Hope

Hi All,
In the last twelve months we've been in Hope, Arkansas, Hope, British Columbia and now we're in Hope, Alaska. Hope, Alaska is the hands down winner.

We last left you in Tok, Alaska. Not much to report there other than as we were leaving town we saw a bald eagle. Susan had seen one days before but this was the first one we've both seen on the trip. We made a quick stop at Delta Junction, the official end of the ALCAN highway. The ALCAN being the road for military use only during WW II.

They are proud of their mosquitoes up here. Of course Duncan had to get in the picture too.

Moving on, we drove to North Pole, Alaska and spent a couple of nights in a State Recreation Area just north of Eielson Air Force Base and just south of Fairbanks. The jets flying in and out of Eielson kept us entertained when we weren't up in Fairbanks checking out the sights up there. We walked through the botanical gardens and the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks as well as the Pioneer Park Air Museum. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Santa Clauses' house is in North Pole, Alaska. Fairbanks is as far north as we'll get, 200 miles from the arctic circle.

After a few days in North Pole / Fairbanks we drove south to Denali National Park and Preserve.

The view from the roadside rest stop where we had lunch

I don't really have a bucket list but if I did, Denali would have been on it. It did not disappoint. Wow. We stayed at the Riley Creek Campground in the park. Our first full day there we did a ranger guided nature walk and went to the sled dog demo. Denali's borders were initially patrolled by rangers on sled dogs. They are still used today to move people and materials into the wilderness areas where no motorized vehicles are allowed.  6.2 million acres. Denali National Park and Preserve is 6.2 million acres. Wow.

Our second full day in Denali we spent on the Tundra Wildlife bus Tour that takes you to mile 62 on the only road that runs through the park. We started at 7:10 AM and got back around 2:30 PM. It was a full day but I'd say a very successful one.  Here are just some of the pictures I took while we were in the park.

We made it!

A quick drive into the park when we first arrived. Wanted to see something before it got dark. Oh wait, sunset was at 12:44 AM. No worries on getting dark.

Just some ho hum mountains you see wherever you look

There is nothing ho hum about this place

Taken from a suspension bridge on our nature walk.

Anyone? Anyone?

Blue bells

From the Wildlife Tour. 30% of the people that go to Denali get to see the mountain. It may be hard to pick out here. In the streak of blue about 1/4 of the way in from the left is a white peak. That's the south peak. Almost dead center of the picture is a much smaller peak sticking out above the clouds, That's the north peak. I would have loved to see the whole thing but I'll take this with no complaints.

A cow moose crossed the road right next to our bus.

If you read the sign about Chicken, Alaska in an earlier post, you know they wanted to name the town Ptarmigan but didn't know how to spell it. Here's a Willow Ptarmigan, the state bird of Alaska

Those white dots on the mountainside are Dall Sheep. Those babies are way up there and that's the best I could do with my lens.

Thank goodness they had these stops every hour to hour and a half

Look real close and you'll find three brownish blonde spots. Those are Grizzly bears, a momma and two cubs. Wish we'd been closer, but then again not.

A heard of Caribou, right at the turn around at mile marker 62.

On the ride back out, some young caribou walking towards the road

Moose cow with one of her two calves.

After a couple of days in Denali it was time to move on. 

One last look at the summit of Denali from Denali State Park as we drove to Nancy Lake Recreation Area.The tallest peak in North America, 20,310 feet 

Alaska Veterans Memorial at a roadside park

Very well done

The scenery is spectacular, wherever you look

You'll have to look close, it's a bald eagle

From Nancy Lake we drove to Matanuska Lake State Recreation Area outside of Wasilla where we stayed two nights. While in Wasilla we made a trip to the Iditarod Race Headquarters. We watched their 30 minute film on the dogs, very interesting, and I got to hold one of the sled dog puppies. His name was Pupil.

Pupil kind of looks like Duncan, who knew I'd been with another dog as soon as I got back in the truck.

 That about covers it for this post. We're in Hope with a great view out our window but you'll have to wait until next time to get the pictures as unfortunately it is raining. Here's a look at the route we took from Tok to Hope.

Take care.
Brian

Alaska!

Hi All,
When last we left you we were in Watson Lake, YT. Today we crossed the border back into the US and into Alaska! We have seen some countryside on this leg of the trip. We detoured from the Alaska Highway (most of what we missed we'll catch on the way back) to drive the Top of the World Highway from Dawson, YT to the border crossing at Poker Creek, Alaska. From Poker Creek we took the Taylor Highway to Chicken, Alaska and then wound around until we got back on the Alaska Highway (Alaska 2) just south of Tok (pronounced TOKE), our stopping spot for tonight.

Here's the route, including a bit of a backtrack to the Liard Hot Springs in BC. Stop 3 is also where this post originates.

We skipped Liard Hot Springs on the way to Watson Lake due to weather and nervousness over fuel. After our first night in Watson Lake we decided to go back and check it out. We're glad we did. The water was a nice 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

On the road back to Liard Hot Springs we spotted this bear along the road. He looks more brown than black but I'm not sure what he is.

The hanging garden at Liard Hot Springs

Where we were able to get into the great water. We could have stayed all day.

On the way back to Watson Lake we stopped at the Smith River Falls

From Watson Lake we drove to Whitehorse, where we stayed for two nights. In Whitehorse we toured the SS Klondike, a stern wheeler that used to move gold, silver and supplies up and down the river between Dawson and Whitehorse. We also got caught up on laundry.

From Whitehorse we took the North Klondike Highway to Dawson, YT. Here we crossed the river by ferry and camped at the Yukon River Park. In our original planning we had nixed the idea of driving the Top of the World Highway because of how rough and remote we had heard it was. It was certainly remote but not all that rough. Most of it is gravel so you aren't driving more than 40 mph most of the time, but it wasn't bad at all. The worst we experienced on gravel roads was better than the worst we experienced on asphalt roads. The Top of the World Highway is not to be missed. You do feel like you're on top of the world.

Multiflora Roses are all along the highways

The views along the North Klondike Highway were no less breathtaking than those on the Alaska Highway

Duncan was begging to get his picture taken

The views from the Top of the World Highway are pretty impressive too

I kept marveling at the sky. THAT'S what sky blue is supposed to look like!

Our view as we wait in line to cross the border

You can't see the 30 - 40 motorcycles that are also in line. It took an hour to get through.

But we finally made it!

The most northerly land border port in the USA. Cool!

We did not go through the border like this

You'll have to enlarge this to read it. It's an interesting read.

Mosquito update: They're the size of a small plane

Old Mining Dredge in Chicken, still a gold mining town

Sun Update: In Dawson, YT sunrise was at 3:49 AM, sunset at 12:49 AM. Yep, three hours. When you count dusk and dawn there's only two hours of darkness. In Tok, Alaska (new time zone, one hour behind Pacific Time) sunrise is at 3:17 AM, sunset is at 11:48 PM. Thank goodness our blackout shades are working.

Weather: The last several days it has been in the 40's and raining off and on. Today the sun came out and when we got to Tok it was 70. A great day!

That's all for now. Take care.
Brian