Denali

Post date: Jul 11, 2016 5:42:42 AM

I had not spent much time in Anchorage so when I woke up, I called a friend's father-in-law who is local to the area. We made arrangements to come over to his house, have a coffee, and chat. That's exactly what happened.

We had not seen each other in probably 10 years, so we reminisced a bit and moved on to Anchorage. It's a young town with hipsters abound. Lots of people have tattoos and piercings and the like. Not that those types of things define people, it's just an observation. My friend-of-friend introduced me to their pet Reindeer named Starr, who is 14 years old, and very friendly. They commented on how Anchorage has changed for the worse over the years, for example you now have to lock your doors. Since the price of oil has plummeted, there are some serious fiscal issues that need attention. Vagrants are rampant and prefer to pilfer and steal rather than earn an honest living. How can there be vagrants up here, I thought. Doesn't it get down to -40 F up here in the winter? How do they survive?

Not having much time, I headed out to get a really late breakfast at a place called Snow City Cafe. The good was SO good! I had the King Benedict - King Crab patties, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce.

There was a pan of sticky buns sitting in front of me all during the meal that I couldn't resist. I orders one and a glass of milk.

Needless to say, my pancreas hated me afterwards, but all of the food was delicious. They were so busy, it was crazy.

Belly topped off, I headed for some fuel and the road. I had to backtrack up the Hickel Parkway to the Parks Highway. Again, the roads in and out of Anchorage are rutted beyond belief. Ugh!

If I didn't know where I was, I would guess I was in Tennessee or one of the Carolinas. There are virtually no mountains in sight. Birch trees line the road with few Spruce. It was a gorgeous day with no rain until I hit the Denali National Park viscinity. That brings the rain day total to eight straight days in a row. I'm so sick of it.

A little town called Talkeetna is just 14 miles off the Parks. It's quaint & touristy and judging by the amount of people, it gets invaded like this every summer. There are tour buses parked here, there, and everywhere. Gift shops adorn the streets. Restaurants, gastro-pubs, and breweries are readily available. Best of all, north of town is an overlook that faces Denali. It was obscured in clouds at that point, so I didn't stick around.

Further down the Parks Highway is the South View of Denali.

Again, almost entirely obscured by clouds the summit could not be viewed. You could, however, view the snow-covered side through gaps in the clouds. It will have to suffice, but you can discern how much taller Denali is compared to surrounding peaks. It probably towers over everything when visible on a clear day.

I continued up the road and camped in Riley Creek Campground for the night. It's a nice campground inside of Denali. While there, I met a couple from Georgia that had ridden their motorcycles up from Key West, FL. It turns out that our itinerary to Prudhoe Bay and back is largely the same, so we make arrangements to ride up to the oil fields together in the next day or so. But first, I'm going horseback riding for a few hours out of Healey, AK, about 15 minutes up the road. Cool!

Well, I headed up to Healey and rode a horse in Denali. It was probably my most forgettable horseback riding experience. First, I was given grief about bringing my camelback with me. Duh! It has my water supply. Then, I was given grief about items dangling from my pack from carabiners. Roll! Lastly, I was scolded for letting my horse enter into a trot on trail. Bleh! It was not much fun.

Healey is the place where events from the movie Into the Wild actually occurred. If you haven't watched it, do so. It just might give you pause.

After that I saddled up a different kind of horse, my BMW, and headed to Fairbanks, AK. I put my helmet on and attempted to drop the sun visor as I squinted in the morning sun. WTF?! It won't come all the way down. Upon further inspection, it appears that one of the cables that moves the visor up and down is broken. Great! There's no way I can fix this one by myself. I plot a course for the BMW dealership in Fairbanks and arrived a couple of hours later. The landscape flattens out as you come into town away from Denali. It was largely a boring ride.

What?! A BMW dealership that doesn't sell Schuberth helmets? I better have a look at your license, sir. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. I ended up calling Schubert USA, and there will be some overnight deliveries when I arrive back in the lower 48. Until then, I must suffer. Suffer I will too because my helmet's face shield is tinted. My polarized, RayBans turn the tint into to a purple haze, and suddenly, things just don't seem the same. Props to you, if you catch the reference.

What the dealership did have was a BMW salesman that has ridden the Dalton Highway a couple of times, as well as toured the backcountry of several foreign countries on motorcycles. I was turning deeper shades of green with envy as our conversation progressed. Long story short, I felt comfortable with my decision to just ride the Dalton and not fret over knobby tires.

Being hungry, I hit up Pho House and had some spring rolls and pho. The gentleman that served me was from Hue, and we talked about the Imperial city. We even talked about some of his favorite haunts that I too have visited.

By this time, it's only 1430, and I'm not ready to stop the days journey. I committed to riding up to Prudhoe with the couple I met. I need to make reservations for a room up there, and I want to take the tour to the Arctic Ocean, so I really have no choice. I have several calls to make, so I drop anchor at the only Marriott property in town.

Reservations made at The Aurora, the Arctic Ocean tour booked, and some other calls made, I turned in for the night.

Growl! It's so easy to change the camera settings on my phone that I unknowingly do it. The camera in my phone is an amazing 16MP optic that takes amazing shots. Well, over the last couple days I've been taking pics at a crappy 6MP resolution.