July 5, 2009

July 5, 2009

We have pretty much seen all that Fairbanks, AK has to offer. So we pack up the house and head south towards Anchorage. As soon as we leave Fairbanks the sky begins filling with smoke. Ohhh, I remember reading a snippet in the paper this morning about forest fires southwest of town. The smoke gets so bad at times we have to close the vents. If there are any scenic mountains on the drive south we are missing them.

After a couple hours, we arrive in the small town of Healy. Aimee and I decide to spend the afternoon knocking a few more golf balls into little holes. Compared to Fairbanks this golf course is in a little better shape but the holes are more tightly packed together forcing us to dodge a few errant golf shots. Nevertheless I end up with a pretty respectable score.

Healy is just north of Denali National Park. We have been calling the park every day for the last couple weeks trying to get a spot at a specific campground without success. It is all a little frustrating since Denali is the size of a small state at six million acres. All the park system would need to do is clear two acres to free up some space. It is not like the park provides any services other than an outhouse and fee collection at this campground.

Fortunately we have the national parks figured out to some extent and we call them again and lo and behold they suddenly have lots of space. Go figure. We make our reservation and head straight to the park. Denali has only one road into the park and cars are not allowed much past the entrance. The public must generally take a bus once inside the park. Teklanika campground is the exception and it lets us drive 29 miles into the park. What I didn’t realize is that the road is dirt and gravel past the first fifteen miles. Our home on wheels hates bumpy roads. Driving very slowly we pull into the campground at 8pm.

July 4, 2009

July 4, 2009

Dear Uncle Sam, Happy Birthday. We are in Fairbanks, Alaska helping your 49th state celebrate its 50th birthday. It was too cold to do it on the actual date in January, so we thought we would celebrate it today. I hope you don’t mind sharing.

To get immersed in the old culture of the Alaska’s interior, we took a morning cruise on the riverboat Discovery. This paddle wheeler is run by the same owners as yesterday’s gold mine tour. Both are elaborately staged “adventures” along supposedly wild territory. The owners must have been schooled by Disney. Despite the hokeyness, we had fun again today. The cruise took us past a float plane taking off and landing, and a dog sledding operation. It was amazing watching how excited the dogs got when they were strapped in to pull a four-wheeler around. We then disembarked at an Indian village where we learned about salmon smoking and fur trapping.

This afternoon, Uncle Sam, we are going to relax, BBQ some fresh salmon and toast to your good health. Unfortunately we will miss the fireworks this year. It never gets dark enough here to shoot them off. Best Regards, Mike and Aimee.

July 3, 2009

July 3, 2009

We are still in Fairbanks, AK. Today we went to the east side of town passing a section of the Alaska Oil Pipeline that runs nearby. The pipeline is 4-foot in diameter and runs 800 miles bringing oil from Prudhoe Bay on the north slope down to Valdez in the south. Built in the 70’s, the design was unique because the metal supports incorporate cooling coils to prevent the hot crude from melting and collapsing the “permafrost” soil supporting it. On the drive to Alaska we heard all about permafrost and the difficulty maintaining a road over it. With the short summer season up here, the subsoil never has a chance to thaw, hence it is PERMAnently FROSTy. If you are not careful, the permafrost soil melts and subsides causing pipelines to sag and buckle, and roads to warp.

Just down the road we visit the Eldorado Gold mine. The tour starts with us boarding a small train that slowly takes us past recreations of different types of gold mining operations. A few hundred yards down, we disembark and watch a modern gold sluice in operation. Afterwards we are each given a small sack of dirt that we can practice gold panning. Both Aimee and I find a dozen pieces of gold. We are rich!! Well not quite, it is not even enough gold to pay for the tour. Overall the tour is very hokey but the staff does a great job to make it all fun. And hey this is probably going to be the only way I will ever find gold by panning.

