We enjoyed another nice leisurely morning at the campground taking our time with showers, coffee and breakfast. We left the campground about 10:30 and purchased gas and a few groceries before heading south to the little burg of Cantwell where we headed east on the Denali Highway.
The Denali Highway is 135 miles long and runs between Cantwell and Paxson. Three miles on the west end and twenty miles on the east end are paved. The rest is crushed gravel and the road is quite well graded in some areas and rutted and potholed in others. It took us about six hours to do the 115 miles that we travelled today. We are staying at Tangle Lakes Campground which is a BLM campground and since we are old we only paid $6 for the night. There are no hookups but potable water is available.
At milepost 50 we were able to see the reclamation project currently underway of the Valdez Creek Mine. Gold was discovered here in 1903 and 495,000 ounces of gold were removed before the mine closed in 1995.
At milepost 55.5 we crossed the Susitna River on a 1,000' long one lane bridge. The river flows south from the Susitna Glacier and the Alaskan Range and eventually empties into Cook Inlet.
At milepost 93 we had a good view of the Maclaren Glacier Which was sixteen miles north of us but had originally covered the Denali Highway many, many years ago.
Shortly after the glacier viewpoint we passed an area containing many Kettle lakes. Kettle lakes are forme when large chunks of ice broke off retreating glaciers and were buried in the glacial debris. The ice eventually melted, leaving circular shaped depressions called kettles.
That's all the news that's fit to print.
ILYB
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