Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 Denali National Park

Because Denali is so awesome in every way, I'm going to start here then write just a bit at the end about our trip to Circle and from there to here.

On the way from Fairbanks to Denali, I called the reservation number for Alaskans and miracle of miracles, was able to make a reservation for the Teklanika River Campground...the reason that's such a big deal is that Park regulations allow private cars to drive only 15 miles into the Park and Teklanika is 29 miles in giving us the opportunity to stop when and where we wanted to. Part of that is good news because we saw a grizzly year old cub just on the side of the road digging up a root...what fun taking that photo was. Part of that is bad news: the weather was perfect and Denali was "out" so at one point I climbed up on top of YOW to get a better shot and coming back down missed the last step, fell on my tush then slammed my head on the pavement. Fortunately a gentleman was right there and strongly recommended an ice pack which we did as I already had a large bump developing. Long story short, I'm well past the 72 hour mark and have no symptoms so we think all is well.

On Sunday, we took a great bus trip to the end of the road, Kantishna, with many photo stops, beautiful rest stops and visitor centers along the way. The driver/guide, Kim, was outstanding in her knowledge about Denali and the wildlife. We saw grzzlies, Dall sheep, wolves, fox, ptarmigan as well as little critters. But most of all we saw the incredible, awesome beauty of Denali. We were most fortunate because Denali was with us all the way...a treat that only happens about 20% of the time! At 20,320' it rises as a huge, white (snow) massif from the valley below which is barely 3,000' so it's phenomenally huge. It's so large, so beautiful that the rest of the mountains seem quite ordinary while in other settings they too would be considered specially beautiful. Everywhere the mountains are set off by braided rivers, rushing streams and the fall colors. Without doubt, this is the most beauriful place we've ever seen, a place everyone should see at least once in his/her lifetime.

Monday we generally putzed in YOW and walked around the campground. One of the strange and wonderful things about Denali is that visitors are encouraged to walk everywhere and anywhere even without trails. We found some great "trails" (human or animal who knows) behind our campsite that led to the Teklanika River then along it to a high rock bluff that looked out on hundreds of miles of wilderness. That's not an exaggeration...Denali is larger than Massachusetts and has just one 90-mile long road! To the west of te Park boundary there's 600+ miles of wilderness before one reaches the Bering Sea! Today we've continued the putzing and are now camped at the Riley Creek Campground...huge but it has a laundry which we need!

So, back to leaving Olnes Pond and turning onto the Steece Highway that leads east from Fairbanks to Circle, a small native town on the Yukon River. We never made Circle as we had such a great campsite in the Upper Chatanika River State Recreation Site where we stayed two nights. This is another great campground that's "open" but charges no fee because there are no services...a budgetary problem. We did explore some 20 miles east of there...beautiful but a bit boring. I guess we're just spoiled!

The drive from Fairbanks towards Denali was so beautiful, most of it overlooking the Tenana River Valley that we'd seen on the drive from Moon Lake CG to Fairbanks. Since we didn't have reservations in Denali until Saturday, we spent Friday night at the Taklinika Trading Post RV Park along the Nenama River...a great camping site plus they ha a great shower and an organic CSA garden that was really outstanding. We'd stopped at the little river town of Nenama along the way for lunch and a walk through the historic river town (where the Nenama and Nanama Rivers join). Luckily we found the Old Saw Shop where George, the proprietor, knew exactly what was wrong with our chain saw...we'd kept it in a black plastic garbage bag which resulted in condensation that got into the engine. He cleaned and dried everything so now it's in gerat conditionn (we'd discovered it wasn't working when we tried to cut some firewood on our drive up the Steece Highway).

As a general comment: throughout the trip, we've had great weather, lots of sunshine, very few bugs (including mosquitoes), roads have been excellent, there aren't many competing campers so we've had great campsites. This is very different from what we'd heard.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tuesday, August 19, 2008-Fairbanks, Alaska

We returned last night from another adventure...a 900 mile round trip to Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse on the Dalton Highway, also known as the "Haul Road" due to the heavy truck useage supplying the oil fields. We left Saturday morning, spent the night in the old mining town of Weisman, stayed Sunday night at the Arctic Caribou Inn in Deadhorse then drove all the way back to YOW at the Olnes Pond campground.

