The Call Of The Wild

The Call of the Wild Excerpt by Robert Service

Have you gazed on naked grandeur where there’s nothing else to gaze on, Set pieces and drop-curtain scenes galore, Big mountains heaved to heaven, which the blinding sunsets blazon, Black canyons where the rapids rip and roar? Have you swept the visioned valley with the green stream streaking through it, Searched the Vastness for a something you have lost? Have you strung your soul to silence? Then for God’s sake go and do it; Hear the challenge, learn the lesson, pay the cost.

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We are off to explore the wild; we've heard the challenge and want to learn the lesson, but not sure about paying the cost.  We have started our "Interior trip."  This trip was planned with the goal for us to try to see the major highlights of interior Alaska without having to take a bush plane or boat to get there. We started off on Tuesday morning with a nice drive to Anchorage.   Anchorage is Alaska's largest city (about 300,00 people) and it is just that - a city, with urban sprawl, traffic and box stores.  It does however have a magnificant view of the Chugach Mountains and Cook Inlet. We did make one stop in the city which was the Anchorage Zoo.  The boys loved it. It had many arctic animals including polar bears, grizzleys, musk oxen, wolves, lynx and black bears.  Anna thought she should photograph the grizzles - just in case we didn't see one in the wild.
From Anchorage we continued our drive north to Talkeetna.

We had a great dinner at the Brewery

Talkeetna is a cute little climbing and fishing town. It's Town motto is " Talkeetna, a quaint little drinking town with a climbing problem."  Are you seeing a pattern here in Alaska town mottos and those we choose to visit?

Pick your poison

Rules at the Fairview Inn - the local hotspot.

Even 3,000 miles away folks are cheering on the Bruins!
This was posted on a wall outside a bar the morning
 after the big win!!

Talkeetna serves as the base for those climbers attempting to summit Denali - or  Mt. McKinnely as it was once called, which is the highest peak in North America at 20,300 feet (and apparently growing a bit each year).  Denali has it's own weather systems which make it one of the most difficult mountains to summit. We're told it's actually an easy climb, not technical at all, you just have to luck out with the weather. Climbers on average take 2-3 weeks to complete the summit climb, stopping for a few days rest at each of the seven established tent  city "camps" to acclimate their bodies to the change in elevation. The fastest (and luckiest) climbers can do it in as few as nine days and some have been known to be stuck on the mountain for 30 or even 40 days.  If it storms, you're stuck.  Last year a group was stuck at the highest base camp for 11 days.  They ran out of food and experienced altitude sickness, luckliy they are all survived.


This is not the case for 7 other climbers this year who have all died on the mountain.  This Mountain they call 'the tall one', Denali, is not to be taken lightly. Almost every year climbers die, most on the way down; many in avalanches and crevasse falls. If you are lucky enough to ever see the summit, you will understand why. The summit of Denali is only visable approximately 1 in every 3 days.  It can be clouded up for weeks at a time. Our time in Talkeetna proved to be one of these cloudy times and we could not appreciate the Mountain's grandeur.

Bush pilots prefer grass airstip over the airport

We did however appreciate this cute town for all it had to offer. It was fun to meet a few climbers who have just come off the mountain. They were easy to spot around town as they all had wicked tans and goggle lines on their faces - and some of them were walking a bit funny.  Each year the National Park Service permits at most 1, 500 climbers attempt Denali with only about 40-50% actually making the summit.  The most popular route is the South face, and climbers take an air taxi out of Talkeetna to Base Camp 1, at 7,000 feet.  To put Denali in perspective, think about Mount Everest. We all know it is the tallest moutain on the earth. However, it is cradled in the palm of the Himalyas well above 10,000 feet. Denali is in the Alaska range, with it's surrounding mountains only about 5,000 feet, so it REALLY sticks out.  Those who  climb Mount Everest, make a 12,000 foot ascent.  If you climb Denali, you make an 13,000 - 16,000  foot accent, depending on if you choose the south route or the north route.  Kudos to all those climbers who have summited the The Tall One.



The Roadhouse



We stayed at the historic Roadhouse (dating back to the 1910's), which is kind of like a hostel, with shared bathrooms and some shared rooms.  It also serves as one of the town's busiest restaurants.  All meals are family style with large tables. You never know who you will cozy up to in the mornings at breakfast, when it is the busiest. They are famous for their sourdough pancakes, and you can see why!!  

A half-order of sourdough pancakes. There is a large plate under it!



