Alaska Uncovered Podcast

Things to do in Talkeetna with Sarah Loreth

• Episode 102

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Jennie Flaming:

Hey everyone, before we get into the episode today, I just wanted to tell you, someone recently told me that I needed to make sure everyone listening to the podcast knew about my email list. And so I think that's a good idea. So this week and next week, I'm just gonna add this little intro at the beginning to let you know that I have a free weekly email list. It is different content than what's in the podcast. It's like, sort of just in time, things what you should be doing now to plan your trip, or recaps of recent travel I've done in Alaska, other things like that. So there's a couple ways to get on there. One is you can just sign up, so I'll put that in the show notes, and then the other is, you can also get on there by doing my free itinerary quiz. That gives you it's like a personality test, and gives you some recommended itineraries for Alaska, so I'll put both of those in there in the show notes, in case you want to take advantage of that. All right, let's get into today's episode. Welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast with me, your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, my occasional co host and full time husband, Jay and I bring you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska travel and life in Alaska. Before we start the episode, we would like to thank our Patreon members for making this podcast possible. You can join them at the link in the show notes. We are so grateful for your support of independent podcasts. Enjoy the show. Are you thinking about going to Talkeetna on your trip to Alaska? If so, let us convince you with this episode. My guest today is Sarah Loreth. Sarah is a resident of Talkeetna, and in addition to working for K2 aviation, when she's not working, you will find her probably out taking photos or training her dog, Sarah, welcome to Alaska uncovered. Thank you so much for being here.

Sarah:

Thanks so much for having me on the podcast.

Jennie Flaming:

it's so it's so fun to have you. Sarah and I got to spend a really fun day together last fall in Lake Clark National Park. And if you listen to that episode back in October, you'll that day was the first time I met Sarah. So that was really fun. So Sarah, yeah, so tell everybody a little bit about how you got to Alaska.

Sarah:

So I have the same story that seems to be pretty common with a lot of people that come from areas beyond to Alaska, where I came for a seasonal job at k2 aviation as their reservation desk crew. And I just never left. I fell in love with tell kitna, the Denali National Park, the mountain range and aviation, and here I am. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming:

I feel like that is, uh, maybe not all of the details, but that's a common story, like I came for a little bit of time, and me too. All right, Sarah, so to get us started, can you share with everybody a little bit about tal kitna and what makes it special?

Sarah:

For sure, absolutely. Firstly, I think it's important to acknowledge and thank the Athabascan people of the interior in south central Alaska, as they are the original owners and inhabitants of the land. We are grateful for being here in the ancestral lands of Kadal kit new which means river of plenty, to keep us a really special place, from the community to the landscape, we are pretty tight knit. There's only a population of about 1000 people, and we really work together to make it a really special place to live.

Jennie Flaming:

Love it. That's awesome. And are there more people in Talkeetna in the summer, or is it pretty, pretty consistent throughout the year? Yeah,

Sarah:

absolutely, to be able to staff all of the businesses, the population rises to about 2000 and with about an extra 1000 and seasonal workers,

Jennie Flaming:

cool. Yeah. And I know, I know housing is a challenge in Talkeetna for for that reason, or at least that's what I've been told

Sarah:

it has been. But I think throughout the last few years, it's been really getting better. People are more inclined right now to build year round housing instead of Airbnbs. That's really been helpful. Oh,

Jennie Flaming:

that's wonderful. That's great. Cool. Well, Sarah, tell us a little bit. We'll we'll talk more about things for visitors to do in a few minutes. And there could be some overlap here, but I'd love to hear like as a local, as a person living in Talkeetna, what kinds of things do locals do there at different times of year?

Sarah:

Oh, we for such a little town and little community. There is stuff going on all year round. We have Fourth of July parades. We have moose dropping festival in the summer, in the winter, we have the bachelor auction, which is quite a time. Oh yeah, it's, it's quite a, quite a weekend that's actually coming up soon. And then there's an Ice Festival in February. There's all sorts of fun things to do year round. So there's a lot of live music in Talkeetna. There's a Live at Five every Friday during the summer with local artists. It's really beautiful place to be.

