Talkeetna, AK

Well, the plan we came up with last night was an easy one. We will sleep in a bit, stock up at Costco, do some laundry, and drive until we feel like stopping. That turned out to be the small, historic, town of Talkeetna, which is 14 miles off the Parks Highway, 99 miles north of Anchorage. We had lots of traffic through Anchorage, then a bit less as we left Wasilla, and almost none after we passed by Willow. The Iditarod Trail runs through this area and the landscape is dotted with sled dog kennels. The trail can be seen from the highway. It must be much more scenic with snow in the winter.

The RV park we chose, Talkeetna Camper Park, is nice and located near town. It has 30-40 sites and is filled to capacity tonight. This is the first full campground we have encountered. Denali is a popular destination and the season starts early here, I guess. We enjoyed our walk to town. We checked out the gift shops and walked down to the river. The river is known for the large number of King Salmon caught in the early summer. The town is also known for the many planes that fly climbers to Denali. 

Talkeetna has a rail station for the train to Denali. Even though the town is small, it is filled with tour buses dropping people from the cruise boats. I found out at 4:00 am that the same tracks are used by the freight train from Fairbanks. Charlie and I bolted straight up thinking the world was ending and Karen continued to snore with no indication of any noise. It reminded me of a scene from “My Cousin Vinny”.  

This is a very nice town. When I pictured small town Alaska this is what I saw. Karen thinks we could easily live here but I only think of what winter must be like. I think I’ll stay in Poulsbo or opt for the southwest in my dreams.  

Tomorrow we hope to get our first view of the mountain. It is cloudy tonight but the weather changes quickly here. 

Downtown Talkeetna

Notice Charlie peeking around the side.

Home for the night.