Going North in Alaska

North Alaska

Words really cannot describe the beauty of the Alaska coast and how much we would like to stick around to enjoy it longer but we hear the call of the road and need to adventure on to the interior of Northern Alaska.

Our next destination is Denali National Park. We arrive with expectations of seeing the World famous and admired mountain of Mount McKinley but it is usually cloudy and the mountain does not show itself.  We make our way to the visitor center on a cloudy rainy day and loaded up on history displays and great films of the area.  We leave disappointed that we did not see Mount McKinley but decide to camp nearby and see if tomorrow brings clearer skies as the forecast was changing slightly.  It was worth the wait... we woke up to clearing skies! We make our way back into the park and see what only 30% of the visitors see ---- the tall snowy peak of Mount McKinley.   Mount McKinley stands 20,310 feet, the tallest peak in North America.  It lies in the six million wild acres of Denali National Park and is known to be covered by clouds 70% of the time. With those stats we are very lucky that we were able to get a glimpse of the mountain.

What makes it look so 'grand' is the majority of the surrounding mountains are 2 to 4,000 feet tall. 

A trip through Denali NP would not be complete without at least mentioning the resident sled dogs. The Denali Sled Dog Kennel is the only working sled dog kennel in the entire US National Park system. The kennels started in 1922 and these Alaskan Huskies are a very specific breed that are bred and trained to haul gear, transport supplies and patrol remote areas of the park when needed since most of the park area is 'Wilderness' and motorized travel is not allowed. It was a real pleasure to walk through the kennels, pet these amazing dogs and watch them in action at a short demonstration. 

Sled dogs in action

After spending a couple days on the road and camping remotely we needed to make a stop in Fairbanks, Alaska to stock up on supplies and play tourist.  We were intrigued to visit the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum which was unlike any auto museum we had visited before. The museum features immaculate rare and one of kind autos, motorcycles and airplanes through the ages and are uniquely paired with the clothing worn during that time.  It was very interesting to read the stories about the vehicles and clothing. This was an incredible collection that took us about 4 hours to get through the exhibits and easily was one of our favorite city stops on our trip.

NOTE:  The 'extra' brake pedal for the passenger to use? 

1931 Studebaker President - Model 80 Four Seasons Roadster

A local invention to better snow travel

After Fairbanks we headed North on the Dalton Highway,  a 414 mile remote gravel/dirt road known by the Discovery Channels show 'Ice Road Truckers' and to be a challenging trucking supply road that connects Fairbanks to Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay oil fields) near the Arctic Ocean.  It is miles of potholed, wash-boarded, muddy and frost-heaved road. The Dalton Highway was built for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System for the semi-trucks to haul equipment, supplies, etc. to the oil fields. Auto drivers need to respect the trucks because they are the king of the road. Some travel fast and with purpose.  We stayed alert and on the edge of our seat most of the time to stay out of trouble.

Trans-Alaska Pipeline outside of Fairbanks, Alaska

On a good graded section of the Dalton Highway with the pipeline to the right.

Our travel day on the Dalton Highway is filled with rain, wind and MUD, very sticky mud and lots of it.

Following a semi-truck which helps to pack down the 3 inches of mud covered road.

Did we say it was muddy....

Mud everywhere!

At Mile 115 we arrive at the Arctic Circle. This is the farthest North we traveled in Alaska, so far. We spend the night at the Arctic Circle and made plans to continue North to Deadhorse the next day but Mother Nature changes our mind.  Deadhorse's next two day weather forecast was cold (31 degrees), snowy and  roads being muddy and slick. We decide that 300 miles of these conditions is not enjoyable and decide to turn around and start looking for the North Pole.... Alaska that is! We did drive north another 60 miles to Coldfoot, Alaska for fuel and to check out the area before heading back down the Dalton. 

We made it !

North Pole, Alaska is a small town situated on the outskirts of Fairbanks started in 1952. It embraces the Christmas theme in its street name like Santa Claus Lane, St. Nicholas Drive, Snowman Lane and Kris Kringle Drive.  The street lights are decorated in a candy cane motif and we noticed many of the businesses have similar decorations. 

North Pole's biggest attraction is Santa Claus House where Santa hangs out and where you can pet the  reindeers, write a letter to Santa and buy everything Christmas themed. We enjoyed our time walking around the area and it does get you in the Christmas spirit.

Santa Land

Interior of Santa's gift shop

Santa's reindeer at his 'Antler Academy' flying school

After our brief visit at Santa's House we hit the road again to head into the wild remote Alaska to towns of Chicken and Eagle, Alaska, and then over the Top of the World Highway to Dawson City, Yukon.

View from camping spot showing the Alaska Mountain Range before reaching Chicken

Chicken, Alaska - The name alone sparks curiosity, but Chicken is more than a funny roadside attraction. It is rich in gold mining history and a reminder of the gold rush era and is still mined today.  We enjoy a day to emerge ourself in the history and also the quirkiest around town. Legend has it that the town got its name when town founders could not agree on the spelling of "Ptarmigan", the name originally proposed.

The town of Chicken, Alaska

Pedro Dredge National Historic Site in Chicken, Alaska

Here's a chick...

There's a chick....

Everywhere there's a chick chick!

We make our way along the Taylor Highway from Chicken (Alaska Rt. 5) on to the Top of the World Highway. The Top of the World Highway got its name (for the most part) because it hugs the high ridges giving it a 'top of the world' feel showcasing unlimited mountain and valley views.

