Sept. 2 - Home again, adjusting to a new reality

We're home again, after a wonderful trip.  The north did not disappoint - it is certainly the most geographically exciting place we've been and the wildlife, the hiking, the scenery and the people were all fantastic.  The geology on a grand scale is what most impressed us - the great rivers, the Tintina trench (most northern extent of the Rocky Mountain Trench), the glaciated landscapes and the unglaciated refugia, the rugged spines of the newest mountains, the braided river deltas, and the ancient folded sea floors.  The northern landscape of glaciers, permafrost, muskeg is so different from our experience, and the changing nature of the north with the pressure of climate change is frightening.

This trip was unique in the sheer number of superlatives it contained -  most northerly road accessed from the south in Canada (the Dempster Highway to Inuvik), most westerly part of NA (Alaska), most northerly park in Yukon (Ivaavik), highest mountain in NA (Denali), highest mountain in Canada (Logan - close but still unseen), crossings of the Continental Divide (10), and crossings of the Arctic Circle (2).

We travelled 13,100 km. in 98 days.  Eighty five of those nights we spent in the camper.  We didn't do the world any favours with the amount of diesel we used, but on the other hand, we didn't consume much in the way of energy for heat, light or hot water.  Our solar panel and propane tanks did all the rest.  We had 3 flat tires - 2 on the Dempster, 1 in Haines, and fixed them all ourselves, but we damaged a wheel on the Dempster and spent $1900 on new tires and wheel repairs.  Otherwise no serious mishaps although we narrowly avoided disaster with a full grown moose in Alaska.  She got a close trim of her whiskers on our front fender, and we had to change our underwear.

I feel we need to name all the highlights so I'll simply list all the top spots:

hottest day - Inuvik - 30 deg. C

coldest day - Arctic Circle, Dempster Highway - snow, rain, wind, 4 deg. C. (3 days earlier)
longest day - June 21 of course, as we watched the sun go all the way around the horizon on the Dempster, just below the Arctic Circle
 

best hiking - Ivaavik National Park, Yukon with Parks Canada

best kayaking - Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, with Sea Wolf Adventures

best canoeing - Boya Lake, BC

best fishing - Klondike River, Dawson City, Yukon

best swimming - Klondike River

 

best commercial campground - Hi-Country RV Park in Whitehorse - fresh flowers in washrooms, long hot showers

best wilderness campground - Muncho Lake PP, BC for scenery, fishing, hiking

best wayside attraction - Liard Hotsprings, BC - duh!

best museum - Beringia, Whitehorse - fascinating background on northern glaciation, the Bering land bridge and migration patterns, and geography of the north

best park - Denali National Park, Alaska - wildlife viewing, alpine flowers, hiking, scenery, wilderness

best  meal - Liz - freshcaught lake trout - Muncho Lake

                   Norbert - 229 Park Hwy. Restaurant near Denali - his birthday dinner

best unexpected delay - waiting for truck parts for a week in Dawson City

best local experience - volunteering for Yukon River Quest, Dawson City
best hospitality - Gary, for taking us in for a week in Dawson City

 

best mosquito swatter - Alaska State Park map - folds perfectly to fit hand, flexible yet strong, and Sarah Palin's face is perfect target on back cover.

most mosquitoey spot - Wonder Lake, Denali National Park, Alaska - only place we had to wear head nets.

worst mud - Dempster Highway (we had clods of mud on the roof of the camper!)

stupidest mistake - driving down the highway with camper stairs attached 

best salient lesson - horrible residual effects from 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska

biggest regret - never made it to Tuktoyaktuk, but it does give us another good reason for the next trip.

We would go back in a minute, and we've decided to see a bit of the north in winter.  With any luck we'll have a trip to Whitehorse this winter.  The night sky (which we missed all summer) should be great, and the northern lights are always on my priority list, plus we'd like to volunteer for the Yukon Quest.  (1000 mile dog sled race across Alaska and Yukon, for those who weren't raised with Rin Tin Tin.) But for now we need to adjust to living in a house, with running water and all the mod cons again.  It seems like the ultimate luxury to stand in the shower daydreaming, or have hot water come out of a faucet!  What a funny world we live in where the simplest of pleasures are taken for granted!

Thanks for coming along with us.  It's been a fantastic voyage and sharing it has been a great joy for me.  Let's hope we all have many more years of health and ability to enjoy together.

 

The massive Salmon Glacier on a grey day outside of Stewart BC.

