Saturday, July 30: On The Alaska Hwy.

Saturday, July 30

Our bodies seemingly still on Alaska Time, we woke up late this morning at the Laird Hotsprings Lodge campground.  Luckily, the black bear(s) that had visited camp at dinner the night before had not returned…or at least we think so.  We were so relaxed & tired after our soak in the Laird Hotsprings that we fell asleep quite easily in our little yellow tent.  We breakfasted/lunched at the on-site restaurant, used the wifi and took off on the Alaska Hwy. southward toward Dawson Creek, BC.  As with the Yukon, the scenery was stunning.  From the car we saw aquamarine lakes, raging rivers, picturesque creeks, river valleys & wildlife. 

Not far from Laird Hotsprings, we saw another bison.  Soon after we saw two small groups of caribou.   

Later on our drive, we added two new species (by Mike’s identification) to our wildlife list:   grey wolf & stone sheep. 

 The wolf was perched on the roadside as we approached but was quite shy and apprehensive about our white Toyota.  Perhaps it didn’t favor imports?  Anyway, we did manage to get a snap although it is not ideal.

 Looking to stock up on supplies, we stopped for groceries at an IGA store in Fort Nelson.  A short distance later we stopped for fuel & (quite importantly) coffee.  As we’ve been driving we’ve been listening to the book on CD “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larson.  The book mentions coffee constantly.  Perhaps as a result, we’ve both had a hankering for coffee for some time. 

Pushing on into the evening, we drove into a more agricultural region of British Columbia.  In the ever-increasingly dim light (What?!? Darkness?!?)  we saw yellow canola fields.  Exhausted & unable to go on, we finally landed at the Mile 0 RV Park in Dawson Creek, BC. This is the official start of the Alaska Canadian Highway.  By the light of a lantern, we cooked up a quick dinner of grilled cheese washed up at the not-to-clean washrooms and went to sleep.  This night we saw stars & true darkness for the first time that we can remember since leaving MN.          

Laird HotSprings

July 29

We left our plush Whitehorse hotel with a chores list to accomplish prior to departing down the road.  We had to exchange some money to Canadian, get an oil change, get gas, and eat some food.  We ate at a busy deli-great food and quite the assortment of smoked meats and candies.  Oil change went well, though a concerned look on the guy's face as he asked "Did you hit something, there is a ton of blood under the car."  Well, not that we are aware of, but no worries.  It started to rain and we hit the road at noon.  Mike drove a long ways with no wildlife through the Yukon and in and out of British Colombia.  Beautiful scenery but no wildlife.  Sara took over driving and all we saw was wildlife.  We saw 9 bears from the road and many many buffalo (one herd of over 50).  The bears were content eating red raspberries along the road.  It was amazing being so close to such wonderful beasts.  We also saw a caribou.  Mike was so happy to be passenger. 

As we approached the Laird Hotsprings Provincial Park we noticed that they had a campground full sign hanging.  We were worried, but were fortunate to find camping across the road from the springs and according to the lady working, she said we could sneak across the road for free and partake in the hotsprings.  Great news.  We made dinner of pasta and zucchini though were interrupted when a black bear wondered through the woods about 30 feet from where we were cooking.  Scary-but it went the other way without incident. After dinner, we hiked to the springs and were rewarded with a relaxing evening.   We looked for Adam’s swim trunks that he left two years ago but had no luck.  The springs are great, you could control the temperature of the water by how close you positioned yourself to the source.  We returned to camp relaxed and ready to take on another day.

Chicken

We made it to Chicken!  Tired and desperate for a shower, we dragged ourselves off of the Taylor/Top of the World Hwy. and into the community of Chicken at ~10 p.m. Wednesday night.  Our guidebook stated the summer population of Chicken to be about 50 residents (as compared to the winter population of 6).  The entire area is largely focused on gold & gold mining.  Old rusted out mining equipment could be seen on the road and throughout town.  The place where we stayed (The Goldpanner) had it all:  it was an RV park/gift shop/gas station/cafe/ gold mining location/local  ambulance and firetruck station.  Most importantly, we learned  it also had the only showers & flush toilets in town.  Unfortunately, the main building (including the running water) was closed for the evening and could not be accessed until the following morning.  Rain was approaching, so we were instructed to pitch our tent underneath a canopy on a large gravel lot and "square up with the ladies in the morning."

