7/11 Moved to Centennial Campground, the Anchorage Municipal campground; much nicer, and cheaper than the Klondike. Centennial does have its fair share of local Alaskan characters; polite, interesting to talk to, but definitely marching to different drummers.
Wandered through the Anchorage Market to browse and talk to the vendors, and get some lunch. Then walked through part of downtown.
mountain and an abundance of wild animals popping up. But we did pass a young bull moose further down Parks Hwy.
In trying to plan a trip to Kodiak Island we talked to a ferry agent to get reservations but the agent told us that all spaces were booked for next two weeks which would mess up our timing so we are unfortunately scratching Kodiak.
Camped at Klondike RV Park in Anchorage, a cramped commercial park where we were lined up like sardines. On our first trip we stayed in a really great park but apparently Anchorage’s growth gobbled it up because it no longer exists
7/8 – 7/9 Drove along Chena Hot Springs Rd to the springs. It was somewhat disappointing in that the water was lukewarm and the springs and the surronding area were not very pretty, unlike Liard springs. Oh well, one never knows unless one tries. Stayed overnight at the campground by the springs and drove back down the Springs Rd along which we saw a moose and calf by Slough Lake. Then through Fairbanks, again, and onto Denali in blah weather – overcast with occasional showers.
Stopped in Nenana bought tickets for the 2016 Ice Classic. Had a very nice long conversation with Margie Riley, who runs the Visitor Center, and her husband, Gerald, who is, as he says, a native (mostly Athabaskan with a smattering of Russian, English and Irish). He has won many mushing contests through Canada and placed third in the Iditarod. Gerald is self taught, very articulate and easy to talk to. Like most people who lack formal education he denigrates his own intelligence, he says he can’t learn things the way they are taught but must translate it into his own way and then he owns it (that sounds smart to me) . He said that he naturally knew how to fly since from a baby he was always in small planes – the only way to get around; he ended up as a navy captain in WWII.
Continued down the Parks Hwy which had major construction and extremely muddy, yuck! Will have to wash the rig again. Most Alaskan roads have considerable construction during the summer to repair the continual damage from frost heaves and minor earthquakes, so traveling in Alaska during the summer is always likely to be a dusty, muddy experience. Camped just outside of Denali at Denali RV Park, Cantwell, AK.
Pitzed around Fairbanks; shopping, picking up a fishing license, etc. Fairbanks was extremely smoky and at times quite uncomfortable because of it; at present there are over 300 active fires in Alaska, with several big ones near the city. There has been considerably less precipitation this year than is normal and this has left the forests extremely dry and easily torched by random lightning strikes. If the wind blows in the wrong direction our eyes start burning. Spent an interesting afternoon at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, a museum dedicated to the natural, cultural and art history of Alaska.
In 2003, when we were in Fairbanks, we went to a an old gold mine where the owners allow you to pan for gold, for a fee of course. We managed to recover a wee bit of gold which Arlyne had put into a pendant and wears constantly. We decided to go back to Dredge No 8 to pan for more gold and ended up getting $70 in gold flakes which Arlyne put into a new pendant.
Things were going too smoothly, thus something had to happen, which turned out to be a lost cap for one of my teeth. Fortunately, I found a dentist who could fabricate and install a new cap in one day, so we hung around Fairbanks for another day to get this taken care of.
7/4 Drove the Richardson Hwy (Rt 2) to Fairbanks; did see a moose and her calf but otherwise a rather uneventful ride. Stopped at Delta Meat & Sausage Co in Delta Junction; the owners, the McCollum family, moved from Montana and started a farm near Delta Junction and now have a USDA certified packing plant. They produce a variety of meats and sausage so naturally we had to pick up some elk, buffalo and caribou sausages which were and are delicious. We then stopped at the Delta Junction Visitor Center to take a photo of the sign commemorating the northern end of the Alaska Highway. Continued to Fairbanks and camped at Chena River State Recreation Site, a small but nice campground on the outskirts of very smokey Fairbanks.
We then stopped at the Delta Junction Visitor Center to take a photo of the sign commemorating the northern end of the Alaska Highway.
7/3 Rain on and off all night so we left the campground early to give extra time to deal with muddy roads. The Alaskan part of the Top Of The World Hwy is much narrower, has many more hairpin turns with sharp drop-offs (some several hundred feet) none of which have guardrails, and the road is in much worse repair. At least the rain has stopped and the sun is beginning to peak through the clouds.
Stopped at Chicken (population 23 in summer, 7 in winter) to get a coffee mug – one just has to have a Chicken coffee mug. Chicken got it’s name from the local birds, ptarmigans, which the miners used for food. The problem was that no one could spell ptarmigan so they just called them chickens instead.
Given the road conditions and the many stops for pictures we took close to 4 hours to cover the 78 miles from Chicken to Tok (pronounced “toke”), AK. We camped in Tok at the Tok RV Village; not a super place but they had wifi and a reasonably good do-it-yourself RV wash, and boy did our rig need it.
