Yukon & Alaska 2009

We began our great Alaskan journey from Edmonton in late June, where Wayne stoked us up on coffee and we fired up the PT Cruiser (yes, the same rental car that we drove to Utah/Arizona). The coffee was strong and it propelled us to our longest drive day of the summer, 875 km to Dease Lake, BC. Along the way, we spotted mountain goats, mountain sheep, elk, moose, 5 bears and a fox, supporting Steve's claim that you don't need to stray further than five minutes from your RV for real adventure.

By Day 2, we were on the gravel Stewart-Cassiar highway (an alternate route to Alaska that runs behind the Coast Mountains) and we were immersed in totem poles. We stopped in at Gitanyow and it's totem forest. Some of Gitanyow totems are originals and others are replicas (originals carted off to museums). For one reason or another, totem poles are largely overlooked many mainstream tourists, but we figure they compare favorably with many Asian temple sites. OK, Gitanyow is not an Angkor Wat, but its 23 totem poles are über cool.

Further along the road, we pitched our tent at Meziadin Lake Provincial Park at a wind exposed site that made the friendly mosquitoes tolerable. Meziadin Lake is a long way from anywhere, it's a pristine lake and the snow line was not far away. The well managed campground featured picnic tables and a fire pit, in short, it is classic Canadian camping. However, camping has changed over the years; It was mostly retirees travelling in big rigs, all lined up along the lakeshore, the generators were humming, the satellite dishes were aligned, for those wanting a real outdoor experience, the split wood was delivered to your site and wifi was available. This is the modern age.

Just up the road, is the road to Stewart BC and Hyder Ak. The detour along a scenic road offers access to see the bears feeding on salmon (we were too early in the season), the Salmon Glacier (too misty in Misty Fjords) and the opportunity to cross the border into Alaska (too easy, no US immigration or customs formalities). The town of Stewart was crawling with grizzly and black bears waiting for the salmon run and, some how or another, we didn't see any. Too bad!

Further along the Stewart-Cassiar highway and hours behind the hypnotic windshield wipers, the sun came out. We took off our ski jackets and we didn't even need to wear our mosquito nets at Boya Lake BC. It was Canada Day! What better way to spend Canada Day, than paddling on a lake of gorgeous reflections, populated with loons and arctic terns. The campsite manager was going to put on a Canada Day hot dog roast, but she got a little distracted and the grand event never got off the ground. It didn't rain.

The "Welcome to the Yukon" signs feature the slogan, "Larger than Life", and it is. Don't forget to disable your radar detector and put your headlights on at all times in the Yukon. With improved weather, our first Whitehorse visit resembled a Formula I pit stop. We made a quick oil change, some food shopping, bought a day old Globe & Mail and we were gone in a flash to Haines Junction. In early July, the sun sets at 11:45pm in Haines Junction, the red sunset colours come out around 1:00am, then it goes dim for a couple of hours. It's not easy to get a full "night" sleep and it's no wonder that the bears and mosquitoes are so gnarly; they don't get enough sleep in summer.

It was onto Kluane National Park (World Heritage site) which contains the massive St Elias ice field and Mt Logan, Canada's highest peak. Mt Logan was measured in 2009 and they found it was 7m higher the official 5959m elevation determined in 1992. Some consider Mt Logan the world's largest because of its immense footprint. Last year, we visited the "mer de glace" near Chamonix, France which is a short train ride or a heart thumping 2 hour hike from Chamonix. That allows time for a coffee on the terrace overlook and ample time to return to Chamonix for lunch. By contrast, the glacial overlook of Kaskewulsh is a 65km return walk (via Slims River). We made some interesting creek crossings, walked through swamps, beat back mosquitoes, made more glacial fed creek crossings and traveled on sometimes crude trails to a glacial overlook. There was no café or brasserie at our base camp. Instead of people watching, we gazed at grizzly bears passing along the glacial river flats at breakfast and dinner. If only we had carried in croissants.....

We drove the staggeringly beautiful road from the Yukon to Haines, Alaska.

Sunny 28C weather greeted us in Haines. Some locals grumbled that they preferred the normal, cool (16C) and wet world. The town of Haines rides a fine line, remaining more of an "authentic", sometimes quirky town while at the same time making a living from the cruise ships that dock primarily at nearby Skagway. Our friends Jess & Andy (Thailand 2003, yahoo!) warmly welcomed us and put us up in a tree-house. There is more to Haines than the hammer museum. Haines is a bald eagle hang-out with as many as 3500 arriving by early November. During our visit,we saw about a hundred eagles. We slipped in with the cruise ship types for a float trip (relaxed rafting, thanks Andy!) and then Andy led us all on a magical mystery tour by truck, zodiac, mule (motorized), foot and then canoe (motorized, it is Alaska) to a picnic and wander of the toe of the Richardson Glacier. Super sweet.

