Heading South to Stewart/Hyder

After taking Amy to the Anchorage airport to fly home, Al and I headed for Haines. We planned to see Haines and then take the Cassiar Hwy south with a side trip to Stewart and Hyder, then continue on home.

As we crossed into Yukon from Alaska we got snow. This is near Destruction Bay, Kluane Lake, Yukon.

Swans near the road going in to Haines.

A geocache we did just outside Haines. Logbook was inside the booth. One of the most unusual geocaches we stopped to do on the trip. After Haines we made our way down to the Cassiar Hwy which would take us back to the US by a different route than we had taken to the north.

Bear Glacier on the road into Stewart, BC. Weather on the Cassiar Hwy going south was pretty bad with rain and clouds making it impossible to enjoy the scenery. But, we still made our planned side trip into Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK to visit Fish Creek and the famous bear feeding area.

Looking down from the walkway to the bear feeding areas along Fish Creek. There were no fish, no bears, only evidence that they had been there.

Salmon Glacier, near Hyder was pretty impressive, but the low clouds made picture taking difficult. From here we headed back to the Cassiar Hwy and south to Prince George.

Anchorage and Palmer area

Leaving the Kenai Penninsula we had non-stop rain days to Anchorage, so we had to pass up on some places we had intended to stop at on the Cook Inlet. In Anchorage we ended up in a Travel Lodge that nobody should have to stay in.

We got out of Anchorage to Palmer and a great improvement in hotels. The Muskox Farm located outside Palmer was very interesting. There was also a reindeer farm nearby that Al and Amy visited.

These muskox are already 4 months old and have been separated from their mothers. The kids are feeding them leaves from an (I forgot) tree.

Al on Hatcher Pass road on our way up to see what was at Talkeetna, near Denali Park. This was the first snowfall of our trip and gave rise to thoughts of heading south soon.

Road sign at Talkeetna, AK. Too bad we did not see any of these moose while we were there (so no actual pictures). Talkeetna was a very busy town with people filghtseeing over Mt McKinley and river rafting. We left and camped down the road a little, heading to Wasilla's Iditarod Museum and then to Palmer for Amy's big birthday bash.

The Iditarod Museum near Wasilla was a stop on our way back to Palmer from Talkeetna. Al posed for me next to the sign. The museum showed a great video about the iditerod race and has some nice souvenirs.

Amy next to the Joe Reddington monument at the museum. Joe known as the "Father of the Iditarod" was the guy that got the race going back in 1973.

The Valley Hotel in Palmer was super good deal and there was an inhouse restaurant, lounge and liquor store.

Amy's 39th birthday party at the Valley Hotel Lounge. We had hit a couple of the local bars beforehand, but they were pretty trashy, so we went back to the hotel lounge. We partied late into the night, perhaps 9 or 10pm.

Seward and Homer

Seward was similar to Valdez, surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery. But, the town itself was not as good (to me) and it was really oriented to the tourists on the cruise ships, not unlike Skagway. Campgrounds were just large gravel parking lots with no character.

Looking across the bay from our campsite in Seward.

Monument on the shoreline about the founding of Seward as an all weather port and starting point for the railroad into the interior of Alaska. Seward was also the beginning point of the Iditarod trail to the goldfields, a name that would become associated with a dogsled race in later years.

Horned Puffin at the Sealife Center in Seward. The center has all kinds of wildlife that have been rescued and rehabilitated. Many of the critters are released, but some have become domesticated and would not survive, so and must be cared for the rest of their life.

The much photographed Russian Orthodox Church in Kenai is one of the many buildings on the Kenai Penninsula that remind us of the Russian Heritage predating the expansion of the US to the area. 

Amy and Al in front of Veronica's Cafe across from the church and housed in one of the supporting buildings. The old rectory, I think.

This is at Anchor Point, the farthest point you can drive in North America. A must stop on our way to Homer.

The Salty Dog Saloon at the Homer Spit, one of the more famous Alaskan watering holes. Basically a tourist attraction (we were attracted). 

A visitor to our campsite when we were on our way up to Anchorage and Palmer. This is just south of Soldotna on the Kenai.

Valdez

We stayed in Valdez for three days. Beautiful location surrounded by snow capped mountains.

Bear Paw Campground was centrally located to everything, bars, stores, restaurants and museums. Also right across from the small boat marina where we would catch our cruise to Columbia Glacier.

We took an 8 hour cruise on the Lulu Belle out into Prince William Sound up to the Columbia Glacier and to see wildlife (not much, whales were gone to Hawaii). Cliffs along the channel out off Valdez.

Columbia Glacier. We were about a half mile away from the wall, which was about 300 feet high. The depth sounder had the sea bottom at over 800 feet.

Harbor seals were everywhere basking in the sun.

Amy on the ferry we took from valdez to Seward. We signed up on standby and were able to make the ferry, saving us more than 300 miles going around through Anchorage.

McCarthy and Kennecott

From Denali Park, we drove across the Denali Hwy to the Richardson Hwy at Paxson. The Denali Hwy is all dirt about 135 miles, it rained the whole way, most of the way hunters were everywhere looking for caribou, so we did not stop except for a couple of geocaches. The Denali Hwy was the only way to get to the park before the paved Parks Hwy was built between Anchorage and Fairbanks. We were headed for McCarthy and the Kennecott Mine nearby and after that on down to Valdez and Prince William Sound.

