Spending Summer in Alaska, Part 2-Denali National Park, Fairbanks, North Pole, and Chicken

We left Cristine, Bill's daughter, in Anchorage with a tinge of sadness in our hearts, knowing that another trip to Alaska will not happen again any time soon. But we were also eager to proceed to Denali National Park, one of the country’s most admired parks. It was established as the first national park to conserve wildlife in 1917.  Its dynamic glaciated landscape supports grizzly bears, caribou, wolves, Dall sheep and moose. And the park is home to North America’s highest peak, the awe-inspiring, 20,320 foot Mount McKinley. At 6 million acres, the park is larger than the State of Massachusetts.


On the way we passed through Wasilla (population: 7,000), the hometown of Sarah Palin.  The normal rumor-mongerers that we were,  we tried to drive around Lake Lucille to chance upon her home.  But we were not lucky.  So we went on to Talkeetna, on the southern end of Denali, where the view of Mt. McKinley was supposed to be best.  Unfortunately, the mountain was hiding from us under the heavy fog cover.  Now we understand that July is the best time to spend summer in Alaska! That night we camped at the nearby Denali State Park, reserving the next 2 at its big brother, Denali National.  

The only way to get to the heart of Denali National Park was to backpack or ride the park buses.  The next day we chose a bus that would take us to the nearest point to Mt. McKinley.  Our bus driver did a good job of spotting wildlife for us.  He stopped when a grizzly bear suddenly appeared roaming on the road right in front of us.  Later he spotted dall sheep grazing at a mountain side, a wolf nestled among the grass by the road, and caribous resting down the valley.  From many sides the majesty of the alpine tundra began to unfold before us. Little did we know that it was a prelude to our Arctic experience.

But when we reached Eielson, the heavy fog behind which Mt. McKinley had been hiding had not lifted at all.  We were denied the spectacle of the ‘High One’ of the 600-mile long Alaska Range.  We could, therefore, not buy any of the merchandise at the gift shop that glowingly said: ‘I am part of the 30% that saw Mt. McKinley’. And even if we stayed a few more nights, the forecast was that it would not clear so we decided to just visit the educational Murie Science Learning Center and the fascinating Iditarod sled dogs training facility on the park and leave for Fairbanks the following day.

Fairbanks is the largest city in the interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage. The population of the city is over 35,000 and is home to the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the oldest college in the state. The university was the most exciting place in the city.  From a viewpoint on campus, we finally got a glimpse of Mt. McKinley, albeit 100 miles away.  Then, I saw, for the first time, artichoke plants at the university’s beautiful nursery.  But the most exciting part in campus was chancing upon the large muskoxen at its Large Animals Research Station. 

We stopped by the Fairbanks Visitors Center to ask about how we can see the famed Aurora Borealis and a possible trip to the Arctic Circle.  They told us the northern lights will have a greater probability of being seen in about 5 days (it is visible in Yellowknife, Alaska 10 months in a year).  We also found out that the distance between Fairbanks and the Arctic Circle along Dalton Highway is about 400 miles roundtrip while between Dawson City and the Arctic Circle along Dempster Highway in the Yukon is about 500.  I guess we were not ready to take the big leap so instead we went to North Pole, Alaska the following day.

And there we became kids all over again.  The city and our campground were bedecked with everything Christmas:  Christmas décor hung from all the light posts on the streets, the campground entrance was guarded by  7 reindeer and 20-foot Santa.  Another big Santa with a sleigh was in front of a small park with real reindeer.  Then there was a huge Christmas store on the lot from which we sent Christmas cards to all our siblings, children, and grandkids postmarked North Pole, Alaska.  And, of course, I had my picture taken on Santa’s lap! Truly, there it was Christmas 365 days in a year! 

Finally, we decided to go back to the lower 48 on a different route (not the Alaska Highway) this time…through Chicken, Alaska and the Top of the World Highway to Dawson City in the Yukon.  The road to Chicken, Alaska is all gravel, a prelude to our next several days of travel.  The town’s summertime population is 32 (wintertime it’s 7).  We understand that the town got its name because the residents could not spell the ‘ptarmigan’.  The town is comprised of 2 campgrounds, one with gold-panning activities and the other with a country store.  We stayed at the former which is up the hill.  There we witnessed a spectacular sunset.  And the following day, we resumed our journey through the spectacular Top of the World Highway.

