September 10-15, 2007, British Columbia and Washington State

After we left the Hyder-Stewart area, most nights we did not have internet access; so it has been a long time since we have posted to our blog. We will be grouping days together. There were a few native villages on our route where totem poles were erected. Carol is intrigued with them so had to take pictures of every totem. Some were very tall and weathered. One of the tribes had a very nice RV campground, where we spent the night. The next day a beautiful rainbow stayed in the sky ahead of us for about ten minutes, but we experienced very little rain. At times there was even a double rainbow, and it appeared we were very near the “pot of gold.” The picture was taken through the dirty motorhome window.

We crossed the border of British Columbia and the US at Sumas, near Bellingham, WA. Just north of Seattle we ferried to the Olympic Peninsula. Three nights we spent at a delightful campground just outside the Olympic National Park. Some of the trees had been felled, but the lower part of the trees were retained and had been carved into different objects.

One afternoon we took a hike and found some delicious blackberries along the path. You should have seen our mouths and hands when we finally decided it was time to move on.

A drive into the park took us 17 miles up Hurricane Ridge, more than 5,200 feet above sea level. On the way to the top, we drove through thick clouds–like driving through heavy fog. It was overcast when we started, but there were beautiful sunny skies when we reached the top. At the top when you looked down, it was a solid valley of white–like a blanket of snow covered everything; but it was only clouds.
Since it was later in the day, we decided to stay on top of the mountain to watch the sun set.

Another day we drove to the Hoh Rain Forest. It did not rain while we were there, but there were puddles indicating it had rained recently. The Hall of Mosses Trail was filled with ferns and moss on the trees. We learned about “nurse logs”–dead trees that provide nourishment for new tree growth.

Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007 Hyder, AK

Today we visited the bears again early in the morning. Every time we were there we were blessed to see at least one bear feasting on salmon. We then drove 23 miles to spectacular Salmon Glacier. The road follows the toe of the glacier at mile 17, so that gives you an idea of its size.

Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007, Hyder, AK

Today we just took it easy. The weather was not too good. It was cloudy, and there were some showers. In the afternoon it looked better, so we drove over to the Fish Creek area and watched the bears again. There were three brown bears
in the creek. We were able to get some good pictures of them fishing and feeding. We came back to the motorhome and had a late church service with Doug Bachelor. We certainly have enjoyed him as our DVD pastor on this trip, when we were not in an area where there was an Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, British Columbia

We were up early today in hopes that an early-morning drive might award us with more animal sightings and were not disappointed. First, in the distance there was a mother moose with her calf, and then another moose very close to the road. During the day there were five bear cubs along the shoulder and ditch of the road, but we saw no mother bears. They must have been hiding in the growth along the highway, as the cubs were too young to be on their own. We arrived in Stewart, British Columbia late in the afternoon. After setting up in a campground, we drove about 6 miles to Hyder, AK to a viewing site for bears. The National Forest Service has set up a protected boardwalk along a creek where both brown (grizzly) and black bears fish for salmon. There was only one brown bear in the water. We watched for an hour and then returned to the motorhome.

Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007, Yukon

After overnighting in a nice campground outside Whitehorse, we
continued our journey South on the Alaska Highway. Our next point of interest was the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre. They have totem poles outside. Inside they displayed a large number of intricately-carved wooden masks. There was a beautiful-handmade woman’s jacket made out of leather and beads. A native lady had made it for her granddaughter. We ended our day in rest area on the Cassiar Highway. It is part of the Western route to and from Alaska.

Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007, Yukon

We dry-camped at Carmacks in the lot next to a service station where we had the propane tank filled. We have really been using the propane, keeping the furnace going in the evenings and overnight, as the temperature has been in the 30's at night. We keep the motorhome temperature around 67 during the night. Carol had read about finding agate rocks near Carmacks, so we stopped at the place were they were supposed to be. The sign by the highway said to hike about 1/3 of a mile to a clearing. We did not see any in the clearing. The sign also said geodes might be found about 1/4 mile beyond the clearing. We located a trail and must have hiked close to a mile up a mountain. It got steeper and steeper, and there were a number of switchbacks. John, who was quite a distance ahead of Carol, decided it was not safe to go any higher. The picture was taken by Carol, and it was much steeper up ahead where John was climbing. As we traveled down the trail, we noticed a place where some digging had taken place near the trail. This was probably about 1/4 mile from the clearing. We had not noticed it going up. Well, the view from up on the mountain was great; and we needed the exercise. What we

thought might take an hour at the most took way over two hours. We arrived in Whitehorse early afternoon. One of the few things we did not see on our first visit to Whtehorse was the SS Klondike. It is one of two sternwheelers that have survived, since they discontinued using them in the mid 1950's. The other is the Keno in Dawson City. The SS Klondike was the largest sternwheeler built. Passengers and freight came to Whitehorse by rail from Skagway, AK. They would then transport miners, their families and freight by riverboat to Dawson City and other locations.

Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007, Yukon

We left Dawson City, after a visit and tour of Dredge #4. It is the largest wooden-hulled, bucket-line dredge in North America. This and other dredges operated along the creeks of the Klondike into the 1960's. They were able to process tons of gravel each hour. Mining is still the #1 industry of the Yukon Territory. The valleys are scarred due to the dredging. There are very large heaps of “tailings” deposited by the dredges. The Yukon Government now controls mining operations and requires the land be restored when they finish mining an area. There are places where tourists are allowed to pan for gold and keep what they find. The rest of this day was in travel to Carmacks

Sept. 2 & 3, Dawson City, Yukon

We entered Dawson City by ferry. The Yukon Government provides a free ferry service across the Yukon River. Once the river is crossed you are in town. At the visitor information center, they told us the Palace Grand Theater had a schedule of events and sold tickets to the ones requiring admission. This was the best-organized information of an area that we have encountered so far on our trip. Canada also celebrates Labor Day, so it was a holiday weekend. The big event for the weekend was the “Great International Outhouse Race”.
There was one entry from outside North America. The winning team was the Blue Angels, made up of dance hall girls from Diamond Tooth Gerties. They were young and probably in better physical condition due to their occupation. At the Commissioner’s Residence an actor described the problems of death and disease in early Dawson. The same actor was at the Robert Service cabin to talk about the poet's life and recite some of his poetry. A Parks Canada interpreter, in period costume, gave an interesting 90-minute walking tour of the downtown area of the city. We watched two films at the Grand Palace Theater and visited the museum. The following picture shows the panoramic view of the city from Dome Mountain.

Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007, Yukon River Campground

Today we stayed in this campground. Church service was by DVD. We were just a few yards from the Yukon River. These Canadian Geese had been feeding on the river bank before we disturbed them. In addition to these, we saw a v-shaped flight of them overhead. I guess they are heading South, and we need to do the same. It is already what we central Floridians would call winter. We have had nights in the mid 30's. Daytime is usually about 65 to 70. We hiked along the river about half of a mile and found three old riverboats in the stern-wheeler 'graveyard." They had been beached and abandoned many years ago.
Riverboats were the main means of transportation for this area until the Klondike Highway from Whitehorse was built in the mid 1950's. We also saw a red fox walk through a campsite near us.

August 31, 2007, Chicken, AK

Yes, there really is a town with this name! It consists of two campgrounds, a cafe, a saloon, two gift shops (one with fuel) and a post office. The population is 21 in summer and 6 in winter. It was founded as a gold-mining town. The mining operations have ceased. Chicken was supposedly named by early miners who wanted to name their camp after the bird, ptarmigan. Unable to spell it they settled instead for chicken, the common name in the North for ptarmigan. This morning we awoke to a beautiful sunrise.

