Blue Travel Journal

May you travel far and wide

Alaska

Day 14 – Fairbanks to Talkeetna

Fairbanks to Talkeetna Camper Park in Talkeetna – 273 miles

Map June 5
Fairbanks to Talkeetna
Lunch stop at 49th State Brewing
Lunch stop at 49th State Brewing in Healy
Bus used in the file
Bus used in the film Into the Wild
Denali National Park
Denali National Park
Talkeetna
Talkeetna
Tug in Talkeetna
Tug in Talkeetna
Talkeetna a rustic tourist destination with specialty shops and restaurants. We had dinner on the deck at Mountain High Pizza Pie.

Day 15 – Talkeetna to Nancy Lake Recreation Area

Me and the 3 M’s (Mary, Merv and Mikee) did the 5 hour jet boat adventure on the Susitna River through Devils Canyon out of Talkeetna. We couldn’t find a dog sitter to watch Tugboat so Ross was very kind to stay back with him.

Malay jet boat - Start of the adventure
Start of the adventure
Mt Denali
From the jet boat rare view of Mt Denali with no clouds
Canyon Jet Boat
Lots of rapids before the turnaround point in Devils Canyon
Map Talkeetna to Nancy Lake

Because we did the jet boat adventure, we changed our itinerary to travel a shorter distance to Nancy Lake State Recreation Area of only 48 miles from Talkeetna.  Our original plan was to travel 170 miles to Whittier but decided to have Day 15 June 7 be longer. The Nancy Lake State Recreation Area was a wonderful find. Beautiful area! We had lots of time to explore the area with Merv and Mary’s kayaks.

View of campsite
View of our campsite
Rolly Lake
Lori (left) and Merv (right)
Aerial View South Rolly Lake
Aerial View Rolly Lake
Nancy Lake State Recreation Area – South Rolly Campground

Day 16 – Kenai Peninsula

Today we traveled from Nancy Lake State Recreation Area to Soldotna – 211 miles. Beautiful drive with so much to share. Have lots of wonderful photos that show the area but not enought time tonight to upload to the website.

In Anchorage we stopped at Bass Pro Shop to pick up supplies to fight the mosquitoes!

Welcome Kenai
Day 16

Day 17 – Homer Spit on Kenai Peninsula

Soldotna to Homer – 75 miles. Homer is located on the Kachemak Bay at the end of the Sterling Highway 200 miles south of Anchorage. The friendly town of Homer has exceeded all expectations. The weather, the beach and the mountain views are beyond description! Truly enjoying the beach and town of Homer.

map - 0608
Gorgeous view from our campsite
View from our campsite
Homer Spit
Homer

Day 18 – Katmai Bush to View the Bears

View from plane 2
View from plane
Float Plane
Views from the float plane on our way to Katmai Bush. The 1 hour flight was an adventure even before viewing the bears.
Playing Bears 2
These bears played and played … rolled and wrestled.
Bear crossing stream
This bear crossed the stream and came within 45 feet of us!
Bear Tracks
Bear tracks!
Bear smelling the air

We walked and crossed streams in the meadows of Katmai Bush for 5 hours viewing the bears. We were very fortunate to see 16 bears and to view 2 bears that loved to play, run, roll and wrestle. Everything in a bear’s life revolves around food. During early summer, the bears feed on grasses and roots in Hallo Bay in Katmai Bush. In mid July they move inland to feed on salmon in the streams.

Day 20 – Boat and Kayak – Northwestern Glacier

map of northwesten
Map of boat ride
boat for kayak trip
kayak in Northwesten Glacier
Left to right in kayaks – Pam & Jeff, Lori & Ross, and Mary & Merv.

2 hour boat ride from the Port of Seward to the Kenai Fjords Northwestern Glacier. On the way we saw Orcas and dolphins. The glacier participated and did lots of calving (split and shed smaller masses of ice) while we were there. The calving made a loud noise like thunder. While in the kayaks we saw seals float on ice chunks and a humpback whale! Huge highlight when the whale surfaced several times within a hundred feet from us. On the way back to Seward on the boat ride we saw sea lions and otters. The weather was beautiful with no wind.

Pam and Jeff flew from Sacramento to Anchorage before the kayak adventure and then drove 3 hours to Seward to join us.