Leaf Borers and a Bald Eagle

Sunday, June 28, 2009 – Day 59

We slept in late today as we really hadn’t planned to do a lot.   After breakfast we went for a hike along Miles Canyon.  We had hiked in Miles Canyon when we were here in mid-May.  What a difference.  The deciduous trees are now in full leaf although the poplars seem to be affected by a leaf borer, which creates a zigzag pattern in the leaves and causes them to reflect the light so that they look a greyish green.  The wild crocuses that were in bloom when we were here have been replaced by many other wildflowers and the water in the canyon seems to have cleared from a browny colour to a more, typical glacial blue-green.  

When we had completed the hike we went to the Yukon Energy hydro electric dam.  To aid the Chinook/King salmon on their migration up the Yukon River, they have built a wooden fish ladder next to the dam.  This is reportedly the longest, wooden fish ladder in the world and features a glass viewing area where you can see the fish as they make their way up the ladder. Too bad it is closed on Saturday and Sunday. We’ll have to try to catch it tomorrow.

 

 

We had been told that Fish Lake Road was a scenic drive just west of Whitehorse.  What northerners call a road I would call a dirt track.  There is some gravel sections and it was very badly potholed.  My guess is the grader operator felt that this could wait till next year….three years ago.  After several miles of this driving we finally arrived at Fish Lake.  I guess you have to see it in a different light.  The scenery going back down IS amazing.  (Funny thing when you’re trying to avoid the biggest pot holes you don’t look in your rear-view mirrors.) From different places along the route you can see Whitehorse in the Yukon River Valley and it is really breathtaking.

The rain had stopped when we got into Whitehorse so we decided to walk around some of the stores.  We picked up the local newspaper the Yukon News,  not so much for the content as we have been following world events on the internet, but more for the local flavour.  We try to do this in any city that publishes a newspaper.

On our way back to the trailer we stopped by a roadside information kiosk, at which we had stopped on our previous visit.  An eagle has nested in a nesting box very near this kiosk.  We were able to get some really good pictures of her. 

South on the Klondike Highway or Whitehorse, Round 2

Saturday, June 27, 2009 -  Day 58

We pulled out of Dawson City this morning around 09:00 AM. (A surprisingly early start for the Lewis’.) The temperature was 9C, under a mostly sunny sky. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, ”Gold Fever”; there are tailings from the gold dredges all around Dawson City.  I didn’t realize till we started driving that they extend about 8 miles past the city on both sides of the highway.  Past this point however the forest starts creeping back to the side of the road and things get a little more scenic.  The Klondike Highway is in fairly good condition with a few gravel sections and some frost heaved areas, but nothing at all like the dirt track that they pass off as the Taylor Highway, east of Chicken, AK.

Rain started falling when we approached the Carmacks area and continued almost all the way into Whitehorse.  We stopped at the overlook of Five Finger Rapids on the Yukon River.  These rapids apparently were quite the curse to river navigators during the Gold Rush years and many riverboats have been wrecked there.  From the top of the bluff it didn’t look that bad to me.  All perspective I suppose.  We wanted to stop at Lake Laberge, made famous by Robert Service, in the Cremation of Sam McGee, but it was raining buckets at the time, so we wimped out.

 

As I am writing this I forgot to mention that yesterday, we had wandered down to the river where some large tents had been setup with an even larger “FINISH” sign.  Apparently, this was the weekend of the Yukon River Quest – 740 Km or 460 miles along the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson City.  This is apparently the longest canoe and kayak race in the world. (I drove for seven hours today 332 miles and my butt was sore!) The race is conducted over the course of four days, but a few teams had finished yesterday with a total in water time of 40 hours and 52 minutes.  Incredible.  I guess they didn’t have any trouble at Five Finger Rapids either.

We intend to spend a couple of days in Whitehorse, just looking around and catching some of the things that had been closed when we came through here in the middle of May.  All the ice is now off the River; the trees are in full leaf and wild flowers are growing along the roadsides. It has changed considerably! We are also scheduled for an oil change on Monday.  As of today we have travelled 7779 miles!