Further north-west some 1,200 km through Western Yukon, we set out on the 200km return dirt road to McCarthy. Apparently, many Alaskan car rental outlets specifically prohibit driving their rental cars on the McCarthy Road but the PT was up to the challenge. At road's end is the Kennecott copper mill town which crushed and cleaned ore from the nearby extremely productive mines till 1938. Nowadays, it's a National Park site, within the Wrangell-St. Elias NP, which is larger than Switzerland, and the derelict buildings sit eerily alongside a massive glacier that invites exploration. "Yaktrax" are contraptions that you can slip on to your soft shoes to safely carry out the garbage on icy walk ways. Better yet, you can slip them on, walk out the (tent) door and explore the ice canyons, creeks, waterfalls and crevasses of the Root Glacier.

If you ever go to Valdez and expect to see oil covered sea birds, you are in for a pleasant surprise. Valdez is drop dead beautiful on a fjord surrounded by glacial covered mountains and, OK, with a huge oil terminal operation across the water. The name, Valdez, often conjures the memory of the Exxon Valdez oil spill when 11 MILLION BARRELS of Alaska North Slope crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Alaska in 1989. 250,000 sea birds died as a result. Twenty years later, most affected animal species have recovered or are recovering. The Pacific herring and pigeon guillemots were wiped out altogether. Spilled oil remains just below the beach surface in some places. The Valdez spill is not even one of the world's 50 largest spills but legislative changes now make the Prince William Sound one of the safest oil transport channels in the world. We rented a tandem sea kayak for an overnight trip to the nearby Shoup Glacier. The Shoup is one of those how-close-to-the-glacier do you dare paddle. We camped alongside the glacier toe but it wasn't the quietest camp night we've experienced with the ice heaving and calving continuously.

They say that Anchorage is just half an hour from Alaska. Wasilla is half an hour north of Anchorage. Wasilla looks more like the lower 48 with a staggering collection of big box stores mixed with outdoor hunting and fishing stores. Wasilla is also home of Sarah Palin and apparently you can see Russia from her house. Office Depot or Best Buy must have blocked our view. We were in Wasilla, looking for a sleeve for a broken tent pole and we headed for the Sportsman's Warehouse. Once we passed through the giant pick-up trucks outside and stepped inside the Sportsman's Warehouse, we knew we had arrived at a true Sportsman's menagerie. There was a sign at the entrance that asked us to check in all firearms before proceeding. Just above the entrance is the North American Grand Slam display (as if you didn't know: 4 different stuffed mountain sheep busts) and next to them was a giraffe from the shoulder up. The taxidermy is done locally and includes plenty of the expected elk, moose and bear. Further into the store we edged and found a stuffed lion taking down a zebra, a stuffed moose kicking a black bear and a full Southern Africe kudu. There is also a bragging wall where customers pin fishing and hunting photos of blood stained real men and their fresh trophy kills. We found the tent pole sleeves and then got out of Dodge.

Denali NP is home to Mt McKinley and plenty of visible wildlife like brown (grizzly) bears, caribou, moose and wolves. The best thing about Denali is the central road into the park is closed to private vehicles. Instead, green buses ply the gravel road; remember the school buses and the rear seats where you take air on every bump? Those are the ones. We forded glacial creeks, crossed tundra, yelled at brown bears but didn't see any giraffes. It was the little critters that got us in the end. An arctic ground squirrel chewed through Glenn's water bottle ("hydration system"). Ground squirrels are considered fast food for the brown bears, wolves and foxes (2,500 calories a pop) so as far as Glenn is considered, those brown bears can eat away. Incidentally, the Federal government tried to rename Mt McKinley to Mt Denali (originally named after Senator William McKinley once nominated for US presidency) but it has been stalled by Ohio senators for many years.

The Kenai peninsula is south-east of Anchorage and is a true outdoor person's playground. Some of the best recreational fishing is available for a song and $350. The morning rush hour of recreational fishing boats going to sea is something to see.

Near Seward, we clambered up to views of the massive Harding ice field, we found the Lost Lakes and joined a full day tourist cruise. The boat trip featured lovely scenery, puffins, sea otters, dolphins, sea lions, a calving tidewater glacier and a jigsaw puzzle of humpback whales (mostly backs and tails) but the highlight was the woman on deck who seemed like she was having one hell of an orgasm each time a super pod of orcas surfaced. What fun!

Still on the Kenai peninsula, we passed through Soldatna. If you have never heard of Soldatna, it is apparently world famous and has a world famous salmon river running through it ( world record king or sockeye salmon caught there) and a few other world famous things, but we cannot remember what they were. Soldatna does have a great laundromat and a Fred Meyer supermarket, so if you are ever passing through, don't miss them.

Homer (still on the Kenai) is the halibut capital of the world (obviously, world famous too). The Homer Spit is frothing with surprisingly tasteful tourism, in a kind of Cape Cod meets Alaska way. The local beaches offer fabulous walks at low tide.

We hopped on a water-taxi and crossed the Kamchak Bay. We camped on Grenwyck Lake with growlers (small icebergs) floating in front of our tent. Oddly enough, it was surprisingly cold by the water both day and night. We climbed and camped on a high alpine ridge, so while real adventurers were out at sea catching their halibut and salmon limits, these chickens were collecting blue berries. Cluck-cluck.

