The MOUNTAIN

Denali National Park 

June 20 - June 24, 2016

The Great One

(group meet up!  Yay.  Love that we are all so independent with our itineraries, but also love seeing everyone together for a few nights - plus, we have excellent Cocktail parties!) Thanks to Nancy Murphy in her diligence to get these reservations last December. :)

Denali - The Great One (the true old Athabaskan Indian name)  Tallest mountain in North America standing at 20,310 ft.  President Obama just signed the bill changing the name from Mt. McKinley to Denali.

The locals refer to Denali as ‘the mountain,’ or the ‘high one.’ It is not uncommon to hear one of the park employees asking us if we have got the chance to see the mountain.  Denali makes it’s own weather. We shall see.

Polychrome mountain

Unfortunately, and as happens most of the time, the weather is not allowing us to see the mountain.  We believe we saw it as we were driving on the Top of the World highway from 100’s of miles away, but not inside the park, yet. We are hoping for a weather change soon.  

View from our campsite

Bedroom window!

Staying in Savage Campground. Lots of Bear activity.  You need to take your bear spray with you at all times, even to go to the restrooms.  Walking the dog is a bit nerve racking.  There was a Bull Moose near our campsite yesterday.  Moose can be extremely troublesome because of their kick.  Stay away from them for sure. 

Wednesday, June 22- my day for the bus.

School buses are the only mode of travel within the park, actually you can personally only drive to Savage River which is mile 14.7.  Beyond that the remaining 70 some miles of gravel road are only accessible ONLY by the BUS. 

These bus tours must be booked well in advance, but I would HIGHLY recommend it.  You won’t be bored and to really see the animals and the mountain, this is the way to go. The bus stops to pick up backpackers and researchers and anyone else that finds themselves out in the middle of nowhere!  After Savage River you begin to climb and after about 4 hours of driving and seeing all kinds of amazing wildlife you reach the Tundra and the majestic view of the mountain. I can’t believe that I was never once bored on this day trip.  We saw Dall sheep, lots of them, many rams and ewes with their babes.  Hundreds of Caribou, some cow moose with their babies, 2 great BIG Bull Moose and 4 Grizzly bears - one was a Mama with 2 cubs.  It was spectacular.  A day I will never forget.

Around 9:30 that evening we had a knock on our trailer from the Ranger that a Grizzly had threatened a backpacker not far from our campground.  Bummer. She did all the wrong things and threw down her backpack and that’s that.  Now the bear has had the scent of human food and we are all on alert.  They have closed all the trails leading from our campsite and the road.  They need to find the bear and the back pack.  Everyone visiting Denali does get to watch a quick movie on how to respond and what to do with various types of moose, wolf and primarily bear encounters.  Easier said than done, I’m sure.  Playing dead with your backpack covering your neck and head doesn’t sound pleasant.  So here we are AGAIN….in a National Park with a bear incident.  (Glacier, Yellowstone and now this????  I have bad Bear Karma) 

Thursday, June 23 - Kevin’s day for the bus.

This is our last full day in Denali National Park we have been lucky to have a weather shift and WE SEE THE MOUNTAIN!!!  It’s spectacular.  Definitely can see why this is the symbol of Alaska.  It towers over the Alaska Range, which in itself, is pretty impressive with many peaks rising about 18,000 ft.  

Well, Lucky Kevin.....he got to see the mountain from the best spot in the park, and if any of you know how many photographs Kevin takes, you will know that he came back pretty empty handed. Well one or two!  He was fortunate to also see all of the BIG 4 in Denali - Dall Sheep, Moose, Caribou and 7 Grizzlies.  He came back with lots of good stories as his bus driver was super cool.  

Bull Moose

Dahl Sheep

More drama around our Grizzly incident in our campground.   We are staying at Savage (1 of 3 campgrounds in the park).  A small, rather remote campground.  We chose that for that reason.  The backpacker that was charged and ultimately threw his backpack at the bear (???) had coke, cigarettes and snickers in the pack.  So now we have a grizzly that is addicted to caffeine and sugar.  Great.  Closed all the trails in this end of the park as they look for the bear.  Second incident (maybe same Bear?) occurred just later that same day as a Grizz attacked a Mamma Moose and killed her but NOT her calf.  The park is hopeful that the calf will be adopted by another Momma Moose.  so sad.

backpacker

CLOSED!

