June 29th, 2012: From Fairbanks to Denali National Park

June 29th 2012: Fairbanks to Denali National Park

The guidebooks all say that the drive from Fairbanks to Denali National Park is about two hours at sixty miles an hour. After all its only about one hundred and twenty miles of the newest highway in Alaska, the Parks Highway. So we left later then normal and hoped for an easy drive.
For the first eighty miles or so it was an easy drive amd then came the frost heaves. Dips and bounces and holes that were as bad as anything we have seen so far. Of course I was going slower then everyone else and it wouldn't have been bad in a small car but not towing a thitry seven foot fifth wheel. I couldn't imagine the damage I could cause to our rig if I went as fast as most of the traffic was driving. I mean I could imagine as I have seen the damage and that was from driving on Louisianna and Minnesota roads!

The scenry made up for the bad roads. While we couldn't see the central core of the Alaskan Range, clouds clouds and more clouds, the panaromic views of the tioga and the beautiful Nenana River made up for it.
The wildlife seemed to all be in hiding but that was ok as I didn't want any Bullwinkels plodding out in front of me. Hitting a moose anywhere is bad and here the moose are huge. Its a fact that large animals have a smaller surface area, compared to their total mass and so they are able to retain heat better. That's why the deer down south are so small, they have to be to get rid of the heat in the summer.

Arriving at our rv park we ate lunch and then went to the Visitor Center. Here you really need to do some planning as you can't drive more then thirteen miles into the park and you must buy a bus ticket for a round trip ride that can take as much as fourteen hours.
So we talked with the rangers and then took a short hike on the Spruce and Monroe Trails. They really are simple hikes next to the Center. The Center itself did have a really nice display of the different types of Grizzly bear scat. They also had something we hadn't seen before, life size plastic animals. Most parks rely on real full body mounts and I don't know why they don't here. After all they do have anumber of fur pelts for all to touch.

We did talk with a ranger who told us where to go to see Willow Ptarmagens and more Harlequin ducks so thats on our agenda for tomorrow, along with a drive to Savage River. We are both excited about the morning and looking out our windows at steep mountians doesn't help to calm us down. Clear skies

June 28th, 2012: Our last Day in Fairbanks

June 28th, 2012: Our last Day in Fairbanks

Instead of our usual routine of taking it easy before a travel day, we planned a full day before heading to Denali National Park.  Well, maybe not a full day, as the day is twenty one hours long, but still a big day for us. We had to buy some food, fill the truck up with fuel, replace the fuel filter, look at more jewelry, and finally we were going on a half day cruise on the river boat Discovery III.
Our first stop was to get the fuel filter changed. I usually do it myself but decided to splurge and have it done at a quickie lube place. Not only were they quick but the person who waited on us actually opened the door for both of us! Then we stopped for fuel at the Safeway, where we used our store card and paid three dollars and ninety two cents a gallon for diesel, yup 3.92(Most places here are selling diesel for 4.12)!
Then after groceries we went to another jewelry store to look at their art. I must say that Fairbanks has the most local art and some of the best that we have seen anywhere in the country. This store had the finest chrysophrase we have ever seen and exceptional carvings of walrus, mammoth tusk, whalebone, and hand crafted gold nugget jewelry. Its so much fun to see others work and it inspires us to try new things ourselves,(but never copying as thats a no no).

After lunch we headed to the Riverboat Discovery, which is moored on the Chena River. As we neared the landing, we ran into tour busses and I was surprised at the huge crowd of people and the number of busses loading and unloading.
Now this was the first time we used the tour saver book and Renita had made the reservations so she picked up our tickets. We didn't have long to wait before we loaded, and we were able to get seats on the upper deck, where hopefully it wouldn't rain.
Pulling away from the dock the sternwheeler slowly paddled downstream as we watched a float plane take off and land. A little futher we passed a wide variety of homes and then we reached our second stop at the sled dog kennels of Susan Butcher and David Monson.

We were both amazed and entertained by the antics of the dogs and it was pure pleasure to see the dogs pull a four wheeler around a mile plus track. The dogs were so excited to be running that they could barely contain themselves while they were being hooked up to the harness. It was obvious that the dogs love the running as much if not more than their two legged companions.
Further down we watched a person filletting a chum salmon as he discussed the methods used to dry, smoke, and preserve the fish. I was amazed as he told us that a sled dog will eat a salmon a day and that the typically traditional family, an extended family, would dry and preserve around five thousand salmon a year.

The third stop was at the Wedding of the Waters where the Chena meets the larger Tananna. The somewhat clear waters of the Chena mix and swirl into the glacially muddy waters of the Tananna and the speaker told of how the salmon suddenly appear out of the cloudy water.
The final stop was at Chena Village where we were broken into three groups and led around a native village. Here the native guides,(all college students), demonstrated the difference in native life styles before and after the arrival of white civilization.

