July 26-30
The following five days we were driving south towards Kenai Fjords National Park without any specific plan where to stop. Of course we wanted to see Denali one more time from one of the view points along the highway, but weather was clouds and rain all day. Made it to Talkeetna late afternoon and stayed in very good all new Talkeetna Cabin (recommended). We had no electricity for a few hours, so we just walked around the small, but quite famous town. Visited small museum and old cemetery. Dinner and laundry was late. Next morning the weather improved somewhat and we heard Denali sightseeing planes taking off. We looked across Susitna River where the mountain is, but decided to move on as clouds were still dense. We were then supposed to get back to wilderness and wild-camp somewhere near Hatcher Pass (along Willow Fishhook Road). Scenery was nice and weather much better, but the road was packed, in places bumper-to-bumper (Saturday). We managed to find parking spot at the pass, looked around a bit but decided against open trail to the summit in a bitterly cold wind. Instead we spent the rest of the day visiting Independence Mine (State Park). It was good choice, the mostly outdoor museum is interesting and we learned about different method of gold mining. As always, Piotr photographed all old, rusting machines.
Small “campgrounds” down the road turn out to be regular parking spots on small road-side lots, rented at night for a fee. Not appealing for us and most already taken anyway, nice Finger Lake campground was full as well (Saturday). We tried a couple other options, but ended up driving to Eklutna Lake, which was on our destinations list. Found last double-spot site for the first night, but stayed at the campground for two nights. The campground has good location and layout, but the infrastructure is dilapidated, some toilets were upgraded, fee collection station was new and top-notch technology.
Eklutna Lake starts between smaller mountains, quite green meadow. The far end goes deeper into Chugach Mountains where bigger, snow-patched mountains are (2000 masl) . With no rain or strong wind good day for kayaking – we used the day to paddle about half-way to the other end of the lake, ~6 km (12 total). Moved to a different/better camping spot and cooked dinner. Next morning we visited native village of Eklutna with interesting native/Russian Orthodox cemetery and headed to Anchorage. Visit to Anchorage Museum (Alaska-centric, recommended) then stop at Ship Creek to watch salmon fishing. Grocery shopping and getting rain pants for Piotr from REI. Joanna found nice Airbnb, one of those places where you can still meet and talk with the (very nice) owners.
Seward Highway from Anchorage to Portage runs right on the water’s edge (Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet), with several viewpoint stops. Muddy tidal plains and Chugach Mountains in the background. We could not agree on short hikes until it was time for mid-day coffee – found a good coffee shop in Girdwood and drove up the valley road to Alyeska Resort. The valley was devastated by 1964 earthquake. Once we saw cable-car to the top of the mountain, the decision was quick: spend a few hours wandering above the top cable-car station on the slopes of Mt Alyeska.
We ended the day at Granite Creek Campground, along Seward Highway, but deeper inland and into Church National Forest. Nice spot, few people, small creek behind the site, campfire, salmon and Alaskan beer for dinner, good view on surrounding meadows and mountains. No bears.
