Recorded July 25, 2009
Upon leaving Twin Lakes on Friday July 24th Lindsey & I saw a good omen. We were taking our morning walk when we saw a deer, breakfasting on the hillside about 30’ away. She did not seem at all concerned that both of us were watching her. We stood for several minutes until she began to slowly work her way back into the bushes. I new it would be a very good day.
We were fueled & out by 10:30 and were at the boarder on Hwy 97 within about 30 minutes. I was told which fruit & vegetables the customs agents would look for so I put them in my computer bag. Call me a bad girl for 3 tomatoes & a handful of cherries; I left them some nasty lettuce & carrots. Three agents boarded our coach after asking us to step outside. In the 8 boarder crossings that we made on this adventure, this was the first time we got any attention at all. They soon left without my tomatoes and we were on our way.
An again very pretty but uneventful 6 or so hours later we were in Ellensburg, Washington. We rolled first through grape vineyards then lots of beautiful rolling hills of mostly agriculture. The landscape had definitely changed. It was much more arid, brown and dare I say familiar. There were lots of places to stop but my Billy would have no part of that. As we came closer yet to Ellensburg we passed through another forest. Ellensburg was just a one nighter. The weather remained hot (mid 90’s) so we were happy to have 50amp electric service to cool the coach down fast!
I went to bed that night absolutely sure that Bill would have the best nights sleep he had had in a very long time.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Beginning our long road home
Recorded July 21rd 2009
Our next tentative destination is Penticton, British Columbia (250 miles east of Vancouver); it is more then 1,000 miles away. We continue on east through BC on Wednesday the 15th from Hyder, Alaska. It was a full day of driving but the roads were good so all was well. Ever since Bill & Linda cracked their windshield, I had been marveling at the fact that we have, thus far, avoided any mechanical problems. This was to change. The Moorhead’s were, for the past few days, having problems with their engine overheating. In Hyder they added coolant and cleaned the radiator. But this was not helping. Each uphill grade was causing the thermostat needle to rise.
We took it nice and easy and stopped for the night in Burns Lake. It was lucky that we stopped when we did because when we had a look at our pick up that we were towing, we found the tread was completely gone from the right front tire. Being undetected as we traveled, the thrashing hunk of tread damaged the fender & side of the car. Before the end of that day we had a new pair of tires and were ready to go in the morning.
On Thursday the 16th we drove to Prince George. I was thrilled. This was the biggest city we had been to since Anchorage. I was also happy because being back in Canada meant I did not have to depend on Wi-Fi, I could again use my data card for internet & my cell phone for email. This was to be short lived.
Again the Moorhead’s were running hot so they made a decision to stay in Prince George to have their rig serviced. This meant waiting until Monday for an appointment. Bill & I stayed 3 nights in Prince George, as we had picked a very nice park after cruising through a sad looking park a mile or 2 away. Linda & I were commenting on how both parks looked about the same in the listing. We caught up on some chores & lived with a daily spill of rain. The dog got a terrible hair cut & I got my nails done. Plus we got some down time watching movies and playing games with Linda & Bill. Linda regularly beat us at most games but we seemed to have the most fun playing Mexican Train & Uno.
On Sunday the 19th we made our farewells and headed south on Hwy 97. We were very sorry to split up with Bill & Linda our buddies of nearly 2 months but we both new it would occur in a few days anyway as they were quickening their pace to return home to tend to their sick dog. Poor Lady, whom they left at home with their daughter, they just found out, has kidney disease. We had our tentative plans in Penticton with Len Avarbuch Bill’s longtime friend. We are trying to keep in touch to see how Bill & Linda’s mechanical issues work themselves out. We did learn that the service done in Prince George did not solve the problem but a day or so later they were able to get a proper diagnosis of a faulty fan. The shop rewired it as a temporary fix to get them on their way.
We got a late start on the 19th leaving at nearly noon. We stopped Cache Creek at a little off the grid campground that was very nice & friendly though the owner did not like the fact that Good Sam charges over $1,000 per year to post in their directory. His campground was packed & did not need good Sam!
Out the next morning Monday the 20th after talking to Len about the 3 fires in the area of Kawlona that had started on Saturday. All are arson & are causing road closures. Len sent us down the Trans-Canada Hwy #1 as the more desirable routes I5 to 97c either were closed or were in danger of closing. To Bill’s dismay this was a highway …yes but a m-o-u-n-t-a-i-n highway. This was a rough day of driving, lots of curves with up & down grades plus at least a half dozen tunnels. It was however really beautiful tracing the Frasier River nearly the entire way. There were interesting stopping points along the way like Hells Gate Air Tram and White Water rafting but in true Billy form we passed them by and went straight for our next stop. We stopped after about 180 miles in the town of Hope at yet another beautiful campground. Billy was beat and it was hot. The weather had changed in the 400 miles south & 2 days. It is now in the 90 degree range. Prince George & Hyder were in the 70’s. The locals, the vacationers from Vancouver & eastern Canada are sweltering. It is supposed to be 100 degrees! As well as the weather being annoying I was ticked at my computer. Instead of better internet service I found myself with no internet service. I am down to only my cell phone & email from my cell phone at this point. Don’t know when my next post will be!
Our next tentative destination is Penticton, British Columbia (250 miles east of Vancouver); it is more then 1,000 miles away. We continue on east through BC on Wednesday the 15th from Hyder, Alaska. It was a full day of driving but the roads were good so all was well. Ever since Bill & Linda cracked their windshield, I had been marveling at the fact that we have, thus far, avoided any mechanical problems. This was to change. The Moorhead’s were, for the past few days, having problems with their engine overheating. In Hyder they added coolant and cleaned the radiator. But this was not helping. Each uphill grade was causing the thermostat needle to rise.
We took it nice and easy and stopped for the night in Burns Lake. It was lucky that we stopped when we did because when we had a look at our pick up that we were towing, we found the tread was completely gone from the right front tire. Being undetected as we traveled, the thrashing hunk of tread damaged the fender & side of the car. Before the end of that day we had a new pair of tires and were ready to go in the morning.
On Thursday the 16th we drove to Prince George. I was thrilled. This was the biggest city we had been to since Anchorage. I was also happy because being back in Canada meant I did not have to depend on Wi-Fi, I could again use my data card for internet & my cell phone for email. This was to be short lived.
Again the Moorhead’s were running hot so they made a decision to stay in Prince George to have their rig serviced. This meant waiting until Monday for an appointment. Bill & I stayed 3 nights in Prince George, as we had picked a very nice park after cruising through a sad looking park a mile or 2 away. Linda & I were commenting on how both parks looked about the same in the listing. We caught up on some chores & lived with a daily spill of rain. The dog got a terrible hair cut & I got my nails done. Plus we got some down time watching movies and playing games with Linda & Bill. Linda regularly beat us at most games but we seemed to have the most fun playing Mexican Train & Uno.
On Sunday the 19th we made our farewells and headed south on Hwy 97. We were very sorry to split up with Bill & Linda our buddies of nearly 2 months but we both new it would occur in a few days anyway as they were quickening their pace to return home to tend to their sick dog. Poor Lady, whom they left at home with their daughter, they just found out, has kidney disease. We had our tentative plans in Penticton with Len Avarbuch Bill’s longtime friend. We are trying to keep in touch to see how Bill & Linda’s mechanical issues work themselves out. We did learn that the service done in Prince George did not solve the problem but a day or so later they were able to get a proper diagnosis of a faulty fan. The shop rewired it as a temporary fix to get them on their way.
We got a late start on the 19th leaving at nearly noon. We stopped Cache Creek at a little off the grid campground that was very nice & friendly though the owner did not like the fact that Good Sam charges over $1,000 per year to post in their directory. His campground was packed & did not need good Sam!
Out the next morning Monday the 20th after talking to Len about the 3 fires in the area of Kawlona that had started on Saturday. All are arson & are causing road closures. Len sent us down the Trans-Canada Hwy #1 as the more desirable routes I5 to 97c either were closed or were in danger of closing. To Bill’s dismay this was a highway …yes but a m-o-u-n-t-a-i-n highway. This was a rough day of driving, lots of curves with up & down grades plus at least a half dozen tunnels. It was however really beautiful tracing the Frasier River nearly the entire way. There were interesting stopping points along the way like Hells Gate Air Tram and White Water rafting but in true Billy form we passed them by and went straight for our next stop. We stopped after about 180 miles in the town of Hope at yet another beautiful campground. Billy was beat and it was hot. The weather had changed in the 400 miles south & 2 days. It is now in the 90 degree range. Prince George & Hyder were in the 70’s. The locals, the vacationers from Vancouver & eastern Canada are sweltering. It is supposed to be 100 degrees! As well as the weather being annoying I was ticked at my computer. Instead of better internet service I found myself with no internet service. I am down to only my cell phone & email from my cell phone at this point. Don’t know when my next post will be!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
This & That Along The Way
Here is a bit of Trivia
Alaska is the state that is the farthest north, farthest west and farthest east of the
International dateline of any state in the USA
Become an Alaskan fulltime and…
If you are willing to move to Alaska fulltime you will reap huge rewards. You will pay no state sales tax. You will pay no state income tax. In fact the state of Alaska paid its fulltime residents $3,200 in 2008 from its excess oil revenue. That is up from $1,200 the prior year. It will cost you $50 to register your car your property tax will be maybe 10% of your California property tax. Any Alaskan can become a subsistence fisherman and net fish up to 500 salmon per year for your own use. There are real benefits! I can not understand why Californians, especially, aren’t flocking to Alaska to live. Oh yes…”Fulltime” they really want you here 12 months a year at last the first year & they have very strict rules after that.