The weather was overcast but appeared to be clearing so we decided to push on, even though it was late. As it turned out it was a beautiful day for the Top of the World Highway (Canadian Rt 9); a little rain here and there, just enough to turn the road to mud which naturally nicely coated our rig a very rich brown, but otherwise, it was great weather for driving and picture taking. We had forgotten how
exquisitely beautiful the drive was; one is literally traveling among mountain peaks, level with the clouds. You have to be careful not to focus too much on the view or you’ll drive off the road and over very high cliffs; the road is narrow and quite twisty so it would be easy to do. Had a nice conversation with the US customs agent at the Alaskan border, he filled us in on recent news and talked about his and his family’s enjoyment of living in Alaska compared to their life Outside (ie; in the lower 48). Camped at Walker Fork, a Bureau of Land Management campground; quite isolated but with good sites and only 2 other campers. We could have panned for gold in the stream by the campground but we didn’t have a suitable substitute for a gold pan, so we had to leave our untold riches in the ground.
6/30 – 7/1
Dawson City still has that frontier town feel to it: many of the original buildings are still standing, although some at rather strange angles because of permafrost melting and the sidewalks are wooden boardwalks. With the exception of Front street the roads are dirt; the reason for this is that with the constant frost heaves, in the fall and spring, it is much, much cheaper to fix dirt roads than asphalt ones.
Quite a few of the buildings have been taken over by Parks Canada and restored. Each has a docent, dressed in period costumes, to explain the history and architecture. The docents really get into their characters and it is evident they relish their act, they make the history come alive.
Of special note is the Danoja Zho Cultural Center which is run by the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation people and explains their history and culture. Our tour was led by the great, great, great nephew of Chief Isaac who, in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s mediated between the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and the incoming gold rushers; he was a bridge between the old ways and the new and assured that his people gained respect and full rights within the Canadian government. It is because of Chief Isaac that the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in have an absolute say in the stewardship of their lands.
We had planed to stay in Dawson for two days, to visit all the sights, but Canada Day, which celebrates Canada’s achievement of Commonwealth status with England, is July 1st and we thought it would be fun to join in the festivities. Also, the weather was rainy with very low clouds and driving the Top Of The World Highway, which is a dirt road with hairpin turns and steep drop-offs, would not be all that much fun.
6/29
Left Whitehorse and drove Rt 2 towards Dawson City. Just had to stop at Lake Laberge, made famous by one of my favorite Canadian poets, Robert W Service in his poem The Cremation of Sam McGee (Read the poem). Further along we stopped at the Yukon River’s Five Finger Rapids and hiked down 219 stairs then a mile on a trail covered with volcanic and forest fire (from a 1996 fire) ash, it was like walking on talcum powder – very dusty. It’s amazing that stern wheel river boats could traverse these rapids, but they did, this river was the major highway of the time, even with it’s 10 knot current.
The further towards Dawson City we moved the more forest fires we encountered; dark smoke clouds, the sky extremely hazy with smoke and at times our eyes stung because of the smoke. To make things more fun the road was muddy, dusty gravel. Camped at the Dawson City RV park.
6/26 – 6/28 The days were taken up doing chores: oil change, vet visit, shopping and walking the town. Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon, is a fairly large town with a population of 26,000, which considering that Yukon’s total population is only 34,000, means that almost everyone you meet in the Yukon lives in Whitehorse. As in all Yukon towns, there is a large presence of First Nation people which gives the town a distinctive vibrance and a can-do atmosphere. We visited the MacBride Museum of Yukon History which showcases the accomplishments of the early residents: First Nation people, miners, entrepreneurs, statesmen, etc; definitely a worthwhile stop. Also stopped by the Whitehorse dog park.
Walking the streets of Whitehorse we saw some sculptures, which appeared to be headless people, at the entrance to a building across the street . The building was the Law Courts and it seemed a rather stark comment on Yukon law enforcement but on closer inspection it was the squat nature of the sculptures that gave them thats appearance at a distance.
6/25 Left Teslin early, heading towards Whitehorse along Rt.1. Nothing of particular note along the way, just pretty scenery – how boring. Stopped at Teslin which has two museums one should visit: George Johnson and the Tlingit Heritage Center (Tlingit pronounced “cling kit”). George Johnson was an accomplished Tlingit businessman and photographer who lived in Teslin in the early 1900’s. In 1928 George decided to buy a new four door Chevrolet. There were several problems which George had to overcome, however. The first being that the car was in a dealership in Whitehorse which was over 100 miles from Teslin and there were no roads also, there were no roads in Teslin. George had the car shipped on a paddle wheeler down the Yukon River, up the Teslin River and across Teslin Lake, a journey of about 500 miles. While he was waiting for the car George built a road around Teslin and when the car arrived, sold tickets for rides. In the winter he would sell tickets to go hunting on Lake Teslin – he painted the car white, in winter, for camouflage. The car, in gorgeous condition, is a centerpiece of the museum.
The Tlingit Heritage Center provides a view into the day-to-day life of the Tlingit people and explains their history and culture. It is well worth a stop.
Dropped the camper at the Caribou RV Park in Whitehorse and headed into town to make appointments to change the truck’s oil, and a veterinarian for our oldest dog’s eye infection and nose bleeds. Visited the Government of Yukon building to see the Legislature; rather disappointing after the NWT. The building is quite utilitarian, it houses the administrative offices and has a single Assembly meeting room – it seemed almost an afterthought. We came away feeling that the Assembly Delegates were considerably less important than the administrative bureaucrats.