Tiny Hyder, Alaska, pop. 100.  Only accessible from Stewart BC, or by sea, but still the bars are thriving!

Lovely grey wolf who came to the river outside of Hyder just as we were watching the spawning salmon.  He caught a big fish in his teeth, thrashed it to death on the shore, and ate it all!



Norbert fishing along the Stewart Cassiar Highway. (A seriously misguided name - Stewart is 60 km off the highway, and Cassiar doesn't exist any more.)



One of several standing poles in Kispiox, BC.

Horses grazing at Hat Creek Ranch outside Cache Creek, BC, our last morning on the road.

Our home for three months, vagabonds happily wandering through the wilderness.

 

Aug. 24 Heading south, back into BC

Sat. Aug. 24, Iskut, BC

I'm finding it hard to believe that we're on the homeward leg now, heading south down the Stewart-Cassiar Highway in BC.  We really enjoyed our last few days in Whitehorse.  It's a town I could live in - lovely setting nestled on a bench above the Yukon River, surrounded by rolling hills of pine forest.  Coffee shops, bakeries, library, rec center and really nice people.  There's a very large Francophone community, partly because of the federal government offices, and an air of sophistication and education that is missing throughout Alaska and most of the north.  We decided we'd have to come back to see what it's like in winter as well!

We spent a great day biking along the Yukon with a friend from North Van who now lives in Whitehorse.  Pretty challenging trails, but great views of the canyon.  I was a bit concerned that one small mistake would send me into the river and I'd find myself in Dawson City again!

We've said farewell to Yukon now, and crossed again from the Arctic watershed into the Pacific.  We're taking a different route home, heading south along the western edge of BC.  The highway is gorgeous - narrow, twisty, quiet, and incredibly scenic.   Yesterday we met a big male moose crossing the road, several ruffed grouse (they stop and dither half way across, unlike the moose who bolts once he sees us), and a big black wolf (or a very lost domestic dog.)  The campground we stayed in on Boya Lake had canoes for rent, so we fished (unsuccessfully) and watched beavers, otters, loons, and an osprey on the lake.  More wildlife in one day than most of the holiday!  

The scenery is spectacular here - black volcanic cones rising above ancient sea beds, pink and grey granite mountains fissured with deep green valleys, sparkling rivers sliding into blue-green lakes.  Tonight we are camped in a moosie looking meadow, above a shallow bay that opens into a deep mountain lake.  Norbert has spent a happy hour with his fly rod out beyond the reeds, and there's three fat rainbow trout in the pan.  We'll take our time for the next few days and enjoy the end of summer up here.  

We have only one more week of blissful carefree travel before we have to make the transformation into civilized folk again.  Although I long for a shower that's all my own, I know I'll miss the sound of the wind in the trees at night, and the uncluttered view from our windows.  I love the brisk morning air outside our cozy bed, and the night sky sparkling when I go out for a last pee.  I feel more connected to the seasons, the weather, the moon and the stars than I ever do in the city.  Luckily we can continue to travel, and many more days and nights lie ahead.  

Aug 20, Whitehorse - new photos added to previous post!

Aug. 17, Sea Wolf Adventure

Sat. Aug. 17, Haines, Alaska

Imagine you are bobbing gently at anchor in a deep turquoise bay.  Steep green hills rise from the sea, laced with rivers of ice.  Silvery salmon leap, tiny porpoises curl and dive, massive dark whales rise, graceful and mysterious.   A sea otter mom bobs on her back, grooming her tiny baby on her belly.             Beside the sunsparkled river a brown bear strolls to dinner, while raven watches.  Close your eyes and feel the soft forest breath on your skin.  Hear the mew of gulls, the cry of eagle.  A flock of murres take flight with their frantic eggbeater slap of wings on water.  A humpback exhales a deep and fishy sigh.

This is how we spent our afternoons on the Sea Wolf last week.  Our home for 6 days, we cruised through Glacier Bay National Park on the south coast of Alaska, mostly alone in the wilderness, amongst abundant wildlife in stunning scenery.  Sea Wolf is a 96 foot classic wooden yacht, beautifully appointed, and wonderful to cruise on.  We kayaked every day, close to floating icebergs and calving glaciers, along verdant estuaries alive with salmon, bears and birds, and past rocky islets inhabited by sea lions and puffins.  Humpback whales appeared daily, sometimes lazing quietly on the surface, sometimes erupting torpedo-like in a feeding frenzy.  

