McIntyre Park Mayo, Yukon, Canada

Mileage:  46,973

A crisp and cool morning like autumn at home.  The Silver Trail and McIntyre Park was a short drive from Moose Creek on relatively decent roads.

The Silver Trail follows the Stewart River.

The Yukon has an abundance of natural resources.  Silver was mined here as well as gold, zinc, and lead.  The town of Mayo provides service and support to “continuing mineral exploration in this area.”    We drove into town and got a couple of groceries.  There were some 4WD roads to explore along the river.

We walked in McIntyre Park.   Our campsite.

This is what I call “Bear Point.”  There is ample evidence that bears live here.

We watched this pair of big raptors.  We believe they are immature bald eagles.

An evening ride.

We were going to grill our dinner tonight but we decided to cook inside because we didn’t want to attract any unwanted visitors.  I have been sitting across the water all afternoon watching for bear activity.  Sitting by this particular river today has been soothing.

 

 

 

Gold Rush Campground Dawson City, Yukon, Canada Day 2

It rained all night and it was still raining this morning.  We decided to stay another day in Dawson City and we had been hoping to take our bikes along the waterfront trail.  Instead, we went out for coffee and a bagel.

Gathering supplies at the grocery was next on the list.  I continue to realize how spoiled we are back home…so many choices and so much fresh and healthy food available.  We rested all afternoon as the rain continued.  At 3 pm we decided to take a ride.  We went first to the Dome Road.  These are the less than spectacular views from there today.

As we went down in elevation, we did get a view of the industrial area right outside Dawson City.  There are freight companies, a lumber-mill, gold mining rental equipment companies, active gold mines, an oil company and a variety of other businesses down there in the bottom.  All the businesses revolve around the gold mining industry.

There are miles and miles of piles and piles of tailings.  This is what is left over after the miners dredge up the creeks in search of that golden glitter.

There is a road that leads to Dredge #4.  When this mine was active and at its most productive, the miners were harvesting 800 ounces or 50 pounds of gold every week.  At $1,500.00 per ounce that is $1,200,000.00.

The Discovery Claim is a park that is devoted to educating visitors about the history of gold mining here in Dawson City.  When gold was discovered here by prospectors it was a quiet First Nation community.  When the Klondike stampeders arrived, the First Nation chief decided to move his people downriver so that they would not be so exposed to the excesses of the miners.  The town was full of businesses for the miners to enjoy…gambling, drinking and women were available.

Dawson City tries to keep that Old West charm.  There are no big box stores here.

The streets get kind of sloppy here when it rains!

Trucks of the day.

We had dinner in town and then went for a walk along the waterfront.  It had finally stopped raining!  This is the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers.

Gold Rush Campground Dawson City, Yukon, Canada

Mileage:  46,788

When I woke up this morning there was a caribou standing on the ridge.  His full silhouette visible on the horizon.  What a difference a day makes.  The sunshine is casting light and shadow on the valleys below and the views are tremendous.  We are following the rise and fall of the road, drifting in and out of wispy clouds.

There are periods of thicker fog as we descend the mountains to the Yukon River.  At the end of the road there is only one way to cross the Yukon River on the George Black Ferry.  A dirt/sand/gravel ramp leads you onto an insubstantial looking vessel. The current pulls at the boat as the captain navigates across the wide river.  Our rig is so heavy that we could feel the boat listing to the side from the extra weight.

We staying in Dawson City at the Gold Rush Campground.  We needed to do laundry and refuel and work on the blog and get some supplies before we start on the next leg of our journey.  We are also enjoying a much needed rest after lots and lots of driving.  Dinner was delicious at Klondike Kate’s.

Scenic Turnout – Top of the World Highway Yukon, Canada

Mileage:  46,479

There was gentle, steady rain all night long.  I lay there thinking about the 14 miles of muddy gravel road we had yet to travel before we got to paved road again.  Tim was quickly dressed and out the door to check road conditions or “to do some reconnaissance.”  I was thinking that we just might have a quiet day at the campground.

