The Road Goes On…

2017 Northwestern Canada

  • Eagle Plains, YT to Dawson City, YT

    Today was our very last day on the Dempster Highway with 369 kms of sometimes rough and challenging gravel road remaining. We stopped at the same lunch spot we had visited on the way up, and to photograph the area of the June/July forest fires again. There were still some areas that were smouldering and we could see and smell the smoke.

    At one point we had to stop for a very cute reason.

    We made it to the end without any flat tires but a very mudding vehicle.

    Off to the car wash we went!

    We’re back at the Gold Rush Campground for the evening before departing for Alaska tomorrow via the Top Of The World Highway. This will get us back to the Alaska Highway and Whitehorse for our trip back.

  • Dawson City, YT to Chicken, AK

    We have a confession to make. After writing the blog entry for yesterday, we snuck out and went to the 10PM Diamond Tooth Gertie’s Show and what fun it was! Ruth even snapped some pictures of the gamblers!

    After the show we walked around Dawson City for a bit. The light was just wonderful at 11:15PM.

    The morning was very busy. We started with three huge loads of laundry and while the mobile windshield repair guy was climbing on the hood of the van, we did a thorough house-cleaning. After finishing up our chores we headed to the Dempster Highway Information Centre to show our Dempster passports that indicated that we had visited all the required sites and were now eligible for the grand prize of Canadian Diamonds. We are very positive that we will win this prize as there are less than 160 entries so far.

    We still had a stamp to get for our Yukon passport so we headed to the Dawson City Museum. It shows the history and culture of the local natives, the Klondike gold fields and the development of Dawson City, including the establishment of the first banks in Dawson, one of which was a CIBC. Prior to the banks arriving, bills were paid with nuggets and gold dust.

    Now we definitely had to leave Dawson as it was already 1PM. We crossed the Yukon River on the ferry and started the Top of the World Highway towards Alaska. It started out paved…. Soon it was no longer paved and the Dempster Highway was great in comparison. The border crossing had wonderful pavement and the scenery is absolutely beautiful up there.

    We stopped at an abandoned traditional roadhouse that had been occupied off and on by different owners.

    We arrived in Chicken, Alaska which got its name because the founders didn’t know how to spell Ptarmigan, a bird that looks like a chicken and is the state bird of Alaska.  It was just supposed to be an ice cream stop, but turned into a free night of camping and a lovely chicken pot pie dinner, followed by a blueberry/apple pie dessert, followed by a beer. We got to know Aaron, a student who worked at the restaurant to support his university education and talked to a number of the fellow campers and people at the saloon.

  • Chicken, AK to Fairbanks, AK

    The morning progressed really quickly because there were no showers and the fridge was empty. We headed for the restaurant where we had breakfast and met Sue, the super energetic owner of this establishment. Everything we ate was homemade by her and she also had cinnamon buns, scones and oatmeal cookies for sale that will become breakfasts for the next couple of days.

    We photographed some more and stopped at the chicken poop, a four stall outhouse that is even wheelchair accessible.

    Given yesterday’s gravel highway experience, we hoped for the best.  It wasn’t long before the gravel ended and the paved road began. Our van and its inhabitants were relieved to be able to enjoy a smoother ride.

    The scenery wasn’t all that interesting and we didn’t stop often until we reached Delta Junction, the official end of the Alaska Highway.

    Ruth was attacked by a gigantic mosquito but defended herself admirably.

    We drove on to Fairbanks, found a spot for the night, and then headed to the fairgrounds to visit the Tanana Valley State Fair where we saw Elvis, some chickens, food stalls, craft vendors and rides.

  • Fairbanks, AK to Denali National Park, AK

    Today was a quieter day. We bought some new hiking boots for Ruth as the soles of her old ones had just simply disintegrated on our hike in the Northwest Territories. The new ones are super snazzy.

    After buying some groceries we drove to Denali National Park without further delay and visited the information center to enquire about hikes and bus tours for tomorrow. No guided hike was available anymore, but we were able to purchase tickets for an 8 hour bus tour tomorrow starting at 8:10AM.

    Our campground (Denali Rainbow RV Park) is super conveniently located in town and is within walking distance to pretty much everything.

    We had a nice home cooked pasta dinner in the van and caught up on our blog while listening to the gentle rain which started upon our return to the campground.

  • Denali National Park, AK

    6:30AM was shower time and without breakfast or coffee we drove straight to the Wilderness Access Centre at Denali National Park to catch our 8-9 hour bus tour through the park. Thank God there was coffee available at the centre.

    The weather was rainy with low clouds which made us fear that we wouldn’t see much of the natural beauty or animals, but those turned out to be unfounded.

    Brian Burnett was our more than competent driver and guide. He has been driving as a guide in Denali for 27 years and had a vast knowledge of the history of the park, the people, the climate and above all, of the animals.

    Speaking of animals, we did not see a moose but we had seen two a couple of days ago right beside the highway. We did however see quite a number of animals, starting small with the state bird of Alaska, the modest Ptarmigan. This was followed by witty, charming and curious Arctic Squirrel.

    For a while nothing happened until we were able to a see a couple of white dots on the side of a mountain slope. We were told they were Dall Sheep but they were too far away to be photographed.

    Now it became more exciting. As we turned a corner we were waved down by a surveying team who pointed down the road. As we approached, right in front of us we saw a mother grizzly bear frantically digging and pawing her cub out of the way. What was she looking for? We never found out, but a few minutes later, a second cub appeared from the other side of the road. Happily, mother bear and her two cubs were reunited.

    Constantly scanning the landscape for more animals paid off and we found a herd of caribou on a hill.

    At the end of the day we saw another single caribou with a great rack.

    We had been so disappointed that the weather was rainy when we left but this accentuated the landscape and put the mountains into a wonderful mysterious fog.

    By the afternoon the clouds and mist had lifted somewhat and the gorgeous colors of the landscape were more visible.

    The road into Denali Part is mostly gravel and the hairpin turns are very tight and so narrow that two vehicles cannot pass each other. Access on this road is limited to the buses and very few private vehicles that are given passes to camp in the park.

    We had frequent stops at viewpoints and rest stops. At the Eielson Visitor Centre we were pleasantly surprised by a youth orchestra playing rock music with classical instruments.

    After 8 or 9 hours on the bus we were ready for an afternoon nap. This was followed by dinner at the picnic table outside, a stroll through town visiting the shops and an ice cream dessert.