Flowers Everywhere
No matter where we have gone on this adventure in Canada & in Alaska, there have been flowers. Northerners love flowers! Baskets, they love hanging baskets and planter boxes or unconventional containers like tires, boots, car parts, hats or better yet mining equipment parts and old furniture. They do not do pots of flowers with saucers, oh no. Locally available materials are used. It does not matter if we are in a resort or driving down Main Street in Haines or even in a fish camp on the Kenai Peninsula, we would find an absolutely terrible looking abandon building in any town would have well maintained fresh summer flowers planted out front. It is quite beautiful with the long days it takes very little time to have overflowing bouquets of color all over the place.
Getting along with little Lindsey
From the very beginning of this trip our traveling companion Bill Moorhead has been trying to make friends with our dog Lindsey. It is the funniest thing to watch. If he would not try so darn hard it probably would not be a big deal but as everyone in our family knows Lindsey is a snob, a real princess. It took her 2 years to warm up to Billy and why do the kid’s call her “Princess Q-Tip” anyway? Well it has not worked for Bill M. It is driving him nuts because as he keeps saying “All animals love me!” Keep trying Bill. It is so fun to watch you grovel!
2009 is a VERRY GOOD YEAR for Alaskan Weather
As we traveled from the far north in Fairbanks to the city of Anchorage and down south in Haines, all comments agreed. This year, 2009 was the best summer in 3 or 4 years to come north. The weather for several summers has been cold, gloomy & rainy a shopkeeper in Anchorage told us that she saw only 4 days of sunshine last year.
One night from hell
We have had on going problems with mosquitoes during the trip. I mean it is summer and there is water everywhere so of course there are mosquitoes but this one night in Teslin was the night from hell. We could not figure out where they were coming from. We were up until 1am killing them with a dust buster & a fly swatter. We slept until 4am with the sheet over our heads we were awakened by that familiar buzzing in our ears. So we were up and at it again. We must have waked at least a couple hundred. Several of the morning fellows left bloody splats behind as we continued our effort that morning. Even Lindsey had a couple of bites on her tummy! They don’t bother me as much as Billy, but I ended up with just on my face, he gets big welts, poor guy. We think they may be getting in somehow through our bedroom slide, so we plan on sleeping with that slide in to test the difference. YUK!!!
Oil Tankers – Interesting facts we gleaned.
We learned a lot about oil and oil tankers while we were in Valdez. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was about 10 years ago and I was getting real tired of hearing about it until we visited the Alaskan Sealife Center in Seward. The Sealife Center is an aquarium that was built partly with the 900 million dollars paid by Exxon to preserve & rehabilitate wildlife in the area. The oil rescue & cleanup effort was centered out of Seward. What we learned was that, of the dozen or 2 species that were severely impacted by the oil spill, several have not returned to their pre-spill numbers and some are facing extinction.
The changes in tankers since Exxon Valdez has been dramatic. Today all tankers have escorts into Prince William Sound to Valdez. There is a new class of tanker called the Alaska class that holds only 1,000,000 gallons of crude unlike today’s mega tankers that are ¼ mile long that routinely carry several million gallons, and are not allowed into most ports. Today’s new tankers large & small have more safeguards. As of this year all tankers have to be double hulled to prevent spills. The old single hulls will soon be a thing of the past. There are strict restrictions on ballast water. Who new that they filled the tankers with sea water to keep them from being so buoyant as to tip over? They used to just fill the empty oil bay with sea water. No way! Not any more. The new tankers must maintain separate tanks for oil and for Ballast water. We humans are becoming so responsible. It’s about time! All that oily water must just have been dumped back in the ocean. It had to be several hundred maybe thousands of gallons of oil escaping every time they emptied a ¼ mile long tanker.
Alaskan locals work 24/7 in summer
Repeated mantras as locals are talking among themselves all over the state is that they work 24/7 in the summer tourist season and that there is not a lot to do in the winter unless you work running a show plow or in one of the very few white collar jobs. Artists create in the winter & sell in the summer.
Tourism is off 25% and business is not great so say the vendors.
Business owners in several places along our trail alluded to the fact that tourism was off. A few times the number 25% was used. We tended to try to talk to the locals and find out about them and how the make a living. I spoke to the Vietnamese nail salon owner (a man) who was trying to make it in a shopping mall in Fairbanks where Godshouk’s had just closed. The fishing charter industry in Seward and also along the Kenai Peninsula down to Homer, we were told is off 25% from last year. Folks we met that were from the various cruise ships also told us that there were fewer cruises. As we traveled inland to the huge Wrangell – St. Elias National Park the same was true of tour operators & bus drivers in McCarthy were all crying the blues.
Alaska is the state that is the farthest north, farthest west and farthest east of the
International dateline of any state in the USA
Become an Alaskan fulltime and…
If you are willing to move to Alaska fulltime you will reap huge rewards. You will pay no state sales tax. You will pay no state income tax. In fact the state of Alaska paid its fulltime residents $3,200 in 2008 from its excess oil revenue. That is up from $1,200 the prior year. It will cost you $50 to register your car your property tax will be maybe 10% of your California property tax. Any Alaskan can become a subsistence fisherman and net fish up to 500 salmon per year for your own use. There are real benefits! I can not understand why Californians, especially, aren’t flocking to Alaska to live. Oh yes…”Fulltime” they really want you here 12 months a year at last the first year & they have very strict rules after that.
Flowers Everywhere
No matter where we have gone on this adventure in Canada & in Alaska, there have been flowers. Northerners love flowers! Baskets, they love hanging baskets and planter boxes or unconventional containers like tires, boots, car parts, hats or better yet mining equipment parts and old furniture. They do not do pots of flowers with saucers, oh no. Locally available materials are used. It does not matter if we are in a resort or driving down Main Street in Haines or even in a fish camp on the Kenai Peninsula, we would find an absolutely terrible looking abandon building in any town would have well maintained fresh summer flowers planted out front. It is quite beautiful with the long days it takes very little time to have overflowing bouquets of color all over the place.
Getting along with little Lindsey
From the very beginning of this trip our traveling companion Bill Moorhead has been trying to make friends with our dog Lindsey. It is the funniest thing to watch. If he would not try so darn hard it probably would not be a big deal but as everyone in our family knows Lindsey is a snob, a real princess. It took her 2 years to warm up to Billy and why do the kid’s call her “Princess Q-Tip” anyway? Well it has not worked for Bill M. It is driving him nuts because as he keeps saying “All animals love me!” Keep trying Bill. It is so fun to watch you grovel!
2009 is a VERRY GOOD YEAR for Alaskan Weather
As we traveled from the far north in Fairbanks to the city of Anchorage and down south in Haines, all comments agreed. This year, 2009 was the best summer in 3 or 4 years to come north. The weather for several summers has been cold, gloomy & rainy a shopkeeper in Anchorage told us that she saw only 4 days of sunshine last year.
One night from hell
We have had on going problems with mosquitoes during the trip. I mean it is summer and there is water everywhere so of course there are mosquitoes but this one night in Teslin was the night from hell. We could not figure out where they were coming from. We were up until 1am killing them with a dust buster & a fly swatter. We slept until 4am with the sheet over our heads we were awakened by that familiar buzzing in our ears. So we were up and at it again. We must have waked at least a couple hundred. Several of the morning fellows left bloody splats behind as we continued our effort that morning. Even Lindsey had a couple of bites on her tummy! They don’t bother me as much as Billy, but I ended up with just on my face, he gets big welts, poor guy. We think they may be getting in somehow through our bedroom slide, so we plan on sleeping with that slide in to test the difference. YUK!!!
Oil Tankers – Interesting facts we gleaned.
We learned a lot about oil and oil tankers while we were in Valdez. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was about 10 years ago and I was getting real tired of hearing about it until we visited the Alaskan Sealife Center in Seward. The Sealife Center is an aquarium that was built partly with the 900 million dollars paid by Exxon to preserve & rehabilitate wildlife in the area. The oil rescue & cleanup effort was centered out of Seward. What we learned was that, of the dozen or 2 species that were severely impacted by the oil spill, several have not returned to their pre-spill numbers and some are facing extinction.
