Our first trip on the Hurricane Turn Flagstop Train out of Talkeetna, AK was a sightseeing trip to Hurricane Gulch. As amazing as the sights were, it turned out to be an educational trip for another trip a year later. You see, the Hurricane Turn Train is one of the last Flag Stop trains left in America. You can jump on or off the train at any time along the route. You just flag it down when you need to get picked up.
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| Homesteaders flagging down the train. |
The train runs 5 days a week and departs out of Talkeetna station. It goes to Hurricane Gluch, then goes back the other direction to Talkeetna. Along the way it passes through Chase, Curry, Sherman, Gold Creek, Twin Bridges, and Chulitna. There are many homesteaders out in these parts and this train is how they get back and forth into town when they need to. There is a TV series on Destination America called Railroad Alaska. Some of these homesteaders are featured on this show and we have met a few of them. The show can also be found on Amazon Video. There are also several rafting companies that use this train to get to the locations they take their customers to put in.
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| Sherman, Alaska |
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| Curry, Alaska. |
Here is a link for more information about the the Hurricane Turn Flagstop Train.
Alaska Railroad Hurricane Turn Flagstop Train
During our first Hurricane Gulch trip, along the way we noticed a few places where people where camping and fishing. As remote as the area was, we really liked the idea of camping away from, well, everything. So we began planning our 2017 summer camping trip. We would pack all our stuff, throw it on the train, then jump off somewhere along the route near a river or stream so we could fish. But we could not find any information about camping along the train route. We had several maps, called Alaska State Parks, and even called the rangers at Denali National Park, but there was no information to be found.
So, we went ahead with our plans anyway and hoped for the best. We were sure everything would work out. We decided we would only camp 1 night. Since the train drops us off and would not be back for another 24 hours to get us and since we had a 2 year old toddler with us, we thought one night would be enough to "test the waters".
We were ready for almost anything. Besides typical camping gear like tent and sleeping bags, our packing list included:
44 Mag. handgun
12 gauge shotgun with slugs
2 cans of bear spray
Battery operated bear fence
2 Bear vaults = containers used to hold food so bears cannot get into them.
Water filter
Jet boil and fuel cans
Fishing gear
All of our food was either PB sandwiches or food that you just add boiling water to like oatmeal or dehydrated meals - like Mountain House backpacking meals only we made up our own.
We had a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) and we also rented a Satellite Phone. Again, the train doesn't come back for 24 hours and we wanted to be prepared.
After we got onto the train, stowed our gear and got settled for the ride, we began talking with the conductor, Warren. Of course he wanted to know where we were headed and when we didn't know specifically where to tell him to stop the train, we had to get it figured out. Well, after just a few minutes of describing what we saw from the previous year, he knew exactly where we wanted to go. And, as it turned out, there was a another group of 5 couples headed to the same spot. After further conversation with this group, it turns out they were the same group we saw the previous year at one of the spots.
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| Conductor Warren = he is the BEST! And great with the kids! |
The train stoped at the area we wanted to camp at along the stream. We all started unloading gear. Everyone, even those not getting off, helped pitch in. One last look in the baggage car, all our gear was out, then the train pulled away. Now we had to set up camp. We schlepped gear to the spots big enough for tents. The larger group was very courteous. They had 2 kegs of beer they went directly into the stream. They assured us they wouldn't get rowdy and if they did, to just say something. They offered to share their beer, too. This group, by the way, was staying for nearly a week! Maybe some day we will be able to do that, but not this trip.
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| We all unload our gear. Everyone pitches in to help. |
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| Filtering Water for our dinner. |
We set up camp, ate some snacks, fished, and built a campfire. The next morning we had breakfast, fished, took a short hike and packed up camp. Once the train went past, the train made a quick stop before continuing on to Hurricane Gluch. 2 other campers were getting off. We checked with Warren the Conductor about an estimated time they would be back to get us. The train pulled away and we went back to fishing. When it was getting close to the time we expected the train to return, we carried our gear to the side of the train tracks and waited for it to return.
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| Waiting for the train to pick us up. |
You see, there is no real definite schedule for this train. It may be held up by a moose or bear along the tracks or by one of the several Denali sightseeing trains, which have priority. So the Hurricane train would need to come to a siding and wait for the other train to pass.
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| At a siding, waiting for a Denali sightseeing train to pass. |
Eventually, the train arrived, we loaded our gear and headed back to Talkeetna. We did not encounter any bears, although they are in the area. The larger group that camped with us was amazing and even though we ended up having people near us, it was a bit of a reassurance having some other people around for our first time out there.
There are several spots you can camp along this route. We suggest you take the train once as a sightseeing trip and find the location that best suits you. Be sure to get place names or railroad mile posts RRMP numbers of where you would want to stop. Also remember the train only runs 5 days a week, so plan your trip accordingly.
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| Hurricane Turn train headed back to Talkeetna, leaving us to camp and fish! |
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| Here fishy, fishy, fishy.... |