Next Stops:  Dawson City and the Arctic Circle in the post titled, ‘Venturing to the Arctic Circle’

Navigating the Alaska Highway, Part 2

Northern British Columbia had some very scenic spots that we chanced upon:  Muncho Lake, Tetsa River, Stony Mountain, Summit Lake, and Liard Hot Springs.  It was in this part of North America where  we saw the most number of wildlife by the road sides: a mother bear and her cub relaxing among the grass and wildflowers, a herd of bison lying on the ground with a huge one walking along the road beside our motorhome, and a moose hiding among the shrubs by the hot springs.  There were no mileposts on the first 1000 kilometers of the Alaska Highway but we started seeing them on the Yukon.   The Highway criss-crossed the British Columbia/Yukon border several times.  So we were primed when we reached Watson Lake, the first city on the Yukon part of the Highway. 

We went to see the Northern Lights Museum expecting to be educated about the Aurora Borealis at $10 each.  It turned out to be just a brief video of the lights recreated on the dome ceiling for effect.  It was not worth the time and money the 3 couples spent on the ‘show’.  But the memorable place in Watson Lake was Signpost Forest where we were the 67,000^th visitor to place a signpost.  Ours reads ‘Bill & Carol, Pittsburg, Ks/ Manila, Phil. 8PM, 8/8/08’ which we painted on a wooden board we purchased at a HomeBuilders’ Centre.  The paint was provided by the Visitor’s Information Centre where we also registered as Yukon Gold Passport holders, with the chance to win 5, 10, or 20 troy ounces of gold if we complete 10, 20, or 30 rubber stamps of tourist spots we visit on the Yukon!!!

Along the highway between Watson Lake and Whitehorse were rocky embankments (between Upper Liard and Rancheria along the Yukon part of the Highway) that were used by many to arrange rocks into letters to memorialize their passing through the Highway.  We arranged ours to symbolize BC (not British Columbia but Bill and Carol) alongside others.  We originally thought we could spell out our names but we found out how difficult the endeavor was and gave up with just the 2 letters!

At another bend we saw a large arrow sign which we followed and chanced upon Whirlpool Canyon, a river that made a whirlpool as it wound its way.  There we met a Canadian couple who also followed the arrow.  They were making their way from Calgary (just like us) going to Nunavut past the Arctic Circle hauling a small aluminum boat with an outboard motor to fish.  They dry camped often and they taught us about dumping gray water (washing dishes and showering) almost anywhere and drinking creek water, as long as we were sure there was no beaver contamination.  A small town we passed was called Toad River.  It featured a gas station, a restaurant, and a country store.  There was a place there dedicated to thousands of hats and Bill pinned his Taquan Air baseball cap which he got from a private charter company in Sitka, Alaska where he went for a fishing expedition with friends in 1999. At this part of the Highway, gas was at $4.50 per gallon!

Whitehorse is the biggest city in the Yukon.  The largest weather vane (in the Guiness Book of Records) in the world was there.  It was a DC3 plane!!!  Bill thought that it has to be a very strong wind (at least 10-15 knots) to move that plane. Smith House at Whitehorse’s LePage Park gave us 2 whitehorse pins to brag about, but so man y places, including the biggest fish ladder in the world, was already closed for the season.  So we didn’t see the salmons jumping out of the river to spawn!  We had to be satisfied with the SS Klondike, one of the biggest boats used for transporting gold to and from the Yukon River.  And the experience that topped it all?  We feasted on the world-renowned bowl of chili con carne at Tim Horton’s, the great Canadian coffee chain! Claudine (my second daughter) had gifted us with a Tim Horton’s gift card before we left Calgary…and they had it in Whitehorse!

                  .

 The unfortunate thing was smoke fire from Whitehorse thru Haines Junction to Beaver Creek (50 fires around the Yukon since it had been so hot and dry that summer) stole all our beautiful scenes.  We could hardly see anything beyond the nose of Star! Burwash Landing was almost wiped out by a huge forest fire caused by humans camping (although lightning is the more common cause). 

Another unfortunate thing was the perennial damage caused by permafrost effects on the Alaska Highway, especially after Destruction Bay.  The cost of maintenance must be high.  There are always many road fissures and small ponds on the fields along its sides.  The highway had a roller coaster feel to it and evergreens in nearby fields could not grow any taller than a few feet.  Orange flags were everywhere, designating permafrost damaged areas.

And then there was White River, colored off-white due to volcanic ash from two successive (in geologic time) pyroclastic eruptions of Mount Churchill in the Wrangell Mountain Range.  The first eruption occurred in 1890 and the second in 1950. Thick layers of pumice-like ash over 340,000 square kilometers ( 211,276 square miles) severely disrupted food supply and caused the migration of people steadily southward.  The river is not recommended for boating; the ecology could not be restored.