Jennie Flaming:

Yeah, definitely, it is, for sure. So what about for visitors? What are some of the things that you feel like are great opportunities or reasons people should add Talkeetna to their itinerary.

Sarah:

Well, for one it's a really nice stopping point between Anchorage and Denali National Park. It's only about half three hours in between. Plus there's a really good view of the mountain range from there, particularly from the south side, where you can see all three peaks, all the high peaks. Historically, Talkeetna became really popular with the climbing community because it was the stopping point to climb Denali National Park. Don Sheldon in particular, pioneered ski plane flying in the Alaska Range, which allowed him to bring all sorts of climbers from all over the world to climb one of the seven

Jennie Flaming:

crazy one, one thing, Sarah, I want to ask about that. So my understanding about flying in Denali is that, like flying assistance from airplanes to climb the mountain came pretty early in, like the history of aviation. Could you? Would you mind sharing just a little bit about that? Because I think that's so interesting,

Sarah:

for sure, absolutely. So there's quite a common saying in Alaska, in particular, in in the climbing community, was that you can either fly an hour or you can walk a week. Aviation became so important to supporting climbers and getting people to their remote lodges and remote housing, because it's just a lot easier than walking for a whole week and lugging all your gear out there, right?

Jennie Flaming:

Yeah, yeah, that's really cool. And do you know off the top of your head, I know we didn't talk about this ahead of time, but I want to say it was like the 1930s when people started using planes to climb Denali. Is that true?

Sarah:

I would say it's probably around the 40s or 50s, if, okay,

Jennie Flaming:

okay. Because I just remember thinking like, wow, that was really, really early. Like, that was like, before people were doing, like, commercial flights and things like that, you know, routinely. Anyway. Yeah, cool. Thank you. Okay, so, um, what? Okay. So, thanks for, uh, for going with me there on that slight flying tangent. So, back to the the visitor stuff. What else.

Sarah:

So there's all sorts of fun things to do, particularly our cute little downtown, or one little Main Street. There's plenty of restaurants down there. We have a pizza place, we have a brew pub that we have local brewery in town that supplies the alcohol for that, which is really nice. There's zip lining, there's jet boat tours, there's ATV tours. We're also home to Dallas Seavey, the sixth time Iditarod runner. So his his kennel is in Talkeetna. There's plenty of things to do here if you're making a little road trip between Anchorage and Denali.

Jennie Flaming:

Yeah, absolutely. And I want to just add to what you said about the views of the mountain. So you know, people who've listened to this podcast for a while have have already heard this, but we've talked several times in other episodes about how the views of the mountain from the park entrance area, there aren't any. I mean, you can go further into the park and get views of the mountain, but the like easy, straightforward way to get amazing views of the mountain, if it's out, is definitely in Talkeetna, not at the park entrance. So I'm glad that you mentioned that. That's really cool. But. Yeah, and oh, go ahead

Sarah:

and his the best place to the best way to see it, unless you plan on climbing. Is it climbing? It is flight seeing totally. It's a good opportunity to get really up close and personal into the mountain range. If you're not wanting or don't have the time to really investigate the back country aspect of Denali National Park,

Jennie Flaming:

yeah, I totally agree about that. And in back in February, well, about a year ago, we did an episode about flightseeing over Denali with K2 aviation, with your colleague Cole so I would definitely encourage people to go back and listen to that, because I agree with Sarah, like getting up and especially doing the glacier landing in the park is just so cool. Something special, for sure. Yeah, and, you know, I feel like, I think another thing I would say to you is, even if you don't like if there are clouds over the actual summit of Denali, it's still an amazing experience to fly over the park. I mean, there's you won't even realize that you've missed anything, because there's like, mountains and glaciers, like literally everywhere. So it's so

Sarah:

dynamic to the differences in elevation, because Denali is 20,000 feet, but they're 10 Ks, they're five Ks, and all of the glacier, glaciated valleys in between. So even on a cloudy day, just being able to go in there and see the glaciers is absolutely spectacular.

Jennie Flaming:

It's it really is. And like, if you're lucky enough to get to land on the glacier. I just gotta make a plug for that. It's so worth the extra little bit of money to have that experience. Like, like you were saying, Sarah, you were talking about getting into the back country. I mean, you know, if you are on the plane and you land on reef glacier, and you get out of the plane, there's like you and the other people that you were on the plane with, and that's it. It's so cool.