We were up early in order to take a grueling 3-hour, 100-mile trip to Eagle, AK. They have a walking tour of this old town at 9:00 in the morning. It was founded in 1897 as a supply and transportation center for miners. There was a military installation in the early 1900s. Ft. Egbert was a key communication center for Alaska. Lt. Billy Mitchell, who later became a general and was famous for advocating a U. S. Air Force, was in charge of running a telegraph wire from Port Valdez on the coast to Eagle. The road was all gravel with potholes, washboard, and it was along stretches where there were deep ravines with no guardrails. After the tour we had to return to Chicken to recover the motorhome, We left Chicken after trying some gold panning at the campground but were not successful. We left Chicken and headed for the Yukon border. The whole route to the border was gravel but somewhat better than the one we had taken to Eagle. We crossed the border and were awarded with a paved road which we traveled to a few miles short of Dawson City, Yukon.
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August 30, 2007, Tok, AK

Today we did what we had planned and looked forward to for weeks. We had scheduled a flight with Forty-Mile Air out of Tok to deliver the mail to Chisana, a remote village about one hour from Tok by air. The mail is delivered there every Monday and Thursday. The plane also carries in some supplies. This is a village which can only be reached by air. On the flight to and from Chisana we flew over some very rugged terrain. We were able to see several herds of Dahl Sheep. We were so far away from them that the pictures of them are not too good. We passed a number of glaciers and just before landing in Chisana the pilot flew us over the Chisana glacier. We were just a few hundred feet above it. It was a real thrill. A number of the local people came to meet the plane. They are expecting it and this must be a big event for them. A few of them have ATVs which have been brought in by a larger plane. The young fellow carrying what looks like an ice chest was our pilot. The older lady sorting the mail is the unofficial postmistress. She and her husband live in Chisana year round. The rest of the population leaves for the winter. Some just fly in for the hunting season. The mail was sorted into the big box, which had dividers for mailboxes. When everyone present had gotten their mail, the box was closed with a tarp. After returning to Tok we drove to Chicken, AK.

August 29, 2007, Valdez to Tok, AK

Today was another 250-mile day. We saw many mountains with glaciers. The highlight of the trip was stopping about 60 miles from Tok to visit Henry and Margaret Scott. Henry grew up in Avon Park. He moved to Alaska over 40 years ago. He was a patient of mine one winter over 30 years ago when he visited his family in Avon Park. He has several relatives who have been patients of mine. We had a nice visit with them and enjoyed the "million dollar view" from their living room and porch. These were Henry's words, and we agree. Their home is on a bluff overlooking the above river. You can see snow-capped mountains over 100 miles away.

August 26-28, 2007, Valdez, AK

On the 26th we drove just over 250 miles from Wasilla to Valdez. This took most of the day. We stopped many times to look and take pictures of the mountains, valleys and glaciers. Our first day in Valdez was devoted to a nine-hour glacier cruise. We went to the Columbia and Meares Glaciers. The water was littered with icebergs. There was some very colorful ice. The weather was almost perfect for glacier viewing. Along the way we saw bears, eagles, sea otters, harbor seals, Stellar sea lions, Orcas, Horned Puffins, Tufted Puffins, cormorants and some birds we did not identify. Today we drove several miles in the truck looking at scenery including a large glacier which was close to the road and some waterfalls. We also picked some blueberries. We went to the museum and saw videos of the pipeline construction and the 1964 earthquake.

