Kenai Fjords National Park

As I mentioned in my last post, we also visited the park using an alternative method of travel. We took a 6 hour cruise from Seward into the park. The cruise included salmon dinner. At about 2:30pm, we embarked along with about 80 other people on our cruise. We motored along at about 24 knots into a strong headwind as we left the area of Seward, heading out of Resurrection Bay. Not much time was spent outside as it was a bit cool in those conditions. We learned that during WWII, fortifications had been built in the cliffs at the entrance to the bay. They have been abandoned, but we could still see the pilings for the dock that had served the fortifications. We also learned that the entire town and port of Whittier, AK had been built as a top secret port in case Seward was damaged or captured (Seward was the only ice free port at the time). Now, this tour operation was indeed an operation. They had at least six tour boats, a couple of hotels, and a resort on Fox Island, near the entrance to Resurrection Bay. We stopped there to pick up dinner supplies and then headed back toward the park. We saw an amazing number of animals of all types. We saw Puffins, gulls, Stellar Sea Lions, Eagles, Humpback Whales, Dahl Porpoises, Eagles, Sea Otters, Harbor Seals, and much to Mikee's delight Orcas. She had told us that this was the one animal she really wanted to see. Lucky day I guess, as we actually saw many Orcas throughout the cruise. The captain was great about getting right in close to the animals, and at the same time giving them their space. it was amazing how close to some of the islands and rock outcroppings we were able to get. Eventually, after a quick trip on the open ocean, we headed up Aialik Bay towards the Aialik Glacier. We first past by Holgate Arm, and could see the Holgate Glacier at the end. At about this time, the crew began serving dinner on the lower deck of the boat. Being on the second deck, we were served last, just as we came in view of the Aialik Glacier. The two good sized pieces of salmon were great, as I wolfed them down and ran outside to see the glacier. We passed by many icebergs as we pushed up the bay to the glacier itself. The captain parked us in front of it and shut the engines down. We spent about 20 minutes there, listening to the groaning, creaking, and cracking of the nearly mile wide glacier. We did see some small calving events as pieces of ice fell into the bay. We also saw black bears alongside the glacier, and harbor seals in the water around it.

This trip was great, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. If you are ever in Anchorage, do yourself a favor and check out Kenai Fjords Tours. Get on the train to Seward and take the tour! Only $129 per adult and includes salmon dinner. We had good luck on our Alaska trip in that the weather was great everytime we went on a sightseeing trip. We had mostly sunny and clear conditions, and the temperature was comfortable. The kids had a great time despite the initial protests from Dakota and Colton (the resident homebody). They got lots of great photos. This pretty much completed our list of things to do in Seward, which we enjoyed very much. We had made it pretty much our home away from home for a week and a half. It was time to begin heading south.

Exit Glacier

While in Seward, we visited the Kenai Fjords National Park by car. We drive a few miles out of Seeward to the Exit Glacier. We learned that it was thusly named by a party exploring the Ice Field (which shall remain nameless as I've temporarily forgotten the name), when they determined that this glacier was a prudent exit from the icefield. Now it makes sense... It was a fairly easy 3/4 mile hike from the parking lot, up to within 50 feet or so of the glacier.

However, our boat cruise to the National Park was much better. In my next post...

Seward, AK

Ughhh... I just spent about an hour composing a large post only to lose it before I could publish it. Anyway, we've been in Seward for four nights so far.

While staying in Cantwell, AK we went to Denali National Park. It was all I could do to convince Janae and the kids to spend 9 hours on a shuttle bus tour. Luckily it was as great as I'd been told. At Denali, you can only drive 15 miles in on the 90 mile road into the park. Any further and only tour and shuttle buses are allowed. We took the shuttle to Eilson Visitor Center at mile 66. We saw many great vistas and lots of animals. If you should go, be sure to bring your binoculars, food, water, and a camera with a good lens (lenses). We had a good driver who was great about providing information and stopping for animals. We spent 3 days in Cantwell before moving on.

Our next day, last thursday we ended up in Anchorage. Janae needed to pick up some supplies at the VA Hospital there. Knowing the VA, I figured we'd be looking to stay in Anchorage. The boys and I camped the afternoon in the parking lot, and when Janae was finally done we stayed in an RV Park downtown near Ship Creek. Ship Creek is renowned for it's salmon fishing. Alas, that night and the next day no one including me caught anything. Not much to say about the Rv park, barely enough space between sites to put slides out. Saturday morning, we headed for Seward.

