I do believe that August is the rainy season for Alaska. Checker at the grocery store, Fred Meyer(which is a combination of Target and Dierbergs) reminded me of that last night. 🙂 Good news is that the sun came out today and I feel like a new woman. And on top of that, I saw 2 rainbows tonight(big, bright ones). I feel good even with it raining again. Now that I have said my peace about the weather, I can fill you in, on our day today. We started the day at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. It is a cultural center that shares the heritage of Alaska’s 11 major cultural groups. We started with learning about the Native Games they played, then got a basic introduction of the native cultures, followed by a dance performance. Then we took the tour outside where they have traditional village sites representing each native culture around a man-made pond. It was fascinating learning about the different cultures and how they lived and where they lived. I always think of tepees, for a native american homes, but in Alaska, the native americans built their homes, so that most of home was underground(kind of like a sod house-except made from wood).
Also, it amazes me how they would use every part of an animal. They only take what they need to survive from the land. For example, a seal: meat was a staple in winter, fat was used for oil for light, skin was used for clothing(raincoat for kayak to keep water out), seal bladders to make floats to attach to harpoon lines, bones for tools and utensils, etc. Great learning for us all today!
Kat reading a story at center while waiting for tour to start.Athabaskans store their food up there and put bear fat on poles to scare away animals(called a food cache). Some still use these today.The northern native americans hunted whales to feed their families through the winter(they still do-each village allowed so many whales). Kat and Kane are standing between a grey whale jaw bones.Home of the Unangax & Alutiiq(Aleutian Islands).Totem poleThere was only one small door in South East culture house. They wanted to see who was entering.
South East culture house.
Ate lunch back at the RV, then headed to the sixth largest waterpark, H20, in the USA. The kids could barely contain their excitement! They could not wait! They had a blast!!
Kat’s favorite was the Lazy River!There’s Kane coming off the waterslide.Fun time!
I apologize in advance for the volume of pictures in this post! We just left Denali National Park in Alaska this morning, but I think it will always have a place in our hearts… we loved it. The pictures below tell the story of 2 of our days in Denali. As context, there is one road that runs roughly east to west in the park. People are only allowed to drive about 15 miles into the park, beyond that, you can only take a park bus and get dropped off (or simply ride the bus into and back out of the park if you wish). We camped at about mile 13 at Savage River, which was lovely, great treed sites, easy walking distance to the river, the bus stop, and a hiking trail. (Savage Alpine Trail)
The first day:
We took the park bus from Savage River to Toklat River (this was the shortest and cheapest bus ticket)… we didn’t figure we’d want to spend more than 6 hours on the bus (3 out and 3 back). We rode out, got some decent shots of Denali (Mt McKinley), the highest peak in North America at over 20,000 ft. Had lunch at Toklat. Road the bus back to “Polychrome Pass” (the most picturesqe stop), and did a hike there. We decided to take the “road less traveled” and hiked North from the road rather then South toward the pass. It turned out great because we soon discovered that the area North of the road was covered with wild blueberries. It also allowed us to hike through some bush, over a recently dried up lake for some cool animal prints, and to reach some “attainable” mountains to climb. We all went up a couple hundred feet, and then Kane went up another 5-600 or so by himself. It was amazing! The day ended with blueberry pancakes back at the campsite.
Day two:
On our campground host’s advice, we took the Savage Alpine trail from our campground up the mountain and back down about 4 miles west further into the park. It was marked as a “strenuous” hike, which was our first, and luckily we started on the more mild side. When we reached the last mile (the decline), things got really steep. Once we reached the crest of the trail, Kane and I hiked on up the rest of the way (there is some debate about how far), I’ll say 500 feet on up to the apex of the mountain. Along the way we saw (and passed) a group of Dall sheep. It was incredible.
Denali was amazing… the landscape is like nothing we’ve every seen, wildlife incredible, and the fact that you can hike anywhere you want (on or off the trail) helps put it over the top. These pictures really can’t even scratch the surface of the majesty of this place. It’s 360 degrees of incredible from almost anywhere, and it’s 6 million acres (the size of New Hampshire).
They say only 1 in 3 visitors to Denali NP get to see Denali/Mt. McKinley. This shot was taken from the moving bus driving west into the park. Thankfully, we took the bus that day or we would not have seen Mt. McKinley!
Another shot of “the high one”
Mt. McKinley again.
Typical Denali NP landscape from the bus.
Very typical of the Park road, big mountins, river valley, and a milky “braided” river down in the valley.
Polychrome pass is the most picturesque place our bus stopped. We only rode in 3 hours, the longest trip is 12!
