June 25-July 1, Denali National Park

We arrived a day early & stayed outside the park, but were able to do all our check-in paperwork early. We saw 2 great movies at the visitor centers, got a hilltop view of the area from one of the resorts and walked along the river. Very few vehicles are allowed past mile 15 of the park road during the summer. We were lucky enough to get a last minute reservation at the most distant RV campground, Teklanika, at mile 29. The Jeep had to stay at the visitor center and we could only move around on the park shuttle buses. As campers, we were able to buy a $31 shuttle pass - basically 3 days for the price of a single ride. Thanks again to our in-the-know Fairbanks neighbors! We arrived early, set up camp and took a walk on the Teknalika river bed where we spotted bear & caribou tracks. The river beds are wide and we assumed they would fill from bank to bank at some point. However, there are only narrow streams as the river shifts course each year, or during the year. We then hopped on a shuttle bus for a 6 hour tour. The most stunning part of the drive was through the Polychrome area, with rocks of all colors and the narrow road sliced right into the side of the mountains. It was here that we also caught our first sight of Denali, aka Mt McKinley. We were able to see much of the top & snapped pictures like crazy. We saw Dall sheep & caribou high on the mountainsides and came across our first grizzlies near the turnaround point - a mother & two cubs lazing in the grass. We spent about 45 minutes at the Eielson Visitor Center & the 3 bears were still snoozing when we came back! A fox, blue skies and more stunning scenery were on tap for the drive home to the campground. The nightly ranger program on caribou was very interesting and inspired Dennis to model these antlers the next day. Day 2 in the park was our 10 hour tour to the end (mile 92) of the park road, the old mining town of Kantishna. We were extra fortunate that our shuttle bus driver was a sub and he normally does a full tour to this area, for about $150 per person, but this was all included in our $31 multi-day ticket. He was a perpetually upbeat guy who gave us full narration. We learned so much and had a great time. We hadn't been on the bus 15 minutes when a lynx strolled right in front of it! Next, Dennis spotted a very large male grizzly. Today, we were able to see even more of the mountain - a huge thrill since we had been blanked when we were here on a cruise tour years ago. Near the end of the road, Barb spotted a bull moose with antlers in...Moose Creek! We learned later that night at the ranger program that the average Denali moose is 7 feet high and the tallest found was 9 feet high - at the shoulders!!! We stopped by Fannie Quigley's cabin on the way back. Fannie came to Alaska for gold but found more success feeding other miners in Kantishna. She planted extensive gardens by hauling soil & water up the hill and then froze her fresh food using the permafrost all around her. It turns out she was sharper than her husband, Joe, and often had to dig him out of collapsed mines. He was injured enough in one collapse that he had to go to Seattle, where he ran off with his nurse. Apparently, Fannie was OK with that & stayed in her cabin until she died there an old and much-adored woman. Wildlife sightings on the way home included a mama and baby moose, ground squirrels, a fox who caught a ground squirrel while we watched (ick) and another large grizzly. A rainbow appeared against the Polychrome mountains in the bright sunlight - awesome. Rain finally caught up to us on our 3rd day in the park, so we spent a relaxing day reading and being glad we weren't in a tent. We stayed outside the park for a couple days more and caught up with Corte Bella neighbors Jeff & Aggie, who are working up here for the summer. We got to see where they live and enjoyed the Cabin Nite Dinner Theater show with them. We went back into the park on our last day here to see the dog sled demonstrations (and a moose & 2 caribou). They still use the sled dogs to patrol the park in the winter. As the ranger said, a sled dog starts better than a snowmobile when it's 40 below! Rejoined Jeff & Aggie for a great pizza dinner and made tentative plans to see them again in a couple weeks so the boys can go fishing.