Tim returned saying that the road would be slow but he believed it was passable.  He said “Don’t be mad at me…but I saw a black bear and 3 caribou!”  The black bear was crossing the road about 100 feet from the entrance to the campground.

A short distance later 3 caribou leaped out from the brush along the river and hustled across the road in front of him.

As we left, the sun was trying to make its way through the dense cloud cover.  We made our way at 15 mph and sometimes slower.  We have nowhere else to be and there is no traffic…both blessings.  We had more time to look around and to think.  Me: “Slow and steady wins the race.”  Tim:  From NASCAR “To finish first, first you must finish.”

Tim is a very good driver and I never felt worried or unsafe.  We traveled the 14 miles in 55 minutes.  We were both glad to see pavement…and great, smooth, new pavement!

Where the pavement begins so does the Top of the World Highway.  Driving here is to be among the clouds.

We are far above the treeline and the views are glorious.  This is one of the prettiest drives of our trip.

We are glad that we took the “risk” to come here.  It was a calculated risk.  We gathered information, prepared as much as we could, and went slow and easy.  It was well worth it!

At the last scenic viewpoint in Alaska we spent extra time.  I was watching the light change over the mountains.  I know that we were both reluctant to leave Alaska.  I feel sure that we will come back someday!

A little more than 10 miles later we went through customs and into Yukon, Canada.

The views from the Top of the World continued to be spectacular.  We decided to park at a scenic turnout for the night before going into Dawson City tomorrow.

We rested awhile…the tedious driving was exhausting.  Refreshed, we decided to take the Jeep and explore.  We found a couple of trails that led to areas where locals who had permits could harvest firewood.  We ended up on Clinton Creek Road.  This is a 33-mile gravel road that leads to the confluence of the Yukon and Fortymile Rivers.

This continues to be caribou country.  The Fortymile herd numbers more than 46,000 caribou.  We saw 1 caribou running down the road in front of us.  Then we saw 6 more in the trees to the right.  Two of them stayed back and we got a picture of them.  If you look carefully they are in the middle part of this picture near the taller trees on the right!

We got to the bridge over the Fortymile River.

Here we must have made a wrong turn because a woman in a red pickup truck came racing down the road behind us.  I’m happy to say she didn’t shoot us and she gave us good directions!

We took the Jeep down to the gravel bar beside the river.

Continuing on we found the confluence.

These grizzly bear prints were on the muddy riverside.

As we headed back we saw this moose.  See that she is standing next to the “No Hunting” sign…smart moose!

In the distance running in front of us we saw another group of 3 bachelor caribou.  They ran on the road in front of us for more than a mile.  It was great fun to watch them.

We got back after 7 pm and made eggs for our dinner.

Our campsite.

Our sunset.

Walker Fork BLM Campground Chicken, Alaska

Mileage:  46,693

It wasn’t raining when we got up this morning!!  It was a short ride today to the BLM Campground.  We started out riding on a ledge along the mountainside with sheer vertical drops on the passenger side.  Initially the road was fairly dry and not as slippery as it was when we went to scope it out yesterday.

This is a dirt and gravel road with an 8% grade, blind corners, hairpin turns, 100-foot drop-offs, with no guardrails, and an unusable soft shoulder.  Tim is driving a 22,000-pound RV pulling a Jeep…this required his full attention.   Whee!!!

We got to a really muddy and slick part.

There were lots of active gold camps on the way as well as public recreational gold panning areas.

It was a relief to leave the RV at the campground and continue this day’s adventure in the Jeep.

We took the Taylor Highway all the way to Eagle.  We were on the north most road that links the US and Canada.  This is a scenic wilderness road in a very remote part of Alaska.  We passed maybe 10 cars as we traveled today.

The views were jaw dropping and breathtaking!  I took lots and lots of pictures even though the whole while I knew that no pictures would be adequate.  The road meandered beside rivers and across creeks hugging the steep slopes.

