Talkeetna, Alaska

The morning we leave Denali Park is overcast and rainy. We pass a woman and three children on bicycles going the opposite direction.  All are pulling a small trailer presumably with camping gear. The youngest child is only around five or six and looks totally miserable. Our hearts go out to them and we wonder what they are doing out in this weather.

Shortly afterwards we stop at Mary Carey's historic McKinley Lodge for a hot lunch. As we are checking in, I mention the woman and the three kids. The owner, who's the daughter of Mary Carey, says well they make them tough in Alaska. By then her grand daughter, who looks to be around eight, joins us at the counter. I ask her if she'd like to be out in this weather pedaling a bike. She shakes her head and says "No way!"

Rainy morning leaving Denali

Mary Carey's Roadhouse

Shortly after lunch we arrive in Talkeetna. The town got it's start as a railroad stop in the early 1900's but is now mostly known for flightseeing and as a jumping off place for mountain climbers in Denali.

Entry sign for Talkeetna

where even the the moose fly

Land tours by the cruise lines, especially Princess and Holland America, now bring busloads of tourists into town. Consequently, the local bush pilots switched from mostly mountaineering support, which they still do, to flightseeing.
Also, Talkeetna has several businesses that cater to these tourists and in fact, has more gift shops than we expected.

Gift shop

Arts and crafts

Chocolate store

Although, some of these stores definitely have their own Talkeetna spin.

Gold shop in miner's tent - curious take on security

False front store

The Mexican Moose outdoor cafe

Some business are worth the stop. The Talkeetna Roadhouse has been on several TV shows and well deserves to be. The food isn't fancy, but it's good and you can order proportions large enough to help you climb mountains. 

Nagley's General Store doubles as the liquor store, triples as the local water watering hole with a bar in the back room and probably a game or two of chance going on as well. While in Haines, we saw a two story building with a liquor store on the first floor and an acupuncture center on the second story. Guess they were both in the business of alternative pain control. Also in Haines, we were buying some items at the local health food store, when the cashier at the adjacent liquor store offered to check out out. We joked a health food store with a liquor store was a first for us.  The cashier said the best combo he saw was on his first trip to Alaska in 1980's. It was a grocery store, with a liquor store, and a bar in the back with a stripper dancing in the corner. One stop shopping Alaska style.

The Roadhouse

Nagley's General Store for one stop shopping

and a bar in the back room.

Talkeetna is home to Denali Brewing, where you can get 4oz samples of any of their brews (for a price).

Denali Brewing

Peter waits for our orders to come up

In addition to planes, Talkeetna has other forms of transportation to offer, including the ever present ATVs (All Terrain Vechicals). Alaskans love their ATVs and their 4x4's.

An original National Parks touring car

ATVs for shopping

and doing errands around town with your dog.

ATVs for hunting

Now that's an Alaskan truck

On a recommendation from a local historian, we visit the cemetery which is just outside of town. It has an area dedicated to those who lost their lives mountaineering, especially trying to climb Mount McKinley.

Talkeetna Cemetery entrance

Mountaineering sculpture

Names of over 100 known people who lost their lives on Mt McKinley and/or the surrounding peaks

Area dedicated to mountaineers

Many whose bodies where never recovered

Pilot graves are marked with the props from their planes

It's a sobering experience to see how many lives have been lost in these mountains. Even experienced guides and pilots have met their fate on the mountain with it's unpredictable weather and capricious storms.