Reached the top; headed to Denali NP

July 8 - 9 Days 30 - 31

On the evening of July 7th, we attended a live musical play that told the story of how Fairbanks came to be in a very entertaining and humorous way.  Then on the morning of the 8th, we rode our bikes out to Ft. Wainwright, the army base here in Fairbanks, then followed the bike path to the west end of the city, before returning to the visitor center.  Total ride was ~15 miles.  Later, I got some fresh, wild caught Alaskan salmon and grilled it for dinner.  It was excellent! 

Being a larger town of ~34k people, Fairbanks has some trouble with public intoxication, particularly with the natives.  As you can imagine, that comes with a whole other set of problems.


Now that we are as far north as we are going, we left Fairbanks this morning, the 9th, to head south towards Denali NP.  The drive was beautiful with the Alaskan Range of mountains on one side of the road and the Minto Flats on the other.  The Minto Flats, in my opinion, is a marketing spin for describing mostly bogs, small lakes, and creeks.  None the less, the view was great!

As we continued on, we came to the small village of Nenana, where they hold the, Nenana Ice Classic.  It is an annual event that awards cash prizes to the lucky winners who guess the exact minute of the ice breakup on the Tanana (pronounced TAN-a-naw) River.  The contest has been a spring highlight since 1917. The tickets are sold from February 1st until April 5th. The way they know the exact time is they build a log tripod like the one shown here:

then they slide it out on the ice, attach a wire to top of the tripod on one end and to a clock located in a tower atop the Ice Classic office, thus recording the exact minute of the ice breakup.  The town also had a depot for the Alaska Railroad that is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

I asked the lady if a person could catch a passenger train there and she told me you can, but you have to call to Anchorage and tell them you want to get on (or off) the train at Nenana, so they could radio the train and tell them to stop.  The visitor center is very typical of an older Alaskan building, with the sod roof and hanging flower baskets shown in the picture below.

We continued south of Nenana to stay for a couple of nights at the Tatlanika (means river with large rocks in the First Nation language) Trading Company before going on down to Denali.

OBSERVATIONS (and other unscientific data):

1. I think nearly everyone reading this blog knows me well enough to know that I can talk to total strangers pretty easily.  That said, we talked with an Athabaskan, one tribe of native Alaska, woman, Sylvia Pitka, who told us she and the rest of the 350 native people in her village live a subsistant lifestyle. Which means they must hunt, trap, and fish for their food.  They trap fur bearing animals so they can sell their fur.  They grow magnificent gardens so they can freeze or can their harvest.  They cut wood to heat their homes all winter, a very long winter, as well as on which to cook.  She was a very young woman, about my age.  Now I completely understand that, I get it, but this woman told us she absolutely loved this lifestyle and she and her husband taught their four children the subsistant way of life.  She knows the avenues for an easier lifestyle, but wants nothing to do with it.  I have to say, I admire her commitment.  Go Sylvia!!
2. There were a number of motorcyclists riding the Alaska Highway, which I thought could be quite brutal.  So I noted the brands of motorcycles to see who was the winner.  Out of ten motorcycles:

• 5 were 'naked' BMW's - a naked BMW has the frame exposed with no finished panels
• 3 were Honda Goldwings
• the last 2 were split between Harley Davidson and KTM

BLOG CONTEST :
Since we are as far north as we are going, I developed a contest for the blog readers who wish to participate.  Simply guess the total number of miles we have driven up until midnight last night, July 8th.  Email me your guess; the person who is the closest without going over is the winner.  Or, if all players are over, the one closest wins!
Oh, what do you win?  Well don't expect too much.  I will meet the winner for lunch sometime in September, October, or November.  Ok, so the prize isn't all that great, but at least it will be fun!  Send me an email with your guess!

On North to Fairbanks

July 3 - 7   Days 25 - 29

As we continued north we were never out of sight of mountain ranges; Kluane, St. Elias, Wrangel, and Alaskan.  We never tired of seeing them.  While they all seemed the same to us, there were some subtle differences.  For example, the St. Elias range, shown below had sharper "edges" to the mountains, but the Alaskan had more snow.

I mentioned in my last posting that we would likely spend the 4th of July in Tok.  Yes, even I questioned what we would do for a day in a town with a population of <1,000.  But as it turned out, we rode our bikes for ~10-12 miles after we attended the big event; the 4th of July parade.  I think the whole village attended or participated in the parade.  I did notice that one entry in particular was totally different from parades I've seen elsewhere:

That's right, sled dogs pulling the float to advertise mushing excursions.  Our next milestone is Delta Juntion where the Alaska Highway officially comes to an end but another highway picks up seamlessly.

