June 3, 2015, Wednesday
We stayed in Tok, Alaska at the Sourdough Campground. It was
so nice to do laundry and take hot showers. The Sourdough is a delightful
campground owned by friendly, fun loving people from Bullhead City, Arizona.
Talk about going from one extreme to another! One of the clever ways they have
of getting campers talking to one another is wild, weird sourdough pancake toss
game with the winner or winners getting a free pancake breakfast the next
morning, hopefully not of the pancakes used in the toss! Jerry actually won a
breakfast but my aim was off and my breakfast cost money.
Our rig is a Four Wheel brand of pop up truck camper.
Surprisingly, we do not see many of these on the road. Here we were camped with
two others. One was driven up from Tucson and the other had been driven up from
Brazil. What an amazing journey. Before we left the campground, I talked to the
gentleman from Brazil. He imports the campers to Brazil and sets them up for
people. Besides this trip to Alaska, he has been in Africa, Europe, Russia,
Japan and all over the US in his pop up camper. What an advertisement for the
rig.
We ran a few errands in Tok (by the way it is pronounced
Toke not Tock) before leaving for Delta Junction where we stopped at the
official end of the Alaskan Highway. Next door is the Sullivan Road House which
dates from the gold rush time period. Originally, it was located on Fort Greely
and was moved via helicopter to its present location. It is now a little museum
full of items that were really in the road house when it was in use.
After lunch we turned south on the Richardson Highway which
is the oldest highway in Alaska and parallels the Alaskan pipeline. We went
through a pass which separates the eastern Alaska Range from its western segment.
It had turned rainy and foggy by this time so our photos are rather moody and
gray. We did jump a female moose, who absolutely refused to hang around for a
photo session.
The campground at Fielding Lake is a free one and is very
nice, right on the edge of the outlet river for the lake. It had turned pretty
darn chilly by now then the wind kicked up dropping the temperature even more.
A flock of pintail ducks were calling this area home and were fun to watch. No
large animals could be found though we glassed the hills and marshes for them.
June 4, 2015, Thursday
A male ptarmigan raised a great fuss this morning, ordering
us to leave the area. Though we had hoped for sun, we had more rain. I believe
it rained all night. It was about 39 degrees when we broke camp. We had our
first official glacier sighting (we missed Black Rapids Glacier in the rain and
fog yesterday). This one was Gakona Glacier. Just around the corner was Summit
Lake which is quite large and, even though it was chilly…cold…, people were getting
ready to go out on the lake for fishing.
At Paxon, we turned west on the old Denali Highway. As the
highway begins to climb, not only are you able to see the Alaska Range to the
north but in the southeast you are able to see the Wrangell Mountains. There is
an overlook that allows you to see the glacial erosion effects with a deep U
shaped valley with lateral moraine deposits and “kettle” lakes which were
created by the weight of the glacial ice as well as melt from the glacier. It
is really very dramatic. An interesting fact, the Alaska Range is still growing
as the Pacific Plate is grinding under the North American Plate. Tectonic
action in progress.
Tangle Lake Archaeological area is a sanctuary for artifacts
from first people in the region dating back 10,000 years and some even older
into 20,000 year range. Also a great deal of fossilized remains of mammoths are
found in the area. At the boundary of the area, a fat porcupine waddled across
the road. Although he was not pleased to grant photos, he did pose nicely for
one or two. Then a trumpeter swan took off from one of the nearby ponds with
great fanfare. Around the corner, a bald eagle perched on the top of a white
spruce and surveyed his domain as ptarmigans chattered away in the willows.
We set up camp in the Tangle Lakes BLM Campground. The lakes
here form the head waters of the Delta River which joins the Tanana at Delta
Junction then together they flow into the Yukon River. Dodging rain drops, we
walked around the lake area and checked out the Tangle River as it made its way
into the lake. We spotted fresh moose tracks but no moose. Later in the
afternoon, the rain finally caught us when we hiked up a ridge trail that treks
around the lake and into the mountains. And so another damp but great day in
Alaska comes to an end.
June 5, 2015, Friday
Guess what, it was raining again this morning. If it were
warmer, we would be growing mold by now. As we left the Tangle Lake campground,
we spied a female moose up high on the ridge. She was much too far away for
good photos so we simply watched her through the binoculars for a time. Our
climb toward Maclaren Pass began in rain which gradually turned into a
snow/rain mix then finally big fat fluffy snowflakes swirled around us. The
snow actually accumulated on the shrubs along the road and the grassy areas.
There was ½ inch or better on the ground. There is a winding area of the
highway which meanders between two high moraines. This is Crazy Notch formed by
a glacial stream cutting through the moraine. Here the snow drifts build up in
winter causing the closing of the highway. After crossing the pass, the snow
began to lessen and reverted to rain. Then lo and behold, a patch of sun shine
graced us with its presence.