July 2, 2009

July 2, 2009

This morning we drove down the street to visit the Museum of the North on the campus of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. We have gotten good reports about it and we were not disappointed. The museum covers everything Alaska. The history portion ranges from the Indians who traveled here across the Bering land bridge during the Ice Age, to Alaska’s ownership by Russia during the fur-trapping era, to its purchase by the US and its strategic importance during WWII. There is also a large section on Alaska wildlife from prehistoric to the modern. The highlight of the museum was the screening of two movies. One was a detailed technical explanation of the Aurora Borealis phenomenon (which I liked) and another on surviving brutally cold perpetually dark winters in interior Alaska (which Aimee liked best). The museum also had a special photography exhibit on polar bears that was wonderful.

After the museum we did some retail therapy for Aimee, going first back to Pioneer Village and then to downtown Fairbanks.

July 1, 2009

July 1, 2009

The one unwanted souvenir we have of the Alaska Highway is road dirt. Every surface and every nook and cranny is clogged with mud, thick mud. Many of the Alaska RV parks advertise a wash station as a service for us intrepid pioneers coming off the Highway. It is warm and sunny so we give it a go this morning. I am not looking for nice and shiny, just clean enough I don’t get dirty just walking by the house.

From North Pole, AK we drive the short distance into Fairbanks. Our first stop is a gas station. I am on fumes. We fill up on “cheap” gas, the first we have gotten below $3 a gallon since Montana.

Our next stop is Pioneer Park. This site is Fairbanks’s effort to preserve some of its early history. Many of the buildings are authentic log cabins transplanted here from throughout the Fairbanks area to recreate a gold rush town. Most are now tourist shops. A few hold museum collections of early memorabilia. The two centerpieces of the park are a historic sternwheeler riverboat and the rail car that President Harding rode when he drove the last spike for the Alaska railway. Unfortunately for us we have come too early. Most of the buildings don’t open till noon.

Since the weather is so nice, Aimee and I decide to dust off our golf clubs. We head to the nearby Fairbanks Golf Club for a round. This nine-hole course is nice except for the greens. They are pretty bad. But who cares, it is sunny and warm.

June 30, 2009

June 30, 2009

We are not officially done with the Alaska Highway yet so we drive the last leg to Delta Junction and take our picture in front of the finish line sign. In retrospect I was more worried about driving the Alaska Highway than I needed to be. It is not the long gravel road in the middle of nowhere that it used to be. It is a very long drive nonetheless.

From Delta Junction we continue northwest. It is sunny and warm with only a few clouds in the sky. We are finally back to shorts and t-shirt weather! The first day since I can’t remember. We pass a few roadside interpretative signs that detail how this area was the heart of Alaska’s gold rush. Thinking I might have a way to cut into the gas bill for this trip, we stop along the Tanana River and I try my hand at panning for a few minutes. Sadly I find nothing but sore knees.

Continuing on we roll into the North Pole. I knew this drive was longer than it should have been!!!! Making the best of it we take a picture with Santa, check out his reindeers (called Caribou here) and pick an RV spot just off the corner of Blitzen and Dancer Lanes.

June 29, 2009

June 29, 2009

Last night we listened to a local folk singer who played at the campground. This long-time resident was very entertaining and provided us a warm welcome to Alaska. I kind of like this little town we are in. It is a lawless town, literally. There are no local taxes, government, police, regulations, or lawyers. Just how I like it.

After driving so much the last week, we took the day off and didn’t drive anywhere. We spend some time planning our next steps. On most maps Alaska is just a small inset. But that is deceiving. Alaska is a monster state, bigger than Texas and California combined. Alaska also has more coastline than the rest of the US. Unfortunately it also has the fewest roads leaving most of it unexplorable except by bush plane.

