ALASKA
June 2-23-2013
It took me 57 years to get here, but I finally made it.
Our basic route
In mid 2022, my friend and avid adventure motorcyclist, Curt, started putting together an epic ride through Alaska. There were several people that Curt had ridden with on other adventures with all of the world who were interested. Initially, I was planning to rent a motorcycle in Anchorage and join in on this ride, however, I began to question my experience, especially since a portion of the ride was going to be on the notoriously challenging Dalton Highway.
As it turned out, the group really needed a chase truck and so I quickly volunteered to take the helm of a 2023 Dodge Ran 2500 4X4. I'm glad that I did because this ride challenged everyone with rain, wind, mud, dirt, dust and the infamous Alaskan mosquitoes.
As you can imagine, a trip like this takes a lot of organization and advanced planning. Luckily, I was with a lot of folks who had done trips like this before and so I could learn from their experiences.
We had a very diverse group of riders and I'm proud to say that they're all now good friends of mine.
From left to right: Irene (Switzerland), Einar (Norway), Marnie (Wisconsin), Abigail (Canada), Curt (Reno), ME, Richard (Texas), Stephan (Switzerland), Chris (Boston) and Andrew (Australian living in Boston).
We all met up in Anchorage a day or two before the ride. Some rode their bikes up from the lower 48, but most rented their bikes from Motoquest, which is a company they've rented from before. Everything was now ready to go for a June 4th launch.
We all brought a bottle of something special to share and we met up in the hotel lobby for a little happy hour.
We nicknamed these bottles "The Senate."
This is just the beer section of the liquor store we went to. Suffice it to say, we weren't going to have a problem keeping the ice chest full on this trip.
The night before we left, we ate an Italian restaurant that had the biggest selection of wine and spirits I've ever seen.
Anchorage to Talkeetna
We rode to Talkeetna, AK, which was one of the shorter riding days, but most of us had booked a ski plane ride that flew around Denali (Mt. McKinley 20,310 ft. alt.) and then would land on a glacier. This was one of the highlights of the trip!
Talkeetna Air Taxi gave us an incredible experience. We were very lucky because the weather here is so unpredictable, that they can only fly into the Denali area about 30% of the time. On this day, the weather was perfect.
There was no co-pilot on this plane so Curt got to ride up front.
The plane was a 1958 De Havilland that held up to ten people. The flight was so smooth and the views were spectacular.
We landed on the Ruth Glacier, both to give us passengers the experience, but also to drop off a worker and supplies to a back country lodge known as The Sheldon Chalet.
This would be our runway for take off...
Okay, so I had to pee and we were only halfway into a 3+ hour tour, so I did what I had to do. My apologies to the Gods of Denali, I hope you understand.
Stefan and Curt
Once airborne again, we flew over a camp of climbers that were in the process of ascending Denali. When you're able to see their trek from a plane, you easily realize what a challenge they have before them.
And there he is...Denali himself, surrounded by his friends, all of which are very respectable mountains in their own right.
Soon after we landed back in Talkeetna, we found ourselves at the Denali Brewpub. The Denali brewery itself is located off of the highway going in to Talkeetna and every beer I had of theirs was solid. The food was good too.
We stayed at the Talkeetna Inn, which was a funky little joint comprised of two A-Frame buildings and a couple of rows of simple, but comfortable rooms. The inn even has its own dive bar (behind me).
After dinner, a few of us diehards weren't quite ready to hit the sack, so we had a few cocktails in the courtyard of the inn. Keep in mind, these pics were taken around 11:00 PM!
The following day, we went to the Denali National Park's visitor center.
Talkeetna to Chena Hot Springs
(2 nights here)
Chena Hot Springs Resort was a very nice place in a very remote area about an hour's drive west of Fairbanks. Because it was the only place in the area, you can be sure that they gouged their customers every chance they got.
Also, because they're the only game in town, the rooms weren't particularly nice and they were hot as hell. The food was so-so at best and the service was horrible, but what are you going to do?
