Monday 8/8/22
At 663,300 square miles, Alaska is 1/5 the size of the Lower 48 states. Alaska is the largest state in the United States and larger than the next three largest states combined!
We have to cross a ferry from Dawson City to get on the Top of the World hwy. That’s it for the Yukon & NW Territories for me. Good bye the friendly and charming Dawson City.
We’re driving on the Top of the World hwy to cross over to the US border and into Alaska. “The Top of the World Highway is a 127 km-long highway, beginning at a junction with the Taylor Highway near Jack Wade, Alaska traveling east to its terminus at the ferry terminal in West Dawson, Yukon, on the western banks of the Yukon River.” Wikipedia
Now I see why they name this hwy as “Top of the World!” We’re so high up in the mountains that we can see all the lower mountains and valleys on both sides of the road. The valleys of spruce lined both sides the road and with a slight mist of rain, one can imagine the scent of fresh pines evaporating in the air. Somehow the song “Green Fields” or “The Green Leaves of Summer” comes to mind and I can hear the music and lyrics running through my mind like an old record back in the days….
We just crossed the US border at 4515 ft in altitude. This is the most northerly border crossing in the US. It is a lonely and cold post up here, and supposedly closed after September due to weather condition for travelers. The border officer was a nice and friendly gentleman, who said he spends the entire summer here as they couldn’t get any one to take this post. What a guy! What a job! Looks like they have a small cabin by the post for their family so that would help with the common blues being in desolation in the middle of God and Country!
The road to Chicken was a rough & bumpy dirt trail. It’s hard to readjust after the smooth paved road through the border crossing. Chicken has a population of about 20 people in the summer to support the tourists, but they’re down to two people in the winter time…. oh dear….
We had an early dinner at the Chicken restaurant since they close at 4 pm and pretty much the only game in town. I had the chicken noodle soup, while Paul, Joe & Elfi all had the cheeseburgers. It was very pricey but quite delicious. We all finished off with apples and blueberry pies & ice cream.
Except for the rough Chicken road, it turns out to be a fine day with temperature about 55⁰ F and no mozzies!
Tuesday 8/9/22
Traveling on the Taylor hwy . When we were in the restaurant last night, I saw a sticker on the wall that said “I survived the Taylor hwy’, I wasn’t sure why, now that I’m on it, it makes perfect sense. The road is so bump and rough; some sections are paved with several patches, and some sections are dirt/gravel road. It seriously feels like a looooong roller coaster ride.
Once again, we’re driving through lush green rolling hills with low clouds hovering on the mountain top. This part of the world is so grand, so serene. I imagine if I was standing on one of these mountain top gazing at the big valleys, I could feel the cold air brushing on my face, peace at heart, and the sense of being small like a microorganism that exists amongst the grandeur of nature, of the universe. I feel overwhelmed with all the visuals from this “Great Land ” of Alaska. Absolutely incredible!
We camped behind the Delta Junction’s Community Library to get a decent wifi signal to keep in touch with families, download a couple of Netflix movies and upload some pictures/videos.
Wednesday 8/10/22
We’ve reached the end of the Alaska hwy at mile marker 1422 in Delta Junction, a marvel from WW2 that cost $115M to build in 1942, 7 army regiments, 77 contractors, 15,000 employees, and 11,000 pieces of equipment to connect Alaska to the mainland USA via Canada for national defense after the bombing at Pearl Harbor.
After a rainy day and cold night, one degree below freezing point, we are rewarded with a beautiful sunny day and an incredible view of snow covered mountains, the Alaska Range, in the back drop of the Tanana River & lined with rows of Spruce trees. Truly magnificent!
Today, we’re on the Taylor hwy towards the North Pole to see Santa Claus. Santa receives ~ 7 million letters annually from all over the world. So where does the various post office deliver these letters to? The North Pole, of course!