June 28, 2009

June 28, 2009

From Haines Junction, YT we continue our Alaska Highway journey. The road west of here is noticeably worse. Lots of frost heaves cause the highway to undulate. The up and down is not too bad, but the side-to-side rolls give me and our top-heavy rolling-house the willies. Apparently Canada maintains the highway east of here because it is well used by Canadians. West of here, the highway is used mostly by Americans traveling to and from Alaska, so the US has to contribute to its maintenance. Even with that support it lags. Nevertheless I am thoroughly impressed at the overall condition of the Alaska Highway and the amount of traffic on it.

Unfortunately the weather is still depressing… cold and rainy. We get fifteen minutes of blue skies at the start just to tease us with a glimpse of the beautiful snow-capped mountain scenery we are missing. I am hoping we are luckier on the return trip.

In the afternoon, we finally make it to the Alaska border. Like the shining land that America represents, the sun makes a miraculous appearance and it is noticeably warmer. Yes!!!!!!!

Fairbanks is still 300 miles ahead but now that we have warm dry weather, we are in no hurry. We drive for another hour and stop for the day in the small town of Tok. It truly feels like we just came out of the bush and we are back in civilization.

June 27, 2009

June 27, 2009

Last night was miserable. After dinner we killed at least a dozen mosquitoes inside the RV. They are thick and hungry outside but how are they getting inside? I am envisioning some kind of hole underneath from a rock kicked up off the Alaska Highway. The mosquitoes continued to circle our heads while we tried to sleep. Between the buzzing in our ears and the bright sky, neither one of us slept. Now I am finding myself wishing for rain to keep down the attack.

In the morning we continue west on the Alaska Highway. In a couple hours we roll into Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon Territory. This town of some 24,000 holds two thirds of the territory’s population. Situated on the Yukon River, Whitehorse was in the center of the Klondike gold rush of 1898. After the hopeful gold seekers crossed the mountain pass from Skagway, Alaska they arrived in Whitehorse. Here they loaded their gear onto boats and floated down the swift Yukon to Dawson City some 300 miles north. The gold was returned here for export.

In Whitehorse we stop and take a picture of the sternwheeler that used to ply the river, and then head to the Tourism Office. I ask for a map of the territory but Aimee makes fun of me as there are hardly any roads on the map and most are not paved. I also ask the receptionist about the cold wet weather and she admits that they probably already had their summer. There was a warm spell a couple weeks ago and one week is usually all they get.

After lunch in town, we drive for another two hours west and stay at a public campground outside Haines Junction, YT at Milepost 1016. Although the mosquitoes are still ferocious, we are more careful opening doors and we have very few inside. We must have left the door open too long last night. However I am still wondering how people enjoy the outdoors around here with all these biters buzzing around.

June 26, 2009

June 26, 2009

It rained all last night and it is still raining as we continue our journey west on the Alaska Highway. We are first slowed by a series of gravel sections under construction. Immediately afterwards we have to dodge rock slides for miles. One rock, or should I say boulder, was the size of an ottoman. In the middle of the road! The highway is now very windy and bumpy. In the first four hours we manage only 120 miles. I am not sure what we were thinking. Getting to Alaska by road is an excruciatingly long slow drive. And neither Aimee nor I like to drive, especially in the rain. We will slog thru the drive and eventually make it to Alaska, but I can already sense that the return drive is going to be painful.

When the rain abates to a slow ooze, we manage to spot black bears along the road seven times, including a cub. The grass along the road must really be tasty. We also spot a bunch of bison and some kind of silvery long tailed fox.

For the rest of the day, we drive west bouncing between British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. Surprisingly after that tough initial section the road straightens and improves dramatically. And later in the day the rain stops and we can see the beautiful scenery. This is not a bad drive after all.

Our big stop for the day is in Watson Lake, YT. We visit the town’s small Interpretative Center on the construction of the Alcan Road. Interestingly the US built the road for $150 million and Canada paid us only $75 million for it after the war. They got a good deal. Maybe, maybe not. Apparently it was built so quickly, the Canadians had to rebuild it almost immediately. One of the original workers from Danville, IL, feeling homesick, posted a signpost of his hometown at Watson Lake. It caught on and now the town center has a forest of 65,000 signs erected by travelers following the route!