A Visit to the Commissioner’s Residence

Friday, June 26, 2009 – Day 57

An overcast, drizzly day with a high temperature of about 12C.  A good day to spend indoors; and that is exactly what we did.  We were at the Dawson City Museum, when it opened at 10:00 AM.  The locomotive shed which is next door is only open a couple of times during the day, so we went there first.  I should mention that probably 98% of all the buildings in Dawson have tin roofs, and because the locomotive shed has not interior partition walls and no insulation to deaden the sound, the rain was making a sharp pinging sound on the roof.  The locomotives housed here were from a railroad dedicated to servicing the mining area.  Dawson owes it’s very existence to the gold rush and fittingly the theme of the museum is dedicated to gold and the gold rush.

On the back deck they offered a demonstration of a rocker box. (Basically a large cradle shaped contraption that could process more gravel than a single gold pan. Although the final separation must still be done with a gold pan.)  A couple of volunteers from the audience supplied the manpower for the rocker box while Museum staff performed the final separation with the gold pan. The gravel to be processed was supplied from a claim in the Bonanza Creek area and was guaranteed to contain gold.  Sure enough at the end of the demo there were two tiny nuggets of gold in the pan. The staff member estimated that they were worth about $10 each.  Now I wonder…how could they guarantee that there was gold in that bucket of gravel???

Unfortunately the original museum had burned to the ground along with almost every artefact it contained. The new museum is housed in one of the original Territorial Administrative buildings but I would guess that the artefacts are not quite as old as what was previously on display.  Although, Dawson’s history only goes back a little more than 110 years ago anyway.  In its heyday Dawson was the largest city north of San Francisco and west of Winnipeg and was sometimes referred to as “Paris of the North”.  Today the population of Dawson is 1,800 full time residents and it is no longer the Territorial Capital.

This afternoon we had a date with a Parks Canada interpreter at the Commissioners Residence.  At one time this was the official residence of the Territorial Commissioner when Dawson City was the Territorial Capital.  If you were arriving by riverboat the first building that you would see would be this large two and half story residence at the bend in the Yukon River. It was meant to give the impression of stature in an otherwise frontier landscape.  The interior was no less ostentatious.  The interior has richly carved woodwork with a dark wainscoting.  The parquet flooring is laid in an intricate multi coloured pattern.  Parks Canada has done an excellent job of restoring the residence to its former grandeur.

Dawson is a comfortable, tourist town without all the boisterous hype of  Skagway.  Other than Front St. along the Yukon River none of the streets in the city are paved. The sidewalks are slightly elevated boardwalks and up till very recently they dumped their sewage directly into the river. Local bylaws mandate that the buildings must reflect a turn of the Century character, although the bright colours on some of the buildings break with that tradition.  Dawson City is like that shabby old pair of slippers you like to put on or that big, soft easy chair that seems to welcome a little nap.

Strange Things Done in the Midnight Sun

Thursday, June 25, 2009 – Day 56

We took a walking tour with a Parks Canada interpreter today.  Janice was dressed in period costume as she pointed out the historic buildings of Dawson City.  Aboriginal peoples had always come to this site but it wasn’t until the discovery of gold that a town sprung up and the first structures built were of course the saloons.  Some smart business people bought up all the land that fronted the Yukon River, (present day Front Street) and during the height of the gold rush these lots were selling for $20,000 to 30,000.  Outfitting stores, hardware stores, hotels and saloons all were equipped with scales to weigh the gold dust the only currency at the time.     Stability was restored with the arrival of the Bank of North America moved in.  They setup an assay office in the back

of the bank to measure the purity and weight of the gold and then would give the prospector Canadian Currency in exchange.  The bank building has been restored as has the Red Feather saloon.  The only original building that has survived the test of time is the Post Office and a few other buildings that were raised off the permafrost.  Most buildings that were built on the permafrost have collapsed. 

When we returned to the starting point the Palace Grand Theatre.  Another interpreter in the role of Martha Black, described her experience as one of the few women (other than working girls) who came up to the Klondike during the stampede. Martha Black went on to become the second woman elected to the House of Commons.