Jeanette in the Tundra 

So now I really believe that I have some bad karma with Grizzly Bears.  First Yellowstone, then Glacier and now Denali.  What the heck?  This incident even made the national news???  Oh well, we had a wonderful 4 days in the park and would go back again....just not too much hiking. :)

  

Rivers and glaciers wind through these beautiful mountains all around you in this valley

Mat-Su Valley (Matsuka Valley)

Trapper Creek, Alaska

100 miles from Denali National Park

June 19, 2016

Driving on the Glenn Highway to Palmer AK…now this is a must highway to drive while in Alaska.  On our way to Denali.

Talkeetna Glacier

 The road is now paved and not too many frost heaves.  You can tell this is a popular visitor spot for airplane tours, rafting, canoeing, fishing, ziplines, glacier climbs and hiking.  The Black Spruce still have the “drunken forest” look ( roots hit thermafrost and trees get all bent up).  The highway is lined with lovely wildflowers, again a reminder that Spring is just here in middle of June.  The weather is changing and the forecast for Denali is 3 days of rain :( Glad I was able to get my beautiful picture of Denali as we were traveling on the Top of the World.

This was a day of Glaciers.  The Tallinn, Matanuska, Talkeetna and the Nelchine.  Say that fast three times.  Lots of very nice homes sprawled along the glacier ice fields and various lakes and rivers. During the Depression, Pres. Roosevelt colonized this region with farmers from the Midwestern States, bringing hundreds of farming families into the Mat-Su Valley.  They were given 40 acres of land. You can still see many of the old barns, called the Colony Barns. Pretty cool sight.  One of the exciting things you can do here is “Canoe/cabins.”  You take your sleeping bag and pad, get into your canoe and go for 14 days staying in backcountry cabins with rustic bed frames and woodturning stoves.  Sounds like something we would like.  

Did a quick visit and tour to the Musk-Ox farm.  Bought some quviut that I hope to knit up into a very nice cowl or something like that?  The quviut is collected by combing these 600 lb shaggy Ice Age survivors ONCE a year in the spring.  It is the underwool of the musk-oxen. 8 times warmer than wool and can be washed in any temperature of water!  Bit expensive because this wool is in rather short supply and somewhat difficult to recover!!

Arrived in Palmer, AK with a bit of a culture shock.  Lots of people, normal highways, fast food places….but definitely ALASKA all the way.  Dirty trucks, canoes, boats, and ATV’s.  Left Palmer quickly after getting fuel, groceries and liquor for our 4 day stay in Denali.  

Bog Dog! (Bodie loved the bogs)

Stayed in Trappers Creek for the night before we head out for a short drive into Denali.  Had to make these reservations 6 months in advance (sort of like our Yosemite ordeals).  The weather should change near the end of our 4 days here.  Let’s hope.  

WELCOME to our BIGGEST NATIONAL PARK! Wrangell-St. Elias

Mile 7.2 on the Edgerton Highway, near Chitina

Copper River, Kennicott, McCarthy Road????? (OH MY?)

June 16 - June 18, 2016

So after making it off the Top of the World Highway our goal for the next 4 days was to get into Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.  We stayed outside of Tok at a very nice, and our 1st, Alaska State Park.  We were one of 4 people in the ENTIRE park.  Nice sites, bad mosquitos.  ick.

