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| Alaska Railroad train engine |
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| the Wilderness Express car |
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| trees, mountains, river, sky, clouds |
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| another great view |
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| the conductor, the bartender and the guide |
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| us, waiting to order our lunch |
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| meandering river |
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| more river view |
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| passing over Hurricane Gulgh |
About Me
- SY Sari Timur
- Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
- I am owned by Pauline and Mark Blasky. My hull was built at the Duncan Marine Yard in Taiwan and launched in Dec of 1980. It is a William Garden design based on the Pixie Design and called by Duncan Marine a Freedom 45. They are the fourth owners and have owned me the longest. They have done extensive refitting to me including replacing my entire deck structure and rig. My masts are roughly 10% taller than original and now are made of aluminium as opposed to the original wood ones, which, though pretty, were always problematic. You can read more about me under "MORE ABOUT SARI TIMUR"
June 28, 2016
Train ride
We left Denali National Park and took the Alaska Railroad back to Anchorage. Chris booked us on the Wilderness Express, two special cars run by a private company. Pretty luxurious, with the passengers seated in a dome upstairs car with the dinning area below, complete with a guide, who pointed out all the sights to us.
Denali National Park
This place is surreal! It is 6 million acres of wilderness and the centerpiece is the 20,310 feet high Denali, the highest mountain in North America. There is only one unpaved road into the center of the park and there you will find 4 lodges in Kantishna, one of which is the Backcountry Lodge, where we stayed the night. As part of the package, we got to ride a bus tour into and out of the lodge with a very knowledgeable guide.
We have seen moose, caribou, arctic ground squirrels, Dall sheep, grizzly bears, swans, a golden eagle, bald eagles, as well as flowers and plants.
We have seen moose, caribou, arctic ground squirrels, Dall sheep, grizzly bears, swans, a golden eagle, bald eagles, as well as flowers and plants.
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| Mama moose with her babies |
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| male moose |
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| a large herd of caribou, mostly females and youngs |
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| male caribou mostly on their own |
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| the girls panning for gold! |
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| Tom decided to fly fish |
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| so did Brendan |
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| Dall Sheep |
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| more caribous |
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| the Kantishna Backcountry Lodge |
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| this bear was hovering over a caribou carcass |
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| this bear was wandering around the visitor center |
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| the kids clowning about at the visitor center |
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| the park ranger, with the bear-safe container |
June 26, 2016
Talkeetna
We had a great view of Denali last night. A good dinner with the help of our friend Yvonne, then off for a walk around the X, Y, and Z Lakes. Half of us turned back but three went the whole way around the lakes. It is great when the sun doesn't set until well after midnight. We went into the historic town for the day.
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| view of Denali |
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| a hiking we will go |
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| one of the X, Y, Z lakes |
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| historic Talkeetna |
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| the general store, where the mayor, Stubbs the cat, lives |
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| decorated moose all over town |
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| a growler for the road |
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| another decorated moose |
June 25, 2016
Friends and Family Visitors
Well, we have been busy. On Tuesday we had Jackie McMahon and Kaity from Guam stayed the night with us. They were off early the next day on a kayaking trip and we went to pick up a majority share of the Rileys. Chris, Tom, Megan, and Brendan made it but the older offsprings are now married and doing their own thing so couldn't make the trip.
So far we have done the wildlife refuge, Seward town, a glacier cruise complete with lots of whales (even an Orca), sea lions, puffins, a bear and a calving glacier.
We have just arrived in Talkeetna and looking for Mount Denali.
So far we have done the wildlife refuge, Seward town, a glacier cruise complete with lots of whales (even an Orca), sea lions, puffins, a bear and a calving glacier.
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| The Riley family |
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| Humpback whale |
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| At Aialik Glacier |
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| sea lions basking in the sun |
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| puffins on the cliff |
We have just arrived in Talkeetna and looking for Mount Denali.
June 8, 2016
Generator is Working
We went to de winterize the generator to find it was seized up.
Mark got a cheater bar on the main crank and was able to break it free. He then went to start it and found the starter motor would spin but not throw the drive gear far enough to engage the flywheel gear. No problem we have a spare, but guess what, same problem. WD40 didn't do the trick so off to the agent where we soaked both starters in some super penetrant. After a weekend of soaking, they were still stuck, so we ordered a replacement and sent these for rebuilding. The new starter came yesterday and with fingers crossed we tried the generator. She fired right up and no smoke or oil coming out, so the seize up didn't cause permanent problems. The electrics didn't work at first either but it turned out to be dirty contact on the main switch and turning it on and off a few times fixed it. She is running fine now. Anyway the last things left on the list are the depth sounder and AIS. Our new radio has a built in AIS receiver so if the AIS doesn't work not a big issue and the depth sounder we have lots of spares for so we are good to go. The exterior varnish still needs to be done but that won't stop us from sailing.
Mark got a cheater bar on the main crank and was able to break it free. He then went to start it and found the starter motor would spin but not throw the drive gear far enough to engage the flywheel gear. No problem we have a spare, but guess what, same problem. WD40 didn't do the trick so off to the agent where we soaked both starters in some super penetrant. After a weekend of soaking, they were still stuck, so we ordered a replacement and sent these for rebuilding. The new starter came yesterday and with fingers crossed we tried the generator. She fired right up and no smoke or oil coming out, so the seize up didn't cause permanent problems. The electrics didn't work at first either but it turned out to be dirty contact on the main switch and turning it on and off a few times fixed it. She is running fine now. Anyway the last things left on the list are the depth sounder and AIS. Our new radio has a built in AIS receiver so if the AIS doesn't work not a big issue and the depth sounder we have lots of spares for so we are good to go. The exterior varnish still needs to be done but that won't stop us from sailing.
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