HEADING DOWN THE CASSIAR HIGHWAY

We left Carcross and drove to Lakeshore RV Park in Teslin for the night.  The next morning we drove all day until we got to Jade City, one hour before they closed at 8PM.  Jade City is unique because it is not so much a city as a highway community made up of one jade business.  The miners in the Cassiar Mountain Range, produce about one million pounds of jade each year.   I bought a cute pair of earrings to match my ring and the price was right.

If you're looking for high quality jade, this is the place to go

From there we drove ten minutes down the road to a large turnout beside Simmons Lake.  It was a pretty lake shore view and very quiet.  Thankfully, the nights are beginning to get darker the further we travel south.  Denis got his fishing pole and tried his luck for a lake trout but he didn’t have the correct lure and didn’t get a bite.  So there was no fresh fish for breakfast.

Our view of Simmons Lake and private fishing hole

The Cassiar Highway roads are pretty narrow but in very good condition and with beautiful scenery. We keep hoping to see the wildlife all the signs keep telling us to watch out for, but we haven’t had much luck.  We stopped at Dease Lake, population 450, because Rumors Café was supposed to have free internet and there was a gas station for us to top-up.  We weren’t very hungry but we needed to check our messages and the café had a minimum order of $6 per person to use their “free” internet. We split an order of the special of the day, fish and chips, for $12.00.  The password to login was “not for free”, not surprising.  Long story short, we couldn’t log in and put the food in a takeout box for tonight’s dinner.

Without the clouds and rain we would not have seen this beautiful rainbow

This was on the Klondike Highway coming out of Skagway

Bove Island - beautiful scenery

If you need internet at Dease Lake, don’t waste your time at Rumors Café, just drive a few minutes down the road to Northern Lights College for really free internet.  The password is “northern lights”. The Milepost has been an invaluable asset during our travels but they forgot to mention that this area has zero cell service.  It seems strange to see people using pay phones.

We drove about twenty minutes past Iskut, population 283, before pulling into a large turnout just before Devil Creek bridge for the night.  It is “illegal” to camp overnight at rest areas and turnouts in BC but everyone seems to do it anyways.  “But officer, I wasn’t camping out, we just pulled over for a few hours shut eye” sounds like a good explanation if and when we get caught.  I’ll be sure to have Denis put some clothes on before he answers the door, THAT might be difficult to explain.

Bear Glacier welcomes us to Stewart, BC

We had a quiet night’s sleep except for the pitter patter of a light rain on the roof.  We woke early and continued our journey to Stewart-Hyder, about 130 miles.  Stewart, population 699, is at the head of Portland Canal on the Alaska-British Columbia border. The canal is a narrow saltwater fjord approximately 90 miles long and forms a natural boundary between Alaska and Canada.  Stewart has a deep harbor and boasts of being Canada’s most northerly ice-free port.  Hyder, population 100, is 2.3 miles beyond Stewart and we found a private RV park called Camp Run-A-Muck in Hyder.  We have water and electricity, a pay phone (absolutely no cell service), and a nice slow internet connection.  But what do you expect, we are in the middle of bear country.  Speaking of bears, they tell me that three or four black bears are commonly seen walking through town.  We saw one this morning crossing the road.  Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough with the camera.

We decided to stay in Hyder rather than Stewart because it’s closer to Salmon Glacier and the Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing Area.  Unfortunately, the weather isn’t cooperating.  It is cloudy and foggy with drizzling rain.   Fish Creek is famous for observing both grizzly and black bears fishing for salmon in the shallow waters of Fish Creek and Marx Creek.   The boardwalk view area is above the creeks making it safe but allowing us to get very close.  People spend hours with their cameras set up on tripods waiting to get a great photo.

Safe, sound, cold and wet on the Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing Area boardwalk

We got to watch this grizzly catching salmon and bringing it to shore to eat

We watched him for about a half hour - he caught 4-5 fish - they eat the skin and brains only

We drove out to Fish Creek and spent some time watching the salmon spawn then we drove the additional 20 miles to see Salmon Glacier.  The road is gravel, narrow and winding but doable.  We got some good views of this huge glacier but the fog obscured the higher points.

