Part # 5 My Summer Vacation (:>)!

Part 5 of 7 …

Check out parts 1,2,3 and 4. Part 1 starts as of May 26th, 2009

June 10th, 2009

Suns out and looking like another good day. Soon I’m at a place called Coopers Landing, I am now on Highway #1 North of Homer about 100 miles. What beautiful country this is.

I came to a road that went to the town “Kenai” eleven miles off the highway and wish now I had taken that road to see the Kenai Peninsula. Well I just have to go back. There are a hundred places I wish I had visited or stayed a bit longer. But, I was a lucky guy to see and go where I did. I came to area that was looking over the Cook Inlet nearer Homer and could see Mt. Redoubt the Volcano across the inlet. I’ll put the best picture up here, but it is not very clear. Yes, there is a plume of ash rising from it. Look Hard.

 

Soon I could see Homer and the Famous Homer spit. The road takes one straight out on the spit where all the restaurants, shops, docks and fishing boats are. A bit windy that afternoon, but over all a very nice day. Thought I had better have a Halibut lunch since I’m at the Halibut Capital. Picked good looking restaurant and had very nice Fish and Chips Lunch. After lunch I walked around and took some pictures. The Salty Dawg Saloon was closed for some reason, so I didn’t get to check it out.  Watched some fellows cleaning fish for a while, looked like they each has a fairly good catch.

 

There were quite few people fishing in a small inlet off the Spit. I watched for about 1/2 hour but did not see anyone land a fish. http://www.akms.com/

Now here were some Halibut, they were weighing the big one and it came to about 150 pounds. The woman who caught it was standing next to it and she was about 5 1/2 feet tall and it was still bigger than her. You can see her standing the right of the fish in a Yellow sweater.  The record there is 450 pounds, I can’t imagine the size of that fish! I walked around a bit more and almost wished I was a fisherman. I can see this little town will really come alive when the fish start coming in soon.

  

The photo above shows people fishing the other side of the inlet. Than I came across this Ice Cream place, really liked the building. Stopped at a Russian church to take a couple photos. Not an Old Russian like you might find a little farther north say in Sitka. I enjoy the drive back North and then south towards Seward and find a nice camp just north Seward. On the way there I come by Kenai Lake, What a beautiful Lake. Miles traveled now 3946. Averaging 22.4 mph.

 

June 11th , 2009

After a good nights sleep I head for Seward and the Exit glacier. Weather is over cast, and it was doing the Oregon Drizzle, not great for taking photos, plus it is a bit cool ( 55 degrees and windy ). I was a bit disappointed with the glacier, maybe it was the weather. One was able to get up pretty close and there was trail that took one higher up on the glacier, but it was in the fog, so I skipped it. I should not have done that since I was right there and had the time. The Exit glacier is only one of a few glaciers that you can drive right to:  http://www.nps.gov/kefj/index.htm

  

After the Exit glacier I headed for Seward. Was thinking about taking a boat trip from there to see some Glaciers and hopefully some Orca’s. But again the weather was a bit on the low cloud side.  Once in Seward I went to an internet Cafe and got on-line to catch up my e-mails. After that I walked about town and took some pictures, Seward has many murals painted on their buildings. Seward is a very nice small town and looks like it is  depends on the tourist trade. I checked at the dock about the weather, but the forecast was not good. Tomorrow was going to be cloudy, windy and rain. I either had to go in the rain, wait it out or move on. Not being one for staying put I took off back North  towards Anchorage.

 

The photo of the fish above is a little out-of-place, I took this nearer Anchorage. I saw some natives fishing on the river and went down to see what they were catching with their nets. They called them hooligans (we call the Smelt here in Oregon) they look very much alike.

http://www.sewardak.org/

 

The photo above is of Jeremy Lake South of Anchorage. The weather there was beautiful and the scenery could not have more perfect. A few miles north again and started sprinkling and was very cloudy.

  

Another drop dead gorgeous view near Jeremy Lake. The last picture of the day was taken about 9:15pm of a glacier that I believe was coming from the Marcus Baker Mountains. I stopped briefly in Anchorage for gas and then headed east on highway 1 (ALCAN HWY) towards Tok. I pulled off the highway around 10 pm and slept in the jeep again that night.