Sarah:

It is. And how often do you have the opportunity to stand in the quiet wilderness the size of Massachusetts? It's unbelievable experience. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming:

not, not very often, that's for sure. Okay, we're gonna take a short break, and when we come back, we're going to talk a little more about Talkeetna with Sarah. Hi everyone, Jennie, here. I hope you're enjoying this episode so far. If you're listening in real time, it's January, and if you're planning a trip to Alaska this year, please, or in the future, please, let me help you. I love meeting you and talking about your trip, hearing what's really important to you, hearing what you're struggling with, whether that's what to include or cut out of your itinerary, or where to stay, or whether or not to rent an RV, or what tours, or any tours or anything like that. I absolutely love these meetings with you my listeners. They are definitely the highlight of my week, other than, of course, talking to our amazing guests. So book a time today, and it's$47 for a 30 minute consult. I can also plan your entire trip for you. So if you want me to do that, I can, and I do, and I also love doing that, but many people just need some help from a consultation, and that is awesome. So either way, you can book a time through the link in the show notes, and if you want to see what it looks like for me to plan your whole trip for you, that information is also down there in the show notes, including the pricing for that, which varies by how many days you're right tenor he is. All right. I hope to meet you on Zoom or on the phone, whichever you prefer. Now back to the show. All right, we are back with Sarah Loreth, and we are talking about the town of talquitna today, which is just a wonderful place to add to your itinerary, especially if you are going between Anchorage and Denali National Park. This is going to be right in the middle, just a slight detour off the road. So that's what we're talking about today. So Sarah, I would love to go back to what you were saying about Dallas Seabees kennel. What type of opportunities are there for visitors in the summer to interact with dogs? Because I know that's something people ask about a lot, but of course, there's no snow in the summer. So what are some of the things that people can do with dogs if they're visiting in summer?

Sarah:

Dallas still operates his kennel during the summer months, and they actually, instead of using sleds, they use wheeled carts that you can actually do. Drive and take the dogs on through their trails on the property. And they also tend to have their puppies in the summer. So if you want to go hold a bunch of puppies, it's a really great opportunity to do. So I'm

Jennie Flaming:

just gonna say that you do want to hold a bunch of puppies. I know that we're both dog lovers, but like, seriously, like puppy puppies. Come

Sarah:

on, right? For sure. And it's really cool to learn about his operation. He is a six time winner of the Iditarod, which is the all time winner of the Iditarod. So it's really cool to learn the history of his operation, the story of how he's come to win so many times, to meet the athletes and the dogs. It's a really cool opportunity.

Jennie Flaming:

Yeah, I agree. And you know, I have been to quite a few kennels on those types of summer visits across Alaska, and I always feel like it's such a great way to learn more about, like you were saying, what happens behind the scenes, and like, what it takes to even participate in a race like the Iditarod, let alone winning. And you know, everything from, like, figuring out dog food to, like, you know, summer training, and, you know, managing your puppies. And it's just, it's amazing. Yeah, it is cool. Okay, so what about winter? Sarah, so, um, maybe let's start with visitors this time. So if somebody is coming to visit Alaska in winter, what are kind of what is open until keynote, what kinds of things can they do? And then I want to ask you a little bit about, like, what locals like to do in winter beyond what you you said earlier. But let's start with visitors, what's available.

Sarah:

So a lot of people actually come to talkita, to look at the Northern Lights. It's a nice stopping point if you're flying into Anchorage, and it does have that scenic overlook of Denali and the three peaks from the south side. So a lot of people like to come and do photography for Northern Lights. And we do have a photographer in town, Aurora Dora, who does Northern Light tours. And she is incredible. She'll take you to all the best spots. And

Jennie Flaming:

she She is awesome. She is coming on the podcast soon. Great. Yeah, she's wonderful. Yeah, she's so fun. And

Sarah:

there's snow machining, which is a fun thing to do, particularly in the foothills and the valley in between the Alaska range. The restaurants downtown, most of them, are still open. We still have our conscious coffee shop, Mountain High pizza. The brew pub is usually open periodically. They like to do some construction and improvements, but they're usually open. There's a bunch of gift shops downtown you can enjoy. We have parades during New Years and Christmas and, of course, the bachelor auction and wilderness woman competition.