The changes in tankers since Exxon Valdez has been dramatic. Today all tankers have escorts into Prince William Sound to Valdez. There is a new class of tanker called the Alaska class that holds only 1,000,000 gallons of crude unlike today’s mega tankers that are ¼ mile long that routinely carry several million gallons, and are not allowed into most ports. Today’s new tankers large & small have more safeguards. As of this year all tankers have to be double hulled to prevent spills. The old single hulls will soon be a thing of the past. There are strict restrictions on ballast water. Who new that they filled the tankers with sea water to keep them from being so buoyant as to tip over? They used to just fill the empty oil bay with sea water. No way! Not any more. The new tankers must maintain separate tanks for oil and for Ballast water. We humans are becoming so responsible. It’s about time! All that oily water must just have been dumped back in the ocean. It had to be several hundred maybe thousands of gallons of oil escaping every time they emptied a ¼ mile long tanker.
Alaskan locals work 24/7 in summer
Repeated mantras as locals are talking among themselves all over the state is that they work 24/7 in the summer tourist season and that there is not a lot to do in the winter unless you work running a show plow or in one of the very few white collar jobs. Artists create in the winter & sell in the summer.
Tourism is off 25% and business is not great so say the vendors.
Business owners in several places along our trail alluded to the fact that tourism was off. A few times the number 25% was used. We tended to try to talk to the locals and find out about them and how the make a living. I spoke to the Vietnamese nail salon owner (a man) who was trying to make it in a shopping mall in Fairbanks where Godshouk’s had just closed. The fishing charter industry in Seward and also along the Kenai Peninsula down to Homer, we were told is off 25% from last year. Folks we met that were from the various cruise ships also told us that there were fewer cruises. As we traveled inland to the huge Wrangell – St. Elias National Park the same was true of tour operators & bus drivers in McCarthy were all crying the blues.
Day Drive - The Casier Highway to Hyder
Recorded July 15, 2009
From Skagway, with our tummies full we actually drove 150 miles out to the Alaskan Hwy south and the small town of Teslin. This is the one starch of highway that we did drive coming the other way. We really are on our way back to the lower 48 but we keep hearing about the bears in Hyder. They are not supposed to arrive until mid July when the salmon run and until this past week the salmon had not made a showing. Now we keep getting info. That the salmon are arriving perhaps slowly but there are some. Thus our side trip to Hyder and by the way there are a couple more glaciers there as well.
Our one night in Teslin was awful. We did not sleep much due to the mosquitoes. On the 11th of July we were up & on the road by 8am. Another driving day with no side trips, this time to Dease Lake nearly half way down the 450 miles of the Casiar Highway. The Casiar has a horrible reputation but we figured it could not be any worse then the roads we have already managed. This proved to be true. The first 200 miles were not so hot with gravel breaks, dirt areas & pot holes. There were some frost heaves but nothing like the ones between Tok & the Canadian boarder on the Alaskan Hwy, they were the worst!
We made one stop to break the action at the little Jade seller where they demonstrate and explain the local jade mining operation at the Prince Jade Mine. It turns out that 90% of the worlds jade is produced right here in Casiar Mountain Range of British Columbia. Much of it is exported to China.
We continued on after our break and as we approach the split off to Hyder we are fairly sure we have made it through all the bad roads of our trip. We were pleasantly surprised, as not only did the roads improve but the 30 mile descent into the valley was really beautiful with Bear Glacier, unusual ice formations and many waterfalls with the landscape different from what we had seen prior.
To arrive in Hyder, Alaska USA population 100, you need to come though Stewart, British Columbia Canada population 600 and a boarder crossing. The 100 folk in Hyder choose to go by BC time (same as Ca. time) except the U.S. Federal Post Office which has to go by Alaska (1 hour earlier) time. Confused yet?
As we cruise through Stewart we think OK a little tiny bit of civic pride. Lots of flower baskets, a few brightly painted store fronts, very small and not much to it except for industry all around, like logging.
We continue the 2 or so miles across the boarder into Hyder. OH MY GOD! Well we read that Hyder prides itself in being “The Nations Only Living Ghost Town” and it became immediately apparent. Of the 30 or 40 buildings visible from the main dirt road, in town probably half of them were boarded up. All but about 5 or 10 look like they should be torn down, unworthy of even shack status. We continued on to our campground, the only one with electric hook-ups. It is named aptly Camp Run-A-Muck. Need I say more? As we pulled in a skinny elderly woman came running up to me and asked me if I wanted to see a bear. Bill was maneuvering the rig into position so I tentatively said yes only giving her half my attention. She then whirled around and pointed across the street where on the second floor and at the door of the garage apartment a black bear was being fed by the female occupant. The woman received a major tong lashing from the woman for sharing her secret as I think she was afraid we would come charging across with cameras in hand. I did not, but was tempted in theory. I watched while Mr. Bear ate his/her lunch and walked down the stairs and back into the woods.
Hyder, what can I say? We spent some time talking with the proprietors of the various businesses and found out that this is a town full of some odd ducks many of whom are from California. Big surprise! Most of the ones we talked to have lived here for many years and do not intend to leave. The grocery store sells a box of salt for over $4 and an everyday bag of bagels for $5.99. The cigar smoking proprietor of the general store/pond shop was full of information on why all Californians should move to Alaska. The owner of the Boarder Gallery was a most normal woman and very helpful with local historical and gave us precise answers to all our questions. As we found out later Hyder is the gateway to the most beautiful 20 mile drive to a majestic glacier of all the dozen or so glaciers we have seen on this trip.
We drove the 4 miles out to the bear viewing area at Fish Creek, an elaborate nearly 100 yard long wood walking structure designed to keep people & bears apart. We saw only beaver, eagle and salmon. We did see the butt end of one bear as he was leaving when we arrived. This was true of our return attempt that evening. No bear.
Of the 3 funky restaurants in Hyder “The Bus” was recommended but was closed. It is an old bus, with a few rough wood tables out front. The gal who owns the joint is said to be married to a fisherman and thus comes the freshest fish & chips in all Alaska. We ended up at the Glacier Inn which served a tasty meal of halibut bites. This place has two interesting thing in its favor. It first has been the backdrop for some movies like a 1991 forgettable “Leaving Normal” in which it was the Eternity Bar. Secondly, the Glacier Inn is a 1955 building wallpapered in CASH! There is a lot of wall area in this place and the walls are covered in, what is counted up to be $80,000 in ones, fives, tens, twenties even some fifties & hundreds! Now we have seen two other bars plastered in money on our trip, the Howling Dog Saloon in Fairbanks and the Salty Dog in Homer but the Glacier Inn has to be the original. One 40’ to 50’ wall had 3 layers of panels covering it with cash. The ones on the button were nearly black with age. Oh and by the way they all have felt pen notes on them and more then half are Canadian as well Canada is all around right.
Ok well day two in Hyder continues next….
Tuesday we decide to stay an extra day and give the bears another chance to meet us and also take a ride up the 20 dirt miles to Salmon Glacier just because Susie, the Run-A-Muck RV Park manager or owner, said it made the Bear Glacier that we saw as we drove into Hyder “look like a little ice cube.” Well we started out too early because we had a beautiful ride & did the driving tour but as we started to climb we were so deep into the clouds we were not going to see anything at all. We all had a good laugh because like the bear, the glacier did not want any part of us. In the afternoon Bill & Linda returned for another try with clear skis and came back with such excitement that first Bill said it beat Niagara Falls in spectacle and then they promptly insisted on lending their car to 4 motorcyclists to make the 20 dirt mile quest to see this spectacle. With encouragement from the Moorhead’s, Bill & I went to have a look. At 6:30pm we took off. This was the perfect time of the day the sun was low the shadows were dramatic & because we had been up there before we new the road and whereto stop. The Salmon Glacier was Majestic. It was also massive. No picture could possibly do it justice. You really do stand there in amazement at the beauty of it. This experience alone is worth enduring the unusual personalities of Hyder.
In the simply spoken words of my husband Bill Dickey as we crossed the boarder out of Hyder, Alaska for the final time this morning at 9:30 AM “That place was a dump!” I sit here enjoying the drive back up the beautiful 30 mile canyon out of Hyder. A question keeps bugging me, why do all the really beautiful places attract the screwballs & misfits?
From Skagway, with our tummies full we actually drove 150 miles out to the Alaskan Hwy south and the small town of Teslin. This is the one starch of highway that we did drive coming the other way. We really are on our way back to the lower 48 but we keep hearing about the bears in Hyder. They are not supposed to arrive until mid July when the salmon run and until this past week the salmon had not made a showing. Now we keep getting info. That the salmon are arriving perhaps slowly but there are some. Thus our side trip to Hyder and by the way there are a couple more glaciers there as well.
Our one night in Teslin was awful. We did not sleep much due to the mosquitoes. On the 11th of July we were up & on the road by 8am. Another driving day with no side trips, this time to Dease Lake nearly half way down the 450 miles of the Casiar Highway. The Casiar has a horrible reputation but we figured it could not be any worse then the roads we have already managed. This proved to be true. The first 200 miles were not so hot with gravel breaks, dirt areas & pot holes. There were some frost heaves but nothing like the ones between Tok & the Canadian boarder on the Alaskan Hwy, they were the worst!
We made one stop to break the action at the little Jade seller where they demonstrate and explain the local jade mining operation at the Prince Jade Mine. It turns out that 90% of the worlds jade is produced right here in Casiar Mountain Range of British Columbia. Much of it is exported to China.