But let me start with Olnes Pond. Sharon, our friend from the Milepost had ssuggested it given our pecuniary nature...we didn't want to spend any more money than necessary in campground fees! Olnes Pond used to be a state campground but has been closed for some reason and is therefore free! About 20 miles north of Fairbanks, our site is right on the Pond and absolutely gorgeous.

The Dalton Highway is similar to the Dempster...a combination of both paved and dirt. We much prefer the dirt as the paved is subject to frost heaves which makes it very wavy whereas the dirt only has occasional pot holes. There's nothing flat about the Dalton...it's either uphill or downhill so thank heavens for the pac brake.
There's only one gas station along the Dalton at a place called Coldfoot Camp...the price? $5.89. Also in the Coldfoot area is the outstanding Arctic Interpretative Center, designed by a combination of the National Parks Service, BLM and the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. The displays are excellent backed up by lots of resosurces.

The Boreal Lodge in tiny Weisman, our home for Saturday night, consisted of a 4 bedroom lodge with two bathrooms (meaning we had to go outside to use it and shared them with 5 other people) and a shared kitchen. Weisman is totally off the grid so the Boreal Lodge is as well...supplied by a combination of solar panels, wind turbine, 2 diesel generators and a paddlewheel generator. But it was perfect for what we needed. We walked around town for about an hour...beautiful and totally charming. Most of the few homes are log, most dating back to the very early 1900s. The Koyukuk River runs along side the town...ice-y cold and a wonderful source of fish.

The North Slope is a vast area of gently rolling hills in wonderful fall colors of gold and red, braided rivers, and many bow hunters. We only saw a few caribou and the area is so wide open we have no idea how a hunter could sneak up on a caribou! Besides, we saw no antlers in any of the trucks so I don't think they did!

At the end of the North Slope and 3 miles from the Prudhoe Bay oil fields is the supply town of Deadhorse. Very industrial in character, the hotels are lodging for the workers in the oil fields and, originally, the builders of the Dalton. Nothing fancy here...just the basics of two twin beds, a dresser, two small tables and a bathroom...private! I'm glad we brought our own foam pillows and down comforters! The restaurant was also basic but decent.

We signed up for the Prudhoe Bay tour which was fascinating. Lots of facts to share: 1) the oil fields provide 20% of the U.S. oil needs, 2) the fields are 40 miles x 15 miles in size, 3) the operation runs 24/7/365 in 12 hour shifts with workers working 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. 4) salaries range from $50K-$200K, 5) there's a zero tolerance for both alcohol and drugs...and they mean zero, 6) once workers get themselves to Anchorage, everything is paid for...jet transportation, food, housing, clothing and equipment.

The following may surprise some of you. In terms of the environment, the area is clean and very wildlife friendly (the original pipelines were built quite close to the ground which interrupted caribou migration but they've been raised and there's no problem...in fact the caribou herd has increased 7 times since the highway and fields started to a current population of 30,000). All construction is done in the winter when ice roads can be used: buildings and wells are set on special pads to protect the tundra and permafrost. When the oil fields are depleted (estimated at about 50 years), everything man made will be removed and all sites will be re-seeded with native grasses and shrubs. Based on all we've seen, we both still strongly believe that the future must focus on development of alternative energy but that all North Slope oil, currently 17 fields, should be harvested and that includes ANWR.

Our long drive back (11 hours) began in cloudy, misty cold and we were afraid we'd never see the Brooks Range. But as we crested Atigun Pass, the clouds and mist were replaced by glorious sun and blue skies. Spectacular views were everywhere, the mountains above timberline enveloped in the reds of bear berry along golden ground cover. Below timberline, we found deep green spruce and bright gold aspens framed by sparkling rivers and streams. This is definitely an area we'd like to return to with some sort of camper (the road is definitely not YOW friendly!).

In the next few days, we plan to travel back to the Yukon, this time at Circle, a native village. After that we'll be exploring the Denali area.

