Day 24
7/14/26 Tuesday
Mosquito count: none really. Too cold and windy today.
Heard it raining during the night and it’s been a steady rain this morning. It’s an Alaska muck boot kind of day for sure! No need to be in a hurry getting out if camp.
What to do? Where to go today? Not good for bicycling and the trails for hiking are pretty muddy. Plus it’s windy and cold.
We depart about noon… again in no rush. It has been raining all morning so we are headed to Cantwell…maybe. (About 100 miles). It is at the end of this highway. From that intersection you either go north to Denali National Park and Fairbanks or south to Anchorage. We are headed to Anchorage and points west.
The first big valley we drop into is the Maclaren River Valley. It is another BIG river valley. It flows into the Susitna River. Despite the low clouds the scenery is good. It’s tundra and kettle lakes for miles.
Weather Alert. We’re at a highway construction stop with a pilot car. The young woman who was flagging was standing in a steady rain wearing tennis shoes, cotton sweatshirt with a winter hat under the hood and an earband over the top. She had a yellow safety vest on but under that just a fleece sweater. No rain jacket or rain pants. Going to be a long wet day for her I expect.
Road Terror. Basically the road is chip seal pavement with a lot of dodging potholes. It might help a bit to see them in advance because they are full of water. Traveling at 20-30 mph tops. I’m glad that we are just one vehicle and not pulling a camper trying to manipulate more than 4 tires. Oh lord😱. The road is terrible for 40 miles. We thought some of the other roads we’d driven going to Dawson or Tok were bad but this was sustained potholes for much longer. After driving those 40 miles we stop to figure out maybe a shorter day and a place to camp. Jim is mentally fatigued from this drive. Fortunately there are pullouts left and right along this highway so we decide to continue a bit further and then start checking them out.
Geology of Eskers and Kames. The Denali Highway in this section until we reach the pass down to the Susitna River is built along what they call “eskers”. These are the ridges of silt, sand and gravel that the glaciers left behind as they flowed through streams. Below us on both sides of the ridges are dozens of kettle lakes surrounded by miles and miles of tundra. It’s a vast sea of tundra. So different than anything I’ve ever seen. Quite beautiful…just so thick with bushes. I’ve also learned about kames. These are the round mounds the glaciers leave behind. Think of them as hummocks.
Wet cyclists. Shortly after our relief pit stop we encounter a tour group of cyclists (maybe 8-10 in all). No envy there today. I’m happily warm and enjoying scenery inside my van😊. They are bundled and moving along with a downhill tail wind until they cross the Susitna… then the road turns and the have an uphill headwind. I told you it’s cold right?!! No clue how far they have to ride today. Good news for us and them is that the terrible road full of potholes improved immensely right after our stop.
They seem comfortable.
We cross the Susitna River on a one-way long wooden bridge. Another big river in a beautiful valley.
Gigantic view. We continued another 15 miles and found a great big turnout away from the highway with a fantastic view of the Monahan Flat and the Alaska Range. I’m guessing the cloud cover is about half way down the mountains. But it’s still impressive and beautiful.
We are sharing our enormous campsite with Mr Wawe’s “cousin”. His Off-road RV has graphics from Africa on the sides. He was here when we arrived. This RV has the name “Tourist” on the front.
cinnicrew 