The furs displayed and the traditional wear was simply amazing. While the thought of dressing with fur may upset some, the use by the native peoples seemed to be both respectful and practical. I even had to rethink my personal averson to whalrus and whale hunting as a traditional way of life.
Churning back upriver the boat served smoked sockeye salmon dip and it worked as I bought a three can container. It made me wish I still had my smoker and made me resovle to figure out how to make one for our full timing lifestyle.
It was a day well spent and something we usually don't do as we , yes I know its hard to believe, spend too much time with our rocks. Fairbanks has been a really pleasant place and a place we hope to return to on another trip up north. Clear skies.

June 25-27, 2012: Fairbanks

June 25-27, 2012: Fairbanks

Everywhere we go we have been greeted warmly by Alaskans! While purchasing our tour saver book at Safeway the store manager told us of things to see and do north of town. The owner of the only rock shop in town entertained us with story after story, and of course we bought some rock. One of our guidebooks warns that some visitors find Alaskans standoffish but I think its probably the visitors that are standoffish themselves.
Anyway, our first order of businees was to go find a water pump for our fifth wheel. Arctic Rv was the first and only stop we needed. It was sixty dollars less then in Whitehorse, Canada, and it went in without any other trips to the parts store or hardware store, a first! Now we can boondock and dry camp without heating water for everyday chores and we can even use our shower. Maybe people will be even friendlier?
So of course our next stop was the Visitor Center, where we asked the location of any rock shops and the knowledgable staff there directed us to the Alaskan Prospector store, There we met Jim M. who not only entertained us with tales but sold us some gold ore, with visible gold, that we can form into cabachons and wrap in gold filled wire. We also bought some gold flake display pieces that can be made into pendants.
The next morning we got up early and headed to the Creamery Dairy and Birding Center. The purpose of the early start wasn't to fill up on ice cream but to walk the birding trails. The first birds we saw were sandhill cranes, their tops a brighter breeding season red then the color we are use to in Texas. A little futher tree swallows dominated as they swooped and ate the mosquitos, which seemed to become a little more numerous as we neared the trees.
Taking a left at the fork, we headed for the water ponds, hoping to pick up some new birds, but the closer we got the more the mosquitos descended on us like mad Shih-tzus swarm on a dropped piece of food. As we neared the first pond a duck flew away before we could even note much about its plumage.

A small brown grebe appeared on the surface and as we looked at it we both noticed a prominent white spot on its head. Renita and I both again thought grebe but when I turned to the grebe section it wasn't there, so I paged through the ducks.
Hmmm, white spot small roundish head, small duck, and a small bill. Oh my goodness it was a female harlequin duck! A new life bird for us and one we had hoped to see up north. We batted mosquitos away as we tried to see the drake but it never appeared.
Wrapping ourselves in the gore-tex raincoats the mosquitos continued to swarm, trying to bite through the fabric. Finally it was too much, it was like a commercial for mosquito lotion which of course we had forgotten in the truck.

Making a quick retreat we headed back to town. Renita had wanted to stop at several stores including one that fetaured local gold jewlery. We were suprised to meet another artist there whose speciality was silver chains and so we chatted and talked about our techniques.
The next store was a series of shops including one which had scrimshaw on mammoth ivory. The scrimshaw, artist John Majak, is the finest we have ever seen and we debated about buying a piece carved with a whooly mammoth,(four hundred and fifty dollars is a bit much for us). Returning fifteen minutes later we sadly watched as the store owner was handing the piece to another customer.
Returning home to our fifth wheel, we settled into the mundane as we headed to the laundramat and I went for propane and a much needed haircut. There are more stories there but I think I will have to wait till I meet you around the campfire, be sure to ask about the haircut in Fairbanks. Clear skies

June 25, 2012: Driving to Fairbanks

June 25, 2012: Driving to Fairbanks

The road from Rika’s Roadhouse parallels the Alaskan pipeline and Renita took some great shots of it as we crossed the Tananna river bridge. While the road was pretty level we still hit sections of frost heaves whenever we crossed a north facing slope. So I slowed down and it was ok as there wasn’t much traffic.

Right away we saw two moose and we made several stops looking for birds but we didn’t see much. The clouds cleared for a bit and we were able to see three of the great peaks of the Alaskan Range. Too soon the clouds blocked the view of the mountains but the Tananna River Delta was still a spectacular piece of scenery.

The river channel was highly braided and filled with dead heads and log jams. It made the river channel look almost surrealistic as the root balls reached into the sky reminiscent of hands grasping for unwary floaters. They definitely made the river look as uninviting as it could be, especially to a person with a canoe.

 Before reaching the city of North Pole we stopped at Birch Lake and again glassed the lake but we only saw a hen mallard with her five ducklings. Some cabins were on the north shore and the lake itself was ringed with a racetrack of water lilies with their yellow flowers all in bloom,(Ok its a blue wildflower, the wildflowers are as stunning here as in spring in Texas).

A little further we passed an air force base with warnings against stopping or photography. We watched as a bright yellow plane flew in and landed and we wondered what the significance or meaning of such a bright color. Maybe the owner just liked yellow or maybe waterlilies?

