Talkeetna, Day 1

Left Denali State Park this morning in a cloud of Mosquitoes!  Jon had a hard time understanding my directions for hitching the trailer since I was swatting Mosquitoes and trying to direct his backing at the same time!  We finally did get the trailer hitched and drove the short distance to Talkeetna.  Didn’t see any animals on the way, but we did see Mark N as he was headed out.  At the campground we noticed that Dave & Lois were parked near the road and Jim & Kim are on the other side of the park.  After getting the trailer parked we drove thru town, very touristy, lots of restaurants/bars, not much else to see. 

Saw this at the gas station at the Junction of the Parks Highway and the Talkeetna road.

Look at all the tires on the first trailer.  This is typical of big rigs we have seen here, lots of tires and long trailers.

We went exploring some back roads and found this beautiful lake.

Then on the main road we stopped at a place called “Birch Syrup”.  These folks tap the Birch trees to make syrup same as Maple trees are tapped in the Northeast.  Only difference is that they can only get syrup for about 3 months.  There are about a thousand trees on 100 acres that are tapped.  Some of the last run is sent to breweries for use in beer.  The syrup is very tasty and not real sweet.

Then we stopped at this cute little bakery for some real good sourdough bread.  Made good grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.

In the evening we took Mahay’s Jet Boat ride on the Talkeetna and Susitna Rivers. Very interesting trip.

That’s a Bald Eagle Nest in the top of a Cottonwood tree near one of the clear creeks that flow into the Susitna.  Salmon return to this creek to spawn so the bears and eagles come here to feed.  We stopped at a replica of a camp, furs are hung for us to touch, some are so very soft.  We also saw a typical camp cabin.

 

This beautiful flower is the Fireweed, so named because it is the first flower to grow where fire has burned.  Local lore says the height of the plant determines the amount of snow pack the next winter.  Our guide has seen some plants as high at 5 1/2 feet tall!

Tomorrow we ride the Hurricane Train.