The road winds down along the river and decends 1000', crosses the river, and then back up 1000'; a long climb. We stayed at the Mountain Shadows RV Resort. What a beautiful area.
The next day we headed for Stewart, BC/ Hyder Alaska. More later.
Friday, June 20, 2014
We headed East from Teslin, and spent one night at our least favorite RV park, just west of Watson Lake. It was convenient for us to start our trip down the Cassiar Highway from there, though. We are starting to head on the way home. The Cassier Highway goes South thru Dease Lake, BC, and ends up on the Yellowhead Highway east of Prince Rupert, BC on the coast and West of Prince George in the interior. Our first night was spent at Iskut, BC. On the way, we crossed the Stikine River, on of the major rivers, that start in BC and it ends up between Wrangell and Petersburg, AK
Stikine River
The road winds down along the river and decends 1000', crosses the river, and then back up 1000'; a long climb. We stayed at the Mountain Shadows RV Resort. What a beautiful area.
Mountain Shadows RV Park at Iskut, BC
The next day we headed for Stewart, BC/ Hyder Alaska. More later.
The road winds down along the river and decends 1000', crosses the river, and then back up 1000'; a long climb. We stayed at the Mountain Shadows RV Resort. What a beautiful area.
The next day we headed for Stewart, BC/ Hyder Alaska. More later.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Teslin, YT RV park is a very nice place to stay. Here are a few pictures of some of the things we saw on our way. I couldn't send pictures for a while, but now have better internet service now.
Tundra Swans
The swans are very noisy, worse than geese. The next pictures are of Roberta and I at the USA/Canada border. It was surveyed in the early 1900's and then a 20' strip was cut, and it is still being taken care of by both governments.
I am standing in two countries
20' Swath From Arctic Ocean to SE Alaska
The pictures of the road conditions olong the way. This wasn't the worst of them. It took us 3 hours to make 100 miles on one stretch. This is the only way to get to Alaska by road.
The top picture shows the white line, and how frost heaved it was.
Teslin Lake RV Park and Teslin River Bridge
I will add more tomorrow.
The swans are very noisy, worse than geese. The next pictures are of Roberta and I at the USA/Canada border. It was surveyed in the early 1900's and then a 20' strip was cut, and it is still being taken care of by both governments.
The pictures of the road conditions olong the way. This wasn't the worst of them. It took us 3 hours to make 100 miles on one stretch. This is the only way to get to Alaska by road.
I will add more tomorrow.
Monday, June 9, 2014
On with the travels of the Soare's. I am sorry that I haven't added to the blog lately. Everyplace we have stayed for the last few days haven't either had internet, or one was limited to a specific amount, and it wasn't enough for the blog. I will send pictures when I find a spot to send them. We travelled to Tok on the GlenAllen Highway, and one of the lakes had lots of tundra swans feeding on it. It is hard to imagine how noisy they are in the wild, and they make geese look puny. After Tok, AK, we travelled to Destruction Bay across our favorite frostheaved road. I can't imagine the truck driver I visited with, at a rest area. He drives that road four times a week. He said that the road was better now. It still took us three hours to go 100 miles. After Destruction Bay, we motored to Teslin, YT. What a beautiful campground, right on Teslin Lake. When we rose in the morning, we looked right out on the lake. I will add more tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
We had a very nice visit with our friends in Anchorage, and then visited the Alaska Airmen's Museum. It is situated on Lake Hood, which is on the International Airport. It is lined with aircraft. so many I couldn't believe it.
Lake Hood and Lake Spenard Seaplane Base
We visited downtown Anchorage and stopped to look across Cook Inlet, and could see Mt. Redoubt, which, as an active volcano, has sprinkled the city many times, with ash. Also we could see Mt. Illiama, another active volcano.
Downtown Anchorage Viewing Point
We then drove down to the Turnigan Arm of Cook Inlet. There is a beautiful view of the mountains across Cook Inlet. They are 75 to 100 miles away, but look much closer. They start at sea level, and are 10 to 15,000' high.
The Aleutian Range across Turnigan Arm
We departed this morning and headed for Glenallen, AK. We travelled up the Matanuska
Valley, along the Matanuska River. The road kept getting narrower and more winding.
Just before one gets to the Tahneta Pass, the Matanuska Glacier comes into view. It is
in a spectacular valley that runs to the South for many miles.
Matanuska Glacier
Tahneta Pass Area
Tahneta Pass Area, Wrangel Mountains in Distance
The Tahneta Pass area is sub Alpine with lots of muskeg, and mosquitoes and the pass elevation
is about 3300' . The road improved as we went East. We are now in a nice RV park in Glenallen,
and are headed to Tok, AK. The mosquitoes here are big enough to carry you away, and there are swarms of them.