After crossing Clearwater Creek, the highway follows the
ridge of an esker, a ridge of sand, gravel and cobbles deposited by a glacial
stream trapped between walls of ice. You get a wonderful view of the
countryside from this elevated vantage. As we crossed the Susitna River, we
could see two golden eagles dining on a sand bar in the river. The Susitna is a
major drainage in the Denali region. It begins at the Susitna Glacier in the
Alaska Range and eventually runs into the Cook Inlet. There are some
spectacular views of the Alaska Range along this highway.
We stopped for the day at the Brushkana Creek Campground
which is right of the banks of the Brushkana Creek. As we drove through the
campground, we came upon a moose mama and her very young baby. I saw her climb
a ridge behind the campsites and was finally able to get some good moose
photographs. Seeing the baby made my day but getting photos of mama and baby
was the crowning glory. A whole family of gray jays came right over to welcome
us as we set up camp…mama, papa and three youngsters. They later accompanied us
on part of our hike.
I spent hours trying to identify a pair of warbler sized
birds I spotted but could not photograph. They were lovely and the closest id I
have come up with is bramling though these birds were much more colorful and pretty
than my bird books show the bramling. The rains returned this afternoon,
thunderstorms. Now the sun is valiantly trying to burn through the clouds. I
would dearly love some warmth from the sun.
June 6, 2015, Saturday
No rain this morning! There was even sunshine, briefly. I am
beginning to think a cloud is tethered to our radio antenna because clouds
follow us relentlessly. We finished the Denali Highway today. It was so nice to
take our time and enjoy the drive, even if our wild life sightings were few and
far between. The country was distinct and exciting. We were treated to a lovely
rainbow. I would very much like to travel this road again going from the west
to the east. Another trip vibe is tingling away.
We arrived at Denali National Park before lunch. Luckily, we
were able to get a campsite within the park. When we went back to the
Wilderness Access building later in the day, they were taking reservations for
campsites for Thursday and nothing was available until then. Tomorrow, we will
be taking the shuttle bus into the park. Our fingers are crossed that we will
be in the lucky 30% that actually get to see Denali while in the park.
Apparently, it creates its own weather patterns and is not visible all the
time. We will be in the area several more times so we may still have a chance
to see this dramatic mountain if we are unlucky tomorrow.
After lunch, we walked to the visitor center which has a
very nice display about the animals that call the park home and the history of
the park. And of course, there was a book store. We did not leave it empty
handed. The mercantile near the park entrance has a little bit of everything.
The one thing that really surprised me was the cost of showers, $5 for 10
minutes. You certainly have to bathe fast! I didn’t dare check to see how much
a load of laundry might cost.
Our one pot meals or freeze dried meals have worked quite
well. Freeze dried food is so much better than it was when we backpacked in the
Colorado Rockies years ago. It is tasty and variety keeps one from getting
bored. The “homemade” freeze dried mixes, while not a total bust, are much too
salty due to the freeze dried meats I purchased. This is one time I should have
done a test run before we left home.
June 7, 2015, Sunday
Our tour to Eielsen Visitor Center in Denali Park was an
amazing adventure. When we arrived at the departure point, the line was long,
wrapping around the side of the building. We were 20 minutes early! What a sigh
of relief we breathed when we discovered that the bus for the tour before us
had not loaded yet. Our tour bus driver, Craig, gave us the spiel about Denali
not being a zoo and not to expect to see many animals and don’t expect to see
Denali either. But just the opposite proved to be true.
A female moose walked right up to the bus, around it,
crossed the road and climbed the hill. Although she had her hackles raised, she
chose to ignore 40 crazy people snapping pictures of her. A little farther on we
stopped to view some caribou and saw a bull moose climbing a glacier delta.
Unfortunately, he was much too far away for photos.
The first time you have an opportunity of seeing Denali is
about 9 miles into the park. We were rewarded with a beautiful view of the tips
of the south peak and the north peak of the mountain but the middle section was
clothed in clouds as white as Denali itself. Still everyone on the bus was
delighted to see as much as we did. It is an awe inspiring mountain. I hope we
will catch at least one very clear day to see the whole mountain. Polychrome
Pass lives up to its name. The colors are fantastic. It would have been
wonderful to spend an entire day there photographing the color changes as the
sun moved through the sky. Our fifteen minutes were up too quickly. A brown
bear (it is totally wrong, according to our driver, to call them grizzly bears)
was climbing one side of the hill as we walked down the other. It was a
beautiful blonde bear when we were finally able to see it.
