Denali National Park – Day 3 & 4

We have had two quiet rainy days, we wandered around the McKinley Path yesterday with our cameras and took some photos of the flowers and bridges etc.  Coffee at the information centre and walked to the suspension bridge over the river then home again.  We arrived home wet and soggy with the rain coming on and off throughout the walk.  The bathroom looks like a laundry room with all the wet clothes and jackets around it.  Because we have only our solar power here (no shore power) we are not using a heater so they have to air dry when they can.

 

Today we drove out to the Mile 15 of the National Park, this is as far as we can take a private vehicle, the remainder of the road to Mile 92 has to be on the Park Buses.  We stopped and looked at each of the lay bys along the road and saw a lovely young male moose and he crossed the road in front of us.  As it is still a bit rainy and overcast we spent the afternoon doing video and photos.  I am learning a lot of new skills about video editing and this should make them more enjoyable for everyone…

Another lovely day of our travels.

 

Denali National Park – Day 2

We rose very early this morning, in the car by 6:30am and on the tour bus by 6:50am, a bit of a shock to the system after our late starts lately.

The bus was absolutely full and Bert sat all day with the wheel arch – crunched up.

We saw Denali Peak in all her glory very early this morning – Mount McKinley or Denali – same mountain and only recently renamed officially as Denali the traditional name for this mountain.  The highest mountain in North America at 20,000+ feet and is climbed with and without success every year.

The bus ride was for 8 hours and we saw loads of animals, caribou with their big antlers, willow ptarmigan (the native bird of Alaska), Dall Sheep (native to this area), ground squirrels and a large male grizzly.

Met a lovely family from Chicago on the bus who have been travelling for 10 weeks across to visit the area and are in the Riley Campground also.

The bus went to Mile 62 on the road, the road only only goes to Mile 92. You can take your own car as far as Mile 15 on the sealed road, then it turns to dirt and you must be on a bus – either a guided tour or the green bus that is a shuttle bus of sorts.

We had a wonderful but tiring day and are so please to have seen the mountain in full as only 30% of all visitors have this privilege and we are counting our blessings.

More to follow as we spend our next 5 days here……..

 

 

 

 

Denali National Park – Day 1

We arrived mid afternoon yesterday (Thursday) and checked in at the Mercantile (as instructed on the website), there is a full dump and potable water area with 3 full sets of facilities.   The Mercantile has a good range of necessities including coffee, icecream, wine and beer at reasonable prices.

Had a lovely BBQ dinner and found we had great internet here!!  Off to our bed around 10:30pm (sun still bright in the sky) and slept soundly until 8:45am this morning!! I love it when we do this….  thank you reflectix on the windows…..

After our BBQ Bacon and Eggs for Breakfast we walked to the Park Entrance via the McKinley Pathway which is through the forest and along the river, under the railway bridge for about 2 miles.

After coffee and walk around at the Park Entrance complex, a lovely tour driver dropped in town “the Canyon” it is called here – we think of it as Denali Township on the highway.

 

Tomorrow is an early start, 6:50am tour for 7-8 hours, hopefully an exciting blog and video to follow.

Fountaingate Antique Car Museum

We had a wonderful day couple of hours at the Fountaingate Antique Car Museum, neither of us are particularly car fanatics but when the museum is as good as this, I don’t think that matters.  For the ladies there is antique gowns and costumes that go with the era of the car and it works very well.

 

They have a wonderful display of video’s and photo’s from “the day” and how people travelled in Alaska back from 1900-1930’s and we worry about the odd permafrost buckle in the road and panic when we have no internet!   We are very spoilt with what we have access to, internet, navigators, mobile phones and cars/trucks that are luxurious (relative to what they had then).

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Be safe, and thanks for joining us on this adventure.

 

Back in the USA

We travelled from Whitehorse, via Beaver Creek for one night, over the Canadian Border, then through no mans land for 19 miles and back into the USA without any problems.

Completed the Alcan Highway – from Mile 0 in Dawson Creek to Mile 1422 in Delta Junction, the road surface was better than expected but need to travel to the conditions of the road and this changes regularly.

 

Wonderful adventure and trip, we will only travel some of the Alcan Highway on our return.  Then venturing down the Cassiar Highway to Vancouver.  Very pleased we have completed this remote and adventurous route through Canada and Alaska.

It was built back in 1942 during the start of WWII, as Japan has already invaded some of the Alaskan Islands, therefore creating a need for easy access to protect the USA state.  We did a video re the building of the Alcan Highway while we were at Mile 0 – Dawson Creek.

