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Day 48-52: Carter and Crescent Lakes-Exit Glacier and Harding Icefield-Seward and Northwestern Glacier-Ptarmigan Lake-Kenai Lake

July 31-August 4

Our road trip interactive map

We stopped briefly at Seward and Sterling Hwy crossroads to look at the wetlands (Tern Lake) and decide where to go first – we continued south towards Seward. Experienced ranger at Kenai Lake Ranger Station patiently answered all our questions with good recommendations where to hike and camp. Probably the first person not really trying to instill bear panic in us. In no time we started hiking to Carter and Crescent lakes (11 km return, 370 m gain, recommended). Sunny weather, stream, lakes and flowering meadows between rows of mountains – very beautiful. Ran through short stretches of mosquito territory to slowly enjoy Alpine (like) habitat. Few people we met were trout fishing, some using barbless hooks not to hurt the fish (catch-and-release). To end the day, we drove to Primrose campground at the end of Kenai Lake. Warm day before returning to glaciers.

After slow start and visit at Exit Glacier Nature Station (missed ranger walk) we were hiking to Harding Icefield (19 km return, 1050 m total altitude gain, recommended). We knew it would take the rest of the day. At face value it looked like well maintained, moderate trail just up and up. It turn out to be quite hard and steep. We came back tired and camped nearby on Resurrection River gravel flats (decent wild site recommended by the ranger). It was good hiking day with weather changing from good to clouds, fog and freezing drizzle. We had good views of Exit Glacier and (between clouds) Harding Icefield. The trail tops quite high on the mountain slope, but still we could only get a glimpse of the edge the enormous ice field.

Good weather in the morning encouraged us to go directly to Seward to book boat trip to one of the tidewater glaciers. It worked. With tickets in hand we had plenty of time to go back and explore Exit Glacier some more – this time from the bottom (gravel flats). We were not in big hurry, stopped at Le Barn Appetit Inn & Creperie for good, old fashioned, hand made crepes (recommended) and meandered around the base of the glacier. Looking at date markers one has no doubt glaciers are retreating. Viewpoints were designed/built a while ago and now are not close to ice flow anymore.

We already had room at Nauti Otter Inn booked for the night not to waste time before 8:30 am boat departure (from Stewart, only short drive away) next morning. The inn was very well organized, with shared kitchen and dinning room, very nice host, good hostel vibe. Old wood structure was not too good at blocking noise even from normal activity.

Boat trip from Seward to Northwestern Glacier was one of the highlights of our entire trip. We decided to go with ☞ Kanai Fjords Tours (recommended) and chose longer (8-hr) trip on Ocean Explorer to Northwestern Glacier. Surrounding high mountains have many glaciers flowing down from the same Harding Icefield, but rocky shores and small islands are great habitat for birds and other animals, waters are rich too. We saw humpback whales feeding in group, seals and sea lions, otters, porpoises, eagles, puffins, black-legged kittiwake, common murre  and other birds. Blue water and dark rocks surrounding fjords. With calm seas it was pleasant excursion.

In the afternoon we had time to walk around town and for dinner at (packed) Flamingo Lounge (tanner crab and halibut). And to buy inexpensive fishing gear at Bay Traders. It was time to go back. We made it only to Trail River Campground – for us one of the best state campgrounds in Alaska (recommended).

Next morning we drove just across the highway and hiked Ptarmigan Lake Trail, first on old road along the creek, then higher above the valley floor (11 km return, total 210 m gain). Saw only a few people including small group of young summer workers improving the trail (cutting down overgrown vegetation). We stopped again at Tern Lake to watch salmon and this time turned west to Sterling Highway. After driving around Lake Kenai (Copper Landing) we found wild-camping spot, Joanna’s wish. We did not risk bringing our car to the beach (bad end of access road wasn’t really that risky), but cooked dinner and went for a short walk on the shore.

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Days 43-47: Talkeetna-Hatcher Pass-Eklutna Lake-Anchorage-Alyeska-Chugach National Forest

July 26-30

Our road trip interactive map

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.

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Days 39-42: Denali National Park

July 23-26

Our road trip interactive map

First 20 km section of Denali Park Road, from camground at park’s entrance to Savage River is open to private cars. The road runs at the bottom of wide valley covered with green taiga (dense shrubs, but fewer trees than in other places) surrounded by small mountains (1000-2000 masl) with bare tops. We stopped at viewpoints. One is designed to watch Denali mountain, which at first we could not see despite sunny weather. Until we realized that what looked like fuzzy white clouds high above everything else is the snow covered mountain (picture below is slightly enhanced). Very impressive even from 115 km away. After all it is the highest mountain on Earth from base to top (5500m).

