Prudhoe Bay- A 1000 Mile Odyssey, Part One

Garry and Carol with the Artic Ocean at our backs

We finally made it to the land of oil, and the midnight sun. When we crossed the Artic Circle, the sun never set and will not start to do so until August 2, 2010. But what a trip!

Our adventure began on July 27 when we picked up a rental car to take on the drive up. We parked the camper at the home of Shawna and Tom Doughtery. We had met Shawna on the Ferry from Bellingham and she had nicely offered to have us park it at her home. We were so relieved to have a safe place to leave it for 4 days. After Seattle I did not want to leave it parked in an unsecure place. We finally were on our way and got onto the Dalton Highway at 1:10PM. The highway is partly paved, partly gravel and partly dirt. DUST everywhere. The paved sections were actually the worst. We felt like we were on a roller coaster with all the frost heave damage to the road. It really bounced us around. Then with the rain coming down the dirt road was a mudbog and at times we would lose traction. The gravel was better but not by much. They are working along the entire stretch of highway. At least with the dirt they can grade and with the gravel they can spread out more.  While I think we could have taken the camper all the way to Deadhorse we are glad we didn't. we would have been bouncing everything out of the cabinets, and we would have been covered with mud. Not worth it. the windshield was struck by several stones but fortunately no major damage was done. We had insurance against window damage. We crossed the Yukon River at 1:30PM. On the advice of the volunteers manning the Visitor Center at the Yukon we stopped at a funky spot in the road called "The Hot Spot" for the best hamburgers in Alaska!They were correct. They were wonderful. We could have split one but didn't. A lot of trailers and tents put together. Lots of flowers. There was a sign warning to watch out for bears as you walk to the outhouse.

Bears????

Marnie checking out sign.

Believe it or not - Best hamburgers we have ever eaten.

We arrived at the Artic Circle - WOW!

 We arrived at the Artic Circle at 6:00PM. What a thrill!!! we are now half way between the Equator and the actual North Pole.

We were now in the land of the Midnight Sun. For 42 ays before the Summer Solstice and for 42 days after the sun will never set.  In the afternoon we saw a wolf walking down the road. Garry slams on the brakes and starts yelling at me to grab the camera and GET OUT OF THE CAR! WHAT???? The wolf was walking  past the car and away from us. GET OUT QUICK! WHAT???????????????????

Wife eating Wolf.

 I managed to get a picture but afterwards I got the giggles. When I tried to tell Marnie and Jeff why I was laughing I just started laughing harder and could hardly tell them why I was laughing.    There was a Wolf out on the road and Garry is trying to get me out of the car!   Quickly!  Have we been traveling in 19 feet for too long???? I finally calmed down and we continued bouncing along. Shortly before we arrived at our destination for the night we saw a black bear on the side of the road. Garry again put on the brakes and backed up. That bear didn't stay around long enough for Garry to again ask me to GET OUT OF THE CAR!?!? Jeff and Marnie have not let Garry forget that he threw his wife to the grey  wolf.

We arrived in the out mining crossroad of Wiseman at 9:30PM. we were staying in a log cabin B&B called  Artic Getaway.What a quaint, fun place. 

Our own log cabin.

Our cabin

 It is run my Ute and Bernie                       . They live in a cabin next door which is known as Igloo #8. There was an old miners association known as the Pioneers. They had various cabins scattered through Alaska  and these "Igloos" were used for meetings and social functions. They restored the cabin in the 1980's and restored and added a bathroom to another cabin on the property which is the one we stayed in  We had a glass of wine and collapsed in bed. We were given Sourdough pancakes for breakfast. Yum. We finally got off around 10. A rainy, foggy day. Oh Joy. There were no rest areas along this stretch of road. We noticed a thinning out of and finally the end of trees along the route. We crossed over the Brooks Range and at the peak also crossed the Continental Divide. Too foggy to see the Sheep or the vistas. We chugged along through the mud , mire and gravel. Once we got to the other side of the Brooks range the Artic tundra became as flat as a pancake for miles. What a change in topography,

Finally arrived at Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay. there are many theories as to why it is called Deadhorse. having driven the road we felt like deadhorses. We stayed at the Artic Caribou Inn. Fancy name for what is basic lodging for the people working the oilfields.