Friday, August 15, 2008

August 15, 2008Fairbanks, Alaska

Leaving Dawson City, Yukon, in a slight mist, we took a photo from the hill as we began the drive over the Top of the World Highway, a 60+ mile drive. In a couple of hours, we reached the border crossing and easily passed through customs, especially after Harley showed off the side boxes on Babe (our truck)to the young customs officer! Our goal for Saturday night was Eagle, Alaska. The dirt road there was misty and cloudy but the sun appeared as we reached Eagle.

A small towm, Eagle developed as a "port" for the paddlewheel steamers traveling back and forth from Dawson City. The Yukon here is incredibly beautiful, wide calm, inviting exploration further and further to the west. We stayed at the very basic but clean Riverside Motel and ate at its even more basic Cafe. Walking around served as a pleasant hike.

Sunday morning we reluctantly left Eagle and retrieved YOW (we didn't take her as the Eagle road was often quite narrow and winding) at a wide spot in thte road at which many caribou campers had set up camp. While hooking up, we talked with a hunter from Texas who was bragging about all the blueberries he'd picked while waiting for his buddies to bring back a caribou. With no hesitation, he showed us where to find the berries and soon we had over a quart.

Fortified with dreams of yummy blueberry creations, we drove on south on the Taylor Highway to the Walker Fork BLM Campground and captured the only site right on the Fork, a 90'-100' wide stream. It was a short trip so there was plenty of time to walk around, pick another quart+ of blueberries and explore the nearby First Nation memorial to an unknown relative whose grave had been desecrated by earlier white men. The memorial was a small fenced in area at the top of a cliff.

While at Walker Fort, we met a couple from Hanover, Germany and enjoyed conversation and the nightly cocktail hour with them...what fun. Of course, we got into U.S. politics...Gerd expressed absolute amazement that Bush had been elected a second time and was looking forward to the outcome of November's election. After we finished dinner, Gerd came over with a gift of marvelous dark, heavy German bread and we gave him a frozen salmon steak.

Monday, we drove a short 35 miles to West Fork BLM Campground which had been recommended to us by a couple who'd driven into Walker Fork just as we were parking and strongly suggested we move on because West Fork was so lovely. I wouldn't give up our creek location but, of course, we had to check out West Fork. It couldn't have been better...when we drove in, we were the only campers and had first choice of sites. Other than the fact that the only hiking was around the campground and up a nearby hunter's track, this is probably the best site we've ever had: surrounded by tall evergreens, a large area behind YOW for the campfire and a bench overlooking a small lake surrunded by thick grasses and and thousands of acres of wilderness.

Shortly after we arrived, Harley noticed some splashing...soon we saw the head and large ears of a moose! For another hour+ we watched her move ever closer to our site, munching and submerging to find the tastiest greens. She was a two year old weighing about 1,200 pounds according the Denny White, the friendly campground host. What an incredibly treat that was!

We stayed for two nights, soaking in the peace and beauty of the location. Miss Moose never returned but we were so privileged to see as much as we did. Monday afternoon, a camper drove in sporting a Milepost sign on its door (if you're not familiar with it, The Milepost is the Bible for travelers to the North with detailed, mile by mile descriptions of what you see, where to stay, eat, what to avoid. We soon got to know Sharon Nault, Field Editor for The Milepost, enjoyed her company and queried her for suggestions for our trips to come. Wonderful resource! With Sharon, we shared the last of our blueberries, celebrating with blueberry pancakes, bacon, fried eggs and orange juice toddies. What a fine way to begin the next part of our trip.

Wednesday we picked up the Alaska Highway at Tok (along with diesel, propane, water and a wash job for both YOW and Babe...did they need it!. About 40 miles further on we stopped for the night at Moon Lake...lovely...and were greeted by loons and a strange, moaning animal sound from the far shore we never identified. It rained that night but was clear when we left on Thursday for the 165 mile drive to Fairbanks. Along the way we saw the snow capped peaks of the imposing Alaska Range, several moose and incredibly broad, braided rivers. YOW is now at Olnes Pond about 20 miles north of Fairbanks and we're in town doing errands.

