Monday, May 15, 2006.  Today we leave Dawson Creek at "Mile 0", of the Alaskan Hwy.


North to Alaska

 		 The Mile 0 Post
The "Traffic Circle" located at the intersection of Alaska Avenue and 8th street marks the designated Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. A plain four-foot post once marked the site. In 1946, when this was hit by a car, a new Mile 0 Post was designed and moved to the centre of Dawson Creek where it stands today. The Mile 0 Cairn in Northern Alberta Railway Park was erected in the late 1950s to replace the original post that marked the "true" beginning of the highway north.

 

Did-ya-get-all-that!
 
There seems to be some confusion as to where Mile 0 is!!!
They have moved it several times. We hear sometime out of fun the mile post was hidden or moved. We are pretty sure that the one I am leaning on is the true Mile 0 but I could be wrong.

 

Best looking hotel we've seen yet... eh!
In the early hours of March 9, 1942, the first troop trains of the United States Army Corps of Engineers arrived in Dawson Creek to begin construction of the 2450 Kilometre (1,523 mile) Alaska Highway. Overnight Dawson Creek was transformed from a small agricultural community of 500 into a bustling terminus for troops and supplies. At peak construction the population swelled to 10,000. Tent cities sprang up in farmers' fields to help house the massive influx. The Northern Alberta Railway Station, the "end of steel", became a centre of activity and, sometimes, temporary home for thousands of military and civilian workers, many of whom arrived with little knowledge of road building - or subzero temperatures. During construction Dawson Creek served as a clearing house for supplies and equipment, as well as workers. In the spring of 1942 some 600 carloads of tractors, bulldozers, fuel and supplies arrived by rail from Edmonton for dispersal to construction camps along the route north.
Though the highway was completed in record time, it was not without its mishaps. One of the worst tragedies occurred in Dawson Creek in February 1943 when 60,000 cases of dynamite exploded in the centre of town, injuring many but, miraculously, taking only five lives. The explosion levelled an entire city block.
Today we have also met up with the "Quebec Connection"  (Pierre and Judy), by Fort St. John at Mile 52 of the AH (Alaska Hwy.) and decided to travel together a bit. It is nice to have company and they are such good company because they always feed us with their good baking and meals! The top picture "North to Alaska" is of their truck/trailer and ours as we boon-docked for the night. A big black sow bear paid us a visit last evening. It was one of the highlights of the evening.

 
They converted this grain elevator into the "Dawson Creek Information Centre". --->

 

<--- Da gang... la, la, la...


 
 
Along the way we saw a  coal mine and a lot of gas wells while driving between Grand Cache, AB and Dawson Creek, BC. --->

 

<--- The girls made us stop for this handsome son-of-a-gun!

Due to Alaska being so big and so much to see, just click on the underlined place to go to see that page.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006.  On our way to Fort Nelson. Hopefully we will stay in the area for a couple of days.  Well we did not stay here but we did have a good time here.  Fort Nelson is a unique place. The people are very friendly and enterprising. The Fort Nelson Heritage Museum is one of the best museums we've seen. We also noticed that they really need people to work here and in Grand Cache with advertised jobs of $14 to $17 an hour for submarine shops and McDonalds!. Below are things we saw along the way.

Rene, this place is famous for it's caps. Toad River Lodge AK Highway . Mile 422. Look on the wall where there is a pink arrow pointing to a cap. That is one of your caps.


 
During a certain stretch there was all kinds of Big Horn Sheep.  Boy, can they climb. This was after Muncho Lake.
They are all over the place but will run away when you approach.
 
A new species called the ??????, any idea's for a name?

 

 

 



 

Reindeer's just ambling down the road. We saw these around Muncho Lake. They will walk right in front of your vehicle.  You really have to watch these guys or else you could very easily hit one.  It's almost as if they expect you to get out of their way.
Our friendly Whisky Jack

 

Wild Buffalo.  After Liar Hot Springs there was a whole bunch of them but they stayed off the road.  Thank the Lord. They are big.  We ate Buffalo pepperoni and it was really good.  We bought it at the friendly clean laundry mat in Fort Nelson.