At a rest stop I talked to a Canadian girl bicycling in the other direction. We exchange stories. Hers was better. She and three girlfriends started a month ago by flying into Inuvik, an Eskimo village on the Arctic Ocean. They are headed to Vancouver and by the fall expect to finish in Newfoundland on the Atlantic coast. In comparison, our “drive” is much easier.

We stop for the night at a private RV park at Milepost 769. We are only halfway!

June 25, 2009

June 25, 2009

After seeing the Milepost 0 monument for the Alaska Highway and reading about its history, Aimee and I decide to go for it. The highway is two-lane and relatively smooth. Considering where we are I would say it is pretty good. We have traveled Wisconsin roads in far, far bumpier condition. The drive starts by crossing the Peace River and we see sunshine peaking thru the clouds up ahead. Finally we might have sunny weather again! Unfortunately the rain catches up to us and doesn’t stop. The landscape is monotonous in the rain. Pretty much nothing but endless rolling hills of fir trees with a few aspens thrown in.

At Milepost 357, we stop for the evening and listen to the rain pound our roof. It is hard to sleep. At this time of the year in the far North, the sun barely sets. It is late at night but it is still as bright as the middle of the day.

June 24, 2009

June 24, 2009

From Jasper, AB we take the Bighorn Highway north across the foothills of the Rockies and back down into the Alberta plains farmland. It was an uneventful drive except for two animal encounters. We spotted a black bear running across the road into the woods and we barely missed hitting a dear. Gotta keep an eye out for Canadian wildlife when driving up north.

In Grande Prairie we take a hard left turn and an hour later we are in Dawson Creek, British Columbia. Dawson Creek is famous for being the start (Mile 0) of the Alaska Highway. Built in eight months in 1942, it was a rush project because after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the US feared the Japanese would next invade Alaska. Prior to its construction the only way to get supplies to Alaska was by ship or airplane. I wonder if we can take an RV all the way to Alaska on this Highway? It says 1523 miles to Fairbanks. Can Alaska still be that much further? We are already 2200 miles from Tucson.

June 23, 2009

June 23, 2009

We are heading north from Drumheller, AB. Since the dinosaurs were for me, we opt for a detour and take the scenic route thru the Canadian Rockies. Many years ago I drove this route from Calgary thru Banff up to Jasper for business and I thought it the most beautiful drive I had ever taken at the time. This time the conditions are not as perfect. There are low clouds hiding the mountaintops and we are hit with intermittent rain all day. Despite the setback it is still a beautiful drive. The lakes and streams are full of glacial till giving them an iridescent teal color. The snow-capped mountains lining the route rise precipitously from the valley floor like Wyoming’s Grand Tetons but these go on for some two hundred miles.

Beside the scenery, Banff and Jasper National Parks are also full of wildlife. Alongside the road we see two black bears. Then later we see crossing the road a group of mountain goats, a herd of Big Horn sheep and a moose. All had babies with them.

Past Lake Louise, we switch to the Icefields Parkway. To get some exercise on this long driving day, we stop for short hikes to the very scenic Peyto Lake overlook, and another to Mistaya Canyon, where a river gushes thru a tiny gorge

In Jasper NP I hiked out to the foot of Athabasca Glacier. This 4-mile toe off the Columbia Icefield is easily the most accessible glacier in North America. Since the last time I was here, in 1998, the glacier has receded some two hundred yards. Back then I took a Sno-Coach excursion atop the glacier. After driving and stopping all day we pull into a park campground just south of Jasper.

June 22, 2009

June 22, 2009

Most of the modern fossil discoveries from Dinosaur Provincial Park have all been shipped to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. So we follow the Red Deer River valley upstream past long stretches of Badlands to Drumheller, Alberta. This museum is famous and deservedly so. It is huge and has to be by far the largest paleontological museum we have seen. It is packed with extraordinary fossils including Albertosaurus, the T-Rex of this area. The size of the largest plant-eating Sauropods is mind-boggling.