The bird life was incredible, but I reached the point where every rare and wonderful sighting became a slurry of marbled murrelet, harlequin duck, red necked phalarope, tufted puffin, etc. until I just called them all marble cheesecake.  My mind never being far from my stomach, the confusion was easily understood.  The cook on board kept coming up with fabulous meals - fresh baking, local crab, salmon and halibut, and amazing salads.  Despite the constant activity I find my pants a bit snug today!  

There were 12 passengers, mostly very nice, some a bit challenging.  Good time to practice my zen-like tolerance when conversations moved to free market economics and the American political landscape.  At least there was wine to smooth over some rather heated exchanges!  And the free thinkers amongst us scored a direct hit when we stripped off on a warm afternoon and dove into the icy sea at the end of a hike.  Several horrified faces greeted us as we waded ashore!  Americans can be very funny!

I'm writing this on the ferry to Skagway, the last of our Alaska stops, and the beginning of the famous Chilkoot Trail.  We'll follow the same route, though not so arduous in the camper, back to where our Klondike adventure began in Whitehorse, Yukon.  It's good to be back in our little turtle home, and we're happy to be on our own again.  Adventures await!

A wonderful museum in Haines - 8,000 hammers of all kinds.  Lots of fun.

Posted Aug 17 at Skagway Alaska.  Sorry - no photos again.  The internet is too slow to cope.  Next time!



A lovely fish packing plant in Haines.  The process fish, crab, clams, etc, and it's all fresh and delish!

Momma and baby grizzly on the Chilkoot River in Haines.  The fishermen have just reluctantly ceded their positions along the bank as she made her way downstream fishing.

The ferry trip to Juneau was beautiful, through a long fiord lined with steep mountains and glaciers.

In Juneau we found this 1912 pipe organ, transplanted from an early theatre into the state legislative building.  There was a concert during the lunch hour so we stayed for the performance.  Phantom of the Opera at its best!

Our cruise left from the tiny hamlet of Gustavus, just outside Glacier Bay National Park.  This is their original and still only gas pump!

Our home for 6 days, the Sea Wolf.  Wooden boats are so beautiful.

Our cabin - beautifully appointed and cozy.  Many of the fittings are original from the 1940s.

Kayaking in front of a glacier.  So many I can't recall their names, each a bit different and some actively calving.  This one had a couple huge thunderous collapses while we watched.  The sea was littered with big and little bergie bits - very fun to kayak through.

Calm seas, sunny skies, beautiful scenery.  Wow!

Hiking amongst the bergs.  This glacier has formed a landlocked lake in front so the bergie bits stay put until pushed out at high tide.  Some are as big as apartment buildings, towering above the beach.  Not to be taken lightly!

Some have amazing shapes, weird indentations, and fancy curlicews.

Cruising past sea lion rocks.  The smell and the noise was hilarious.

The geology of the park is fantastic.  It's all about glaciation - the entire park, right out to the mouth of Glacier Bay was filled with ice when Captain Vancouver sailed past in 1796.  In 200 years the ice has retreated 65 miles, leaving behind moraines, alluvial fans, and these massive erratic boulders.

Hiking with grizzlies!  Bigger than a frizzbie but with claws.

Our last morning - misty with whales.

Flying back to Juneau in a Cessna 206.  It was held together with masking tape, which I suspect is a step down from duct tape.  Only a little anxiety provoking!  Luckily the scenery was spectacular.  Juneau is not very big, despite being the capital of Alaska, and is dwarfed by the Mendenhall Glacier above it.  Pretty nice setting!

 

Aug 9 Haines to Juneau - fall, fish, and folly

Fri. Aug. 9, Juneau Alaska

Well quite an eventful few days!  We drove south from Kluane, back into Alaska to the coast at Haines.  It's very familiar landscape - coastal rainforest rising to alpine peaks, but the difference here is the more northern climate maintains huge icefields at the higher elevations.  Glaciers reach down into every fiord, many touching the sea.  Fabulous for photography!

The seasons are clearly changing now.  It gets dark at night and we've started to see some stars in the brief nighttime sky.  The fireweed, a harbinger of spring and companion of summer is all gone.  And the salmon are coming up the rivers to spawn.  That means bears are coming down to fatten up on fish before winter, so the rivers are alive with fish, fisherman, and grizzly bears.  Very dramatic, and not the sort of peaceful angling I imagined.  We decided photography was a safer option after watching several fisherman lose their catches to a momma grizzly.  