After lunch we returned to the Palace Grand to watch a performance of the one act play called, Bloomers and Buckshot.  The play centered around two “percentage girls” working in a Dawson City saloon.  It described the hard life that these women had chosen, and how hard it was to escape it.      Immediately after a film was shown of many of the famous (or infamous) Good Time Girls of the Klondike.  Similar to the play the film described in greater detail the tough life of such women as Klondike Kate and Diamond Tooth Gertie.  We returned to the trailer to do some maintenance and had an early supper.

“There are strange things done in the midnight sun” the first line from The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service.  We went to the Robert Service cabin for another Parks Canada, interpretive program.  Sam Cogswell, is a Sociology/Philosophy student from Queens University who was in Robert Service character.  His presentation of poetry, combined with biography was outstanding.  He presented a few poems strictly from memory without referring to any notes.  Two of the poems that I can recall are The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill and the Three Bares (which is copied below IF you have the time).  The evening was warm and sunny (as are most nights in the Yukon) a few mosquitoes were buzzing around but everybody was enthralled Sam’s presentation.  A must see if you are NOT a poetry buff.  Just plain entertaining.

The Three Bares by Robert W. Service

Ma tried to wash her garden slacks but couldn't get 'em clean
And so she thought she'd soak 'em in a bucket o' benzine.
It worked all right. She wrung 'em out then wondered what she'd do
With all that bucket load of high explosive residue.
She knew that it was dangerous to scatter it around,
For Grandpa liked to throw his lighted matches on the ground.
Somehow she didn't dare to pour it down the kitchen sink,
And what the heck to do with it, poor Ma jest couldn't think.

Then Nature seemed to give the clue, as down the garden lot
She spied the edifice that graced a solitary spot,
Their Palace of Necessity, the family joy and pride,
Enshrined in morning-glory vine, with graded seats inside;
Jest like that cabin Goldylocks found occupied by three,
But in this case B-E-A-R was spelt B-A-R-E----
A tiny seat for Baby Bare, a medium for Ma,
A full-sized section sacred to the Bare of Grandpapa.

Well, Ma was mighty glad to get that worry off her mind,
And hefting up the bucket so combustibly inclined,
She hurried down the garden to that refuge so discreet,
And dumped the liquid menace safely through the <em>centre</em> seat.

Next morning old Grandpa arose; he made a hearty meal,
And sniffed the air and said: 'By Gosh! how full of beans I feel.
Darned if I ain't as fresh as paint; my joy will be complete
With jest a quiet session on the usual morning seat;
To smoke me pipe an' meditate, an' maybe write a pome,
For that's the time when bits o' rhyme gits jiggin' in me dome.'

He sat down on that special seat slicked shiny by his age,
And looking like Walt Whitman, jest a silver-whiskered sage,
He filled his corn-cob to the brim and tapped it snugly down,
And chuckled: 'Of a perfect day I reckon this the crown.'
He lit the weed, it soothed his need, it was so soft and sweet:
And then he dropped the lighted match clean through the <em>middle seat</em>.

His little grand-child Rosyleen cried from the kichen door:
'Oh, Ma, come quick; there's sompin wrong; I heared a dreffel roar;
Oh, Ma, I see a sheet of flame; it's rising high and higher...
Oh, Mummy dear, I sadly fear our comfort-cot's caught fire.'

Poor Ma was thrilled with horror at them words o' Rosyleen.
She thought of Grandpa's matches and that bucket of benzine;
So down the garden geared on high, she ran with all her power,
For regular was Grandpa, and she knew it was his hour.
Then graspin' gaspin' Rosyleen she peered into the fire,
A roarin' soarin' furnace now, perchance old Grandpa's pyre....

But as them twain expressed their pain they heard a hearty cheer----
Behold the old rapscallion squattinn' in the duck pond near,
His silver whiskers singed away, a gosh-almighty wreck,
Wi' half a yard o' toilet seat entwined about his neck....