August 19 - 25, 2007, Wasilla, AK

Once again we are going to group a week’s worth of activities, since we stayed in the same campground the entire week. Before leaving Anchorage we did some replenishing of groceries at Sam’s. Our destination was Wascilla, northeast of Anchorage. The purpose of remaining in the area was because the Alaska State Fair began that week at nearby Palmer. At the Dorothy Page Museum we saw exhibits of Wascilla’s history, and behind the museum a historic town site that had several old buildings. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters is outside of town. While there, we watched a video about the race and took a sled dog ride. Independence Mine State Historical Park is located on the Hatcher Pass Road. The mine was a large producer of lode gold during the early 40's. The state has refurbished some of the original buildings. The Hatcher Pass Road is about 50 miles long, with at least half of it unpaved. We happened on a beaver dam and pond. It was exciting to see a beaver bringing building material back to its lodge. We visited the Martin Buser kennels. Martin is a four-time winner, and the fastest winner, of the Iditarod race. His time was 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes, and 2 seconds. Those seconds can count because one of the past races was won by Dick Mackey with a margin of only one second. This is a sled dog race of more than 1100 miles from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. We saw a video of his racing, and he showed us one of his sleds and explained the items it carries. He also did a demonstration of the dogs pulling a sled. Carol had wanted to hold a puppy, and she was all smiles when she was able to do this. We went to the fair on two different days. The fair is home to some of the world’s largest vegetables. The big cabbage competition is next Friday. The winner will probably weigh more than 90 pounds. The all-time record cabbage was over 105 pounds. We saw some huge cabbages, squash, turnips, radishes, kale, and rhubarb. They were not part of the vegetables to be judged but there for display in advance of the judging. They have a lot of entertainment. We saw a juggling act two times. A lumberjack show, a military brass quintet, an African acrobatic team, saw animals--goats, poultry, rabbits, cows. The highlight was watching a demolition derby. Another fun thing was watching a scarecrow-building contest. There were at least 10 teams competing. Each team had a t-shaped post and a lot of old clothes to choose from. Some of the teams were quite innovative. There were scores of small booths selling food, souvenirs, including those made by Alaskans rather than made in China. Thursday night the climax of the day was a large fireworks display. The 25th was our 50th wedding anniversary. We celebrated it by attending the Palmer church. They had a nice fellowship meal for visitors. After the meal we followed one of the members home. They live next to the Alaska Conference camp meeting grounds, and we wanted to see the facilities there. They told us the road beyond was gravel and led to a lake. We did the drive and were not that impressed with the lake. It was big but not scenic. We went back to the motorhome and took a nap. After 50 years we were really tired and sleepy.

PICTURES ON BLOG

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August 12-18, 2007, Anchorage, AK

Since we were in Anchorage for over a week and some days we did not do much sightseeing, we are going to group the activities. Following are some of the places we went and things we did: At the Visitors’ Center we obtained information about Anchorage. A bus tour took us to Earthquake Park, where the 3/27/64 quake slid 35 expensive homes into the water, and Hood Lake, the largest seaplane base in the world.

One afternoon we returned to Earthquake Park. We were thrilled to find a bull moose was eating his dinner, oblivious to his audience. Soon he decided it was time to cross the road but looked neither to the left nor right. That is why so many of them are killed by motor vehicles. Two natives were in a van with the door open and urged us to get in. We thanked them but just went around to the back of the van. The moose was only interested in crossing and being on his way. However, moose do kill by stomping their victims. This is usually a cow moose with a calf that feels threatened. At the Ulu factory knives are made out of modern materials. The natives originally made the knives out of rocks they sharpened into curved blades and attached handles. It was what they used for skinning animals and preparation of food.

They have a contest every year, and the artists had designed some very interesting-looking fish art. The Alaska Zoo housed just about every animal we are used to seeing in the lower 48. However, we missed monkeys. John concluded it was not warm enough because they did not have enclosed buildings for the animals–just rock dens. At the Alaska Native Heritage Center they demonstrated dances done by the native tribes. There was also a path around a small lake where they had replicas of the homes of the various tribal areas and a native of that area gave some information regarding their tribe. But there were no igloos. We understand they are only built by some of the native hunters and trappers during the winter when they are away from their villages. The Alaska Botanical Gardens were nice, but they had passed their peak. The Anchorage Museum of History and Art at Rasmussen Center housed much interesting information, artifacts and displays regarding the native people. At the Wild Berry Park we saw a very beautiful film about Alaska and were able to hand feed and pet reindeer. Inside the building where they made wild berry candy they had the world’s larger chocolate fountain.

