Dalton Highway

Terry has always had an interest in driving the  Haul Road (Dalton Highway) to the Arctic Circle.  The tours that you can take are so outrageously expensive (no 2 for 1 coupons in the Alaska Tour Saver Book) so we decided early on that we would not do this.  However, we decided just to drive a few miles on the road to the Arctic Circle just to see what it was like. 

  

We started out at 5:30 am in the hopes of seeing some wildlife and we did see 7 moose in the morning.  Well the road was really good--not half as bad as the horror stories we had heard--so we kept going.  We made it to the Yukon River Crossing and we stopped at the Ranger Station which was a big mistake.

  

The ranger was way too excited and shared a scenic side road to take just 30 miles down the road with panoramic views.  So we decided that would be a good lunch stop to have our picnic lunch.  The view was everything the ranger said it would be and we had our lunch--in the truck because the mosquitos and bugs were soooo bad. 

 

Looking at the map it was only 30 "more" miles to the Arctic Circle and the road had continued to still be good.  How could we not continue on to the Arctic Circle when we were so close!  Yes, we managed to make it to the Arctic Circle by 2 pm. and then we had to drive all the way back--it was a long day.

The pictures are here.

Chena Hot Springs Drive

Early one morning we left for Chena Hot Springs hoping to see moose.  We figured our best chances were  when it was still cool out before the moose bedded down for the day.  We were rewarded with lots of moose sightings--13 total. This included a mama and her 2 babies and and  couple of "Bullwinkles" with huge racks.  We also saw a fox and a beaver along the way. Enjoy the pictures here.

Tok to Fairbanks

The drive from Tok to Fairbanks was on a good road (Richardson Hwy). The road was wet but we must have been just following the rain. We had mostly sun. The scenery is good but not as spectacular as we have had through the inside passage. Of course we had to stop at Delta Junction for the pictures at the end of the Alaskan Hwy. This trip we will not be driving the beginning of the highway since we will be returning via the Cassiar.

  

 

We are staying at the Riverview RV Park which is located between Fairbanks and North Pole along the Chena River.  It is a good location for us to do our sightseeing in and around Fairbanks.

We visited the University of Alaska Museum of the North  which featured a special exhibit on the Denali Legacy: 100 Years on the Mountain along with their permanent exhibits focusing on the cultures, wildlife, geography and history of Alaska.  This was one of our favorite stops from our last trip to Alaska and as museums go you can never absorb everything in one visit.

On our tour of Gold Dredge 8, a National Historical Site, we rode to the dredge site on a replica of the Tanana Valley Railroad, we learned about the Trans Alaska Pipeline and panned for gold.  Alas we struck it rich--$49 worth of gold--maybe we should stake a claim and stay in Alaska indefinitely!  I know for a fact that will not happen as we have had a major battle with the mosquito population. There was also a presentation about the pipeline as it passes through the property.

   

The first night we stayed in Fairbanks we went to bed with the windows open and woke up 2 hours later because we were being attacked by the mosquitoes. They were easy to spot on the white curtains in the trailer and Terry started swatting at them only to have them explode and spurt blood all over our nice white curtains.  So at 2 am Sue is washing the bloody curtains and we continue to hunt down the rest of the bloodsucking varmits.  Meanwhile we closed the windows and turned the air conditioning on.

The Robert E. White Large Animal Research Station (LARS) of the University of Alaska Fairbanks proved to be a worthwhile tour to see the musk ox, reindeer and caribou.  In 1960 when the musk ox were nearing extinction, they transported musk ox from Greenland to Alaska.  Now there are currently around 4,000 musk ox in Alaska and LARS has a herd of about 30.

  

The pictures can be found here.

End of the Inside Passage phase of our Adventure

It was another beautiful sunny day when we left Juneau on the Malaspina. Dave and I were the first two vehicles to board. We went in the front door took a sharp left turn, drove down the length of the ship,took a right u-turn and drove back to the front of the ship. Turns out this was to position us to be able to just drive off when we arrived in Haines.  The ferry ride was smooth as glass. We did not see much wildlife but the views were great.

 

Hainess is a wonderful small town in Alaska. You can reach it via the highway and by ferry as well as air. The views are spectacular from the Oceanview RV Park where we camped. The spaces are a little tight and just gravel but the view makes up for it. On Sunday evening after the first day of the crab season, the campground host, Joyce,  provides a crab potluck for the campers. At $6 a crab it is a real bargain. We had a great time meeting everyone and  the dungenous crabs were great. On Saturday night the community celebrated their annual 150 mile bike relay from Haines Junction  to Haines and we  enjoyed  the Salmon BBQ  at the Southeast Alaska State Fairgrounds.  Monday night we celebrated our 35th Anniversary at Mosey’s  Cantina.  Our last day in Haines was the last time we will see Susie and Dave as we go our separate ways. This was another excuse to dine out and  this time we went to the Fireweed Restaurant. I can definitely recommend all of these if you are ever in the area.

 

We did do some other things beside eat while in Haines. Dave and I had to visit the Hammer Museum. What a collection of hammers as you can see here. The hammer out front was too big for both of us. Don’t understand why the girls did not want to go with us!

The second major event was to tour the Kroschel Wildlife Center.  This is a must see if you are ever here. We had the opportunity to see some wild animals close.  You will get the idea from my pictures. By the way Sue got to kiss a Moose on the nose. Check the event out here.

Sue and I took a self guided tour of the Haines Cannery but they did not have any fish to process so we did not get to see it in action.

The last time Sue and I were in Haines we drove in from Whitehorse for the day. It was rainy and overcast. Little did we know what we were missing then. This time the weather was great and the views unbelievable. The movie will even show a fish wheel turning but alas no fish to make it interesting. Enjoy the pictures here.

