On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:05:58 -0500, wrote:

Taking a cruise to Alaska and expecting to actually see Alaska is
like going to Epcot and seeing Germany.
It is an OK way to watch whales and Princess will load you up on a
bus to go see Denali but you pretty much see what you can from the
window of the bus.

We signed up for all of the side trips including a flight around the
Denali summit in a small turboprop, a helicopter trip to the top of
the Mendenhall Glacier, a jet boat excursion through the eagle
preserve on the Chilkat River and a float plane ride back into Misty
Fjords. I'd like to drive up there in my 4WD truck sometime and
tour the back country but it would take all summer and I'd never get
my wife to go along.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:05:58 -0500, wrote:

Taking a cruise to Alaska and expecting to actually see Alaska is
like going to Epcot and seeing Germany.
It is an OK way to watch whales and Princess will load you up on a
bus to go see Denali but you pretty much see what you can from the
window of the bus.

We signed up for all of the side trips including a flight around the
Denali summit in a small turboprop, a helicopter trip to the top of
the Mendenhall Glacier, a jet boat excursion through the eagle
preserve on the Chilkat River and a float plane ride back into Misty
Fjords. I'd like to drive up there in my 4WD truck sometime and
tour the back country but it would take all summer and I'd never get
my wife to go along.


We did that a few years ago. 7 weeks and 8800 miles. Would not do it
again. Lots of boring driving in Canada. Rolling hills, and dead trees,
and millions of dead trees. Denali is ok for a day or two at most. We had
reservations at the campground for 3 nights and left after 2. Lots of rain
that year. And unless you are hiking miles, you will see everything from
tour bus. We were among the 15% of the people who actually see Denali.
Clouds cleared for about 15 minutes. Buddy and wife took the sightseeing
plane. Fantastic. We were suffering from some crud we caught in the Yukon
and had ear problems, so passed on the trip. Buy a Special Olymipics
discount book at Safeway in Anchorage and you get 1/2 off the airplane, etc.
Well worth the $99.

On Mon, 4 Jan 2010 20:45:37 -0800, "Bill McKee"
wrote:


"Wayne.B" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:05:58 -0500, wrote:

Taking a cruise to Alaska and expecting to actually see Alaska is
like going to Epcot and seeing Germany.
It is an OK way to watch whales and Princess will load you up on a
bus to go see Denali but you pretty much see what you can from the
window of the bus.

We signed up for all of the side trips including a flight around the
Denali summit in a small turboprop, a helicopter trip to the top of
the Mendenhall Glacier, a jet boat excursion through the eagle
preserve on the Chilkat River and a float plane ride back into Misty
Fjords. I'd like to drive up there in my 4WD truck sometime and
tour the back country but it would take all summer and I'd never get
my wife to go along.


We did that a few years ago. 7 weeks and 8800 miles. Would not do it
again. Lots of boring driving in Canada. Rolling hills, and dead trees,
and millions of dead trees. Denali is ok for a day or two at most. We had
reservations at the campground for 3 nights and left after 2. Lots of rain
that year. And unless you are hiking miles, you will see everything from
tour bus. We were among the 15% of the people who actually see Denali.
Clouds cleared for about 15 minutes. Buddy and wife took the sightseeing
plane. Fantastic. We were suffering from some crud we caught in the Yukon
and had ear problems, so passed on the trip. Buy a Special Olymipics
discount book at Safeway in Anchorage and you get 1/2 off the airplane, etc.
Well worth the $99.


thanks for the tip.

On Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:21:57 -0500, wrote:

This is a glacier in that park you can call your own for a while.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/alaska/Glacier%20lake.jpg

Nice. How far did you have to hike back in? Were you able to rent a
4WD in Alaska or did you drive your own?

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4...hallglacie.jpg

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:31:50 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:21:57 -0500, wrote:

This is a glacier in that park you can call your own for a while.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/alaska/Glacier%20lake.jpg

Nice. How far did you have to hike back in? Were you able to rent a
4WD in Alaska or did you drive your own?

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4...hallglacie.jpg


I think that lake was about 3 miles in but it is over a pretty good
sized hill (1000' or so I guess) I was dead reckoning with a compass
and we finally found the trail.
It was a good 6 hour hike with sight seeing along the way. We walked
around that lake for at least an hour and got lost coming back, pretty
scary actually. There really isn't much of a trail and my GPS was
virtually useless up there for some reason.

We ended up in a Hertz Windstar van, not 4wd but we still got around
OK. Flew into Fair banks, out of Anchorage.
About 99% of the "roads" in Alaska are dirt paths. There are a few
main roads but vast areas without any vehicle access at all except
snow machines and dog sleds.