We've been distracted by all this bountiful scenery and had a slight camper mishap this week.  When first driving an RV we did a lot of reading about what not to do - there's plenty of that sort of literature!  Things like not driving out of the campsite with the clothesline still tied to the RV, or the dog.  Ensuring all the roof vents are tightly closed before taking off at highway speed  - they tend to fly off.  Closing the back door before driving - it's amusing for other drivers to watch the terrified cat on the doorstep.  Disconnecting the sewer and electrical hookups before departure - obviously!  Our folly?  We were fishing a lovely stream, and failed to do our usual pre departure walk around.  A mile down the highway I said to Norbert 'Did you put away the stairs after lunch?'  Odd, the sound of aluminum stairs bouncing along behind the truck!

We've now abandoned the camper in Haines for 10 days and we're off on a different sort of adventure.  We've taken the ferry to Juneau, and tomorrow another ferry to the hamlet of Gustavus, just outside of Glacier Bay National Park.  We'll be off on a mothership kayak cruise for 6 days in the park, aboard a 96 ft. ex-navy minesweeper, the Sea Wolf.  Sounds like wonderful luxury, and we can't wait!  Tell you all about it when we return!

Posted at Driftwood Lodge, Juneau.  No photos this time, sorry!

Aug 4 Hiking with bears Kluane National Park

Fri. Aug. 2, Kathleen Lake, Kluane National Park, Yukon

I see we've been out of touch for a week now, and I haven't been able to access the internet since I wrote my last post, so I'll post both together once we return to civilization.  We've spent a delightfully lazy week in Kluane Park, hiking, fishing, reading, doing not much of anything.  We haven't been through anything resembling a town for a week, and haven't missed it at all!  We're almost out of water and fresh food - down to canned peaches and pancakes, sardines on crackers, and spagetti.  May have to shop soon.  

The park is enormous in scale as well as elevation, but is almost entirely inaccessible except by mountaineering or flying.  It is adjacent to Wrangell -St. Elias Nat. Park in Alaska, Tatshenshini-Alsek Wilderness Provincial Park in BC, and Glacier Bay Nat. Park in the Alaska panhandle, covering millions of miles of mountains and icefields.  Together they form the largest protected area in the world.  The St. Elias Mountains are relatively young, still very geologically active, and undiminished by the erosion of eons of time, so the peaks are massive, jagged, and snow-covered.  We were hoping to get a view of Mount Logan, Canada's highest peak at 19,545 ft (just barely less than Denali), but it's position in the far south eastern corner of Yukon puts it 110 km from the nearest road.  We even drove 40 km back one day because it was clearer than the previous day, in order to try to catch a glimpse, but no such luck.  

Norbert is proud to have done one of the toughest day hikes in the park - 18 km return up an enormous bowl onto a ridge to the peak above the lake. His photos are fantastic, but of course not downloaded yet!  We both did another trail to a viewpoint at 1400 ft, which I found arduous enough!  And we had a much too close encounter with a grizzly on a piddly little hike just off the highway!  We always sing and talk to make noise on the trail, but we came around a bend and were suddenly 20 feet from him.  Luckily he seemed as frightened as we were, and we all leaped backwards at once.  He watched us warily as we slowly backed away, and continued to eye us as we made our short descent back to the truck.  It doesn't make it any easier for me to go off into the bush!

We've spent a lot of time fishing all week, with very little to show for it I'm afraid.  The lakes are closed to rainbow and kokanee and the lake trout seem to be down too deep to find.  The rivers are full of grayling, which even I've been catching, but they're barely big enough to make a McNugget.  But I've had a chance to improve my casting, so hopefully the practice will pay off later.  

Kathleen Lake is a beautiful turquoise glacial lake, picturesque, but pretty brisk for swimming.  The scenery has been beautiful, the weather perfect, and the relaxation very satisfying.  A perfect summer holiday week.  

Posted Aug 4, Haines, Alaska

The view from 1400 feet above the Kluane River.  Looking deeper into the park, the peaks get more impressive.

The mountain that Norbert hiked.  The trail begins by the campsite just to the left on the lake, goes up through the trees to the tongue of gravel, on to the lip of the hanging valley.  Then it heads up the left side of the bowl to the ridge, across the top, to the peak on the right upper corner.  Wow!

Kathleen Lake on a perfect summer day.

The scenery everywhere you look is spectacular.

Fishing for grayling.  This is the loveliest river - turquoise glacial water, sparkling ripples, but few fish.