Jennie Flaming:

Yes, could you tell us a little more about the bachelor auction and the wilderness women competition. So it

Sarah:

is quite an experience. Women come from all over the states to come to our little town to bid on our local bachelors for charity.

Jennie Flaming:

That's awesome, Alaska. So funky things like this happen, for sure. Love it. We usually

Sarah:

have a nice bonfire downtown in the middle of Main Street, and historically, they would open the Road House for morning breakfast for everybody, of pancakes, and the Fairview would be hopping that weekend. And it's a good opportunity to give a lot of money to charity and support our community from all over Alaska, and for fun, little competition,

Jennie Flaming:

yeah, and what about the wilderness woman? So the wilderness

Sarah:

woman competition is kind of the juxtaposition of the bachelor auction. So women come from all over the state, and they do a little competition of hauling buckets of water, shooting target practice, doing a little fake fishing downtown to prove who is the most wilderness woman in Alaska.

Jennie Flaming:

That's awesome. That's so fun. I love it. And that, when did what time, when in the winter does that happen?

Sarah:

It's always the first weekend in December. Okay,

Jennie Flaming:

yeah, so it sounds like if someone is visiting in winter and they want to come to Talkeetna, it's kind of a good idea to look at the calendar and kind of see when some of these events might be going on, when more should be open.

Sarah:

Festivals, absolutely February, space festival. And then, of course, as the light starts gaining in March and April, there's a lot more things to do, but a lot of stuff stays open during the winter.

Jennie Flaming:

Yeah, that's really fun. And I will tell those of you listening, we have talked about this a little bit in other episodes that relate to winter, but especially if you are coming to Alaska in March. Especially around the Iditarod start. Just be aware that things, it might be technically the off season, but things are pretty busy, so you need to plan pretty far ahead, and I assume that means for lodging and tours in Talkeetna as well as other places. Yeah, for sure,

Sarah:

absolutely, the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge has been opening a lot earlier and earlier to help with bachelor auctions and March Madness we got going on, but there are plenty of different rentals and lodging opportunities year round in Talkeetna. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming:

Awesome. Cool. Okay, so, Sarah, I would love to hear a little bit about the food in Talkeetna, so you touched on this already, and one thing I want to add about the brew pub is that it's a pretty great they have some pretty great like vegetarian options and kid friendly options, which isn't easy to find in rural Alaska. Um, so I just want to make a plug for that. But what other what other restaurants or food things do you think people really need to try in Tolkien?

Sarah:

So the brewpub is really good. So is mountain Pie. They've been there for a really long time. I'm vegetarian myself, so I don't have any problem at all in keeping food but we've been opening a lot of food trucks down around they've all been fantastic. A lot of the time, they rotate year to year, and new things come and new things go, but the food trucks had been popping, they've been awesome. Yeah, and

Jennie Flaming:

that food truck, little village that's kind of between the fair like, next to the Fairview. How long has that been open? Because I went to it a couple times last summer, and I, I don't, didn't remember it being there before. It's

Sarah:

brand new, okay, rupug, but they built a deck, and then a couple years later, the Fairview built a deck, and then this kind of conjoined it and created this beautiful little food truck oasis in there.

Jennie Flaming:

Yeah, it's great. And like, especially on those sunny summer days, you can just sit out there and what do some people watching? Eat some good food, have some drinks. It's pretty awesome, absolutely,

Sarah:

and I'm a really good thing to mention, a lot of people actually come to tell kitna first famous spinach bread downtown. It is unbelievably good. It is

Jennie Flaming:

really good. I think, you know, sometimes you're like, is this thing gonna really live up to the hype, but I would say tell kitna spinach bread absolutely does. Yeah, yes, um, definitely make sure to bring cash there, because at least when I've been there, it's cash only. That might change in the future, but it might not, because it's tell kita spinach bread, and they do what they want. Absolutely. Cool. Okay, um, let's see. Oh, one other thing too about the spinach bread, just so you're not disappointed, is that they close like at the end of August and go to the state fair. So if you're coming to Alaska primarily to see spinach bread or eat spinach bread, then you got to make sure to catch them at the fair. If it's in September,

Sarah:

which is also a really great time to come and visit Alaska, the fair is awesome. It is it is

Jennie Flaming:

really fun. Yeah. Okay, so Sarah, before we move to the wrap up, question, is there anything else you want to share about Talkeetna that I haven't asked or that we missed somehow?