    This morning we woke up eager to take take advantage of a $8 shower with questionably non-potable water.  Hmmm...The excitement continued as we learned that camping was free (typically $14 for tent) if one topped off their gas tank at the on-site gas pump.  The internet at the gift shop proved to be quite slow but we did make use of the free gold panning.  Mike, with the idea of earning back our gas money, intently dove into the pay dirt.  While we did not recover our gas money, we did leave with a few small flakes of the "colored stuff." 

Before leaving town, we had one major task to complete:  mail the official marriage paperwork.  We found the Chicken post office up a gravel road (opens at 11) and got it in the day before the twice-weekly mail-day in Chicken, AK.  We breakfasted on scones at the "downtown" Chicken cafe and then hit the gravel road out of Alaska. 

We entered the Yukon on the Top of the World Hwy.  We traveled some lonely high elevation roads (100+ miles of gravel) for quite some time before coming down, taking a ferry over the Yukon River and into historic Dawson City.  In Dawson City, we met the Yukon Hwy. Finally a paved road!  We traveled on the Yukon Hwy. (largely paved) for a long distance.  We drove hard but stopped for a quick picnic alongside the road at Gravel Lake. 

Along the roads, we did see a moose and a quick peek at a pine martin.  Also, we got to see an arctic fox.  Weather was close to 70 during the day with the night cooling into the upper 40's again.  Some rain throughout the day but not enough to ruin the roads.  Tomorrow-hot springs.

 

Grayling

Wednesday, July 27 Blueberry Fields Forever
This morning, Mike awoke excited to check out the Brushkana River.  A sign posted near the campground indicated the presence of grayling and both brown and black bears.  After a quick breakfast, we walked downriver with hopes of encountering one of the aforementioned species in particular.   It proved to be a
Worthwhile endeavor.  Sara found blueberries all along the river.  Mike caught his first ever grayling ever.  

Even though grayling is said to be excellent table fare, our cooler is already quite off-smelling so the fish was released. 
After the morning fishing trip, we packed up camp and prepared to depart.  As we were filling up our water bottles and packing the car a friendly poodle attempted to hitch a ride and jumped into the passenger seat.  A few minutes were spent trying to coax the dog out of the car before we could take off.
 The Denali Hwy. proved to be a wildlife viewing & trip highlight.  While driving we were lucky to see: ermine, arctic ground squirrel, marmot, moose & caribou.  At one point, we met a mother & baby caribou on the road.  Quite unwilling to share the road, (& us unable to take any other route) mother & baby ran awkwardly in front of our slowly moving car for over a mile before finally turning off into the bushes.  

As our car moved through the alpine tundra at an elevation of 4,000+ feet, we were also treated to beautiful vistas of distant mountains & lakes.

Early afternoon, we reached the end of the gravel and the Denali Hwy. We turned north on the Richardson Hwy. in Paxson.  From there we followed the road & the Alyeska Pipeline northwards to Delta Junction. 

In Delta Junction, we fueled up (whew!), failed at finding showers (hmmm…), and headed out of town on the Alaska (Alcan) Hwy. 

I am writing this in the car at 7:05 p.m. Alaska time, about 9 miles west of Tok.  Taking advantage of the long Alaskan days (it never seems to get dark!) our goal this evening is to reach Chicken, AK.  There we plan to find camping and hopefully a shower.  Our odometer says we’ve traveled a total of 5, 201 miles thus far on our grand adventure. 

Toward Denali

Tuesday, July 26
After a late breakfast of oatmeal & coffee, we departed the Kenai and headed North.  We stopped in Anchorage briefly at a Fred Meyer store to restock some necessities in preparation for our roundabout journey homewards.  From Anchorage we traveled northward on the Parks Hwy. with hopes of seeing Denali.  At the south lookout, we were treated to spectacular views of the mountain range but top eluded us that evening. 

