We're on the Road Trip of a Lifetime! We just spent a month driving through Idaho and Washington, Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory to get here, and we're loving this adventure! Having just crossed the border from Canada into Alaska at Poker Creek (the most northern border crossing in the US), we continue westward on the Top of the World Highway toward Chicken, AK. If you'd like to see details of Chapter 1: Getting There, it's available from the pull-down list on the right of the screen.
6/9/22 This route has absolutely spectacular views. We were glad for the extra hours of daylight of our northern latitude here. The Top of the World Highway from Dawson City, Yukon Territory was a dirt road, albeit a well-maintained dirt road, but once we crossed the border into Alaska, the road became paved. Yay!
This place was so eclectic! The cafe and bar were small, and all the walls were lined with baseball caps.
6/10/22 Heading out this morning, we are traveling toward Fairbanks, and will probably stop around Delta Junction, but we'll see where today takes us. First stop is Tok, to replenish our grocery supply, and to wash Lexy. After hundreds of miles of dirt and gravel roads, Lexy was covered in mud.
We continue on the Alaska Highway past the eastern edge of the Alaska Range, giving us just a little sampling of what our future stay in Denali National Park will be like.
6/11/22 We head up Route 2 to Fairbanks. Wow! Cityscape!
We had wanted to go to the famous Salmon Bake restaurant in the park, but it was booked for a private party. Some other time!
Most of the buildings were transported to the park from other locations around Fairbanks. But it was fun to walk down what felt like a historic Main Street.
Smoke is predicted for another two days, so it's time to get out of the Fairbanks basin for a bit! Onward to Chena Hot Springs!
Chena Hot Springs Resort is a quaint village with that Alaskan roughness and charm.
They have lots of lodging for guests, an ice museum with two resident sculptors, as well as an indoor pool, multiple hot tubs, and the specialty of the house, an outdoor natural pool fed by the spring.
The soak in the pool was absolutely divine. You could move around until you found just the right temperature. Ahhh! And, I think we figured out that the slight smells of minerals in the air (not strong enough to be bothersome) kept the mosquitos away while you were in the pool. But, you were fair game to the spring hatch population when you got 50 feet away from the pool! The mosquitos were pretty thick in the air here. Fortunately, our newly installed screen doors on the van were holding up nicely. From our campspot, we could watch as people left the pool house, and about 10 yards away, would start swatting. I shouldn't laugh because we had our turn fighting them off too, but there were these three young men, most likely military personnel from Fairbanks (you could tell by the haircuts and the matching shorts) who left the pool house without their shirts on, all walking in stride. As soon as they hit that 10-yard distance from the pool house, they all started swatting the air and slapping their shoulders and legs, and kicking their feet to shake them off, all while trying to walk faster to their vehicle for cover. I just had to chuckle at the sight of the three of them.
6/14/22 In the morning, we decided to chance the conditions and take a walk. With the smoke in Fairbanks, we hadn't been outside, and we really needed to stretch our legs on a good walk. We used a non-deet bug spray and even brought it with us, just in case we needed an extra dose. We started out walking into the wind, so the bugs weren't too bad. But, if we paused for just 10 seconds, they all caught up with us.
We then noticed that there was a swarm of mosquitos forming behind us, and floating along with us. We started thinking, what will happen when we turn around? Well, about a mile out, the bugs started getting thicker and quicker, so we decided to head back. Yikes! As soon as we turned around, that swarm that was following us was upon us. So we walked faster. But the wind was now with us, so they just rode the wind and stayed up with us. So, we walked faster than the wind. Literally! Even ran like the wind! I was trying to apply more bug juice while keeping a swift pace, and they were just swimming in the oil on my skin, laughing at my folly, and biting me all along. Let's just say, this was my fastest mile I trotted in probably 20 years. I guess I wanted some exercise, but really, I did not need the adrenaline to go with it!
Safely inside our camper, we decided to head uphill a bit, maybe on a ridge to get some reprieve from the bugs. So, we headed back to Fairbanks. It was still smoky, so we went to the Ice Museum downtown. Very cute! There is an annual ice sculpture exhibit every March at the faigrounds in Fairbanks. It's a big deal here. To give it honorable mention for the rest of the year, the Ice Museum shows a movie highlighting some of the art pieces in this theater downtown, and then it also has an exhibit that you can walk through right in the theater. Very fun!
We found a campground right on the river. Not quite on a ridge though, so the bugs were still quite relentless.
