Tok to Valdez AK

Tonight we are in Valdez, AK after coming down the Tok Cutoff and the Richardson Hwy. Yesterday we were on long valleys with the Wrangle Mts to our West and North and today we took a pass with the Wrangle Mountains to our South and East.
To me this the Richardson Hwy from Glenallen to Valdez is of the most spectacular roads in AK. You wind thru steep sometimes narrow passes and there are waterfalls and glaciers litterally at the side of the road.
We stopped at the glacier and walked part way to it but did not stay long.
Next you view the Billy Mitchell Mtn in front of you with the Bridal Falls and the Horsehair falls on your sides.
We are now in Valdez in the Bear Paw Campground with Prince William Sound at our front window (we are facing the harbor entrance and can look over at the Chugach Mtns on the other side of the Sound with their snow caps and glaciers. Boats continually go in and out of the harbor in front of us.
Well time for some sleep.
Lorne

Tok AK

Tok, AK
I would like to give a special blog note to Tok, AK. For those of you who know we spent three or four days here on our last trip having a fuel pump flown in for repair. We arrived in Tok and went to eat at Fast Freddies where we had gone before and then for an ice cream bar at the convenience store across the street. Nostalgia was evident when we reminisced about past experiences.
I stopped by the repair facility to pay my respects to the mechanic and his son who had been so good to us on our last trip. The shop was closed and I found out that the owner is no longer there (retired and not in good health, living in the lower states) and his son does not live above the repair shop. I did leave my card and told the person that I left it with to thank the son again for their kindness to two stranded travelers.
Lorne

Haines Jct to Tok

Haines Jct, Yukon Territory to Tok AK

Again we are in large wide valleys surrounded by high mountains (some of them over 17,000 ft.) The mountains during the first part of the drive are covered with glaciers and snow. Later as we leave the area where the clouds have left their precipitation the mountains are just solid granite faces.
The vegetation changes also from forests of tall Spruce pine, White Birch and other types of trees to tundra with stunted Spruce pine that can only survive within the permafrost and a thin layer of soil that is not frozen.
We have encountered Moose, and beaver lodges and ducks and trumpeter swans today. These are some of the largest of the flying birds weighing up to 40 lbs. They mate for life and can usually be found in pairs but ours was alone with its mate probably on the nest. Moose to are found usually in the shallow lakes feeding on the underwater grasses.

Today was a day for encountering northern roads and frost heaves. When building a road in these climates you build it on top of the permafrost and when the layer below melts it creates a dip in the road (dip is more like a canyon). This leads the driver of an RV to experience a roller coaster ride that is something to have happen to you with Bev saying “don’t you think we should slow down” and you are only going 25 mph. In Canada they do not always repair these but put flags beside the road telling you where they are. The problem is that you don’t know if it’s a small across the road one, a large middle of the road frost heave or a series of undulating heaves. Thus the traveler must always beware.

Road construction was also encountered. I Canada the crews do not work on Sundays and you encounter endless small patches of gravel where they are repairing the road. In AK they work on Sunday but when the sign says road work next 47 miles you can truly say that there will be road work for the next 47 miles. Perhaps, 300 feet of paved road, 300 feet of frost heaved pavement and then 400 feet of gravel for the next 47 miles and there will be delays as they ferry you in convoy thru some of the larger stretches of road construction. I do believe that they repair 1/3 of the road each year in 300 foot sections so that after 3 years they can start the process all over again. It took over 2 hours to drive that 47 miles.

But, the scenery was just tremendous and we stopped at lookout sites and interpretive centers all along the way.
We are now going to drive the Tok Cutoff and then the Richardson Hwy to Valdez.
If you think of it Dr. E go to AAA and get a map of AK and you can plot our course for those interested.
Bye for now
Lorne

Pictures Haines to Haines Jct

1 Trumpeter swan
2 The lonely road
3 Welcome to the Yukon
4 Food Cache and info center
5 Long valleys

Haines to Haines Jct

Today we first toured Haines, AK and saw Ft Seward. The officer’s homes are still being used as either private homes or hotels and there is and Indian interpretive center on the parade grounds but otherwise all military presence is gone. Our site on the ocean last night was just great with views of the ocean, marina and mountains across the Lyon Canal (this thing is about 2 miles across) were great. We decided to press on as you can see about all there is in Haines quickly.
We drove up Mud Road to the state campground but it was so windy and overcast that the thought of another day without sunshine had us both wanting to get further inland.
The drive up from Haines was breathtaking. Imagine climbing slowly thru a wide valley with forests of evergreens on either side of you and the peaks of the Alesek Range Mts all around you. You climb higher and the treeline disappears and now you are in a high alpine valley with wildflowers and greenery all around except for the peaks of the St Elias Mts. These are granite structures with glaciers everywhere you look.
Beside the road now there are rivers of snow and they cascade down from the mountain peaks.
You cross the Haines Hwy summit thru the Chilkat Pass always with a river in the valley bottom fed by numerous creeks from the mountains on either side. This is not your winding mountain road but a straight ribbon of asphalt that either climbs or descends down the valley pass. The valley goes on forever (as far as you can see) and is perhaps 30 miles wide. You are now in the Klane Natl Park after having gone thru the Tatshenshini Alsek Provincial Park.
The weind picks up as you cross the summit and continues gusting strongly but you drive on and see no homes, no cows no fences for the entire day. Few cars travel this route and you may go 30 minutes before seeing anyone. My kind of country.
You go from Alaska into Canada and pass thru the bureaucratic formalities of all country borders. You are now in British Columbia but not for long because suddenly there you are in the Yukon Terretories.
Along the way you stop in the Bald Eagle Preserve where in the fall there are 3,800 Bald Eagles lining the shoreline catching salmon. Today however you only spot two and they are too far away to photograph. A bear in the trees is photographed but there are probably too many trees in the way for a good picture to be achieved. A solitary female moose stands in Dezadeash munching on ths grasses below the water.
Finally you make camp at Kathleen Lake and although you have driven only 150 miles you are tired and with all the stops this has taken you all day.
So now dear reader you see what it feels like to have spent a day on the road in Alaska.
Tomorrow we will be on our way to Tok, AK and then down to Valdez which on the last trip was one of my favorite places. I hope that “Bad Ass Coffee” is still there on the harbor.
This will again probably not be posted before Valdez as the internet connections here are poor at best.
Lorne