He cried: 'Say, folks, oh, did ye hear the big blow-out I made?
It scared me stiff - I hope you-uns was not too much afraid?
But now I best be crawlin' out o' this dog-gasted wet....
For what I aim to figger out is----WHAT THE HECK I ET?'

Gold Fever

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 – Day 55

Parks Canada operates the Gold Dredge #4 as one of its historical sites, and part of the bigger Dawson City Historical Site.  The dredge is a good example of corporate mining at the beginning of the 20th Century. 

After the initial gold claims had been worked in the Bonanza Creek area outside of Dawson City, the large,well financed mining companies came in with their gold dredges and mechanized equipment. This changed the look of the landscape for many years. Most of the parts of the dredge where shipped via the Yukon White Pass Railroad through Skagway, AK.  The largest parts had to be sent via the Yukon River on the west coast of Alaska and barged along the Yukon River to Dawson.  When you look at the distance those parts had to travel to get to Dawson and ultimately the Bonanza Creek area, it must have been a logistical nightmare. The parts were then assembled on site and the dredge was ready to go.  Almost.  First, because it was called a dredge it needed some water.  Well actually enough water in the pond to float this behemoth, which weighed over 200 tons and was almost 250 feet long. Water was diverted from over 60 Km away through a series of ditches and pipes. 

The dredge was enormous; especially the business end. (Envision a huge chainsaw; the actual saw part would be equivalent to the line of buckets and it worked almost the same way.) Each of the buckets (larger than any backhoe bucket) could dig down to 48 feet below the water line and bring up 16 cu. ft of gravel.  There were 72 of these buckets, and 22 buckets could be dumped per minute.  (About 600 tons of gravel per hour.) The amount of material processed was staggering and after it was processed all of the waste rock…probably about 99.99% of what had been dug up was dumped out the back end in an arc shaped pattern.  These tailings cover a huge area of Dawson City, but you can see that trees are starting to re-vegetate these piles of rock and rubble.  (You needn’t bother about going through these tailings in search of any residual gold. These machines could extract gold so fine that an experienced gold panner would not be able to extract it.  It was so effective that it paid for itself in the first season of operation.

There are still small claims being processed slightly higher up the valley walls but most of the major deposits have long been exhausted by the mining companies.  The sheer size of this dredge boggles the mind and just amazed me. I will post additional pictures in the photo space.

We next visited the homes and cabins of some of the authors who made Dawson their home at one point or another.  Pierre Berton was born and raised here and he always had a love for the Yukon. The original Berton home has been restored to its original appearance.   Robert Service had a small cabin on the edge of town, which is the scene of twice daily readings of his poetry during the summer.  Jack London who wrote Call of the Wild and White Fang, only stayed in the Klondike for one year, but those experiences carried over into his later writings.

Dawson City also had an Opera House during it’s heyday, which has been reconstructed to it’s original appearance including “Yukon Stoves”. Parks Canada conducts tours of the Opera House “The Palace Grand Theatre”, to give the visitors an insight into how the stampeders, would try to socialize with the “percentage girls”.  Basically, the hired girls, (these were not “ladies of ill repute” though) would charge the guys $1.00 for a dance and entice them to purchase more liquor.  Depending on the skill of the girls they could earn up to 25% of what they took in.  Many of them did a lot better than most of the stampeders.  We were also allowed to see the rooms where the entertainers would be lodged during their performances in Dawson City.  As with most of the National Parks Service or Parks Canada presentations this was also very well done.

Before returning to the trailer we drove up to Midnight Dome.  A popular spot on solstice for Yukoners to watch the sun “not go down”.  Dramatic views of Dawson City, the Yukon River and fabulous mountain ranges stretching endlessly into the distance.

Top of the World Highway – Taylor Highway

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 – Day 54 

I got laid in Chicken…so says the sign as you enter Chicken.   Chicken is not on the electrical grid…as a matter of fact there are no power lines leading into the town at all and the only highway into the town is not maintained in the winter; meaning no snow plows.  I can see why the population is only six.  We sort of “roughed it” last night as well.  We had a campsite with no facilities.  No sewer, No water and No electric.  We were boondocking for the first time since we started trailering more than twenty years ago.  We did cheat a little; we ran our generator so I could have some toast before I went to bed and again this morning to make my coffee.