So camping on the Kluane RV Park in Haines Junction was not what we expected.  At the junction we were supposed to be able to see a glimpse of glaciers in Juneau and also the highest mountain peak of Canada and the Canadian Rockies.  We didn’t, of course.  We also thought we found a great hiking trail near the campground but we returned to our motorhome right away after we found out that the mosquitoes were sooooo hungry!  What saved the day was the discovery of quonset huts that have been turned into churches that could sit 30 people.

 The next day we hurried to resume our trek to Alaska through Beaver Junction, Yukon and Delta Junction, Alaska which was the official end of the Alaska Highway!  The signpost at the Visitor Center reads:

This highway was constructed during World War II as a military supply route for interior Alaska Military and Airfields in 1942. 7 Army regiments and 42 Contractors and Public Roads Administrators working from Delta Junction South and Dawson Creek North completed it when they met at Soldiers' Summit at Kluane Lake Yukon Territory in November 1942. At the peak of construction, 77 Contractors employed 15,000 men and 11,000 pieces of road building equipment. The total construction cost for 1422 miles was $115,000,000.      

Next Stops:  Tok, Valdez, Anchorage, Homer, Seward, Fairbanks, and Chicken, all in Alaska 

Navigating the Alaska Highway, Part 1

Okay, we had been back from the Philippines and Taiwan for 2 weeks, we had rented out our townhomes and sold our belongings, and we had bought Star and Vino.  So we left Trisha and her family in Seattle, visited Jim and his family in Boise, Suzanne and her family in Denver, and Claudine and her family in Calgary, and we are now headed for Jasper National Park, then the famous Alaska Highway, and on to see Cristine in Alaska before we get back down to the lower 48 and Mexico!  This is it!  This is the start of our RV cruising life. 

We have been to Banff before.  After all, it is only about an hour away from Claudine’s home and we have visited Claudine a number of times.  The Canadian Rockies is often called the Alps of North America, much more beautiful than the Rockies in the USA.  Banff is surrounded by alpine peaks eternally covered with snow.  So is the new town of Canmore, fast becoming another tourist destination in the region, second to Banff and picture-perfect Lake Louise a little further ahead.  But we were more interested, this time, in Jasper, deeper into the Canadian Rockies.

We were driving along the Icefields Parkway, reputed to be one of the most scenic highways in the world and all of a sudden it hit us!  The reason it is called that hit us in an instant!  The purple mountain majesties turned into high white spaces.  Huge glaciers that were endlessly interconnected draped the boundless boulders.  This is the Columbia Glacial Fields where you can ride on those huge buses that can ply the ice fields.  We do not know what else lies before us.  If this is any indication, we will be in to some parts of this world we hardly know about.

Jasper National Park is indeed a landmark of beauty.  The lakes were elegant in glacial waters of milky greenish hue.  And there were lakes galore…Medicine Lake, even one called Patricia Lake,… etc.  There were many tourists around.  After all, it was July.  But it felt like you were alone amid the serenity of the lakes and the snow-covered mountains that protected them, in varying hues of blue and purple.  Each photo we took seemed to emerge as another painting!  There is indeed a Master Painter!

We also saw the first wildlife of our cruise…the ubiquitous elk.  Two of them were cavorting by the road and we took endless pictures.  We were on the way to the aerial trams that were supposed to give us even a better view of the unique landscape.  Unfortunately, it was out of order and we were just refunded our tickets.  So we decided to take a trip to Mt. Robson, the highest summit of the Canadian Rockies at over 14,000 ft!

The trip took us to the border of Alberta and British Columbia.  At the border was the sign for the first Intercontinental Divide we would cross…and there would be many more.  I don’t know why.  But the peaks of Mt. Robson evoked a secret admiration in me.  They stood as imposing as the Mt. Rainier’s peak, for example, even as they rested on a base that was already thousands of feet above sea level.

Before we left Jasper, we had already bought the Canadian Pass so we could visit all its national parks.  It cost so much more, however, ($150 for a year) compared to the Senior Pass Bill had for the American counterpart ($10 lifetime).  But, what is that compared to the wondrous feelings they will constantly evoke?  It was cheap! And so we left Jasper a little sad but confident that many more wonders await us.  

As a matter of fact, the trip through northern British Columbia and the Stone Mountains was extra memorable for me because by the winding roads (that would bring up to the Alaska Highway) were my first close encounters with wildlife I had never before seen except perhaps in zoos!  We found a mother and baby bear sitting quietly among the grass, a herd of bisons lying peacefully by the road side (with one of them almost dangerously walking alongside Star), a big moose by a pond on hot springs and a multitude of birds and insects by the raging river we chanced upon following a small arrow sign.  