6/15/22 The bugs were starting to get good at climbing into our van. We couldn't figure out how they were getting in though. Phil taped up the edges of all the window screens and the roof vent. I think they were riding in on our clothes, and then hiding once they got into the van. A carload of stowaways, great! Last night, I heard one or two buzzing around my ear, so I thought, each on might bite me once or twice, then they'd be done. So, go to sleep, it's just a bite or two. Well, in the morning, the place was full of mosquitos. I caught 38 actually, and all but three had blood in them, so between me and Phil, we were bit 30-60 times. I swore I would not sleep in the dark any longer, we're leaving the window covers off, so I can see them and kill them at night! It's starting to make me a little uptight!
Since the bugs were so bad, we thought we'd do some driving, and forget about hiking for a bit. Whether this takes us away from this crazy mosquito popuation or not, we could at least have some reprieve by having the car in motion. So, we head for the Alaskan Tundra, due north! Our adventure begins, we head for the Dalton Highway to reach the Arctic Circle.
We crossed this really long wood bridge across the Yukon River If it was strong enough to hold these big trucks, I guess we can cross safely too.
And finally, after about 200 miles, we reached the Arctic Circle!
Although we are just a few days early for the Summer Solstice, we did have bright light all night long. It is a phenomena that, although we know why it happens, it still takes some getting used to. Like, Terra Firma below my feet and Skys above my reach, these things are the constant in our lives. Now, with no night, it begs me to question all that is held constant in my little world. There are so many things that define true laws beyond what our personal experience and perceptions have given us. We put the big picture together with so many gaps between the pieces that are in front of us, and each of us has a different outcome of that final picture that we wove together. And when one piece presents itself between the others and the weaving around it doesn't make sense anymore, we're tasked with re-interpreting. Land of the Midnight Sun...an experience that will rattle and fascinate us for a long time.
Right at the Artic Circle was a brand new campground. It was spectacular, with great views and everything.
We met Doug and Gayle at the campground, and enjoyed an evening of giddy conversation. The Arctic Circle!!! Mind-blowing!
6/17/22 We left early the next morning to make tracks back down to Fairbanks, and then on to the little town of Nenana. The drive back went quicker than the way up, thank goodness! At Yukon Crossing, I saw this motorcyclist that looked so much like my Dad, I had to take his picture. I got to chat with him a bit in the cafe. He's from Chicago, and headed for Florida, and then decided to trek up to Prudhoe Bay, and then head down to Mexico. We'll call him a Continental Drifter.
Also at Yukon Crossing, there were many bicyclists coming south on the Dalton Highway. I chatted with one cyclist briefly; he said that it's a very popular trek, to fly bike and gear up north to Prudhoe Bay, and then to cycle down through Alaska, Canada, Mexico and even down all the way to the southern tip of South America. I.Am.Impressed.
Nenana is a tiny little town tucked under a bridge crossing. The main street seemed quiet and sleepy, with little houses and businesses, and a train station that was closed.
There also was a tiny Episcopal Church, St Mark's Mission.
We camped at the Nenana RV park, and enjoyed the luxury of electricity hookups and a really nice bath house, oh it was lovely! But, don't ask about the mosquitos, as I'm trying to block that aspect of this day out of my memory! And oh yes, they had a washer and dryer available to campers too. But, the dryer ran out of propane in the middle of our cycle, so we had to make due hanging the wet clothes in the camper while driving onward.
And then, here is The Bus.
If you haven't seen the movie or read the book, it's a story about Christopher McCandless, a young man who shrugged off the college degree, money, and all aspects of modern civilization and headed into the forest in the northern edge of Denali National Park, to live off the land. He stumbled across this bus that had been abandoned by a lumber company years back, and lived in it until he met his fate months later. A heart-wrenching movie to watch, and once you've seen it, it sticks in a soft spot in your heart.
A stop at the 49th State Brewing Company is a must for anyone heading to Denali from the north.
Continuing southward, it's time to get checked into the Riley Creek Campground in Denali National Park. The drive toward the park was gorgeous.
Checking into our camp spot, we met Leonard and his family taking a walk. Phil struck up a conversation, and we got talking about spotting moose, and then that Leonard is a moose hunter and a chef, and he had extra moose summer sausage that he'd share with us. Whattttt!!!!? This was an incredible treat for us, because we learned that you can't buy moose meat, and you can't order anything made with moose in a restaurant, because selling any wild game meat is illegal. But, ever since Fort Nelson, when the docent at the little museum said that moose meat was the most delectible food on this planet, Phil has been wanting to try it. And here, Leonard offered us about a pound and a half of summer sausage that he hunted. We were grateful, to say the least.