We continued on after our break and as we approach the split off to Hyder we are fairly sure we have made it through all the bad roads of our trip. We were pleasantly surprised, as not only did the roads improve but the 30 mile descent into the valley was really beautiful with Bear Glacier, unusual ice formations and many waterfalls with the landscape different from what we had seen prior.
To arrive in Hyder, Alaska USA population 100, you need to come though Stewart, British Columbia Canada population 600 and a boarder crossing. The 100 folk in Hyder choose to go by BC time (same as Ca. time) except the U.S. Federal Post Office which has to go by Alaska (1 hour earlier) time. Confused yet?
As we cruise through Stewart we think OK a little tiny bit of civic pride. Lots of flower baskets, a few brightly painted store fronts, very small and not much to it except for industry all around, like logging.
We continue the 2 or so miles across the boarder into Hyder. OH MY GOD! Well we read that Hyder prides itself in being “The Nations Only Living Ghost Town” and it became immediately apparent. Of the 30 or 40 buildings visible from the main dirt road, in town probably half of them were boarded up. All but about 5 or 10 look like they should be torn down, unworthy of even shack status. We continued on to our campground, the only one with electric hook-ups. It is named aptly Camp Run-A-Muck. Need I say more? As we pulled in a skinny elderly woman came running up to me and asked me if I wanted to see a bear. Bill was maneuvering the rig into position so I tentatively said yes only giving her half my attention. She then whirled around and pointed across the street where on the second floor and at the door of the garage apartment a black bear was being fed by the female occupant. The woman received a major tong lashing from the woman for sharing her secret as I think she was afraid we would come charging across with cameras in hand. I did not, but was tempted in theory. I watched while Mr. Bear ate his/her lunch and walked down the stairs and back into the woods.
Hyder, what can I say? We spent some time talking with the proprietors of the various businesses and found out that this is a town full of some odd ducks many of whom are from California. Big surprise! Most of the ones we talked to have lived here for many years and do not intend to leave. The grocery store sells a box of salt for over $4 and an everyday bag of bagels for $5.99. The cigar smoking proprietor of the general store/pond shop was full of information on why all Californians should move to Alaska. The owner of the Boarder Gallery was a most normal woman and very helpful with local historical and gave us precise answers to all our questions. As we found out later Hyder is the gateway to the most beautiful 20 mile drive to a majestic glacier of all the dozen or so glaciers we have seen on this trip.
We drove the 4 miles out to the bear viewing area at Fish Creek, an elaborate nearly 100 yard long wood walking structure designed to keep people & bears apart. We saw only beaver, eagle and salmon. We did see the butt end of one bear as he was leaving when we arrived. This was true of our return attempt that evening. No bear.
Of the 3 funky restaurants in Hyder “The Bus” was recommended but was closed. It is an old bus, with a few rough wood tables out front. The gal who owns the joint is said to be married to a fisherman and thus comes the freshest fish & chips in all Alaska. We ended up at the Glacier Inn which served a tasty meal of halibut bites. This place has two interesting thing in its favor. It first has been the backdrop for some movies like a 1991 forgettable “Leaving Normal” in which it was the Eternity Bar. Secondly, the Glacier Inn is a 1955 building wallpapered in CASH! There is a lot of wall area in this place and the walls are covered in, what is counted up to be $80,000 in ones, fives, tens, twenties even some fifties & hundreds! Now we have seen two other bars plastered in money on our trip, the Howling Dog Saloon in Fairbanks and the Salty Dog in Homer but the Glacier Inn has to be the original. One 40’ to 50’ wall had 3 layers of panels covering it with cash. The ones on the button were nearly black with age. Oh and by the way they all have felt pen notes on them and more then half are Canadian as well Canada is all around right.
Ok well day two in Hyder continues next….
Tuesday we decide to stay an extra day and give the bears another chance to meet us and also take a ride up the 20 dirt miles to Salmon Glacier just because Susie, the Run-A-Muck RV Park manager or owner, said it made the Bear Glacier that we saw as we drove into Hyder “look like a little ice cube.” Well we started out too early because we had a beautiful ride & did the driving tour but as we started to climb we were so deep into the clouds we were not going to see anything at all. We all had a good laugh because like the bear, the glacier did not want any part of us. In the afternoon Bill & Linda returned for another try with clear skis and came back with such excitement that first Bill said it beat Niagara Falls in spectacle and then they promptly insisted on lending their car to 4 motorcyclists to make the 20 dirt mile quest to see this spectacle. With encouragement from the Moorhead’s, Bill & I went to have a look. At 6:30pm we took off. This was the perfect time of the day the sun was low the shadows were dramatic & because we had been up there before we new the road and whereto stop. The Salmon Glacier was Majestic. It was also massive. No picture could possibly do it justice. You really do stand there in amazement at the beauty of it. This experience alone is worth enduring the unusual personalities of Hyder.
In the simply spoken words of my husband Bill Dickey as we crossed the boarder out of Hyder, Alaska for the final time this morning at 9:30 AM “That place was a dump!” I sit here enjoying the drive back up the beautiful 30 mile canyon out of Hyder. A question keeps bugging me, why do all the really beautiful places attract the screwballs & misfits?
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Haines, Alaska for the 4th of July!
Recorded July 10th 2009
Upon our arriving in Haines Bill & I called it a day as it was after 5pm and we had been on the road since 8am. We were beat. True to the sightseer in them, however, Linda & Bill were out exploring after dinner. They were planning a ferry trip to Sitka & Juneau and wanted to get the details settled. The next day, Saturday, was the 4th of July so time was a wasting. After a visit to the ferry terminal their plan began to crystallize.
Bill & I were thrilled to have the rest of the week basically off. The coach was way overdue for a good interior scrubbing as was the dog and we both needed haircuts. On Monday The Moorhead’s were off to Sitka (4.5 hours by ferry) and then Juneau (12 more hours by ferry) to see pretty much everything else before we leave the 49th state in the 50th anniversary year of its statehood. But in the mean time we had one very important day to party it up!
On the 4th of July and this small town has all the small town stuff. First there was the Parade down Main Street then the bake sale & pie eating contest followed by MUD volleyball single elimination. There was a burger & hot dog picnic in the gorgeous park at Fort Seward that sits above the water inlet with of course mountains all around. There was the bazaar at the Senior Center and a fire hose competition plus the always popular nail hammering contest. Events were underway all day till the cannon sounded at 9pm but it is not dark at 9pm so fireworks were later at 11pm (It does get dark in southern Alaska.). We 4 gave in early and returned to our camp where Linda & Bill treated us to a Bar-B-Q Steak dinner. It was a 4th we won’t soon forget.
We took Bill & Linda to the ferry landing Sunday morning an immediately got to work. Bill & I spent the next 2 days in recoil mode. Between cleaning cars, dog, 2 hair cuts and a lot of reading we really never left the park. I caught up on my correspondents & the grocery shopping. By Tuesday the 7th we were ready to come out and meet the world again. So we did. We drove the town of Haines back & forth, up & down. We examined the neighborhoods & the country roads. We did not shop or sightsee as we new our buds would be ready for that when they returned and there really just was not that much to see really. We did gawk at the folks who had obviously come from the 2 cruise ships that came & went while we were there. It was in the mid 80’s and they were uncomfortable climbing around town. We continued on to Fort Seward, adjacent to and a part of Haines. It’s a really interesting former military installation from 1903. It is now all privately owned but is a historical landmark. Part of the 15 or so buildings is a hotel where we had a lovely dinner.
After the Moorhead’s returned from their sea going adventure we learned that they spent 2 nights on the ferry & 1 in a hot hotel room so we were not disappointed to have missed the trip. On Thursday the 9th of July the 4 of us did sightseeing & shopping around Haines. We finished off the evening with a Mexican dinner making plans for our Friday ferry ride to Skagway. Bill did not like the idea that Lindsey has to stay in the motorhome all by herself!
Friday the 10th was a very odd day. The ferry schedule was such that we needed to be at the dock at 7:30 in the evening. We were able to stay in the campground until 1pm so we had our 2 coaches 2 cars 4 people and 1 dog with no place to land for an entire afternoon. Haines is a tourist town really. We opted to drive out to the ferry dock, 5 miles north of town through the construction zone once we fueled up and just hang out there. We played Uno and watched a BC Harley Davidson Motorcycle Cub on a Yukon run as they arrived to join us on the ferry. It was an uneventful 16 mile ride but it saved us over 200 miles of driving. We arrived at our camp at nearly 11pm.
We have never pulled into a campground at 11pm before as we did the Friday night from the ferry, so our time in Skagway began on the morning of Saturday the 11th. With more then a 2 day drive ahead of us to Hyder, we decided to spend the morning seeing the town of Skagway and get some driving in later in the day. All 4 of us had been to Skagway before so we did not feel the need to do a tour or take the train at over $100! We had a nice lunch after marveling at all the jewelry & fur stores. Tanzanite is a biggie. They really do like those folks getting on & off the cruise ships. Skagway, we recalled is the main switching point from land to sea and visa versa for the cruise lines. They always have an overnight to spend money! I did really enjoy the art galleries as they were better then any we had been to on our entire trip. We finally bought Ulu’s, the Alaskan cutting tool and those bear paw salad tossers, that I like so much, all made in Anchorage of course. We were on our way out of town by 3pm-ish on Saturday.