Denali is for wilderness hiking with very few managed trails, Savage River Loop and Alpine Trails among them. We were lucky to find parking spot, warmed-up walking a few hundred meters along Savage River and then hiked 7 km (500 m total ascent) Alpine Trail finishing down the main road from where park shuttle took as back to our car. Parking lot was full but the crowd dispersed quickly, with few people higher up on the trail which tops above alpine meadows (quite steep in places). Great views all around.

We decided to stay at the park for four nights. Driving on top of other activities and daily chores started to wear Piotr down. Campground was full, but did not feel overcrowded. We had good spot, flush toilets and washrooms nearby, central showers and laundromat, ranger stations, restaurant. We avoided driving long distances.

Park shuttle goes 50 km further on the park road beyond Savage River (closed for private cars) to East Fork Toklat River. Beyond this point the road is closed for repairs after landslide a few years ago. No chance to get any closer to Denali (and other higher mountains) for a closer look. We took hikers shuttle as far as it goes, saw many animals but no grizzly bears. Now it was all day for wilderness hiking. To be honest, rather hiking at the wilderness’ edge as we did not stray too far from the road, even if off trail,.

First, we spent 2.5 hours walking 4-5 km on gravel flats of Toklat River and its tributary. We just meandered aimlessly between small streams. At some point we tried to go across the flats to climb out on a small hill, but once we got there we discovered small side stream too deep and fast for dry crossing. Colorful (yellowish) sandy hills called polychromes, as it turns out, are held together when frozen. Once the permafrost melts landslides occur: one closed the road and another recent one is next to Toklat River bridge.

The way wilderness at Denali works is, you take the shuttle and ask the driver to stop whenever you want, and you hike. We did just that. We decided to explore an area around a chasm cutting into Cathedral Mountain, but rather than walking at the bottom we hiked up the hill to see it from higher up. We missed the best spot as it was difficult to decide where to get off the bus. The side of the road is quite steep around here. As we were standing on the road, shuttle gone, debating how to get down to Igloo Creek, a large caribou (reindeer) bull appeared and started fast walking in our direction, freezing when it finaly saw us. We quickly moved to the other side of the road pushed into steep, rocky slope hoping the reindeer would prefer to disappear into the greenery. Which it did and a minute later we heard sloshing as it was running up and down the stream. We followed the lead dry-crossing the stream after mild bushwacking. On small clearing on the other side we saw fresh bear scat (sloshing sound playing in the background) and decided to quickly go straight up to the open meadows, which we wanted to do anyway. Altogether we spent 2.5 hours walking just 2-3 km, a lot off zig-zagging around local obstacles and muddy spots. We walked-up to a steep edge from where we looked into the chasm. Piotr shot video, Joanna walked further up to the meadow’s edge. From this point it was easy to plan return route. We just walked downhill, bushwhacked our way through vegetation near the creek and returned to the road on small trail used to walk to the bottom of the chasm. Park shuttle picked us up shortly. It was a great day, although we wished to have more off-trail experience.

Next day was a slow day. We drove to Savage River again, a relaxing experience, walked on easy but crowded loop trail and returned for late afternoon presentation at sled dog kennels. Joanna managed evening walk to Horseshoe Lake. Started packing for departure in the morning, as weather forecast predicted rain (our car was parked a few hundred meters from our walk-in campsite).

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Day 34-38: Yukon Top of the World Highway-Fairbanks-Chena River and Hot Springs

July 17-22

Our road trip interactive map

After ferry-crossing Yukon River in Dawson City (yes, good old times ferry) we stopped briefly at steamboat graveyard. Many boats were pulled on shore after gold rush never to sail again. Tylor Highway climbs to the top of the hills and winds around staying high most of the time. Nice views of surrounding valleys and forest. Weather was changing from mostly sunny to hail and back to mostly clouded. We crossed YT-AK border in slight rain and drove down into Wade Creek valley to Chicken (AK). We stopped there for coffee, photographing Pedro Dredge and other rusting gold rush machinery as we were walking back to our car.

Now we were driving on Top of The World Highway towards Tok (AK). And it was pleasant experience on its own. Taiga along the highway, small mountains on the horizon (no time to hike anything), some snow and quite dramatic weather scenery at times. With “bad tire” on our mind (weather never got really bad enough to worry us too much, but remoteness did), it was just pretty much driving through.