6/19/22 A bus tour into the park was on the agenda. But first, we celebrated Father's Day by going out to brunch at Rosie's Cafe in Healy. We were asking around for propane available, and a guy and his son, who were local, told us that Rosie's was the best breakfast food in the area. He said the place didn't look like much, but don't let that fool us. He was right. Rosie's looked like a long rectangular pre-fab building from the street, with a big billboard sign over it, saying, "Eat at Rosie's". We turned in, and were served by Rosie's grand-daughter, who was very proud to have made all the sauces, including a spectacular hollandaise on Phil's eggs benedict, and a blueberry jam served for my toast. Delightful!
Hopping on the Denali Park bus tour, we got settled into the last two seatsthat were together, but unfortunately they were over the wheel so I sat pretty-much folded in quarters for the ride. But, the scenery kept us totally engaged. We saw caribou! And Dall sheep. And rivers and tall peaks, and meadows. What beautiful landscapes!
it was great to get a narrated tour, but there was just a little disconnect, being in a crowded bus for 5 hours, and seeing the sights through the windows.
And, one thing we did not see was Denali, the highest peak in North America, capping at over 20,000 feet. We learned that it is common not to see the mountain from within the park, and as much as we tried, the clouds just didn't cooperate. But all these other peaks that are visible from the one road in the park were also pretty spectacular, even if they only reached 7000 feet!
6/20/22 - up for a morning hike to Horseshoe Lake.
This hike is just 4-1/2 miles, but its elevation change is 1500 feet, all in the first mile. Nothin' to it, but to DO it! And, no speed race here, just taking in the gorgeous scenery.
We passed a trail crew making new rock steps for a spot on the trail that had worn away.
Up Further we climbed.
And admired the flowers along the path.
Reaching the top of our hike, we would have seen Denali if the clouds had lifted. But, not today. Denali peak is over 60 miles southwest of where we were standing.
All too soon, it's time to leave this beautiful park. We were headed south toward Talkeetna, and then to Anchorage. We were hoping along the way to finally get a peek at the ever-elusive Denali on our voyage southward. We'd heard that there were good viewing points along Route 3, so we aimed to stop and take our chances.
We stopped at Denali Viewpoint North, along the Park highway, route 3, and set in for the night. This was a strange campground, where it was all blacktop and arranged for rv's to line up as if waiting to get on a ferry. There were just a few other rv's there, and the other campers were very helpful in pointing us toward the mountain. But, alas, the clouds were still hiding the tall peak of Denali. But, they assured us that it would be unveiled come night time, as they had seen the peak the previous morning.
In the morning, we could see the white of snow and ice that permanently coated the slopes.
6/22/22 We continued south on Route 3, and stopped in at Denali Viewpoint South, to catch another angle of this great peak. Still unveiled from its coud curtain, the mountain stood tall. The peaks in front of it are 30 miles closer, and all reach up in the 7000 and 8000 height. Imagine, Denali, 70 miles away, and still standing so high in the sky, as if it were truly part of the heavens.
We watched as the clouds moved in and dressed the daily veil around the mountain. Though hidden, we now know it is always there.
We waited until the clouds closed in, just as a curtain closes on a splendid performance. Watching the final acts, I focused in on the frozen rivers, the glaciers in each crevace of the mountain range. Fascinating.
The day was moving along so with the promise to continue being in our viewing range, we climbed back into the van and headed further south. Our stop for today was Talkeetna, about halfway between Denali national park and Anchorage. We got a reservation at a small private rv park just two miles outside of town. Before settling in, we decided to check out downtown. A very quaint place right on the Talkeetna River, which was a streambed directly from the glacial flow. Glacial rivers have this interesting blue-gray color to them, from the silt that is carried along the way. And even from here, you could still see the very top of Denali, sticking up above the clouds in the left area of the sky.
The corner bar had that whimsy decor too.
And every little building we went into had that creeky wood floor and tilted door frame with a set of moose antlers positioned over it. So very Alaska.
One of the shops had some beautiful hand-made sets of drawers, and river tables. The crafted items were just gorgeous.
Heading now to our camping spot, the owner told us about a little park just 1/2 mile away where we could sit at the beach and cool off. That sounded splendid. So, we headed into the woods and found the lake, which was part of a cross-country ski trail in the winter time, maintained by the regional parks.
When we got back to our camp spot, we decided that we hadn't gotten enough of the mountains yet, so we scheduled a flightseeing tour with a company out of Talkeetna. First thing tomorrow morning. Yay!
6/23/22 Up early for our plane ride around Denali and the Alaska Range, we head into Talkeetna to the air strip. Here is our plane, an historic DeHavilland Beaver.
The glaciers look like 10-lane expressways through the mountains.
Laura and Jerry put us up for nearly 5 days, for some needed R&R, repairs on the rv, and some hiking and sight-seeing around Anchorage. We are grateful!
