Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska My Alaska family vacation

Flew into Anc and rented a 33' RV from Great Alaskan Holidays. From there we drove to Wal-Mart to stock up on groceries and supplies. Immediately realized that Wal-Mart attracts certain types of shoppers, even in the great state of Alaska. First time I saw handguns for sale in a Wal-Mart.

Williwaw, USFS campground was our next stop to spend our first night in our RV. It was pretty warm out so we slept with the windows open. We quickly found out how cool it gets at night. The forest was beautiful and it was our first taste of Alaska. It was also our first taste of the seemingly endless sunlight.

The window shades in the RV weren't bad, but the roof vents needed a layer of tin foil to block the light. The long days made our vacation longer!

The next day we headed to Renfro's lakeside retreat campground on Kenai Lake to spend a couple of nights. We visited Exit Glacier, AK Islands and Ocean Visitor Center, Alaska Sea Life Center and Seward. We took the Kenai Glacier Boat Tour out of Seward. That was an awesome boat trip with great staff. Saw whales, sea lions and a lot more. We pulled up close to a glacier and watched multiple avalanches. The seals just bobbed up and down on the ice from the waves. Cool stuff. Had King Crab, Salmon and prime rib on an island before docking back in Seward.

We then went on to Deep Creek View Campground in Ninilchik to spend the night prior to our Halibut fishing trip with J&J Smart (recommended by 358Norma fan). Met a family from the area coming in from a few hours of fishing. They gave us a generous amount of Halbut to cook for dinner. The leftovers were even better. The forecast looked crappy for our trip. At 6 AM the next day I met the captains of the 3 boats that were going out. The baits were put back in the freezer. Blowing too hard! Bailey's Irish Cream sat at the coffee counter. A few stories later we were on our way to the next destination. Could not re-book to meet our schedule. Tanners Fish Packing was down the road. We picked up their in house smoked salmon. Bagels, cream cheese and Salmon was on the breakfast menu for a few days.

Drove to Homer and went all the way out to the end of the spit. That was all we needed to see. Had a great lunch on the way out at Fat Olives. Spent the night in Kyllomens Campground. Saw a cow and calf Moose on the road there. Trout fished in the Anchor River.

Camped at Granite Creek Campground as we steered toward Denali. Another beautiful forest, quiet and secluded.

Stopped at Indian Valley Meats. Heck of a road up the mountain in a 33' RV. Loaded up on caribou jerky, summer sausage and hot dogs. Very cool place that does game and fish processing for hunters and fisherman. They do their own smoking.

Headed to Palmer and stayed at Paradise RV park. Fished Moose creek (Saw our first wild salmon and checked out the Palmer visitor center. Very interesting history of Palmer! Saw the Musk Ox Farm over there.

While going through Wasilla, we visited the Iditarod HQ. Gave Watch4bear a call and paid him a visit. He and the Mrs. were an absolute pleasure! It was hard to leave their hospitality and offer of fishing gear, bait and anything else a man could need. He is way too modest about his artwork. His sense of humor had us more than laughing. Thanks again Mr. and Mrs. Watch4bear! Wish we could have spent more time together.

Onward toward Denali. Spent the night at Little Troublesome Creek State Park. Saw another cow Moose. No crowds despite being July 4th. Got a fishing license check from park rangers. Got up early and fished the creek. Lost a nice trout after a couple of jumps. Tons of Moose sign. Went back to the RV and had Caribou sausage (thanks again watch4bear, it was delicious) and eggs before hitting the road.

Our next stop was about 40 miles past Denali to Tatlanika. Very nice campground far away from the crowds circling Denali. The gift shop was full of mounts and antlers as were their out- buildings. Great place to stay. Spent the night and then headed to Denali Park where we had a campground reservation.

Riley campground in Denali Park is low key and quiet despite the crowds. No hook ups there but they do have a dump station and water for RV's. The next day, we had a reservation for a backcountry tour bus to Kantishna, which is the end of the road in Denali. No private vehicles can go past the 15 mile mark. We saw a decent amount of critters despite the heat, which included ptarmigan, hare, ground squirrels, grizzly, sheep, caribou, moose, red fox, golden eagle and more. It was a 13.5 hour trip in and out with lunch.

It was pretty smoky on the way back out of the park but we did manage to see more bears and caribou. We were so glad we got to see Denali a number of times in clear weather prior to the back country tour. I had no idea that only 30% of folks get to see it and only 15% of folks see it without any cloud cover. I guess we joined the 15% club.

Back to Palmer, then Anchorage and then home were our next stops.

We loved Alaska and were so happy we did not take a cruise ship!! Put over 1300 miles on our RV. My only disappointment was getting blown out of our Halibut trip. The hot weather was a little too much of a good thing. We never broke out the rain gear or heavy layers. Smoke from all the fires changed a few side trips like a horse back ride, but how can you plan a trip over 6 months out and expect no changes. We were impressed with all of the turn outs that allowed overnight camping. The State Park turn outs were on the honor system for 15 bucks and a lot of them were on creeks. Alaska is a very friendly place. The Milepost book is a must for planning for those thinking about a trip.

We just missed you, Talkeetna at 11;00 at night...

Sometimes not going halibut fishing is the Smart thing to do...

Groan... but agree!

Sounds like you did it right! Sorry you had to be here for the miserable heat wave.

Gotta agree Art!

Pounding into rough seas for hours to catch the world's dumbest fish....I no longer do that.

Take the price of the charter to New Sagaya.

So glad you enjoyed your trip here.

Thanks for coming to visit the place we call home

Looks like you took the heat with you when you left, appreciate that. Glad you enjoyed your trip, now plan one for the winter and you'll get a good taste of Alaska in all her glory, especially Denali where the odds of seeing her go up. Here's a pic from this past spring as I was riding into our cabin which you can see in the trees directly below Denali.

Great site!

I'm headed up to AK next week.

Gosh that's awesome! Somehow we have to come back to visit Alaska.

flatfish are over-rated, give me an ugly looking lingcod any day!

glad to hear you had a good trip.
And I'm even more glad you took the hot weather with you.

sounds like a good time. I moved out to the Lower 8 years ago, but I can't go back to visit. Because I don't think I could leave it twice!

Tag

Thanks for the outline! It sounds like you had a great trip!

Only been home a day and I am ready to go back. There is so much to see! My family is so glad we did the RV over a cruise.

Isn't it amazing how you never seem to run out of energy, due to the long daylight hours? I used to run pretty steady for 14 to 18 hrs a day during mid-summer.

In Talkeetna and didn't give me a shout.... I know where I rank...

He was too busy doing the tourist thing..

Sounds like you did it perfectly . Someday I hope to do something similar.