Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Fairbanks, AK, June 30th to July 4th.

We’re spending 4 days in Fairbanks. This is as far north as we’ll go and we may not be back this way again so we'll make the most of it. Fairbanks has many things worth seeing so we’ve filled each day with an attraction. On the day we get to Fairbanks we spent the late afternoon exploring Pioneer Park. It was late and we almost had the park to ourselves.

Pioneer Park.

The shops are cabins from frontier Alaskan towns.

The all seeing Raven tops this totem pole.

Ride the salmon at your own risk. He doesn't look too friendly.

Our first night we camp in the parking lot at Pioneer Park which has spaces for overnight parking. This is a city park based on the theme of an early Alaskan Village. Most of the shops are original homes from frontier towns. A train loops around the park and a river paddle boat sits proudly at the center of the curving village streets. 

The Air Museum features this Pratt & Whitney "Wasp Major" R-4360, 28 cylinder four row, air cooled radial, 2600HP engine. Whew!

Attractions include an auto and air museum, restaurants and food stands. It's a great place for family fun.

The river boat features models of Alaskan frontier communities.

The details in the frontier town models are amazing!

In the river boat are exquisite models of frontier villages and their histories that take you on a tour of frontier Alaska. The craftsmen put a lot of detail into them and they are fascinating.

This great shop featured beautiful antler carvings.

The next 4 nights we camp at Chena River State Park in the middle of Fairbanks. It was too noisy with lots of local people just driving through. The parking lot at Pioneer Park is a better option.

The Morris Thompson Visitor and Cultural Center features frontier and native life and culture.

The heartiness of the Alaskan people.

On our 1^st day we went to the Morris Thompson Visitor and Cultural Center downtown with excellent displays of lifestyle and culture. The log cabin gave me a feeling of what an Alaskan winter must be like.

The Alaska Museum of the North.

Raven totem tells story of raven saving his children from a flood.

So many fabulous exhibits.

The only time you want to face off with a bear this big.

On our 2^rd day we go to the Alaska Museum of the North at Northern Alaska University. This extensive museum is well worth the visit. Its displays are a wonderfully integrated mix of culture, wildlife, science, geology, crafts and artifacts that flow together to tell the Alaskan story. Another must see.

A bike ride around Fairbanks.

Our 3^th day we visit downtown and ride our bikes on the paved bike path that runs along the river and around Fairbanks.

Entry to the multi-use path along the river from the Visitor & Cultural Center.

It’s been raining almost continuously and they say it will be a record for June. On our 4^th day however the clouds break and we get a nice day to do a 30-mile ride on the Parks Highway. It’s the 4^th of July and we can’t think of a better way to spend the day.

Mosaic at the Morris Thompson Visitor & Cultural Center.

Two Young Ravens, a humorous nail sculpture at the Visitor Center.

Tomorrow we’ll head for Denali and our long-awaited rendezvous with our Sportsmobile Forum members.

Until then,

Jackie

Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Haines Junction to Fairbanks, June 28th to June 30th.

The Alaskan Highway goes for miles along the blue waters of Lake Kluane. At its southern end we find an unmarked road that takes us a few miles to the ghost town of Silver City. Of course we had to stop to see it  since we live in Silver City, and were rewarded with a cluster of log buildings that was once an outpost from the early gold rush days.

Silver City, Northwest Territories. Just what you'd like a ghost town to be.

A peek inside the cabin.

Chicken coops.

A sturdy structure even though the roof is gone.

Imagine how it must have been.

One of the largest cabins, perhaps the trading post.

The population of Silver City, Northwest Territories, is 0. This one-time community had a trading post, roadhouse and a North West Mounted Police barracks. They also raised chickens in a well-built poultry house. It was populated from 1904 to 1924 serving people traveling the wagon road from Whitehorse to the goldfields near Kluane Lake. The buildings were sturdy log cabins although the not-so-sturdy roofs have collapsed. The more than 133 mile wagon road from Whitehorse had to be quite an adventure especially with unexpected weather changes. Silver City must have been a very welcome sight.  We took lots of pictures and guessed at the function of the buildings.

Our camp at Congdon Creek on Kluane Lake.

We camped the night at the Congdon Creek Campground on Kluane Lake. This is one of our favorite government campgrounds with sites well-spaced among the pines and a trail along the lake with interpretive signs.

Here we are at Kluane Lake.

Isn't it a beauty?

We built a inukshuk on Kluane's shore.

We pass through the community of Beaver Creek with this interesting little chapel.

I think the Beaver has mittens on.

A little church.

At the Canada/Alaskan border.

At the Canada/Alaska border.

The carved swan door greets visitors to Tetlin.

Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, bird paradise.

As we continue toward Tok, AK, the road becomes the east boundary for the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge has hundreds of lakes cupped in the hollows of low black spruce-covered hills. The Visitor Centers beautifully carved swan doors greet us and features displays of wildlife and native Athabaskan culture. The expansive county can best be viewed from the centers observation deck.

Tok Civic and Visitor Center.

We get to Tok and decide to spend the night before our last push to Fairbanks. Tok’s a pleasant little community with a beautifully constructed log Visitor Center. The center has great information and staff and worth the stop to see the outstanding display of finely crafted duck mounts. Many of the duck species we haven’t had the opportunity to see are represented here. The taxidermist who created them did a beautiful job and had a knowledge and love of these beautiful creatures.