Firstly, we get our windshield replaced. Two mornings after our Arctic Circle trek, we saw three 4-inch cracks coming from a dent just above the windshield wiper. Bummer; had we seen the hole earlier, we could have had it filled, but now, out with the whole windshield.
Then, a tour of the town.
The Athabascan drying her fish, out by the harbor.
Anchorage's harbor is not very deep, and its tidal fuctuation is 30 feet, so its port is relatively small. A few cranes for hoisting, that's about it. Here we are at low tide.
A memorial park denoting the Turnagain Heights Slide during the 1964 earthquake. This side of Anchorage sunk down over 35 feet; all was destroyed by the quake and sea water backwash from the slide, and then subsequent tsunami waves an hour later, originating at the quake's epicenter just west of Anchorage.
The downtown statue of Captain James Cook, who had charted much of the Alaskan coastline in the mid 1700's.
6/24/22 While Phil took the van to get the tires rotated, Laura and I went on a walk around the neighborhood with the dogs. One thing that was hard not to notice was that the cottonwood trees everywhere were putting out their blooms, and there was snow-like fuzzy puffs floating around everywhere. It even gathered at the curbs like snow.
6/25/22 We visit the Anchorage Heritage and Cutural Center, and enjoy the displays of art and dance, with a dance and acrobatics team that kept a performance going the entire afternoon in the main lobby.
Earthen and pole traditional structures used before they were outlawed in the cultural "white-washing" efforts of the late 1800's - eary 1900's.
Tlingit totem inside a reconstructed community hut.
And, the gardens were beautiful.
After dinner, we head uphill for a nice evening walk overlooking the city, at the Glen Alps trailhead.
6/26/22 We trekked out to the south Anchorage shore at the Carr-Gottstein park, and walked out as far as we dared, being careful not to sink into the mud. The beaches are lined with very fine silt, a deposit commonly found in glacial terrains. You have to be careful not to get your feet stuck in the mud, as the tide comes in fast and believe it or not, people have been lost having gotten stuck in the mud with an incoming tide!
We picked up driftwood pieces, so Laura could design a driftwood wall hanging for the living room.
We all gave our best guess as to why these circles form in the mud. It was sort-of a science-based Liars' Club episode. And we still don't know why they form.
We returned to Glen Alps trailhead, and Phil and Jerry climbed up to Flat Top Mountain, a good 3000 foot climb. Laura and I stopped at a lovely viewing platform with the 2 dogs, and let the guys scamper up the skree to the summit.
Puppies were happy to trek around everywhere with us. But they were anxious to reclaim the back seat as theirs, and not to be banished to the back-back.
Back to town, we went for a well-earned pizza at Moose's Tooth. Delicious!
6/27/22 Back in the car and out to Thunder Bird Falls, and Eklutna Lake.
6/28/22 We bid good-byes, and headed south toward Seward and the Kenai Penninsula. Driving along the Turnagain Arms waterway, we took in the incredible scenery. First stop, Beluga Point, to watch the Beluga whales.
Next stop, Bird Point.
We learned that Seward hosts a "marathon" foot race on July 4, where participants run about 4 miles total, up Mt. Marathon and back down, with a 3000 foot change in elevation. The town expects a crowd of 30,000 for this event. So, perhaps we will go to Seward first, and be far from there by the 4th.
6/29/22 Onward to Seward! The drive is gorgeous.
We stop on the way to visit Exit Glacier.
This glacier moves downhill at a rate of one foot per day!
The fireweed and other wildflowers were out early this year. Everywhere we went, there was a display of color along the road.
Still early in the day, we pack up and head north, destined for Homer. You can see some of the scars from past fires on the Kenai Penninsula along the Sterling Highway, as we pass by.
Even with an unusually high snowfall last winter (the lakes and rivers are all full and pushing their shorelines up their banks), the lack of rainfall during the long days of summer are drying out the vegetation. Things are changing.
We continue heading west on the Sterling Highway to Homer, and are taken at the absolute beauty of this highway! The weather feels like a beautiful day in Tiburon, moist and warm, and green! We stop at a visitor station on the road just shy of the town of Homer. It is so beautiful.
The hills across the Cook Inlet frame this area as one of the most scenic coastal landscape that I have ever seen.
Like Seward, the RV campgrounds are lined up along the shore for high-density use, in areas that are unsuitable for building permanent structures. This works for us, because nearly every campspot has some view of the water and the peaks across the inlet. Along the spit, there are groups of buildings on pier-posts (I would beg to ask if they are considered permanent) that house little shops and restaurants, and charter fishing/sightseeing tours and freezing/cleaning services for the scores of sport fishermen that flock to Homer for halibut and salmon this time of year (it's referred to as "combat fishing", as it can get competitive with the high population of fisher-men and -women lining the shores this season).