The Chena's bar (of course there's no bartender in sight).
We had our usual pre-dinner happy hour outside with all of the mosquitoes to keep us company.
When a mosquito would bite Einar, he would just say "enjoy your meal" and let them do their thing.
I felt so bad for this moose who stumbled into the parking lot near our picnic table. She had a broken leg and could hardly walk. We were told there's nothing anyone is allowed to do, so she limped off into the woods to die a horrible death.
The hot springs were HOT, but they felt fantastic.
These hoses shoot out water so that it can cool down a bit before entering the pool.
Of course Andrew had to have a nightly Negroni happy hour.
Chitina, AK
Our home for two nights. Very nice, quaint and comfortable.
A simple little room, but nice, especially given that it was a cold day and the
wind was howling outside.
A simple little bar, but it had everything we were looking for.
A hungry, but very well-cocktailed table of guests.
Think wedding banquet as far as the food was concerned, but
it was great given where we were at and what we were doing.
Post dinner beers
Everywhere we went in Alaska, we found a great selection of beers.
All of this is a necessary evil of the modern traveler...
Around Chitna
On our second day in Chitna, we went to the old mining town of
McCarthy, AK, which is technically in the Wrangell St. Elias National Park, which is the largest
national park in the U.S.
Irene, Einar, Marnie, Abigail, Curt, Me, Richard, Stephan, Chris and Andrew.
The Kennecott Mine site
The town of McCarthy, AK
So, I wanted to get Chris in this pic as he was walking by, but he thought he was in the way and made a "not very effective" gesture of ducking down. He really just looks like he was drunk...
Dissolving back into the earth...
Back to Chitna
So, this bar has two names: The Mangey Moose and Uncle Tom's Tavern.
After speaking with the owner, apparently, he collects bar signs and just hangs them up, but officially, this bar is Uncle Tom's Tavern.
Marnie's flirting with the bar owner...😆
Of course we had to hit the brewery first.
Port of Valdez and eagles everywhere...MERICA!
Yes, Chris is a white boy indeed...
One of the weirdest little boats I've ever seen.
Fresh caught halibut
Okay sir!
Apparently, someone stole this guy's boat trailer...no problem...
Spotted this cool rig in town
Where the pipeline ends.
About to blast out of Valdez.
Whittier
(this town was a trip)
The
Whittier Tunnel is the second longest tunnel in North America at 2.5 miles. It's only wide enough to accommodate traffic in one direction at a time, so you have to wait as the directions change on every half hour, plus, there are train tracks that also run down the center of the tunnel. An amazing experience.
Everyone in Whittier lives in this building, which is called the
Begich Towers. It's fourteen stories tall and has 150 apartments, including the rooms we stayed in. It also houses the city offices, police dept., has a store, a laundry and other amenities that are needed for its residents.
As soon as we checked in, it was Negroni time!
The view from our rooms was amazing, even on this cloudy day.
This little place has some really good food. It was all fried, but hell, that's what made it so tasty.
Seward
Homer
Negroni Time
The Homer Spit
The Salty Dawg Saloon - Homer
This Swede has to stick his tongue out to do the finer motor functions...
Hmmm
Went to an old Russian Settlement near Homer
Curt laid his bike down on a sharp switchback
The most westerly highway in America
Sheep Mountain Lodge
Even reflections in Alaska are beautiful
Sheep high up on a ridge behind the cabins
Miscellaneous pics along the way...
Delta Junction Brewery
Abigail must have picked up some reading material along the way...
One of many coffee stops
Just a another moose head in a pickup
This is what happens when you tell Curt NOT to do something...
Post Trip in Alaska before everyone went their separate ways.
This was nothing short of an epic trip.
From here, we traveled back to Anchorage, where most of the gang returned home. However, three of us would continue on to Prudhoe Bay for another week of adventure (see the next blog post).
Ciao Alaska! I'll be back soon.
