The Chultitna river
We left the Roadhouse and turned left towards the river. We passed more cafes and shops until the street narrowed and became a small path. On the left were small gift shops in cabins and tents and past them we could see Mt Dinali away in the distance.
The Chultitna river wasn’t like any of the ones that we had seen in the National Park. It was fast flowing, wide and looked quite deep. We had heard planes all morning and seen the brochures for flights up to the glaciers. Overhead on passed by quite low.
We met a couple who said they had been in for a swim and planned to go in again. The river was grey and cloudy because of all the silt been carried down it because the water being glacier melt.
We joined a small group of people taking pictures of Dinali before turning right walking up the side of the river through a wood. After about 20 yards so we could get to the bank for more views of the river. This was the pattern until we came to a large open area that the town map described as a ‘beach’. This was where the Talkeetna and Susitna rivers came together with the Chultina.
We watched river rafts coming down the Chultina before the rivers joined and being swept through the junction and on downstream of the now much larger river. At the junction there were even more tourists with cameras taking advantage of the cloud free views of Mount Dinali.
Suddenly there was a lot of noise and a jet boat came screaming down the Talkeetna and swept around the junction and up the smaller Chulitna river. Upstream of the junction of the rivers we could see a railway bridge over the Talkeetna and we carried on walking towards it.
The river bank was covered in rocks both large and small. Opposite us were tents on the beach where the rivers merged. As we walked further up the river bank there were cairns both large and small. I clambered over the surrounding rocks to take pictures with Dinali as a back drop.
I went back with my iPhone for one last set of shots for my 365 challenge. I slipped and my iPhone fell open on the rocks and the screen was cracked. Luckily the iPhone carried on working despite the glass cracking and shattering before my eyes.
A train was passing over the river and this at least took my mind off the cracked iPhone glass.
Once at the bridge it was possible to walk over the river. There was a warning that pedestrians had to give way to Quad bikes.
This is the view back down the bank where we had walked.
Behind as we heard a motor and stepped aside. This vehicle was much bigger than a quad bike and the driver thankfully decided not to risk the bridge. Instead they headed off back to the town down the same path that we were now on.