We set up for the evening and indulge in showers at the bath house. The electicity, we find, is wired with reverse-polarity at our campsite, so we opt to "dry camp" here, to avoid blowing any electrical systems in our van.
7/1/22 Let's explore Homer Spit! We went to the Baliene Cafe for breakfast, which was fabulous. They even had delicious gluten-free rolls to substitute for the english muffins on my salmon Eggs Benedict, and the hollandaise sauce was to die for!
The tide was low. Like in Anchorage, a tidal range is over 30 feet. Look how low the boats are, to the dock! Unloading a day's catch of fish is quite a hoist.
And in the private boat slips, it's a pretty steep hike up the ramp to the street level!
Walking along the road, you can enjoy the colorful architecture of the shoreline.
Back on land, we went to see the historic Homer, which was about two blocks long with old wooden houses, right inland from the public beach and park.
The beach was expansive. I have to wonder, with historic Homer right adjacent here, if there was a lot more buildings prior to the '64 earthquake. Most of the town is spread out and built up away from the water, with the exception of the spit.
We found a row of stone cairns built on the beach. So inviting, we built a few more.
Time to move on, so we set our target for Ninilchik, about 30 miles north of Homer, along the coast of the Cook Inlet. Hee-haw! There is a rodeo scheduled this weekend in town! We won't pass up the chance to attend a rodeo this time!
We find a really great spot, I mean REALLY great, and I would tell anyone planning to stay near Homer to check this place out, even if just for an hour. It's the Deep Creek State Recreation Area, a camping and day use area, situated right between the beach to the west, and a marsh just to the east. Talk about wildlife viewing!!! We saw a moose across the marsh, and at one point we counted 28 eagles soaring and sitting either on the beach or in the trees just to the south of the campground. Absolutely spectacular!
The campground was also directy across the Cook Inlet from two peaks, the Redoubt and Iliamna volcanoes. What a view!
Also camped out at this campground were two huge rv's with the name "Deer Meat for Dinner" emblazened on the sides of the vehicles, with pictures of a young family all dressed in camo holding rifles.
I guessed this was a youtube channel, and we stumbled on the video team. Yep, it turns out, this guy from Florida started his video channel, posting videos of hunting game and fishing, and he now has over 5 million followers. His channel had so much sponsor support that he was able to purchase the huge rv for his family, and another Class A 40-footer for his newly hired videographer. He and the family were camped here for the week, while he chartered a fishing boat for his videos. In the evening, the family was going up to Soldatna to fly out to Katmai Island to check out the bears feeding on salmon. I don't think he planned on hunting bears, but I'll check in and watch that episode, since we didn't get to Katmai on our trip. I was just talking with my sister Mary about this new lifestyle phenomena, where young couples and families are traveling and blogging, and they get sponsors so they can continue traveling and blogging, supporting their lifestyle. And then we park next to one of those families the same day. The nice thing about this family was they were still very nice people; stardom doesn't seem to have phased them, thank goodness.
7/2/22 We like this spot so much, we decide to lay over here for another day and watch the eagles. AND...it's Satuday, so it's RODEO Day!
We don't have to go far to join the festivities, as the Ninilchik fairground is just a mile down the road from our campspot. The festivities start with a horse race down on the beach at low tide.
We also went to check out the "old town Ninilchik", which like Homer, was a half-dozen very old houses near the beach, now occupied with interesting galleries and gifts, and some were private homes as well.
7/3/22 Time to move on, but we take in another few glimpses of these beautiful surroundings. Here is our View from the Loo. Imagine having this view first-thing in the morning!
and greet this moose just outside the building.
Back on the road, we drove to the Russian River Falls on Carl and Ginger's recommendation. This is a 2.2 mile hike each way, perfect for stretching our legs. Just a little buggy, but we brought our DEET (Thank You Jolie for the repellant!). Unbelieveably, our biggest challenge was the heat! It was nearly 80 degrees. Being from Walnut Creek, you'd think we were used to much higher heat. We couldn't figure out why we were so hot with temperatures only in the 70's, until we heard this explanation: When you are at lower latitudes, the sun shines on your head at a higher angle, so you tend to shadow yourself. But, at higher latitudes, you get the sun full-on, with no shadowing of yourself. If you add up the square inches receiving direct sunlight, it's 100 times more with the lower sun's angle. Hmmm! I guess that makes sense. Anyway, it ws hot, and buggy. But well worth the walk!
7/4/22 We exchanged contact info, and I snapped a shot in the morning as they prepared to head out.
