Alaska

Alaska: August 7-28

crossing into Alaska

The Top of the World Highway takes you over to the border crossing with Alaska at Poker Creek. The sign in the photo tells you everything you need to know about it. It should only take you a few minutes to make this crossing.

the main part of Alaska and Yukon

For some reason the road on the Alaska side was paved and pristine for about 10 miles before turning into a basic, crappy dirt road all the way to a tiny town called Chicken. After about 2-1/2 hours the road intersects with Highway 2 just east of Tok (pronounced 'toke'), a major stopping off point with its' own beautiful, helpful visitor's center. The woman there was able to tell me where I could stop for some free camping (dot #42 on the map). She also reminded me to turn the clock back an hour, this is now Alaska time.

the Alaska Range from Hwy. 2 looking southwest

The next day I headed up to Fairbanks and their Tourist and Cultural Center, chock full of great information on the area and, more importantly, the Dalton Highway. Interestingly, on one of their TV's they were playing the video of Dick Proenneke called 'Alone in the Wilderness'. This is one of the great stories of our time, seeing how he built his cabin, his tool handles and spoons, even, all by himself. Amazingly, he even filmed it all himself. When this first ran on PBS about 12 years ago my friends and I in Evergreen couldn't stop talking about it. 

The Center is also where I found out that - if you want to actually see and touch the Arctic Ocean - you need to register on-line for a guided tour of the Prudhoe Bay area that is otherwise secured and off-limits to the general public. This privilege cost me $69, a basic ripoff; however, I wasn't going to drive that far and not see the ocean. 

414 miles from here to Deadhorse

The area around Fairbanks and heading north is prettier than I had imagined it would be. It's much hillier and heavily forested with aspen, birch and pines. The paved road goes about 70 miles, with some fairly severe heaving the further north you go. Finally, I arrived at the beginning of the Dalton. It's almost exactly 1000 miles to drive from Fairbanks to Deadhorse and back.

this bridge goes over the Yukon River

I was told to be careful of all the truck traffic, but because of the drop in oil prices recently there was less activity than normal.

further north

Some of those trucks will make you grab the wheel as they fly by (I ended up with one major rock chip in the windshield on this drive), while most of them slowed down as we passed each other, a welcome courtesy I hadn't expected. And sometimes you'd have to almost come to a stop as huge trucks with oversized wide loads came crawling by on a road that isn't always a full two lanes.

filling up in Deadhorse, at $4.95/gal.

The weather kept getting worse, cloudy with some rain and the temperatures dropped into the upper 30's. After filling up in Coldfoot at $4.60/gallon I simply parked in a roadside turnoff and "slept" in the car, getting started again at 7am under heavy fog and rain. Atigan Pass was a bit nerve-wracking with all the fog and it was a slow grind of 5 hours before I got to Deadhorse. I didn't get to see much along the way because of the weather, and the Brooks Range and the North Slope were hidden from view for the most part.

the general store (also the post office and hardware)

I had really hoped to see herds of caribou and some muskoxen, but I saw none of those. I can't say I'm really interested in doing this trip again, but it almost feels like I have to, assuming I could get good weather. It would also be nice to camp in the Brooks Range where there is at least one free, drivable BLM campground that I know of.

Deadhorse is a dreary place that exists only to support the efforts at nearby Prudhoe Bay. It's almost entirely a "man camp" full of pick-ups, and every business and hotel is lined with drop cords to plug in every one of those pick-up engine block heaters. A woman could stay very busy up here if she so desired.

the Arctic at Prudhoe Bay...brrrr

There is a general store in Deadhorse where the sales lady told me that the last three days had been sunny and 60! Figures. I went over to a place called Deadhorse Camp where the tour is operated from. Our guide Dave took about 15 of us through the security gates and up to the ocean. I had thoughts of at least wading into the ocean, but that day was cold and the wind made it more miserable, so I only stuck my hand in the water.

