Talkeetna

Last weekend my friends, Steph, Alex, Ashley, Mindy and I all decided to go and check out Denali State Park which is south of here.  Alex had heard about a couple of cool hikes to waterfalls and a lake called Byers Lake where you can kayak.  So we headed out Saturday afternoon and drove from beautiful sunshine straight into a thunderstorm.  That's the thing about Alaska and the mountains the weather is really unpredictable and changes very quickly.  After driving for about an hour or so we crossed into Denali State Park and found a pull out where a trail started.  This trail was supposed to lead us to a really neat waterfall and provide some bear sightings.  Well it was drizzling down rain and I was in shorts and the trail was lined with alder bushes.  These aren't your regular brush by bushes these are the snap back and bite kind.  Needless to say after hiking for a long time and finding no waterfall we were getting a bit discouraged.  However Mindy started to hear water so we pressed on.  I ended up leading and managed to come across bear scat which completely freaked me out and I insisted that someone else lead.  While I've seen plenty of bears from the bus I am yet to encounter 1 with nothing but distance between us.  Unfortunately, or fortunately we did not run into any bears.  We did finally find the waterfall however we weren't able to find a way down to the pools just overlooks or a trail to the river.

After that we were soaking wet and had been pretty well chewed up by the mosquitos so we headed down the road to Byers Lake to find a campground.  We pulled in and set up camp and tried to dry out a bit while keeping the mosquitos at bay which let me tell you is a challenge up here.  These arctic mosquitoes are determined and abundant.  We tried to dry our shoes and pants by the fire but it was pretty cold so we were mostly just making them steam alot.  

In the morning we woke up and rented kayaks for 4 hours.  We kayaked around the lake and then headed up the inlet river against the current to try and find a suspension bridge Alex had heard about.  It was a beautiful river but at times it was exhausting to kayak.  I was in a single while Steph, Alex, Ashley and Mindy were in doubles.  If I took a break I ended up losing ground so I was getting pretty tired but I was constantly entertained by Ashley and Mindy's attempts to get up river.  It was their first times kayaking and the steering nuances were becoming problematic for them.  We were all getting pretty tired  and decided to push forward for 30 more minutes and try to find this bridge.  We rounded a few more bends before coming upon the bridge which felt like a huge success.  We took some pictures and then headed back with the current and enjoyed the easy part of the ride until having to cross the lake against the wind.  

After eating lunch we decided to hike to the waterfall that the suspension bridge led to.  The hike was really pretty and short to the waterfall so we opted to continue and circle the entire lake.  The day had started out cold and cloudy but ended up being warm and sunny.  We stopped on the other side of the lake and tried to see the mountain.  On a clear day Denali would stand directly above this lake.  It wasn't clear enough to see the entire mountain but we're pretty sure we saw some it through the clouds. After our hike we were all exhausted and ready for a good dinner.  We hopped in the car and headed to Talkeetna.  Talkeetna is the climbers town, that is where all the climbers doing Denali start from.  It is a cute little mountain town with 1 main road.  We pulled in and set up our tents at the end of the main road in the campground.  We had thought about camping for free on the river but decided that being 10 feet from the bathroom and running water sounded better than trying to figure out a safe place by the river.  We went and got dinner at the West Rib, named for a section of the mountain and enjoyed a cold beer.  After that we walked down to the river and set off our fireworks since we didn't get to see any on the 4th of July.  Being next to a National Park fireworks were strictly forrbidden and anyone seen with them was going to be fired on the spot.  After about 20 minutes of "ooo" "ahhh" we  headed back to our campsite and got some beauty sleep. 

The next morning we woke up and wandered the gift shops.  Talkeetna has great little shops full of local artist's work.  There were beautiful photographs, clothing, jewelry and other items.  I ended up buying a really pretty scarf and the cutest hat for a friend's baby, it looks like an acorn.  I also purchase the most unusual candy, Jalapeno Habenro Pistacho Brittle.  I had to try it because my motto this summer has been to experience as much as possible, including the flat out weird.  It starts out sweet then warms up to the point of a strong burn.  Can't say I'd eat a lot of but I defiantly craved Mexican food for the rest of the day!  We didn't get to hang out too long because Mindy needed to be back for work.  The weekend was a nice break and great distraction.  The work week went by pretty quickly and I actually went back to Talkeetna yesterday for a music festival which was fun. I'm also off today and got a last minute offer to go to Fairbanks but declined so I could get caught up on my blog and photos.  I hope you are all well and enjoying my stories and photos!

Byers Lake Photos