Onward to Whittier. The scenery is beautiful, of course.
To drive to Whittier, you have to pass through this tunnel through the mountains that is one-lane wide and has train tracks going down the middle of it. So, it has a schedule for east-bound cars and west-bound cars, and then east-bound trains and west-bound trains. They work through this cycle every hour.
It seems the town is still water-anxious, because all the buildings closer to the water were destroyed in the '64 quake, either from the quake itself, or from the 100-foot tsunami and the huge fire that followed. The apartment building was located as far away from the water as possible, without going up into the mountainside.
Now, it is the 4th of July, and the town is very proud of its 4th of July parade. Everyone is able to be in the parade, so many children have their registration signs affixed to their bicycles and ride in the parade.
After the parade, we walked along the boardwalk to pass some time before our ferry departure time. Phil practiced his kayackin skills using the THINK method.
Good-bye Whittier!
7/5/22 We planned for a few days here in Valdez, yahoo! Time to catch up with ourselves and land for
a bit! We were staying at the Valdez RV
Park, right near the harbor. Before we
dive into our electronic minituia, we head into town and see some sights.
Down at the docks, there are some very interesting
statues. I can say, these are fantasy
beings; I have never seen a fish with an alligator head. Kids, am I right?
There is a short walk up to the top of this hill that sits
between the docs and the rest of town.
It begs us to take it, so up we go.
You can see the whole town below from up here.
We head for the museum, and take in Valdez’ story. I am so impressed that the native folks were
wearing waterproof clothing long before gortex was invented. These hooded jackets are made of bear gut
strips, with a strip of grass sewn in the seam to expand and keep the seams
waterproof.
More modern history in Valdez was defined by three events;
1) the Alaska gold rush, 2) the ’64 earthquake, and 3) the Alaska Pipeline
terminus at Valdez, and subsequently the Exxon Valdez oil catastrophe.
With the 1897 Alaska Gold Rush, the flood of mining
prospectors headed northward by land, which was an incredibly long journey to
get to interior Alaska or the Klondike area in the western Yukon
Territory. Valdez had a warm-water
inlet, and then just a few miles inland you could climb up the Valdez Glacier
up and over the mountains, thus taking a shortcut to the interior Alaska. It was still hundreds of miles, but that was
a better choice than the thousands of miles they would otherwise travel by
land. So, Valdez became a landing point
for gold prospectors, as they geared up for their trek up the glacier and
yonder to the land of Gold Dreams.
Valdez grew through the mining phase of history, and then
because of its warm-water port, a road was built to interior Alaska, and once
oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay and the North Slope, it continued to thrive
as an oil transfer point, long after the gold rush dissipated. But, that was interrupted in March, 1964 with
the 9.2 earthquake. Most of Valdez was
built on the glacial alluvium right at the base of the Valdez glacier, which
provided no structure when the earth shook.
Half of the shoreline sank into the sound, and the buildings still on
land sunk into the mud due to the liquefaction of the glacial sands. For the most part, the entire town of Valdez
was destroyed. It was decided that
Valdez would be rebuilt in a new location, where bedrock provided a sure
foundation. The remains of the old town
were actually burned to the ground, and reparations began about a mile west of
the original town.
The rebuilding of Valdez was a success, and you will agree
if you step off the ferry, the docks are top-notch, and the boardwalk is a
lovely place to spend time, with public art and wooden benches lining the water’s
edge. The Alaskan pipeline emerges from
the hills at a point across the inlet, so the oil shipping activity occurs
across the way, separate from the town of Valdez. All seems to be in order until you hear about
the botched navigation of the Exxon Valdez tanker exiting the port with its
tanks full of oil, wavering out of the shipping channel and crashing into the
rocks in the middle of Prince William Sound.
The museum has a well-presented display of the clean-up efforts of that
event, although details of the accident are a little sketchy in the exhibit. We subsequently met the owner of a gift shop in
town, who was also a diver for the Coast Guard back when the accident happened,
and he had first-hand information on the accident. He felt that Exxon gathered too much of the
evidence, including his dive pictures and video, and that this evidence was
never seen again.
With a head-full of history, we wander around the block to
Brewery Lane, and visit the aforementioned gift shop owner, who has the most
elaborate collection of things for sale, and fantastic stories of how he
acquired a number of items that are on display and not for sale. We could have stayed in his shop all afternoon!
But, we meander next door to the Valdez Brewing Company to
check out their draught, and admire the mandala artwork on the walls.