As we were passing Mount Fairplay, we started looking for a camping site. Road-side parking lots were not too bad (not much traffic), but for us not too inviting either. Later, many side roads were on private land. By strike of luck, we found sandy side road running along the main road. As we learned next morning it was used as construction by-pass. We found a perfect spot at small road leading to Four Mile Lake. We called it “Moose Lane” because of many fresh moose “remains”. It was still daylight when we were ready to sleep. Surprised (North American) porcupine started to walk towards us in the morning (was it coffee and breakfast smell?). We were happy to see it disappear in the bushes once it realized we were people.

We passed Tok and stopped for lunch in Delta Junction (Buffalo Center hamburgers). We continued on Richardson Highway along Tanana River to Fairbanks. We arrived in late afternoon. No available spots on campgrounds, accommodations harder to find and more expensive than always expensive because of Golden Days (parade, rubber duck race, vintage car gathering). We stayed at Chatanika Lodge 45 km from town. Interesting place with character (nice owners, good dinner) visited mostly by locals and bikers, but past its prime. The following two days were about getting new tires and battery, and our car checked, laundry and grocery shopping. We had some mild respiratory infection on top of it all, not the best of times. Joanna managed to visit the town more (city walk along Chena River from Pioneer Park to Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center).

On new tires and aligned wheels we were ready to roll. Fairbanks was not on our top list of destinations, but Joanna did research about Chena River Road and Hot Springs. The side trip was pleasant, and hot spring experience much better than (Piotr) expected (quite a few people around the resort, but all well organized and pools were not crowded). We first hiked to Angel Rocks (many hikers on sunny Sunday) above the valley to sweat and then soaked in hot springs for couple of hours (both recommended). There were no good camping spots at the resort, but campgrounds along Chena Hot Springs Road were empty. We looked for a place with less standing water and fewer (?) mosquitoes, but it did not matter what we chose (stayed at Granite Tors).

Now we felt the Denali rush. We drove non-stop (300 km) to the park, secured a spot at tent walk-in Riley Creek Campground (everything else was booked). We arrived early enough to choose best spot, set-up camp, go for a walk along Riley Creek and cook dinner. This is really top-notch NPS campground (recommended) and we stayed there for four nights.

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Days 1 -6: from Chicago to Manitoba

June 14-19

Our road trip interactive map

The plan was to cover the first 1000 miles in four days. With anticipated slow start out of Chicago and a day or so to check out Voyageurs NP. Driving was slow as Piotr needed frequent rest stops (after intense and tiring events just before the trip). One rest stop was at three-way continental divide (Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Hudson Bay) near Anchor Lake MN. First two campgrounds, Harstad on Eau Claire River WI and Woodenfrog on Kabetogama Lake MN, were nice and relaxing. We managed only short evening walks in both places.

The following day we stopped at Kabetogama Lake Visitor Center (Voyageurs NP) just to look at the lake and later at Ash River Visitor Center. Here we spent more time walking on Blind Ash Bay and Sullivan Bay Trails, both short. Stopped at Kabetogama Lake and Beaver Pond Overlooks. At this point we realized how hard it is to see anything of the Voyageurs”waterpark” from shore. Quick decision to stay extra night in hotel (RiverFront) in International Falls MN and take morning National Park boat trip on Rainy Lake, with short stop/walk on Little American Island for a history lesson about gold mining. The 3-hour trip was about observing the lake, its islands and shore. With good interpretative talk by our guides. Water everywhere around.

We crossed Canadian border (International Falls MN/Fort Frances ON) in the afternoon. As we were driving on scenic Trans-Canada Hwy (Hwy 71), we could hear screeching noise coming from the breaks getting louder and more frequent. By the time we arrived at Rushing River Provincial Park ON campground it was clear we needed car mechanic. Now it was all about fixing our car. Next morning we drove slowly to Canadian Tire in Kenora ON and spent most of two days in town waiting. Walked from Travelodge motel to stores and spent some time relaxing in Anicinabe Park. Luckily they were able to bring all the parts next day and get the car ready just before closing. Really great service.

We packed resupplies and started driving west on Trans Canada Hwy (Hwy 1), but made it only short distance past Ontario-Manitoba border. After driving for a while on side/dirt roads we found a decent site on sandy flats, first wild camp of the trip, only to be swarmed by mosquitoes (in retrospect, the worst case of the entire trip including Alaska). We ate something in the car and spent some time hunting insects until all inside were incapacitated.

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