Knik River Public Use Area

After leaving Nancy Lake Rec Area we rolled to Palmer where our first choice of boondocking location fell through. I mean, it was possible to camp there but it was cramped and nothing to do outside the trailer. The Knik River Public Use Area was down the highway a few miles, but we were unsure about a cell signal. We rolled on to see what the location offered.

The Knik River area was much better, with a large enough area to roam about and the the view outside our widow, of the mountains across the river, was amazing. When we first arrived we there were still a few RVs left over from the holiday weekend, but within a few short hours they all cleared out, leaving us with an uninterrupted view of the river, bridge, and mountains.

Our first night was peaceful enough, but a heavy gusts of wind made for a dust storm outside the trailer…

If there is a dust storm in America, I’m guaranteed to be there for it. #unwantedtalents

A video posted by Kerri 🌲🌵🌊🇺🇸 (@asolojourner) on Jul 7, 2015 at 12:28am PDT

The second day we set out, with the dogs, for a morning walk across the old Knik River Bridge. The Old Knik River Bridge is long  abandoned for a new one built right beside the old. The roadway is essentially wood with a shallow layer of asphalt covering it and is bending and warping from age. Ironically, the local government seems to care about it as the graffiti is cleaned from the old bridge regularly. Not so much on the new one which is stained from many paint cans.

The second night got much worse with OHV traffic running around our trailer until nearly 1am. Neither of us got much sleep that night. It was about now that the realization that “public use area” really meant “public trashed area”. I hate to say it, but the “public” sucks. While they come out for a weekend of fun and destruction on their four-wheelers, I *live* here in this land. With trash strewn about (some even responsibly bagged, then left behind anyway) and a bucket filled with human waste our collective heart sank at the stupidity of “the public”.

Sometimes when finding a free boondocking spot with an awesome view, you take the good with the bad. The windstorm that blasted through the night before last left me with about 2 hours of sleep. I was going to make it up last night, but some four-wheelers with drivers with the maturity level of six-year-old decided that 12:30 am was the perfect time to come on down and buzz laps around us and the tent camper next door. Then, let’s talk about this bucket. This bucket full of human waste, that some shining example of society not only decided to leave for someone else to deal with, but left *right* on the shoreline (when the water level’s lower, it’s actually on the outer bank). People, respect your land. And if you can’t muster up that, at least try to have a little respect for the people who share it with you. A photo posted by Kerri 🌲🌵🌊🇺🇸 (@asolojourner) on Jul 8, 2015 at 9:59am PDT

We left the following afternoon, after our work days were complete, to the Moose Lodge in Anchorage where we were meeting up with our fellow Airstream travelers once again.