Eklutna Lake

Eklutna Lake

Eklutna Lake Scott went for an early morning bike ride.  He left the tent shortly before 7 and rode twenty-four miles.  He scared a black bear as he was racing along the trail. The bear ran (about 4 feet away) with him while Scott kept riding for fifteen feet or so.  I’m surprised Scott even told me with my borderline bearphobia.  It didn’t help that Les across the way at our campground was telling us about how many bears he has killed in self defense this morning.  He thought we should also be armed.  He is also a Vietnam Veteran, former police officer, and retired prison security officer.  The chances of one of our kids hurting themselves accidentally is much greater than the chances of us having a weapon ready for the moment when we might stumble upon a bear.

I took Brooke for a walk along the lake. She did her usual skipping and throwing rocks into a creek that ran into the lake.  We saw some kayakers getting ready to go out on the lake. Brooke wants to know when she can start kayaking.  Scott has two white water kayaks, but since we don’t live near a lot of white water they are resting comfortably in Scott’s parent’s garage.  Opps!  I shouldn’t have reminded Pepe.  Sometimes Pepe secretly puts our things back in our car when we aren’t looking.  I imagine someday we’ll have to take back all the things Scott is storing at Meme’s and Pepe’s house, and we have at least fourteen years before Brooke will try doing the same storage technique at our house.

After we wrapped up camp we headed out to see the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla.  The Iditarod Trail became a National Historical Trail in 1978. It started as a mail and supply route from the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to the interior mining camps.  The headquarters is run by the Redington family.  Joe Redington is credited as the father of the Iditarod.  The first official race occurred in 1973.

Susan Butcher

We went past Susan Butcher’s home and met her husband and daughter on our Discovery Paddle Boat Tour in Fairbanks.

Sled Dogs!  Brooke was so excited to finally touch sled dogs.  We wanted to go to a sled dog demonstration in Denali, but it was an outdoor activity and the weather was not outdoor cooperative.

This is a special photo.  It was one of the first times Scott was able to put on his shades and roll down his window in weeks.  Even the Alaskans have been complaining about all of the rain.  I have no idea who I heard this from, or if it is even accurate, but someone said they had twice as much rain this July as they usually have.  The Alaska summer is short anyway, but the amount of t-shirt days has been really low this year.

Wasilla Lake

This is Wasilla Lake where we ate lunch.  The town wasn’t bad, but the bathrooms were by far the most disgusting bathrooms I have seen the whole trip.  That’s saying a lot considering I’ve seen hundreds of pit toilets and gas stations.  There was broken glass on the floor, the toilet water ran out of the pipes when you flushed (not that I wanted to touch anything), in lieu of sinks there was sanitizer on a wall dirtier than the dirt outside, and did I mention there were no doors, just two toilets with a partial view of the lake and everyone enjoying it.  Yahoo!  Who knew going to the bathroom could be such an adventure.

Hatcher Pass and the remnants of a gold mine.

Hatcher Pass

Hatcher Pass is named after Robert Lee Hatcher who found gold here in 1906.  The gold was found in two ways.  The first is more difficult to remove.  Gold was found in the quartz veins of some rocks.  This is called lode gold.  The second way to find gold here was called placer gold.  This was gold freed by erosion and is usually found in the water near the Talkeetna Mountains around the area.  It is legal and even suggested to try to pan for gold in this park.

We spent the night in Palmer and met some great people – more to come in tomorrow’s post.