Al crossing the single lane Kuskulana bridge between Chitina and McCarthy.

Camped at Glacier View Campground near the McCarthy footbride.

A & M crossing the McCarthy footbridge. On the other side you take a shuttle a mile to McCarthy, or an another five miles to the Kennecott Mine. No access to McCarthy side of the bridge for visitors. There is a privately owned vehicle bridge down river for locals and the mine restoration vehicles to cross.

The Kennecott Mine is under restoration. Probably will be a long time effort.

Kennecott power plant.

Worthington Glacier on the way to Valdez.

One of the many waterfalls on the road into Valdez.

Fairbanks and beyond

Heading toward Fairbanks, we decided to detour to Chena Hot Springs for a look and maybe camp there. The hot springs turned out to be a little too upscale and crowded for out taste so we continued on to Fairbanks. In Fairbanks we camped at the Tanana Valley Campground for a couple of days then we drove out the Steese Hwy to Circle on the Yukon River. Nice drive through goldrush area, but there wasn't much at Circle itself. We had a look around and headed back down the Steese Hwy to find a place to camp and then out the Elliot Hwy to Manley Hot Springs.  We camped across the road from the Manley Roadhouse and dinner and breakfast in their bar.

The campground office at Tanana Valley CG was a replica of a cabin used by early residents of the Fairbanks area. The campground is pretty central to everything in Fairbanks. That door is only about 4 or 5 feet tall so watch your head!

Informative sign at the end of the Steese Hwy in Circle, AK.

Al headed over to the Manley Roadhouse for an adult beverage. Manley seemed primarily oriented to sport and subsistence fishing. Fun drive out, good for overnight and return to Fairbanks.

From Manley we drove back to the junction eith the Dalton Hwy and decided to take it north to the Yukon River. We have now seen the Yukon from where it begins in B.C. to as far west as we can without going to the Bering Sea.

After Amy arrived in Fairbanks, we did a ride on the Discovery riverboat. It is somewhat like a Disney ride where they take you downriver about two miles to a replica indian village and then back to the landing and it's souvenir store. It was fun, pretty hoakey, but educational too!

Amy's hand showing a cabbage at the U. of Alaska botanical gardens. Plants really benefit from the long hours of sumer daylight.

Amy liked Denali Park.

First grizzly at Denali Park.

Mt McKinley, we were some of the people lucky enough to visit the park when the mountain is out for viewing. Only about a third of visitors get to see the mountain.

Another grizzly bear. Unfortunately, on the day we left the park, a hiker was mauled to death trying to get too close while taking pictures. We were taking pictures from the safety of the bus.

Another view of Mt McKinley.

Dawson City, Yukon and finally...Alaska

From the Dempster Hwy we made our way up the short distance to Dawson City. Nice little town, not too touristy and a lot of goldrush history.

This is a picture of the Yukon River and Dawson  from the "Dome," a mountain rising on the edge of Dawson City with a road all the way to the top.

The goldrush began with the discovery of gold on Bonanza Creek, This is the gold dredge Number 8 out on Bonanza Creek. It is unbelieveable how these behemoths dug their way up a creek floating on a pond that they kept moving forward by taking in the streambed at one end and depositing it out the other end. Minus the gold, of course.

We finally crossed over into Alaska on the "Top of the World Hwy" and I had to stop and get a picture of this cabin near a small roadside business. Our first place to visit would be Eagle at the end of the Taylor Hwy on the Yukon River.

Eagle is a long way from anywhere in Alaska, but it sits on the Yukon River just inside of the US. The Yukon was the main thoroughfare back in the goldrush days and the feds wanted to look after US interests so Ft Egbert (US Army) was established in 1899. In 1901 the Federal Courthouse pictured above was built to handle legal/criminal matters until the court was moved to Fairbanks two years later.

                                   
Eagle has a population of several hundred. Here is a map of the town with some info on the place. After we left Eagle headed for Fairbanks, we stopped in a little wide spot in the road called Chicken. The name was chosen after the inhabitants could not agree on how to spell Ptarmigan. What happens in Chicken, stays in Chicken.

Here is the Milepost 1422 marker which is the end of the Alcan Hwy. The Alcan ends at Delta Junction when it meets the Richardson Hwy running from Valdez to Fairbanks.

Unfortunately while we were in Delta Junction Al was cornered by a pair of the Alaskan state birds, fortunately he had used his Deet 10,000% earlier that day.

A few miles past Delta Junction we came to Rika's Roadhouse, one of many that were spaced along the Valdez to Fairbanks Trail, later called the Richardson Hwy. Rika's has been preserved by the state and is a great historical stop on the way to Fairbanks. 

Roadhouses were spaced every 15-20 miles and offered hot meals and a place to sleep for weary travelers. Another shot of Rika's, from the back.
Next stops would be Fairbanks, Circle on the Steese Hwy, Manley Hot Springs on the Elliot Hwy and a short run up the Dalton Hwy to the Yukon River.