June 12th, 2009

I awoke about midnight and took this photo of a Coyote standing in front of the Jeep. As you can see there was still was plenty of light. He wondered around a bit looking a bit like he didn’t see the Jeep. Than he slowly moved towards the back of the Jeep where my food chest was, so opened the window of the Jeep and yelled at him. I thought he was going to jump right out of his fur. I don’t think he came around again that night, but I still put the food chest up on top of the Jeep.

 

June 12th, 2009

I came upon the next three photo’s during the day at some point. All have a message for someone. Maybe that person will see this Blog/story and get a little smile.

  

Once again I was back in Tok Alaska, but now I was heading southeast not northwest. I think this is about where I really felt I was heading back home. Shortly after leaving Tok for the second time I came upon a fairly large pond that I spotted a beaver at work. He or she was not happy that I was there taking pictures. It would go to the far end of the pond when it could see me. When I moved around the pond to see if  I could  get a better shot it would slap it’s tail on the water, dive and swim to the opposite side.  Finely it went way over to a corner where I couldn’t see it. Thus leaving me alone with the mosquitoes who seemed to really like people from the USA.

 

Soon I was back at the Border again entering Canada’s Yukon.  Stopped at a couple of camping spots looking for place with shower but none seemed to be equiped with them and not very good spots for tents. They did have a lot of mosquitoes. Finally I pulled of the road into a Gravel Pit and crashed in the back of the Jeep. After killing a few thousand mosquitoes I got a pretty goods nights sleep. Total miles now traveled  4593.

June 13th, 2009

 

 

The photo above left is what the view looked like in the morning , than I came upon this Memorial to a First  Native Indian. This was a very interesting spot and the person doing the carvings was very good. These  three Photos are a small amount of stone and wood craving done or in progress.

 A few  miles afer leaving the Native memorial I pull over to check my map as I am now coming to a very large lake. ( Kluane Lake  Klune National Park BC . While looking at my map I glance ahead just  in time to see two small grizzly bears cut across the road ahead of me. They were moving towards the lake, but I was able to get a couple photos, not great but ok. The last bear spotted me and then sped up to the other and into the brush they went. I drove down to where they entered the brush and followed a 4×4 trail for  ways, but no sign of them.

 

Shortly after seeing the bears I met some people from Texas at a pull out. Wish I had taken a picture of the rig they had. A newer RV about 35 feet long with New Ford 4×4  3/4 or 1 ton four door pickup being pulled with two 4X4 off road vehicles stacked on the trucks bed.  They had three children and had been on the road for 3 months and planned on traveling for nine months. When I mentioned that I had just seen a couple grizzly bears about 1/2 mile back the lady rounded kids and made them get in the RV. These last 50 miles or so has been gravel again and one has to watch out for not only wildlife,  but wild gravel truck drivers flying down the middle of the road. Just south past Haines Junction where highway 1 and 3 meet I came to Dezadeash Lake on Highway 3.

 

A few more miles down the road I came to a sign that said;  Native Village.  Not sure of the name. I drove down the dirt road and could see small poorly constructed homes. I do not know how they would keep them warm in the winter. Income for this village looks far below average for the area. As I drove through the village housing I only saw a few people.

 

Back on the road and heading south towards Haines the town I once again cross from the Yukon in to BC Canada. As I approach some of the most Beautiful Mountain scenery I come upon the Moose in the above photo. I believe it thought it was a race horse, he or she even had that proud look of a race horse and this Moose could run. I was trying to get this photo as it ran about 25 to 30 miles per hour up the road. The next two photos are from the summit before dropping down to bay at Haines.

 I locate a Motel ( The Thunderbird ), check in and grab my dirty cloths and find a laundry. After a couple hours at the laundry mat I find the locale grocery store and resupply my food. Pick up an extra quart of milk and a package of raisin cookies go back to the motel, shower, shave, eat cookies and watch TV.  

Continues with part # 6

More Photos at www.donsiebelphotography.com

Part # 4 My Summer Vacation (:>) !

Part 4 of  7…

 Check out Part 1 , 2, and 3. ..Part 1 starts as of May 26th. 2009

June 6th, 2009

  I’m running a little behind getting this all posted, so please check back from time to time.  ( Oh Yes, I just turned 70 today, maybe that’s why I’m behind.)… Miles traveled now 2756.