Upon our arriving in Haines Bill & I called it a day as it was after 5pm and we had been on the road since 8am. We were beat. True to the sightseer in them, however, Linda & Bill were out exploring after dinner. They were planning a ferry trip to Sitka & Juneau and wanted to get the details settled. The next day, Saturday, was the 4th of July so time was a wasting. After a visit to the ferry terminal their plan began to crystallize.
Bill & I were thrilled to have the rest of the week basically off. The coach was way overdue for a good interior scrubbing as was the dog and we both needed haircuts. On Monday The Moorhead’s were off to Sitka (4.5 hours by ferry) and then Juneau (12 more hours by ferry) to see pretty much everything else before we leave the 49th state in the 50th anniversary year of its statehood. But in the mean time we had one very important day to party it up!
On the 4th of July and this small town has all the small town stuff. First there was the Parade down Main Street then the bake sale & pie eating contest followed by MUD volleyball single elimination. There was a burger & hot dog picnic in the gorgeous park at Fort Seward that sits above the water inlet with of course mountains all around. There was the bazaar at the Senior Center and a fire hose competition plus the always popular nail hammering contest. Events were underway all day till the cannon sounded at 9pm but it is not dark at 9pm so fireworks were later at 11pm (It does get dark in southern Alaska.). We 4 gave in early and returned to our camp where Linda & Bill treated us to a Bar-B-Q Steak dinner. It was a 4th we won’t soon forget.
We took Bill & Linda to the ferry landing Sunday morning an immediately got to work. Bill & I spent the next 2 days in recoil mode. Between cleaning cars, dog, 2 hair cuts and a lot of reading we really never left the park. I caught up on my correspondents & the grocery shopping. By Tuesday the 7th we were ready to come out and meet the world again. So we did. We drove the town of Haines back & forth, up & down. We examined the neighborhoods & the country roads. We did not shop or sightsee as we new our buds would be ready for that when they returned and there really just was not that much to see really. We did gawk at the folks who had obviously come from the 2 cruise ships that came & went while we were there. It was in the mid 80’s and they were uncomfortable climbing around town. We continued on to Fort Seward, adjacent to and a part of Haines. It’s a really interesting former military installation from 1903. It is now all privately owned but is a historical landmark. Part of the 15 or so buildings is a hotel where we had a lovely dinner.
After the Moorhead’s returned from their sea going adventure we learned that they spent 2 nights on the ferry & 1 in a hot hotel room so we were not disappointed to have missed the trip. On Thursday the 9th of July the 4 of us did sightseeing & shopping around Haines. We finished off the evening with a Mexican dinner making plans for our Friday ferry ride to Skagway. Bill did not like the idea that Lindsey has to stay in the motorhome all by herself!
Friday the 10th was a very odd day. The ferry schedule was such that we needed to be at the dock at 7:30 in the evening. We were able to stay in the campground until 1pm so we had our 2 coaches 2 cars 4 people and 1 dog with no place to land for an entire afternoon. Haines is a tourist town really. We opted to drive out to the ferry dock, 5 miles north of town through the construction zone once we fueled up and just hang out there. We played Uno and watched a BC Harley Davidson Motorcycle Cub on a Yukon run as they arrived to join us on the ferry. It was an uneventful 16 mile ride but it saved us over 200 miles of driving. We arrived at our camp at nearly 11pm.
We have never pulled into a campground at 11pm before as we did the Friday night from the ferry, so our time in Skagway began on the morning of Saturday the 11th. With more then a 2 day drive ahead of us to Hyder, we decided to spend the morning seeing the town of Skagway and get some driving in later in the day. All 4 of us had been to Skagway before so we did not feel the need to do a tour or take the train at over $100! We had a nice lunch after marveling at all the jewelry & fur stores. Tanzanite is a biggie. They really do like those folks getting on & off the cruise ships. Skagway, we recalled is the main switching point from land to sea and visa versa for the cruise lines. They always have an overnight to spend money! I did really enjoy the art galleries as they were better then any we had been to on our entire trip. We finally bought Ulu’s, the Alaskan cutting tool and those bear paw salad tossers, that I like so much, all made in Anchorage of course. We were on our way out of town by 3pm-ish on Saturday.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Haines in 2 days! (Some serious driving to do)
Recorded July 4, 2009
This was a driving day Friday the 2nd. The trip over the Tok cut included gravel stretches, killer frost heaves plus pot holes. All in all it was the worst stretch we have experienced but things can always get worse. Once we were able to rejoin the Alaskan Highway at Tok the road improved a little & only for a short time. The whole area is plagued by frost heaves because of the permafrost and the road department just can’t keep up. The ground is mush or at least too soft to adequately support the road in the summer and when the ground freezes in the winter the road rises up just like the ice in a tray thus frost heaves. We turned south on the Alaskan Highway and briefly entered Canada where we arrived with our grumpy husbands and spent the night in Beaver Creek in the Yukon Territory. The guys were really over the roads for one day.
In the morning we got an early start and did it all again. This time it was even a bit worse. The tiny southwestern corner of the Yukon Territory we were passing through was all frost heaves and gravel stretches. We passed through the famous Destruction Bay. The boys had their heads around the picture after the prior days growling, took it all in stride. By the time we got to Haines Junction, where we turn west, the road improved and we had a glorious 100 mile ride into Haines on the Haines Highway AKA the Dalton Trail as in Jack Dalton. It was picture perfect. We even saw 2 moose as we came close to town along side the road. It was nearly an 8 hour day of driving so we found the Haines Hitch-Up RV Park on the edge of town to settle into. It turns out to be one of the nicest parks we have been to since we left the lower 48, which is a good thing as we would be here for the next week. Yippee a week in one place!!!
What a beautiful little place to spend the 4th of July. We are really thrilled to still be in the USA for the 4th and not n Canada. After tomorrow Sunday the 4th of July, Linda & Bill will be off on the ferry to Sitka and Juneau for a few days but we will be holding down the fort here as we have the dog & are overdue for some R&R. They are real go getters!
This was a driving day Friday the 2nd. The trip over the Tok cut included gravel stretches, killer frost heaves plus pot holes. All in all it was the worst stretch we have experienced but things can always get worse. Once we were able to rejoin the Alaskan Highway at Tok the road improved a little & only for a short time. The whole area is plagued by frost heaves because of the permafrost and the road department just can’t keep up. The ground is mush or at least too soft to adequately support the road in the summer and when the ground freezes in the winter the road rises up just like the ice in a tray thus frost heaves. We turned south on the Alaskan Highway and briefly entered Canada where we arrived with our grumpy husbands and spent the night in Beaver Creek in the Yukon Territory. The guys were really over the roads for one day.
In the morning we got an early start and did it all again. This time it was even a bit worse. The tiny southwestern corner of the Yukon Territory we were passing through was all frost heaves and gravel stretches. We passed through the famous Destruction Bay. The boys had their heads around the picture after the prior days growling, took it all in stride. By the time we got to Haines Junction, where we turn west, the road improved and we had a glorious 100 mile ride into Haines on the Haines Highway AKA the Dalton Trail as in Jack Dalton. It was picture perfect. We even saw 2 moose as we came close to town along side the road. It was nearly an 8 hour day of driving so we found the Haines Hitch-Up RV Park on the edge of town to settle into. It turns out to be one of the nicest parks we have been to since we left the lower 48, which is a good thing as we would be here for the next week. Yippee a week in one place!!!
What a beautiful little place to spend the 4th of July. We are really thrilled to still be in the USA for the 4th and not n Canada. After tomorrow Sunday the 4th of July, Linda & Bill will be off on the ferry to Sitka and Juneau for a few days but we will be holding down the fort here as we have the dog & are overdue for some R&R. They are real go getters!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Return to Wrangell- St. Elias National Park
Recorded July Thursday July 2, 2009
We made our assent out of the Port of Valdez on Tuesday June the 30th to a whole new perspective on this wonderful landscape. It was morning so the lighting was different. The weather had remained cool with big puffy cloud formations. The entire drive appeared different and allowed us to appreciate it all over again!
Within a couple of hours we arrived at the Kenny Lake Mercantile & RV Park, though we never saw a lake. We had discussed this giant Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and how we may never have another opportunity to visit it so Linda, the research artist that she is designed our attach. It went this way:
On day one we drove to some 20+ miles ahead to investigate the subsistence Salmon fishing that takes place along the wide expanse of the Copper River. Alaska law states that any fulltime resident can ‘net’ fish up to 500 salmon per year. They can also get a permit to operate a fish wheel. It is a water driven gizmo that has a duel paddle style pair of baskets that turn with the current catching loads of fish. We talked to couple of the fishermen while we were out there who told us they pay nothing and it works like a co-op where they get a 3 day turn that they sign up for. This area of the Copper River was strum with these home made contraptions. These “subsistence fishermen” are not allowed to sell their catch. A discussion with another local resident revealed that she “gets sick of eating salmon” and “who could eat 500 a year anyway!” The fishermen told us they prefer the top dollar Copper River Salmon but also catch Kings which they are not allowed to through back. Now why would they consider doing that if it really is subsistence?
