July 17
August 21
September 3
September 13
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Bill--The Ice Road Trucker Part III
The bridge across the Yukon River. The oil pipeline hangs underneath the bridge
Bed of the bridge is made of wood planks. Not sure why
Stopped for a good meal after getting back to Fairbanks
My car in Denny's parking lot at the end of the trip
Bill--The Ice Road Trucker Part II
It is a long road
Approaching the Yukon River
The Yukon River
The only gas station in 175 miles
A Holland America bus pulled into the Yukon River Camp while I was there. It was on it's way back from Prudhoe Bay. Note the well paved parking lot
Finger Rock. Bush pilots supposedly used this as a landmark because it points directly to Fairbanks. It is not that big, don't know how they could see it from the air
Proof that I made it to the Arctic Circle. This sign is the only thing there...at a pulloff beside the road
My car when I arrived at the Arctic Circle
Bill--The Ice Road Trucker Part I
I have not taken any extra days off all summer long, just the one day a week we all get. So I asked for two days off because I wanted to drive on the Dalton Highway (the road the truckers are on in the TV show Ice Road Truckers, alson known as Alaska highway 11 and the Haul Road) and drive as far as the Arctic Circle, just to say I had been there.
They scheduled me for a short day on Tuesday so I could catch a ride to Fairbanks that afternoon. Wednesday morning I rented a car and drove 420 miles round trip to the Arctic Circle and back to Fairbanks. Then I got another ride from Fairbanks to Denali on Thursday afternoon.
Not all car rental agencies will rent a car if they know you are going to be driving on gravel roads. But I found Arctic Outfitters who did rent a Ford Escape to me. It was in very nice shape, came equipped with a second spare tire, a CB radio (remember those), a map, and a very chipped and cracked front windshield.
I started out at 9:00am on Wednesday. Drove about 90 miles north on the Elliott Highway (Alaska Highway 2) which is all paved road. Then started on the Dalton Highway. I was surprised to find that there are several pretty long stretches that are paved; I thought the entire Dalton Highway was dirt and gravel, not so.
Drove to the Yukon River, which is big, like the Mississippi, really big compared to other rivers up here. Then on to the Circle.
In the 230 miles of the Dalton Highway that I drove, I saw fewer than 50 other vehicles. One, with two couples, arrived at the Arctic Circle just a few minutes after me, so got them to take a picture of me with the sign.
Here are some pictures.
They scheduled me for a short day on Tuesday so I could catch a ride to Fairbanks that afternoon. Wednesday morning I rented a car and drove 420 miles round trip to the Arctic Circle and back to Fairbanks. Then I got another ride from Fairbanks to Denali on Thursday afternoon.
Not all car rental agencies will rent a car if they know you are going to be driving on gravel roads. But I found Arctic Outfitters who did rent a Ford Escape to me. It was in very nice shape, came equipped with a second spare tire, a CB radio (remember those), a map, and a very chipped and cracked front windshield.
I started out at 9:00am on Wednesday. Drove about 90 miles north on the Elliott Highway (Alaska Highway 2) which is all paved road. Then started on the Dalton Highway. I was surprised to find that there are several pretty long stretches that are paved; I thought the entire Dalton Highway was dirt and gravel, not so.
Drove to the Yukon River, which is big, like the Mississippi, really big compared to other rivers up here. Then on to the Circle.
In the 230 miles of the Dalton Highway that I drove, I saw fewer than 50 other vehicles. One, with two couples, arrived at the Arctic Circle just a few minutes after me, so got them to take a picture of me with the sign.
Here are some pictures.
My rental car before starting the drive
Elliott Highway is a nice paved road
The beginning of the Dalton Highway. It really is not covered with gravel, as I thought, but is a hard clay with small stones
More of the road
Now and then you come upon another vehicle. This truck was full with some kind of liquid in it's tank, going about 20mph up this hill
When the road is wet it get slippery
Sunday, August 28, 2011
My Reindeer Friends Part II
Latest changes taken about a week ago. All of the velvet is gone from his antlers, they now look and feel like wood.
