Alaska - Part XII
Jul. 13th, 2007 05:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leftyjewNot much time before shabbat, but there's not much to say about Talkeetna.
We didn't get up until about noon Thursday. But we didn't really have much planned besides more driving and then hiking, so I was okay with it. We wound up staying at the hostel, eating some quick lunch/breakfast, and relaxing. We didn't leave until about 2. It was really a pretty great place. The unfriendly guys we met on entering really didn't match up with the super-great folks we met that afternoon. Apparently a storm had just left the peak of Denali, so lots of climbers who had been stuck at high camp (17,000 feet) had a chance to quickly head to the peak (21,000') and summit, and then head down. Many of those climbers make their way back through Talkeetna. Many of them smell. Many of them want $3 showers offered by our hostel. But many of them are also really outgoing and full of positive energy since they had just done something incredible. I met a group of Taiwanese and got to use my 普通话 a little (and learn how poor it had gotten in five years). Man, I need practice! The hostel is just funky enough to be good, and not funky enough to smell. Best of both worlds. And the person who tends the place is a real nice woman with a little kid. (So many hostel owners/managers have kids! I guess it's what backpackers do after they have little ones.) She actually told me that the woman who owns the hostel got her place from a Kelly. I wonder if that's my friend who had spent time living in Talkeetna. I'll have to ask.
Next, we needed fuel - white gas, specifically - for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arctic_alpine's camping stove. We'd been trying to get the stuff since Seward and hadn't had any luck. Apparently everyone in Alaska uses propane fuels. There was one place that arctic_alpine had heard about. The owner said they'd be around unless their kid wanted to go for a walk. So... we tried to find this place. But failed. It's strange because Talkeetna, as mentioned before, is not big at all. In fact, we drove up and down the street we were told had this store and it didn't seem to exist.
Instead, we found a different place that offered camping supplies. The owner asked us if we were from the east coast. "Yes, why do you ask? Is it the accent?" askedarctic_alpine. "Well, in part it's the accent, but also no one here has used white gas in ten years. It's pretty old. But hold on, let me see if I can find some for you." He takes out a phone book (about 2.5" thick) and calls his friend. "Hi, is this Lorraine* with the two beautiful children?" ... "Well, I got two hiker backpacker types here asking for white gas. Do you have any?" .... "All right, thanks a lot. Talk to you soon!" He hangs us and tells us the good news. We go to Lorraine's place of business, and remember that we left the water jug at the hostel. I go and get the water jug and arctic_alpine gets the white gas (since she knows what to expect). Apparently, she had the option to either buy a new gallon or take a free 3/4-full gallon. Free fuel is good fuel, so we took that and headed out of the tiny town of dirt roads and down-to-earth people.
Back the Talkeetna Spur, right on Parks Highway, and on to Denali State Park (better views, cheaper and less authoritarian than Denali National Park which actually contains Denali).
To be continued....
Thursday - Talkeetna
We didn't get up until about noon Thursday. But we didn't really have much planned besides more driving and then hiking, so I was okay with it. We wound up staying at the hostel, eating some quick lunch/breakfast, and relaxing. We didn't leave until about 2. It was really a pretty great place. The unfriendly guys we met on entering really didn't match up with the super-great folks we met that afternoon. Apparently a storm had just left the peak of Denali, so lots of climbers who had been stuck at high camp (17,000 feet) had a chance to quickly head to the peak (21,000') and summit, and then head down. Many of those climbers make their way back through Talkeetna. Many of them smell. Many of them want $3 showers offered by our hostel. But many of them are also really outgoing and full of positive energy since they had just done something incredible. I met a group of Taiwanese and got to use my 普通话 a little (and learn how poor it had gotten in five years). Man, I need practice! The hostel is just funky enough to be good, and not funky enough to smell. Best of both worlds. And the person who tends the place is a real nice woman with a little kid. (So many hostel owners/managers have kids! I guess it's what backpackers do after they have little ones.) She actually told me that the woman who owns the hostel got her place from a Kelly. I wonder if that's my friend who had spent time living in Talkeetna. I'll have to ask.
Next, we needed fuel - white gas, specifically - for
arctic_alpine's camping stove. We'd been trying to get the stuff since Seward and hadn't had any luck. Apparently everyone in Alaska uses propane fuels. There was one place that arctic_alpine had heard about. The owner said they'd be around unless their kid wanted to go for a walk. So... we tried to find this place. But failed. It's strange because Talkeetna, as mentioned before, is not big at all. In fact, we drove up and down the street we were told had this store and it didn't seem to exist. Instead, we found a different place that offered camping supplies. The owner asked us if we were from the east coast. "Yes, why do you ask? Is it the accent?" asked
arctic_alpine. "Well, in part it's the accent, but also no one here has used white gas in ten years. It's pretty old. But hold on, let me see if I can find some for you." He takes out a phone book (about 2.5" thick) and calls his friend. "Hi, is this Lorraine* with the two beautiful children?" ... "Well, I got two hiker backpacker types here asking for white gas. Do you have any?" .... "All right, thanks a lot. Talk to you soon!" He hangs us and tells us the good news. We go to Lorraine's place of business, and remember that we left the water jug at the hostel. I go and get the water jug and arctic_alpine gets the white gas (since she knows what to expect). Apparently, she had the option to either buy a new gallon or take a free 3/4-full gallon. Free fuel is good fuel, so we took that and headed out of the tiny town of dirt roads and down-to-earth people.Back the Talkeetna Spur, right on Parks Highway, and on to Denali State Park (better views, cheaper and less authoritarian than Denali National Park which actually contains Denali).
To be continued....