The highways are lined with summer flowers.  These are mountain avens - the flower symbol of the Yukon.  In early spring they have a pretty white daisy-like flower, then by summer they have this fluffy white seed head.  Looks great with the pink fireweed.

Million Dollar Falls - a lovely view.

The road to Haines goes through this high alpine meadow for 20 km.  Just beautiful.  This is the start of the Tatshenshini River.

Fish trap on the Chilkat River in Haines.  Fisheries uses these to count the salmon going upstream to spawn, currently sockeye. 

 

 

Aug 3,Kluane Lake housekeeping detail

Sat July 27, Congdon Creek, Yukon

A rainy afternoon, and we've settled into a lovely campsite on the shore of Kluane Lake.  The domestic chores need doing, and it's a good day to stay put. Every few days we need to pay attention to the trivialities of life on the road - groceries, showers, laundry, water fill-up, sani dump, sweeping floor, cleaning windows, or simply tidying the mass of tourist info we accumulate.  (I would just toss it once it's behind us, but Norbert keeps almost everything!  We each have a nice storage space alongside the bed for our things.  Mine is full of clothes, computers, knitting and books.  Norbert's is overflowing with fishing rods, maps, tour guides, camera gear and books.  A chaque-un ses choses.)

I'm thinking of writing a book about sanitary facilities after this trip.  Emptying the sani tank is something you learn by experience.  We now have a system that works smoothly and cleanly for us, involving rubber gloves, duct tape and a plastic bag, and careful choreography.  Others, not so much.  We've seen the most awful flaws in technique, mostly resulting in very regretable spillage.  Not for the faint of heart!

Outhouses- oh how I could go on about them!  We're so happy to be back in the Yukon where the cute green and white woodies are always clean and well supplied.  Somehow Alaskan campsites haven't quite measured up.  For one thing, they use an unfortunate design - the precast concrete mausoleum.  You have to lock yourself inside a large, sealed, concrete box, hardly conducive to a pleasant morning's contemplation.  They are not sex specific, so I've discovered that some men (it has to be them) don't have very good aim despite their more advantageous anatomy.  I object when I have to roll up my pant legs.  And the American toilet was obviously designed by an alien species who don't go.  It is mounted on two metal bars that transect the space below where you sit - obviously not a spot you want to place any obstruction.  Things get hung up.  It's not pretty.  

Showers sometimes aren't much better.  I've become inured to trying to get clean in a dirty space, but really, I'm tired of trying to fit into these miniscule cubicles.  Only a contortionist could shave her legs in a 30 inch square shower.  Not that there's time to shave anything when your toonie only yields 6 minutes of water.  I'm so grateful when we find a nice clean, hot, spacious, generous shower!  I do love how travel brings you perspective on the important things in life.  

It's interesting who we meet doing the travelling up here.  Along the Alaska Highway there's lots of massive motorhomes towing SUVs - retired Americans who've sold their homes and now live half the year either with their kids or in a tropical condo, and half the year in a 40 foot luxury RV on the road.  They have more mod cons than we do at home, and usually like the 100 amp service in the private campgrounds.  They sometimes travel in packs,  in order to have cocktail parties I think.  Very odd people.  There has been quite a smattering of uber-enthusiastic Europeans in massive heavy duty camperized all terrain vehicles equiped for global exploration.  They camp off road, alone, often in gravel pits, I guess for the scenery.   Also they're cheap.  There are lots of motorbikes, often in convoys of 2 to 10, nearly all BMW off-road bikes.    I don't know where they camp - perhaps they just keep driving.  

We've met lots of nice people camping like us, in smaller RVs, VWs, rental motorhomes, and tents.  They make great neighbours in campgrounds - happy kids, talkative retired people, friendly tourists.  We've been able to practice our French and German regularily, and we always get great advice about hiking trails, wildlife, or farmers' markets.  We've also run into a few intrepid cyclists on this trip.  There are occasional escorted, supported groups who clearly are doing only the choice stretches of highway, but there have been a surprising number who are knocking off the Dempster, or the Alaska Highway just for the hell of it.  As I said before, to each his own!

So I've whiled away a rainy day writing this, and enjoyed the luxury of a timeless afternoon.  More of that to come as we slowly wend our way south along the Kluane mountains.  

 

Posted Aug 3, Haines, Alaska

July 25 - In a Better Mood!