Tracy Arm Tour

The Tracy Arm Tour took all day. it was two hours each way to just get to the Arm. Tracy is even more spectacular than Glacier Bay for scenery even though the only real animals were the whales you will find in the pictures. We were nearly back to Juneau when we came on two whales doing the bubble net feeding. 

I will let the pictures tell the story.

Glacier Bay National Park

Sue and I got our money of of the Tour Saver Book on this trip. The flight over on Wings Air was a 2 for 1 as was our lodging and day tour. Again we continue to have good weather as you will see in the pictures. Sue was a little apprehensive about the small plane but in the end was a happy girl and enjoyed the flight a lot. We had two nights in Glacier Bay Lodge. The meals here were great even though a bit on the high side. This was an anniversary outing for us.

The day trip was fantastic with Sea lions, Birds,  Goats, Bears, and oh by the way Glaciers.

Hope you enjoy the pictures here.

Juneau Day 1

Had to take one more picture of the RVs in Sitka this time from the Harbor looking up.

We are on a different boat from Sitka to Juneau than all of the other legs of the trip. The Fairweather is a 19200 horsepower catamaran. The specs say it can do 50 mph but cruises normal at 35 mph. This made for a 6 hour trip. It was also nice that we did not have to board in the middle of the night like the rest of the legs. We boarded at a nice 12:30 PM and arrived at 7:45 with one stop in Angoon. Angoon is another very small largely first nation village. A large supply of supplies were off loaded from the ferry. It was like Christmas in June for the people there.

  

It was a great day for the ride, partly cloudy and dry! This boat however has limited outside deck, only the back. Still manage to get some shots including the rainbow out the window.

  

Our first day was spent touring the Mendenhall Glacier National Park. Dave remarked on how much it had receded in the last four years.

 

The rest of the pictures are here.

Last day in Sitka

The sun has finally showed its head. We had already made up our mind to go come rain or shine. We were off the explore the Sitka National Historical Park. This is the location of the battle between the Tlingits and the Russians in 1804. For several days they fought with the Tlingits finally retreating to the other side of the island. Eventually they both learned to live together but were never trusting  of each other.

We had a lovely young ranger who had only been here a month lead us on the Totem walk. We were the only ones in the party which was very nice. We could ask all our question. This park has lots of maintained trails and was a very pleasant stroll.

After the park we walked about downtown. Hope you enjoy some of the flowers and much as we did. I have also included a video scan of downtown Sitka.

  

All the pictures are here.

Alaska Raptor Center

Today was our visit to the Alaska Raptor Center. You can find more information about the center at http://www.alaskaraptor.org. My pictures from there are here.

Sue, Susi, Dave and myself are going to dinner tonight at the Larkspur Café with a concert. More about that later.

Rainy in Sitka

Other than the day we arrived it has generally been rainy here is Sitka. Never to be kept from our appointed task of exploring each stop, Sue and I have driven the entire 14 miles of paved highway here. The rain is mostly a mist with gray skies most of the time. We have had some heavier showers at night. We have walked into town and explored. We toured St Michaels Cathedral and all the shops .  Found nothing that we wanted and or could afford.

They do get cruise ships. Some dock outside of town and bus the people to town. Some anchor in the harbor and use tenders to shuttle people back and forth.

Enjoy the pictures here.

Petersburg to Sitka

I will try to bring you up to date on our travels. On our last day  in Petersburg we stopped at the Eagles Roost Park. This was a pretty little city park right on the water.

   

Next was a trip to the Man made hole. This was a stone pit that they used to build the road. When they were finished with the road they decided to redirect a nearby stream to the pit to create a small lake. The water on the lake was so still and the light was flat since it was misting. The combination of the two resulted in  great reflections in the water. Please note the large Skunk Cabbage plant along the trail.

  

Next up was a potluck lunch with Susi’s painting Partners from Petersburg. See Susi’s blog entry about that.

The ferry from Petersburg was supposed to leave at 1:45 am but was late and did not leave until around 2:45 am. It is a  12 hour ride to make the trip to Sitka.  Needless to say, we took our sleeping bags and pillows and slept for part of the trip.  The ferry’s first stop was Kate which is largely a first nations village. As you can see, the ferry terminal was little more than a roof. After breakfast we enjoyed watching the boat navigate through some narrow passages and had fun spotting bears on the shore.  Getting off the ferry was a little bit of a challenge as Terry had to back the truck and trailer the length of the boat, make a 90 degree turn and then back up the ramp to get off.  Once again the ferry staff was extremely helpful and Terry managed to get off without any problems.

  

For all my Airstream Friends you must check out the Alaskan Flamingo Tree (definitely one of a kind).

 

It was less than 10 miles from the ferry dock to the campground where we would be staying for the next week.  Seal Cove RV park is basically a parking lot right on the harbor.  The view out our trailer window is beautiful and we have water and electric.  There are no showers available and no sewer hook up so we will be conserving our water all week.  The location is great as we are within walking distance of downtown Sitka.  We spent the rest of the day setting up camp and going to bed early as we were tired from the ferry ride.

 

There is a dormant volcano – Mt Edgecumbe just beyond our site.

There was one wee problem on our arrival.  We did not dump our tanks in Petersburg and with no sewer hookup here in Sitka we had to find the city dump station. Not really a problem since it was right down the road from our campground. The problem was they had these giant guard rocks at the entrance. Well I was trying to make sure the trailer did not hit one of them. Don’t you know the largest guard rock jumped in front of the truck and plucked my tire monitor off the valve stem to disappear forever. You guessed-- it a flat tire had to be changed right there in the entrance. Luckily after a having the stem replaced we were back in business. Just does not pay when you are tired.

After a good night's rest we were off to explore Sitka.

All of the pictures are here.

All of the albums for the trip can be found here.