A small snapshot of the massive wilderness from Top of the World road

After 55 days on the road, 35 days in Alaska and 3,100 Alaskan touring miles we are once again crossing the Alaska/Canada border in enter the Yukon Territory.  Next time we take a short ferry trip across the Yukon River to Dawson City, Yukon and continue our southward travels.

Happy travels!

 

Coastal Alaska: Seward, Homer and Whittier

Coastal Alaska

Our great experience in Valdez leaves us wanting more coastal adventure so we continue to the towns of Seward, Homer and Whittier. They are all located on the Kenai Peninsula southwest of Anchorage.

As we drove toward the coast we stopped along the way to marvel at the spectacular mountain scenery. It really is beauty overload.

Seward: 

Seward serves as the gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park which is a hub for glaciers and marine wildlife.  The town itself has a lot to offer including Alaska SeaLife Center, Kenai Fjords National Park Visitor Center, hikes to glaciers, town murals, etc.

Over half of Kenai Fjords NP is capped with glacial ice, known as the Harding Icefield, which branches into 40 glaciers +/-. We were once again lucky enough to score boat tour tickets to visit just a small part of the Kenai Fjords. During the trip we enjoyed wildlife watching, sea lion colonies, Orca and Humpback whales and countless seabirds including the adorable puffins.

Orca Whales

A couple of the glaciers coming down from the Harding ice cap

More glacier sightings

Our boat got close to the face of Holgate Glacier to watch the ice calf

A window with an ocean view. 

The massive rock formations also housed sea lions for the day-look closely.

Puffins and Seagulls or could be Kittiwakes if they have black legs

While exploring more around Seward we hiked the Exit Glacier trail in the Kenai Fjords National Park. The receding of the glacier is evident by some trail signs indicating where the glacier once sat. Researchers say that the glacier has been receding over 160 feet every year over the last two decades. When you see and read about the glaciers you realize that these beautiful arts of nature will not be here forever. 

Exit Glacier

Homer:  

We traveled the Sterling Highway down the Kenai Peninsula to the south end to find Homer surrounded by the ocean and snow topped mountains. The views of Kachemak Bay are pretty great. Our goal was to camp on the 'Homer Spit', which is a 4.5 mile long gravel bar jutting into Kachemak Bay at the tip of the peninsula.  According to Wikipedia it is called the Spit because of its literal geological definition: a coastal landform created by wave action and longshore drift depositing sand and gravel in the water, originally left behind as a glacial moraine.  The Spit is loaded with shops, restaurants, hotels and RV campgrounds.  It doesn't seem that this little ribbon of a Spit would be big enough to accommodate all that is going on with ocean water just a few hundred feet apart.  We scored an RV site on the water front and even though it is cloudy we enjoy the smells and sights of the coast.  

View across Kachemak Bay

Our water front RV site

Viewing Homer and Homer Spit from Skyline Drive  

Grewingk Glacier viewed from Skyline Drive in Homer across Kackemak Bay

Anchor Point:

Anchor Point is about 20 miles northwest of Homer and is a scenic coastal community on the Kenai Peninsula.  We make the stop to take in some of the quieter beauty of the Cook Inlet, watch eagles and visit the area that is known to be the most westerly point on the North American highway system accessible by a continuous road. 

Numerous eagles were flying around in the area

Whittier:

We did not have Whittier on our list to visit but hearing about the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, town history and scenery we decided to make a day of it. We were excited to experience driving the longest vehicle-railroad shared tunnel in North America. The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is 2.5 miles long one-lane tunnel must be shared by cars and trains traveling in both directions. The unique tunnel design enables a single lane of traffic to travel directly over the railroad track.  This build saved tens of millions of dollars over the cost of constructing another tunnel or wider one.  

As we arrive at the entrance we took our place in line and waited for the train to transverse the tunnel and then it's our turn.  But our wait is not wasted as we viewed the surrounding scenery of... you got it, more snow capped mountains. Beautiful!

Our view as we wait to enter the tunnel

Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel entrance

Tunnel interior

The town of Whittier (Gateway to Prince William Sound) is small compared to the other port towns that we have visited.  It had an extensive military presence until 1960, which you still see the evidence of some of the buildings.  The two main structures in town was the 275,000 square foot Buckner Building completed in 1953 and the Begich Tower completed in 1957  by the United States Corp. of Engineers as part of a strategy to establish a military presence in Alaska, which housed troops, officers quarters, mess hall, theater and shooting range so troops didn't have to leave the buildings in the cold weather.  It was dubbed the 'City Under One Roof'. At the end of the Cold War, the base was scaled back in troop size and then  abandoned in the mid 60's, and both still stand today.  The abandoned Buckner building stands as an eerie monument to the past. The Begich continues on today as a 14 story building that houses over 90 % of all the Whittier residents and includes the post office, grocery store, church, medical center, police station and other municipal services called 'One Roof Life'.   

Purchased a snack from the Frisky Mermaid Cafe in Whittier. 
Yummy cinnamon roll with a great harbor view

Buckner Building as it stands today.

Whittier view

Begich building 

After 38 days on the road, 18 days in Alaska and 1,350 Alaskan miles we are really enjoying the mountainous glacier scenery around the coastal towns but we need to keep going because there is lot of Alaska to explore. Join us next time as we head North and inland for more Alaska adventure. Hint: a big mountain in Alaska slightly reveals itself to us.

Happy Travels