Yesterdays post made note of the poor roads for the last 20 miles into Chicken.  Well that was nothing compared to the 40 miles that they call the Taylor Highway going up to the border crossing at  Poker Creek.  Twisting, turning, up and down, on a gravel track with pot holes that could swallow a small car. Large rocks barfed out by the last grader that came through added to the obstacle course.   No guard rails anywhere, with shoulders that were non-existent and not quite two lanes wide in most places.  Just my kind of road.  The section of road from Chicken to the border crossing took us over 2 1/2 hours to complete at an average speed of 20 km/hr.

Surprisingly, probably 75% of the traffic on this road was recreational vehicles with a handful of motor cycles. Also most of the traffic was coming from the Canadian side (the opposite direction).  We seem to be seeing more Canadian licence plates on the road as well, most of those are from BC.

We managed to make it to the border crossing and made it through without a strip search. (Lucky for the border guard!)  This section of the road is called the “Top of the World Highway”. This was a phenomenal drive with gorgeous mountain scenery. The remainder of the road to Dawson City was mostly asphalt with some major frost heaves.  Long gravel sections were quite frequent, but these were well marked.  As you descend the mountain into Dawson City, you see the Yukon River in the distance.  The Yukon river flows over 3200 miles from the Yukon Territory, through Alaska and finally emptying into the Bering Sea on Alaska’s west coast.  The only way into Dawson City from the west is by a Yukon Government Ferry.  The crossing takes only a few minutes and is quite amazing to watch as the ferry fights the current of the Yukon River before reaching the opposite shore.

Dawson City is considered an historical site by Parks Canada and almost all the structures in the city must match with the gold rush period.  This was particularly evident as we drove down the main street, Front Street to our campground.  We are looking forward to spending the next three days here.  There certainly seems to be a lot to see and do.

Chicken or Ptarmigan?

Monday, June 22, 2009 – Day 53

We got our usual early start around 9:45 AM.  The temperature was 17C when we finally got underway headed east on the Richardson Hwy. We stopped at an overlook to take some pictures of the Alaska Range to the south.  They were bathed in sunlight and really stood out against the blue sky.  We got talking to a couple from the Seattle area who had been generally doing a similar route to ours.  They had attended the Summer Solstice celebration in Fairbanks and were previously in Denali National Park.  They were lucky enough to get a full view of Mt. McKinley, while they were there.  We gave them our travelling card in hopes that they will send us some of their great shots.  Curt and Laurie were headed down to Valdez for a little more touring, before heading home to Washington.  We are finding it difficult to NOT stop and talk to people on our route.  They always seem to have some interesting stories. 

We continued on to Delta Junction, which is the official end of the Alaska Hwy at milepost 1422 and took some pictures here.  (Although we have not driven the route contiguously; when we arrive in Dawson Creek, BC, we will have driven the whole length of the Alaska Hwy.) We continued on through Tok, where we fuelled the truck and stopped at the Visitor Center.  When we came out, there was a guy on a bicycle talking to another guy in a camouflage hat.  I recognized the hat belonged to JP, whom I’d met on the Arctic Circle tour back in Fairbanks.  The biker with whom he was talking was from Belgium who had started this current bike tour in Buenos Aires, Argentina on January 01, 2007.  Apparently when he finishes in North America he is headed for Cape Town, South Africa where he will start his journey homeward.  Much more dedication than I have!!

We departed Tok and were soon turning northward on the Taylor Highway which leads to the Top of the World Highway and into Dawson City, YT (the home of Jack London and Pierre Berton).  The first 18 to 20 miles has been scarred by a forest fire; but after that the  scenery is just amazing.  Some gravel sections and steep inclines but well worth the effort.  We were stopped at a scenic viewpoint and a truck camper pulled in at the same time coming from the opposite direction. The camper had Manitoba plates so we had to stop and talk – What else??  The couple turned out to be from Morden, Ron and Doreen Martens know our friends Jim Taylor and Liz Leatherdale.  We meet someone on a mountaintop in remote Alaska and they know someone we do.  It’s a small world!  We continued over gravel roads for the next twenty miles and stopped in the old gold mining town of Chicken, Alaska. In the winter the population is 6, but in the summer the population swells to 21 not including tourists. All of their water is hauled in and their electricity is provided by diesel generators. Now, why did they call it Chicken???  The early prospectors couldn’t spell Ptarmigan, the state bird…so kids that’s why you should stay in school!!