Tomorrow, we're off for a three day trip to Prudhoe Bay...another adventure (YOW will stay behind as the Dalton/Haul Road is said to be quite rough). After that, it'll be Denali, then Anchorage, the Kenai, etc., etc. We've got another two months so who knows where we'll be and what we'll see!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Friday, August 8, 2008 Dawson City

Hopefully no one was really trying to track us based on the last blog...we haven't gone there yet! Instead, we took a 950 mile detour north along the Dempster Highway to Inuvit, Northwest Territories...the end of the road and far above the Arctic Circle!! YOW didn't get to go because the road, except for 5 miles in the beginning and 6 miles at the end is all dirt & gravel and when it rains, which it did, gets pretty slick.

The trip was great and quite an adventure...all mountains (including three passes each way), two ferries each way (no way to bridge these enormous rivers) and so many rivers we couldn't count them. In a small way it reminded us of going across the top of Trail Ridge but ever so much more expansive. We crossed the Arctic Circle about halfway. As we were out two nights (went up in two days and all the way back in one day), we stayed overnight first at the Eagle Plains Lodge, which was a glorified truck stop, and then at a cabin just outside Inuvik, the Arctic Chalet. The Chalet was charming...log cabins on a small lake and 30 pure white husky sled dogs!

Inuvik is a newer (built in the 1970s) of about 3,400 people, mostly First Nation (formerly called Eskimo but now they use their original name which I can neither spell or pronounce). Like most native towns, it has a Catholic church but this one is shaped like a huge igloo with a blue cross on top. We'd asked for a recommendation for dinner at the Chalet and was told the dining room at the Eskimo Inn..."poor rooms but great food" and that it was.

Much to our amazement, when we came out the passenger side door was ajar and a native woman was asleep inside! I tried to wake her and get her out but with no success. Harley went to find the Royal Canadian Mounted Police while I chatted with an older native woman...very pleasant but strongly recommended that we do nothing until a officer arrived. We didn't and he did with nothing harmed...and, yes, we thought we'd locked the truck.

On the trip back, the weather improved greatly and, best of all, we saw herds of caribou. They're the most amazing looking animals...the bucks (and most of the groups were bucks) have absolutely huge racks that look like arms raised above their heads with fingers at the top. They were a bit skittish when we stopped but we did manage to get quite close to many.

We drove straight through on the way back because neither of us wanted to spend another night eating and sleeping at the Eagle Plains Lodge...Harley is an amazing driver. So far on the entire trip I've only driven twice, once each on two separate days and for about an hour each time.

Tomorrow we really do plan to go over the Top of the World highway, cross the border, drop off YOW and drive up to Eagle. Hope all is going well at home.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Monday, August 4, 2008 Dawson City, Yukon Territory

Would you believe it? We're 165 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Dawson City, location of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897-98. DC is along the huge, broad Yukon River, 4th longest river in the world. During the gold rush, paddle wheelers were used to transport men and supplies. All came from the south and many via the White Pass Yukon Route narrow guage that ran from Skagway to Whitehorse. We're really learning a lot of history as well as thoroughly enjoying the trip.

While in DC we're camped in the Yukon River government campground...great site (#34) right on the river with a short path leading down to it. Wide mud flats and pebble beach on this side and brown stone cliffs inhabited by peregrine falcons on the other. During the late afternoon the river has many small power boats as well as the Keno paddle wheeler running up and down. Really fun watching the Keno...going downstream toward Eagle, Alaska and eventually the Bering Sea seemed easy; coming back going against the current it barely moved the current was so strong.

Between Juneau and DC, we camped at our Wolf Creek site just east of Whitehorse for another two nights...wanted to do some shopping and more hiking along the Creek. The forests here are so fabulous, the ground coated with lichens and moss, the trees tall and a mixture of aspen and spruce/lodgepole with glorious light filtering through. Strange though, we see very few animals and birds (although a met a raven close up yesterday here in DC along Front Street!). After Wolf Creek, we drove the Klondike Highway (a north turn just west of Whitehorse off the Alaska Highway) about 138 miles to DC with a camp at Tatchun (a native fish camp) Creek campground...and, yes, we were on the creek, of course!

We've really gotten into the swing of road triping...sleeping well, eating well and everything feels so natural. Tomorrow we'll be driving over the "Top of the World" highway then parking YOW at a rest stop and driving up to Eagle, Alaska which is also on te Yukon River. Harley read about Eagle in one of the books Linda gave him for his birthday and is fascinated to see the last stop before the bush.