We visited downtown Anchorage and stopped to look across Cook Inlet, and could see Mt. Redoubt, which, as an active volcano, has sprinkled the city many times, with ash. Also we could see Mt. Illiama, another active volcano.
We departed this morning and headed for Glenallen, AK. We travelled up the Matanuska
Valley, along the Matanuska River. The road kept getting narrower and more winding.
Just before one gets to the Tahneta Pass, the Matanuska Glacier comes into view. It is
in a spectacular valley that runs to the South for many miles.
Tahneta Pass Area, Wrangel Mountains in Distance
The Tahneta Pass area is sub Alpine with lots of muskeg, and mosquitoes and the pass elevation
is about 3300' . The road improved as we went East. We are now in a nice RV park in Glenallen,
and are headed to Tok, AK. The mosquitoes here are big enough to carry you away, and there are swarms of them.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
We had an interesting trip to Cantwell, AK. The wind picked up drastically as we got closer to Denali Park. It was 25MPH, with gusts to 45MPH. Needlessly to say, we had to slow down. When we arrived at the park, it started to rain, and when we woke up in the morning in Cantwell, we had silver dollar snowflakes falling. We never did see Mt. McKinley, as there was low cloud cover. This is what we woke up to.
We left Cantwell, and traveled South and crossed Summit Pass, the high point of 2300', between Fairbanks and Anchorage. We did a side trip to Talkeetna, which I have always wanted to see. It is the spot where tourists can catch fight to see Mt. McKinley, but not on this day, as the mountain was shrouded in clouds.
Talkeetna Airport
DeHavilland Beaver Landing at Talkeetna
We crossed the Tannana River South of Fairbanks and crossed an older bridge and took a picture of the the Alaska Railroad river bridge .
Tannana River at Nenana, AK
Tannana Bridge at Nenana, AK
Alaska Railroad Bridge
We are spending several days in Anchorage seeing the sights, and visiting old friends, who flew for ATT Alascom. They cover all of Alaska, including the Aleutian Chain, with several aircraft, taking technicians to repair the communication systems.
We left Cantwell, and traveled South and crossed Summit Pass, the high point of 2300', between Fairbanks and Anchorage. We did a side trip to Talkeetna, which I have always wanted to see. It is the spot where tourists can catch fight to see Mt. McKinley, but not on this day, as the mountain was shrouded in clouds.
We crossed the Tannana River South of Fairbanks and crossed an older bridge and took a picture of the the Alaska Railroad river bridge .
We are spending several days in Anchorage seeing the sights, and visiting old friends, who flew for ATT Alascom. They cover all of Alaska, including the Aleutian Chain, with several aircraft, taking technicians to repair the communication systems.
Friday, May 30, 2014
One of the interesting things we saw was at Delta Junction. The Alaska Pipeline crosses the Tanana river there. It is an impressive installation.
Alaska Pipeline Tanana River Crossing
The pipeline runs from Prudhoe Bay, AK., on the North Slope to Valdez, AK. It's over 800 miles long, and the pipe is 4' in diameter, plus it is insulated against the weather. We arrived in Fairbanks, a bussiling city of about 100,000 people. We are staying at the Rivers Edge RV park, right on the banks of the Chena River, which runs through the city. We visited the Pioneer Village, a tourist atraction, which houses the native artifacts building, air museum, a 1899 steam locomotive, the first one in Alaska, and was used in mining. It wasn't very big, and was narrow gage. We did the afternoon tour on the Riverboat Discovery, very enjoyable. It travels down the Chena river to where it meets the Tanana river. We stopped at a recreated Athabascan village and listened to native people speak about how they survived before the white man came. There are some beautiful homes along the river, and our commentator mentioned that the land along the river was worth over $100,000 an acre. We are under the flight pattern of the Fairbanks International Airport, and I can't believe all the aircraft go that go by. I am including several pictures of our river cruise.
Riverboat Discovery III
The company was started in 1898, hauling freight for the miners, and in 1950 started the excursion business in Fairbanks. They have done freight all the way to the mouth of the Yukon in the Bering Sea, but just do the passenger business now. Along the way we stopped at Susan Butcher's dog kennels. She passed away from cancer, after winning the Iditirod Race four times. They use a 4 wheeler to train the dogs in the summer time, and on the frozen river in the winter time. Iditirod winner , Lance Macke,y was greeting people at the landing.
Original Discovery I Riverboat
New Log Home
The Chena River
Athabascan Woman's Winter Coat
This is a picture of a coat worn by the Athabascan women in the winter, It is beautiful, with several different furs used in the construction, including wolverine for the inner hood.