A tiny visitor’s center is adjacent to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in the 100+ year old town of Chetna population 20. We had already gathered data on the town of McCarthy 60+ miles deep in the park and the Kennecott Glacier & huge Kennecott Copper Mining operation of the early 1900’s. Logistics were the issue. We wanted to do the trip (60+ miles ON GRAVEL ROADS) but time/tours/dog were in question. We walked the near ghost town, that was once home to over 700 and were on our way back to camp with a plan for the next day.
I might add here that we have had few camp services recently. This time we have only 30amp electric. In Valdez we had 20amp & water & Wi-Fi that Linda could use but I could not. A few parks may have full hook-ups but not a lot. This has been very typical.
Wednesday was day two in Kenny Lake and we are off to the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. We are 4 humans plus 1 dog in 1 car. Not knowing how long the day would be we had to take Lindsey. It is nearly an hour to the gravel, then another 3 hours to the parking area. There are shuttles but we do not see one so now we walk. It’s about ¾ mile to the town of McCarthy which is said to be the place where from 1911 to 1938 the Kennecott Copper Miners, 2 miles away, would come for liquor, gambling & women. Our walk through the maybe a dozen buildings was very rustic but yielded the usual concessions. There were a couple of buildings that were obviously the original s & uninhabited.
We caught the shuttle to the Kennecott Mill where in 1980’s a Lodge was built/rebuilt in the style of the heyday of the mine. It is decorated with the lots of documents & advertisements of the day. We ate lunch and waited for our tour.
The tour of the mill itself was more of an event then we had imagined. The mill is 14 stories tall standing proudly against the mountain side. From the outside it looks like it could be blown away as its barn red painted wood exterior is in deep decay. We were surprised to even be able to enter but after seeing all the out buildings we hiked to the top nearly skeletal 14th floor. Didn’t I mention that this mill is half way up the side of a mountain? The mine itself is another 5 mile hike up the mountain. WHAT A VIEW. We are looking out through all this giant sized wood debris over the valley below and the Kennecott Glacier and 16,000 foot Mount Blackburn to our right. Oh My God! Breath taking is a real understatement. Proceeding down through the mill was interesting but repetitive after 14 floors. I was awestruck by the beauty contrasted with the nasty working conditions described to us. The men were well paid but the intense noise & cold would make this a job most would not keep for longer then the 6 month contract they signed on for.
As we retraced our way to the car we crossed 2 foot bridges, one of which offered a very good view of the Kennecott Glacier. I took pictures on the way up not knowing that the huge moraine (Moraine is the ground up earth a glacier leaves in its wake when it moves.) area in front of the glacier is unlike another glacier we have seen yet. It is several miles long and as we learned covers the toe of the glacier. Under it is several hundred feet of glacial ice.
We returned to camp having ventured more then half way through the largest national park in America at about 9:00 PM.
We made our assent out of the Port of Valdez on Tuesday June the 30th to a whole new perspective on this wonderful landscape. It was morning so the lighting was different. The weather had remained cool with big puffy cloud formations. The entire drive appeared different and allowed us to appreciate it all over again!
Within a couple of hours we arrived at the Kenny Lake Mercantile & RV Park, though we never saw a lake. We had discussed this giant Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and how we may never have another opportunity to visit it so Linda, the research artist that she is designed our attach. It went this way:
On day one we drove to some 20+ miles ahead to investigate the subsistence Salmon fishing that takes place along the wide expanse of the Copper River. Alaska law states that any fulltime resident can ‘net’ fish up to 500 salmon per year. They can also get a permit to operate a fish wheel. It is a water driven gizmo that has a duel paddle style pair of baskets that turn with the current catching loads of fish. We talked to couple of the fishermen while we were out there who told us they pay nothing and it works like a co-op where they get a 3 day turn that they sign up for. This area of the Copper River was strum with these home made contraptions. These “subsistence fishermen” are not allowed to sell their catch. A discussion with another local resident revealed that she “gets sick of eating salmon” and “who could eat 500 a year anyway!” The fishermen told us they prefer the top dollar Copper River Salmon but also catch Kings which they are not allowed to through back. Now why would they consider doing that if it really is subsistence?
A tiny visitor’s center is adjacent to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in the 100+ year old town of Chetna population 20. We had already gathered data on the town of McCarthy 60+ miles deep in the park and the Kennecott Glacier & huge Kennecott Copper Mining operation of the early 1900’s. Logistics were the issue. We wanted to do the trip (60+ miles ON GRAVEL ROADS) but time/tours/dog were in question. We walked the near ghost town, that was once home to over 700 and were on our way back to camp with a plan for the next day.
I might add here that we have had few camp services recently. This time we have only 30amp electric. In Valdez we had 20amp & water & Wi-Fi that Linda could use but I could not. A few parks may have full hook-ups but not a lot. This has been very typical.
Wednesday was day two in Kenny Lake and we are off to the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. We are 4 humans plus 1 dog in 1 car. Not knowing how long the day would be we had to take Lindsey. It is nearly an hour to the gravel, then another 3 hours to the parking area. There are shuttles but we do not see one so now we walk. It’s about ¾ mile to the town of McCarthy which is said to be the place where from 1911 to 1938 the Kennecott Copper Miners, 2 miles away, would come for liquor, gambling & women. Our walk through the maybe a dozen buildings was very rustic but yielded the usual concessions. There were a couple of buildings that were obviously the original s & uninhabited.
We caught the shuttle to the Kennecott Mill where in 1980’s a Lodge was built/rebuilt in the style of the heyday of the mine. It is decorated with the lots of documents & advertisements of the day. We ate lunch and waited for our tour.
The tour of the mill itself was more of an event then we had imagined. The mill is 14 stories tall standing proudly against the mountain side. From the outside it looks like it could be blown away as its barn red painted wood exterior is in deep decay. We were surprised to even be able to enter but after seeing all the out buildings we hiked to the top nearly skeletal 14th floor. Didn’t I mention that this mill is half way up the side of a mountain? The mine itself is another 5 mile hike up the mountain. WHAT A VIEW. We are looking out through all this giant sized wood debris over the valley below and the Kennecott Glacier and 16,000 foot Mount Blackburn to our right. Oh My God! Breath taking is a real understatement. Proceeding down through the mill was interesting but repetitive after 14 floors. I was awestruck by the beauty contrasted with the nasty working conditions described to us. The men were well paid but the intense noise & cold would make this a job most would not keep for longer then the 6 month contract they signed on for.
As we retraced our way to the car we crossed 2 foot bridges, one of which offered a very good view of the Kennecott Glacier. I took pictures on the way up not knowing that the huge moraine (Moraine is the ground up earth a glacier leaves in its wake when it moves.) area in front of the glacier is unlike another glacier we have seen yet. It is several miles long and as we learned covers the toe of the glacier. Under it is several hundred feet of glacial ice.
We returned to camp having ventured more then half way through the largest national park in America at about 9:00 PM.
Valdez held some surprises
Recorded July 2 2009
Arriving in Valdez was exciting but the town itself was not. We found out later that the entire town was wiped out in 1964 by the 9.2 Good Friday Earthquake that rocked Alaska continually for more then 4 minutes. The original Valdez was built on in a flat area deep in the bay which turned out to be the moraine of a nearby glacier. The entire town sank. Not a building survived.
We picked the Sea Otter RV Park because it was the closest to the water of Prince William Sound so we were on the waterfront for our stay. It was a delight. The sea birds, the light on the water, the mountains across the water and directly in front of us was the pipeline facility where tankers would quietly depart in the night. We did enjoy the solitude of this little place. The park was next to several fish canning companies that were in full production. We bought King & Copper River salmon and were later able to glean insight about the work at the cannery from a young woman that Lind met on our Lulu Bell Cruise. Tammy is a teacher who for 17 years has come to Valdez to work her summer in the cannery. They work 12 hour days 7 days a week during the salmon season. Lots of overtime!
The second day of our adventure include a trip on the Lulu Bell to cruise the Prince William Sound and Columbia Bay and beyond into the evening. We boarded at 2:00 PM and were first acquainted with Fred the Captain and for 20 some years, the owner/operator of the Lulu Bell about a 60’-70’ motor craft that carries 50 or so comfortably. Fred has a very nice ship, not new but a classic style to it with teak finishes & oriental rugs too. He employs 2 hands, young girls who work as crew & as galley maids. Off we went. We were schooled on all things Valdez, oil tanker, ballast water & the history there of with lots about the new duel hulled tankers plus the smaller ‘Alaskan Tanker’ designed for only 1 million gallons of crud. Fred nearly busted Lulu Bell’s bough as he drove her right into a cave so we all could see 2 horned puffins’s nesting overhead in the rocks. These are beautiful local birds we had seen while in the aquarium in Seward. Next it was sea lions, hundred’s of them, which Alaskan’s do not like because they eat too many salmon. We were lucky to see a commercial fishing boat that was hauling in its catch. The search for Whale was fruitless, which have not yet been spotted this season. We saw a couple porpoise bounding under the bough but the best was yet to come!