As we walked back to the van parked near the docks, a man
drove up in his quad/cart, noticing our California plates. His family, believe it or not, was from
Paradise, and he wondered if we were familiar with the area. Yep, we are pretty darn familiar with
Paradise, with my folks, my brother, and my sister and family all recently
having left due to the Camp Fire, where they lost their houses. We chatted for nearly an hour about Paradise,
about Valdez, and past-present-future of both places. He had two Corkies with him that I got to pet
(miss you Porthos!), and he let me take his picture.
Then, we noticed a 4-wheel drive van parked next to ours,
with the name “@patoandlola” on the fender.
We were admiring some of the details of the van, with its slightly more
rugged structure than ours and more solar panels, and a man emerges from the
van and introduces himself. He and his
wife and twin 2-year-olds are from Cancun, Mexico, and have been on the road
for 12 months, traveling all over North America. They planned to be on the road
for one more year. I give them credit,
baby twins in a 22 ft van is commendable!
They had great stories to tell as well!
We now keep in touch on Facebook.
After dinner, we went for a stroll around the boar harbor,
and just took in the beauty of this place.
Valdez refers to itself as “the Alps of America”, and I do believe it
lives up to its name. We walked for
hours into the late evening sun.
7/6/22 Total Veg-out day!
Catching up on this blog, we never left the campground!
7/7/22 Time to mosey along.
We checked out the waterfall behind the Forest Service Information
Center at the start of the Richardson Highway.
Then, heading further up the Richardson Highway through the Worthington Canyon, we see waterfalls and more waterfalls! This is a gorgeous section of roadway!
We turn east toward Chitina, into the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, tempting ourselves to find a ride from Chitina to McCarthy, and then up to the Kennecott mine. We did not want to put our Lexy through any more dirt roads; we’ve been hard enough on the van already and don’t want to press our luck. Along this road, Mt. Wrangell presented itself in stunning glory.
We got out to the
Forest Service Visitor Station in Chitina and met Vickie, the ranger on duty. What a character! She was full of information and kept us
chuckling at her anecdotal descriptions.
We weren’t able to find a ride out to McCarthy, so we figured we’d save
that experience for next time we were up this way. We did camp along the Copper River just past
the bridge that heads out to McCarthy.
So, I guess we could say that we traveled a short distance on that
infamous McCarthy Road.
7/8/22 We head back to the Richardson Highway from Chitina, and take a short detour off the highway to go through the town proper of Copper Center. During the productive years of the Kennecott mine, this was a bustling town.
We then stop at the Wrangell-St. Elias Visitor Center, just
north of Copper Center. This is an
impressive campus, with a theater, culture center, and physical geography
center as well as the welcome station and gift shop. They also had a lovely ½ mile walk that
started with a gorgeous view of Mt. Wrangell, Blackburne, and Drum.
Onward to find a campsite!
At Gakona, we take the Tok Cutoff Highway, and look for the road out to
Nebesna, following directions given to us by one of the local docents at the
culture center. We found it at Slana,
and head out, to find a nice campspot just about 7 miles down the road. What a beautiful spot, with a babbling stream
right next to us and all!
Our campspot was large enough to share, and soon a Dodge
Caravan minivan pulled in, and a young couple popped by to ask if they could
share the space with us for the night.
We said, of course! We then got
talking, and found that they had just travelled all the roads where we were just
heading toward, and vise-versa. So,
after dinner, overcoming mosquitos and all, we sat around the picnic table and
talked for hours about all the favorite places each of us should visit.
That evening, it started raining We went to sleep to the sound of raindrops on
the tin roof of the van all night long.
Pleasant Slumbers!
By 10am, the rain had subsided, and it was time to move along with the day. We were headed for Tok, they were headed for Valdez, and we bid our good-byes feeling richer for the sharing of our campspot and so much more.
We were off to Tok, and went to the Tesoro gas station, west of the intersection where the Tok cut-off meets the Richardson Highway. We heard last time we were in Tok that they allow you to use the high-pressure hose in the back for free to wash your car if you buy gas there. No quarters, no 6-minute timer this time. Poor Lexy needed a bath so badly, people didn't know that her original color was white. We also found a dump station and a separate potable water spigot back there, so we took care of everything in one stop. Score!
One more visit to the Visitor's Center to use their wifi for downloading and uploading our electronic minutia, and filing our ArriveCan forms for crossing the border on the 11th. Quick stop in the Three Bears for groceries, and we are all set for dry camping for a few days.
We then headed east on the Alaska Highway, toward a campground that Tom and Lea told us about, Deadman's Lake, which was beautiful, where they had a dock and canoes available to use, and the water was warm enough to swim in. It seemed unfortunate that it was called "Deadman's Lake", being that it was so beautiful.
There were two spots left in the small campground, so we were lucky. Walking around the park, we realized that we had found a real gem on the AlCan Highway.
