Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

When we came home from our lovely jaunt to Haines, etc. we noticed quite a few trees fully dressed in yellow. They stand out from the other green leafed trees around them, as if a spotlight is shining on them.  I know it’s only a matter of weeks until all of the trees are golden. Not long after, they will be bare and the ground will be golden yellow.  It feels like autumn is coming early this year, but in looking back at last year’s blog entries in late August, we’re right on schedule it seems.

Today, it’s raining. It’s been raining quite a bit lately. Most days the rain stops and the sun comes out, but today it’s been a wet, dreary day since I woke up this morning. We had a few days of frost just after coming home from vacation. Steve’s zucchini and tomato plants are done. We harvested what we could, but the tomatoes we picked are still green. We’re hoping they’ll ripen in a box. Not as good as vine-ripened, but better than wasting them.

Steve made reservations for us to go to Valdez for a few days. The silver salmon have come in, and he’s hoping there will still be good fishing in a few weeks.  Fishing is a bit more complicated, as you have to fish between the dead and dying pink salmon. (The pinks aren’t good eating, according to Steve. Since I don’t eat fish, I don’t think any fish is good eating. *grin*)

We’re hoping that Charlie and Lisa can go with us. They’re leaving AK in a few weeks, and we’d love to spend some time with them camping. I have a coupon for a buy one/get one wildlife cruise with Stan Stephens. If they can go, I’ll take the cruise with Lisa. If they can’t go, Steve will go with me. Let’s hope we have better luck than we did out of Seward, where the whole boat got seasick.

Steve and I finally bought our airline tickets to Las Vegas in December. We’ve been contemplating a December trip to take us away from the cold Alaska winter, and had enough frequent flier miles to get free roundtrip tickets to Las Vegas. We both celebrate our birthdays in December and this year is a *special* one in that I’ll be turning the big 5-0. Steve will be 55.

We’re not gamblers, so that’s not our ultimate destination, but that’s where Alaska Air flies, so it will be a good home base for us. We’ll rent a car, spend a night in Vegas and then take off exploring. Our stops will include Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Lake Mead - a huge circle that will take us back to Vegas for our flight home.

We’ve got the tickets, but haven’t booked anything else. The planning is exciting for us, and Steve has enjoyed researching destinations and travel routes using the internet and Google Earth.  I am very excited about photographing that beautiful area in winter. We’ve visited Grand Canyon several times in summer, but the other locations will be new for us.  I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our birthdays.

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I want to take this opportunity to give a shout-out to my eldest son, Chris. Chris quit smoking a month ago! I am so proud of him! I am a reformed smoker, so I know how hard it is to quit, and quit for good. Like me, he pretty much quit cold turkey. (I quit 17 years ago and don’t miss it at all). I am so happy that he finally made this decision to get healthier. I hope that Brandon will follow suit and do the same.

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I signed up for the upcoming year of Middle Eastern Dance. I took the 9-month course two years ago, but skipped last year. I decided to do it again. It will give me a reason to leave my house this winter, and it will be a lot of fun and good exercise too. I’m looking forward to learning a new routine along with my friend Carmen and others from the Fairbanks/North Pole community. We’ll be performing in the spring. That part, I’m not so excited about. I’m not a fan of public performance, but by then I hope to feel a little more secure in my talents as a dancer (which aren’t the greatest!).

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I walked around the outside of the house taking photos of the color change in my yard. Here is a sampling of what I saw:

Golden Leaves on the Driveway:

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Read (Part 1) North Pole to Haines
Read (Part 2) Haines
Read (Part 3) Skagway
Read (Part 4) Dawson City

TOP OF THE WORLD HIGHWAY - Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Steve and I were up pretty early. We only had to drive about 120 miles, but we had heard from some folks that this drive could take 5-6 hours depending on the weather. The condition of the “Top of the World Highway” is the biggest hindrance to making good time, as there are long stretches of washboard and potholes, as well as narrow switchback portions.

I was able to catch up on my reading of my friend Linda’s blog, and she and her husband had driven the road several days earlier, while under clouds and rain. Her trip wasn’t the most enjoyable because of the slippery mud, the lack of visibility, and the nonexistent spectacular views - so often described by travelers. Fortunately for them, they had much better weather the next day, and went back to drive a portion of the highway to see what they had missed.