Further still we saw the figure of Santa Clause and the North Pole signs, but try as we might we didn’t see any elves. Taking the second Badger Road exit we drove three miles and reached Rivers View RV Park, where we plan on spending four days, fixing the water pump and checking out the area's rocks! Clear skies

June 24th, 2012 From Tok to Delta Junction and Rika’s Roadhouse

June 24^th, 2012 From Tok to Delta Junction and Rika’s Roadhouse

We got out of Tok late, not till ten am. The days plan was to drive to Delta Junction and then to spend the night at Rika’s Roadhouse. It was only a drive of one hundred and ten miles so we didn’t feel any rush. The wind had come up but surely it doesn’t blow hard here?

So we stared up the last stretch of the Alaskan Highway and at first the road was really good. However we entered a stretch of damaged road and gravel and we slowed down to our usual forty five miles per hour. It was good that we were going slowly as a cow moose ran out of the brush and I had to do a panic stop as the calf was just behind her. Luckily we all were ok and we continued on aware of suicidal moose.

The drive parallels the Alaskan range but we were really in their shadows and so we couldn’t see any of the really big peaks. We crossed quite a few rivers, braided rivers really, as their channels were filled with coarse rock and they didn’t have the water to form a single path.

Before we reached Delta Junction the wind increased with gust over forty and driving became somewhat scary.  We talked of staying in the parking lot at the End of the Alaskan Highway Monument but decided to take the north bound road to Rika’s Roadhouse.

Pulling into the lot we were greeted by a volunteer who answered all our questions, including where to park. As is usual here, the boon docking is simply a big parking lot with a pit toilet, but we did get to tour the historic roadhouse and so it was five dollars a night camping well spent.

The Delta wind has subsided now and so tomorrow we will make another short drive to Fairbanks, where we plan to fix some stuff on our fifth wheel and play tourists, Time to grab the binoculars and see if we can see some birds. Clear skies

ps Rika's Roadhouse is a must see if you are intrigued about settling  Alaska. We also stopped and bought meat at the Alaska Meat Company, including reindeer steaks and lots of sausage

June 23rd, 2012: From Chicken to Tok

June 23^rd, 2012: From Chicken to Tok

It seemed like every section of the road was the same. First would be a steep descent, marked with a sign of a truck using lower gear sign, followed by a bad frost heave or a wavy section of gravel that threatened to bounce the whole rig into the air. Finally, this was followed by a long and steep uphill climb. These all forced me to shift constantly to low and making the engine and transmission heat up.

It was much harder on my rig then the Top of the World Highway, and this was supposed to be the good part of the Taylor Highway? Once we bounced so hard that we had things rain down from our pantry and our back high storage, and that rarely happens.

Meanwhile, as I was silently hating the drive, Renita would be taking image after image of the beauty. About halfway to Tok we first noticed the Alaskan Range to the west, and could it be Denali? The mountains were so high and so covered with snow that they seemed like clouds, but that’s what really tall mountains do.

As if to celebrate the vision, the road eased and the drive took less of a toll on me as I was able to relax and actually enjoy the view. We stopped at quite a few of the turnouts and glassed for animals and birds. Once we stopped when we saw a falcon hunting and another vehicle stopped wondering what we were looking at. They left when they didn’t see a moose or a bear, after all it was just a bird.

Its underside was really white with black tipped wings and we couldn’t see any of the markings of a peregrin. Prairie Falcons aren’t found here and so that left one bird, a gyrfalcon. It was the last falcon to make our life bird list and now we have seen all the falcons found in North America.

As I sit here typing my mind is forgetting the rough road and instead remembering the mountains and the gyrfalcon. Either one would have made the drive worthwhile. We reached Tok after a three hour drive that was only seventy miles, but we reached it safely. It was a good day.  Clear skies

June 22, 2012: A full Days Activities in Chicken

June 22, 2012: A full Days Activities in Chicken

Surprisingly the Town of Chicken has a plethora of activities to keep the wayward rver occupied. One can tour the town, one can gold pan at several of the rv parks, one can shop at the town of Chicken, and one can try to taste all the different locally made baked goods . There are other options including having a bottle of local made home brew oh and one I am not going to mention.

So after the usual night of about 2 hours where it gets a little dark like a cloud has covered the sun, I was wide awake at three am. Renita even got up at seven after laying in bed for an hour. We ate breakfast and then it was off to the town of Chicken.

 There are t-shirts here for everyone including one for Chicken University, Go Peckers! We bought ones of a milder vein but that’s just us. We stopped at the diner and my oh my, the cinnamon rolls were so huge that I couldn’t even eat mine.

I tried to pan for gold at the Goldpanner but I didn’t find any so it was time to try the other place in town. There two panners proudly showed us their gold flakes. Renita and I, both being somewhat flaky returned after lunch and paid the eight dollars for four hours of panning.

It was really amazing as one of their Campground Hosts gave a great demonstration on rapid panning and we both improved our techniques. Every pan full of ore had some gold flakes and we quickly spent the afternoon panning and then sucking up the gold into our collection bottles.

Diner time arrived and we went back to the Town Café for a meal of reindeer brats, poor Rudolph,  and home fries, mild but tasty. I made the mistake of having a piece of the largest blueberry pie and now I can’t move much as I, well I ate too much. Suffice it to say we have had a fun time in Chicken and look forward to tomorrows drive to Tok. Clear skies.