The J C Penney store in downtown Anchorage has a Kokiak bear on display. It is on record as the 101st largest bear taken on Kodiak Island. Its weight was 900 lbs and it was 10 feet 6 inches tall. We can’t remember if we have made mention of the beautiful flowers everywhere you look. Alaskans, who after a long winter are anxious for color, decorate their lawns, lamp posts, and porches with hanging baskets and flowers everywhere. It is really a beautiful sight.

August 11, 2007, Anchorage, AK

Since we were camping in the church parking lot it was easy to be on time. An announcement in the church bulletin stated they were having a special offering the following Sabbath to pay off their new piano; so we made a contribution to it, since we are saving money on camping. After church they had a fellowship dinner, and we joined them for a delicious meal. In the afternoon, after we took a nap, we drove back to Turnagain Arm. We stopped at a river where people were fishing, but we never saw anyone catch a fish. At a boardwalk wildlife-viewing area, we saw water birds and a few large reddish salmon at an area where fishing is not permitted. The church parking lot was a good one for walking, so Carol was able to get in some exercise most evenings.

August 10, 2007. Hope, AK

We spent a couple of hours at Hope. It is a small settlement that goes back to the turn of the century. Gold was found here before the Klondike gold rush. It was not a high-producing area, though, like the Klondike. There are several old buildings at the museum. From Hope we went to the Portage Glacier. Here we were able to visit the glacier by boat on a lake created by the glacier and also walked to Byron Glacier .8 of a mile one way. We didn’t do it, but there were some who walked onto the snow near the glacier and went sledding. We had tried calling one of the Anchorage churches to see what time the services would be held but only got a recording and noone replied to the message we left. We decided to skip staying in a forestry service park and drive to the church hoping the parking lot would be ok to park on and we would be there for when services started the next day. It was large and had a fairly level area. The church secretary was there and said it was fine to park on the lot and we could stay there during the week. That will make it very convenient for sightseeing Anchorage.

August 9, 2007, Soldotna, AK

Last night we camped in a Fred Meyer parking lot. Fred Myer is a store similar to a Super Wal-Mart. They allow RVs to park along the periphery of the store parking lot. During the morning we stopped at a visitor center where there was good internet, and I posted blogs of several of the previous days and checked the mail. We then started on our day’s journey. Along the way we stopped for several views and at a place were wood carvers demo and sell their products. They had a lot of interesting creations. There were bears, eagles, fish, moose, and people, among other things. You know Alaska is a lots larger than Texas and they have big furniture up here. Late in the day we finally made it to within 5 miles of Hope. There was a good place to park next to the Turnagain Arm. This is a large inlet named by Captain Cook. He sailed into it looking for the northwest passage. When he reached the end he had to turn around and named it Turnagain Arm. This body of water is about 37 miles long.

August 8, 2007, Homer, AK

We began the day by visiting the Pratt Museum. You could spend the whole day, but we only had time for a few hours. One of the fun things was watching the brown (grizzly) bears. They have a remote camera on a stream about 100 miles away. The lady operating it from the museum could pan the stream and zoom in on the bears. You can go to www.prattmuseum.org to view the bears. There is supposed to be a link. I have not checked it out. If they are not showing them live, they play some of the archived sessions. Homer is the end of the road, so by mid afternoon we were on our way back the road we had traveled. As we left Homer we could see smoke coming from Augustine Volcano over 100 miles away. We stopped at some places we had skipped on the way to Homer. This included a visit to an old Russian Orthodox Church, and a general store that has some of the biggest scoops of ice cream we have ever seen. Yummy! We purchased a reindeer pelt here. We don’t know exactly what we will do with it but have a couple of ideas. We had read the store had good prices and later found the same pelts for $40 more. That always makes you feel good.