The Roadhouse also had a nice family room with games and books, a paino and guitar where customers just pick up and play.  Ethan enjoyed playing his version of Smoke On The Water on guitar while Anna tried to recall  how to play piano. Check out the Road house if you are ever in Talkeetna; it is by far the most eclectic & "colorful" place we have ever stayed and would recommend it to all. http://www.talkeetnaroadhouse.com/

It had been a couple of days since they went fishing and the boys were going through "withdrawls."  So after doing a little "elbow to elbow" fishing on some of the rivers for salmon (where 1 out every 4 people fishing were literally "armed for bear" with either a sidearm, or a shotgun slung over their back), they went to a small lake to try for some trout.  There they found the lake all to themselves with LOTS of over-eager rainbow trout.  Ethan caught his first trout all on his own and casting a dry fly.  Colton caught his first trout on a dry fly that HE TIED HIMSELF!  Though it would take a lot of those trout to equal one of the salmon they've caught, they made for a great couple of hours of fishing, the type of Alaskan fishing we had pictured before leaving VT. 

Ethan and his first trout on dry fly that he cast on a fly rod!



Colton preparing to re-cast his Mosquito fly, that he tied!
















On our way out of Talkeetna, we stopped at the largest birch syrup production facility in Alaska, the USA, or anywhere for that matter.  We got a very nice tour and watched a video about their operation and history, then swapped "sugaring stories."  Birch Syrup tastes nothing like Maple Syrup, but has it's own distinct flavor.  We learned that it takes over 100 gallons of birch sap to make a gallon of pure birch syrup.  Guess that's why it sells for over $70 a quart! There are a lot of similarities in the two operations (maple & birch) and few distinct differences.  Pipeline hasn't really been used much here, they use 5 gallon sheetrock buckets hung off the trees, and pump directly from the buckets into the transfer tanks on the back of four-wheelers or in sleds pulled by snowmobiles. 



From Talkeetna it was on to Denali National Park and preserve. Wow - what an amazing place! 

The Mountain is out!

Planning their route?

 Denali National Park and Preserve is over 6 million acreas of land, and it has ONE road - which is about 90 miles long.  Personal vehicles are only allowed up to mile 15 on the park road, as at this point the road becomes a one lane gravel road with two way traffic - not to mention high cliffs with no gaurdrails. We were lucky enough to have reservations at Savage River campground (which is 13 miles in off the park road) where we camped for two nights during our stay in Denali.

Your only chance of seeing more of park is to bike, hike, or take the bus. We took the bus! We rode the bus out as far as Eielson Visitor center which is about 65 miles up the road. On the way we saw 4 Grizzly bears, 3 of them sleeping; probably enjoying a rarity in Denali - an absolutely gorgeous blue sky, cloudless day!!! It was amazing. We were so thrilled to be able to finally see the Mountain in all her glory.  Neither our words, nor our pictures can do it justice.  You really have to see this one in person to appreciate it's grandeur and beauty.


A few of the many Caribou we saw from the bus



Grizzly bear - wild or zoo?

Dall Sheep up on a ridge

Grazing grizzly

Napping grizzlies

Another napping grizzly- 30 yards from the road.  Glad we didn't bike!

Mamma moose and her two babes

The Alaska Range from our hike. Denali is back in the clouds.

Once we got to the Eielson Visitor center we got off the bus and went on a Ranger guided hike up the Eielson ridge.  It was only a mile hike up, but it gained 1,000 feet of elevation.  Once our heart rates slowed we really enjoyed the beauty of walking along the ridge and exploring the tundra. This is one of the very few trails in the park, as most hiking is done off trail - just hiking up the tundra. The Tundra is quite squishy in places, and beautiful with many wildflowers blooming.  It is very different from most National Parks as the "stay on the trail" rule does not apply- since there really are no trails. It's a bit hard to get used to, but feels more wild than any place we have ever been, once you get off the beaten path.  This wild place we have explored is now a special part of all of us.

"The smaller we come to feel ourselves compared to the mountain, the nearer we come to participating in its greatness. I do not know why this is so."
                             Arne Naess

On our way out of the park we took some time to learn about the National Park Service's Dog Sled team. As no motorized vehicles are allowed in 2 million of the nearly 7 million acres in Denali National Parks "Wilderness area", dog sled is the only way to patrol the park in the winter, which runs 8 months a year. They have a team of 31 working dogs, a full-time handler & musher (along with numerous summer season staff)and gave a great demonstration of the work they do. We asked a lot of questions regarding their adoption program for retired workers. The big stipulation is that you have an active family and you have to come to Denali to pick up your dog - hmmmm, interesting.
 
Well - now off to Fairbanks to enjoy the Summer Solstice as far north as we will travel this trip.  At Denali we only had 20 hours of sunlight a day.  In Fairbanks the sun is up over 21 hours, and it never really gets dark. We really don't miss the dark that much, and at least we're saving on flashlight batteries while camping!