Hotel at the Oilfields

Is that a dirty carior what????

 We were pleasantly surprised at our rooms as we had a private bathroom, lots of hot water for the showers and blackout curtains on the windows. The town itself is very dusty and industrial looking. Our car was caked in mud that looked like concrete.  marnie and I had wanted to take  a walk after dinner but I was afraid to go out and breathe that dusty air.

The next morning we had an 8:00 tour out to the oilfields and the Artic Ocean/Bering Sea. Marnie, Garry and I put our hands in while Jeff went in up to his knees. The water was only 45 degrees but felt warmer to me than the Glacier River water I had rafted in.

Artic Ocean - Two hands

Artic Ocean -One Hand

Back to the inn where we got back in the car to start the drive back. The sun was out. We saw some Musk Oxen in the distance as we started up towards the Range.

 We also ran into a man from Vancouver, Canada who was walking to Deadhorse! We offered him water and food but he declined. We asked him if was going to walkj back and he replied - " there is no need to". I guess he was going to fly back home. His only complaint was that his feet hurt!!!

Walking from Vancouver, Canada to Prudhoe Bay.

I would think so!

July 26 - fairbanks

We are beaconing again!
Yesterday Garry and I decided to go out to the Chena Hot Springs. After all this time on the road the idea of soaking in a hot spring sounded wonderful. It was a very pretty 60 mile drive out along the Chena River to the resort. This one was very different from our last hot spring outing. Here there was both an indoor pool and a pretty outdoor rock rimmed, volcanic sand bottom lake. Very peaceful. We soaked for about 2 hours. This was a natural Sodium and Bicarb thermal pool. We were very thirsty by the time we finally got out.The resort had a huge greenhouse where they grow most of their vegetables. The tomatoes were grown without water. (Hyperponic?.)  they had a pretty pond used for ice skating in the winter and lots of old farm equipment used as decirative pieces around the resort.

AHHHH - the warmth!

Antigue car used as a planter

This is made entirely of moose and caribou antlers.

This is one of the first snow mobiles.

Both on the way there and on the way back we saw a cow Moose. Going out she was in a river eating the grasses. On the way back she was right on the side of the road. We were afraid for a moment that she would run into the road and us but fortunately she turned butt end towards us and stomped off down into the berry bushes. She was so close we could almost touch her.

"What are you looking at?"

Moose in river

Last night we decided to spend the night at a Walmart. dab mistake. We were awake almost all night between the traffic, some kids drag racing and a train that came through several times that night. We are tired today. however we did go tour the UAF Large Animal Research station. They are studying MuskOx and Caribou there. The tour guide and the workers were all UAF students. The baby caribou were so cute.

 Afterwards we went to see the Georgeson Gardens which is slao on the UAF campus. they have been researching what flowers and vegetables grow the best in Alaska with its short ( about 83 days) summer. Whatever they have learned is working well as the garden looked wonderful and everything was growing like crazy. I hate to think what my garden has looked like all summer.

Tomorrow we are meeting up with our friends Jeff and Marnie, picking up the rental car, parking our camper and heading North to Prudhoe Bay and the Oilfields. We will be out of cell/internet service for 4 days. We will post again when we return.

Pictures of Denali

Bear is hard to see.

