Yesterday's travel - Seward to Homer

I'm taking the opportunity to really catch up here in Homer. Tonight I'll go to a non-power campsite, and being overcast at the moment, here you go.
Seward around 11:00PM Sunday night:

After fueling up in Seward it was off to the 'more' West coast of the Kenai peninsula. Just as you make the turn west on the Seward Highway there is Turn Lake. I spotted the turnoff in time and saw a few birds - I think all where Seagulls though.

Both Seagulls?? The one on the left was annoying the one on the right.

On the drive west there was an overlook and damned if you can't see Danali from across the Bay.

Passed on through Soldatna, did some re-suppling, but since I will return on Thursday, I hold off on that until then. Here is my first view of Homer - the spit that extends into the Bay and id the main 'port' area.

Beautiful day in Homer

Here are a few quick shots of Homer Spit last evening. It's hard to say night when there isn't any until past Midnight.

Couple of end of day fishing boat activities

Dog was jumping aboard for a ride

At least his phone works - must be AT&T!!

Gathering driftwood for the evening fire

Had a very good dinner of Halibut and risotto being as how this is the Halibut capitol of the world. Good to have company at dinner.

Post again soon

Good Morning from Homer, AK

Met up with my friends John and Heather from LA yesterday and will hang out with them until the weekend with some exploring of this area and then off to fish the Kenai River for fish. I hear there are a few swimming around.
This wifi is a little better so let me just catch up on a couple of shots from Seward of the other day. As I said, it was a great stay. The town was surprisingly eclectic and with good restaurants and activities I decided to stay three nights.

Holgate Glacier

A little runoff. If you look carefully at the larger 'waterfall' you'll notice some 'chunks' of ice falling away. Just caught the end of a fall off.

The color is correct. This is the top edge of the ice flow. The white light is absorbed by the ice and just the blue part of the spectrum is reflected. Cool!

'Lone Pine' to me anyway. Part of the island in the Kenai Nat'l Park

Humpback fluking or is that a fluking humpback?

This is a waterfall on the edge of Seward and I thought the spray on the lens added a certain something. Yah - I know - water!!

Alright - up wind

As I said I'm in Homer now and am still processing the shots of yesterday and will try to post them before I meet up with John and Heather.

Later

Happy Laundry Day

I am in Seward AK on a rainy Sunday, so what better way to start the day - after breakfast- than to do ones laundry. There is one laundromat 'The Suds and Swirl' that is clean and has huge machines. I'm told you meet everyone in Seward here that doesn't have a washer.
Yesterday I went on the Tour boat into the Kenai National Park on the Glacier Express run by Major Marine Tours. Highly Recommended. They travel to the same spots others do but they have a Park Ranger aboard to do the descriptions and history of the Park. Plus they have an all you can eat buffet of Prime Rib and Salmon with all the trimmings. The others were a box lunch.
 We were able the see some humpback whales, dolphins and sea lions plus lots of bird life like puffins.
(I wrote this on my iPhone and I couldn't get it to accept photos from anywhere, so now I will finish with some catch-up photos.)
Here are two Denali pix I had time to work on a bit:

Always look in your rear view mirror!!

I know these both look fake, but it's just the compression of the lens.

I was lucky to spot the turnout for the lake, they don't like to tell you where scenic views are when you get to them.

Verizon in Seward Sucks!!! It has taken me almost 20 minutes to upload each of these 1.2mg photos.

I will try to see if it is better over in Homer tomorrow night.

Stay well

Denali

Today I got up early and headed South the try and catch the old girl before the clouds all surrounded her. I got the the North Viewpoint and though it was pretty - nothing really. Now the North and the South viewpoints are both south of the main park entrance so it was a bit confusing, bit off I slepped to the south. I could see Denali peeking through but I got stuck in yet another road construction delay.
Okay, not to milk it, I arrived at the South Viewpoint and the clouds were so-so, but I think you can get the idea.

That's the old girl in the center. At first I thought it was a cloud as it was so much higher than the other mountains.

Above the clouds

Just as I was about to leave, feeling pretty good, a lady said the the gathering of people, "You must take the trail. You'll see the river." The river aspect didn't do much for me, but another vantage point did, so up I climbed and I am happy I did.

