Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park
Escaping the rat race (sheep race?)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Oh Canada, Oh Canada, and back to Alaska

September 6

The drive today was beautiful. The sky was the usual gray, low, drizzly stuff we have come to expect. The Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge was very cool to drive along, thousands of small lakes and marsh areas. Did see a Great Gray Owl fly across the road but that was the extent of the animals for the day. Crossed the border into Yukon Territory and the road went to crap. It was about 50-75 miles of serious frost heaved chip and seal. It was kind of like riding a roller coaster without the big drops. The scenery in this part of the Yukon was much prettier than the drive up the Campbell Highway. Big mountains and a mix of open tundra and spruce forests. Swans were a common sight along here, along with Wigeons, Loons and Red Necked Grebes. Arrived in Haines Junction just in time to find a campground, cook some dinner and have a nice fire. The Yukon Campgrounds have all been pretty nice, $12 a night and free firewood!

September 7

Woke up to a thick ground fog. The plan was to head to the bakery for coffee and danish. The place was closed so we filled up with gas and headed south toward Haines. The fog shrouding the mountains was awesome and hopefully I was able to capture some of that with the camera. The fog lifted by 10AM and we had mostly sunny skies to enjoy for the rest of the day. Lots of Bald Eagles down toward Haines. Haines a is a cool little town with lots of cruise ship traffic. We headed NE of town to Chilcoot Lake Campground. The Chilcoot River was covered with eagles and gulls as the salmon were moving up stream. The river had a fish weir across it. A weir is kind of like a picket fence with removable pickets. The water runs through but the fish can not get through except where the fish counter person opens up a space. This person sits all day long and counts the fish as they move through the opening. Looked really boring to me other than the fact that the grizzly bears figured out that salmon against a fence made for some really EASY fishing. There was a sow with three cubs feeding about 50' from the fish counter. There were lots of people hanging around watching the bears and a ranger lady watching the people. The campground was less than a half mile from the bears. We found a lakeside campsite and pitched the tent then headed back into town for groceries. Back to camp for dinner and more bear watching before bed.

September 8

Lazy day hanging around Haines. Took a short hike, went to the library to get on line and pay some bills (yes, those pesky things are STILL following us!) and drove around a bit. Made our ferry reservations for tomorrow night, ferry does not leave until 10PM so we will have all day tomorrow to mess around too. Back up to camp. There are a bunch of Harbor Seals hanging out at the mouth of the river, snacking on the salmon I suspect. Must be 40 eagles out there too.

September 9

Breakfast and break camp. Head into town and find a shower at the local laundromat. Showers are good once in a while. Drive down to Chilkat State Park, about 10 miles SW of town. Nice quiet campground and not a sole is there. Nice views across the bay to some hanging glaciers. Back into town and a short hike. Had dinner at the local Mexican restaurant, Mosey's Cantina. Good food. Check in for the ferry at 8:45 PM, Loading at 9:30, en-route at 10PM. A very dark trip to Skagway until we get with in site of town. Unload and drive through the silent streets of town at 11 PM to our camground at Dyea, 10 miles west of town. A twisty windy road into the darkness. We get the tent pitched and crash out about 12:15 AM.

September 10

Up and out to the “ghost town” of Dyea. This was the original start of the Klondike gold rush over the Chilcoot trail. We got a ranger led tour of the townsite from a ranger, we were the only ones there so it was pretty nice. To say this is a ghost town is a stretch, there is nothing more than some rotten lumber laying on the ground. The story and history were very cool though. After that we headed into Skagway. Had some lunch at a bar and grill then wandered the streets. It is a BUSY town during cruise ship season. The streets were packed with people as there were two ships in port. There were a ton of cools shops in town and we shopped a lot! Sheri got a couple rings. I got another backpack. We sampled beers at the Skagway Brewery then went to the Red Onion Bar. This was right next to the starting line of the Klondike Road Race. This is a team relay running event that goes to Whitehorse, 112 miles to the north. It was fun to watch all the teams, reminded me of RAGBRAI. We shared a small pizza then headed back to camp in the drizzle and fog.