We did have to fight mosquitos, but in the evening there was a nice breeze which kept them at bay. We meandered down a beautiful interpreter's boardwalk to a viewing post on the lakeshore.
We then went down to the dock, and found a 2 person canoe there, just waiting for us. In we go, and paddle out past the lilypads into the lake.
7/10/22 Lay-over day! Not a more spectacular spot to hang out for a day, after our canoe trip last evening through the lilypads. We slept in and made a brunch. Before we knew it, we heard the light patter o raindrops on the roof fan. With the mosquitos and now a light rain outside, and a bit of smoke from distant wildfires now moving into the area, we were content to stay inside our van for most of the day. We had thought we'd swim and canoe in the lake, but sometimes a day with absolutely no plans is good for the psyche. Sometimes, when in the van on the couch, it reminds me of a childhood dream of having a room like the inside of the bottle of "I dream of Jeanie", with Barbara Eden. Small, tidy, padded and curtained, it has a comforting cocoon aspect of which I do enjoy, at least for short periods of time. Too much time inside the van, and it starts feeling like we are living in a tin can. Thats not good. Time to break out and greet the world, bugs and all!
After dinner, a soft breeze picked up and cleared th bugs away, and we went for a short walk around the shore. We met a couple for Germany who were traveling for a year in their Volkswagen camper that they brought over. We then walked down to the dock and just stared at the water, shoreline grasses, lilypads, and fish biting at insects on the surface of the water. The silence was again magical.
7/11/22 Continuing along the Alaska Highway, we pulled into the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center.
We were greeted by a docent intern named Kayla, and her coach Cora, a native and docent for 31 years, and was a tribe counselor before that. She had made many of the native clothing pieces, adding elaborate beadwork to the leather mittens and moccasins.
The center had a large deck, where we could see the refuge and the Wrangell-St. Elias peaks in the background.
We continued then along the Alaska Highway toward the Canadian border. The condition of this stretch of the road was horrible!
This was the part of the road that we would have come through on our way north, had we not gone up to the Top of the World Highway. All in all, the dirt road across the Top of the World was by far in better shape than this stretch of roadway! I do feel for everyone that thinks they are avoiding the perils of a challenging drive by avoiding the Top of the World and coming up this way!
We crossed the border, and I think our border patrol agent was the lost twin of Lady Gaga. She batted her eyes the same, her inflection in her questions had that same speaking voice, it was hard not to smile when she was doing such a great job at being very serious with us. But alas, after she instructed us on the new laws about declaring and forfiettng cannabis at the border, and since we did not have any with us, she rolled her eyes, handed back our passports, and turned away and said, “have a safe trip”. Kind-of like, “get out of my sight” with a New-York twang. We obliged, and drove off, now back into the foreign country of Canada.
Now on the Canadian side of the Alaska Highway, the road started to improve, and by the time we passed through Beaver City, it was as smooth as any well-maintained roadway would be expected. We could enjoy the scenery again, and not have our eyes affixed to the pavement! We again noticed all the fireweed blooming, just everywhere. It lined the roadway so beautifully, you would think that it was intentionally planted as part of a beautification effort.
At one point, an oncoming truck flashed his lights at us and stopped about 20 yards ahead. Yep, sure enough, they spotted a bear on the side of the road.. Wowed to a stop (screeching breaks scares them away, so we were careful). A grizzly! Our first!
He then started looking at us, and I had that jolt, like I wasn't looking through the zoom lense right now, he was actually right there, that close!
Time to roll our car along before we annoy him! Thank you Mr. Bear, for this magical moment!
It had been raining most of the day, which with the bad road conditions makes tiresome driving, so we pulled into Lake Creek provincial campground for the night. The area hadn’t been mowed for a week or so, and of course the main weeds that were popping up everywhere were fireweed, even in our campsite.
7/12/22 Continuing on the Alaska Highway, we stopped at Burwash Landing, to see the small museum there. I was endlessly impressed with this little museum. Their exhibits included taxidermy of real moose, musk-ox, sheep, every animal that you would run into in the woods around here, and they put them in such great settings, you felt like you were there with sheep on the rocks just above your head. Very impressive!
We continued along to Haines Junction, and for a few more minutes, pondered if we wanted to drive down to Haines, and then wait until we could get tickets on the ferry to Skagway. We already knew that we’d have to wait at least three days in Haines for ferry tickets. For that final decision, we chose to bypass Haines, and again save the Haines/Skagway loop for our next trip north. So, onward to Whitehorse.
Still pouring down rain, we could not find a campspot, so we joined our fellow travelers in the Walmart parking lot. It served us quite well!
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