The toe or terminus of Salmon Glacier

This is the 5th largest glacier in North America 

We came back and I boiled up some water for ziti, broccoli with garlic, olive oil, butter and freshly grated parmesan cheese.  Tossed together a green salad and we had ourselves a nice dinner before taking another drive out to Fish Creek before calling it a day.

That’s all folks!  Thanks for stopping in.

ENJOYING BEAUTIFUL SKAGWAY, ALASKA

Where the heck is Skagway you ask?  It's located on the north end of Taiya Inlet on Lynn Canal.  Oh, that probably doesn't help.  It's 108 miles south of Whitehorse, Yukon or 90 air miles from Juneau.  It has a population of 968 but when you have four cruise ships pull in, like today, you've have about 10,000 people walking the streets, taking the White Pass train, riding on the horse and buggy tour, taking a bus or shuttle tour and eating/drinking at the pub restaurants.

Originally, Skagway was spelling Skaguay, meaning "stiffly wind rippled water" in Tlingit.  It is the oldest incorporated city in Alaska and owes its birth to the Klondike Gold Rush.  If you remember your history, names like the Klondikes, White Pass and Chilkoot trails to the Yukon Goldfields all come to mind.

The Artic Brotherhood Hall's facade with more than 8,833 pieces of driftwood sticks arranged in a mosaic pattern was unique and houses the visitor center.  In 1998, the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park became the nation's only International Historical Park with units in Seattle, Skagway, BC and the Yukon.  We got our passport stamped there and talked with the Ranger who told us about Dyea Road with it's narrow, winding, gravel road where thousands of people were housed during the Gold Rush.

The building to the far right is the visitor's center

We took our car to Dyea Road which is the beginning of the 33-mile trail that the original stampeders took on the Chilkoot Trail, climbing over Chilkoot pass with an elevation of 3,739 feet.  Imagine those gold seekers with their "ton of goods" (a year's worth of supplies and equipment) blazing a trail through the worse kind of weather and conditions.  Today's adventurers take 3-5 days to hike the trail.  No, we did not opt to hike the 33-miles.

Today we did opt for a hiking trail to Upper Dewey Lake.  They tell you it's a half hour to one hour hike to LOWER Dewey Lake and classify it as a steep trail.  Well that sounded too easy so we choose to keep going to UPPER Dewey Lake which is a steep two to four hour hike to above the tree line.  I think this is the longest and most challenging hike we've EVER taken.  It was eight miles round trip with an elevation climb of 3,200, I'm talking straight up.  My legs were screaming going uphill and like rubber on the way down.  But I must say the view from the top was spectacular.  In the bowl between two mountains was Dewey Lake, a glacier lake surrounded by mountains.   We took our shoes off and enjoyed the icy cold water.  Denis was much braver than me and dove in a few times. His first dive in, he lost his sunglasses and kept diving back down to find them, with no luck.  We met up with the guys who told us about this hike.  They rented the cabin at the lake for a couple of nights. What a great place to spend a few nights.  They say the brook trout there are plentiful and grow to 16 inches.  The guys told us about the grizzly bear that they see every day.  How cool is that?!

Upper Dewey Lake

Another angle of Upper Dewey Lake

Nice cold glacier water

Got back to the rig safe and sound but we were extremely hungry and tired.  Denis had to go to the Haines-Skagway Fast Ferry to pick up a package and I had a chance to take a nice hot shower followed by a nice cold beer.  When Denis got back we drove (no more walking for us, thank you very much) to the Skagway Brewery.  Ordered up a couple of beers, pasta for Denis and a cheeseburger with fries for me.  Food tastes so much better when you've put in eight miles of endurance hiking.

That's all folks!  Thanks for stopping in.

TRAVELING THE SOUTH KLONDIKE HIGHWAY

I must say "thank you" to Terry and Sharon who told us we must not miss Skagway.  It was only 108 miles from the Walmart in Whitehorse to Skagway but it took us all day because of all the jaw dropping, breath-taking, incredible sights along the way.

