Girdwood area
Because our travel dates couldn't be known until the arrival of our little Fynnie, we did some inefficient driving on this trip. One result was that we spent over a week in the Girdwood area. This was actually fine, great even, as there was tons to do and it broke up the long Kenai Peninsula--> Denali and back again drives quite well. We had amazing luck with last minute campgrounds and VRBOs. We realized late in the game that after a month of RV camping, it would be good to get organized, cleaned, rested and fed in a house for a few days before Adam's long drive back home to Illinois so we got a house for the final 3 nights. And we realized that my initial campground booking which was all that was reservable on the weekends during my last minute planning was really not great (Crow Creek Mines, I do NOT recommend!!- bugs, small sites, not much in the immediate area) but we lucked out not once but TWICE getting FCFS sites at the Bird Creek Campground on a July weekend! We got very lucky!
Bird Creek Campground, part of Chugach State Park
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| Time for pretend play |
This campground was the right place at the right time for us, and I was very very grateful for it both times we stopped. There are multiple things to do right from the campground. However, the campground is right around the road and is quite small. If not limited I'd probably consider either Porcupine campground near Hope, or Williwaw campground- both parts of the Chugach National Forest. Both have excellent reviews and perhaps nicer campsites and activities. That said we greatly enjoyed the below activities at/around Bird Creek!
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| Time for a show |
Activities in and around Girdwood
1. Bore Tide viewing. The bore tide is a very dramatic ingress of the ocean tide over a short period of time through a narrow inlet. The result can be the tide coming in a dramatic rush of water, up to 10 feet at the highest and at speeds up to 15 mph. This is an incredible natural phenomenon that only occurs at 60 places around the world and the Turnagain Arm is one of them. The size and timing of tide varies with the moons so it's important to consult a
tide chart to see when/where to see them. The Bird Point viewing area very near the Bird Creek campground is a great place to observe this but it can be seen at many points up and down the Turnagain Arm. If you get super lucky you could see either humans or beluga whales surfing in with the tide.
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| Bank of Turnagin Arm |
2. Glacial Quick Silt. Another incredibly cool geologic phenomenon in part of Alaska is the glacial silt. I mentioned this in the
Matanuska glacier post. The mud here is so neat- soft and smooth and gray. That is because it is glacial silt. It is also very cool in that it is a non Newtonian fluid (like oobleck) where it becomes solid when pressure is applied but liquifies when left alone or when pressure is lifted. Therefore it asks like quicksand or more appropriately "quick mud". A few people get stranded every year in this otherwise beautiful mud when they walk out to explore, get stuck, and on tragic occasions get stuck in the rising tide. Therefore we were very careful not to venture out beyond the solid rocks. But it was quite fun to throw rocks and watch them sink:)
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| Z had to give me (and F!) a helping hand! |
The Turnagain Arm is just steps away from the Bird Creek campground however it is an adventurous few steps- down a steep hill and over a railroad track. There is not a ton of space between the track and the silt so someone needed to be on train lookout at all times- definitely added to the adventure!
3. Bird to Gird trail- this is a 12 mile (one way) bike path that goes right along the Turnagain Arm between
the Bird Creek Campground and the town of Girdwood. While it does go b/t the road and the Turnagain Arm, this doesn't detract from the beauty one bit and you often can't see the road at all. I took a couple of rides with the kids on this route. We were a tad limited on biking since Fynn was too small to join, but I'm sure glad we got in the rides we did!
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| At the top of the tram, Turnagain Arm behind us |
4. Tram and hiking at Alyeska Resort. Alyeska resort is an upscale resort in the town of Girdwood. I came across it due to the tram you can take to the top of the hill offering views and hikes. (Note there is also mountain biking which we didn't realize until too late!) Ollie and Zooey definitely enjoyed the tram and the views were really wonderful- reminded me a lot of Switzerland. Zooey and I decided to come back the next day to tackle the
North Face Trail. It was really fun to watch the super tight switchbacks of this trail as we took the tram. The hike is described as "not for the faint of heart" with over 2000 feet of elevation gain in 2.2 miles. I did not push or coerce Zooey to do this AT ALL. It was our last day in Alaska and I wanted her to leave with a great experience. I even inquired as to whether it might be better to tram up and walk down, but was told by locals that's even harder (on your knees, quads etc).
Zooey was motivated which was awesome so we left Ollie and Fynn with Adam and headed out. And wouldn't you know it, we had a marvelous time! Zooey's morale was superb the entire time. She was chatting and excited and energized. She definitely was working hard and had to stop and rest but looked around at the sights and was just the best hiking partner one could ask for. I did have multiple fleeting thoughts that "I better stay in good shape cuz she's about to overtake me in fitness" and when 3/4 of the way up with about 20 very steep switchbacks between us and the top she decided we needed to "beat those guys" who happened to be a group of super fit looking 20 year olds, I thought "oh sh*t". But "beat" them we did and I daresay I could call this hike my first intense workout since having Fynn:) Man, it was awesome. I love hiking with this girl.
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| We did it! |
Day trips:
Oliver was due for his 2nd COVID vaccine while we were in Alaska. That was quite an adventure in itself- finding a place to do it, convincing them to do it even though we didn't have his vaccine card, likely being the most smelly family to enter the vaccine clinic that day (we hadn't showered in 8 days at that point). But we got it done and felt such relief to have our little guy fully vaccinated prior to getting COVID (which of course we knew was inevitable).
After the vaccine, we headed up to Wasilla to the incredible ridable model railroad run by the all volunteer group
Alaska Live Steamers .If you have a train loving kid you MUST go to this place. It was absolutely incredible. This is such an impressive passion project- 5 miles (I think?) of model railroad lain throughout a gorgeous property including trestles, bridges, tunnels travelling though little model towns all while riding on hand built model trains. I just can't overstate how fun this was for the kids and adults and how utterly cool it was to see how much work this family (and friends) have put into their love of trains and Alaska. They are continuing to expand the grounds hoping to add a short botanic garden style walk in coming years. I HIGHLY recommend going OUT OF YOUR WAY to this place. It took us a couple tries due to weather and in the end we ended up driving 3 hours round trip to get here (when we were actually staying in Wasilla it was too rainy to be open) and it was 100% worth it.
Overall, we were very pleased with our time in Girdwood. Even though it was sorta "filler" and "re-group" time we found plenty to do and really enjoyed every day in this beautiful area.
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