 

Stayed at a Alaska State Camp ground last night, cold up here and it did rain a little during the night.  A couple from Roseburg, Oregon or it might have been Grants Pass runs the Camp Ground during the summer. Only about 6 people camped here, mostly RV’s. Yesterday was a big day, Dawson City, Top of the World Hwy and Border crossing. Off to Chicken Alaska today and points Northwest.  First I come across several Gold Mining operations with BIG Signs saying stay out some with Skull and Bones. Most have  American Flags at the Road.  Soon I can see the town or buildings of Chicken Alaska.  http://www.chickenak.com/   The road since the USA border has been gravel again.

  

I had some breakfast ( a frozen waffel-ugh ) and looked around, not a really a lot to see. They were still getting ready for this years tourists. Talked to one of the fellows working there about the mining dredge. They brought this one down here from Fairbanks. As I was looking at the mining buckets I notice the name “Columbia” on many of them. Back in the late 50′ and early 60′s ( that’s 1950″s LOL ) I worked at Columbia Steel Casting Co  in Portland.  I might have helped  build  these  or parts for some of these buckets. The fellow I was talking to thought they were made in Columbia, South America.

 

Most of the day it was drive and drive towards the road to Cantwell, but first I  have to go through “TOK”.  All Roads from western Canada and the Yukon go through Tok. Yes that is true and you can’ t drive out Alaska to Canada without going through TOK.  Now one would think that Tok would be a big busy hub, not so.  http://www.tokalaskainfo.com/ After Tok I head up the ALCAN  Highway #2 on pavement again to Delta Junction. Between Tok and Delta Junction I come the Robertson River still with Ice in it and then a Mother Moose and an older calf crossing the road. The next photo is one of my favorite Photos. This Moose MOM and 2 calves. I spent about 3/4 of hour waiting for her to trust me so she could take her babes across the road. When I first spotted them one of the calves was stepping out of the woods. I stopped the Jeep and began to watch, Mom came out shoved the calve back into the woods. They stayed there for about 1o minutes a few feet into the woods, than she came out again by herself, starred at me looked up and down the highway. She than went back in the woods and pushed the two calves out. Than she lead them along the woods ahead of me ( I was standing in front the Jeep). She stopped for a moment than turned to cross the highway, both watching me and for any other cars or trucks. The calves stayed right by her side or back. Once across she looked back at me and they moved fast into the woods. I understand they have twins fairly often, its known as one and spare. Wolves or big cats  will attack and sometimes Mom has to leave one to save the other. Sad but true.  

 

That was really fascinating to observe. Several cars came by, but didn’t stop while she was making up her mind to get across the highway. At Delta Junction I got some gas and some food for the cooler and  me, a nice big deli sandwich. From Delta I now head south on Hwy 4,  North takes you Fairbanks, but I’m heading to ”Paxson” and road #8 ” Denali Hwy” which goes cross-country to Highway #3 that will get me to Denali. Road 8 is another gravel road that is closed in the winter.  Just south of Delta Junction I see the Alaska Pipe Line for the first time. Amazing to see it go as far as your eyes can see.

   

At about 6pm I reach the turn off for Road 8, not too sure how this is going to go. Earlier in the day I had met a couple from Seattle that had bad luck on the road. He said they had gone about 10 miles on the gravel when their first tire blows out and decided to not go any farther. Changed the tire and went about 5 miles back and out went the spare.  Cost him little more than $500. for two tires to be brought out from Delta Junction.  The problem as I saw it was they were driving a small Saturn with street tires? Off I go 136 miles to Cantwell, the first few miles are paved, but then it turns to rough gravel, not fine stuff, but baseball size rock. Speed was about 15 mph. I can understand why that couple blew their tires. After a few miles of playing dodge the big rock it seemed to get a little better. Had to watch for chuck holes deep enough to bottom in. Now I know why they say NO trailers or low cars. Soon I come to some of the most beautiful landscape scenery of my trip.

 First Photo taken at  at 7:15 pm. Next 8:15 pm and the last two at 10 and 10:15 pm.  

 

Earlier I came upon this little fellow in the road and then I spotted these two Caribou.

 

That night I drove until about 11 pm and then pulled up on a small knoll and watched the sun go down. I told Anne I would get a picture of the sun about Midnight.  Didn’t get a lot of sleep that night, slept in the front seat of the Jeep. Took the  photo below about 11:45 pm. The mountain shows almost black, but look at the sky. It was still very light out.

