The Road Goes On…

Category: Places

  • 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.

     

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Inuvik, NWT to Eagle Plains, YT

    We left our black-fly infested campground in a hurry to go to Inuvik and had a breakfast of omelettes at the Mackenzie Hotel, after which we strolled through the downtown area. The first stop was the town hall where we picked up our Certificates of Passage North of the Arctic Circle and Northwest Territories pins.

    Before seeing the famous Igloo Church, shopping was on the agenda. We visited two of the arts and crafts stores and ran into the family that we’d gone to Tuk with yesterday.

    In the first store we found a beautiful sculpture of an Inuit hunter with traditional sun visor, typically made of driftwood, antler or bone. We left the store undecided and visited the second store but nothing there enticed us. Back to the first store we went only to discover that there was no price tag on the piece, that the owner of the store was in Mexico, and that the salesperson who thought she knew the price had to confirm it with the owner before being able to sell it to us. She tried twice to get a hold of her boss but was unable to reach her. Very disappointed we left the store and went back to the van, ready to leave Inuvik. We drove past the store on our way out and had to simply stop to try one more time. This time she was able to contact the owner and it turned out that the piece was 20% less than what the sales person had thought it was. We were thrilled and helped bubble wrap our treasure before packing it in the van, right next to the dog food.

    The famous Igloo Church was built without blueprints and was completed in 1960 and is Inuvik’s most photographed landmark.

    We also photographed the Mad Trapper Inn with its mural depicting the RCMP hunting the Mad Trapper for 49 days.

    One last look around Inuvik and a gas stop and we were on the 360 km trip back to Eagle Plains, half way down the Dempster highway again.

    Right before the first ferry crossing we saw two black bears in the bush eating berries.

    We passed through the amazing geological formations and scenery again before crossing the Yukon border and arriving at Eagle Plains in time for dinner.

    In the restaurant we met two motorcyclists who are racing up the Dempster at up to 120 km/h (we drove 60-80 km/h) and who are determined to drive all the way up to Tuk on the unopened highway extension.

  • Tuktoyaktuk, NWT

    After breakfast we spoke to Judi of Arctic Chalet Adventure Tours about whether whether our Tuktoyaktuk trip was possible today. She needed two more people to make the trip feasible and hoped it could take place today. She promised to contact us as soon as possible about our options. In the meantime we got to play with their lovely white huskies!

    Soon after we learned that our Tuk trip would take place at 5PM. We headed into Inuvik to take a look but found most of the businesses closed because of the holiday. We will try again tomorrow.

    We had a nap because this day would be long and met at the office at 4PM to head to the airport for our flight to Tuk.

    The flight followed the Mackenzie River at about 500ft in altitude and soon we were able to see the Arctic ocean and land at Tuktoyaktuk.

    We were greeted at the airport by Eileen, our local tour guide, who picked us up in her van, air conditioning running because of the heat wave.

    She drove us to her house where he husband showed us various furs and clothing made from them.

    Those Polar Bear pants look really warm!

    In the meantime Eileen prepared some traditional food for us to sample. Whale, caribou soup, Muskox and smoked white fish. All delicious!

    Next she showed us some of the traditional clothing her mother made.

    This was followed by a visit to her smokehouse by the beach and here we had the opportunity to go for a swim in the Arctic Ocean!

    The water was surprisingly pleasant and we had a lot of fun. One of the other tour members even went skinny dipping! We all got a certificate of achievement.

    We toured the rest of the town and learned a lot about the people who live in this community.

    Again the subject of the Residential Schools was prominently displayed in the form of a ship that had taken children from this community, including Eileen’s husband.

    There is a Distant Early Warning System station here that was built in the 1950s during the Cold War.

    It was time to fly back to Inuvik and enter our impressions in our blog.

    Note: Map doesn’t show track to Tuktoyaktuk as the van GPS didn’t come with us on our flight.

  • Eagle Plains, YT to Inuvik, NWT

    If we had some doubts yesterday about continuing the second half of the highway after yesterday’s rough patches, today confirmed we made the right decision to continue.

    We left the Eagle Plains Hotel and Campground after breakfast, a long shower and filling the van with gas.

    There are three companies that run Tuktoyaktuk trips out of the Inuvik and coincidentally we ran into Judi and Olaf, the owners of Arctic Chalet and one of the trip organizers. They were heading off on a 4-6 hour hike with some staff and asked whether we wanted to join them, and we decided to do that.