Note how his feet spread out. That allows him to walk on top of the snow instead of sinking. Works like a snowshoe.
Lastly, he is getting his winter coat back. He has the light tan look, like he had when I first saw him.
He will let me scratch under his chin and touch his antlers.
Hope Carol has the back yard ready!
Note how his feet spread out. That allows him to walk on top of the snow instead of sinking. Works like a snowshoe.
Lastly, he is getting his winter coat back. He has the light tan look, like he had when I first saw him.
He will let me scratch under his chin and touch his antlers.
Hope Carol has the back yard ready!
A Beautiful Day for Mountain Sightings
Drove a group of people to Whittier on Aug 27 so they could get on the Cruise Ship.
On the 28th we drove back to the Mount McKinley Princess Lodge. It was a beautiful, clear day after we got away from Whittier. It was so clear that we could see Denali (the mountain) as we were driving through downtown Anchorage, but could not get a picture. We also saw it almost the entire way from Anchorage to McKinley Princess.
Here are some pictures.
On the 28th we drove back to the Mount McKinley Princess Lodge. It was a beautiful, clear day after we got away from Whittier. It was so clear that we could see Denali (the mountain) as we were driving through downtown Anchorage, but could not get a picture. We also saw it almost the entire way from Anchorage to McKinley Princess.
Here are some pictures.
From just north of Wasilla.
Along the road north of Willow
From the deck at the McKinley Princess Lodge. It had started to get a little cloudy around the mountain
Mount Foraker (Denali's wife 17,000+ feet)on the left and Mount Hunter on the right(Denali's Child 14,500+ feet). Foraker is farther away so looks shorter.
A final view of the mountain.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
On the Way Back from Kantishna
After flying out to Kantishna in about 45 minutes, it took just over five hours to get back by bus. Here are some pictures of what we saw on the way back. We saw a bear and a couple caribou but they were too far to get good pictures.
A red fox with a squirrel in it's mouth. It was just walking along the side of the road and could have cared less that this bus full of people was right beside it.
The fox again.
Very hard to see but this is a young bull moose, first one I have seen. There was a female in the bushes, they may have been brother/sister.
To give you an idea of the relative size of the animals, the first is the grizzly bear, comes up to about my waist. The second is the Dall Sheep. The third is the moose whose back is at least as tall as me.
Behind the moose is the Wolf, and last is the Caribou. These are the five large animals found in the Park.
Flying High
Just about the final tour I wanted to go on in the Denali area was a flightseeing tour to the mountain, Denali. Yesterday I finally was able to get a seat on a plane and go. It was great.
We flew from the National Park air strip out to Kantishna, the end of the park road and about 90 miles from the lodge. On the way we got up above the clouds that almost always obscure Denali when looking from the ground and saw the top of the mountain.
There are glaciers everywhere and they all have names but I have no idea what the names of the ones we saw are.
Anyway, here are pictures of the trip.
We flew from the National Park air strip out to Kantishna, the end of the park road and about 90 miles from the lodge. On the way we got up above the clouds that almost always obscure Denali when looking from the ground and saw the top of the mountain.
There are glaciers everywhere and they all have names but I have no idea what the names of the ones we saw are.
Anyway, here are pictures of the trip.
The runway, only one, covered in gravel.
The plane and me. Plane seats five plus the pilot. Every seat is a window and an aisle seat.
Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge from the air.
Some lakes along the way. Beautiful green color.
A ridge way up there.
Some of the scenery on the way to Denali.
A glacier.
No that is not a road. It is some phenomenon that occurs when two glaciers are side by side
Along the way to Denali. Looks like there may have been an avalanche, snow is all piled up on itself.
The mountain above the clouds. Amazing.
Another view of the mountain. People actually climb this all the way to the summit (the round peak on the left is actually taller than the pointy peak)
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