©Bert Gildart: Several nights ago, Janie and I found what we consider to be the perfect campground. For us, essentially that is one that does not have people stacked one on top of the other; and here in Alaska, traveling the Alcan, if isolation is your desire, you can often find it.

We found this site in the flood plain of a river not too far south of Delta Junction. Certainly we weren’t the first to use it, as you’ll notice if examine my associated photo. In it, you’ll see several fire rings. More conspicuous, however, are the features that make this little spot so desirable, and that is the Alaska Range which backdrops our Airstream. Not quite as visible are the abundant flowers —  the crimson-colored fireweed, the yellow potentella, and the white crown of the lace-fringed yarrow.

WHAT THE PHOTO DOES NOT SHOW

And, of course, the photo does not convey the sounds, which come from the nearby river, which is generating the clunk of rolling rocks as they pound one against the other. These sounds draw us to the banks of this much braided river, and as we walk we find the tracks of a fox or a coyote, but little else.  Obviously, we are much drawn by history and natural history, and this little site provided its commentaries.

But it was also satisfying for another reason, for we did not have the highly intrusive sounds created by what has become my nemesis, and that is the incessant yipping and yapping of the little dogs – left unattended (sometimes for hours) by their thoughtless owners.

To say that we thoroughly enjoyed the campsite is an understatement.

We’re now in Chicken, Alaska.  We accessed a road just south of Tok, picking up what is called the Taylor Highway. We were here about six weeks ago, but only for a few hours. At the time we dwelled on the more frivolous aspects of the settlement, which is what most people do when they stop but for a few hours, and we were certainly no exception.

But there is a more substantial side to this cluster of cabins, and thoughts gleaned from our stay here are the ones we’ll be sharing in our next few travel blogs.

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TWO YEARS AGO AT THIS TIME

*Mount Rainier

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 at 9:02 am and is filed under Alaska, Glacier National Park, Outdoors, Photography, RV Travel, Travel, View Point. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.