One other noteworthy event today.  On the Alaska Hwy. just west of Tok, we caught a flying stone from a semi trailer.  We couldn’t see any chip at first but when we got into to Tok to fuel I noticed a chip in the windshield near the roof line. Within a few miles this tiny chip had become a “C” shaped crack.  This was on one of the best portions of the roadway in Alaska; after travelling on all kinds of gravel roads we got a stone chip here.  Go Figure.

Riverboat Discovery – Fairbanks Alaska

Sunday, June 21, 2009 – Day 52 – The First Day of Summer – Longest Day of the Year and Father’s Day

Heard from David and Kevin today, wishing me a happy Father’s Day.  I guess they got lucky not being at home as they didn’t have to buy the “old guy” a gift.  I never thought that I’d miss them as much as I do.

We went grocery shopping this morning and then went on a stern wheel boat.  The Riverboat Discovery.  This operation has been a family tradition for well over a Century, as the founder of the company came here during the gold rush and became a riverboat pilot.  Every successive generation has carried on the family tradition.  The boat does a short cruise on the Chena River, where it meets the Nenanna River.  It used to go up the Nenanna but silt from the river has all but closed up the channel for a boat this size.  Smaller motor boats can still get through  because of their much shallower draft.  Homeowners along the route all come out to wave as the boat cruises by and the commentator seems to know each person on shore and calls out to them over the public address system.  There are staged events along the route. 

The commentator noted that 1 in 60 Alaskans have a pilots licence and it seems that there are small planes everywhere.  Considering the long distances between places in Alaska there is good reason. The first staged event was a take-off and landing of a pontoon plane.  He didn’t seem to need the take-off length of a land based plane.  He did a quick fly by and then landed the plane and spoke with the commentator on a wireless microphone.  The pilot then took-off a last time to enjoy Father’s Day with his family.

Next we were entertained by a sled dog demonstration.  This was led by the husband of the late Susan Butcher. Susan Butcher was a five time winner of the Iditarod Trail endurance race and her kennel has produced many winning dog teams. After a brief introduction they hitched up 10 dogs to a converted ATV for a trip around a quarter mile track.  They reached a top speed of 20 miles/hour.  These dogs love to work and run and they behaved exactly like the Denali Huskies in their eagerness to run. And also like the Denali Huskies these were jumping up on the roofs of their houses and barking loudly as if to say, “Pick me, Pick me!”

We sailed down the river a little further to an Athabascan Indian village, that was a re-creation of a typical summer camp, with some extras.  There was a demonstration of how they would take their salmon catch and prepare it for smoking. They would only catch as much as they could process and nothing would go to waste.  Entrails and heads were used for dog food or used in fish head soup.  There was also a demonstration of the clothing that they would make some of which was very finely detailed.  A very pretty girl of Eskimo descent modelled a sun parka. Because they were a nomadic hunting people they had different types of houses depending on their location and activities.  We returned to the dock after the demonstrations and we then returned to the dock from which we had departed almost 3 1/2 hours earlier.  The ship was unloaded fairly quickly considering the number of people from cruise ship tours (14 bus loads in total) who were on board.

The Dalton Highway & Summer Solstice at the Arctic Circle

Saturday, June 20, 2009 – Day 51 – Summer Solstice 09:45 PM Alaska Daylight Time

Sounds strange, Alaska Daylight Time – it’s always daytime here in the summer.  Celebrated the day by crossing over the Arctic Circle. Up at 4:30 AM in order to be at the bus depot at 06:00 AM, with a departure time of 06:30 AM.   I took the bus tour with the Northern Alaska Tour Company, up the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle at 66 degrees 33 minutes, north latitude.  (Can’t remember the longitude, but that wasn’t why I went.)  Would have liked to go up to Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean, but that will have to wait for another lifetime.