Driving down the highway approx 10:45pm and sunset, June 29th, 12:10am

June 19-25, Fairbanks AK

This was a surprise - a mostly frozen river north of Tok. We hadn't even seen much snow in the previous days. We stopped in Delta Junction AK at the Official End of the Alaska Highway, even though we won't see the beginning until we're on the way home. We camped at the Chena River State Park area in Fairbanks. This is a really pretty, wooded campground right in the center of town. We backtracked a little the next day to visit North Pole & Santa House. Since it's the off-season, Santa and the elves must be in the tropics but we did see a few reindeer. We also visited the Knotty Shop, which had great burl sculptures and some other fun things, including a mini-souvenir for our favorite boy. It's a secret, but here's a hint - it's moose related & tacky enough to appeal to a teenage boy. The University of AK Museum was fairly interesting, with lots of artifacts and wildlife exhibits. We saw musk ox at the Large Animal Research Station - creepy looking things! You'll have to believe this, as they were too far from the fence to get a good pic. Our planned Fairbanks highlight was the Midnight Sun baseball game, which has been played since 1906. First pitch at 10:30 and no lights used. It was fun and there were people from all over the globe in attendance. The Oceanside (CA) Waves were the opposing team. The sun glared in our eyes at 11:45pm, but we survived it! We had a few sprinkles and left at about 12:15 when it looked like a real storm was coming. Good thing - it poured shortly after we got back to the RV and we heard that the Waves and umpires ran off the field. The Goldpanners won the game when it resumed the next day. Our unplanned Fairbanks highlight came about after talking to our fellow campers, who advised us the road to the Arctic Circle was in much better shape than we had been led to believe. Exaggeration of road conditions seems to be common and we wonder if some of those who travel up here don't have a little too much dramatic flair! We had a mostly sunny day for the 400-mile round trip. A tour bus driver was nice enough to take our picture at the Arctic Circle sign. About half of the road was paved, but the gravel sections were hard-packed and usually smoother. We had one little section of construction & the Jeep ended up suitably muddy. There was less truck traffic than we expected, but we did see several Carlile trucks (of Ice Road Truckers fame). The pipeline was visible from most points on the road, but did go underground in places without permafrost. It was a really enjoyable day and we were glad to have met the right people so we knew to do it. And we have a winner for the oxymoron sign of the day. Our final day in Fairbanks was dedicated to laundry, shopping and other chores so we'd be ready for our next adventure - 29 miles into Denali National Park with the grizzly bears and all the other critters! If this is the last blog entry, you'll know why...

June 15-19, Haines Junction YT to Tok AK

We hit the first rough roads of our journey when we left Whitehorse. Nothing horrible, but a few good bumps and rattles. The Jeep is now tan and desperately in need of cleaning. Dennis still finds Alaska mud in crevices on the Gold Wing from his trip 6 years ago and we figure the Jeep will be no different. There is a definite difference between the interior and the coastal mountains. The interior mountains are stunning, but we have gotten spoiled by the steep, jagged, snow-capped coastal mountains and fear we are getting snobby. We set up at Kluane RV Kampground and had a gorgeous view of the Kluane range. The tallest mountain in Canada is here, but not visible from the road. We saw pictures of Lowell Glacier and were interested until we learned it was a 4-6 day hike over two ranges and through the densest grizzly bear population. Ummm, no. Instead, we took the Jeep to Haines, AK – 150 miles of beautiful scenery, above the treeline and back down to the coast. There were no bald eagles in the preserve since they are mostly there in the late summer/autumn, but we did come upon the fish and game department working at their fish wheel. Cindy & Chuck must now think we are stalking them, as we came upon their RV park right on the Haines harbor. Unlike us, they are meticulous about vehicle washing and we interrupted Chuck’s progress, but they were good sports and invited us in for a drink. A Holland America ship (not Steve’s) was in port and a Princess ship sailed by on its way out of Skagway. We’ll definitely plan on a few days in the RV here if we come up this way again. We visited the Hammer Museum – a quirky collection of about 1,500 hammers of all sorts. The owner has even built this bike and other objects out of hammers! We spotted 2 bears, 2 camera-shy porcupines and Barb sat on a bear. Our next stop was Cottonwood Campground near Destruction Bay YT. Barb must now eat her words about undecorated parks since the owners here have really gone above & beyond at their lakeside location. Here is a picture of those shabby interior mountains! Our camping neighbors are a twin of our RV. Dennis asked their serial number & it’s 13 units newer than ours. Our other neighbors are 12 champion Papillons. The dog people have a pen outside for potty breaks and it’s a jumble of yipping black & white fur. Oh, and they have a bulldog too. They’re mostly kept inside the rig and we can’t imagine what that smells like! This bench is right on the US/Canadian border. Insert joke here about Barb's behind being so large it takes up 2 countries. Lining up with the center of the bench was a cut in the trees as far as we could see in either direction delineating the border. We again irritated a border guard by not stopping at the sign that told commercial drivers to park & bring in their paperwork. Didn't think it applied to us, but apparently he did! The Sourdough Campground in Tok, AK is wooded & lots of fun. Each night, guests try to throw pancakes into a 5 gallon pail to win a free breakfast. Barb won on the second night. Here's the winning toss and the dehydrated pancake token. Great pancakes and sausage. We also went to the restaurant for a slice of pie the first night but they didn't have any. However, the boss came running after us with a slice of blueberry pie...no charge. The next night we went in for dinner (yummy reindeer chili & sourdough bread) and she had made apple & cherry pie. OK, we may have dropped a hint or two! We started noticing these really stunted but healthy spruce trees near the border. Charlie Brown would have a difficult time choosing his Christmas tree from all the fine specimens! We're guessing that they're growing above permafrost but haven't confirmed that with anyone in the know. Fairbanks is up next!