THE most beautiful lake we've ever seen has to be Emerald Lake also called Rainbow Lake by the Yukoners.  The water was so calm it was like a mirror and we could see the reflection in the water. The rainbow-like colors are indescribable and are the result of blue-green light waves reflecting off the white sediment, called marl.  Marl consists of fragments of decomposed shell mixed with clay.  I brought out a chair and just sat there marveling at the beauty and listening to the quiet. Truly, this is God's country.

That's the reflection and the blue-green light waves - Beautiful!

Did I or did I not say it was breath-taking?

Another beautiful stop along the South Klondike Highway

We almost didn't stop at Caribou Crossing Trading Post and that would have been a BIG mistake. The Milepost described it as offering several activities under one roof including a wildlife museum (we've seen those before, ho-hum), scenic dog cart rides and cozy cafe.  What they failed to mention that this is THE BEST mounted wildlife museum we've yet to see.  It had the world's largest polar bear, a life-size woolly mammoth and other now extinct wildlife.  They forgot to say that we would meet one of the "dirty girls" and have a chance to talk to her about her all-girls Iditarod team, meet her friendly dogs and see newborn husky pups.  I almost felt guilty asking about the 50-percent off admission for mentioning Milepost.  We saw pigs, ponies, goats and on the mountain we saw Dall sheep the closest we've seen so far (I'm wondering if they were real or mounted).  And, the cozy cafe, had home-made goodies that were difficult to resist.  As a matter of fact, I didn't resist and bought a flaky pastry stuffed with feta, spinach and onions with a side of freshly baked oatmeal, raisin and walnut cookie.

Entrance - we were told that on weekends they have 200 or more people visiting - we had the place to ourselves

World's largest mounted polar bear

Look at how small I look next to the Woolly Mammoth

These husky puppies were born in July - I know I need a haircut

Mom and her new-born pups

One of the "dirty girls" Maren - so called because of all the dirty jobs in keeping the team dogs

Now would you drive by the world's smallest desert?  Carcross Desert is an unusual desert area of sand dunes and an International Biophysical Program site for ecological studies.  The desert is composed of sandy lake-bottom material left behind by a large glacial lake.  Amazing.

Thinking Carcross with a population of 399 was just another one of those old mining towns, we thought we'd just drive through.  Nope, had to get out of the coach and check it out.  We learned about the little locomotives, the Duchess and the Duke, which operated on the 2.5-mile portage between Taku Landing and Scotia Bay until 1921.  In the early days, passengers and freight transferred from rail to stern-wheelers at Carcross.  One of those stern-wheelers was the SS Tutshi which was burned down in July 1990 but the hull remains.

I love this colorful painting done by a local artist

This is what remains of the SS Tutshi (pronounced Too-Shy)

I guess the Duke didn't survive

Someone from town is sinking in a bunch of money to renovate the old Caribou Hotel established in 1906.  Because it is a Yukon Heritage Site, the owner must work closely with the government in renovating and use as much of the original structure as possible.

Caribou Hotel - not much to look at but after the renovations, I bet the interior will be beautiful

We descended about 2,600 feet to finally arrive in Skagway, the roads were excellent and the views were beautiful. We drove into the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Visitor Center parking lot and talked with the Ranger.  He gave us information about the campgrounds in the area. The three in town started at $40 per night and the Municipal Campgrounds don't allow RV's over 26 feet, which rules us out.  From the visitor's center parking lot Denis saw a parking lot and starting thinking, why can't we park there.  He went over and talked to a bus driver there and was told the lot belongs to the hotel.  Denis went and talked to the hotel manager and they gave us permission to stay there for a few nights because the buses don't run during the week.  We have a great, private spot right in town and they wouldn't take any money.  Fantastic!

We made it!

That's all folks!  Thanks for stopping in.