We had a great tour guide/driver.  Barbara has been doing this for a number of years and really seems to enjoy what she’s doing.  Gave us a thorough lesson in Botany, Geology and History.  She got us out walking on the tundra sedges and feeling down 12” into the mucky ground to feel the solid, impenetrable, layer of icy permafrost. (Barbara asked, “Does anyone know the difference between sedge and grass?”  Someone piped up, “You can’t smoke sedge!” – Turns out that was John!)   Cotton grass was blowing in the wind and fireweed was coming into bloom. She also gave us a lesson in placer gold mining and the building of the Alaska Pipeline.  Met a really nice couple from Belfast, Ireland who I found out were staying at a North Pole, B&B. Turns out they were just down the road from our RV Park.  I became aware of John and Pauline at the Yukon River Camp. (A camp up here refers to a base camp where food and lodging are available, usually very Spartan in nature and usually in an Atco industrial trailer – Rooms were $199/night.)   They were looking at a map on the wall and talking to Barbara about the Yukon River.  It turns out that their knowledge of the Yukon is better than mine! Pauline told me about Robert Service’s literature and about Lake Labarge! (Kind of embarrassing when people from the UK know more about your country than you do!)  It turns out that they visited the Yukon last year and had to come back for their Alaskan Experience this year.  They had rented a vehicle for their touring and had already been to Denali, where John had captured some incredible bull moose shots…full frontal moose!  He has promised to send some images that I will feature in “Spot the Moose.”  (Of course, I will give the photographic credit to John!)  They are off to Wasila and then fly out of Anchorage.  They will overnight in Vancouver and then fly to Toronto before taking a short flight to Ireland.

I also had a chance to talk with JP and Cathy from, the St. Augustine area in Florida.  I’m guessing JP is in his 60’s and he’s an addicted biker.  That is a racing bicycle!  He teaches remedial math and English at a community college, but he said adamantly that, “I don’t do windows or summers!”  His summers are free to travel.  In his spare time he is a Boy Scout troop leader.  I never did learn his real name, but I’m guessing it is Jean Paul – He was born in New Hampshire but spent his early years in eastern Quebec, before returning to the United States.  An intriguing guy.

Everyone got their picture taken at the sign that has been erected at the Arctic Circle, and Barbara served us chocolate cake.  After this brief stop we got back on the bus to drive the Dalton Hwy back to Fairbanks.  On the way Barbara pointed out the remains of a wrecked truck camper from last year.  Apparently the guy came down a hill a little too fast – and we all know that at the end of a steep downgrade, there is a hard turn, rather than an uphill to slow you down.  Anyway, somehow he lost his camper unit which landed up at the bottom of a 25 foot embankment.  Nobody was seriously hurt but now he must remove the unit or face a hefty fine for littering.  As we continued homeward we saw many more people headed north, probably to celebrate Summer Solstice (some people are crazier than me) at the Arctic Circle.  We arrived in Fairbanks just after 10:30 PM.  It was still light out and would be for the rest of the day.

Oil and Gardens

Friday, June 19, 2009 – Day 50

The weather today was really a mixed bag.  Drizzle and rain one minute, sunny and bright the next.  Generally the skies were partially cloudy with a high temperature around 18C.  We drove up to the Alaska Pipeline viewing area just north of Fairbanks approx. 20 miles out.  This is an amazing feat of engineering.  The pipeline is 800 miles long stretching from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to the Valdez terminal on Prince William Sound.  It crosses 3 mountain ranges, 5 major rivers and numerous streams.  It must carry 145 degree F oil across frozen permafrost without causing any damage; while at the same time being flexible enough to cope with thermal expansion in the steel pipe.  All the while it must be able to cope with regular seismic activity.  The pipeline was built in a zig zag pattern to allow most of the expansion to occur on steel supports.  To see just this short section  of pipeline up close is jaw dropping.  I don’t think that Janet was that impressed…I guess it may be a guy thing.

