From Kennicott-McCarthy we headed back toward Anchorage.  We just happened to notice a sign for Alaska Klondike Furs in Copper Center .  It occurred to us that the name sounded familiar and  that it was owned by a trapping friend named Dean Wilson, that we know from the National Trapper's conventions, so we stopped for a visit. :-)   

 

 
 

 

Dean had a DNR friend visiting with him and when we arrived in the yard, he was fairly surprised and said that not an hour before.... my name had come up in their conversation, which was kind of neat:-).   Lots of beautiful fur there.  

We headed on back toward Anchorage, stopping along the wayside to camp over one night.  We also stopped in Palmer to visit the Musk Ox farm among other sights.

 

We turned in the camper and  rented a car the last week.  We gave the kid a break and since her Subaru has 115,000 miles on it, probably saved ourselves from a car repair more expensive than the rental fee.  

We headed up to Talkeetna, which you might have heard somewhere is the staging area for all the would-be climbers of Mt. McKinley, although the season ended in July,  so we didn't actually see anyone on the Mountain.   We lucked out though,  and arrived on a beautiful evening and took a  breathtakingly gorgeous  flight around the Mountains in a small Cessna. We had been warned not to expect to be able to see McKinley (from anywhere) as it is only clear enough to have a good view about every 11th day.  Not only did we see it from the air, but we could see it from the window of our room.  It was one of the best things we did on the trip!  

 

 

   

The view was breathtaking! McKinley makes it's own weather so you never know whether or not you'll be able to see it clearly until you get up there. 

The backside started to cloud up as we circled it, but we were lucky and had a spectacular close-up view. 

 

 I had exchanged emails with a lady in Talkeetna whose B&B website I found before we left.  She had been very helpful recommending things to see and do, but didn't have any vacancies for when I thought we'd be there.  We didn't make ANY reservations in advance for the trip,  we just didn't want to be tied into "having" to be someplace if we found something interesting and got sidetracked.   As it turned out, we called LesLee from the Talkeetna Visitor's Center and they had a cancellation. 

 

           

Denali View B&B just outside Talkeetna

   LesLee & Norm Solberg, Proprietors 

It doesn't look like it from this picture, but it was really out in quite a remote spot. The room we stayed in was actually their den and it was one of the neatest rooms we have ever stayed in!  There were 5 Dall sheep heads on the wall, a moose head, a caribou head, a couple of ptarmigans and pheasants, an Elk head and a two bear rugs.

All the critters were taken by Norm over the years. 

 He's had an interesting life as a hunter and guide!  

View from the deck

 

 It was a terrific house with a large deck and a view of a lovely marsh surrounded by large trees with Mt McKinley in the background. The husband was  very unassuming looking, but a really interesting guy who had lots of harrowing stories to tell about falling off cliffs and breaking bones and near misses while sheep hunting, and all the mounts were really his. The Solberg' s are originally from North Dakota and they built the house all with their own hands over a period of years. The only thing missing to make it perfect was a hot tub on the deck :-).

 

We headed on up to Denali the next morning and  stayed at a lodge just outside the Park entrance for the next two nights and 3 days. 

One morning at 7AM we went horseback riding (we turned out to be the only ones nuts enough to go riding at that hour) which included breakfast cooked in the great outdoors next to an old trapper's cabin.  Dunno what possessed us,  we had a great time, but we were both sore for two days afterwards. 

 

        

 

We went to a Log Cabin dinner show, did the tourist pan-for-gold thing and took the all day wildlife guided tour bus 53 miles into the Park, since you can only drive in 15 miles in your own vehicle.  

 

We did get to see what the Tour Bus Driver proudly called the "Grand Slam".....   or THE BIG FIVE....  

  • Mt McKinley
  • Grizzly bears (3),
  • Moose
  • Sheep
  • Caribou

He said only happens a couple times a summer for him (mainly because Mt. McKinley is so  cloudy normally).  Lucky for us!

 

The Grizzly's were fairly far away but once you spotted one with the naked eye you could bring them into good view with the binoculars.  They were fascinating to watch.....

 
The black spot in the center is a GRIZ  

 

After we left Denali, we headed up through Nenana where we stopped and spent a couple hours with an acquaintance from Oregon (WI) who's been up there about 20 years. His son shot a Griz from the bathroom window one night, that had been causing them some problems.

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