We left Seward for Anchorage as we were expecting friends and family who would be traveling with us for a week. We returned to Girdwood, technically part of Anchorage, hoping to spend the night free of all the things associated with urban camping. The Girdwood Forest Fair, basically a hippie fest with a “Leave Your Dogs, Politics and Religious Orders At Home” mantra, was wrapping up its final day and we were eventually able to get into our usual spot. Loud live music until 4 am! Woohoo! We were able to get a load of laundry done, fill up water tanks, etc., before moving on to Anchorage. The more time I spend in Anchorage, the less I like it. It is, however, a great place for restocking at Costco and rehydrating at breweries like King Street Brewing Company. After collecting everyone and yet another night at Camp Cabelas, we headed back to Seward.
Once in Seward, we set up camp once again along the Resurrection River…….
….and spent the next day hiking around the base of Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park.
The next day we had a major highlight of the trip thus far. But first, a little background……
We were hiking the Lazy Mountain Trail in Palmer at the end of May. It’s my habit to carry a baggie of dog treats to hand out during the hike. If you’re not aware, Alaska is a major dog state and it’s not unusual for me to return to the van with an empty baggie. I ended up chatting with some ladies after giving their Rottweiler a treat and subsequently ran into them again at Palmer Alehouse that evening. It turned out that two of them were boat captains in Seward for Major Marine Tours, a wildlife and glacier tour company. We ran into them AGAIN on the Tonsina Creek Trail in Seward! They invited us to go on a tour with them when we were in Seward, so……
We embarked on a six hour cruise with Captain Nicole, however, I was very disappointed to learn that I was not the most distinguished guest she’s ever had….
The wildlife and glacier viewing on this trip was truly amazing. I’m going to resist the temptation to write and just let the photos/video do the talking.
Sorry, the puffins are really hard to see.
And for the grand finale……….
We also witnessed a Bubble Net Feeding of five humpbacks, but I was unable to get it on film.
Many thanks to Captain Nicole & crew and Major Marine Tours for an awesome trip. The margaritas made with glacial ice on the trip back to Seward were exceptionally good.
We visited Stoney Creek Brewhouse/Tidewater Taphouse (great hazy IPA!) after the cruise and then moved on to Seward Brewing Company for dinner. Great pizza!
We revisited the Tonsina Creek Trail again before moving north from Seward.
We headed toward Denali National Park, stopping in Talkeetna to camp at the VFW. Talkeetna is a funky little tourist town that sits on the banks of the Susitna River. It is at the end of Talkeetna Spur Road off the Parks Highway. It’s also a train stop on the Alaska Railroad as well as a stop for the cruise ship buses. When the trains and a couple of buses unload at the same time, the place gets really busy! We visited Denali Brewing Company for dinner. Great pizza and beer! I really need to get the van serviced when I get home as it seems to lurch left or right whenever brewery appears on the roadside.
We continued on to Denali NP the next day. The park had just reopened a couple of days prior due to wildfire near the entrance. Portions of front country trails were still closed, but we managed to cobble together a decent hike.
We ended up camping for two nights along side the Nenana River in a great spot.
We rode the bus deeper into the park the next day. Private vehicles without camping reservations are only allowed 15 miles in on the park road. The road runs 92 miles but is currently only open to mm 43 due to landslide with closure extending to the end of 2026. We were able to see quite a bit of wildlife including caribou, ptarmigan, arctic ground squirrels and a grizzly bear with two cubs.
We got off the bus on the return trip and hiked the Savage Alpine Trail. Nice thigh burning ridge hike in upwards of 50-60 mph winds!
We visited 49th State Brewing-Denali Park after the hike for rehydration.
After delivering our guests back to Anchorage for their flights home, we returned north to the Hatcher Pass area. Beautifully scenic and we were able to camp creekside for a night.
Amy Jo and I agreed, given the situation at Denali NP with closures, there was really no reason to return there. I’m of the opinion that the way to see that park is by backpacking through the back country. Buses and crowds don’t agree with me.
We decided to travel the Denali Highway, an east west dirt (mostly) road connecting the Parks Highway and the Richardson Highway. We stayed two nights at Brushkana Creek Campground. As it happened, we met the campground hosts at Yukon Brewing in Whitehorse, YT on our way up. Jan and Dale were very knowledgeable about the area and Alaska in general. It was great seeing them again! We hiked the Brushkana Creek Trail while we were there and I fished up and down the creek for Arctic Grayling as well.
This area has huge network of dogsled trails. It’s also the location of one of the cast members of NatGeo’s reality TV series Life Below Zero.
While we never saw the dogs during our stay, you sure could hear them at feeding time!
We moved further along Denali Highway, stopping to fish here and there. I was able to catch a few Arctic Char. We ended up camping at Rock Creek for the night.
If you’re camping for any period of time in Alaska, don’t miss the Denali Highway.
We headed north on the Richardson Highway (with a few fishing stops) to Fairbanks. We camped for two nights at University of Alaska Fairbanks and were even able to poach their wifi! Our visit coincided with Fairbanks’ Golden Days celebration and we were able to take in the parade and street fair.
Mt great grandfather, Sam O. White, lived in Fairbanks from the early 1920’s until his death in 1976. His life as a game warden and bush pilot is detailed in the book Sam O. White, Alaskan by Jim Rearden. We visited Pioneer Air Museum which had quite a bit of material regarding his life.
As young (under 10) children, my sister and I would correspond with him and many of the letters would contain stories detailed in the book. In one such letter, he thanked my mother for photos of “the little nippers” after she enclosed school photos of us in one of our letters to him. We found that quite hilarious!
After resupplying at Costco/Walmart, we decided to head toward the Canadian border. The van inexplicably made a u-turn and then lurched to the right to Lat 65 Brewing. Really cool building, great beer and what looked to be really good BBQ.
The van finally agreed to leave and we were off, stopping in Tok for pizza at Fast Eddy’s (don’t just drive by) and a diesel top off before dealing with Canadian prices. We camped at Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge at the Lakeview Campground. Free camground with some beautiful lakeside sites as well as loons, sand hill cranes and many other birds in view.
We crossed the border on the worst roads of the trip so far and headed for the Haines Highway. Along the way, we stopped and hiked the Saint Elias Lake Trail in Kluane National Park. Nice easy leg stretcher on a brutal day of driving.
If you are traveling through this area, Kluane National Park is a must see.
Back over the border, we arrived in Haines, AK just in time for the arrival of a cruise ship. We immediately visited Haines Brewing Company and I will be returning there as soon as I publish this post. It’s a very rainy day here in Haines (hence, the publishing…..and the brewery) as I sit here in yet another great library. We’ll be putting the van on the ferry to Skagway, AK tomorrow.
Stay tuned!
while this entire trip look incredible, visiting a museum and getting to see your grandfathers plane is unreal! how very cool.