September 11

Into Skagway to bakery for coffee and danish, luckily this one is open and we enjoy some really tasty cinnamon rolls with our coffee. We go wonder town for a bit and then decide we need to get out of here before we spend anymore money so we head back to camp and pack up. On the road at 1:00 PM. Up and over White Pass. A SPECTACULAR drive, ranks up at the top of all scenery of the trip. Stop at Canadian Customs, very nice young lady working there, first time ANY customs people were pleasant. Drove up to Carcross, across the Tagish highway and back onto the Alaska Highway. This is a stretch of road we have not traveled. We stop at Teslin Lake campground, another Yukon camp. Build a fire and get ready to whip dinner. Not putting up the tarp tonight, it is mostly clear.......Starts to rain, fine, we put up the tarp.

September 12

A long day driving, at least recently it is. Put in 8 hours on the road. Stop for fuel. Credit card denied, second card denied, crap, there goes the cash I had. Not sure what is up with that and of course it is Sunday so no one at the card center to fix it. Turn south off the Alaskan Highway and onto the Cassiar Highway. A very remote feeling road, not quite like the Campbell hwy but close. Drive to Kinaskan Lake campground, a British Columbia Provincial park. Very nice place. Hooded Mergansers kept swimming past our campsite on the water, very enjoyable

September 13

Heading south still, down to Stewart BC/Hyder Alaska. Set up camp in the Stewart City campground. Suppose to bears all over. We have not seen any yet...........Glad they can't open a tent zipper. Nice little town. On the end of a 90 mile long natural inlet/canal. About a 100 miles as the crow flies dew east of Ketchican Alaska. Stayed in a nice city campground. Big trees and pretty quiet.

Monday, September 6, 2010

The farthest north and heading south

September 4

Headed over to the farmers market, it was cool with lots of produce and arts/crafts. There are a lot of cool weather veggies grown up here, huge cabbage and root crops. We bought a few things and Sheri found some jewelry she needed. Then we went to Creamer's Field to look at the Sandhill cranes, there were lots of them but nothing like the spring migration in central Nebraska. Found a fabric/quilt shop and Sheri got lost in there for at least an hour! We stopped at a little yarn shop and got some cool merino wool so Sheri can knit me a winter stocking cap, it is starting to get cold up this way. Stopped at the grocery store and stocked up on supplies. Bought a couple really nice ribeye steaks for the grill
had a nice dinner of steak, salad and butter/garlic potatoes. Neighbors came over and visited for a while, they were from Nevada MO. They moved to Alaska about 8 years ago and really liked it.

September 5

Pack it up and move 'em out, heading south today, oh so slowly. Kind of a sad thing, I have REALLY enjoyed Alaska. Gray and drizzly, no views of the Alaska range again, just like last time through here. Down through Delta to Tok and found an RV park that had showers and laundry facilities. Nice fire and Hormel Chili on hot dogs for dinner, look out toilets. Heading into Canada tomorrow, then back out to Haines Alaska, ferry to Skagway then back to Canada again.

Denali, The GREAT one

August 30

We left Anchorage for the final time on this trip. It was REALLY tough, we have WONDERFUL friends there. The hospitality was fantastic, we will be back! Heading north to Denali in the normal rain and gray that is what I expect of Alaska summers now. We drive past many Denali view points but still no mystical mountain for us. The Parks highway is one we had driven most of back in the first of July but this time heading back north, fall was in the air. The further north we went more golden aspen and birch trees we saw. We checked in at the park office for our campsites. The campsite we had reserved was at the the 29 mile mark on the Denali park road. Taklanika Camp ground had a minimum of three nights stay and you could not drive your car once you were into the park. The only transportation was the park shuttle system. As we entered the park the colors got more and more impressive. The golds, reds and greens were the coolest fall colors I have ever seen. We saw a single bull caribou and then a small group of younger bulls on our way into the campground. We found a site and pitched the tent and got the Noah's tarp up before the rain started again. Dinner and bed early as we had an 8:45 bus in the AM.