This is caribou country.  We saw fresh caribou tracks in the mud every time we got out of the Jeep to take pictures.  Even itty-bitty baby caribou tracks!   This is a hillside covered in lichen…caribou food.

We also saw moose tracks mixed in.  I caught a glimpse of moose cow and calf traipsing through the thick brush.

In 64 miles, we reached the town of Eagle.  We went first to get fuel.  The gas station owner was at the pumps and he pumped our gas, chatting the whole time.  He was from northern Pennsylvania and came to live here 44 years ago.  Back then, he finished putting the roof on his garage on Christmas Eve when it was -30 degrees.  He shared his political views and the woes of being a small business owner, which we fully understood.  He told us that all the caribou have left the area.  Last week there were thousands on the slopes but they have all moved on.  This is today’s old truck.  The gas station guy owns it now and he told us that this truck has a story.  The last owner thought he was a woodsman.  He kept taking chances and risks and one day he froze to death.  This place is seriously harsh.

Eagle sits on the Yukon River.  Most of the visitors to this town come from the river and not the road.  This is a popular stop for paddlers or floaters on their way to Circle.

Fish wheel.

Our next stop was the general store for a cold drink.  The woman there wanted to know if we saw any caribou.  She told us that the caribou come and go and we still might see something out there.

We went to the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve Visitor Center.  The ranger there wanted to know what critters we had seen.  Just the evening before she had seen a black bear, a group of 7 caribou and a bull moose.

The ranger set us up to watch a video of the spring breakup.  The Yukon River freezes solid in the winter here. The townspeople actually use the river as a highway.  They use dog sleds and snow machines to get from one town to the next.  The road is actually closed from sometime in September or October until May.  When the river ice finally starts to melt and break apart, it is cause for celebration.  It means that spring is on the way.  In May of 2009 a group of people from Eagle were at the riverside watching as the ice started to move.  One guy filmed it.  The ice begins to crack and move downriver.  Everyone is laughing and cheering.  As time passes, great chunks of ice start to lift up and stack up on one another.  You can hear people saying that they have never seen the river ice pile up that way.  That winter had been extremely cold with several weeks in a row of -60 temperatures.  There was almost no snow to insulate things.  The river ice was very thick.  The spring came quickly with higher than usual temperatures and the ice thawed more quickly than normal.  This caused enormous sections of ice to heave up and dam the river.  Eagle sits on a bend in the river exacerbating the problem.  The ice jam caused first flooding in the town and then then ice rammed into houses and businesses knocking several buildings off their foundations.  The old native village was completely destroyed.  The village was relocated that spring out of the floodplain.  Watching the video, you could tell that the people felt completely helpless.  They could only watch and wait and begin again.  No one was hurt, though several people had to be rescued from their rooftops.  In this isolated and remote place these are very resilient people.

As we headed back to the campground, we had a renewed hope that we might see caribou out there…and we did!!  There was a group of 4 running parallel to the road.  They heard us coming and hightailed it out of there.  Here is a very lame attempt at a picture…but no matter…I got to see them!

Dinner tonight was grilled Polish elk sausage from Delta Meats.

Today was our last day of exploring in Alaska.  We are sad to leave this remarkable place.  We did not take the flightseeing tours to see bears.  We never got to see the salmon spawning.  We didn’t paddle the mighty Yukon.   We didn’t ride with a sled dog team or soak in hot springs.  What we DID do was try to see the raw, remote wilderness that is the “real” Alaska.  We have taken most every side trip in an effort to experience all the different facets of this beautiful frontier.  From fishing villages to copper mines to glaciers and all that is in between…we have loved being here.  We are already worried that all future trips might pale in comparison.  We need to remember that every place has its own beauty and we need to look for and appreciate where we are each and every day.  Our desire is not to be tourists but travelers.  We also want to learn as much as we can about where we are and how people live.  Call us gypsies or vagabonds…we are having fun doing this!!!