 
Wednesday, May 17 2006 We boon docked near Summit Lake. The next day we went to Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park. Along the way we saw so much wildlife that we had to be careful not to hit any. A lot of Caribou, mountain sheep and the occasional buffalo and moose. Pierre and Judy had been there before and what a treat it was.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely. Pierre baked a chocolate cake for Denis's birthday. We had BBQ's with our new friends and exchanged many happy moments around the campfire.

 

Saturday, May 20, 2006.  We are at Watson Lake and have just crossed into the Yukon border.  I purchased a fishing license, $25.00 per season and am hanging up my "Gone Fishing" sign. The fish in the lakes and streams consist of lake trout, Cisco, lake whitefish, Dolly Varden, salmon, burbot, northern pike.


Nisutlin Bay Bridge
This bridge was built in 1956 with concrete piers and steel grid deck, replacing a previous bridge built in 1942. The bridge it the longest on the Alaska Highway (1917 ft.)
Monday, May 22, 2006.  We went off the Alaskan Highway a bit to-day and went to Tagish and Carcross. Yukon Highway #2  Then ended up at a campground at Whitehorse.  We noticed a lot of help wanted signs in Whitehorse.

Three little birdies standing on the Tagish bridge, fishing.  One named Judy another Pierre and then there is Denis.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006.  We will continue on the Alaskan Highway tomorrow and at Haines Jct. We will be parting with our Quebec friends again, it has been so nice having their company. We will head south to Haines going through Kluane National Park and Reserve and Haines on Yukon Highway #3.


Chilkat Pass Summit on Haines Hwy.
 
The male Ptarmigan below running for his life from Denis.
And to your left check how cool the female Ptarmigan is.

They kind of look like chickens but they live in the Artic so they are not so chicken.

 See the little guy in the pipe on the left well there is a better picture below. This little guy is called Alaskan squirrel or collared pita I am not sure which. They are cute and curious little guys. They look for a

way to get into your trailer or coolers. They are all over the place.











 

 		 Our first nights stay on the Haines Rd. was at Porcupine Crossing.  This was our view from our window.  Not bad.

We met Gerry and Wendy Laurin camped here. They were nice enough to introduce themselves and asked us to join their campfire in which we exchanged stories. Jerry gave Denis a couple of his own canned Salmon which we had for lunch and was good. They live in Anchorage and Gerry has duel citizenship Canadian/USA. They will be at the Russian River CG  for the opening day of the Red Salmon run (June 11, 2006). We may see them again.
Thursday, May 25, 2006.  We have set up camp in Haines today and tomorrow we will go to Skagway by ferry, leaving our truck/trailer in Haines.
Monday, May 29, 2006.  We were at the "Solders Summit", AK to-day.  This is were they had the ribbon cutting for the Alaskan Highway.
The Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Big Delta, Alaska, was opened here at Soldier's Summit on 20 November 1942. Relying on local Native guides and generally following existing trails, United States military and civilian personal finished the road in under 10 months.  A lot of the original road is now part of the Alaska Highway. Its completion in 1943 opened the Northwest to southern exploitation of natural resources, altering Yukon settlement patterns and changing Native ways of life.

This is where the ceremony took place.

 
This is a view on top of the hill where the ceremony took place.  

Menu for the people attending the ribbon cutting ceremony.

 

Wednesday, May 31, 2006. . There is about 30 kilometres between the Yukon, Canadian border crossing and the Alaska, USA boarder crossing. You leave Beaver Creek, the official Canadian boarder crossing, after getting your official Yukon Sourdough Certificate at the visitors centre and then after 30 kilometres you arrive at Delta Junction, the official USA boarder The road between was like cruising on a wavy ocean. The road was considerably better once we crossed into the USA boarder crossing.
We are staying at the Sourdough RV Park in Tok, AK

Denis is standing with left foot in Canada and his right foot in USA
This is the latest fur jacket fashion.
and mukluks to go with the jacket.  Beautiful work.
This is the Sourdough Campground just 1.25 miles west of Tok on Glenn Hwy. The owners are really friendly people who go out of their way to entertain and make it easy for you to meet other campers.  Their food is very good and prices are very reasonable. We definitely would come back. 