As we approached the Columbia Bay the first clue was one big old trailer sized ice berg goes floating by. Then there were a few then many in the distance. In a matter of about 15 minutes we were in a field of small then large ice bergs. Fred keeps going…and going…until first in an instant the temperature drops 15 degrees & we all race for an extra jacket & gloves. Then it’s not just little car sized bergs but big as a house. As he points out “That’s the part on top of the water!” Everyone is on deck peering over the side a Lulu Bell is gently shoving these monsters out of our way. Oh did I forget to mention that the reason for this push forward is to get a closer look at the largest glacier in the world. Well yes the Columbia glacier is ahead of us and though it is still off in the distance it is impressive. Fred called it a 400 mile fjord that extends over a mile down into the water. Well he got us as close as he could as the now giant ice bergs were then all stacked against earth but believe me no one was complaining. We were still a few miles from Columbia. It was 37 degrees, windy and electrifying. You got to see the pictures on Facebook!
On the 30th of June we left Valdez for our next big adventure into the largest national park in the USA! Wrangell- St. Elias here we come.
Arriving in Valdez was exciting but the town itself was not. We found out later that the entire town was wiped out in 1964 by the 9.2 Good Friday Earthquake that rocked Alaska continually for more then 4 minutes. The original Valdez was built on in a flat area deep in the bay which turned out to be the moraine of a nearby glacier. The entire town sank. Not a building survived.
We picked the Sea Otter RV Park because it was the closest to the water of Prince William Sound so we were on the waterfront for our stay. It was a delight. The sea birds, the light on the water, the mountains across the water and directly in front of us was the pipeline facility where tankers would quietly depart in the night. We did enjoy the solitude of this little place. The park was next to several fish canning companies that were in full production. We bought King & Copper River salmon and were later able to glean insight about the work at the cannery from a young woman that Lind met on our Lulu Bell Cruise. Tammy is a teacher who for 17 years has come to Valdez to work her summer in the cannery. They work 12 hour days 7 days a week during the salmon season. Lots of overtime!
The second day of our adventure include a trip on the Lulu Bell to cruise the Prince William Sound and Columbia Bay and beyond into the evening. We boarded at 2:00 PM and were first acquainted with Fred the Captain and for 20 some years, the owner/operator of the Lulu Bell about a 60’-70’ motor craft that carries 50 or so comfortably. Fred has a very nice ship, not new but a classic style to it with teak finishes & oriental rugs too. He employs 2 hands, young girls who work as crew & as galley maids. Off we went. We were schooled on all things Valdez, oil tanker, ballast water & the history there of with lots about the new duel hulled tankers plus the smaller ‘Alaskan Tanker’ designed for only 1 million gallons of crud. Fred nearly busted Lulu Bell’s bough as he drove her right into a cave so we all could see 2 horned puffins’s nesting overhead in the rocks. These are beautiful local birds we had seen while in the aquarium in Seward. Next it was sea lions, hundred’s of them, which Alaskan’s do not like because they eat too many salmon. We were lucky to see a commercial fishing boat that was hauling in its catch. The search for Whale was fruitless, which have not yet been spotted this season. We saw a couple porpoise bounding under the bough but the best was yet to come!
As we approached the Columbia Bay the first clue was one big old trailer sized ice berg goes floating by. Then there were a few then many in the distance. In a matter of about 15 minutes we were in a field of small then large ice bergs. Fred keeps going…and going…until first in an instant the temperature drops 15 degrees & we all race for an extra jacket & gloves. Then it’s not just little car sized bergs but big as a house. As he points out “That’s the part on top of the water!” Everyone is on deck peering over the side a Lulu Bell is gently shoving these monsters out of our way. Oh did I forget to mention that the reason for this push forward is to get a closer look at the largest glacier in the world. Well yes the Columbia glacier is ahead of us and though it is still off in the distance it is impressive. Fred called it a 400 mile fjord that extends over a mile down into the water. Well he got us as close as he could as the now giant ice bergs were then all stacked against earth but believe me no one was complaining. We were still a few miles from Columbia. It was 37 degrees, windy and electrifying. You got to see the pictures on Facebook!
On the 30th of June we left Valdez for our next big adventure into the largest national park in the USA! Wrangell- St. Elias here we come.
A spectacular trip to Valdez
Recorded 6-30-09
We spent the next three days get to Valdez but I think it will have been one of the highlights of our trip. Getting to Valdez had its surprises along the way.
As we retraced our path to Anchorage, this time we stopped at the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center which was rained out when we passed going the other way. Today Friday the 26th of June we have gorgeous weather so far. We find as we move a hundred miles or so in any direction we seem to pass into a whole new weather pattern.
The conservation center was fine. Most of the animals we have already seen in the wild, bear, elk, moose, buffalo, fox, caribou. But we had not seen a musk ox. So that was a treat. Musk ox fur, as we learned way back at the Banff Springs Hotel, Alberta is the warmest and lightest weight of all. Even cashmere can not match it as it is judged to be 8 times warmer then wool. They do not sheer it they just comb the animal and gather it as the animal sheds. We saw the most amazing (and most expensive) scarves & sweaters of musk ox at the Banff Springs Hotel.
Getting back on the road again. Now we are off to our next side trip, Portage Glacier. Portage Glacier is on the way to Whittier which is where a lot of Anchorage cruise ships dock to deliver their passengers to Anchorage. This is also true so Seward because the port at Anchorage is too shallow for the large cruise liners. We are on about our 4th or 5th glacier so we are not up for expensive land tours. We took our pictures and moved on.
We stopped for the night in Girdwood at the Alayeska Resort about 40 miles short of Anchorage. You can dry camp in the ski lift parking area for $10. So we spent our first night of dry camping. Not being a skier myself, I had not heard of Mount Alayeska and this resort. It is a world class ski resort and is working into the “Aspen” & “Telluride” international resort class. We ate dinner at the Two Musk Inn a top 10 rated restaurant according to Linda, my personal tour guide and source of a lot of the facts I have not gleaned on my own.
Up and out Saturday, through Anchorage after fueling and we are out the Glenn Highway toward Palmer. Palmer and the valley surrounding it is the area of Alaska known for the giant prize winning vegetables. It was a gorgeous lush valley. With the near 24 hour sun in summer they boast several hundred pound pumpkin & cabbage as big as a beach ball.
We spent the night in Glennellen (no great shakes) and made the turn south to Valdez a little over 100 miles away in the morning of the 29th. On our way we made a most awesome discovery a few miles down the Richardson Highway #4, Wrangell- St. Elias National Park. Our visit at the visitor’s center with a resident of the park clued us in on what an amazing and overlooked place we had come upon. He said that it is new; established in 1980, huge; the biggest of all the national parks, self navigating; unlike Denali, you do not need to get on a bus to see it and feeless; there is no gate or pass to buy. We thought about trying to visit the park but time was not on our side. This was a Denali sized event and would take some planning. It turns out that we return to Wrangell after Valdez because so many people we asked told us not to miss it. More later on Wrangell.
As we continue down the Richardson Highway we next stop at the Worthington Glacier. Here we had a glacier that was kind enough to be visible from a distance down the road, had no fee, great walking paths pus we saw people hiking all the way to the top of it. We really enjoyed visiting Worthington Glacier now that we have been to so many.
It is Sunday June 28th and excitement came in the last 40 miles. We were told the highway to Valdez was like the Switzerland of Alaska but you really have to see it to appreciate the mountain formations that you pass. They are truly breathtaking. It included a ridge line with snow and peaks that are so cragy and unusual yet symmetric that in a way they look unreal. Words really can’t describe coming around this one little hill to reveal the long expanse of this range.
A little further along we found ourselves tracing the Alaskan pipeline. It starts clear up in Prudhoe Bay at the top of Alaska and ends here where the crud boards tankers. We dropped down toward the Port of Valdez, both finding our destination.
We spent the next three days get to Valdez but I think it will have been one of the highlights of our trip. Getting to Valdez had its surprises along the way.
As we retraced our path to Anchorage, this time we stopped at the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center which was rained out when we passed going the other way. Today Friday the 26th of June we have gorgeous weather so far. We find as we move a hundred miles or so in any direction we seem to pass into a whole new weather pattern.
The conservation center was fine. Most of the animals we have already seen in the wild, bear, elk, moose, buffalo, fox, caribou. But we had not seen a musk ox. So that was a treat. Musk ox fur, as we learned way back at the Banff Springs Hotel, Alberta is the warmest and lightest weight of all. Even cashmere can not match it as it is judged to be 8 times warmer then wool. They do not sheer it they just comb the animal and gather it as the animal sheds. We saw the most amazing (and most expensive) scarves & sweaters of musk ox at the Banff Springs Hotel.
Getting back on the road again. Now we are off to our next side trip, Portage Glacier. Portage Glacier is on the way to Whittier which is where a lot of Anchorage cruise ships dock to deliver their passengers to Anchorage. This is also true so Seward because the port at Anchorage is too shallow for the large cruise liners. We are on about our 4th or 5th glacier so we are not up for expensive land tours. We took our pictures and moved on.
