Towards Glennallen, and Dry Creek State Park, AK

​My beautiful spot was perfect yet again with these dramatic views. This is definitely in my top 10. I reluctantly left, making a brief stop along the Chitina river and crossing the bridge where I didn’t see too many fishermen this early in the morning. I kept seeing signs for Chitina Grubstake…”flaked ice.” So even though his sandwich board sign was pointing in the opposite direction, I saw the building and talked to Matt. He laughed about the sign and admitted it was early morning when he placed it out there. I’m glad I could help. I decided that I needed a white chocolate raspberry Tillamook ice cream milkshake to just tide me over this morning. Mind you, really, I never have a milkshake at 10 o’clock in the morning ever. And it was damn good. I was enamored with this teeny tiny little food truck place, and I like to support the locals. I was able to find the spot that ranger Vickie suggested by the airport, which has several fish wheels in action, along the Chitina River. It’s not an easy find, but I managed to get down to the shore, where at least three or four we’re running, and it was fascinating to see how they were just turning and turning like a windmill in the water, though I didn’t see any of these catch fish. This river is certainly moving very quickly and no doubt fish will be caught eventually.


After so much driving on pothole, dirt, washboard surfaces, the road finally improved as I headed out towards Highway 4. I was disappointed to learn that the yak farm was still closed, as I was hoping for a visit on this way out. After a brief visit to the main visitor center of Wrangell-Saint Elías National Park, I said goodbye to this area while watching a few moments of a movie which mentioned this park as the largest in the United States, six times larger than Yellowstone, larger than Switzerland, with higher mountains, and the weather pattern there in McCarthy and Kennecott are the most violent and dramatic weather patterns in the country. Whoa!

I did a few chores after heading into Glennallen, including gas, checking my tire pressure, searching for a car wash in vain, and a quick stop at the IGA grocery store where I had sticker shock. Who can afford a bag of popcorn for $14.00 ? 

I had my eye on a dispersed campsite up the road with some marginal reviews. However, I decided to stop here at a state park: Dry Creek and for $20.00, I claimed my space. There was literally nobody here, so remote and unused, and I really had to wonder why. There’s plenty of standing water and mud and moose poop, and of course there are those mosquitoes who were waiting for me, licking their chops. “Me” for dinner. I was able to park and needed to crawl from the front cab to the back as I managed to stay inside most of the evening, and I didn’t dare go out. Fortunately, the breezes picked up, blowing away these predators, so I could take JoJo out for business, but seriously I have no desire to be out there and be eaten. This has just been one drawback spending my time here in Alaska, and I thought the mosquitoes a New York State were bad!  














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