Some glaciers in polychrome pass.
You can see how the park road winds along the north side of the valley. This provides magnificent views from teh bus to the south… too bad kane and I were on the north side of the bus.
Toklat River-Mile 53. The turnaround spot for our bus and also the place where we had lunch by the river.
On the way back I got some better pictures because I was on the south side of the bus. Thought the depth of this was cool.
State bird. I was calling them Prairie Chickens, but they are Ptarmigan.
More shots of the park from the road.
Representative of the park road in spots.
Finally, we got off the bus and into the north side of Polychrome pass!
These kids love to be out in nature. I love seeing them here.
We all climbed up a pretty good hill, and Kane wanted more… next few shots are of him climbing on up to the peak of a modest mountain.
These pics don’t do this climb justice. This thing got really steep, I climbed maybe 20% up to meet him when he came back and was appalled.
Zoomed waaaay in
Kat picked blueberries for 45 minutes while Kane climbed. If you look close, you can see Kane up on the hill.
Takes a lick’n and keeps on pick’n.
Hard to express the joy we felt watching her pick berries and Kane climb.
Kane was sooo happy when he got back down. Exuberant would be a good word.
These berries were everywhere in this area, and delicious.
Kat’s plunder.
This is the mountain that Kane conquered… it will henceforth be referred to as “Crawford Mountain” from now on. (per Kane)
Kane in front of “Crawford Mountain” in Polychrome pass.
We say several Brown (AKA Grizzly) bears on the way back (on the bus)
Sorry for the fuzzy pic, but this is a mamma (blonde in color), and a baby brown bear. (actually 2 babies were with her)
Got lucky, was in the front seat of the bus, and this guy crossed the road right in front of us.
Kane journaling and Kat pulling stems out of berries.
Dinner! When life gives you blueberries, you make pancakes for dinner.
Nice bowl of fresh berries. We all agreed, the best blueberries we ever ate.
Kane researching his next (mountain) victim.
Preparations for the Savage Alpine (4 miles strenuous) hike.
Measuring temp of a stream… 45 degrees F.
Trail started out pretty flat and beautiful.
Found more berries! It evidently was a record year for blueberries here.
We started to climb, and the view of the Savage river valley got better.
Map of the hike.
When we got close to the crest of the trail, Kane ran up ahead and exclaimed…”there’s like 10 Dall sheep up here!”. Indeed.
Kat observing the sheep. They are climbers, and it helps them stay away from predators. (like crawfords)
Kim and Kat waiting and hanging out, while Kane and Scott make the ascent to the Apex.
Kane and I got higher and reached the same level as the sheep. The sheep got nervous, and so did I.
During one of my many “breaks”, Kane rane up a head to scout the footing. The rocks up above were our bogey.
Now the sheep are well below us, and they decide to cross between us and the girls (you can see the girls down the hill)
One view from the peak. It was amazing 360 degrees.
Another view from peak.
I may try to stitch these together into a pano.
King of the hill!
Kane and I decided to climb on down the back side of the mountain as it was nicely glaciated and easier climb. The girls met us below on the trail. Then, the kids decided to bypass the trail and meet Kim and I 1/4 mile down the path. Here they are hiking along across the glacier field.
Kane shouted over to let us know we had a friend ( a dall sheep) on the ledge above us.
Once we rejoined Kim and I engaged in a conversation with a couple from Boston. The kids got bored and climbed back up another 100 feet to this rock.
The last third of this hike is quite steep (going down). We were thankful that we started at the other end. (unlike most of the other hikers on this trail).
I’ve decided mountains are like snowflakes.. no two are the same.
The rocky peak in the middle is where Kane and I climbed to.
Representative of the last mile or so of this hike.
The “peak” here was about 25% of the way up relative to the crest of the trail.
The end of an incredible hike.
Nice moose on the short trip back was icing on the cake.
The time is flying and I just want to slow down the days. I feel weird even saying that considering we are only 6 weeks(tomorrow) into our journey. The moments, that I just want to stamp into my memory, so I will never forget. The anticipation, the excitement, the joy, the smiles, the looks, just a moment in time, that I want to bottle up.
Time with an Amazing Man!
It seems over the past few years, life got so busy with work, school, sports, etc… that I have been missing some of the small joys. Lots of time to reflect, think, and wonder… The following are some moments that touched my heart lately. I thank God daily for this time with my family.
I am loving lots of game time with our kids.Kat wrote a poem and was putting music to it.Kane was so excited to start learning how to computer program with his Dad!Reading time at Fairbanks Library.Kane and Kat LOVED jumping off the log into Liard Hot Springs. Hope you can see Kane’s expression-pic is blurry.Our little goofball getting ready to swim in freezing Kluane Lake.
