North of Anchorage

June 18 - We left Anchorage, though it was hard. Don was a great host, and so was Parker, his spaniel.


That dog knew we were leaving, and I'm sure he thought that if he was extra cute we would stay. Well, he was extra cute, but we didn't stay. We did our shopping and other chores and headed out for Denali. We passed through Wasilla, which is somewhat of a "nothing" place. We didn't deem it worth a stop. We might have stayed longer if the view of Russia hadn't been so disappointing, even using binoculars. It seemed to have every chain restaurant and other chain business known to man. As we continued up the Mat-Su Valley the land flattened out and became mostly muskeg covered with scrub brush. The Valley is very wide with big mountain ranges on either side. There was not much agriculture in evidence. As we continued north the landscape became mostly spruce forest. We are camping in Denali State Park,


about a hundred miles south of Denali National Park. When we arrived we were greeted by a Ruffed grouse,


who let it be known that we were invading her territory. On the other hand, the millions of mosquitoes seem happy to have us here. There is a lovely memorial to the Alaskan veterans of all 6 services.





We hiked over to it from the campground. There is a great view of Denali from there, but, as is her habit, she has her head in the clouds.


Of course, we are told that there have recently been 2 weeks of clear and beautiful views. We will be in the area for a few days so perhaps we will get to see her. By the way, we are quite far north now and there are only about 4 hours of so-called "night," if you can call daylight without actual sunlight, the yellow stuff, "night." It's 9:30 pm and the sun is still above the tree tops. After dinner we went for another hike along the lake shore. There was an abandoned cabin, built in 1959, that was returning to the woods.


We ended up at the boat launch. The lake was lovely and peaceful this time of night, with the occasional fish rising.


Don, in the "small world" category, we met some friends of yours. They walked by during dinner. Mike Griffin, wife and dog.




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