Delta Junction Visitor Center.

World's largest mosquitoes.

We stop at the Delta Junction Visitor Center to see Alaska's largest mosquitoes.

Yellow Water Lilies.

Wild Iris.

Our next stop will be Fairbanks.

See you down the road.

Jackie

Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Liard Hot Springs to Haines, AK, June 22nd to June 27th.

George Johnston Museum.

George Johnston Museum trapper cabin exhibit.

George Johnston Museum, George's car.

George Johnston Museum, 5 clan masks.

Today we have another long day as we head for Whitehorse. Half way there we stop to camp at Teslin Lake Campground. In Teslin we visit the George Johnston Museum. Johnston (1884-1972) was of the Tlinget people and is remembered for his fine photography of the life of his people. He brought a 1928 Chevrolet by paddle-wheeler to Teslin 13 years before the Alaska Hwy was built. He drove it onto the frozen lake in winter to hunt and painted it white after realizing that the black car against the white ice alerted the animals. The fully-restored car is on display along with an outfitted trapper’s cabin, cultural artifacts and his photographs. It’s a very interesting and worthwhile museum to visit especially since it’s based on the life of this interesting man. You can’t help but be drawn to his attractive, friendly, smiling face that appears in some of his photographs.

Tlinget Heritage Center, Raven Children.

The Tlinget Heritage Center a few miles down the road has a fascinating collection of carved wooden masks both traditional and imaginative. Five totems oversee the parking area representing the five clans, Raven, Frog, Wolf, Eagle and Beaver.

On the Alaskan Highway between Whitehorse and Haines.

We head on down the road to Haines and don’t stay in Whitehorse this time because it’s raining. We’ll plan on stopping on the way back. Tonight we'll stay at Pine Lake Campground before we get to Haines Junction.

We take a short hike to the Rock Glacier.

 A view of Dezadeash Lake from the top of the Rock Glacier.

King of the World for a day.

Inukshuk at the top of Rock Glacier. We are on the right path.

The next day we turn south at Haines Junction and head for Haines, AK, just 145 miles at the end of the road. The Haines Hwy is new paving with marked shoulders and smooth as silk. We see a bike ride in our future. The road winds to Lake Kathleen and up the valley between breathtaking corridors of snow-covered peaks. We stop on the way to take a hike to the Rock Glacier, much like an ice glacier, whose mix of rock and ice pushed its way down the slope obliterating everything in its path.  We hiked up the rock field to the top of the glacier and found rock thrones that industrious hikers had built from the plentiful materials and sat there to absorb the glory of the lake and snow-capped peaks.  It’s an awesome place to be king of the world for the day.

On the Haines Highway.

At Haines Pass.

We see our first Grizzly, the smiling bear.

At Haines Pass we park to take in the view and see our first Grizzly Bear leisurely walking along the highway up to the pass. He seems to smile as he saunters along unconcerned with the cars in the parking area he turns up the slope and disappears into the land. The bear did indeed go over the mountain. What a magnificent creature!

The border crossing on the Haines Highway.

A Totem Pole welcome to Haines.

Haines from across the harbor.

A cruise ship at the docks.

Haines is a sweet little town on the shore of the Chilkoot Inlet. It was a portage point across the long and mountainous peninsula between the Chilkat and Chilkoot Inlets. The docks are filled with fishing boats and cruise ships and ferries take the Marine Highway past here heading up to Skagway. 

Our camp at Chilkat State Park.

A hike in the rain forest.

Twin Coves on the Chilkat Peninsula.

Davidson Glacier.

A picnic at Chilkat State Park.

We camp at the Chilkat State Park, a small primitive, under-utilized campground with lots of privacy and quiet, just what our Sprinter was made for. The next morning we hiked the trail out towards Seduction Point at the end of the peninsula. It’s our first hike in a coastal forest and we’re amazed at the hugeness of the understory plant life. The earth is softly carpeted with fern-like moss. In fact everything is carpeted with moss so you can’t tell rock from fallen tree. Most of the trail is wet and muddy and in places there are boardwalks. Our turn-around point is Twin Coves. It was beautiful and fascinating. Our turn-around point is Twin Coves. We didn’t have enough time to hike the 7 miles to the point.

Chilkoot Bay

Chilkoot River. The salmon run is beginning.

We spent the next night at Chilkoot Lake State Recreation Site. The Chilkoot River is boisterous with large boulders that break the flow. Red and pink salmon run the river to spawn in the lake. There’s a salmon fence and counting station with someone actually sitting there in the middle river counting fish as they go through the passage. What a job. Don't blink.

We say farewell to Haines.

We leave Haines and drive back up the Haines Highway along the Chilkat River.

At Haines Pass we see a beautiful handcrafted canoe destined for Whitehorse and competition.

Our camp at Dezadeash Lake.

Great bicycling on the Haines Highway.

We depart Haines the next day and head back to Haines Junction. It’s noon when we reach the Dezadeash Lake Campground along the Haines Hwy and stop early to get our anticipated bike ride on its smooth pavement. The weather has cooperated and we have a clear day and a great 30-mile ride.

Saint Elias Lake.

The next day will be a short day so we take a hike to Saint Elias Lake before heading up the road to Kluane Lake.

So many wildflowers . . .

More next time as we travel on to Fairbanks.

See you down the road.

Jackie