August 31

A quick breakfast and coffee to go, we catch the bus out in front of the campground. The bus is pretty full with folks from all over the the world speaking languages I did not know. The driver told us interesting things along the route about history and eco-systems. The bus would stop and shut off the engine for most wildlife sightings so there were plenty of photo ops. The day was gray and rainy again but the animals were out everywhere. We saw grizzly bear, wolves, moose, dall sheep, caribou, porcupine, golden eagle, merlin, ptarmigan. The only thing missing is a view of Denali itself. We traveled all the to Kantishna which is the end of the road at mile 83. It was a spectacular day. It was a long day, almost 9 hours.

September 1

Slept in then went for a hike along the river near the campground. Did not see anything animal wise but it was a great education on the way a glacial rivers changes course. I now understand why a lot of glacial river beds are big and wide and open, very cool indeed. The sun popped out late in the day and was beautiful. Then the clouds and rain again, come on, make up your mind! Had a nice fire and then bed.

September 2

Woke up to clear sky's and a heavy frost, temps around 33 degrees. Rain drops from the night before froze on the tarp. The high mountains have a new dusting of snow. It really feels of fall this morning. After breakfast we headed or the bus again. This time we were only going as far as the Eielson Center. Today the animals did not seem quite so active but we still saw some good stuff. We had a wolf with a bad leg hobble right past the bus on the road so I got some decent photos of him. We saw other wolf, sheep, caribou and bear, just not as many. We watched a movie at the Eielson Center and looked at the displays. Of course the clouds had moved in by now and there was STILL no views of the mountain. I was able to snap a picture of a partial Denali shot through the clouds from Stony Hilly, guess that is the best I will get.

September 3

Leaving Denali this morning. Breakfast and break camp, no rain and a dry tent packed. We saw some caribou on the way out and enjoyed the fall colors. At the Denali visitor center we ate a couple cheeseburgers and then went to see the parks working sled dogs demonstration. It was interesting, the dogs do a lot of work in the winter. Heading north now to Alaska's second largest city, Fairbanks. We found a nice campsite in the middle of town on the Chena river. Nice wooded sites with all the sounds of the city around us. The Sandhill cranes were all over the place flying back and fourth making there funny cackle.

Back to Chateau MacHuber

August 27

Awoke to rain, how strange. Pack up the tent and head back to Anchorage. Besides almost getting run over by a couple of semi's it was an uneventful and gray drive back. Arrived at Ken and Heather's about three o'clock and got settled in. Started some laundry and took showers, Damn nice to have a wonderful “base camp”. Pizza and “burn you a new sphincter hot wings”. For some reson Huber decided Extra hot would be good, we both paid for it the next day, poor choice Ken......

August 28

Time to cook. I brought some KC style BBQ up to alaska that I had smoked back in Misery and thrown in the freezer. Ken and I decide that baked beans, slaw and Mac-n-cheese were the perfect compliments for the “Q”. Ken and I went to to the farmers market (they are awesome up here) to pick up some fixin's. I worked on the beans while Ken did the mac and coleslaw. Tim, Julie and Brian joined us for dinner and we pigged out. Julie made a peach/nectarine pie and I had made a peach cobbler in the dutch oven. We all ate way to much. The Monkee ended up napping on the couch, does pulled pork have the same stuff as turkey (triptefin?) in it?

August 29

packing and organizing gear, prepping to leave in the AM. In the evening we go over to Joe and Emily's house for pizza from the Moose's tooth, some of the best pizza I have ever had. Looked at pictures they had taken from Katmai. They had some GREAT pictures of the bears from there trip. Someday we may have to make that trip.