What a drive. Just over a hundred miles took us all day. Too many great sights at turnouts. Turnagain Arm and the Chugach Mountains rising from the shore were spectacular. I've been using a bunch of superlatives in this blog! Amazing. Eventually, we reached Seward on the edge of Ressurection Bay. I had been told that you have to stay at the Municipal Campground on the waterfront. It is wonderful. We are pulled into our site with a paved walkway going past in front of it. On the other side is about 10 feet of grass with our firepit. Past that is the rocky beach and Ressurection Bay. On the day we arrived (and most since) we've had sea otters playing in our front yard. Across the bay (as well as behind us) are the Chugach Mountains. We don't want to leave... Although the salmon fishing is poor according to the locals, we've been doing ok. On the other side of the bay at Spring Creek we've been casting into the bay catching lots of Chum (Dog) Salmon. Yesterday Janae caught her first salmon, a little Chum hen. I've been catching Reds (Sockeye) at Seward Lagoon Creek. Lotsa fun. I had to take this morning off as my hands are blistered and cut from fishing so much. I'm gonna post this now with no photos and update later as it's about time to head back to the creek for more reds... See ya soon.

Arrived at Denali

We arrived this evening in the area of Denali National Park. We got here late after stopping at a lake for some fishing and late lunch. I set everyone up to fish, and while they fished made lunch for everyone. I then took Colton's pole, which he had abandoned in boredom, and caught a fish (trout) on my fourth cast using a spinner. I think I irritated everyone else as they had caught none. I then made it worse by releasing the fish. I set up my pole with a bobber and salmon eggs and caught another one in a couple of minutes. I got it to shore and it released itself, falling off the hook and flopping back into the water. I don't think I made any friends among the other non-catching fisherpersons. Anyway, we'll be riding the shuttle bus into the park for some hiking tomorrow. We're staying in an RV park about 27 miles south of the park. Talk to you soon...

Fairbanks

We've been enjoying the last few days in North Pole. We've managed to go see some sights, do some shopping, and just relax and rest. Yesterday afternoon the kids and I canoed down the river in the center of town. Sunday evening, we enjoyed a salmon, prime rib, halibut, cod, and side dishes meal in town. I washed the Saturn, what a mess that was. We've been staying at the Santaland RV Park, and I'm afraid that Colton has become somewhat attached to the two reindeer they have here. It's still been in the eighties everyday, with thunderstorms every day. Again, not what I expected. It is cloudy as I type this morning. We will be packing up and heading toward Denali Park in a little bit. Forgot to mention that we spent some time fishing, and caught some trout. Hopefully some Arctic Grayling next, and then maybe some Pink Salmon...

Itinerary, so far

I've been requested to post our itinerary so far, so here goes.

Cinton, BC
Hixon, BC
Dawson Creek, BC 2 nights beginning of the Alaskan Highway
Fort Nelson, BC
Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park, BC
Teslin, YT
Kluane Lake, YT
Deadman Lake Campground, AK (Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge)
Delta Junction, AK, last night 7-4-08 end of the Alaskan Highway
North Pole, AK 07-05-08
Caldwell, AK 07-08-08 (Denali Area)
Anchorage, AK
Seward, AK
Palmer, AK
Tok, AK
Haines Junction, YT 07-25-08
Teslin, YT 07-26-08
Deise River Crossing 07-27-08
Stewart, AK 07-28/29-08
Burns Lake, BC 07-30-08


Also updated last night's post.

Delta Junction, AK

Wow, it's been a few days. On July 2nd, we stopped in Whitehorse, YT. We explored the steamboat Klondike, which was in service on the Yukon River until 1955, when it was retired. Steamboats were the method of transportation for prospectors, supplies, and silver ore between Whitehorse and Dawson City, as well as many other settlements in the great white north. What a great guided tour of about an hour in length. Whitehorse also had a Wal-Mart for restocking the groceries. A neat town that Janae and I will have to spend more time exploring after I retire.

We stayed the evening of July 2nd on Kluane Lake, YT in a really nice little RV park. It was pretty remote, but had all the comforts of home thanks to having their own electrical generators. They had just removed a grizzly bear from the park last week by helicopter. The morning of the day we arrived, they had a sow and two cubs walking on the beach. We walked to the beach and I did find some grizzly tracks, but no bears. The kids tell me that the water was as cold as it was clear!