Sarah:

Well, even with all of the stuff there is to do for visitors, I really want to touch on how wonderful a community it is, we'll we get together. It's a wonderful time. There's plenty of ski trails, there's bonfires, there's concerts, there's the Denali arts center that holds concerts and movie showings, and it's a really nice place to be. Even in the the dark winter months, you can still get out and see some really nice faces downtown. And, yeah, everyone together. It's a it's an incredible community. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming:

that's, I appreciate you sharing that i i have not been to tell kitna in the winter, but I would love to go like I bet it would be really a wonderful place to be, especially in the winter, when things are a little more quiet, and, yeah, the lights are out and all that good stuff.

Sarah:

It's beautiful, and it's so nice to walk the trails do some snowshoeing or some skiing. And there's not a lot of people here in the winter, so you can. Stand still and hear some of the most quiet you've ever

Jennie Flaming:

heard. It's incredible. Yeah, that's really, that's really amazing. Okay, oh, I thought of one other thing when you were talking about climbing. I think I don't remember if you mentioned, did you say anything about the ranger station

Sarah:

there? Didn't know the Walter Harper ranger station. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming:

Would you mind sharing a little bit about that before we move to the wrap up question? Because I'm like, I feel like I'm missing something that I'd love to hear you talk about that a little bit, because that's a cool little spot, absolutely.

Sarah:

So Walter Harper was an Athabaskan who was actually part of the climbing team who first climbed Denali, so the ranger station was named after him, and it's a really cool place. All every single climber that goes and tries to summit Denali has to have a meeting at this ranger station to go over safety and permitting and things like that. So they have movies of climbing Denali and what that's like. And my favorite part of it, when you go into their lobby, they actually have a photo of the Alaska range from space. And then above their little fireplace area, there's flags from all over the world that people left from climbing Denali. That's

Jennie Flaming:

really cool, yeah, and they, they also have that board where you can keep track, you can, like, see who's climbing the mountain, right? You know who's up there, and how they're doing and how many people have climbed this season. So that's, yeah, that's a great and it's a really cute little building too. It's small, but it's got that cool, like, gray stone thing. It's It's fun, it's

Sarah:

great. Yeah, it's beautiful. And it's right off of Main Street, overlooking the river, so it's a nice little location. And, yeah, actually have a phone number too, where they keep you can call in from all over the world at any time during climbing season and let you know the stats of it,

Jennie Flaming:

yeah, which is, you know, if you're needing something to do, that's kind of a fun like, all right, how are people doing up there? It's pretty cool. Okay, Sarah, so before we wrap up today, I would love to know something that we ask all of our guests, or we started last fall, asking all of our guests when they come on to the podcast, which is, what is one thing? It can be more than one thing that you wish visitors knew before they came to Alaska.

Sarah:

Hmm? I think it's really important to understand how large the state is. Do a lot of people that are like, Yeah, I'm flying into Fairbanks and I'm going to do the whole road system in like a week. I'm like, no, yeah. A lot of time in Alaska, the driving times are pretty significant, and you'll you're going to spend a lot of time in the car if you choose to travel that way or on the train. But the views are unbelievable. We have all these little towns in between that are fundable roadside stops where you can get believable food and mountain views, but I really would love to drive home how important it is to stay a while if you want to see

Jennie Flaming:

Alaska. Yes, yes, that's really good advice. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Sarah, thank you so much for joining me today and sharing with everyone about talquitna. Thank you for being here.

Sarah:

Yeah, thanks for having me. I love talking about our wonderful little community. It's a great place to be,

Jennie Flaming:

yeah, Thank you. You

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Jennie Thwing Flaming

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Jay Flaming

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