We are leaving Alaska tomorrow but we are far from the end of our journey.  Canada here we come!

Chicken Gold Camp RV Park Taylor Highway Chicken, Alaska

Mileage: 46,677

It was a rainy night and a rainy drive this morning.

We stopped at Dot lake and I saw this beaver and this pair of swans.

Mileage:  46,677

Our goal today was to travel to Tok and to talk with people there about whether or not we should attempt to take the RV and Jeep on the Taylor Highway to Chicken and then the Top of the World Highway to Dawson City.  I talked with several people in town.  Should we go or not?  The road has an intimidating reputation.  “Beware of the rough road.”  “Take it slow…but go!”  “There are no services so be prepared.”  “Don’t get onto the shoulders, they are soft and you could tip over.”  “The views are outstanding!”  “You will be fine if you are patient and take it slow.”

Old trucks in Tok.

Lawnmowers on the sod roof.

We were intrigued enough to try.  I said “We can always turn around.”  He said “You know me, I’m not turning around!”    So, the challenge was issued.  The gauntlet, laid down.  Either you think that it is cool that we are doing this or you think that we are crazy to drive where it might be considered dangerous…either way you are probably right!

These signs are NO joke!

This is the Alaskan guardrail system…

This is a twisting turning journey mostly above the tree line among the mountaintops, the valleys far below.

I wish that it weren’t raining so we could see more!

We stopped for the night in a little quirky town called Chicken.  It is a mining town.  There are 6 – ¼ mile claims or all six for $20,000.00.  They are still actively pulling gold from here.  The miners who originally camped here were going to call the camp Ptarmigan, but no one knew how to spell it.  chicken is the nickname for Ptarmigan in these parts…so Chicken it was called.  There are several chicken sculptures.

All of the campgrounds allow you to pan for gold.  I watched a guy from Pennsylvania pan for quite some time.  He joked “I’m going to get rich you know.”  I didn’t see any sparkles in his little green pan!

Old dredge at the gold camp.

Old trucks at the gold camp.

The campground has a gorgeous gift shop filled with authentic Alaska made gifts.  It was fun to look.  We had dinner there in the café.  Paninis and beer and wine and ice cream for dessert.

While we were out with the Jeep this afternoon we saw several senior (grey haired) cyclists coming up the muddy unpaved portion of the road…slogging along over washboard and rutted surface.  Miles and miles of slimy goop.  They did 55 miles today.  They left Missoula, Montana 61 days ago.  They are headed to Denali and then to Anchorage.  WOW!!!  These guys don’t look intimidating, but they are badass!

It is raining again.  Hopefully it will stop overnight.  Today we did the first 66 miles which were mostly paved…though roughly so.  Tomorrow we will do the muddy gravel portion for about 30 miles.  We are headed for a Bureau of Land Management Campground called Walker Fork BLM Campground.  Because Tim has his senior pass we can camp there for $5.00.  WooHoo!  We plan to leave the RV there and head to Eagle with the Jeep.  That road is NOT recommended for larger rigs.

Lots of old trucks today!

Wolf prints???

August 3, 2018 Gerstle River Bridge Wayside

Mileage:  46,520

It was a chilly 47 degrees this morning.  The rain had stopped and the clouds were lifting.

The ride east to Paxson was every bit as beautiful as it was coming in from the other end on Wednesday.

As we drove past a lake, I caught sight of a “V” making its way through the water.  It was a beaver towing an 8-foot piece of log wider around than he was…it would have made a great picture.  There is no way to suddenly stop in the middle of the road with the RV towing the Jeep.  It is a nice memory!

This is Gulkana Glacier.

This is the Rainbow Ridge.  The colors in the picture are not nearly as vivid as they are to look at in person.  The red and green rock is volcanic rock.  The yellows and other pastel colors are the siltstone and sandstone.  When the light hits the mountain just right it is a sight to behold.

We saw in the distance a moose and calf wading in a pond.