 First stop was at the Visitor Center for the Park, located at Copper Center.  I’m beginning to understand the size of this National Park.  Bigger than Switzerland, 5 times the size of Yellowstone, and 9 of the highest mountains in North America (highest is Denali, which we will see in less than a week!!)  There are 2 roads in to the Park, we are entering via the McCarthy Road.  Apparently, this is going to be an adventure in itself.  We are dropping the airstream in Kenny Lake at a very nice campground.  There are 7 sites all nestled within the forest.  Living off the grid with our solar is working well.  We will take the truck with at least 2 spare tires for the trip.  This road is a 60 mile long gravel road - a journey into the backroads of the frontier wilderness of Alaska.  The road follows an old railroad bed.  The 60 miles will take 3 hours as the fastest one can travel is 35 mph.  Chances of having a flat are high as there are old railroad spikes laying around.  At the end of the McCarthy Road we park and take a footbridge across the Copper River into McCarthy (1 mile walk) and then walk to Kennecott (5 mile walk) from there we will attempt the 2 miles up to the Root Glacier. Kennecott is the sight of the old Railroad depot where travelers would arrive to mine for copper. It is also a Historical Landmark with many of the old buildings still standing. Bodie gets to come along!  Leashed and ready with Bear Spray we are up for this.  I think???  As I was doing laundry, an old local came up and gave me the BETTER BE PREPARED speech and there are other ways to see the park, etc, etc.  Oh he doesn’t know us very well.  

So tomorrow morning off we go into the wild Wrangell - St. Elias National Park.  Very few visitors get to see this big beauty.  We feel very lucky and hoping the weather will continue to cooperate as the views have been super special as we have traveled into this valley.  

June 18, 2016
"Two Roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler, long I stood.....and took the McCarthy Road!"  (well, some of Robert Frost and some of Me)

hmmmmmm????

What an absolutely great day we had.  The sign wasn't a good start???? But, we decided it was either flying in, taking a shuttle or just going for it.  We went for it.  Had our spare tires and our radios to communicate with each other. Everything was more than we expected! Before getting to the start of the road, we crossed the bridge and was able to see all the Inuits with their dip nets and fishing wheels (they are the only ones allowed to do this).

 The McCarthy road was crazy, took 2 hours to travel the road, but was stunning scenery and stopped lots to take pics (that was not included in the 2 hours of driving the 30 miles on the McCarthy).  We crossed a crazy wooden bridge that spanned a 285 ft gorge, wow.  Arrived at the end of the road and parked the trucks at a super cool glacier tour guide "shack."  The guy was super nice and walked the footbridge over to McCarthy.  Took the shuttle for $5 into Kennicutt.  Historical mining town in the middle of NOWHERE!

Kennicott, Alaska

 They even had a food truck that has been written up for their great food...indeed it was.  

Darn good food

Root Glacier

Bald Eagle - difficult to take pic

From Kennicutt we hiked 5 miles to the Root Glacier. Totally COOL day in every way.

Riding the little shuttle back to McCarthy we passed a Momma Bear and her cub.  They were in no hurry to leave the road, well at least the baby. We drove back and decided to stop at some random, out of the way, Coffee shack...Really in the middle of nowhere. Met the nicest couple that live at 3 mile lake on the McCarthy Road.  Not many neighbors, other than moose and bears.  They live here year round, coffee shop only open in the summer as the road is impassable.  Takes her 7 1/2 to go grocery shopping..she goes every 2 months.  Generators are their only source of power....use it for propane freezers, refrigerators, lights.  They were so cool and maybe in their early 30's??
This has been one of my highlights of the trip so far.....the people you meet.

WE MADE IT! 31 years of waiting…..ALASKA.

Outside of Chicken, ALASKA!!!!  United States of America :) 

Taylor Highway “Top of the World Highway” - Dawson City, Yukon Territory to Tok, Alaska

June 15, 2016

So as we were all together for a couple of nights in Whitehorse, 4 of us decided to try our luck and drive the “Top of the World Highway.”  We have read and studied the various books and blogs of those that have ventured this way, and decided to try our luck.  Saying goodbye to the Jackson’s, Barretts and Palls at Whitehorse, J & B, the Murphy’s, the Polks and us decided to head off toward Dawson City.  

The highway as it left Whitehorse seemed alright other than some Frost Heaves, which we have got pretty could at maneuvering about.  Lots of the same.  RIVERS, LAKES, CREEKS, TREES, more TREES, signs of big Forest Fires from the past and lots of Marsh lands, where we were fortunate to see a Momma Moose and her baby.  Very sweet.  The road here is lined with Fire Weed (very pretty purple) unlike the yellow dandelion that has been along the entire Alaska highway for miles and miles.  