Original Freight Loading Area
This is where the freight was loaded to go down the river to the Yukon and the mines and villages
Paddlewheel
This picture shows how close the the shore the paddlewheeler works. It has a draft of 3', and the paddlewheel and rudders only take 24".
This picture is of a 900' Supercub strip along the river, close to where we dock.
We have enjoyed our visit to Fairbanks, but are ready to hit the road again. Tomorrow, we are off to Cantwell, AK and Denali Park.
The pipeline runs from Prudhoe Bay, AK., on the North Slope to Valdez, AK. It's over 800 miles long, and the pipe is 4' in diameter, plus it is insulated against the weather. We arrived in Fairbanks, a bussiling city of about 100,000 people. We are staying at the Rivers Edge RV park, right on the banks of the Chena River, which runs through the city. We visited the Pioneer Village, a tourist atraction, which houses the native artifacts building, air museum, a 1899 steam locomotive, the first one in Alaska, and was used in mining. It wasn't very big, and was narrow gage. We did the afternoon tour on the Riverboat Discovery, very enjoyable. It travels down the Chena river to where it meets the Tanana river. We stopped at a recreated Athabascan village and listened to native people speak about how they survived before the white man came. There are some beautiful homes along the river, and our commentator mentioned that the land along the river was worth over $100,000 an acre. We are under the flight pattern of the Fairbanks International Airport, and I can't believe all the aircraft go that go by. I am including several pictures of our river cruise.
The company was started in 1898, hauling freight for the miners, and in 1950 started the excursion business in Fairbanks. They have done freight all the way to the mouth of the Yukon in the Bering Sea, but just do the passenger business now. Along the way we stopped at Susan Butcher's dog kennels. She passed away from cancer, after winning the Iditirod Race four times. They use a 4 wheeler to train the dogs in the summer time, and on the frozen river in the winter time. Iditirod winner , Lance Macke,y was greeting people at the landing.
This is a picture of a coat worn by the Athabascan women in the winter, It is beautiful, with several different furs used in the construction, including wolverine for the inner hood.
This is where the freight was loaded to go down the river to the Yukon and the mines and villages
We have enjoyed our visit to Fairbanks, but are ready to hit the road again. Tomorrow, we are off to Cantwell, AK and Denali Park.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
We had a good time visiting Whitehorse, but it was time to head down the road. Our next destination was Destruction Bay on Lake Kluane. It received its name from a very bad storm in 1942 that caused lots of damage to the ALCAN Highway camp for construction workers. Kluane Lake is 38 miles long and is famous for its whitefish and lake trout.
Moose on the roadside
Mountains at Kluane Lake
RV Park at Kluane Lake
We overnighted, and left the next day for Tok Junction, Alaska, The first 100 miles took us 3 hours, as the road had so many frost heaves, we could only go less than 40 MPH. The country is beautiful, and the road dept. was working on it. The problem is that there is permafrost here, and the ground will thaw in one spot and not in another, so that is what causes the frost heaves. At the RV park, the permafrost is 160' deep, and his well is 170', and has to circulate all the time to keep from freezing.
One has to be tough to live up here. As we moved towards Tok, the air became very smoky, as there is a big fire going on the Kenai Peninsula, and the smoke was traveling North.
Smoky View of Wrangel Mountains
It was sure nice to cross the US border and have the signs in miles and MPH. I never have been a metric person. The area around Tok is very flat, with lots of swampy areas.
Mirror Lake and Reflections of the Mountains
After Tok, we are headed for Fairbanks, AK, and do some touristy things. It is light 20 hrs a day up here, now, and the day's length is 21 1/2 hrs. in June.
We overnighted, and left the next day for Tok Junction, Alaska, The first 100 miles took us 3 hours, as the road had so many frost heaves, we could only go less than 40 MPH. The country is beautiful, and the road dept. was working on it. The problem is that there is permafrost here, and the ground will thaw in one spot and not in another, so that is what causes the frost heaves. At the RV park, the permafrost is 160' deep, and his well is 170', and has to circulate all the time to keep from freezing.
One has to be tough to live up here. As we moved towards Tok, the air became very smoky, as there is a big fire going on the Kenai Peninsula, and the smoke was traveling North.
Smoky View of Wrangel Mountains
It was sure nice to cross the US border and have the signs in miles and MPH. I never have been a metric person. The area around Tok is very flat, with lots of swampy areas.
Mirror Lake and Reflections of the Mountains
After Tok, we are headed for Fairbanks, AK, and do some touristy things. It is light 20 hrs a day up here, now, and the day's length is 21 1/2 hrs. in June.
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