This is our last picture of the pipeline.  At this particular viewpoint, we learned how the pipeline is made to flex with earthquake activity where it crosses a faultline.  The whole system is designed to move as much as 22 feet horizontally and 5 feet vertically if there is a sizable quake.  There are built-in sensors to detect movement that alert engineers so that they know which valves and joints might need special attention after they are stressed.  The pipeline is also designed to be bullet proof and fire resistant.  In some areas, headache bars have been installed to prevent large vehicles from driving into the pipe in an attempt to cause damage.  The pipeline was so successfully designed that all other pipelines, worldwide, and built since, emulate this design.

In Delta Junction we stopped at the Buffalo Center Drive-in…only we walked up.  We had delicious buffalo burgers for lunch.

We stayed in Delta Junction long enough for me to post the last 3 days’ worth of blogs…this is like writing a book report every day!

It was time to look for a campsite.  The Milepost said that there was free camping at the Gerstle River Bridge Wayside.  We are camped right along the river on a sandy beach.  It is raining but it is warm enough to sit under the awning and enjoy a fire.

We stopped at Delta Meat and Sausage Company.  We are having buffalo steak for dinner tonight!

Robert Lake Scenic Turnout Denali Highway Paxson, Alaska Day 2

After a small amount of rain last evening, the temperatures plummeted.  We packed the car for today’s adventure and it was 48 degrees and cloudy.

Fairly soon after we left Tim pulled over so that I could take a picture of some kettle ponds.  These ponds are formed when chunks of buried glacier melt.  I was just saying that kettle ponds are common places for moose to hang out…and there in the scrubby bushes was a moose.  She looks itty bitty in this picture, but these animals are massive!  Females can be 800 pounds and bulls can be as much as 1,600 pounds.

A short distance later we passed by a peat bog.  There we saw a mama moose and a calf and another moose as well.  Driving further, a moose crossed the road in front of us.  We also saw several pair of nesting trumpeter swans.

Beaver are so plentiful here.  Each small lake or pond has it’s requisite beaver den or lodge.

We went off-road on Maclaren River Road.  We had read that it was 14 miles to get to the Maclaren Glacier.

Here the water along the road is higher than the road surface.  This is because of this beaver dam.  It is built with sticks and rocks and mud.

We saw this helicopter hauling some kind of materials into the backcountry.  It made several trips while we were out exploring.

We got to the Maclaren River about 4 miles from the main road.  It was deep and fast moving…there was no way to connect with the rest of the road on the other side…it was just too treacherous!

As we headed back to the main road a young man stopped to ask us about the condition of the trail.  He and his girlfriend had been camping in a GMC van.  They were going to hike to the glacier…going the same way from which we had come.  We tried to dissuade them, telling them that we wouldn’t risk crossing in the Jeep and that they shouldn’t try to hike across the river…hopefully they took our advice to heart!

Back out on the highway the road follows an esker.  We had heard that word before but were unsure what it meant.  An esker is the silt and sand and rock and boulders that are carried along underneath the glacier, essentially what is left behind.

This huge cloud bank came between the mountains at a pass.  There it stopped.  It was suspended above us as we traveled along.

We descended into the Susitna River Valley.  We returned to the place where we camped with Kyle and then we went off-road again on the Valdez Creek Road.  We had lunch there.  We think that it is a popular moose lunch spot as well.  There were lots of hoof prints and lots of moose poop!

This is Landmark Gap.  In the next week or so, the caribou will begin to migrate south from the tundra to the boreal forest where they will overwinter.  They may walk as far as 400 miles.  The caribou come by the thousands through this gap in the mountains.  We wish we could be here to see that!  We are noticing cooler temperatures, yellowing of leaves and darker periods during the night.  Winter is on the way.  In some places roads will begin to close because of snow in September!

It was a dreary and raw kind of day with intermittent rain but that didn’t deter us from our touring.

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Lake Denali Highway Paxson, Alaska

Mileage:  46,381

Now that Tim has poured me my wine, I can begin writing about our day.