Looking to conquer new territory, we chose to travel on the 136 mi. east-west Denali Hwy.  The Denali Hwy. is all gravel with the exception of 25 paved miles.  We are driving a rental car after all… Before making the turn, we decided to top off our gas tank (better safe than sorry) in the community of Cantwell.  Well, the first gas station we encountered was out of gas. Luckily, we found a second.  Our worries returned, however, when the attendant came out to inform us that the gas pump just stopped working.  With no other possibility of refueling, we decided to press on.
It was getting late into the evening as we turned on to the gravel, so we chose to camp at the first available spot 30 miles down the road.  At about 9:30 p.m. we found the Bureau of Land Management Brushkana River Campground to be our best camping spot yet on this trip. 

For $12, we had a great campsite within earshot of the Brushkana River, a fresh drinking water hand pump on site and luxurious pit toilets (It is our honeymoon afterall).   As we were eating dinner that evening, we did discover our campsite#14 was already occupied by a camp mouse. 


Highly curious, the camp mouse did at one point hop upon Sara’s shoe and moments later could be found perching upon the cuff of her pants.  Over night we did have some rain and temperatures dropped to the mid-40s.          

Sara Tangles with Salmon

July 25 Salmon Fishing the Kenai
Sara has always imagined spending her honeymoon with Joe Cynor.  She just never anticipated how sad she would feel even when we’re talking about when he must leave.  After a long & somewhat wet night, both Joe & Mike bounded out of the tents ready to fish at sun up or 10 am, whichever is later.
We ate the last of the pop tarts and headed down to the river right by our campsite.  We walked a long way to our “secret” spot to find it occupied.  We walked a way further and fished hard but found no fish.  It was sad, but we would not be deterred.
It was time to go to war, combat fishing style.  We went to Bing’s Landing and this is the way it goes.

Try not to hook the guy next to you, try to dodge flying hooks and weights, and try to catch fish.  In that order.  Mike and Joe did well catching their 6 fish each.   

Sara, after perching on the bank out of harms way, decided to try her hand at fishing.  Within 20 minutes, she hooks up on a monster.  Unfortunately without a net, it escaped.  Sara was ready to go back, though scared that she can’t handle that big of a fish.  She hooks up again, we borrow another man’s net, and success.

Sara catches a total of 3 Red Salmon, sore, tired, yet really excited about the experience.
 We look to head out of this area tomorrow.  Start our road trip back with no big agenda and eagerly seeking adventure.  I’m sure many will be found.

July 24: Moving Out & Goodbyes

July 24 Moving Out & Goodbyes
With sorrow this morning we packed up and said good bye to the Wild Rose Chalet and Moose Pass.  We had planned to pack up a bit the night before but an unexpected and lengthy power outage necessitated a change of plans.  After a smorgasbord-style breakfast and a fast final clean-up, we said some good-byes.  Mike drove Tom and Gail to their hotel in Anchorage.  Joe set out to find new fishing and camping locations.  Adam led the Johnson family (& honorary member Sarah Born) on a hike on the Russian River.   The hike proved to be quite wet and the hikers unfortunately did not see the brown bears that were in that same spot the previous afternoon.  It was quite cool, however, to see salmon slowly working their way up the Russian River Falls towards their birth sites.  The same locations at which they will eventually spawn.  Cold, wet and with some time to burn, Greg, Mary, Adam and the Sara(h)s, stopped for hot chocolate & surprisingly delicious cinnamon rolls at the Cooper Landing Grocery.  At short time later, they met Mike at the Tern Lake roadside pullout. With some final hugs, Greg, Mary, Adam & Sarah Born departed towards Anchorage.  Mike and Sara continued on the Sterling Hwy. to meet Joe at the Morgan’s Landing state recreation area & campground.  Joe did a fantastic job choosing our new spot; not only did we have beautiful campsites but we were also within walking distance of salmon fishing on the Kenai River.

That evening as the rain stopped, Joe, Mike & Sara decided to try out salmon fishing at our new location.  The scenery was gorgeous but the action a bit slow.  In the end Joe did come home with two salmon.  Mike caught and released a rainbow trout. 

 Sara learned the technique of salmon fishing but caught (& released) only a small sized stick.  We all walked back to our tents at about 11:30 p.m. tired but happy.