Thurs. July 24, Eagle Trail Rec. Site, near Tok, Alaska

What an eventful few days!  After my rant about Homer, Alaska has redeemed itself with more splendid weather, tons of wildlife, and spectacular scenery.  We hit the coast again in the beginning of fjord country at Seward, a pretty fishing town set amongst a backdrop of steep rocky peaks draped with blue-white glaciers.  The fishing is all on the ocean, so no ugly hand to hand combat on the shore, and the fish boats are in fact quite picturesque.  On a whim we boarded a scenic boat cruise and spent a relaxing afternoon in the sun gawking at sea otters, whales, kittiwakes, and tide-water glaciers.  The geology is stunning!  That wasn't active enough for Norbert, so he spent the next morning hiking up Seward's version of the Grouse  Grind -  three hours of arduous steep hiking over roots, boulders, scree and cliffs.  I had a latte and a waterfront stroll!

We decided to splurge on a ferry in order to shorten our driving to the east, so we zipped around a few mountains and down to Whittier at the head of another fjord for the six hour ferry trip to Valdez.  These coastal towns have had their trials.  In 1964 the largest earthquake ever recorded in NA (9.2) shook the area for five minutes, then sent a series of tsunamis up to 90 feet high up all the fjords, destroying everything onshore.  One native village lost every child (they were all playing on the beach while awaiting the Friday night film in the community centre).  Seward's entire waterfront collapsed into the sea and a freighter was thrown up onto the fleeing people.  Valdez is now situated four miles away from the ruined town where only foundations remain.  Many buildings that survived were moved intact when the town was relocated.  

In 1989 man-made disaster took another heavy toll when the Exxon Valdez went aground as it left Valdez inlet.  We were horrified by the displays and films that reveal the extent of incompetence, greed, denial and stupidity that compounded the initial damage caused by the captain's negligence.  Eleven thousand gallons of heavy crude oil was swept 200 miles along the coast, killing millions of fish, birds and marine mammals.  The entire herring fishery has never returned, many sea bird species are still recovering, the oil is still present in beach sand and rocky crevasses, and the health of the all marine fisheries is in doubt.  Twenty two resident orcas died in the first year, and the population has not recovered.  The visuals of oil covered bodies don't begin to do justice to the horror of this picture.  If you were ever in doubt about shipping oil off the BC coast, here is a salient lesson.  

Despite these incidents, the ocean here is still amazingly abundant.  We had been surprised at how many fish we'd seen jumping while out on the water, and the explanation came in Valdez at the fish hatchery.  The community supports the production of a vast fishery by artificially rearing literally gazillions of salmon - each year they release 230 million pink, 18 million chum, and 2 million coho.  We went to see the hatchery, partly because there were photos all over town of a momma grizzly and her four cubs who frequent the area.  We were completely captivated by the wildlife show - millions of salmon thrashing along the shore attract quite a crowd!  Sea otters were enjoying their salmon dinners on their laps (they reminded me of the 60's when we had TV dinners on trays).  Seals flapped frantically as they hunted.  Sea lions burst from the water to shake their salmon dinner to death with a thrash of their gigantic heads.  Bald eagles dove, claws extended.  And best of all, the bear family wandered along the shore, caught a dozen fish for dinner in a few mighty swats, and then leisurely crossed the road back into the bush!  

So, with all that to enjoy, we now have some very positive memories to take home from Alaska.  We're headed back into Canada tomorrow, and will spend the next week in Kluane National Park.  I'm really looking forward to the Yukon again - great campsites, nice people, and we can fish again!

Posted July 26 Beaver Creek, Yukon!!!!!

Mount Marathon trail in Seward.  If you use a microscope, you can see Norbert's white shirt on the very peak!

The Whittier tunnel.  It goes under a mountain, so looks like a hard rock mine.  Single lane traffic, alternating directions every half hour, unless there's a train, in which case it takes precedence.

Ferry view on the way to Valdez.  Icebergs are calving from the glaciers!

Valdez dock - what a setting!

Salmon fighting for access to the spawning stream outside the hatchery weir.  The water was just alive with them all.



The hatchery, with momma bear and three of her four cubs coming down from the brush on the point.  Momma is still up in the gazebo, cubs on the foreshore.  Sealions and sea otters in the water with the salmon!

