By Land or Sea

7/5

Heading up toward Anchorage and stopped at Portage to visit a wildlife rehab center, they take in injured and orphaned animals.  A nice chance to sneak up on a grizzly bear and see musk ox, etc.  If you do get close to a grizzly - a fence is a good idea   - between you and the bear.   

I have always wanted to see aa Musk Ox - couldn’t get real close to these - there are some at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks we may try to see.   Their innner coat is really warm - you can buy yarn or a scarf - really expensive though.

Stayed near Denali in Talkeetna, a little village on the RR and a staging area for planes and helicopters for sightseeing and taking climbers close to the mountain.  Late in the afternoon , it is 81 degrees and sunny. 

 7/7

 

Found out that Phil and Mary Jo were very near a forest fire just after we left –it got to within a mile of their cabin. They were out wetting things down while helicopters were taking water out of the lake in front of their house to dump on the fire. Seems like it is under control now – firefighters are still standing by.

Staying in Denali National Park for 3 days - Mary Anne is taking the bus in closer to the mountain today and I will go tomorrow  - it is hazy because of smoke from forest fires  - haven’t seen the mountain yet.

Hanging out with Effie  - don’t want to leave her alone for 8 or 9 hours if we both go together.

Mary Anne saw the mountain  - the first sighting by people in several days - smoke from fires.

Only about 30% see it - some days are obscured.   It is amazing even comparted to most of the  major peaks in the world.  The view is from 33 miles away and your evelation is 4000 feet  - looking at over 20,000.  Denali is higher compared to the surrounding area than Mt. Everest surrounded by the Himalaya mountains.

Kilimanjero in Africa also rises much higher than her surroundings in Africa too. 

I saw McKinley the next day.

7/9 In Fairbanks - in the 70’s - it was 91 yesterday here  - a record.  

Stopped at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks large animal research center - to see the musk ox.  I have always wanted to get a close look at one.  Here is a baby -

They have a very thick skull and serious horns  - could knock a Bighorn sheep on their butt.   They kept the males apart  - they are pretty feisty.   The southern edge of their range is the northern part of the Brooks Range.  They were reintroduced into Alaska from some of the Greenland herd.  They are more common in Canada.  They are trying to introduce them back into Siberia.

Heading for Delta Junction, Tok, and then Chicken tomorrow.    After that comes bad road and then Dawson City  - a real historic city.  Makes you think of Jack London and Robert Service.    We will turn off the cell phone as we cross into the Yukon at the “Top of the World” then to Dawson City  - after we cross the Yukon River.   Turn them back on in Glacier National Park.  We want to see that while there are still Glaciers   - maybe they will last another 20 years.  We can use Skype for phones when we have good internet coverage in Canada.

We turned right in San Bernadino and headed North  - now it is time to turn right and head East toward home - back in August.          A “Long Strange Trip It’s Been”  is one of our road songs - not too strange yet.

 

After talking to several people that came over from Dawson City, Yukon thru Chicken, AK, we decided to go that way. A few said it was awful – but some said not bad. At least it is dry and dusty – not wet, slippery, and muddy. The Alaskan Highway goes from Tok To Whitehorse on a fairly direct route, but we came up that way. There is a loop that goes over the “Top of The World“ Highway that is about a 100 miles longer – and a lot of the 100 extra miles is bad road. It is closed in the winter, but it is very scenic. It also gets you to Dawson City, a real center of the Klondike gold rush and one time home to several author, such as Jack London and Robert Service. It also has an old saloon and dance hall called Diamond Tooth Gerties – still with can-can girls and gambling. Have to ferry across the Yukon River to get there. The border is between Chicken and Dawson City.  The highway from Dawson City to Whitehorse is paved, and the road from Tok to Chicken is paved - the other 100 miles from Chicken to Dawson City isn’t paved. It is at least a 3 or 4 hour trip.

On the way to Chicken we passed an area that had a 1.3 million acres burned in a forest fire in 2004. Fireweed is the Territorial flower of the Yukon. It is usually bright pink or purple and it is one of the first plants that starts to reclaim burned areas. Some of the mountains looked purple – thru the burned spruce tree skeletons.

Chicken was a gold mining town, and has a huge dredge that is being restored. They seem to spend a lot of time having fun with the name, the gift shop stuff reflects that. They were originally going to call the town Ptarmigan, but no one was sure of the spelling, so they called it Chicken. There are three campgrounds in town. We stayed at the one that has a country club. We missed the Chickenstock music festival this year.

headed over the highway - kind of like the Skyline Drive in Virginia  - but higher and wilder and a lot above the treeline,   Far less cars and far less asphalt.  

The road wasn’t too bad - 40 miles of gravel road to the Yukon boarder - then asphalt and gravel alternating for another 60 miles to Dawson City,

The big fork  - left to Eagle Alaska, right to Dawson City, Yukon.

Click on the Yukon  Then Return via Dawson City

more later