My truck is 4x4. And I only used the 4x4 a couple times. More for safety,
than anything else. Top of the World Highway in a rainstorm. We did not
see that big of a percentage of dirt roads. A few gravel but mostly paved.
You can rent 4x4 truck campers.

wrote in message
...
On Wed, 6 Jan 2010 21:01:43 -0800, "Bill McKee"
wrote:


wrote in message
. ..
On Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:31:50 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:21:57 -0500, wrote:

This is a glacier in that park you can call your own for a while.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/alaska/Glacier%20lake.jpg

Nice. How far did you have to hike back in? Were you able to rent a
4WD in Alaska or did you drive your own?

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4...hallglacie.jpg


I think that lake was about 3 miles in but it is over a pretty good
sized hill (1000' or so I guess) I was dead reckoning with a compass
and we finally found the trail.
It was a good 6 hour hike with sight seeing along the way. We walked
around that lake for at least an hour and got lost coming back, pretty
scary actually. There really isn't much of a trail and my GPS was
virtually useless up there for some reason.

We ended up in a Hertz Windstar van, not 4wd but we still got around
OK. Flew into Fair banks, out of Anchorage.
About 99% of the "roads" in Alaska are dirt paths. There are a few
main roads but vast areas without any vehicle access at all except
snow machines and dog sleds.

My truck is 4x4. And I only used the 4x4 a couple times. More for
safety,
than anything else. Top of the World Highway in a rainstorm. We did not
see that big of a percentage of dirt roads. A few gravel but mostly
paved.
You can rent 4x4 truck campers.



I guess we just look for dirt roads. The most interesting things are
at the end of one ;-)
That was one reason why we liked South Dakota so much. In the Black
Hills there are hundreds (thousands?) of miles of logging roads.
We put 2300 miles on a 4WD Suburban in 3 weeks, probably half in the
dirt.

I did take some back dirt roads, but they were not 4x4 required. Maybe if
there was rain, but I think most of AK is gravel and rock. There are so
many glacial moraines that they can gravel coat a road easily.

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 7 Jan 2010 14:31:49 -0800, "Bill McKee"
wrote:

I guess we just look for dirt roads. The most interesting things are
at the end of one ;-)
That was one reason why we liked South Dakota so much. In the Black
Hills there are hundreds (thousands?) of miles of logging roads.
We put 2300 miles on a 4WD Suburban in 3 weeks, probably half in the
dirt.

I did take some back dirt roads, but they were not 4x4 required. Maybe if
there was rain, but I think most of AK is gravel and rock. There are so
many glacial moraines that they can gravel coat a road easily.

I agree, I suppose I was generalizing when I said dirt. They were
mostly rock, in Alaska and in the Dakotas. We didn't really use the
4wd more than a couple times in the Dakotas, and only because we had
it. In Alaska we did fine with a 2wd.
We figured out if you just fast idle along a road like that you do
not startle wildlife and you can drive right up to all sorts of
things.We came up on a family of black bears on a particular road we
liked around Coopers Landing in the Kenai that were just mildly
interested as we drove up them at about a walking pace. We looked at
each other for a few minutes and went our separate ways. I was mad
that my camera was out of film but that is always the way it goes
isn't it? We saw the only porcupine I have ever seen on that road too.
This lake is on that road
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/alaska/Kenai%20Lake.jpg



We probably saw that lake. But a lot of the lakes look like that.

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 7 Jan 2010 14:31:49 -0800, "Bill McKee"
wrote:

I guess we just look for dirt roads. The most interesting things are
at the end of one ;-)
That was one reason why we liked South Dakota so much. In the Black
Hills there are hundreds (thousands?) of miles of logging roads.
We put 2300 miles on a 4WD Suburban in 3 weeks, probably half in the
dirt.

I did take some back dirt roads, but they were not 4x4 required. Maybe if
there was rain, but I think most of AK is gravel and rock. There are so
many glacial moraines that they can gravel coat a road easily.

I agree, I suppose I was generalizing when I said dirt. They were
mostly rock, in Alaska and in the Dakotas. We didn't really use the
4wd more than a couple times in the Dakotas, and only because we had
it. In Alaska we did fine with a 2wd.
We figured out if you just fast idle along a road like that you do
not startle wildlife and you can drive right up to all sorts of
things.We came up on a family of black bears on a particular road we
liked around Coopers Landing in the Kenai that were just mildly
interested as we drove up them at about a walking pace. We looked at
each other for a few minutes and went our separate ways. I was mad
that my camera was out of film but that is always the way it goes
isn't it? We saw the only porcupine I have ever seen on that road too.
This lake is on that road
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/alaska/Kenai%20Lake.jpg



I just realized that is most likely Kenai Lake.