June 7th, 2009

Did not sleep a lot that night. The next photo I took was at 12:24 am and then again at 4:45am.

 

I was up and moving by 4:30 am, after the photo above I came to this Beautiful Trumpet Swan at about 6 am.

  

About 8 am I was at the end of road 8 and ready to go north on Hwy 3 to Denali. It was the first time I was able to see  Mt McKinley (Denali). I did a spot check since I didn’t do one last night. To see what they look like click on the link and then the next link. It will take you to Google Maps. Very Interesting way to let people know where you are. Spot check at  hwy 8 and 3 http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=63.3904,-148.901&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1    Back on pavement again and heading north towards Denali.  I drove to the Park entrance get my pass and get signed up for a 6 am Bus ride to Wonder Lake about 60 miles into the Park. You cannot drive your car any farther than about 15 miles into the park. From there I head north to the town of  Healy. There I had some lunch and my first beer since I left on the trip. Both were very good. I ate at the Salmon Bake restaurant. There are several large and very nice lodges to stay at  and they cater to the Ships tourists that come in at Anchorage and want to see Denali. I head back south towards Cantwell and find reasonable Cabin for about $65.00. A bit small, but very clean at the Grizzly Bear Cabins. The cabin door was about 5 feet high, But once in it ok. Showers and toilet were separate in a another building close by.

  

That night I went to bed early, had to be up again about 5 am to get to Denali and my Bus by 6 am. I’m hoping the weather holds out and I can see Denali and the Wilderness Park.

  

June 8th, 2009

I’m at the Park by 5:45 am and it starts looking like there will be a lot of people on the bus.  A group of European  photo tourists are lining up and look like trouble, asking the park person a new question about every minute. Two buses pull up and I’m the third person on so I get a pick of the seats. The Europeans  get on the other bus. Our Bus was about 3/4 full. I sat about two-thirds the way to the back on the left side and had a seat to myself. These buses are like old school buses with windows that slide down from the top, but only half way. The bus driver introduces herself and gives instructions of what we can do and not do. As she pulls out to start the trip everyone is excited like a bunch of school kids. The bus trip is a less expensive way to do the trip, you can take a sight-seeing bus with air,fuzzy seats and guide. It was suggested to me by several people to take the school bus and go early and that was excellent advice. Yes, it was warm and sometimes dusty, but the driver made up it. She is not a guide like the fuzzy seater, but she has been doing this for over 10 years. She did try and fool us right of the bat. She said this was her first solo trip, and then said something like ” did anyone see if that sign said Wonder Lake? “. Later she as we came to a very sharp turn on a scary hillside she yelled out, My Glasses, My Glasses anybody know where they are. Than quickly its OK I’m wearing them. She was I’m sure one of their better drivers and would have to prove it a little later.  

http://www.nps.gov/DENA/index.htm

 

 

There is a saying about the Park, Denali out, animals in. Or more animals for viewing on cloudy days and they do get a lot cloudy days. I was lucky, wanted to see Denali and I got a great day to see it. By late afternoon the clouds did come down some, but that was ok. The picture above was just about 15 minutes in to trip and three  Caribou showed up. The sign is interesting, notice the nails in the bottom. They were put there to keep the grizzly bears from chewing on the sign.

 

Soon I was to get my first glimpse of Denali. The next picture shows some of the hill-side turns she had to go around. Does not look too bad in the picture, but when you meet another bus its a little scary when we were on the outside. We saw several Moose, sheep, foxes, eagles,  off in the distance and the driver stopped when ever she spotted something. Most were really too far away to get a good photo. A short distance before we got to Wonder lake we got a surprise. The driver stopped the bus and pointed to a Wolf coming our way up the side of the hill. There was a licensed Professional Photographer parked off to the side of the ahead and he was getting his camera gear into his van. The wolf climbed up on the road between us and came towards the bus. Driver said to keep hands and arms inside. He shouldn’t be here by himself. Most likely had been banned by the pack. A couple days before he did the same thing, but was carrying a caribou leg with him.  She said they were most likely going to have to capture him and move him to another location. He’s not afraid of humans and that’s not good for visitors. Remember  the Europeans, they were all just left of their bus about 1/2 mile back for some Photo taking. She called a ranger to have the next bus check on them. You can get on and off  the bus in most locations along the route and walk for a while. Than catch the next bus coming by. After the morning start of several buses they are about an hour apart  during the day.