Well, we’ll add this one to the list of amazing places we never heard of before. I don’t imagine you end up on the shores of Lake Kluane any other way other than driving the Alcan hiway. The RV park there, “Cottonwood RV Park”, was a class act. In fact, many of the folks staying there stayed twice (on the way up and the way back) because it is so nice.
We messed around mostly trying to fish off the bank, and did manage to get in a nice hike up the Sheep Mountain Trail in Kluane NP. (the lake is just outside the park to the East)
I felt so bad for Kane fishing all day on Sunday without a bite, I told him he could fish in on Monday morning when he got up (we suggested he wait until 7:30). He comes running back in at 7:50 all excited, I figured for sure he caught a lake trout. It turns out, he saw a Grizzly Bear walking about 15 yards away, and ran inside. The owners of the camp said they had not seen any bears this year. Kane said he was “excited and scared… mostly scared”. I felt “excited and dumb… mostly dumb”. The bear was confirmed later by another camper, so he was right about what he saw.
And… we made to to Alaska!!! It’s so cool how you can feel this sense of “homeland” once you cross the border. Also how the actual border is unprotected, just basically a slot cut through the trees, and a sign. Fun having the kids jump back and forth a bit!
Viewpoint from our hike in the Kluane National Park.Great place to eat pancakes.Voted “best view” for our campsites so far.Kane fishing from the front of our campsite at Kluane Lake. We didn’t catch anything here, but we had fun trying.Last day in Whitehorse, kids fishing in hidden lakes. Had some fun “off-roading” in the jeep looking for these lakes!We actually made it!Kane is still in the Yukon, while Kat is firmly in Alaska.Easy to dodge the draft on this bench!
We arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon last night. We are in the province that borders Alaska. I am so happy to have a campsite in the woods again. We spent 2 days in Fort Nelson, with a site that faces the general store and check-in. The kids couldn’t understand why people were sitting outside on the front porch smoking cigarettes all day long(ok, maybe not all day).
Kids and I headed to town to go to the visitor center today. That is usually one of our first stops at a new place. It’s nice to get the maps and find out what they recommend. Also, free wifi! I had already researched the Beringia Interpretive Centre, so I knew I wanted to take the kids there. So I am realizing that I must have missed some schooling along the way. 🙂 Beringia? Ok, I don’t remember it! Well, that is how they think the first people came to North America through the land bridge(they call this area Beringia) that was created between Siberia and Alaska during the last ice age. This area was grassy and windy, but it was the perfect place for the Wooly Mammoth, short faced bear, steppe bison, scimitar cat, giant beaver, and Jefferson sloth(all extinct now). I have to say, I am happy that I don’t have to worry about running into a few of them. The Giant Beaver was 15 times the size of a beaver today. Really interesting stuff, though! We all learned alot! Kane is going to do a report on the Short-Faced Bear and Kat picked the American Scimitar Cat for schooling.
The Giant Beaver was big!Jefferson Ground Sloth skeleton and pictureWooly Mammoth skeleton behind the kids
Well, we’ve done a bunch of driving the past two days… not much exploring (except for Liard Hot Springs which needs to be a separate post). We did drive through some interesting landscape, some interesting weather, and some interesting wildlife…Muncho Lake
Signpost village in Watson Lake (sorry it’s dark)Cool pic of Stone MountainHere is a gaggle of Stone SheepStone mountain area near where we saw the Stone SheepJust thought it was cool.Muncho Lake.. evidently quite a few cars have gone in there.Forest Bison on the road.Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do I see?Moose Crossing! It was quite dark, so this picture was enhanced.
Hey guys, I just wanted to make sure you were aware there are some “sticky” links at the top of the blog. “Home” takes you to the regular list of posts in reverse chronological order. “Our Home” is a page about our RV. “RV Living” is a link to posts about RV lifestyle. “Our Journey” is a map widget that shows where we’ve been and a view into the future. You can get to related blog posts by clicking on a push-pin on the map or by clicking the name of the location in the list below. I hope you enjoy it. I was fearful that nobody would find it and it was a bit of work to get setup so… Leave a reply and let me know if it works for you and if you like it. It’s a nice way to browse the blog posts by geography and timeline.
Our second national park stop, was Grand Teton in Wyoming. What an amazing place! We stayed at the Coulter Bay campground, which was just across the road from a beach on Jackson lake. Within 5 minutes of parking, we were at the beach exploring, skipping rocks, and scouting swimming potential. There was a storm rolling in, and it looked supernatural across the lake.
