miles into the park. From there we caught the Kantishna Roadhouse Bus for a seven hour ride, 92 miles into the park.

In 1908 a visionary names Charles Sheldon dedicated himself to the conservation of the Denali region. The name Denali name comes from the Athabascan Natives, meaning “the high one”. It is the home to grizzlies, caribou, wolves, moose, Dall sheep, lynx, coyotes, rabbits, fox, birds, gold mines, and Denali (Mt. McKinley). Once thought to be extinct, wood bison are being re-introduced to the region. Wood Bison roamed parts of Alaska for 10,000 years before the arrival of humans.

Bus ride into Denali

Grizzly

Caribou

Moose with baby

In 1917 Denali became the first park created after the creation of the National Park Service in 1916. It is the third-largest national park in the United States. The park now has six million acres for wildlife preservation. Out of six million acres there is one road in and out. You can camp, bike ride the main road, fish the rivers, hike the trails with or without a park ranger guide, backpack into the preserve, take a flight seeing tour in an airplane over the park, or climb the mountains.

Our Cabin !!

Kantishna Roadhouse

Our Real Cabin

Panning for Gold

We stayed as far back as the bus could take us, two nights at the Kantishna Roadhouse, an old gold mining camp. Our cabin was perfect, the lodge and food was wonderful, and the people were great. And we can't forget the mosquitos! As long as there was a breeze we were good. We were taught how to gold pan in Moose Creek and then we walked up to Eureka Creek and panned some more. Russ found a little flake of gold but not quiet enough to pay for the trip! Each afternoon we would take a shuttle up to Wonder Lake to get wonderful views of the mountain. Only 5% of the people who travel to Denali get a clear view of the mountain, only 30% get a partial view. We got the whole thing and it was incredible to see it and travel through such a vast beautiful wilderness. Sunset is after midnight and sunrise is at 4:00am and frankly it doesn't get dark in between so we are doing some adjusting!!

Denali (Mt McKinley) at Wonder lake

Mt McKinley

Bus ride In and Out of Denali

Steep roads

Caribou

Caribou

Our seven hour bus ride back started at 6am. It was beautiful all the way back to the park entrance. We caught the Alaska Railroad Train back to Anchorage. We didn't know we would not get fed on the way up to Denali so we took the Alaska Goldstar train service on the way back. All-inclusive dining, glass dome ceilings, outdoor view platform, tour guide narration, 2 drinks each at private bar. Very nice and comfortable. The railroad started in 1914 traveling from Seward to Anchorage. The views are magnificent and we had a trip of a life time.

Photo on Brochure

We traveled back to Anchorage and spent two more days there. The population of Anchorage is about 350,000 people. There are lots of good restaurants and pubs in downtown Anchorage, we sampled a few. The Anchorage museum is an interesting place to spend a few hours and we really enjoyed it. We also took a shuttle to the Alaska Native Heritage Center and spent an afternoon talking to and learning from native Alaskans in an historic and interactive setting. The weather has been very mild and the people we have met are very friendly.

The Moose is on the right

Alaska Native Heritage Center

We flew from Anchorage to Juneau, the capitol of Alaska. We had been here before by boat but it was nice to get reaquainted with the area again. The next day we flew back to Petersburg to start planning our return trip... but thats another blog. See you then.

Russ and Toni on Traveler

Cruising 6/21/2015

2015 Boating Season

Cruising June 21, 2015

Russ here:

We cruised up through the Wrangell Narrows toward Petersburg. Our friend Steve Sari bought a home on Keene Island last year and we are going to stop and visit. I met Steve 35 years ago when I came up with his brother Phil to hunt Geese, Steve was a commercial fisherman in Petersburg at the time. Keene Island is about a third of the way up the narrows as you head north to Petersburg. The narrows is a river like passage between Kupreanof and Mitkof Islands. Its well marked with buoys and small cruise ships and ferries make the passage frequently.

Steve's home on Keene Island

We found the island easily and tied up to Steve's concrete float, dropped the dinghy, and went to shore. Steve was happy to see us and invited us to stay as long we wanted. We brought everything we would need to shore and Steve gave us a tour of his house, his two acre parcel, and all the systems that keep everything running. Steve's is the only house on Keene Island, the rest of the island is part of the Tongass National forest. Living on an island away from utilities can be a challenge but Steve's property was setup pretty good by the previous owners. Rain water from the roof is stored in a huge bladder and he has a desalination system as a backup. Solar panels and a diesel generator make electricity that is stored in a large bank of batteries. Hot water comes from a propane on-demand system. He has a satelite that brings in Direct TV and a booster that amplifies a weak cellular signal so he has contact with the outside world. It's a pretty good setup overall. There are deer, mink, squirrels, and at least one mouse on the island. The eagles are everywhere and the only noise is an ocassional boat passing by. The one drawback is having to motor 30 minutes to Petersburg to get groceries or anything you don't have on the island but that's a pretty good trade off for the solitude and being steps away from a huge fishery that includes all kinds of fish, crab, etc.

We took advantage of Steve's hospitality and stayed ten days. Part of the time we helped Steve with a list of projects. We set up a weather station, put together all his crab and shrimp pots, fixed a door threshold, new kitchen faucet, and minor plumbing repairs. We put out the crab pots and collected about seventy nice Dungeness Crab over several days and of course then you have to cook and clean all those crab. The good part is having a lot of crab omelettes, crab salads, crab sandwiches, and we took more with us in our freezer when we left.

Green House

Crab Pots

Weather Station

Mink

Steve Sari

Going Crabbing

Shrimp Pots

Big catch - TWO

Star Fish

DaLinda's Birthday

Steve's fiance Dalinda came to the island while we were there and we got to know her well. We helped celebrate her birthday one night. We had some wonderful meals during our stay and had a lot of laughs, a very special time we will remember forever.

View from Steve's Home

Now its time to head to Petersburg and plan a special side trip that will be in our next blog.