Haines AK

We are now in Haines, AK after a short 6 hour ferry boat cruise from Juneau. Left at 4:30 in the afternoon and arrived at 10:30 at night. This was a special cruise in that we saw the most spectacular of the whaling pods we have seen so far. In addition there was a school of porpoise and some sea otters. I didn’t get a picture of the otters.
We had dinner aboard the ferry the SS Malipriso (did you know that all of the ferries in the AK Maritime Hwy are named after glaciers?
They had a guide from the forrest service aboard to answer questions and give seminars while underway. The Tongass National is one of the largest in the US (1.6 million acres if I remember correctly).
After offloading we came to a commercial RV park on the waterfront overlooking the harbor and marina. What a view, nothing between our coach and the ocean, but a picnic table. Then across the ocean (inland passage about 1-2 miles wide) high mountain peaks that are snow covered. Behind us more mountains with their majestic snow hats.
Yes, life is good.
Today we will try to see the bald eagle preserve and Fort Seward here in town.

Other Pictures of Juneau

These are some of the other Juneau sites:
1 The Alaska State Museum
2 The Governor's house
3 The cruise ships in the harbor
4 The iceburgs in Mendenhall lake
5 The tram

Pictures from Juneau

Here are some more pictures of the Juneau area
1 Juneau plaque (if you click the picture you will see it enlarge)
2 Boarding the ferry
3 Campsite view
4 Warning on boarding the ferry
5 Mendenhall Lake

Juneau Last Day

June 26th 2008
We are in Juneau still and I have arranged passage on the ferry tomorrow for the trip to Haines AK.
This afternoon we took a hike around part of the Mendenhall Lake and the forest. It was great and the weather was good (not sunny but not raining either). Right now we have rain.
I took a great picture of our dinner to be (barbeque chicken, salad, etc) and then I unscrewed the gas canister from the barbeque too soon and we had quite a firebomb going. Well I grabbed the fire extinguisher and put that baby out fast, but the extinguisher also got our meal. So it was hot dogs and beans everyone. Next time don’t be so speedy and just let the gas canister sit.
Juneau has been a relaxing place for us and I will be sorry to leave it.
You should know that Juneau was the place of the first Alaska Gold rush when Juenau and Harris let by an Indian were shown on what is now Gold Creek where the yellow metal that the Indians used to make bullets for their rifles could be found. This lead to two of the largest gold mines in Alaska and I am sure responsible for Juneau being the capital of AK.
There have been several referendums to change the capital site for AK in the years before and since statehood but Juneau has prevailed even though it has no road to it. It is the only state capital with a glacier within the city limits (Mendenhall).
You would think that Juneau is also the cruise ship capital of AK also I think I counted 6 in the harbor the other day. All those tourists and all those jewelry shops. The owners must either close in winter or drastically cut back on operations.
On the way around the lake we witnessed a wedding. Hope all is well with the bride and groom.
We have moved to a site with electrical and water hookups for Bev to do her cooking and baking. She is glad for the little things in her life now. So far the walking does not seem to have been a serious problem with her feet.
The day light hours just seem to be getting longer and longer. I think that the sun is not going down now until about 11:00 pm. Sleeping is becoming more difficult as we try to adjust our awake sleep rhythms to this new schedule. It just never gets dark here so you do not eat or sleep when you usually do.
The flowers are spectacular again on this trip and Bev has kept her catalogue of the pictures she has taken of them. Possibly if I can sneak in a few pictures I will post them in the future.
Time for a video.
Lorne
Some of the pictures here are:
1 Meal before the blowup
2 Campsite view
3 Mendenhall waterfall
4 Bev on the trail
5 Flowers

Juneau and the Glacier

Well we went to the lift yesterday and on the way home did some shoppig (Bev did the shopping)and it was a nice evening for a barbaque and fire. I bought some drier wood and combined it with the campground wood so that it would burn. We also bought a foam topper to sleap on and got rid of the air mattress. I really liked the air mattress but after two of them developed leaks it was time for a change. Tonight will tell if we made the right decision.
Today we hiked to the Mendenhall glacier and later Bev stayed home to cook and clean while I looked for a site to publish the blog. Well after three tries (McD's yes they do have McD in Juneau and Starbucks which had no service) I finally wound up at the library in Mendenhall (this one has lots faster service than Juneau) and that job is now finished.
I am now going to the ferry to check on dates for departure to Haines. Bev decided that we should skip the Traces Arm sightseeing in favor of doing something like it later. Hopefully I will be able to get on the internet tommorrow.
Lorne

Juneau and the glacer

1 Juneau
2 Mendenhall glacier
3 Capsite view
4 Glasier
5 Whole from the ship Look close next to the ship and enlarge the picture

Taku Ferry and going north

1 Loading the ferry
2 Our cabin
3 Our cabin sleeping quarters
4 Prince Rupert marina