Ptarmigan-the state bird       

Wolves

        Sheep on ridge

                                                 

July 19 - 23 Denali National Park

As we left Anchorage it was the usual mid 50's, gray and overcast. On the way we passed to 8000 mile total for our trip so far.  We were unable to see Mt. Denali (McKinley) on the drive up although for a brief moment the summit was visible and I got a picture of it. Later on we could see part of the base but the middle was never visible. The mountain creates its own weather and is only ever visible about 30% of the time. In the 80's the name was changed back to the original Athabascon name of Mt. Denali but is has never been changed on maps, etc. The alaskan refuse to call it Mt. McKinley.
  We arrived at the park at 6:30 pm and settled in for the night at the Riley Campground after a long days drive. This is the first campground as we entered the park. We were dry camping but were able to dump, fill our water tanks and shower at the Welcome Center. . The next morning we drove 29 miles into the park. Only the first 12 miles  are paved and then it became dirt/gravel. Very slow going especially because there are shuttle and tour buses driving the same narrow  road. We had reservations at the Teklanika campground. This is the furthest RV campground in the park. You need to get a special permit for this one and once there we were unable to move the campers for a minimum of 3 nights. We got 2 spaces next to each other. We were again dry camping. We were so impressed by the CG. There was plenty of space between each one with greenery so we felt very private.  Our site fronted the Teklanika river. This is a glacier fed "braided river" where the diferent offshoots of the river intertwine with many gravel beds. It was so peaceful. That night we went to a talk given by a park ranger which told us bout "A year in the Life of a Moose". It was very informative and entertaining. Afterwards we cooked hot dogs over a campfire and ate with Marnie and Jeff in their camper as it was larger. We finished dinner at 9:30 and then cooked marshmellows over the campfire for so-mores for dessert. Life is Good.
The next day we were scheduled to take a tour of the park going all the way to the end of the 92 mile road  to the old mining town of Kantisna.  It was the usual grey and rainy day.
I don't have enough words to describe the park. The views  at time were vast and expansive.  At other times we are surrounded by mountains. Again we were unable to see Mt. Denali. The landscape changed as we went further into the park. At times we were on the subartic tundra which was above the tree line. At others we drove along or crossed over beautiful "braided rivers". We passed the Polychrome Mountains which were absolutely gorgeous with all the colors in the mountain rocks. At other points we were down in valleys or driving around the edge of the mountain. Up and down and around. 30 minutes into the trip we saw a GRIZZLY BEAR. What a thrill! I am glad we were on the bus. During the drive out to the end we also saw Artic Fox, Caribou, Ptarmigan birds, Dahl Sheep, more Grizzlies, Loons, Brown Squirrels (called a 200 calorie snack for a Grizzly; or a Texas grizzly - the Texans think everything is big in Texas), Artic Hares and a 9 member wolf pack. There are only 54 wolfs total in the park so we were fortunate to see so many together. I WILL POST PICTURES ON THE NEXT BLOG AS WE HAVE SO MANY.  On the drive back we had a complete Rainbow arch appear against a mountain backdrop. It was breath taking.  The trip out and back took over 10 hours. We were exhausted when we got back to our campers. Marnie and I fixed Salmon for dinner that night although we were all too tired to eat.
The next day (our last in the park) we made a day of rest and relaxation. It was pouring down rain so we each did our own thing.In the afternoon after the rain had stopped we all took a hike along the river bed. It was so quiet and peaceful in the park. We all loved it.One more Salmon dinner and we sat up until after midnight playing Quiddler.
Sadly the he next morning we had to leave. On the way back we saw several tour buses pulled over on the side of the road. Of course we also stopped as we knew they had spotted an animal of some sort. We were absolutely thrilled to see 3 Moose  including a huge Bull Moose with an enormous rack of antlers. We have learned that the moose loose their antlers every year and have to regrow them every spring. The older they get the more impressive the rack.
We stopped by the Park Ranger Office on the way out and attended a sled dog talk and demonstration. The park is open year round and the dog sleds are used to not only patrol the park but to also carry supplies out to the interior as roads, ranger camps, bridges etc. are repaired. We then toured the Visiter and Wilderness Access Centers as we had not taken the time to see them before we went out to our campground. We left Denali feeling so blessed that we have been able to see and experience the park. I hope to come back again someday.
We have now arrived in Fairbanks.We spent last evening camped at the Eilison Air Force Base Bear lake campground. Today we attended a parade in downtown Fairbanks  for the "Golden days" celebration. It was the culmunation of 4 days of activities commemorating Pedro Felix's discovery of gold in the early 1800's and the establishment of Fairbanks.Finally we went up to the University of Alaka to tour The Museum of the Artic. Absolutely wonderful. We are now sitting in the Vistor Center updating this blog. We hope to go out to the Cheno Hot Springs tomorrow and soak in another Hot Springs. Sorry this is so long but we have been busy!