Downstream from Whitehorse, only a single bridge crosses the Yukon River. It’s the one that carries the pipeline along the haul road (Dalton Hwy) here in the interior. Crossing the river at Dawson City means putting your vehicle on the free George Black Ferry run by the Government of Yukon. This boat can handle about a dozen small cars at once or a couple of large trucks with an extra car or two tucked in wherever there is space. It takes about 15 minutes to cross the river.

We watched the ferry in action the day before, so we didn’t have any qualms about taking it. You drive onto the back of it on the Dawson side, and continue off the front of it when you land on the other side.  The only consideration is time, as Customs is only open from 9am-9pm each day (8am-8pm AK time). Also, the road is only open in the ‘non-snow’ months.

As we ascended into the hills, things didn’t look very good. The clouds were low hanging, and we were soon driving in them.  I worried that our experience would be the same as Linda’s was.  But after a few miles, we suddenly came out of the clouds and were driving above them! Seeing the thick white cotton filling the valleys around us, was absolutely lovely. The sun was shining too.

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Read (Part 1) North Pole to Haines
Read (Part 2) Haines
Read (Part 3) Skagway

SKAGWAY TO DAWSON CITY - Sunday, August 16, 2009

We were up very early - 5am. The drive from Skagway to Dawson City would be the longest of our trip at 430 miles. First we’d drive the entire length of the South Klondike Highway to just south of Whitehorse, where we would get on the Alaska Highway (AlCan) for a short distance before getting on the North Klondike Hwy to Dawson City. The route we’d be driving somewhat parallels the route used by prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898.

We only stopped for brief moments during our drive, to stretch our legs and walk Sedona. I took some photos out the window of the moving truck, when I could.

The road out of Skagway is a steady uphill climb for almost 12 miles. At an 11% grade, the truck was straining to pull the camper. We watched the temperature gauges closely, as the heat in the engine climbed. Fortunately, we had no mishaps. The views as we climbed this stretch of road were nonexistent. For the most part, we were in the low hanging clouds. Intermittent rain fell at times.  I was disappointed that I couldn’t see the passing scenery, as I know it was stunning. We had the same views from the train (but on the other side of the valley), so I knew what we were missing.  I’m glad we had good weather for the train ride.

We passed Tutshi (pronounced too-shy) Lake near White Pass Summit. The clouds were starting to lift a little bit, but it was still very overcast. This deep lake was part of the Klondike Gold Rush route. Upon reaching the lakes on foot after crossing White Pass out of Skagway, the prospectors would cut trees along the beaches and build boats or rafts to carry their goods farther north, on their way to the Klondike Goldfields north of Dawson City.

This is the remnant of a tram that went from “Old Conrad City” and up Montana Mountain. Conrad was a once thriving silver mining “camp” built in 1905-6 to supply the Venus, Montana and other nearby silver mines being developed at the time by mining man “Colonel” John Howard Conrad. Conrad City’s “heyday” was rather brief however, and within a few short years the place was all but abandoned.

The only town between Skagway and Whitehorse is Carcross. Carcross was originally known as Caribou Crossing. Caribou Crossing was a fishing and hunting camp for Inland Tlingit and Tagish people. 4,500-year-old artifacts from aboriginal people living in the area have been found in the region.

Caribou Crossing was named after the migration of huge numbers of caribou across the natural land bridge between Lake Bennett and Nares Lake. That caribou herd was decimated during the Klondike Gold Rush, but a recovery program raised the number of animals to about 450.

The modern village began in 1896, during the Klondike Gold Rush. At the time, Caribou Crossing was a popular stopping place for prospectors going to and from the gold fields of Dawson City.

Just outside of Carcross is Carcross Desert. It is often considered the smallest desert in the world, measuring approximately 1 square mile. Carcross Desert is actually a series of northern sand dunes; the areas’ climate is too humid to be considered a true desert. The sand was formed during the last ice age, when large glacial lakes formed and deposited silt. When the lakes dried, the dunes were left behind. Today, sand comes mainly from nearby Bennett Lake, carried by wind.

The skies began to clear, and bits of blue sky began to show through puffy clouds.  The Milepost (the bible for traveling the roads of AK and western Canada) showed that there was an upcoming pull out overlooking Emerald Lake (aka Rainbow Lake to Yukoners). We decided it would be the perfect place to stop and stretch our legs.

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