another fun night of "sleeping" along the Dalton

It was around 7pm before I got started on the drive back south (you can stay at one of the hotels for something like $200). Even in early August with gray skies it stays light until almost midnight and I made good progress with little traffic over the next three hours. I pulled over to grab some sleep in another turnout per the photo.

coming off the south side of Atigan Pass

further south

The weather was unchanged when I got rolling at 8am the next day. To my relief it began to clear up and by the time I got to the Arctic Circle it was sunny and 60. It felt strange that I had to go south to get to the Circle.

making a circle at the Circle

There is a free BLM campground that looks semi-maintained with pit toilets and even a few picnic tables. I almost had the campground to myself until a couple on bicycles came in around midnight. I can't imagine how uncomfortable pedaling up and down that road must be, especially with the poor weather to the north. I guess if you have to, you have to. Driving it wasn't all that much fun, to be honest. Sunny skies would have helped. I woke up thinking it must be at least 6am, but even in mid-August it was only 4am.

on the road to Chena

Just north of Fairbanks is a road leading east towards Chena Hot Springs and a large state park area with a number of good campgrounds. The hot springs, imo, weren't so memorable but the Granite Toks campground on the way there, where $15 gets you a large site with good spacing, was peaceful enough.

the Fairbanks regatta

Once back in Fairbanks I spent $18 in quarters trying to wash off the Dalton Highway and then a few hours in their excellent public library taking care of business. The next day there was a "regatta" of homemade boats making their way through downtown on the Chena River. After watching that for a while and getting some lunch in the historic downtown, I started south towards Denali.

driving south near Healy

It was a perfect day in the high 70's. The terrain south of Fairbanks gets pretty flat for about 100 miles and it's not all that scenic. Then as you approach the town of Healy the mountains take over and it becomes much more interesting.





Soon after, you approach the mighty Denali and the associated national park. This is where there are some serious crowds and, consequently, I wasn't able to get a campsite in the park. I came back the next morning to snap some photos. To really enjoy the park, planning ahead and reserving campsites and guides is essential. I hadn't thought to do that.

the clearest sky I could get of Denali

the tourist train running south of Denali, a great option

two meeses

As I drove south the weather again turned on me. All the miles and spotty weather were taking their toll on my level of enjoyment. I started this trip on June 27 from Colorado. A better timeframe may have been early June.

in downtown Talkeetna

I felt like I was chasing the end of summer and not being successful at it. Maybe I picked the wrong year? The sun did pop out when I went to Talkeetna, a very touristy town but good for a few hours of walking about and grabbing lunch.


After spending two nights camping at Susnitna Landing (a campground run by Alaska Fish and Game that has hot showers for only $12 a night) I drove into Anchorage where I made a service reservation for the FJ 5 days hence and then continued south to Homer under more gray skies and diminished views.

along the spit road...the sun came out!

There is a spit at the south end of Homer called Land's End where there is a ton of tourist stuff. There is also the landmark restaurant called Captain Patties. Someone told me that that was the place to eat and I was anxious to order the halibut since Homer is supposed to be famous for it. It was good, but the best part was the cup of clam chowder, which was outstanding! I even asked for the recipe. They printed out what they had, which starts out with 5 lbs. of bacon. I'll have to reduce that a bit.

can't help it, I think this is funny

The spit is lined with RV campgrounds and also free stretches of beach to camp. Everyone seemingly knows about this these days because it was packed everywhere. I got a room for the night...only $193. Damn, it's expensive up here.

that's a lot of moose

if it was legal, you could scoop them up by the dozens

The next day I retraced my steps for the most part, driving by the town of Kenai and ending up at the Russian River campground.

they're not so easy to catch, however

The river of the same name runs right by and for the first time I got to see in person countless sockeye salmon making their way upriver...it was beautiful.

a hike takes you up close to Exit Glacier

Exit Glacier is doing just that...quickly

I next drove down to Seward and Kenai National Park. Again, the weather was far from ideal and it didn't seem worth it to pay upwards of $200 to take one of the better ship tours of the glaciers. I was able to drive up to and visit the Exit Glacier. The distance that the glacier has retreated in the last 10 years, let alone last 100 years would be alarming to anyone who believes in that stuff (I do, btw, but I don't think our next president does? So, let's keep this on the down low).