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA MUSEUM - NORTH POLE - CHENA LAKE RECREATION AREA

The bright skies kept up up until midnight last night and we slept in longer than usual.  Our first stop was Sourdough Fuel for a quick dump and water fill, then we drove to the UAF campus.  The on-campus museum is touted as a world-class facility and distinctive architectural landmark.  It was a beautiful day and we didn't want to spend it indoors.  The museum is huge and takes at least four hours to explore. So we snapped a few pictures, looked at the view on the west ridge and headed out.

This guy is waving goodbye as we leave Pioneer Park

Some architect had a field day with this project

This blockhouse was moved to this site and renovated for a mere $70,000 (government money) 

We got on the Richardson Highway and drove about twelve miles to North Pole.  We didn't stop to visit the Santa Claus House which was established in 1952 and is home of the Original Letter from Santa.  We took some pictures, saw the candy cane light poles, reindeer, Mistletoe Drive and Santa Claus Lane.

Santa Claus House

Santa's Reindeer

Then we drove a few more miles to Chena Lake Recreation Area where the Moose Creek Dam on the Chena River was constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers and run by Fairbanks North Star Borough.  In need of a couple days to depressurise, get back to nature, relax, listen to the sound of birds instead of traffic and spend time at the 250-acre lake, we gladly paid $20 for a secluded pull-through campsite.

Another project completed by the Corps of Engineers

Ahhh - peace and quiet

Nice big, private campsite

This is the first time in weeks that we put out the awnings, lawn chairs and had a nice chicken BBQ with my homemade sweet and sour red cabbage.

After dinner we rode the bike trail for about an hour and checked out the Moose Creek Dam.

Nicely paved bike trails along the Chena Lake

Denis is getting very good at holding the camera at arm's length for a photo even while riding a bike

We were hoping to see a moose in the water

Good night

Another very nice day.  Thanks for stopping in.  That's all folks!

FAIRBANKS, ALASKA - STILL MORE TO SEE

Pioneer Park is working out just fine for us, it's centrally located, quiet and not crowded.  We were able to walk across the street for 10:00 mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral.  The priest had just returned from a trip to Asia and he was "pumped" about the under twenty generation in that part of the country that are filling the churches.  He was also very excited about the Africans with conversions in the millions.

We had a buy-one get-one free coupon for the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum located at Wedgewood Resort.  I'm not much of a car buff but this place blew us away.  The collection showcases more than 70 historically significant automobiles produced in the United States prior to World War II.  Almost every car is maintained in operating condition.  As a bonus, which I just loved, they had a fabulous vintage fashion collection.  The dresses, hats, shoes, lingerie and accessories were in beautiful condition.  We spent a couple of hours there.   Click here for their website 

Yes, that's us - wished we could go for a ride

The cars are displayed beautifully

The period costumes and cars were displayed together - too cool

This was before laws were made to protect the birds and hats were made of feathers - this hat was made from two pheasants

The Tanana Valley State Fair just happens to be this week and for a senior entrance fee of $5 each we had a wonderful time checking out all the booths, food courts, local artisans and free entertainment. The hypnotist was amazing and so was the small symphonic orchestra.   I've been looking for a french butter dish and found a very pretty one for a good price.  I know you've all been to state fairs and the inside vendors are the ones that reel you in and don't let you go until you've purchased their product. Usually I'm pretty good at saying "no thank you" and keep walking but not today.  This nice young man called me into his "snare" and showed me all the benefits of Dead Sea Salt for removing toxins from the body and keeping your skin soft and silky.  His product is sold on Fifth Avenue in New York and every time I started to walk away, he'd throw in another product for free.  I told him I needed to think about it and I finally did walk.  I've never indulged in a really good skin care product and some how I talked myself into needing this one.   No, I'm not going to tell you how much I spent.  I will let you know if the product is as good as promised after a month of use.  If it's as good as I'm hoping, I'll let you know and give you their website link.

The spinach bread was very good

Entrance

One of the shows

It didn't start to get crowded until around 7PM and by then we were ready to leave

It was another long day for us but we had beautiful weather and a lovely time.

That's all folks!  Thanks for stopping in.