Hope you like the video, please subscribe, like and share – it encourages us to keep making them.

thank you

 

Arriving Alaska and Fairbanks town

On July 20th, 2019 we officially left Canada and drove the 19 miles/30 kms of no man’s lands to arrive and clear customs at the USA Alaska Border.  Very smooth transition between countries.

We drove to Delta Junction the official end of the Alcan Highway, so we have now completed the whole of the highway Mile 0 to Mile 1422, Bert drove the entirety of the highway.  The road was rough in parts with road works, some frost heaves (frozen permafrost makes the road buckle or dip) but nothing as bad as we were lead to expect, we slowed down and came through “unscathed” and very pleased about it too.

We had a picnic lunch at the Mile 1422 marker and Information Centre and then did the last 200 miles into Fairbanks, found our RV park and got set up and it was only 3pm – we are now officially on Alaska time (-1 hour on Pacific Time).  Absolutely exhausted after 320 miles (500+ km) and 8 hours in the car.

Sunday we rose late and went to the Fountain Head Antique Auto Museum (https://www.fountainheadmuseum.com/) about 10 minutes from our RV park and it was fantastic – $10 entry fee each and we loved looking at the beautiful shiny cars and the matching period clothes for each of the cars and the colours even matched.  More images to follow on the next video…..  to be posted shortly.

We sat around in the afternoon and had drinks with new friends, Tim and Mary and Pepper the dog – from Southern California,  we have been running across them on and off since Watsons Lake, Liard Springs, Whitehorse and now Fairbanks, they head off to Valdez tomorrow.  Bill and Lisa are in the next row at the RV park here and they hail from California and New York before that, we thoroughly enjoyed their company.

Monday morning, up and going – Ford F250 getting an oil change after 2500 miles and Tim and Mary invited us to the North Pole with them. Yes there is a real town here called North Pole and they have a Santa Claus Lane with a Santa building and reindeer stables – with 8 reindeer just like the real Santa Claus.

Picked up the car and spend an hour or so at the Verizon (internet and phone company) and got our services sorted so we are not paying huge fees to be connected in Canada (and still have lousy service) – like we did getting here.  Enough of that – it is all fixed now.

 

Whitehorse, Yukon (Video Release)

We had a great time in Whitehorse, in addition to the Glass Workings (see other video) we did go to the Fish Ladder and the “Klondike”.

It is a fun town, with loads to do and see.

Hope you like the video.

Whitehorse, Yukon

We had a lovely 5 nights in Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Province.

It is a pretty town on the Yukon River and has a total population of 30,000 people and the rest of the Province there is only an additional 5000 people.

Met some lovely folk, from Illinois who are travelling into Alaska and also reconnected with another couple that we had met before and were also in the same park.    Sitting out at night is great fun but because of the late sunsets you forget that and realise at 10pm that you have been chatting for hours.  Meeting some fantastic folk in the RV Parks, and hearing of their adventures and re-meeting them down the road again.

Went for a walk around the well maintained paddle steamer “Klondike”, and saw how the people and cargo travelled back in the 1900 – 1920’s – wonderful display.

I went and spent the afternoon making glass (see other blog and video), we found a wonderful coffee shop/bakery on Main Street near the old railway station and visited that most days.

Never knew there was such a thing as a Fish Ladder, there is!! It was recommended by Tim and Mary so we found our way there, and because of the dam on the Yukon River they have made a wooden step ladder for the salmon to use to go around the dam, this also allows the volunteers to count the fish – ingenious really.

On this red map the fish come from the Bering Sea (top left corner) and follow the light blue line (being the Yukon River) down to Whitehorse, one of the longest salmon fish migrations in the world.

Whitehorse is a great stop, loads of shops for everything you need and plenty of coffee and tourist venues to wander around.  Loads of walking paths if that is your thing too.

We’ve decided to stop on our way back to restock, before hitting the Cassiar Highway south.

 

Glass Studio, Making Glass – Whitehorse (Video Release)

We had a great few hours at the Lumel Glass Studio in Whitehorse, Leanne made some beautiful glass items and we watched many of the folk making beautiful glass items of their choice.

This video is show Leanne and others working with the molten glass and the end results of the work they all put in.

If you enjoy it and like to beautiful glass products shown in the video. If you like the videos please, subscribe, like and share – it encourages us to make more.

 

 

Rock Tamers Installation (Video Release)

We have installed these mud flaps called Rock Tamers on the Ford F250 this will protect the front of the trailer and we are just about to come across the roads with frost heaves (i.e. permafrost ground) and these Rock Tamers will manage the stones and rocks that will be thrown up.

 

Hope you like the video, if you do please subscribe, like and share – it encourages that folk are watching and we will keep making them.

Apologies for the late post, we have been internet deprived for about 3 weeks…..