After lunch we went to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks to visit their Botanical Gardens.  We were amazed at the types of crops that they are growing this far north and some of their innovative gardening methods.  The 20+ hours of daylight may also contribute to the lushness of the area.  The lawns were so thick that they made it difficult to walk on.  The growing season is only 100 days long so they must utilize fast maturing crops.  They utilize a lot of plastic sheeting to retain heat and moisture in the soil and they also use a lot of raised “beds” to retain heat.  Possibly some ideas that can be used at home.

Yes Virginia; there is a Santa Claus – and he’s at the North Pole, Alaska

Thursday, June 18, 2009 – Day 49

We departed Denali National Park around 10:07 this morning under cloudy skies.  There was a very light drizzle and the temperature was about 12C.  The drizzle/showers continued for a good portion of our route north along the Parks Highway, Route #3 and it didn’t start to clear until we got close to Fairbanks. The scenery was once again spectacular.  We passed through a couple of areas that were boggy and mosquito infested but were fortunate enough to get some ammunition for our “Spot the Moose” feature.   

 

 

In Alaska, there are wild iris’s that are in bloom right now, and they occur in these boggy areas. They are in a word, beautiful (and when I can figure out how to correctly use the camera’s macro settings, I’ll get some decent pictures of them.) We arrived in Fairbanks just after 1:30 and found our chosen campground.  The Riverview RV Park is located along the Chena River just south east of the city of Fairbanks approximately 8 miles from the downtown area.  It is well treed area with easy drive through sites.  A really beautiful campground with super hosts.

Once we got settled we went into Fairbanks to check out the Alaska Public Lands Information Center (APLIC).  There are a number of these Centers across Alaska and had we known how informative they were, we would have stopped at more.  We arrived in time to see a film about the Exxon Valdez oil spill,  This was a documentary film taken shortly after the spill in 1989.  Seems that “America’s Biggest Oil Spill” was in the news back then but it somehow doesn’t have the same impact until you see the rich ecological area that it affected.  Apparently there is still oil under many of the rocks and much of the beach sand in Prince William Sound and many of the animal species are just now starting to rebound.  We were able to get some information and some first hand knowledge about  the Dalton Highway, which leads to the Arctic Circle.  This is the original road built up to Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean, which was at that time called the “Haul Road”, due to the fact that only semi trucks used it to haul goods in order to support the building of the Alaska pipeline.  It is still mostly gravel and still primarily used by the semi’s and as long as one follows the special rules of the road one should be okay.  We find out tomorrow as we head north up the Haul Road.

We also visited the North Pole today.  Yes Virginia, there is a North Pole and it is located in Alaska, just south east of Fairbanks. We went to the City Hall and it was about the only building that was not decked out in North Pole paint or finery.  Almost everything here has a Christmas theme. (Even one of the police cars had lettering with snow on it.  We were taking pictures of each other at the North Pole sign when a guy pulls up and asks if we would like our pictures taken together. We said, “Sure if that’s not a problem?!”  He replied, “That’s just one of my jobs as mayor of North Pole!”  To which I replied, “I was expecting someone with a white beard and a red suit.”  Doug Isaacson, had a neatly trimmed beard and moustache and a Hawaiian shirt.  He told us where to find the Santa House and he was driving back to work again (this was at 6:00 PM.)

So off to Santa Claus House we went.  WOW.  (I had only used that word to describe the scenery, so far.)  This place is everything Christmas.  Ornaments, baubles, lights…just about anything you could imagine. And of course Santa was there talking to the guests and listening to some of the kids who already had Christmas wishes.  I’m a Christmas-nut anyway so I was in seventh-heaven.  I had a smile on my face the whole time I was there.  Right next door is the Santa land RV Park, also with the Christmas theme.

As I write this it is almost midnight, but looking outside it seems like dusk.  Not daytime but definitely not night.  These days with close to 22 hours of daylight certainly mess-up your sleep/wake cycles.  Got to get to bed now.