The further north we get the bigger and more aggressive the mosquitoes get.

I told Bonnie the fly swatter would not work on these guys,

we would have to use something more substantial

We are now in Fairbanks, the furthest point north we will go.  It is really interesting to witness the amount of daylight.  Below are pictures taken every hour from 1:00am to 4:00am.

1:00am

 

 

2:am

 

 

3:00am

4:00am

OBSERVATIONS (and other unscientific data):

1. I've noticed the further the villages are apart, the container size for the food articles increase.  In one of the remote village in which we shopped, they had 20 pound containers of margarine, ramin noodles in a 48 pack, eggs in 5 dozen containers, sugar and flour in 50 pound sacks, and rice in 50 pound bags.  This was not a Sam's Club or Costco, it was a village grocery!
2. We noticed here in Fairbanks, there were city blocks that were reserved for 'snow storage' because they get so much snow, they cannot simply plow it off to the side, they have to haul it to a location for storage until it melts.

Alaska! We made it!!!

July 1 - Day 23

Leaving Whitehorse, YT behind, we drove on up to Haines Junction, YT, a small village of 840 people; 5 of whom worked at the Village Bakery.  After eating lunch at this delightful establishment, we looked around the village for "Our Lady of the Way" catholic mission, a church converted from a quanset hut left behind by the US Army during the construction of the Alaska Highway.

Haines Junction is on the eastern boundry of the Kluane (pronounced kloo-WA-nee) National Park, Reserve & Game Sanctuary.  On our way further north from Hanies Junction, we saw our first grizzly bear foraging along the highway.

We continued around Kluane Lake, the largest lake in the Yukon, to Congdon Creek Gov't Campground where we spend the night. It seems to be typical for the Canadian government campgrounds to have the campsites near the waters edge.  Here is a picture from our campsite showing the spectacular Kluane Range. Icefields cover the tops of many of these mountains, which are the highest peaks in Canada.

Now, some of you on this blog list know that Bonnie & I have a tradition of taking our anniversary picture with Bonnie in her original wedding dress, and me dressed for the current activity/occasion (which is often me looking like a slob; no comments on that statement please).  Her dress has been around the world and this trip is no exception. This picture was take at our campsite on the shore of the Kluane Lake with the Kluane Mountain Range in the background.

We did hit really rough road about the last forty miles of the Alaska Highway in the Yukon.  The road was so rough the posted speed limit was 30mph!  But we honored the speed limit and did not have any issues. When we got to the Alaska border, the highway improved immensely.

 I know the above picture does not show the highway; it is only to prove we made it!  The scenery is not any less spectacular in Alaska as it was in Canada.  This is the Wrangell Mountain range in the background.

We are now, Thursday, July 3rd, in Tok, AK, where we will spend the night before moving further north.  We may even spend the 4th of July in Tok since it is a holiday.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. The further north we go on the Alaska Highway, the more frost heaves in the pavement we encounter; understandably so. Other than that last forty miles, it was quite good.  To the blog readers in Ohio, the Alaska Highway is much like Middle Rowsburg Road with wider shoulders.  To the blog readers in Alabama, it is like Wall - Triana only ten feet wider and with wider shoulders.
2. All along the AK Highway, it is very evident of the number of people who tried to beat a living out of the traffic headed north to Alaska. But the reality is, there just is not enough traffic to sustain all of the businesses.  Now, many of the buildings are dilapidated, in disrepair, or abandoned and some of the other that are still in business have had their businesses for sale for some time.  Sadly, I would predict that if I made this same trip two years from now, some of the businesses that are open to today will be closed forever.

Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

June 30, Day 22

We spent today, June 30^th, in Whitehorse, YT.  Nice place of 26k people, and the surroundings are quite nice.  Here is a picture of their river walk beside their trolley system.

Out at the Whitehorse airport, there was something rather unusual that caught my eye.  They have an actual DC3 airplane that is a functioning weather vane and in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Along the Yukon River, they had a restored steam paddlewheeler, S.S. Klondike, that was very unique as it had authentic furnishing for the times and you could walk into the engine, freight area, first class dining and observation area.  The restoration was unbelievable!  

It is also pretty interesting about the different foods from one region to the next that was carried in the hull of the ship.

We should be in Alaska by Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday of this week.

The Yukon Territory

June 23 - 30, Days 16 - 22

We continued on north from Ft. Nelson to our next destination which was ~75 miles away.  No need to overdo it, right?  On this 75 mile stretch, we saw more black bears, stone sheep (which are different than big horn sheep), and moose.