At Sable Pass, we were lucky enough to see a fresh caribou
kill and a female wolf dining upon it. It is very rare to see wolves because
the park is so big and the wolves move so warily through the landscape. Even
the bus driver was taking pictures of this rare sighting. The magpies perched
nearby hoping for left overs as did a big raven. When we returned to the spot
later in the day, we expected to either see more wolves around the carcass or
bears but there carcass was by itself. The Park rangers had already put out
signs limiting access to that section of the road.
A couple of miles down the road we came to a big brown bear
sunning itself on a tundra slope. When we returned, he was in the same place
but had rotated around to better catch the rays. Caribou seemed to be
everywhere, in twos, threes and fours but no big herds. A flock of Dall ewes
and lambs were also sunning on a wide grassy slope high on a mountain ridge. A
willow ptarmigan posed nicely for the bus full of photographers. On our return
trip, we saw a beautiful red fox. It could care less that we were around and
headed straight for its den.
Most of the road is above timberline so you are traveling
through the tundra. You are able to see great distances. Once we arrived at
Eielsen, we should have been able to see Denali since we were only 30 miles
from the peak but of course, clouds hid it from our view. This is a steep
tundra valley surrounded by high peaks. The visitor center is excellent with
many interesting exhibits and get this…flush toilets!! You appreciate the small
niceties in the wilderness.
Tomorrow, I hope to post this blog. While we have cell
service at the park entrance, we do not have access to wifi. We plan on going
to Fairbanks tomorrow.
June 8, 2015, Monday
We drove to Fairbanks and restocked the groceries and ice
then headed to Chena Hot Springs. On our way we stopped at a roadside pizza
bus, Wagner’s Pizza Bus, for lunch. The pizza comes in one size, large, and is
very good. We had enough for both lunch and dinner.
Chena Hot Springs is more resort like than Liard Hot
Springs. It offers many activities besides soaking in the hot spring. One of
which is a tour of the Ice Museum, which we plan to do tomorrow. There is a
hotel, camping yurts, cabins and RV park besides the restaurant and café. The
most interesting thing here is the use of the geothermal activity to power the
entire resort. The hot water from the spring is also cooled to 65 degrees and
used to water the massive greenhouses on the property. Not only do they grow
all the flowers for their landscaping but they grow many vegetables and fruits
used in the restaurant and to feed the employees.
The drive north east from Fairbanks is through heavily
forested country with meandering rivers and roadside lakes and ponds. The drive
to Fairbanks from Denali National Park was also forested ground with rolling
hills. The Nenana River Gorge was quite dramatic but unfortunately, that was
exactly where the highway department was resurfacing the roadway making a photo
stop impossible. Alaska has all these “scenic” pullouts, marked with a sign of
a camera. However, very few of them actually have any scenery to photograph.
However, if you don’t check them out, you might miss extraordinary scenery.
No photos today. It remained cool and rainy all day.
June 9, 2015, Tuesday
We soaked in the hot springs first thing this morning. It
was wonderfully relaxing. The outdoor pool is surrounded by large boulders (I
think to keep the resident moose out) with a gravel bottom. The water
temperature is about 100 degrees. It is the perfect soaking temperature. The
indoor pool is much cooler, 85 degrees, and is specifically for families with
children. No children are allowed in the outdoor pool so it remains very
peaceful. Several hot tubs are also scattered around both, inside and out, for
soaking. This is a year round resort. In the winter there are dog sled rides,
cross country skiing and ice skating. In the summer, horse rides, dog sled
(wagon) rides and hiking.
The campus is lovely with beautiful landscaping and old
tractors, cars and other equipment used artfully in association with flowers
and plants. The gardens are tucked in everywhere as are the enormous
greenhouses. Two ponds are labeled for “ducks and moose only”. Moose can read!
They used the ponds daily. The Ice Museum is amazing. It is a huge building
kept at 20-25 degrees with a bar, three sleeping chambers (and yes, they
occasionally get used) a wedding chapel and studio space for the ice sculptors
to work. The gallery is filled with wonderful ice sculptures. Even the
chandeliers are made of ice. In the studio area very large blocks of ice are
stored as raw material for the sculptures. This ice is harvested right on the
property from the beaver pond. The signature drink of the ice bar is an
apple-tini served in a glass made of ice. Very cool…literally!
Our visit to the sled dog kennel was quite enjoyable…we were
the only people in the tour! The tour guide, Karen, is a musher and dog
handler. She came for a visit and has been here 3 years! We got to pet the dogs
and visit with them. I had the mistaken idea that they would look like Siberian
Huskies but they are all mutts picked for their speed, intelligence and
enthusiasm for running. Most were very thick coated and big pawed but all were
very friendly. When Karen took down a harness to show us how the dogs are
assembled into team, all the dogs went wild. It was like a kindergarten class
going, “Pick me, Pick me”. They really enjoy their work.