    The second half of the Dempster Highway is in much better shape than the washboarded section we drove through yesterday. Apparently this is because they are short of water on the southern part and can’t run the grader through without turning everything to dust.

    Our first stop together with Judi and Olaf was at the Arctic Circle. This is the location north of which on June 21st, the sun doesn’t descend below the horizon, giving 24 hours of daylight.

    The next stop was the hiking trailhead and we packed our cameras, lunch and some water and started our hike with the guidance of Olaf and Judi. Walking through the tundra is like walking on sponges filled with water and moving beneath your feet. The ascent into the mountains was sometimes hard work but we were reward with amazing views, wild blueberries, cranberries and cloudberries. The further we hiked up the mountains, the smaller our van got in the distance. Half way up, Ruth discovered that her hiking boot soles were disintegrating and we patched them with some duct tape which worked really well. We stopped for short water breaks and a longer lunch break and enjoyed the magnificent view we earned by climbing all the way up the hills.

    This hike was pretty strenuous for the two of us and we drank lots of water and took a rest in the van before continuing our journey up the Dempster. It wasn’t much further until the crossed the Northwest Territories border.

    We drove through beautiful mountains until we descended into the Peel River area for our first ferry crossing.

    This was followed by a second ferry about 70 kms later to cross the Mackenzie River.

    The ferries basically just drive up to the shoreline and lower their ramps. Sometimes this doesn’t result in a completely flat surface and on this ferry they needed to adjust the ferry position and ramp for us to be able to get off.

    Free of any more ferries or mountains we travelled fairly quickly towards Inuvik and dodged rabbits sitting by the side of the road until we came to a stranded car. A young couple from the Czech Republic had problems with their alternator. We gave them a boost and let them drive ahead of us. It wasn’t long before we found them by the side of the road again but this time they claimed everything was fine. Turns out it wasn’t and Judi and Olaf who were behind us picked them up and took them to their chalet, cabin and campground where we were also staying. What a reunion!

  • Tombstone, YT to Eagle Plains, YT

    In the morning we truly appreciated the amazing scenery at the campground. We were surrounded by mountains on all sides, each with different geological formations. A geologist would be in heaven!

    The Tombstone Interpretive Centre not only made us a beautiful tea but pointed out a rock glacier on a nearby mountain. A rock glacier is a glacier of rocks held together by ice.

    The highway took us through some stunning scenery which changed completely every half hour or so. For the most part, the gravel highway was in very good shape and fairly smooth, but occasionally there were sections with dust, potholes and lots of washboard. We wondered whether our teeth would stay in our mouths and whether we should continue.

    We had lunch at a river surrounded by mountains and sunshine. One river on our trip was particularly colourful because of the many minerals dissolved in the water.

    Not much later we drove through many kilometers of burnt forest. We later found out that this enormous fire had taken place in June and July of this year.

    We finally made it to kilometre 369 and arrived at the Eagle Plains Hotel, Restaurant and Campground. We had dinner with Cathy, who is responsible for roads in the area, and her dog Sierra. She promised us the second half of the highway is not as challenging as the first half.

  • Dawson City, YT to Tombstone, YT

    Today we started driving towards Inuvik on the 737 kms of gravel road called the Dempster Highway. The morning began with a thorough scrubbing as we didn’t know when the next shower opportunity would arise. The van was dumped and filled with fresh water and fuel as there are very few services and fuel options on this stretch of highway. The first fuelling option is 369 km in!

    After breakfast we spent 3 hours updating our blog since we were three days behind. We stopped at the Danoja Zho Cultural Centre and learned about the Tr’ondek Hwech’in people, the original people of the Klondike River. A 14 minute video introduced their culture and language and talked about their interaction with the white people that came during the Gold Rush. One focus of the museum is the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Residential School Program where young aboriginal youth were taken from their families and culture and forced to adapt to the culture and values of the white people, often enduring abuse in the process.

    Next up was the Dempster Highway Information Centre where we picked up our Dempster Highway Passports and enquired about further information on tours to Tuktoyaktuk. We then went to buy bear spray and a bear bell just to be safe in bear country.

    By now it was late afternoon and we had a quick chicken taco before setting off on our Dempster Highway adventure. A few kilometres into the trip we discovered a crack in the windshield.

    Our campsite for the night is at the beautiful Tombstone Mountain Yukon Government Campground, 72 km into the highway. We celebrated with a fine home cooked dinner and called it a day.