along the highway northeast from Anchorage

I was going to go to Whittier but as I was waiting for the toll tunnel to open up to get to that town (it's a one way at a time tunnel), the toll booth guy said that with all the fog he didn't think it would be worth it, so on to Anchorage and another costly room. I like Anchorage and someday I'll stick around and explore it when it's not raining. After getting the FJ serviced I drove northeast towards Glennallen, a crossroad town where there is a nice campground called Dry Creek.

driving towards Wrangell

Nearby and driving south is the visitor's center for Wrangell National Park, the largest park in the country. It is almost entirely wilderness with no roads to speak of. They have a glacier there which is bigger than the state of Rhode Island. The mountain range within the park is bigger than the state of Connecticut. If you want solitude, this is the place. 

glacier on the way to Valdez

Continuing south the road takes you to Valdez and the oil terminal where the pipeline ends. There are beautiful mountains, glaciers and waterfalls along this road, but with the crumby weather, I only took some pictures and had a so-so lunch at Mike's in town before going back to the Dry Creek campground.

from behind my campsite at Deadman's

From Glennallen the road leads you back to Tok then it's southeast back to Yukon. First, I spent two nights in one of the better campground deals I found in Alaska. This place is called Deadman's Campground and it's free. Of course, it's more clouds and rain.





Yukon, briefly: August 25, 26

now that's a nice sign, Yukon

click to read the sign

Under more gray skies it's a 30 minute drive to the Yukon border. Past Kluane Lake which I'm sure is beautiful except for the low clouds, wind and occasional rain and then down to Haines Junction, a small town with another great visitor's center.

south of Haines Junction, Yukon

further south, now in B.C.

There is a small bar/restaurant called the '1016 Bar' (I think it's a reference to the mileage marker) where Friday's are fish and chips day. And a couple of beers and a shot day, too! South of H.J. is the Kathleen Campground where I spent the night before heading back down to Haines, Alaska. I finally got some sun.


Back to Alaska, briefly: August 27, 28


This was a beautiful day and beautiful country, lots of sunshine, mountains, glaciers, waterfalls. A very relaxed drive, hardly any traffic. When I got to Haines I first verified where the ferry dock was located and bought my ticket to get to Skagway.

Haines car ferry, Chilkoot R.A. in distance

one of many

Then I continued down the road to the nearby Chilkoot Recreation Area. There is a lake with a river feeding down to the bay. I got to see my first brown bears, a mother and two large cubs, and a number of bald eagles in the trees and sunning on the rocks. It was Awesome!

mom and two cubs

Haines has a hammer museum

across from the Chilkat campground

My first night I went to the south end of town and the Chilkat Campground. This was a great site in the trees with very few neighbors. My second day in Haines was like a dream, perfect blue skies and high 70's. I would say Haines and Yellowknife were my favorite towns of this entire trip north. Some of that may be because I had great weather in both locations, but both towns are real, in that it's more than just tourism, and the settings are ideal.

lunch

In town I had lunch (halibut fish and chips this time) at the Bamboo Room. This was my favorite meal in Alaska.

salmon? I didn't take no salmon

For my last night in Haines I camped at the Chilkoot Campground. I got to see the same brown bear family as yesterday on the way over. It's so cool to see them catch fish in person.

cruising into Skagway, about a one hour ride

The next day it went back to raining and I had to put away a very wet tent in order to catch the ferry to Skagway.

Skagway and shoppers

Skagway from above, two cruise ships and the ferry

The Skagway downtown is a national historic site (time to collect another park passport stamp) and with two cruise ships in town it's simply a very busy olde-timey outdoor shopping center. I had zero interest in hanging around and I doubt I'd ever come back through here again.



After taking the photo from the overlook I drove north under more gloomy skies to make it back to Yukon for the night.

You'd think this is the end of Alaska, but there's more down the road, way down the road.