WHITEHORSE, BC AND SKAGWAY, AK

August 13-16, 2016

Sure glad our train didn't go over this trestle!

 The White Pass & Yukon Railroad follows one of the Gold Rush trails over the Mountain to Dawson City.  

You can ride the train to mile 8, spend the night in this caboose
and catch the train back the next day.

A replica of Liarsville Gold Camp.  This was the base camp before climbing the White Pass.  Since the gold rush was the news of the day, many newspapermen came to write first hand about the gold fields.  When they got this far and realized how difficult it was to reach the gold fields, they set up camp here and waited for the miners to come back down.  After collecting the stories from the miners, the newsmen wrote them as their own.  

The beginning of the 33 mile Chilcoot Pass.  This was the other, more difficult route over the mountains to the gold fields. Each miner was required to carry a years worth of provisions over the mountains before the Mounties would let them proceed to the Yukon.  That amounted to 2000 pounds of food and gear, to be carried on their backs over the pass.  It took about 30 trips on this narrow trail, some going up, some coming back down for another load.  

When the adventurers finally reached their destinations, they found that allof the good claims had already been taken.  Most 

never found a bit of gold. 

TAYLOR HIGHWAY -- CHICKEN, AK AND DAWSON CITY, BC

August 10, 2016

Tok, AK

Had to try the Sourdough Pancakes and Reindeer Sausage in Tok.  Ed didn't win a free breakfast by tossing pancakes into a bucket.  Some GIRL beat him.  






August 11, 2016

Mount Taylor, for our granddaughter, Taylor.  Chicken, AK.  The story goes that the residents wanted to name the town Ptarmigan, after the Alaska state bird, but no one could spell it, so the named the town Chicken.  LOL





Top of the World Highway

We were so concerned about driving on this highway, it is 100 miles of dirt and gravel.  Actually, the conditions were better than some of the paved roads were on.  You should have seen how dirty the vehicles were when we finished, there must have been 2 pounds of dust in the engine of the jeep.  

Beautiful scenes.












Dawson City

August 12, 2016

Most of the buildings in Dawson City are originals from the Gold Rush Days of the 1890s.  The streets are unpaved, with wooden boardwalks.  Even though it is a tourist destination, everything is sort of laid back and relaxed.  One of my favorite places.

On the left is a picture of the dog who 
inspired Jack London's "Call of the Wild"
I must have read that book 5 or 6 times 
as a young girl, caught up in the romance
of animal stories and adventures in the far 
north.  






Left if Jack London's cabin.  He came north for gold, but never found any and ended up with scurvy and losing most of his teeth.  He still went on to write 56 books, countless magazine articles, road the rails as a hobo, built an ocean going vessel to sail around the world,(he made it as far as Indonesia), and ran a ranch in Montana.  He woke early in the mornings and wrote 1000 words every day.
All in a lifetime that ended at age 40.  
Makes me feel like a slacker, how about you?

FAIRBANKS, AK

August 7, 2016

The brilliant pink blooms on the Fireweed have disappeared and the seed tufts are left.  It is still a pretty sight when there are masses of them on hillsides and along the road.  

Camp Walmart in Fairbanks.  This picture shows about 1/2 of the RVs parked there.  Some look like they have been there for quite a while.  It makes a convenient stop for overnight when all we want to do is sleep and continue on the next day, but camping for the season seems a bit much.  

We haven't spent much time in the bigger cities like Fairbanks.  Just a stop to replenish food and supplies at the bigger supermarkets like Walmart and Safeway.  There is plenty to do here, but we prefer the nature settings rather than city scenes.  

August 8,2016

Delta Junction

 Some relics left over from the construction of the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway.  The highway construction was begun in 1942 as a critical military link to Alaska from the lower 48.  It was completed in 8 months and 12 days, despite the challenges of difficult terrain, numerous rivers to cross, and permafrost and mosquitos.

This marker designates the end of the
Alaska Highway.  For us, it more like the beginning,
we are following it backwards to Mile 0, at Dawson
Creek, BC.  

How do you like my bearskin vest?
I don't think my hands will get cold in
those mittens either.

 One of the few roadhouses from the 1940's in, for the most part, original condition.

 Dish Garden Art.  My sister, Anita, has made some even prettier ones.

DENALI NATIONAL PARK

August 1 through 6, 2016

Denali National Park Scenery and Animals

 The park maintains about 30 sled dogs, for transporting cargo in the winter.  There are no motorized vehicles allowed in the wilderness areas of the park, so the dogs are necessary.  We attended a demonstration of how they train and care for the dogs.

  Private vehicles are only allowed to travel 15 miles out on the only road in the National Park.  Buses will take you up to 90 miles out and back - about a 12 hour trip.  We took the "Green bus" out about 66 miles, to Eielson Visitor Center, an 8 hour excursion.  The scenery was spectactular, even though the day was overcast, and lots of animals accommodated us.  We saw 20 grizzlies (11 were cubs), 30+ caribou, 5 moose, a dozen or so Dall sheep.

Natures camo - see the 2 Ptarmigan?

Nice of this guy to pose for us.

 

Mom and 1 of 2 cubs

 This grizzly held up traffic for 20 minutes as he ambled his way down the road.  

Yup, that's the road.  Fun when another bus is coming
the other way.

The rivers are called "braided rivers".  This is not a dry season
riverbed, there is seldom more water than this in it.  The braiding
is caused by the changing of its courses.