Off to Seward and here Fishy Fishy

August 22

Sunday morning and we are up in the drizzle, get the tent packed away and head for the bakery/coffee shop. Had some FANTASTIC blueberry cream cheese danish and couple of latte's to go. The drive back north up Kenai looked just like the drive down, still no views across Cook Inlet toward Mt Redoubt. Took a side trip through the town of Kenai, nice little town. A stop at Tern Lake to make some
sandwiches and to look at the salmon in the creek. Lots of bright red salmon, not sure what kind they were. On to Seward, it also looked about the same as last time we were here on the 5th of July, rainy and low overcast. We found a site in the city campground right next to the hike/bike trail and the water. Not a bad spot with LOTS of people watching opportunities.

August 23

Woke up to partly cloudy and windy. The mountains around us were mostly visible and spectacular. We could see Mt Marathon, the one Julie ran on the fourth of July, thats just CRAZY girl, GREAT JOB! Turned into a great day weather wise. Made reservations to go out on a Halibut trip on Wednesday, should be fun. We just kind of hung out all day, wandering the streets of Seward.

August 24

The sky is clear, We watch a huge cruise ship back out of port and turn around in the bay, a very nice pirouette by a 1200' long ship. We headed up to Kenai Fiords NP's Exit Glacier and took a couple mile hike up to the snout of the glacier, pretty hike. That afternoon we sat and had fish and chips on a restaurant deck overlooking the small boat harbor, soaking up the wonderful sunshine.

August 25

Excited and up early (5:00 AM) to go fishing. I have always dreamed of going out on an Alaskan halibut fishing trip and today it is happening. I made coffee and scarfed a bowl of cereal then hopped on my bike with my pack full of gear and rode down to the docks. Went out with Pro-Fish-N-Sea on the boat named the pursuit. There were ten “fish People”, the Captain (Kevin) and deck hand (Willy). Heading out of the bay was spectacular, clear sky's, light winds and a great moon set over Mt Marathon. Saw mountain goats and huge bird colonies on the rocks near the mouth of the bay. Lots of Murre's, gulls and Puffin's. The ocean was calmer than anytime I had ever been out at sea, no wind and swells of maybe 2', unbelievable. The captain took us out about 15 miles off shore into the gulf of Alaska. We dropped anchor in about 280 feet of water and Willy went over the equipment and how we would fish. They started dropping baits over the side and handed me a rod with a 2.5 oz lead jig head w/a 10” twin tail grub. Drop it to the bottom (a long wait) then start jigging. One of the guys had a bite on the bait in about ten minutes and pulled up a nice 40 # halibut, it looked like a lot of work! Things were kind of slow for the first half hour but started to pick up. Fish started coming into the boat pretty regularly, but still no bites for me. My arms were getting tired of yanking that giant lead head up. I finally hooked a fish and brought it up, about a 20 pounder so I let it go. I caught three more fish before I decided I better keep one so I would have something to show for my money. There were some Lingcod and Yelloweye Rockfish caught by others along with lots of halibut. One of the guys hooked a Salmon Shark that he fought for about an hour before breaking him off. We had a couple of looks at him as he got him near the surface just for the fish to head back down to the bottom. The captain guessed it was about 7' long and 400 pounds or so. It was a hell of a battle and the fish WON! I cuaght another halibut that was about 60 pounds and then a couple of nice lingcod. Everyone on board caught there limit of two halibut and two lingcod. It was FUN. We got back in and they filleted the fish for us. I had 54 pounds of fillets that I had packaged, frozen and shipped to my Dad's house for future consumption, YUMMY! Sheri met me at the docks for photos then we went and ate a hamburger. Is there something wrong with having all that fresh fish and going out for a burger? Probably so.....

August 26

Another beautiful day in Seward. We whipped up some breakfast then headed for the Sea Life Center. It is a pretty cool aquarium that has lots of information on the Alaskan sea life. I think one of my favorite things was the giant fish tank that had the aviary above it. Watching the Murres and puffins swim into the depths was really cool, it was like they were flying under water, very cool indeed. For dinner we decided some salmon on the grill would be good. After all the money I spent yesterday, I am at the fish market buying salmon, that's messed up. The salmon was fantastic, I need to catch some.