Archive for the ‘North to Alaska’ Category

Time for the Denali Road Lottery

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

Most people who have ever traveled the Denali Park Road that leads to the old mining site of Kantishna have gone by bus (and what a great trip that is!). The road lies in the heart of  6-million-acre Denali National Park and Preserve.

It starts at the Parks  Highway at 237 Mile and travels 92 miles through some of the thickest wildlife  and greatest scenery Alaska has to offer. While the first 15 miles of the road  is open to private traffic, the only way to see what lies beyond is usually on  one of the park’s shuttle buses, which transport thousands of tourists into the  park each summer.

Unless you happen to be one of the lucky winners in the  annual Denali Park Road lottery. And now is your chance to enter!

The 2011 road lottery is scheduled for Sept. 16-19. The application period is  June 1-30. Online application forms will be available at

http://www.recreation.gov/permits/Denali_National_Park/r/wildernessAreaDetails.do?page=detail&contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72314&topTabIndex=Permits

from 12:01 a.m. June 1 until midnight on June 30. There is a  non-refundable entry fee of $10 for each application.

As part of the all  online application process, lottery winners also will be billed the $25 road  lottery fee when they are drawn instead of paying it when they show up at the  park. Lottery winners will pay the $25 fee whether or not they  show up to drive the road. There are always lottery winners who don’t show up andthey have never had 400 people on the road.

The $25 fee will only be  refunded if the road does not open by 2 p.m. because of weather or road  conditions on the day of the permit. And if itis passable just part way you’ll only go that far.

In addition to the $25 road lottery  fee, all permit winners must pay a $20 park entrance fee.

Everyone who  submits an entry will be notified by email. Lottery winners also will receive a  letter confirming the day of their permit, with additional information on how to  obtain the road permit and how to prepare for the drive into the  park.

Names of lottery winners will be posted on the park’s website by  July 15.

Permits will still be transferable in that the person awarded the permit can give it to someone else if they are not able to go. The person transferring the permit must provide the original notification and a short note  explaining the transfer to the new permit holder, who must bring that  documentation to the park when they check in to get their permit.

Ground zero for swine flu

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

I just received news that ground zero for Swine flu has been discovered. Confirmed by news sources and the evidence below I am sure you will agree that the government must do something to stop events such as these.

Ground zero - a small farm owned by the grand parents of this baby.

The ultimate winter camping

Friday, January 30th, 2009

If you’ve never been in the middle of 1,000 or more howling huskies surrounded by at least twice as many pople, some of whom flagrantly disobey the rules about interfering you haven’t lived. That most of the teams get through this mad house relatively unscathed and untangled is a tribute to the mushers who trained them. – MotorHome Magazine, March 2009

How about spending March 7, in Willow, Alaska? Other than distance for most of us not too bad of an idea. The highways running north are all-weather so are kept open year round. You’d get a chance to use one of Alaska’s -40° outhouses and let’s face it  . . . not too many tourists this time of year.

The race starts in Anchorage for the city crowds and foo-foos then restarts in Willow where the snow is better and the crowds are fewer. Complete, up-to-date information can be found at the official web site, http://www.iditarod.com/.

The description of the northern-most tail gate party (is it?) sounds like the parties we used to have in the lower 48. Grills, lots of “snow-snake” medicine make for a crazy afternoon. That night, if clear, will bring the Northern Lights which by-themselves are reason enough to head north.

I think I will add this to our “bucket list” but will have to be content for awhile to follow this on TV and the Internet.

Need a good book about mushing and ”The Last Greatest Race on Earth?” Look for Sled Dog Trails by Mary Shields and Race Across Alaskaby Libby Riddles.

Denali National Park, day 13

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

This is continued from our Alaska trip in August. With so much to see and do and the distance to cover, I fell behind on the blog and skipped day 9 – 13.

We had some regrets leaving the Denali Highway and the solitude, wonderful views . . . suddenly we are in traffic, paved roads, service stations, civilization.

We turned north on Highway 3 (Parks Highway) and wow, at 60 miles an hour you can cover some territory. Before we new it we were at Riley Creek Campground.

We had stopped before the park and tried to stock up on veggies and groceries but that is hard to do if you are not in Anchorage or Fairbanks.

The campground was pretty, lots of trees, showers you could buy (!), a visitor store and a much needed laundry. We had been boon-docking for 4 nights now and it was time for a rest.

Our campsite was across from bathrooms with running water and flush(!) toilets. Met some fellow travelers and a group of bicyclists that had ridden from Montana to Denali. You meet some crazy people!

The Denali Highway, day 12

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
 Is that a moose? No, just Keith fishing.

This is continued from our Alaska trip in August. With so much to see and do and the distance to cover, I fell behind on the blog and skipped day 9 – 13.

This morning for breakfast we were joined by a bald eagle having a breakfast of road kill. Our breakfast was much better in my opinion!

We left the campsite located in the Tangle Lakes Archaeological District (for more than 10,000 years hunter gatherers have dug roots, picked berries, fished and hunted primarily caribou in the area) about 9am heading further west along the Denali Highway.

It rained off and on most of the day but I still had a couple of chances to fish for Grayling.

Today was opening day of hunting season for moose and in some areas caribou so we have seen lots of hunters, campers and ATV’s. We didn’t’t see many driving. Most were in camps along the road.

Coming up a hill we spotted two eagles in a tree next to the road. One flew immediately but the other poised for photos.

We also stopped for construction (bridge repair) and saw the Landmark Gap, a cut in the mountains used by Caribou during migrations.

We crossed the MacClaren Summit (4,086 feet and the second highest pass in Alaska) with spectacular views of mountains dusted with new snow and stopped at the MacClaren River Lodge to upload images (first connectivity in 4 days) for this blog. There to greet us was a beautiful Border Collie that had come from the Border Collie Rescue in Seattle. Note: this led to us getting a dog from the Northern California Border Collie Rescue when we returned home.

The MacClaren Glacier from which flows the MacClaren River was very interesting. The river is running low (most are high) as it is glacier fed and it has been very cold (we were told normally it is the 70’s) this summer (It was 38 degrees when we woke up this morning.).

The lodge offers boat trips to see the glacier. The inn keeper spoke of typical 75 temps but this day it was more like 42. A few moose hunters commented the berry season had been poor leaving the birds hungry. All lamented one of the coldest and wettest summers on record.

We thought about buying a shower here but the women’s shower was full of long black hair (maybe the Border Collie) and we thought better.

Continuing west there were panoramic views of the Susitna River area. The road was lined on both sides and the hills by berry bushes (berries still green because of the cold) and looked perfect for bears.

Crew repairing bridges or roads stay here on a 1 week on, 1 week off schedule since it is too far home. Bad areas on the road or highway are marked with flags. Slow down! Especially on pavement where they often mark frost heaves.

The area is covered with lichen which is one reason the caribou migrate through here.

We climbed again and pitched camp near the road at an “informal camping site” (so called by the BLM) at N63.19986°, W147.63416°, at 2929 feet with current temperature 49° and settled in to watch the view from our picture window.

We could see glacial lakes, snow capped mountains. It rained on and off and the wind howled.

Debbie loving this trip.

Danger Will Robinson! Do not wear your moose costume!
This out-of-focus picture was taken from about 15 feet away.
The MacClaren Glacier.
Susitna River.
Repairing a bridge.
Wet . . .
and dry.
Caribou food.
The Alaskan Pipeline heading south towards Valdez.