There are a few more shots of Denali that I want to work on a bit, but this gives you the idea of the mountain. A pretty good day, in my opinion.

Denali (or Mt McKinley)

Here it is Thursday and last I posted I was heading into Fairbanks. Fairbanks has a great bike path - yes, I got the bike down and rode the 5 mile circuit - the goes along the river Chena. There are some very good parks in the downtown area with monuments to Lead Lease (last time Alaskans thought kindly of Russia??!) and a very good Tourist Info with the best exhibit hall of all the cities so far.

There is an old settler's cabin and it had the most amazing flowers. Here is a huge Sunflower

That's for you flower lovers

And for you animal lovers - Antler Arch. Commemorating some kills from first timers (13years old) to old timers - men not the animals, moose or elk.

It is Alaska - where the Momma Grizzlies live

Left for Denali on Tuesday and as I was leaving I could see Denali far in the distance, but once I got to the park - nada. 

There is a small town south of Fairbanks called Nenana. Each spring they have a - well a lottery - to guess the exact time the river ice will melt. To determine the winner the pyramid structure to the left has been placed on the river as soon as it has frozen and the top of the center pole is attached to a anchor point on the shore. The moment the line breaks is the time of the ice flow and the winner. classy - eh?

Upper Plains of Denali Park at 15 mile marker.

Without special camping permits or on a park bus - no one can go past the 15 marker. 

There is another rain storm approaching. The main Park Building is just ahead and that is the train bridge that serves the Park.

I couldn't camp in the park - No reservations and the first cancelation was for the weekend, so off I went to the south in hopes of seeing Mt McKinley today.

Fairbanks Alaska

Stayed at a small lake just west of Tok, Moon Lake, and this morning (saying that is weird if it never really gets dark at night) drove to Delta Junction and the conclusion of the Alaska Highway built during the war. I walled into the Tourist Office to ask for my certificate for completing the journey of the whole Highway. I was wearing my 'Mile 0' hat and my Dawson Sweatshirt - still rainy and colder - and I didn't expect balloons from the ceiling and trumpets to announce my arrival, but something more than "Who's name would you like on the certificate?" and then just hand writing it on one of a stack of cards. Oh, Well!! I made it after all. 4400 miles from Oxnard, CA. Not bad.

After that it was a pleasant drive to Fairbanks, along the Tanana River Watershed.

Just a wide river basin stretching for miles

Now I am sure you know that summer up here is a time to work on the highways and at least patch and mend the frost heaves if nothing else. Today I stopped along the highway heading north by the flagman and being first in line he told me it would be about ten minutes before the pilot truck returned. Well, the pilot car returned and took us through a three mile section of road - no workers, no equipment, no road repair or even holes filled. But here I was waiting for the repair crews and nothing. Arrived at the end of the section, pilot truck pulls over and the other flagman waves me through. No more than 400 yards further up the road and another 'prepare to stop' sign followed by 'flagman ahead'. I never really sped up so I looked for the flagman. No flagman, but here were all the road crews working away with us cars just moving through on our own. Someone forget to tell the safety crew to re-position?? Weird.

Stopped briefly in North Pole, AK, mostly for gas and then on to Fairbanks and a place to stay for the night. I'll be here at the RV stop tonight and then move to a State Park near to town tomorrow and then head to Denali and hope to see Mt. McKinley.

From Dawson Over the Top of the World Highway

It was only yesterday - Sunday - that I left Dawson, Yukon Territory. First it is the Car Ferry - a small ferry to run you across the Yukon River, about ten minutes, and run free to passengers by the government. On Saturday the ferry stopped running its normal 24 hr. summer schedule because the life boat davit blew a hydraulic line, dropped the boat and it filled with water forcing the ferry to spin around and being next to the city side it pulled in - for about six hours while the six guys in orange hardhats watched the two crew people fix things. I was looking for a long line Sunday morning, but the RV convoy of 22 RVs had already passed through and I went on board as soon as I got there.

They just level out the bank of the river and drop the ramp. No dock per say. River always is changing.

Once on the other side, you begin the Top of the World Highway. The road from Dawson to the US Border.

Here's the last look back at Dawson.