Indeed when we reached Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway, we could not contain the excitement in our hearts.   Dawson Creek is a small and sleepy town but their bragging rights were all over.  We had a ball taking pics of ourselves at various Mile 0 signs.  We did it…another milestone in our cruising life.  A bonus was at church, I found out that there were about 300 Filipinos living there!

The next town on the Alaska Highway was Fort Nelson, British Columbia.  There we found a museum of the history of the famous highway, how the US and Canada cooperated in its building, and how they separate the maintenance responsibilities at the present time.  Bill and I thought, after navigating the entire length of the highway, that the American portions were better kept than the Canadian part.  The 1,390 mile-long highway has long served the distinct purpose of connecting Alaska to the lower 48, militarily strategic in WWII and economically so now.  But we also think it serves another major purpose:  develop tourism in Canada, especially the vast, underexplored Yukon Territories!  

  

Next Stops:   YUKON TERRITORIES, CANADA: Watson Lake, Whitehorse, and Haines Junction 

Venturing into the Arctic Circle

We had just traveled the Top of the World Highway from the town of Chicken, Alaska (population in summer, 32; in winter, 7) to historic Dawson City, the former capital of the Yukon during the Gold Rush. It was a magnificent journey; all that you see during the trip are endless mountains that are golden with alpine tundra in the fall, red, orange, gold, and yellow and the great big, blue sky. The US-Canada border at the Top of the World was unlike any other border town, with nary a soul, just Bill and me and the immigration officer.

To reach Dawson City, all of us, including Star and Vino, rode the ferry. Once there we were surprised to find that the log cabins of 2 famous authors, Jack London and Robert Service, were almost side by side on one street. The city’s ‘golden’ past is kept alive by colorful saloons, thriving general stores, and old theaters in the architecture of the time. We even found the largest gold steam shovel in the world, testament to the town’s importance in gold mining history.

But the day we were to leave for Whitehorse to resume our trip back to the lower 48 through the Alaskan Highway, on impulse we decided to go up the Dempster Highway and drive to the Arctic Circle. When we were at Fairbanks we passed up the opportunity, though the road there was shorter and better. We just told ourselves, we will probably regret it if we did not do it, as only about 3 days and 2 nights separated us from the bragging rights. Besides the forecast of the probability of seeing the Aurora Borealis was good for the next few days where we were.

So we braced ourselves for the rough journey, comforting ourselves that if it looks like Star would not be able to handle the roads, then the option of going back was always open. But we didn’t. Dempster Highway was really what they technically call a dirt-gravel road where rocks are put together and sealed/packed by mud. Some parts were so rough you had to slow down to 5 miles per hour. The fastest Star went was 40; average was probably 25. At the end of the trip Star had to go to the doctor. All her shocks had to be replaced. But it was well worth it.

Going up to the Arctic Circle was a gradual succession of one beautiful scene after another, as the trees of the valley changed into shrubs of the subalpine hills and into the moss, lichens and fungi of the alpine tundra, all in blazing fall colors. We had not seen anything like it before. Some semblance of it was at Denali National Park; more at the Top of the World Highway. But here it was in full regalia. Only a day after, going down from the Circle, the colors seemed even more vibrant, more of everything had simply turned bright yellow.

On the way up we stayed at Eagles’ Nest. A storm had developed, the winds were strong, and the cold was biting.But we survived the night, we kept each other warm, and the sun was up and shining again in the morning. On the way down we chose to stay at a spot we found near where I saw a dall sheep grazing near the river bank the day before. On the other side of the road was a hill ablaze with red, yellow, orange, and gold. Before nightfall we spent the time looking at the different plants up close, to discover how such magnificent tapestry was woven.

The beautiful vastness held our voices silent many times those 2 days. We even saw an elephant rock on top of a hill, fluted mountains, and little blue lakes. Everything seemed to gather, collect, and distill at the Tombstone National Park. Imagine that this is the land first seen by those who migrated from Asia to North America. I thought Canada is simply one beautiful country, this is what pristine is, and there is really One Master Gardener.

Especially when we reached the Arctic Circle at lat 66 degrees 33 north.  There was no one in sight for miles around. We were alone at the arch proclaiming that special spot on earth. You just know that it is a special place; there were practically no plants for miles before. It was so cold and the winds were biting that we could not stay long.

Shivering, we hurriedly put our camera on its timer, placed it on the lone picnic table and had the photo of our life ‘taken’.