Houston, AK to Talkeetna, AK 7/30/14

Day 89 of our summer trip.  Parks Highway and Talkeetna Spur

Today we moved to Talkeetna.  We have been blessed with spectacular views of Mt. McKinley for two days.  They say only 30% of those who visit Alaska get to see the mountain because it is generally shrouded in cloud cover.  We can attest to that.  When we were here several years ago on a Princes cruisetour, we did not see it or even have any idea of where to look because all we saw were clouds.  As we drove today, we first saw the mountain at about 12:30 PM at a view point in Willow, AK (left), then again about an hour later as we were continuing along the Talkeetna Spur off the Parks Highway. 


We found a really nice camp ground, the Talkeetna Boat Launch and RV Park.  It is an Alaska Fish and Game area.  When we arrived, there was only one other RV here.  We aren’t sure why, but when I made a reservation for the next two nights somewhere else, the person that I talked with hinted that things were beginning to slow down.  Could the travel season be ending here already?  It is hard to believe, with such nice weather.  It was in the mid 70’s today.  Here is where we are staying.


We had another short drive today, only 56 miles, but it took almost 1 1/2 hours to drive.  Well, I guess we stayed 20 or 25 minutes at the view point, taking pictures and admiring the clear view of the entire Alaska Range from Willow.  After we got our camp set up and ate some lunch, we drove to the Talkeetna View point for more mountain photos.   Here’s a better view of some of the mountains in the Alaska Range.  Mt. McKinley is to the right of the first picture and would be left of what you can see in the second one.


We took one of Mehay’s Jet Boat Tours on the Susitna river.  It was very interesting.  Here are some highlights.  Hover over the photo to get an explanation.

It was a very interesting tour.  The jet boat driver really enjoyed driving the boat at full speed along the river when we were going between points of interest.

I will leave you with the changing faces of Denali/ Mt. McKinley.  It is so rare to see the mountain for so long at a time, that I thought I would like to show it at the different points over the course of today.   It is interesting to see how the light changes the appearance and what features that you can see as noon time progresses to evening.  The times of day are on the photo. We were closer later in the day, as well.