July 3rd was the day we finally found a grizzly. We had been driving for a couple of hours when we saw a couple of RVs pulled over to the right ahead, along with a brown blob on the verge. I knew it was a bear, so we pulled over, and sure enough it was a relatively young grizzly. We watched it for about 20 minutes, as it walked along the shoulder towards us while munching on grasses. Eventually it was about 25 feet away from our motorhome, before we had taken enough photos and video. Shortly before we saw the Grizzly, the road started getting rough. "Frost Heaves " cause the road to look like a roller coaster, with dips and rises. In addition, the surface itself is pock marked with ruts and potholes. I saw a couple that I'm sure would have torn wheels from axles if struck at the posted speed limit of 90kph (about 57 mph). When we were at Teslin a few nights ago, an older couple who had just come from Alaska had warned me about the roads west of Haines Junction having separated a couple of motorhomes from their towed vehicles. I was now finding that a little more plausible... We finally crossed the border back into the US. Very remote area (the Customs People had their own settlement with single family housing right next to customs). Has anyone else made the observation that when entering Canada, the Canadian Customs personnel are rather cold and unfriendly, while when returning to the US, the US personnel are rather pleasant and welcoming? That's been my observation the last few years... We made it to our destination on the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, Deadman Lake Campground. Sixteen campsites around a 1/8 mile loop, about one mile off the highway on a gravel road. No hookups, just a spot and a firepit. The front end of our MH was a hornet and fly magnet as they feasted on the remains of multitudes of their flattened comrades. Despite the small size and remoteness of the campground, their was a camphost, who we chatted up for quite some time (he has relatives in Tacoma). We also were invited to a naturalist talk that evening. After dinner, we walked down to the screened in enclosure for the nature talk. It was pretty cool. The naturalist had drivien in from Tok, AK and was really great. We learned about the plants of the boreal forest (also know as Taiga, Russian for "little sticks" which describes the thin black spruce to a tee). We then went for a nature walk, where Dakota got to help the naturalist do a core sample on a black spruce. We got up in the morning and headed to Tok, where we got to see the 4th Of July parade. The kids scored pretty well on candy thrown from floats. By the way, about 30 miles east of Tok, in the middle of 47 mile of road construction we came upon an interesting sight. Stopped in the middle of the E/B lane was a couple of Diesel Pushers towing cars. Turns out, the first one had pulled the front bumper off their towed vehicle. They were trying to remove the mangled tow rig from the towed vehicle, so that the wife could drive it back to the states. Quite a sight. The older couple in Teslin were now prophets... By the way, fuel prices. I try not to really let it sink in. The most we paid in Canada was $1.66 per liter. About 4 liters in a gallon, you do the math... It was a relief to pay $4.73 a gallon in Tok. At least prices are going down the closer we get to Fairbanks. Tonight we've made it to Delta Junction. The weather has been incredible since we left Washington. Mostly in the 80's with just a little rain a couple of times. Being Washingtonians, we're using the A/C more that the furnace...

Teslin, Yukon

Wow, the last couple of days have been wild! We've seen so many animals we've stopped counting, especially bison and stone sheep. Early on Monday morning, Janae and I got up and drove early from Fort Nelson. Just like Dad found, it's nice to get a couple of hours driving in before the kids are awake. We started seeing bears (Cold bears, and plenty of them!). And not fleeting glimpses like the day before. These guys couldn't care less that we were there. They just went about their business packing away the calories for the 7 to 8 months they hibernate at this latitude. It was also cool that we were seeing "color phase" bears (black bears that aren't black). Some day I hope to own a nice cinnamon phase bear rug... Anyway, we began heading into the Rockies again. We saw one lone caribou, and shortly before lunch, we got to Stone Mountain. Aptly named as we came upon many stone sheep along the roadway. They come to the road to consume salt and other minerals. There were lots of them including babies. I have to admit, they were very cute (think "fuzzy bunny" cute). We continued from there to Toad river Lodge, where we stopped and made lunch. After lunch we saw a few lone bison. These are wild bison, not behind a fence bison. We also passed through the incredible Muncho Lake Provincial Park. Wow, again. Eventually we arrived at our destination for the day, Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park. The campsites were full, but we were welcome to pull to the curb and camp in the day-use parking lot. Worked for us, the trail to the hotsprings started in the parking lot! The two hotsprings were 108 degrees and 128 degrees. The closest and nicest was the 128. Of course the further downstream the cooler. It was great soaking in it after a full day of driving. And interestingly enough, all my bug bites stopped bothering me after soaking. By the way, yes, there are lots of mosquitos. In fact, a guy who resides here in Teslin says this is the worst year he's seen for mosquitos. Fortunately, we're not backpacking. We had a pleasant night's rest along with about 30 other campers in the parking lot. No, it doesn't get completely dark here at this time of the year. Anyway, we once again got up early this morning, and took off. We were still seeing pleny of bears. We also saw elk, a fox, and a porcupine. We reached contact creek, where the roadbuilders from east and west met. Shortly after that, we entered the Yukon. No interesting animal sightings since then. I've been told that the road tomorrow is pretty rough after the first 150 miles, so will probably be slow going. The tough thing is keeping moving. Everywhere you look is a great setting and we stop at many rest areas and turn-outs. Oh, and souvenir shops, can't miss those... Man, only so many photos can be posted!