Talkeetna: a small town 64 miles south of Denali National
Park and then 14 miles east of Hwy. 3 on an out-and-back road. Talkeetna: situated
at the confluence of three rivers, the Susitna, the Chulitna and the Talkeetna.
This town’s population of 867 burgeons in the summer months with tourists
coming for salmon fishing, rafting, and glacier flight-seeing as well as
shopping in the numerous gift and souvenir shops.
When we drove in on a sunny Saturday afternoon, the main
street was plugged with shoppers strolling about, somewhat like Glen Arbor on
the 4th of July. We edged our way through the crowds, got turned
around and drove back to a “campground” with available sites. Really, this was
a newly created gravel parking lot, that backed up to the train depot, separated
by trees and shrubs. The camp owner, a friendly guy who grew up in Seward, AK,
and has shot an intruding grizzly bear in his current home in Anchorage, has
big plans to develop his campground. He explained that Princess Tour Lines, for
the most part, has built the town of Talkeetna and owns most of the
businesses. Most of the money spent in
the town goes to Princess, and if the line-up of Princess Tour buses parked at
the train depot behind the campground was any indication, I would agree. The
Alaskan Train goes from Talkeetna to Hurricane, AK, a 115-mile round trip into
the interior ‘bush’ country. People
really do use the train to get to their remote homes in the bush where no roads
go, but tourists, too, take the ride just for the experience.
After getting set up for the night, we walked back downtown
to Nagys, a convenience store/liquor shop in one of the old buildings in
Talkeetna. The crowds had thinned out
some by then. On our way back to our RV camp, Michael gave a beer from his
newly purchased 6-pack of Alaskan Amber Ale to a native artist and wooden-flute
seller, Mr. Yates, who looked like he’d been tending his table of wares all
day, and who was very grateful. He returned
the favor by catching up to us to give Michael one of his native art grizzly
bear cards. 
The next morning, we walked back downtown for breakfast at
the Talkeetna Roadhouse, the oldest building in town. Sourdough pancakes are their specialty and they
claim their sourdough starter has been in existence for 102 years!! Michael had
a half order of blueberry pancakes. That was one giant-sized flapjack that hung
over the edges of his plate.
After checking out a gift shop and before heading back to
the Siesta to leave Talkeetna, we saw Mr. Yates across the street. Michael stopped
by to talk more with him, learning about his flute playing and his work
teaching flute to young students. And, yes, we came away with our own native
flute. The CD of Douglas Yates playing native flute music was thrown in for
free.
It was close to noon when we left town. There is a turnout
off the road about half way up the hill that rises above the town of Talkeetna.
It’s a viewpoint for Mt. Danali which you can see 64 miles away on a clear day.
We pulled in. The morning clouds had lifted enough to reveal the “tall one”
towering over the other mountains. Stunning!
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