I was lucky enough to lean out my window and get this photo as he walked by the bus and looked right at me.  Before that we stopped at a Park center and a great viewing area for Denali. I took about a zillion pictures there of the mountain and area. Here are a couple that I liked.

Soon we arrived at Wonder Lake and the turning around point. Wonder Lake wasn’t anything out standing that I could see, a nice lake with a few bugs. The driver gave us about a half  hour to eat and take photo’s

     

On the way back we stopped at the Park Wilderness interpretative Center and from the photo above you can see it is now getting hazy. Many of the folks on the bus tried to sleep on the way back. We saw some grizzly bears playing way up on a snow bank and a few more Caribou, now laying in the snow banks. It has been a warm day and a long ride, but well worth it. We get back at 5 pm to making it a 11 hour day in the park.

  

Denali was as far North as I was going, this was the turning around point.  Mileage as I left The park was 3252 miles  from home. I headed south toward Anchorage, spotted that goofy igloo looking building about hour south of Denali. Tried a couple pull offs for camping, but mosquitoes were really bad. Than tried a camp ground, but it was just as bad. Finally I stopped at place with rooms that they called cabins, but were more like motel rooms with no shower. Again tonight I had to us the Public shower. It was a nice clean place about $85.00. The lady that ran the motel/cabins was very friendly. She did serve breakfast if you wanted it for about $10.00. I asked her if she sold beer, she said no they did not have a liquor licence, but said she was going to have one and she would give me one, as she stared at the tip jar.  A tall Bud was worth a couple bucks after a long day. We talked a bit about her business which was not doing well. She said they bought the place about 5 years and did OK for a couple years, than gas prices went way up and the tourist stopped coming. She pointed to the highway and said 5  years ago there were cars traveling up and down day and night. Now about 5 pm it comes to a halt. When they bought the place they could fill all 5 rooms by 3 or 4 in the afternoon summer and winter. In the summer her husband would do guiding for fishing, which is what he really loved to do, now he is working on a highway construction job. She said;  if this summers tourist does not pick up, this place will belong to the bank by winter.  More pictures at : www.donsiebelphotography.com

June 9th, 2009

Up and out early heading to Anchorage,  http://www.alaskaanchorage.net/  and reach there about 11am. Stopped downtown at the visitors center and picked up a city map. Wanted to buy Anne a gift from here one of those Ulu Chopping knives. Located their sales outlet and picked up one and some jars of  jam. Watched some people fish for a while and then had to locate a Hospital. Not for me, well sort of . The Local native Hospital sells items from the some of the tribes and the money goes towards paying hospital Bills of those who can’t pay. Bought a nice water-color print. Anchorage is a very nice clean city, not real big, but spread out a bit. Got the Jeep washed and gassed up and headed south. I’m sure that there was a lot to see in Anchorage, but being by myself I would rather spend my time seeing the country.

 

The next photos are south of Anchorage looking out at Cooks Inlet and a bird wet lands area. The first one is looking North back towards Anchorage and the second looking south to where is was headed.

 

 

The 2 above are some people fishing near downtown Anchorage, the next one is a sign showing the area of the 1964 earthquake where the ground dropped 10 feet.

 

 

As I traveled south from Anchorage I came to the Kenai Area. This is a beautiful area of mountains, lakes, rivers and ocean. Just before reaching the Kenai I came to the Alaska  Wildlife Conservation http://www.alaskawildlife.org/. I stopped and drove/walked through it and most of the animals were older and had been saved from some sort of injury. The grizzly bear seemed to be enjoying a himself in the water.  I stopped that night at a Alaska state Park to camp. Still very few people camping, 50 places two cars beside me and the camp host. The host who was from Seattle ( lost his job there) was a young man of about 30 to 35 and loved the outdoors. Said the bears will be here soon, for the fish should be coming up the river in a couple weeks. Only one bear has been checking out the camp at night, so don’t leave any food out. I didn’t see or hear any bears that night.  Total miles now 3592 and still averaging 22. 3 mpg, not bad for the old Jeep. I’m starting a new  post # 5  from here. Remember you can see more photos at  www.donsiebelphotography.com  Any questions or comments please send them to me, thanks.