July 15 - Homer

Marnie and Jeff joined us today We are staying at the Homer Spit Campground. The Spit is a 4 miles long, and 1000 feet wide. We are right on the water, the sun has come out and the mountains are in view. Jeff and Marnie are wowed by the scenery. We had them over to our camper for  a Salmon dinner.

The next day it was decided that Jeff wanted to fish so we drove back to Soldatna to meet back up with our friends George and Dot.  We are camping again at the Crooked Creek SRS.  At 6PM George picks up  Garry, Jeff and Marnie ( no room for me) and takes them off fishing. I went over to visit with Dot. My back wasn't up for fishing  so I enjoyed quiet time with Dot. I went back to my camper @ 9 and fixed some Clam Chowder with the remainder of the clams that Garry dug up 2 days earlier. The intrepid fishing people arrived back at 10:30 PM and they were exhausted.
COUNT - George caught 3, Jeff got 1, Garry got 2 but 1 was inadvertantly let go by Jeff when he grabbed the net to catch the one that he had gotten accidentally losing the one that Garry had just placed in the net. Marnie was skunked. They all enjoyed the Chowder and then crashed  as they were going out again the next morning at 3 AM!!!! Good Grief!!! I heard Garry getting up and out the door but managed to dooze for another couple of hours. I had just gotten up at 6:30 when they arrived back.
Count - Jeff was skunked; Garry had a stike but it got away and Marnie finally got her Salmon! George again maxed out at 3.   They were exhausted. I had bacon, Marnie had eggs and we both contributed bread for toast and we had breakfast together.

After breakfast we all walked over to say goodbye to Georga and Dot. George had nicely filleted all the Salmon, had shrunk wrapped it and frozen it. Fortunately Jeff and Marnie have a big refrigerator in their camper and were able to put it all in their freezer. We then left for the drive around to Seward.  We had seen this enormous swing in the town of Kasiloff and stopped to have a picture taken.

The 2 sides of the Kenai are very different. There are only mountains to be seen on one side of Homer where in Seward there are mountains on 3 sides. The interior driving from one to the other is very flat and you can't see any mountains. We like Seward much better. We were able to get 2 camping spots at one of the City campgrounds right on the  Ressurection Bay waterfront. Marnie was so excited to see 2 otters at play right in front of the camper.
As the fishermen/woman were so tired I cooked the salmon over at their camper and Garry, at least, was in bed by 8PM. Jeff and Marnie were so happy and excited about their fishing jaunt.

It is raining and 56 degrees today so it was a good day to drive back to Anchorage. We all had errands to do so we went our seperate ways. We are staying in the parking lot at the North Star Inn on the grounds of the Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson Military Post. We will meet back up with Jeff and Marnie tomorrow and head for Denali National Park. Stay tuned.

July 14 - Homer

Now that I am drugged up for my back we decided to finally take our tour across the Inlet to the small town of Seldovia. Unlike the day before we lucked out with a SUNNY day.  It was a lovely, quaint town. Their claim to fame is Memorial day when they have a Chainsaw Carving competition. Some of the carvings were just wonderful. They have 3 days to finish them from a freshly cut log. We had a nice lunch and walked the town. Wonderful cottages built on pilings over the water. Lovely day and we were back by 6PM.

This was the prize winner this year.

We had been given permission the day before to camp overnight on a vacant lot across from a cute coffee bar and decided to spend another night there.  Tomoorow our friends, Jeff and Marnie Nelson, will be joining us. We are excited to see them.