We stopped for the night in Girdwood at the Alayeska Resort about 40 miles short of Anchorage. You can dry camp in the ski lift parking area for $10. So we spent our first night of dry camping. Not being a skier myself, I had not heard of Mount Alayeska and this resort. It is a world class ski resort and is working into the “Aspen” & “Telluride” international resort class. We ate dinner at the Two Musk Inn a top 10 rated restaurant according to Linda, my personal tour guide and source of a lot of the facts I have not gleaned on my own.
Up and out Saturday, through Anchorage after fueling and we are out the Glenn Highway toward Palmer. Palmer and the valley surrounding it is the area of Alaska known for the giant prize winning vegetables. It was a gorgeous lush valley. With the near 24 hour sun in summer they boast several hundred pound pumpkin & cabbage as big as a beach ball.
We spent the night in Glennellen (no great shakes) and made the turn south to Valdez a little over 100 miles away in the morning of the 29th. On our way we made a most awesome discovery a few miles down the Richardson Highway #4, Wrangell- St. Elias National Park. Our visit at the visitor’s center with a resident of the park clued us in on what an amazing and overlooked place we had come upon. He said that it is new; established in 1980, huge; the biggest of all the national parks, self navigating; unlike Denali, you do not need to get on a bus to see it and feeless; there is no gate or pass to buy. We thought about trying to visit the park but time was not on our side. This was a Denali sized event and would take some planning. It turns out that we return to Wrangell after Valdez because so many people we asked told us not to miss it. More later on Wrangell.
As we continue down the Richardson Highway we next stop at the Worthington Glacier. Here we had a glacier that was kind enough to be visible from a distance down the road, had no fee, great walking paths pus we saw people hiking all the way to the top of it. We really enjoyed visiting Worthington Glacier now that we have been to so many.
It is Sunday June 28th and excitement came in the last 40 miles. We were told the highway to Valdez was like the Switzerland of Alaska but you really have to see it to appreciate the mountain formations that you pass. They are truly breathtaking. It included a ridge line with snow and peaks that are so cragy and unusual yet symmetric that in a way they look unreal. Words really can’t describe coming around this one little hill to reveal the long expanse of this range.
A little further along we found ourselves tracing the Alaskan pipeline. It starts clear up in Prudhoe Bay at the top of Alaska and ends here where the crud boards tankers. We dropped down toward the Port of Valdez, both finding our destination.
The Road To Homer & the “Spit”
Recorded June 26, 2009
It is about 220miles from Anchorage to Homer, Alaska and one of the big talking points prior to our trip was “Are you going all the way to Homer?” It seemed like a no brainier to us. Why would you drive over 4,000 and not see everything you can, within reason? The road to Homer is a ways out the Kenai Peninsula and is a cutoff about two thirds of the way to Seward so from Seward on Wednesday the 24th we retraced 40 miles to the turn and got a much better view of the mountains then two days prior. We hope the same will be true as we travel back again the balance of the way to Anchorage. I want to say here that the Sterling Highway #1 to Homer & Highway #9 to Seward are excellent two line picturesque roads. Along the way in my research & talking to people I somehow gathered that that was not the case. They are flat & are in the best condition of our trip.
The surprise came after we made the turn to Homer. Initially the highway followed the river deep in the mountains. We pass by areas where the fishermen are in their body boots, wading out up to their groins, fishing for salmon. They were thick, dozens & dozens of them out in that ice cold glacier water! The geography changed. We came out of the mountains to a flatter coastline of rolling hills. This continues nearly 150 miles with the ocean sometimes in view but always within a few miles. This detail seems important because it is the first time on our adventure that the terrain has been a surprise.
We picked a little town part way down the peninsula to camp. This area is fish fish fish!!! There are charters everywhere. The towns & the RV parks all sound like fishing too. In fact they are not really RV parks but fish camps. You should see some of the sorry heaps in these parks. These guys are some serious fishermen certainly not RVer’s. Our little Ninilchick fish camp (my words) was called Alaskan Angler campground. Bill & Linda Moorhead, our partners on this adventure were dying to go deep sea fishing. They went right from the campground at 4:00 AM the next morning. Catching their limit in Halibut.
Thursday June 25th -Now for Homer and the Homer Spit; we kept hearing about the “Spit”. But what do Californian’s know about such a geographical term. I guess I, again, am showing off my stupidity because I either Bar-B-Q on one or yell at Bill for launching one. A spit is an outcropping finger of land that has a larger land mass at the protruding end. Such is the case in Homer. Homer’s spit is also at the entrance of a massive body of water, the Kachemark Bay that looks to be willing to through some nasty weather around. What seemed unusual was the location. The businesses etc. have grown up here in the middle of this ice water with glaciers and the like all around!
Additionally I suspect, from my vast experience, that the Spit is “The Place” in the summer. Meaning it has some campgrounds, a marina and parks plus all the tourist stuff too. A raised boardwalk with wind beat clapboard buildings of all the usual bars & restaurants with the addition tours & fishing charters. My guess is that, to the young people in Anchorage and Alaska, since half the population of Alaska is in Anchorage, the Homer Spit is, Venus Beach or Palm Springs or Lake Havasue City or Time Square on New Years Eve. It looks like the kind of place that really parties hard. We really should have spent more time there. No one seemed to care that the wind was howling & it was freezing in the middle of summer.
Upon leaving our little Ninilchick fish camp (my words) campground, we retraced back up the Kenai Peninsula and on toward Anchorage again. We missed a couple of places but you can’t be everywhere. There is an artist colony a ferry ride away near here and we should have stopped at the town of Kenai. Sometimes we have to accommodate the guys when they want to go.
The next leg of our trip will ultimately take us to Valdez but we have a bunch of stops between now & then a few days from now.
It is about 220miles from Anchorage to Homer, Alaska and one of the big talking points prior to our trip was “Are you going all the way to Homer?” It seemed like a no brainier to us. Why would you drive over 4,000 and not see everything you can, within reason? The road to Homer is a ways out the Kenai Peninsula and is a cutoff about two thirds of the way to Seward so from Seward on Wednesday the 24th we retraced 40 miles to the turn and got a much better view of the mountains then two days prior. We hope the same will be true as we travel back again the balance of the way to Anchorage. I want to say here that the Sterling Highway #1 to Homer & Highway #9 to Seward are excellent two line picturesque roads. Along the way in my research & talking to people I somehow gathered that that was not the case. They are flat & are in the best condition of our trip.
The surprise came after we made the turn to Homer. Initially the highway followed the river deep in the mountains. We pass by areas where the fishermen are in their body boots, wading out up to their groins, fishing for salmon. They were thick, dozens & dozens of them out in that ice cold glacier water! The geography changed. We came out of the mountains to a flatter coastline of rolling hills. This continues nearly 150 miles with the ocean sometimes in view but always within a few miles. This detail seems important because it is the first time on our adventure that the terrain has been a surprise.
We picked a little town part way down the peninsula to camp. This area is fish fish fish!!! There are charters everywhere. The towns & the RV parks all sound like fishing too. In fact they are not really RV parks but fish camps. You should see some of the sorry heaps in these parks. These guys are some serious fishermen certainly not RVer’s. Our little Ninilchick fish camp (my words) was called Alaskan Angler campground. Bill & Linda Moorhead, our partners on this adventure were dying to go deep sea fishing. They went right from the campground at 4:00 AM the next morning. Catching their limit in Halibut.
Thursday June 25th -Now for Homer and the Homer Spit; we kept hearing about the “Spit”. But what do Californian’s know about such a geographical term. I guess I, again, am showing off my stupidity because I either Bar-B-Q on one or yell at Bill for launching one. A spit is an outcropping finger of land that has a larger land mass at the protruding end. Such is the case in Homer. Homer’s spit is also at the entrance of a massive body of water, the Kachemark Bay that looks to be willing to through some nasty weather around. What seemed unusual was the location. The businesses etc. have grown up here in the middle of this ice water with glaciers and the like all around!
Additionally I suspect, from my vast experience, that the Spit is “The Place” in the summer. Meaning it has some campgrounds, a marina and parks plus all the tourist stuff too. A raised boardwalk with wind beat clapboard buildings of all the usual bars & restaurants with the addition tours & fishing charters. My guess is that, to the young people in Anchorage and Alaska, since half the population of Alaska is in Anchorage, the Homer Spit is, Venus Beach or Palm Springs or Lake Havasue City or Time Square on New Years Eve. It looks like the kind of place that really parties hard. We really should have spent more time there. No one seemed to care that the wind was howling & it was freezing in the middle of summer.
Upon leaving our little Ninilchick fish camp (my words) campground, we retraced back up the Kenai Peninsula and on toward Anchorage again. We missed a couple of places but you can’t be everywhere. There is an artist colony a ferry ride away near here and we should have stopped at the town of Kenai. Sometimes we have to accommodate the guys when they want to go.
The next leg of our trip will ultimately take us to Valdez but we have a bunch of stops between now & then a few days from now.
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