Rescued from the Wilderness--Dog and Moose

Trapper Creek, Alaska
Trapper Creek RV Park

By the time we returned home, I was way too tired to write about our adventures for yesterday.

Well, it was almost a relax day.  There wasn't anything going on until our 6:30 pm wilderness excursion.  

I forgot that we did do laundry in the morning.  While we were doing laundry I noticed a missing dog flyer in the laundry.  The dog was 11 years old and deaf.  There was a photo of the dog.  I can't imagine losing one up here in the wilderness.


Since we only played three games of rummy cube the day before yesterday, we didn't give Carlena a chance to win. Yesterday we took the game up and played on the patio.


From the patio you can see Denali (Mt. McKinley) when the clouds cleared out.  We were told that there is a pull out 3 miles down the road, that is great for photo shots.

Harry drove everyone up the road to the South Denali Park overlook.

As always the photos aren't the same as being there.

There was a path that went up into the forest and a very steep climb.

Most people wouldn't hike up the hill, there was only one other couple there.  

Besides the better views from this point, there weren't people playing with their phones or kids screamings.  It was nice and quiet.

Another beautiful day, and beautiful views.  I think Boo even enjoyed being up there.

There were benches but I think these were for people who tired on the climb up, not for people coming down to straighten their socks.




Carol had told me on Facebook to try the steak sandwiches at the cafe here.  We decided to go up and try their food before we left to go to Talkeetna for the cruise.  Thanks, Carol for the recommendation.

We arrived a little early for our jet boat adventure so we walked across the street and walked through the gift shops.  

We boarded the bus a bit early but it looked like everyone was there.  It was clouding up quickly and the wind started blowing a little.  

Bill and I took a jet boat ride on the Snake River one time and it was so cold the toilet froze solid.  I was hoping this wouldn't be the same kind of experience.

The boat was full, there wasn't an empty seat.  We all had to take an aisle seat.








It rained lightly, but the sky was cloudy.  Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and handled the boat very well.

Weatherwise it wasn't great, but the experience was.  At least we were dry if we stayed inside the boat.

We were told about all five varieties of salmon and how they spawn.  We were shown the creeks were the fish laid their eggs.

There were a lot of eagles spotted but I didn't get any photos.  Harry got some awesome photos and he'll post them on their blog--Red, White and Boo.

As our tour guide was telling us how people homesteaded without utilities or roads, along came the flag train.  People can flag the train down when they need to get to civilization.  Of course it only runs once a month in the winter and four or five times in the summer.

This homestead had 75 yards next to the home before the ice jams took away that land.

We stopped at a replica of Alaska life and had about a 1/4 mile hike.  Notice our tour guide is armed with a Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun.  She told us she had extra ammo and was a good shot.  If you've been listening to the news you've probably heard about all the bear attacks.  She also told us moose are worse than bears.  

The rain was a slow light drizzle but it was nice that they had umbrellas for everyone.  They must be used to a lot rain in this area.

The natives stayed here when they were fishing. 

This deep hole is where they smoked the fish.

I can't believe we were walking through those woods and we didn't apply mosquito spray.  We've been so lucky so far, but I'm sure we'll be needing some before we leave Alaska.  

The owner of the jet boat company actually homesteaded.  These were the trapper cabins he recreated that he used in the winter.

These bear traps are illegal today, but are allowed for demonstration purposes only.

I wouldn't crawl in that small doorway.

At least Bill would so I could see what was in there.

The vegetation on the roof insulates it when it is covered with snow.






Our tour guide had told us about two baby moose that he rescued when the mother was killed by a train.  The moose were drowning in the water.  The moose were saved and transported to Anchorage until they were able to be released into the wild.  

As we got back onto the boat, he announced that the other boat just rescued a dog that was hung up on a bank. He showed us a picture of it.   It was deaf and had a collar.  They called the name on the collar and the women was crying she was so happy.  It seems the dog got away on June 11.  It was the one we had seen the flyer on earlier in the day.  She was leaving immediately from Anchorage to pick up her dog.  

By the time we got home, we were exhausted.  Now that I've told you about yesterday, I'll wait until tomorrow to tell you about today.  

I checked the weather for Talkeetna today and it was forecasted to be cloudy and rain.  At 2 pm it was calling for 60% chance of rain, wind and cloudy.  

Turtle Safely......