The museum is well done. We could have spent all day here and we almost did. This was mostly my doing. The highlight of Aimee’s day was when we took a break halfway and walked back to the “house” for a Hot Chocolate break.

June 21, 2009

June 21, 2009

From Shelby, MT we crossed the border into Canada and drove straight north thru flat-as-a-pancake farmland that would rival Kansas for how far you can see. We are headed for Canada’s Badlands but I can’t believe they can be around here. After a couple hours we pull into or rather descend into Dinosaur Provincial Park. There they are. The Badlands. The colorful eroded cliffs occur where the Red Deer River has cut a deep channel thru the prairie.

In the Visitor Center we learn that this area has been the richest source of Cretaceous fossils in the world. We sign up for a Lab Talk where we learn to identify many kinds of fossils. It doesn’t help. We take a couple hikes off the auto loop and all we collect is mud. The slippery version. The Badlands mostly consist of sand and clay. Apparently some kind of volcanic clay that when wet (it rained all the way here) becomes as slippery as ball bearings. In fact they sell it as an oil drilling lubricant. I did find what I thought was a claw until I washed away the mud. We spend the night at the campground in the park.

June 20, 2009

June 20, 2009

Before leaving Great Falls, MT we drive to the Missouri River to look at the waterfalls that Lewis and Clark had to portage around on their expedition. Lewis only planned spending a half-day to drag their boats around this Great Falls of the Missouri. Unfortunately for him there turned out to be four waterfalls. It took the Corps of Discovery a month to portage the 18.5 miles around the set. And unfortunately for us, Montana has put a series of dams along this stretch submerging one and spoiling the view of the other three falls.

After looking at one of the falls we encounter a Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center. We stop for a quick look but end up spending most of the day there. It is nice and huge. Well worth the stop in Great Falls. We have followed snippets of the Lewis and Clark trail but at some point I would like to follow the whole thing. Every time I read about the journey, I am amazed at the accomplishment. Both Lewis and Clark both kept journals of their Big Adventure. I guess that is where I got the idea.

Late in the afternoon we head out of town and stay at a public RV park in Shelby, MT just south of the Canadian border.

June 19, 2009

June 19, 2009

Yesterday we learned about the plight of the Indians. Today in our bid for objectivity, we go after the cowboy’s story. From the Big Hole valley we travel to the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. This site is a working cattle ranch dedicated to the history of open range ranching as it was practiced here in the second half of the 1800’s. I must admit I wasn’t expecting much. I saw plenty of farms growing up. Nonetheless it turned out to be interesting. The primary owner, Conrad Kohrs, a German immigrant was the ultimate cattle baron of Montana. At the peak he had cows grazing on 10 million acres of mostly public lands, was heavily involved in Montana politics, and invested in local mining operations. Cattle ranching in the West evolved over time. It started as a trading opportunity supplying Oregon Trail immigrant with fresh oxen. Later the ranchers expanded to feed hungry miners. Soon ranchers were driving excess cattle to faraway Dodge City. Eventually rail lines reached Montana and then the industry took off supplying eastern cities with beef. To this day Montana is still ranch country with some mining operations thrown in.

Aimee and I spend a couple hours moseying in and out of the many ranch buildings and then take a tour of the huge ranch house. The tour docent is surprisingly a descendent of the “real” Rip Van Winkle. Afterwards we make our way back to I-15 and drive north through very scenic countryside. Montana would be a beautiful place to own a small ranch. But who am I kidding; ranching is very hard work. We spend the night at a private RV park in Great Falls, MT.

June 18, 2009

June 18, 2009

From Pocatello, ID we continue our journey north intermittently hitting rain showers. In one short week our journey has single-handedly broken the back of the multi-year drought the West has been enduring. Hmmm…I wonder if we can make money as professional rainmakers?