July 21 Alaska at it's worst

July 20, Seward Alaska

Alaska has surprised us.  We expected it to be wild, rough and uninhabited, which pretty much describes Alaskans, but not the countryside we’ve seen so far.  The roads we’ve travelled have seemed quite similar to northern and coastal BC, but with a population multiplied by a thousand.  We’ve run into traffic, busy campsites, and overcrowded scenery.  The most striking has been this week in the Kenai Peninsula, south of Anchorage in the Gulf of Alaska.  It’s salmon season, and it’s chaotic. Along most of the rivers thousands of spawning sockeye and coho are heading upstream.  Many more thousands of anglers are lying in wait for them. 

In the town of Kenai, the banks of the tidal mouth of the channel are lined with tents and vehicles.  Fishermen are lined up 3 deep in the shallows, casting and netting the passing fish.  (Yes, I said netting!)  The most amazing sight is the dip net fishery, where any Alaskan resident can use a 4 foot diameter net on a 10 foot pole to catch up to 65 sockeye.  They stand on the banks or lean out of boats, fighting each other off for a share of the catch.  There’s almost no room to manoeuvre the gigantic nets, and nets are smashing into each other with fury.  They call it ‘combat fishing’!   Along other streams the anglers stand a meter apart, spanning the width of the stream.  By the looks of the full coolers on shore I’d say the fish are loosing.  If you find sockeye in short supply any time soon, blame the Alaskans.   

We spent a couple days at the end of the peninsula in Homer.  It’s a curious blend of Galiano Island and Niagara Falls.  In funky little bakeries hippie clad mommies sip organic lattes while nursing their toddlers.  Along the docks aggressive touts broker fishing trips and wildlife watching cruises like relentless pimps in Las Vegas.  We naively chose a campsite along the beach, thinking we would be lulled to sleep by the pounding surf.  Instead we were awoken by hoards of partying yobs, drinking and screaming around bonfires.  Pleasant.  Tonight we have higher hopes for a nice forest service campground along a nonfishing river. 

Alaska, more than anywhere else in the states, reveals the Americans’ abhorrence of government regulation.  There seems to be no building code and very odd assortments of houses, with or without roofs, foundations, or indoor plumbing , appear in unusual places – sides of mountains, river banks, beaches.  People drive various things – ancient trucks, unlicensed tractors, ATVs – everywhere – beaches, river beds, highways.  Dogs are unneutered, unlicensed, unleashed, and you can imagine where that leads….   Hunting, trapping and fishing are allowed everywhere, including much of the parks.  The rangers in Denali were devastated when one of the dominant male wolves remaining in the park was killed by a trapper last winter, with his radio colour still on.  The occasional sign that states 'Discharge of firearms within 1/4 mile of highway is prohibited for the next 5 miles' has been defaced by numerous bullet holes.  There is an overriding attitude of entitlement to whatever makes you happy.  We find it strange, and so very unCanadian! 

This part of Alaska has been an eye-opener, scenic and beautiful, but overcrowded and unfriendly.  We are heading east to escape, first to the old Russian port of Seward, then on to Valdez, site of the infamous oil spill.  Wiser we hope and still undaunted, we will seek out better landscapes and nicer natives!

 

Posted July 21, Stoney Creek Campground, Seward (a lovely spot!)

We drove up high in the mountains to see this 1920 vintage gold mine.  The fog kept drifting past, ghostly images of abandoned buildings.  Really neat.

 

The muskox farm near Anchorage raises these guys for their wool.  They are only semi-domesticated now after 10 generations in captivity, but these one year olds were very sweet.  Their wool, called qiviut, is amazingly soft and light, as well as expensive!

 

Kenai wharf with fisherman launching to engage in combat fishing.  There are 4 ramps, 4 lanes of traffic waiting to be directed into one, and hundreds of boats in the water. 

 

Ninilchik, an old Russian fishing village on the Kenai Peninsula.  Russian orthodox church on the hill dates back 120 yrs, as do some of the old log homes.  Our campsite was on the hill opposite the church, looking out to sea.  Lovely!

 

One of the nice bits of eclectic architecture in Homer!  The outhouse was positioned right off the public walkway, on the edge of an important migratory bird wetland.  There were 20 old busses and campers parked along the far side.

 

Moose in the wetland, taken from the same spot in front of the house above!

 

A wonderful treat - a 9 piece marimba band playing yesterday at the farmer's market as we left Homer. Very cheering!

 

Today, in Seward, we went on a boat cruise to see sea otters, puffins, and glaciers.  This is one of the largest, 13 miles long, 3 miles across.  The gravel bank on the shore is actually the terminal moraine, which acts as a dam and keeps the broken off bergs floating in a lake behind it.  Very beautiful!