North Pole is a small Alaskan city, near Fairbanks. It’s known for its year-round Christmas decorations, including candy cane–striped street lights. Santa Claus House is a Christmas store with walls covered in children’s letters to Santa and a huge Santa statue outside. Santa Claus house is on St Nicholas Rd with a cross street name Santa Claus Lane. Santa Claus house also has a Reindeer Academy, also use as a petting barn for young and old children (LoL). Some of the streets have names like Kris Kringle Drive and Mistletoe Lane.
Here Paul came up with a great idea to cut cost on filling BAT’s diesel tank as it’s been costing us about $500 – $600 each time we fill him up, OUCH!!! His brilliant idea is to have the reindeers pull BAT like they do the sleigh. Yup, that’s BATman for ya!
Fairbanks – the Golden Heart of Alaska
And finally, a Costco in Fairbanks! A sign of civilization! We loaded up to the brim with food and supplies for the rest of our road trip. Who knew Costco can be so desirable after a long road trip with very few mini marts in the wilderness.
We camped at the Carlson Community Center. After dinner, I wanted to go for a walk to burn off some calories after a big meal. We wandered through the community center and walked along the Chena River Walk.
At the end of the trail was the most wonderful surprise… I saw the sign that said “Pioneer Park”, had no idea what it was but went through the gate and discovered a little charming village that looks like from a fairy tale movie. My heart fluttered with joy. What a gem! It was already 9:15 pm but there were still plenty of sunlight to stroll around the park; however, all the cute little shops and restaurants are already closed. Pioneer Park opened in 1967 as part of the Alaska ‘67 Centennial Exposition, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Alaska’s purchase from Russia. It is a historic village that features original buildings moved from downtown Fairbanks, as well as museums and a Gold Rush town street.
Thursday 8/11/22
Chasing the Aurora Borealis
We stopped by the Fairbanks Visitor center and received a lot of good info for things to do and see in Fairbanks. I inquired about the northern lights and got some good tips about the aurora tracking website. Bingo! I thought it was pure luck, but scientist can actually predict the high’s and lows of the geomagnetic storm for the auroras visibility indicated by the Kp factor (1 – 9, nine being the strongest) within a 27 day window. The attendant also gave me a couple of location to view the aurora in Fairbanks. Check out this website: Aurora Forecast, Geophysical Institute at https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast
We walked downtown to tour the area, bought some souvenirs and then went back to our campsite for dinner.
Looking at the aurora tracking website, there was a Kp factor of 4 for this evening. So after dinner, I nudged Paul to drive me to the Farmers Loop Rd as recommended by the Visitors Center to camp and catch the aurora show at 2 AM. The Farmers Loop does have less light pollution than in town, but there wasn’t any parking spot for BAT to camp and wait till 2AM. We found a church with a decent parking lot; we parked there while deciding what to do…. It just didn’t feel right parking at the church as though we were snooping around. I googled the aurora lodge, a summit popular for the aurora watching venue about 20 miles away. Now we’re debating whether to drive there or not as it is now 10:30 pm. We didn’t mind the drive but wasn’t sure if we’re allowed to park there since they’re not opened until late August. I checked the aurora website again, and it said “full moon” tonight. Darn it, there goes the plan! Well, I guess it wasn’t meant to be. As you can see, I’m obsessed with the northern light and it is on my bucket list. Others had to pay thousands of dollars to travel from afar to Fairbanks to catch the northern light, and here I am, in the middle of the aurora haven, but wrong time the of the year to see it. I’m literally just off by 2 weeks according to the varies aurora websites. Arrrrrghhhh! 🤕
So, we drove back to the Carlson Community to camp for the night. Bummer!
Friday 8/12/22
Today is museums day. We started off at the Ice Museum with a short video overview, explored the ice sculpture exhibitions, screamed all the way through the ice sled ride for the thrill, and watched a live ice carving demonstration. It was 25° F in the museum to keep the ice sculptures from melting. I had a winter coat on and winter gloves, but my ears and hands were so darn cold. Yet the locals said in the winter, it can get down to -50° F at times. Yikes! I love Alaska but I don’t think I can survive the winter here.