The highway you see in the picture with the moose is the Alaska Highway.  So far, not a bad road at all, but the chip and seal surface does produce a little road noise.  We stopped at the Tetsa River Services & Guest Ranch, where their claim to fame is delicious homemade cinnamon rolls.  The rolls are about 6” in diameter, about 3” thick, and served warm with the icing melting down through it.  While they were great, I understand the daughter of a friend of mine also makes great homemade cinnamon rolls, so I will wait until I sample hers before I declare “The World’s Best”!

We arrived at the Summit Lake Campground of Stone Mountain Provincial Park.  Their provincial parks are much like our state parks, except theirs have no electric.  Since we arrived just after lunch, we had our choice of campsites.  We could back right up to the water of this serene lake and enjoy the tranquility of the surrounding area.  Once set up, we hiked ~1.5 miles to the summit on a very rugged, rocky trail, crossing through a stream.

Summit hikes are never disappointing.

Since we only drove 75 miles yesterday, we thought we should go a little farther today.  So, we drove 85 miles to MacDonald Campground of Muncho Lake PP, seeing more stone sheep along the road.  Since we drove ‘so much farther’ we decided to stay 2 nights at Muncho Lake.  Each campsite is right on the aquamarine colored lake.

It has been a little hard to get used to the amount of daylight.  Here is a picture from our campsite at 10:45PM

Our next stop on our trek north is Liard Hot Springs PP; about  54 miles from Muncho Lake.  There were several signs warning motorists about wildlife on the highway.  We saw more black bears eating the tender, new spring grass along the highway, and seemed rather indifferent that we pulled off the road and stopped less than 10 yards away from them.  As we continued on, we encountered this guy resting at the edge of the pavement.

So close that I had to cross the center line to keep from being too close to him.

Liard Hot Spring is yet another natural mineral hot spring but its distinguishing feature was a completely natural setting with a gravel bottom and lush, green vegetation growing right down to the water. 

The temperature of the water in the upper pool near the source of the water is ~126°, too hot for us, so we went to the lower pool where the temperature is said to be about 112°.  Unfortunately, the downside of this heat, humidity, and vegetation is the perfect environment for the Canadian and Alaskan state bird; the mosquito.   None the less, we could visit the hot spring 24 hours per day for as long as we wanted; in my case, about 15-20 minutes.

Leaving Liard Hot Springs behind, we pressed on towards Watson Lake, Yukon Territory where there is a “sign post forest” started by a soldier in WWII and where the village encourages people to keep adding to the sighs.  To date, there are over seventy six thousand signs.

Our next stop is near Whitehorse, Yukon Territory where we stayed in a government campground for $12/night including all the firewood you want to burn.  This was on Marsh Lake which also had a beach.  However, it was a bit different from the white sand beaches of Gulf Shores as it was more dirt than sand.  Also, the water temperature was ~60°, the air temperature was ~58°, and it was very windy.  But that did not stop people from playing on the beach or swimming in the water.  Not just any people, but the rugged souls of the Yukon Territory.  Whitehorse is the capitol of the YT, so we will spend some time there so we can get more supplies and post to our blog.

 

OBSERVATIONS (from unscientific data), and other facts:

Out of 10 rvs, there are:

·         2 class C motorhomes

·         2 fifth wheels

·         2 travel trailers

·         2 slide on truck campers

·         1 pop up tent camper

·         1 class A

Out of 10 pickup trucks that tourists use to pull their rvs:

·         5 are Ford

·         3 are Dodge

·         2 are GM (Chevy and GMC)

·         All are 4x4 and 9 out of 10 are diesel

Now on the Alaskan Highway

June 21 - 22 - Days 14 - 15

We stayed at Charlie Lake just north of Ft. Saint John last night.  Tragic history about our army troops there while building the Alaskan Highway.  This morning we pressed on north with no urgency.  Stopped for lunch at one of the many pull-offs.  You just don't get tired of the scenery:

           Our lunch view

We saw four of these guys today, and one cow moose with her calf.  This one was real close to our RV.





OBSERVATIONS (and other unscientific experiments)

While working for the company from which I retired, I had the opportunity to visit many automotive assembly plants which made me notice all vehicles.  So in my unscientific experiment, I noticed that out of 10:

• pickup trucks (non tourist) - 6 were GM (Chevy & GMC), Ford and Dodge had 2 each
• big trucks - Peterbuilt and Kenworth had 9 and the other one was divided amongst all others
• sport utility vehicles - 8 were Jeep, and the other two divided amongst all others