 

Denali Experience - the Good, the Bad, and the downright Ugly

Sun July 14, Rolly Lake State Park, Alaska

I've just had my first swim in Alaska - in a beautifully warm clear lake at the end of a hot sunny afternoon - heavenly!  Who knew Alaska could be this much fun?  We've just left Denali after a wonderful week in the park.  We climbed several arduous trails, saw lots of wildlife, camped at the end of the road by the foot of Denali itself, and even ate a fabulous seafood dinner!

I'm so glad we took the bus out to mile 85 at the end of the park road and camped overnight at Wonder Lake.  After days of cloud and rain, the sky finally cleared and we set up our tent with our door looking out at the mountain.  Denali is unusual, in that it towers 3000 feet above all its neighbours, and it rises 18,000 feet from its base in the valley.  When it appears out of the clouds it seems to loom in the sky rather than rise from the earth.  It was captivating, and I lay awake, watching the light changing across the peak long after sunset.  Dawn is only a few hours later, and the sky never really gets dark, so the mountain just gradually faded from pink to grey to early morning yellow.  Well worth a night's sleep to watch!  

We were both lying cozily in our wee bed at 5:30 am when we heard a tremendous rumbling, and felt the earth vibrate.  We assumed an major avalanche, but later we confirmed that a small tremor had been recorded.  I guess when you're lying on the ground it makes sense that an earthquake makes quite a racket.  The Pacific Plate is sliding under the North American Plate here, pushing the Alaska Range up as it crunches it's way northwards.  Even Denali is growing - an inch a year apparently.  

The sun continued to shine for us, and we hiked two alpine trails to wonderful viewpoints over the park.  The wildflowers are in full bloom, and as you climb the succession of different blossoms is fantastic.  I'm amazed at the variety of tiny alpine plants that the tundra can support.  Perhaps because the tiny flowers need to be extrordinarily flamboyant to attract pollinators, the  flowers appear in stunningly vivid colours.  The alpine forget-me-not, my favourite, is not just blue, but deepest sapphire with a centre of golden sunshine.  Norbert has probably collected a world class photo album of blooms.  

Denali has been a great stop. Bears from the bus are exactly my idea of wildlife viewing, and we had plenty of that.  We watched 2 cubs frolicking  with mom, and a pair of satisfied grizzlies lolling around the carcass of a caribou.  Moose and caribou posed for us daily, and a golden eagle swooped up to check out our lunch on a rocky peak.  Mosquitoes were plentiful at times, but never overwhelmed us.  By hiking we got beyond the bulk (literally) of cruise ship tourists, and saw the rocks and peaks that make the park famous.  We celebrated Norbert's birthday with a strenuous hike (his choice), then a great dinner out (mine, of course)!  Both my stomach and my knees are complaining today, but it was all worth it.

I shouldn't omit the down side of this trip as well however.  Alaska hosts more than its share of the boorish, the obese, and the terminally dimwitted.  The park rangers and bus drivers are unfailingly polite in the face of appalling ignorance, but my capacity for tolerance and compassion is sorely challenged daily.  We have seen men abusing their dogs, their wives, and their children.  We have been passed on the highway by bikers with no helmets, BMWs going 180, and rocking campers with mom and the kids jumping around in the back making lunch.  It is nearly impossible to hold a door open for anyone, because the next 11 people will barge through too.  Few people pause to smile and say hello, and a distressing number grunt and spit instead.  Alaska - the last frontier of the culturally disadvantaged!  

We will try to achieve a more zenlike appreciation of life in Alaska, and certainly there are enough really nice people to make it possible, as well as continuing scenic beauty to enjoy.  Tomorrow we will head south, and reach the Gulf of Alaska in Anchorage, full circle from Inuvik on the Beaufort Sea.  Adventures continue.....

Posted July 16, Gold Nugget Campground, Anchorage

Moose antlers on display at a stop in Denali.  They're amazingly heavy - I could barely hold one above my head.



Denali appears as if by magic out of the clouds.  It surprises because you don't expect to find it appearing so high. 

The view from our tent at about 11pm.

Our tent at Wonder Lake, late evening again. 

Of course the classic photo with fireweed in the foreground.  There's not many clear days like this!

Arduous doesn't begin to describe this climb!  We're 1400 ft above the visitor centre in the valley.



Another wonderful peak, great trail, amazing views.  This is a hiker's dream park.