We wish we would have had a bit more time there, but some highlights included:
1) hike around Jenny Lake.. though the kids convinced us to take the boat back
2) lunch at the Jackson lake lodge… if you are not campers you should check out this lodge… amazing
3) hanging out at Lake Jackson, skipping rocks and trying to knock rocks off a larger one
We also went to Jackson Hole for an evening had had amazing pizza at Caldera’s pizza.
Awesome site at Coulter Bay campground.
Beach across the road from our campsite. This was right after we arrived at the end of the day.
Scale model of area, showing Jenny Lake where we hiked.
Another one closer to the shore.
Dad got in trouble for this one. It’s hard to tell, but Kane climbed out onto a fairly narrow outcropping here.
The destination of the Jenny lake hike… hidden falls
Coming back from a detour to photograph the river.
Kids chipped in to pay for the boat ride back. We really needed to get back to camp to start dinner!
Kat setting up a round of “knock your rocks off”. Kind of started as an accuracy contest for throwing rocks, and as they got bigger, turned into rock bowling.
This little guy was curious what we were doing on the trail… or hoping for a zagnut
Nice sunset coming back from Jackson Hole.
I hope you appreciate this one… I got swarmed by mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds to get it.
We came to the Black Hills of South Dakota with one thing in mind… Mount Rushmore. Borglums masterpiece did not disappoint, however, it was not the hero of the stay. The real hero of the Black Hills is… the Black Hills. Specifically Custer State Park.
What a beauty the park is. My Aunt and Uncle had told me the week before we left that Custer State Park was nice. I have to admit even still, Kim and I hesitated at the gate to pay the entrance fee (I think it was $15). Boy that was laughable in hindsight. The park is filled with beautiful lakes, the most amazing Ponderosa pine forests, and wildlife galore. We all fell in love with this place. If you think of Babler when you think of state parks, forget everything you thought you knew about state parks! (no offense to Babler fans, it’s nice too) 🙂
This is one place that will be tugging at my heart for years to come. I hope we get to go back someday.
Our first hike in the Black Hills. We were supposed to go 5 minutes up the hill and back, but we ended up hikeing the whole loop. (maybe 2 miles)
We all loved being in this place.
Trail nicely marked with blue blazes.
Kane always ahead looking back.
A rare view through the trees at the top of the hill. These ponderosas are so gorgeous.
Hook’m and Cook’m ranger program at
These kids love to fish. Kane would fish every day if he could.
We took the (very) windy scenic route up to Mt. Rushmore. There are several tunnels carved out along the way whereby you can see the mountain framed up in the tunnel. (and the trees have been trimmed too).
Incredible to catch your first glimpse of these bad boys.
We’re here!
Cool with the storm rolling in. They don’t mind.
You can pick your first President, and you can pick your nose, and you CAN…
The unsung hero of this area!
The deer come out in droves in early evening.
Our first “top-down” drive… the Wildlife Loop in the park.
Nice rack!
Begging Burrows. Evidently when the Burrows rides were shut down, the owner turned them loose in the park. Theire lineage is still there.
We hoped and hoped and waited to see Bison, then over the last hill…
We had a great time in the Badlands. First of all, it was our first National Park of the trip, so it will always have that! Second, it’s one of the only parks that literally allows you to go anywhere. Hiking and climbing is encouraged, and not just on the trail. Our two monkeys took full advantage!
There is something spectacular about driving over the plains of mid South Dakota, and coming upon this desolate place… As our cousin Vincent said “it’s like the surface of the moon”. Weather was beautiful, park rangers were friendly, and scenery incredible.
Sun setting on our first day. This was a quick hike in the area just north of our campground, just killing time waiting for our ranger program to start (Black-footed ferrets)
Kat working on the junior ranger program book.
Kane working hard on his Junior Ranger program. The kids really love getting their badges or patches.
“Who Pooped” Ranger program… with real samples (in ziplocks)
A little “high desert” vegetation managed to grow here. Some really pretty little flowers here and there.
Requisite “sign” pic… we’re trying to get most of these that we can. Really nice visitor center, and fun junior ranger program.
Ladder required during the notch trail climb. Kat did great. Kane found another way down.
These kids are SOOO happy when we are outside exploring.
This sign was top of mind for Kat the rest of the hike… it really left an impression on her.
Kane wanted to pull over the jeep to take a pick of this valley. We ended up climbing up on a pretty steep hill to get this shot.
Mountain goats hanging out across a small canyon from southern lookout.
Kids taking photos and videos of prairie dog… unbelievably close. (see Kane’s video in another post)