Later, at Hope on the Kenai, we encountered the drooling bear. We were awoken by a bear biting and pulling at our tent. On opening the tent door, Glenn found himself nose to snout with a black bear. The bear was easily chased off by Glenn, clad in underwear, brandishing a dangerous flip-flop as a weapon. A scary sight!

Back on the road again with the PT, we traveled towards the Yukon. We paralleled the Alaska pipeline. After touching the pipeline, a pink car started to follow us. There were no pink elephants and the car turned out to belong to the local florist in Delta Junction. The settlement of Chicken (cluck-cluck) was a good photo opp and then we drove what was once known as the "60 mile road". In a marketing stroke of genius, it was renamed "Top of the World Highway". We saw a lot of mist, rain and mud; it brought us to one of the true character towns in the world, Dawson, Yukon.

The Klondike gold rush was not the biggest placer gold find but it was one of the most frenzied. Gold was discovered on Bonanza Creek in 1896 and within a couple of years, Dawson joined Chicago and Montreal as the first North American cities with electricity. Dawson and the Klondike have a fascinating, riotous history. At one time, Dawson had 28 saloons, but even more impressive are the 13 saloons in the present-day town of 1800 people. If you have been in the Westminster Hotel bar at 11:00am on a Sunday, you will know that Dawson lives in the present and not in the past! The streets are not paved with gold; they are not paved at all. The boardwalks add to the atmosphere and everyone, locals and tourists included, push through muddy street crossings after it rains. First Nation people make up a third of the Dawson population and other native people from the NWT visit the "big city" in summer adding to the fun. Historic buildings are maintained by Parks Canada and are often leased to businesses or individuals. Dawson is a great place.

We were in Dawson during Discovery Days, commemorating the original Bonanza Creek gold discovery. The town took a break from alcohol for a couple of hours for the mud bog event. Two trucks line up and they grind through 100 m of mud bog to determine a winner of each heat. It's a terrific big horsepower event. Drivers and their trucks (only 2 were street legal) came from tiny northern communities like Stewart Crossing and Peel River to strut their stuff. Dawson rocks!

We pointed the PT north on another mud bog, the Dempster Highway, to within 200km of the Arctic Circle. The Tombstone mountain places such as Mt Monolith, Mt Tombstone, Grizzly Lake lived up to the standard of their names in Yukon's answer to the granite spires of Patagonia.

Watson Lake, Yukon is one of the larger Alaska Highway settlements and one of their touristic angles is the sign forest which started innocently enough when a homesick American put a sign with his hometown name on a tree. 70,000 signs later, it is a forest. It is sort of interesting to wander the site and it doesn't take long to figure out that Watson Lake is a roadsign kleptomaniac's horde. If you live on Waverton Rd, Park County Rd, Korando Ln, Rue Béliveau or Fox Hollow Rd and you wonder what ever happened to your street sign, it's safe in Watson Lake. If any road sign disappears, chances are it will end up in the road-sign black-market trade and, some how or another end, up in Watson Lake. Here are a few examples of the many road signs that have gone missing: Granbury Tx ( City Limit, Pop 5001), Titusville, Fla (Space City, USA), Mobile ( city limit), Dingolfing (Stadt), Troy ( Welcome to, Nice people live here), Esslingen (Stadt, am Neckar), Nürnberg (22km), Pleasant Grove (Welcome to, The friendliest town in the world, Elev 4710), Eclectic (City Limit), Welcome to Maine (The way life should be), Plano Tx (All-American City), and San Antonio, Florida (Rattlesnake Festival and Gopher Race 3rd Sat in October).

We conclude that it's a good idea to bring a good map to the southern USA and to Germany because there can't be too many signs left there.

The drive south on the Klondike Highway and Alaska Highway (both are paved) was, simply put, a long drive. It was punctuated by a quirky Yukon Brewery tour in Whitehorse, the relaxing Liard River hot springs and occasional wildlife along the road. Most of the highway settlements' history center repetitively on the Alaska Highway construction, so, it was somewhat of a relief when we reached the southern terminus of the Alcan, Dawson Creek. The original construction of the road was an impressive achievement with 18,000 people and 11,000 pieces of machinery involved in pushing through 1400 miles of bush in only 8 months. The mosquitoes must have been well fed that summer. The Canadian government was strong armed to provide the land access to Alaska; American announced plans to build the road before it was agreed to by Canadian authorities. The deal was that the US would build it and bear the full cost with the Canadian portion reverting back to Canadian control after the war. That is what is happened and they billed Canada for half of he cost. That is what friends are for!

If you want to save yourself a lot of driving and want to see our journey highlight, then make a trip to Beaverlodge, Alberta (better yet, look at our photos). Move over Queensland's giant pineapple - there is one giant rodent by the roadside in northwestern Alberta and you can't miss it.

FOR THE RECORD

Bear count: 45

Total PT kilometres: 18,000

Average high July, 2009 in Whitehorse, Yukon: 24C

2009 tent nights: 88

Alaska Banana Index: 2 per 1 USD

Alaska Big Box Store Index: 3 per 1 USD

Yukon Banana Index: 4 per USD