Who remembers this song? Troglodytes sung by The Jimmy Castor Bunch released in 1972 which was the year before I graduated high school . Guess I just told you my age but who cares it is just a number. Well back to this song. You should check out this you tube
This blog is not about a song but about camping at Bertha Creek in Alaska for the weekend. We used to drive past this campground every time we went to Anchorage from Sterling. My late husband, Charlie, would start singing this song as we passed by Bertha Creek. David, alive husband, and I do the same thing. We even named our truck Bertha. We decided that we were going camping there. So when I picked up the grandkids from Sterling we drove through and Charlie even picked us out a campsite. Oh yea, that is Charlie II, the grandson, not Charlie the dead husband.
Friday morning came and we all piled in the truck, three adults, two kids and one big dog. We headed out to Bertha Creek. We got up into Turnagain Pass we knew it wasn’t far now. We saw the sign.! 
Yea, we are here! Oh no, so are other people. There was no one here on Monday. As we made our way through the park, fingers crossed, we look for our perfect camping spot. We come around the bend and there it is, empty. We pull in to one side, so Heather and Dan can pull in next to us later tonight. Dusty sets up the tent for him and the kids.
Now it is time to head down to checkout the creek. To our surprise when we get down there we find a small waterfall.
Grandma and Grandpa took pictures of things like her feet,
grandpa even got his foot in there once, and grandma took pictures of the creek and Dusty playing with the kids there.
We all headed back for some lunch. I found this cool picture to take there.
Yes a sap was taking a photo of sap. The next question; is it better to be a sap or a root?
I’m not sure. What do you think?
Well David and I decided to take a walk down some trails we had seen on the way in. We walked up to the fee area, this is Federal so it is only $14 a night and $7 if you have your gold pass which we have. 
Bear country! Oh, no! I always get a kick out of these signs because I think all of Alaska is bear country. When they are walking through the subdivisions all the time in Anchorage, the largest city in the state, wouldn’t you say it is all bear country.
David decided to check out the pump and see if it was still working and it was. We then continued on with our walk.
Yes, we found Bertha Creek. This is where it empties into this river whose name no one seems to know. I will find out some how.
We then headed back to camp and sat by the fire for a while with a beer. Dusty and the kids came back from their walk. They told us about a bench up on top of the hill by our camp with a great view. We went there the next morning.
Everybody brought back a little firewood. We sure didn’t want to run out because how could we drink our beer without a fire.
Anyway they also told us about another trail on the other side of the highway. They said they saw some people panning for gold, well they had sluice boxes. I guess you would say they were looking for gold. We all thought that would be fun to do after lunch. So as we were eating one of the kids goes come look at these worms. Reighly already had a pet green worm she named catty but it had got away. It fell off her finger. We all go to have a look and this is what we saw.
We watch them all weekend as they slowly eat away the leaf.
Now our next adventure across the road and up the trail. First we stop at this bridge that goes nowhere. You can smell the creosote, so you know it is new. You cross the bridge and see a road for maybe 100 ft then nothing. Oh well the mystery road I guess or should I say bridge.
Across the highway we go. The first thing we come across is this cool firepit.
The gold miners were all gone, so we had the whole area to ourselves which was nice. We all went exploring.
As we are walking on the trail we saw blueberries. David and I decided to come back the next morning and pick some while the kids were asleep. We got up and went picking on Sunday. Alice got a little bored. She doesn’t think standing in one area for a while is hiking. I guess she doesn’t know the difference in hiking and picking.
Well we thought it was worth getting rained on. The Picking Was Good!
While we were there we got some nice mushrooms photos. Never thought I would be looking for mushrooms for a photo op.
We also got some nice flower photos.
The rain stopped before we left, so the tent got to dry out before it got packed up. We packed up and headed home.
Good-Bye Bertha Creek.
I guess I should let everyone know that the Flat Ole Hippies couldn’t come with us because they had other plans. Hopefully, they can come with us next weekend. We are planning to go to Seward if all goes well.
Thanks for reading!