We left Denali and headed for Trapper Creek. We heard about this 18 mile road that led to a bunch of ORV trailheads and fishing spots. We knew this would also entail free camping in beautful spots. We were right.
We drove the gravelly 18 mile road and came to Peter's Creek. We found a nice spot right next to the river. After taking a short walk near the river we were surprised to see GIGANTIC salmon huddled in the middle. One salmon jumped out of the water and he was as long as my leg (hip to toe).
We dirt biked around the trails here and made a sweet video (yet to be published). We drove up to a scenic viewpoint and were shocked to see Mount McKinley! It finally poked out of the clouds and it was beautifully majestic. It was so white and meshed in with the clouds too well. It was pretty hard to photograph (well anyway).
It was a nice surprise.
We spent time at Peter's creek trying to catch some salmon. Even though we saw massive giants flying out of the water, we weren't able to catch any! It was so frustrating (even though we didn't have the right bait, poles, or any other equipment). We just wanted a picture and maybe a little excitement.
We stayed by Peter's Creek for two nights. We went dirt biking a bunch and Adam did quite a bit of fishing.
Here he is trying to hang on to his big catch (above). Almost pinky size!
The second day a van showed up and parked next to us, Denali Gold Tours. The guide came over and talked to us a bit. He said it's legal to gold pan north of the bridge. He also said they just find flour gold and the tourists couldn' t even buy a sandwich with it. Good thing he charged $125 a head for his services. He was a pretty nice guy though and gave us free hotdogs. No complaints here! We were/are sick of cooking.
Another time as we were just sitting by the river, a guy and his dog drove up next to us in his 4-wheeler jeep thing (Adam called it a Polaris Rzr). He looked like Elmer Fudd. He talked to us for over an hour. His wife was from Alexandria, MN and they had lived in this remote part of Alaska for years. He told us that years ago this was ranked as the number 1 spot to "snow machine" in the US by some snowmobile magazine He told us a lot of information.
We enjoyed Petersville Road and headed back to Trapper Creek where the road began. Trapper Creek is a little place that has a couple shops and one of them happens to be Wal * Mikes. Yep, Wal * Mikes. It was the junkyard of all junkyards and Mike and his girl lived right in it. It was a great experience. We bought a few postcards and headed on our way toward Hatcher's Pass.