Day 62: Talkeetna

June 15, 2014

This morning we were up bright and early en route from Denali State Park to Talkeetna, Alaska. We had a train trip planned on the Alaska Hurricane Turn Train. We wanted to get into Talkeetna in time to roam the streets, shop, eat, and generally get to know the town before getting to the railway station at 12:00 to pick up our reserved tickets. It was again a very cloudy day but no rain.

The drive to Talketna was an uneventful, pretty drive. We saw one moose dash across in front of us shortly after starting the drive.

There were several places noted in Mile Posts indicating good viewpoints for Denali but the mountain continued to be hidden from view by clouds.

We drove by an interesting sounding shop on the way into town that specializes in Birch syrup and candy. They tap the birch tress, we assume much like the maple trees, and collect the sap and turn it into various products. We might stop by there tomorrow but they don't open until 11:00 and we may be gone before then.

In Talketna we browsed the shops, enjoyed some samples of various type of brittle candy at the open air market, a pizza at Mountain High Pizza Pie (really good) and then bought a really good looking cinnamon roll from Talkeetna Road House. We saved it for the train ride this afternoon.

We then went back to Fred, picked up Scout and headed to the station, got our tickets and gathered at the loading area. The Hurricane Train is a whistle stop train that the locals have used since 1923 to reach their remote cabins/homesteads, or to go fishing or hunting. During the summer it runs Thursday-Sunday and in the winter only the first Thursday of each month. It travels through some spectacular scenery, and the end of the line is Hurricane Gulch. This Gulch is about 300 feet below the train trestle and is beautiful. The only unfortunate event today was that when we started to board, we were told very firmly that Scout could only ride in the baggage compartment and only with a muzzle. This was not in agreement with the previous information we had received nor the experience of some other RVer's we know who took this ride. Since the RV park we are in is right beside the station, we simply took Scout back to the rig and proceeded with our trip. However, we were very disappointed as the ability to take Scout was the primary reason we decided to take the trip. We thought it would be fun for us and him especially since today was his 11^th birthday. Also, disappointing was what seemed to be selective enforcement of the rules. While we did see signs posted at the station that no dogs were allowed in the passenger cars and no passengers were allowed in the baggage car and that dogs must be muzzled, after leaving Scout at home, we saw others with dogs without muzzles and at least one without muzzle in the passenger car. There were people in the baggage car all day with the doors open taking pictures. We really tried to not let this incident spoil our day but it sure was a big disappointment.

On a more more pleasant note, while we were waiting to board we thought we recognized Mary and Clyde Lovel. These are two Alaska homesteaders who were on the TV show “Railroad Alaska.” It's a “reality” show and usually we never watch that type show but it had beautiful scenery of Alaska so we did see an episode or two. Anyway after getting on the train we indeed did learn that Mr. and Mrs. Lovel were on the train with some family members who had come to celebrate their 60^th wedding anniversary. The Lovel's were very nice and Clyde was sitting right in front of us part of the way and told us some stories about his homestead, the train and the area in general. We also learned that there were some “exaggerations” or “liberties” taken by the producers of the series to increase the dramatic effect.

We also saw one black bear, three moose and some trumpeter swans from the train.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our return to Talketna, we had some spinach bread from the Talketna Spinach Bread trailer (like a food truck.) and home-made ice cream from another trailer across the street. Both were very good.

Ice Cream Freezer

That about covers our day. We hope you all have had a nice weekend and wish all the Dad's a Happy Father's Day.