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7/2    Didn’t leave Dawson City until 1pm because of an accident on the Yukon River ferry.  A 40′ motor home (a bus frame that has been fitted out with, usually rather luxurious, living quarters and could cost upwards of $600,000) crashed into the ferry resulting in extensive damage to the motor home but none to the ferry, however, investigation by the RCMP delayed everything.  While waiting for the ferry Arlyne got into a conversation with the woman in line behind us. It turned out that the woman, Nathalie Parenteau, is a well known Canadian artist and Arlyne had bought a tee shirt which had one of her designs on it. Some of Nathalie’s works are quite extraordinary in their ability to penetrate the viewer’s psyche ( see www.nathalieparenteau.com/original-paintings/ ).

Top Of The World Hwy – rain

Top Of The World Hwy – more rain

Yuk – and this is just the beginning

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

 

 

 

Top Of The World Hwy

Porter Creek Border Post

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.

More Top Of The World Photos

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.

Entering Chicken, AK

Yep, Chicken

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.

Think It Needs A Wash?

Alaska Highway End

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.

Talk About a Dry River, and Smoke

Mother and Child

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.

Here’s the Moose

And Junior

Nenana Visitor’s Center

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.

More Photos

 
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.

Centennial Park Firebreather

Centennnial Park Firebreather breathes

Wandered through the Anchorage Market to browse and talk to the vendors, and get some lunch.  Then walked through part of downtown.

7/12

Turnagain Arm View

Drove Rt 1- the Seward Hwy, a spectacularly beautiful road that for the 1st third is adjacent to the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet ( the Turnagain Arm’s name was given by Capt Cook’s crew because the many bays and inlets which caused the ship to have to turn around again and again). Stopped almost every ½ mile for pictures even though it was cloudy with light rain/mist. Saw Beluga whales, parasurfers and Dall sheep.
Visited theAlaskan Wildlife Conservation Center, in Portage Creek, which houses injured or orphaned young animals. Camped at Williwaw USFS campground on the Portage Glacier Access Rd – a really beautiful campground, at the base of the Middle Glacier, with well separated sites.

Come On Kids

Dall Sheep

Parasurfers

More Photos

7/13 – 7/14 

Lower Summit Lake

Seward Harbor at Sunrise

Went on down to Seward, in the rain, and camped at the Municipal Campground, not bad and is right on the water. Went fishing and caught and released a 6″ dolly varden but no salmon. The rain ended overnight and the dawn heralded a bright sunny day. Went fishing again but after a morning without even a nibble I called it quits and Arlyne and I walked into town to view the sights. Seward prides itself on its murals and they are quite pretty, plentiful and varied in theme.

Seward Mural

More Seward Photos

7/15

Started back along the Seward Hwy ( Rt 9). Stopped at Exit Glacier National Park and hiked to the glacier, a relatively easy climb with some really nice scenery. The glacier, which is one of many arms of the Harding Icefield, has receded more than a half mile since 1900.
Stopped at Moose Pass to see it’s reconstructed Pelton waterwheel, which extracts almost all the momentum of the flowing water. The town patriarch, Frank Roycroft, built a Pelton wheel hydroelectric plant, in 1928, which supplied the town with electricity until 1956 . Back to the highway and on to the Sterling Hwy Rt 1 towards Soldotna. Camped at US Forest Service Cooper Creek campground, a pretty little park with only 7 sites right on the Kenai river.

7/16 – 7/17

Slodotna Wood Sculpture

Reached Soldotna around noontime and set up camp at the Klondike RV Park, then I drove down the road to the Kenai river to catch salmon – Ha. The fast flowing river ( about a 15 knot current) was jam packed with other fishermen, about 1 every 6 ft, but no one was catching anything – except for a seagull which swooped down and caught a small trout. In addition to the current, the wind was furiously blowing down the river which made casting difficult and standing on the very slippery shore a challenge.

Holy Assumption Russian Orthodox Church

The next day we walked through the village of Kenai, which is adjacent to Soldotna, not much to see although there was a small Russian Orthodox church built in 1841 when there was a large Russian presence in the area. The church is now a National Historic Landmark. The town basically caters to the sport fishermen whose numbers could be seen wading in the surf at the mouth of the Kenai river. Drove the Kenai Spur Hwy to Captain Cook State Recreation Area and camped at Discovery campground. Fished for trout in the Swanson River and I caught, and released 3 small ones which, in spite of their size, were fun to work. I have come to appreciate using barbless hooks; it’s much easier to release the fish without injury and, in addition, it’s more fun because it requires greater finesse to keep the fish from throwing the hook.

View, across Cooks Inlet, from Discovery campsite

More Photos

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