J & B and Kevin and I stopped for 1 night at a Yukon Govt Camp, Moose Creek.  Quite nice other than the big time BEAR Activity.  

When one plans to drive the Top of the World Highway there are some pretty important things to consider.  Most importantly is the weather.  Oh they tell you to ask in the Visitor Center, or the locals or try the radio.  Well, everyone of them says something different and the weather seems to change every hour, even if the forecast is for NO RAIN, just wait, it will RAIN.  So on Day 2 in Dawson, it did rain.  We had planned on leaving on Day 3, according to my weather man (Kevin) whom we all trust.  Our rainy day was quite lovely, taking the paddle boat, walking the town, pub hopping, happy hour in the campground, museums….you can easily spend 2 days in Dawson…no problem.  Our strategy was to leave EARLY.  We had to wait in line for the Ferry and with only 100 miles to go, it would take us at least 3 - 4 hours on a dirt, gravel, frost heaved road for the entire section to CHICKEN.  

crossing the Yukon River with our pod

It was all it was said to be.  BEAUTIFUL.  Our timing was perfect, we could see for hundreds of miles.  The Bering Sea was just behind the furthest mtn range and the North Pole, well it was to the North.  The Tundra was so fragile at the top.  We tried to stay together as a group just for safety sake. 

Our radio’s worked well.  No Cell anywhere. At one point in time, Lynda was hanging out of her sunroof in the truck taking video of our Silver booties driving along the dirt road….pretty sweet.  After about 3 hours, we reached the ALASKA BORDER!  Now that was exciting.  After driving over 4500 miles….we MADE IT.  

Border Crossing at the top of the world

After crossing, it was less than 40 miles to CHICKEN, Alaska.  Oh my gosh, I have been reading about Chicken for some time now.  POPULATION is 23 in the summer and 7 in the winter.  There are 3 business’ in Chicken and there is the ‘Chicken Lady.’  No cell service, no city water, no sewer or electric services.  The few residents have to provide their own water for drinking and showers and must generate their own electricity.  What a hoot this place was.  

The FAMOUS Chicken Lady!

All of CHICKEN

The Saloon...MFD hat is up there

We are staying at a BLM campground which is very nice.  West Fork BLM.  Free wood.  All 4 of us are here together and we have established a “cocktail shelter” for this evenings recreation.  Brownies and Dominoes are on the schedule.  I’m excited. 

We leave tomorrow for TOK.  Tok is at the end of the Top of the World Highway.  

Northern Exposure!!!

Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada

Klondike Highway

June 13 -15, 2016

Leaving Moose Creek, we encountered our first traffic jam due to a very slow Porcupine Crossing! This dude was taking his time and there was not hurrying him to the other side.  Other than that, no car, truck or RV seen for 40 some miles.  The very lonely Klondike highway continued North with its 2 lanes and purple Fireweed lining the sides.  Lots of frost heaves, which Kevin has learned to avoid quite nicely.  After our porcupine encounter, we saw a Cow Moose with her baby off in a marsh on the side of the road.  Nice morning.  Only drove 100 km to Dawson City.

Dawson City!  Wow.  Not a touristy feeling at all.  People here were so genuine and nice.  After walking the city boardwalk and checking out the few museums in town, we headed off for a pub.  Well.....that was interesting.  Our first

pub turned into a few pubs and then a pub crawl.  We had some interesting conversations, especially at the local pub, THE PIT.  hmmmm.

This town is the Sicily from Northern Exposure.  We just don't have the moose walking down the street.  Great photo's from all the houses, stores and churches.

NORTHERN EXPOSURE????

Dawson City Factoids! 

(Kevin became good friends with the docent on the paddle boat ride he took!! - lots of good Education here :) )

Sicily Alaska??? from Northern Exposure????