We also visited the Museum of the North which offered an introduction to Alaska’s diverse wildlife, rich history of people & lands, including 2,000 yrs. of Alaska art. And as a bonus, this museum is located inside the University of Alaska campus which sits on a hilltop with an expansive view of Fairbanks against the Alaska Range in the background. This would be a great spot to watch the aurora light show in the winter with such a fantastic backdrop.
We came back to our campsite and Joe & Elfi brought us a few slices of the lemon cake squares that Elfi made. What a delightful treat from our dear German friends after they found out that I have such a “sweet tooth”!
Saturday 8/13/22
We went on the Riverboat Discovery cruise down the Chena River on the Discovery III (900 passenger capacity) steamboat today. What a fantastic 3 hour cruise where we saw a few seaplane taking off and landed on water, watched the champion sled dogs at a training kennel, gained insight into the ancient Athabascan Indian culture via a land tour of the Chena Indian village. The entire 3 hours were very well orchestrated with land and sea live communication, demonstration and narration/commentary. Very well done and far exceeded our expectations.
Along both sides of the river are beautiful homes, where residents come out and greet us with big smiles and friendly waves as we cruise on by, and the Captain waves back by blowing the ship horn. In the winter, this river is frozen and people can drive on it, go dog sledding and other winter activities.
It was truly a delightful afternoon. As we docked back, we saw a lovely river restaurant, the Pump House, with outdoor seating by the river. Diners were waving at the cruisers as the boat passed by. We decided to have dinner there as a way to end this perfect day. The Pump House is quite popular evident by a completely full parking lot. We got in line just to get in. And by the time we were up, the hostess said she can seat us at 9:30 pm since we didn’t have reservations. Yeah, that’s not gonna happen! So we retreated back to base camp, had a ploughman dinner, and retired for the night.
Sunday 8/14/22
We revisited the Pioneer Park today during business hours. We were greeted at the entrance with a choo choo train running around the park so we decided to go for a ride. While waiting for more passengers, the train conductor gave us a quick overview of the engine coal-fired steam locomotive. The original Engine #1 was built in 1899, and later restored by a group of volunteers in 1991 that was operational again in the year 2000. That was truly a little joy ride around the park, which also enabled us to see the other side of the park that we didn’t know existed. During a small uphill climb, the train engine was coughing up quite a bit of smoke and struggled a little bit, which reminded me of children’s book “The Little Engine That Could” with a section: “I think I can, I think I can….” 😊
There were so much history in this park: air museum, train museum, art exhibition, small shops and restaurants and several original cabins from the gold rush era. It was a very quaint little village to stroll through on a Sunday afternoon.
That pretty much concluded our tours and sightseeing in Fairbanks. We finished off the day at a laundromat that cost us about $50… oh joy!
Monday 8/15/22
We barely finished breakfast and Paul got a txt message from another Expedition buddy trying to meet up with us in Fairbanks. This was the day we were scheduled to depart for the Denali National Park. We agreed to meet up with them for lunch at 1:00pm at the Lemongrass Thai Restaurant. We met Pato & Cathy in front of the restaurant and the boys couldn’t stop talking about their trucks, if left alone, they could go on all day about their big toys. Their truck name is @Chipichipi6x6, another Bliss box almost identical to ours. The boys wanted to take pictures of their trucks together so we went back to the Carlson center for pictures and continue to compare the ins and outs of the two trucks for hours.
It is now late in the afternoon and we all have chores to do. We ran a few errands and came back to the camp site as it was past 6 pm and we didn’t want to make a run to Denali.
By 9pm, Pato & Cathy came over for a glass of wine and we chatted until 11:30 pm. We had a blast with lots of laughter as we get to know one another and sharing our travel experiences.
Endless Trail Expeditions 