It's 66 miles to the border and Milepost says to allow 1 1/2 hours to drive the distance depending on road conditions. There are only a couple of small stretches that have 'pavement' and the rest is graded dirt. I know there are people who make the run in maybe 90 minutes but their vehicles are trashed I am sure. Do they have extra super duty suspension or just nuts. The road is pot holes, washboard rough. I took 4 hours and of course I stopped for a few shots, but I seldom drove over 20 MPH. 

It's a panorama try scrolling across.

Of course there is a sign at the top

Above the tree line. See the two white RVs on the road?

Pan right and see the Border Crossing

Once you have survived the road to the border, it's 40 miles to the first Alaskan town. 13 miles of which are paved. Once over this road, oh did I mention it was raining steadily? You arrive in:

Chicken, AK

They wanted to call it something else but didn't know how to spell it so they settled on Chicken.

I stopped for lunch of Chicken Pot Pie and Chicken Noodle soup. What else? It was still raining a bit.

Another 60 miles or so and I was back on the Alaskan Highway and at Tok, Ak.

I was able to turn my phone back on and reach out to the world.

Time to Catch Up

Last time I had an internet access was the first day in Dawson. Then it rained, knocked out the power and of course the wifi so I was left to my own devises yet again. Saw the sights in Dawson - yes there are a few - starting with the #4 Dredge that worked the placer fields up the Bonanza Creek where the original gold strike was made. This is the largest wooden dredge ever made and though it floats, it doesn't need a constant stream of water. It digs the ground in front and shoots out the non gold rocks and dirt in the back and maintained a water level under it. Of course there was a dam built upstream to maintain the flow and it might still be working except that dam broke and the rushing water lifted the dredge up, spun it around and moved it to the bank.

Really Big!!

Went to the top of Dome Mountain to get this view of Dawson:

Dawson

There are the usual old buildings to be found

This happened when they messed with the permafrost and the supports settled at different rates. The road is also typical - wide and dirt.

Here's a shot for you car nuts - Yes, it is a Willy Jeep

And for those of you who really want to go camping and never worry about being able to get there or have some conveniences, this German couple got an old German firetruck with 4wheel drive and a made to order coach put on top. They started out in Argentina and worked their way to Dawson in only 22 months. Now they will go to the east coast of Canada and then off the Asia.

I thought this was pretty neat - and then I saw another just like it but different cab color. Someone is making them in Germany.

Off to dinner and then another tonight.

Oh yes - I'm in Fairbanks, AK

(Too cloudy to see the Russians)

You asked for Wildlife

The Northwest and the Yukon are renowned for their large wild animals - elk, caribou, moose, etc.- and I have been excited every time I see a roadside marker or read in the Milepost that the coming section of road will have creatures. Here is a shot of the first wild animal I was able to photograph at Liard Hot Springs.

Yep - I have not seen any large moose, elk or caribou. I did see an adolescent moose the other day, but here is a bison that lives along the Highway with the rest of its herd.

Just a little thing

I don't really count them as 'large' wildlife as they live on the Highway and they are like fixtures in the place. Maybe I'll see some in the wilds of Alaska - if Sarah hasn't chased them all to Russia.

I am in Dawson and have free wifi for 2 hours so this is it and I checked the emails and bank account. I'll be here a couple of days and will send more before I leave.

Here are some photos on the way North in the Yukon:

There has been a few misty mornings

Along the Yukon River

And here in Dawson:

I'll get out some more tomorrow and see the other three blocks of Dawson and come up with that iconic shot. Here is the side paddle steamer that takes folks for a ride.

That other boat in the bg is the ferry that I will take Sunday to drive the road to the US. 

Watson Lake Yukon Territory

Left the Muncho Lake this morning in the drizzles after raining quite hard last night. Road up has been with little construction and a fairly smooth road. 'Fairly' is great around here and is something that the States are headed for in many places. Here they have the excuse of bad weather, down in the States it is just bad politicians. Have seen some wildlife today - finally - and since I am still traveling I haven't gone thru the images yet - so next post you'll see some bison.
If you are curious as to what roughing it is like up here:

Not that this is typical but it beat thawing out the shrimp, eh!

Couple of more shots to tide you over until I get to Whitehorse.

Misty Morning

The birds just didn't want his piece of bread.

Later