In a long day of driving we pass by the vast lava fields of southern Idaho and cross into Lewis and Clark’s Montana and the headwaters of the Missouri River. In the afternoon we arrive at Big Hole Battlefield just east of the Idaho border. Big Hole was the site of the largest of the Nez Perce War battles. The Visitor Center chronicles the struggle of the Nez Perce Indians as they resisted being forced onto a smaller reservation. The story is sad but inevitable. Like the majority of Indian tribes they led a nomadic Stone-Age lifestyle requiring vast tracts of land for survival. Once the New World was discovered, it was only a matter of time before they were all overwhelmed by the expansion of modern civilizations.

After learning the history, Aimee and I hike out to the site of the skirmish. When Aimee first glimpses the lush green hillside leading up to the hilltop, she just wants to run up the slope. When we get closer, she finds it less inviting. It is super steep and full of weeds.

Leaving the battlefield we follow the rain-swollen Big Hole River east. We are tired of driving and the next published campground is an hour away. Almost miraculously we stumble upon a small one along a particularly stunning stretch of the river. We park in the middle of a grassy field right next to the river. One of the most beautiful sites we have had. And the fee is only five dollars! Now if the river level was just a little lower and I had a Montana fishing license, it would be the Garden of Eden.

June 17, 2009

June 17, 2009

After we settled in last night, two more RV’s joined us at Flaming Gorge Red Canyon Campground. No matter what off the wall spot I find, Aimee is always amazed that we are NEVER the only nuts.

We wake to rain and cool weather again. Seems the norm for our vacations lately. Driving north we detour along the thirteen-mile Sheep Creek Canyon Geologic Loop and are amazed at the beauty of the side canyons off Flaming Gorge. This National Recreation Area is on our list to visit again albeit later in the summer.

Descending out of the Uinta Mountain chain and crossing into Wyoming we make a stop at Fort Bridger State Historic Site. Jim Bridger started his career as a mountain man hunting beaver pelts. Seeing European fashion wane from Beaver skin hats he setup a trading post here along Groshon Creek to service immigrants moving west. His foresight didn’t last long. Soon most trails edged further north to the point he was selling only to Mormon pioneers. Brigham Young, Mormon leader and Utah territory governor, became envious of his business and organized a militia to drive him off. Bridger got the last laugh. When the Mormon Wars broke out a few years later he guided the US army back to the area.

We spend the rest of the day driving thru intermittent rain ending up at a RV park attached to a Shoshone Indian casino outside Pocatello, ID. The rain breaks long enough for us to get the RV hooked up.

June 16, 2009

June 16, 2009

Before leaving Vernal, UT we stop briefly at the Utah Field House of Natural History. I figure since a large dinosaur quarry is close by, the fossil collection has to be good. I am not disappointed. Although the museum is relatively small it is well designed and filled with lots of fossils.

From Vernal we drive north. Soon after, we pass a sign for Red Fleet State Park and another for Dinosaur Trackway. I can’t just drive by. The park is named after three sandstone buttes that resemble battleships to someone. A couple miles off the highway we hike three-miles to the edge of a reservoir lake. Unfortunately almost all the tracks are below the water level. We need to come back during the dry season. There is only one dino footprint visible. Even though the field expedition is a bust the hike is very pretty going thru red and white rock canyons that remind us of Capital Reef National Park in southern Utah. Many of the layered rocks in this area have been uplifted to almost vertical so we are either treading over the ends or carefully sliding down steep slick rock.

Back in the RV we continue north climbing up the Uinta Mountains to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. Flaming Gorge is a reservoir formed by a dam on the Green River. Passing Elk and Big Horn sheep, we stop at the Red Canyon Visitor Center for information and we are greeted with a great view of the 1800-foot canyon bordering the lake. Beautiful! We park for the evening at the nearby campground. Our site is literally feet from the sheer cliff edge. We are also the only ones here, and at 8400ft elevation, it is freezing. Summer comes late to the mountains.