• There is a Westside of DC, across the Yukon.  Population is 50.  They have to take the ferry or canoe or snowmobile after freeze-up or break-up (2 important times of the year)
• A few years back, the break-up was not happening fast enough, beer was running out for the Westsider’s.  They pooled all their monies together and hired a helicopter to buy beer
• A recent softball tournament had to be cancelled due to Grizzly family in the outfield
• The school currently has 6 graduates and Kdg has 22 (population boom!)
• The children learn Han (the First Nation Language), French and English
• There is a housing shortage and the city allows 3 new lots a year to be built and this is done by a lottery
• Babies are only born in Whitehorse (Yukon territory does not recognize Midwives as a medical practice)
• Only the 1st baby is paid for which includes housing in Whitehorse prior to delivery
• Way across the Yukon is the George Jones Ferry - paid for by the Yukon Territory 
• Paddleboat graveyard is located up river….after the highway was put in, some of the boats were just pulled up on shore  
• It takes 6 to 7 days to go up river to Whitehorse by a paddle boat
• Why don’t they have a bridge???  City of Dawson and Mining Co were going to split the costs, but DC did’t want to spend that money - they still don’t want to spend the money…hence, the George Jones Ferry ( the ferry costs a million dollars a year to operate)
• Hair dryers are located in the plumbing section of the hardware store so you can thaw your plumbing out
• living in a small town is very interesting, everyone knows everyone else.  
• More Woman than Man, “Odds are good, but the goods are Odd!”
• Dating is almost incestous, most likely you have dated your friends friends
• Bring in your own boyfriend from the OUTSIDE. INSIDE is Dawson City and the Klondike
• If you fart for breakfast, everyone knows by lunch

The Streets of Dawson 

Jack London's cabin (the other half is in the Bay area!)

If you have never seen Northern Exposure, watch some of it.  This is SITKA, except haven’t seen the Moose walking down the street yet! Play that theme music in your head and check out these pics of their downtown and the neighborhoods.  Special little place settled right along the Yukon River. Pretty nice people - the docent at the Jack London house has lived here 40 years!  Not a warm place in the winter.  Kevin and I found the coolest little local bar and spent a good hour chatting it up with the bartender and 2 locals (that was the total bar crowd that afternoon).  

They were the one’s who told us to go to The Pit if we really want to see the local bar scene. We had an absolutely wonderful 2 days in Dawson City!!!

The neighbor hood trash containers....bears

Effects of Permafrost on buildings

Oh, SUCH JOY!

Mile 0 from Alaska Highway to the Klondike Highway to Dawson City, Yukon Canada
June 10-13, 2016

Well, our first stop after leaving the Alaska Highway on our big loop on the Klondike Highway was BRAEBURN.  Braeburn is an official stop for the Yukon Quest, the 1000 mile International Dog Race, but more than that, it is the Cinnamon Roll stop that we have heard about for miles as we have traveled along the highway!  Kevin was excited, to say the least.  SO BIG!

Then came the highlight of our trip.  We saw something very black in the highway ahead of us.  Slowed and still couldn't figure out what the heck it was.  It was a BIG, BLACK WOLF.  Yep, a wolf.  Huge and scary looking.  It turned back into the forest as soon as we came close.  Smart Wolf.  I sware it was as big as a pony, but very thin and long legged.

Potholes and Frost heaves were the dominant event for this day on the road.  Came to Pelly's Crossing and told the young First Nation girl in the gas station about our wolf sighting. She was mesmerized and called some of the elders in to hear our story.  At this point, I couldn't figure out if this was a Bad Karma or Good??  They were incredibly interested as to where we saw the wolf and how big and what color, etc.  Then we met a young white woman with her horse trailer at the same gas station.  She worked for the Yukon National Biology Department and said that it was a very special treat to see a wolf, very rare.  Oh well.  It was quite a thing for us.  Quite the reactions we got at Pelly's Crossing.

We arrived at Moose Creek Yukon Government Camp that night to find ourselves in a very beautiful campsite along Moose Creek with lots of Bear poop everywhere.  They had all the usual free wood, etc, but also cables to hang your food if you needed.  Bear spray was required  We hiked a bit, but sorta of scary.

burning our sage in honor of our wolf sighting

Off to Dawson City tomorrow for 2 nights, 3 days before we cross the Yukon on the George Jones Ferry and travel 100 miles on gravel to Chicken, Alaska!!!!  Finally.  Over the Top of the World Highway we go.  Some travelers refuse to take this loop, but we chose to try.  Let's hope our truck and trailer make it.  Should be something if we can see at the top.