It was so hazy this morning that the mountains we could see last evening were hidden from view.  It was still warm enough for flip flops.  Big black clouds billowed behind us to the north.

Today’s ride was a lot of fun.  There was so much to see.  The oil pipeline crosses the Tanana River suspended between two towers.  It spans 1,200 feet and it was very cool…we didn’t get pictures…hopefully we will remember on the way back.

We stopped at Delta Junction for espresso and fuel.  There was a farmer’s market at the Sullivan Roadhouse Museum.  Lemon bread for breakfast…yum!  The museum had this pretty flower bed.

Some old trucks leftover from the construction of the Alaska Highway.

As we rode the view of the mountains and glaciers was fantastic.

We were in bison, caribou, and Dall sheep country.  Unfortunately, everyone was hiding today.

We did see a couple of unfamiliar large raptors, a snowshoe hare, a moose far away in the trees, and this moose standing in the water.

At the Gulkana River Salmon Spawning Viewpoint…there were no salmon to see!

At Paxson we turned onto Denali Highway.  This is the same road we took with Kyle on his first couple of days with us.  We only went about 60 miles from the west.  Today we are at the other end and headed east.  At a rest area we met Allen.  He is from Minnesota and he is scoping out the road he plans to travel next week with a group from his town.  He and his wife spent years living in different parts of Alaska.  He is a retired teacher and he runs an adult education class about travel to Alaska.  As the end of the course, the group flies into Anchorage and for a week, Allen shows them a sample of what Alaska has to offer.  How cool is that job?

The first 21 miles of the Denali Highway were paved and it was easy enough to drive the RV.  After that the road was chip and seal which was also in good condition.  When the road turned to gravel, we started to look for our camping spot.

We are parked on Robert Lake.  It is so quiet and peaceful here.  The mountains and the tranquility are soothing to us both.  Allen and Tim traded “business” cards as we parted.  Allen’s card says: “Once you’ve been to Alaska you never come back all the way.”  I think I already understand that!

We are sharing our campground with some prairie dogs.  I did not know that they lived this far north.  We didn’t get any pictures of them…but they are here!  Don’t be worries, we used a different fire ring!

There are some kind of ducks out on our lake.  A mama and 6 ducklings.  She won’t get close enough that we can be sure but they are either greater scaup or buffleheads.  We have seen a lot of unfamiliar birds in the last many days.

Surprise!  More exploring of the Denali Highway tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Turnout along the Richardson Highway Delta Junction, Alaska

Mileage:  46,242

We drove from Chena River to Fairbanks with a long list of chores to accomplish.

We were at Walmart before 9am.   The Walmart parking lot was loaded with 30-40 RVs.  We have never seen so many congregated in a parking lot.  Wow! RVs Rule!  Walmart knows how to keep campers happy!

A cart full and then to the laundromat.  Tim fueled the vehicles while i used the WiFi at the laundry to work on the blog.  He also went to the Jeep dealer for a part.  I got prescriptions filled and groceries at the Safeway.  Mailed some cards and stuff and we were ready to roll.  It was 3 pm.

We had to stop at a state park to clean tanks and to get fresh water…now it was after 4 pm.

We were grumpy and ready to get out of Fairbanks…away from the crowds and the noise and the traffic and the big box stores.

We traveled down the Richardson Highway.  We want to go as far as Paxson and take Denali Highway from the other end.  The scenery there is said to be magnificent.  We don’t want to miss anything!

This night we found a scenic turnout along the Tanana River.  Leftovers were for dinner as we watched the river go by.

We sat there for the better part of an hour.  All at once the clouds lifted, Tim could see the Alaska Range come into very faint view above the horizon.  We didn’t even realize that those mountains were there.  As the sun lowered in the sky the peaks began to glow pink and orange…so pretty!

The Richardson Highway is home to a lot of military training facilities.  Several convoys passed us as well as lots of tractor trailers headed for Fairbanks.  It was a little noisy but around midnight, it finally got quiet.