There I am in the middle of the picture for being a participant of the Sourdough Pancake Toss.  I was Avana White.

Thursday, June 1,2006. We will head towards Fairbanks on our way to Denali National Park. We stayed overnight at Birch Lake and met some really nice people from Juneau.  I only got the daughter name, Della. Well they were catching Lake Trout one after another. We have decided not to get an Alaskan fishing licence.  It is way to costly and so many rules. We will fish in the Yukon, since we have a licence for there and quite a bit cheaper. Anyways back to Della's family.  They gave us tree of their Lake trout.  Thank you, Della and her mom.  I think her mom caught most of them.  This is the second time an Alaskan has given us fish.  We met Don and his wife just out side of Haines and Don gave us 2 cans of Salmon. They catch the Salmon and have a cannery can it for them.

Due to Alaska being so big and so much to see, just click on the underlined place to go to see that page.


The end of the Alaska Highway.  It has been fun travelling with it's history and getting to know some of the people responsible for it.

 

 
Our Birch lake campground.

Our bounty from Della's family.  I gave her our email and hope to hear from her.		  
Friday, June 2, 2006.  We visited the North Pole in Alaska an then spent the day in Fairbanks and it reminds us so much of Timmins except much busier and lively. I found out to-day that the Forget-me-not flower is the official flower of the State and rightly so. Alaska seems to have been forgotten by the rest of her States because if there is advertising stating "we will deliver any in the USA" and an Alaskans goes to order the item the retailer will say "O, except in Alaska.  I bought a clock that gives the time, date, year and degrees. This clock (Atomic Clock) synchronizes with a tower somewhere in Oregon.  This tower sends out a signal (Wave) to make sure the time is the same throughout the USA. I have to set the time zone (Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific) every time we travel into another State so that the tower knows. When we enter Alaska we set our watches 1 hour ahead which means USA has 5 different time zones. The clock only has 4 but luckily they did add a "manual" setting.  Another rejection for Alaska but I think because they are so remote from their other States it has made them stronger and more independent.
Sunday, June 4, 2006. While travelling we stopped in at Nenana Visitors Center. They were having their Memorial Day parade. We are camping at Denali National Park, the weather is really bad, to cloudy to see Mt. McKinley which is our main reason for coming here.  It is has been about -7C in the morning. On Monday it snowed in late afternoon and was really cold. We have a trip to go on a bus ride on Tuesday and it has finally cleared up, we should see Mt. McKinley. This is one National Park we did not enjoy, we could not go into the park, except for about 15 miles, unless we pay $24.00 for a bus ride into the park where "The Mountain" could be viewed. There is so much control here that it takes the fun out of visiting.


Nenana Memorial Day Parade


 
This is fish that is hung winter and summer to cure for the dogs that are musher's.  I cannot figure out how they keep the bears away.
 
Tuesday, June 6, 2006. Stayed in Anchorage for a couple of days and enjoyed going to the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. We visit the village of Eklutna along the way.

 

Old St. Nicholas Church in Eklutna
The small Russian Orthodox chapel was built in 1870 and around 1900 it was moved to Eklutna. Gauze screens the log walls inside, the floor is of rough planks, and except for the alter, the interis undecorated.
The chapel served this small Tanaina Athapaskan village until replaced by the adjacent frame structure in 1962 and the old chapel now serves as a historic building.
The Russian Orthodox seem to play a big roll with the Athapaskan natives.
Thursday, June 8, 2006. We are in Homer. AK., camping on the Spit. Since we have left Anchorage, we have been eating Salmon every day.  The Kenai Peninsula is a Hugh fisherman's paradise.  Fish canneries, to can or vacuum pack salmon their salmon.  People for hire to clean wheel barrels full of Halibut that a chartered boat came in with the days catch.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006. Stayed at the Homer municipal campground (no supervision). Our neighbour had his loud, cheap generator on until 1:30 p.m. I was not impressed with him. We are definitely leaving to-day.  The parks in the Homer area are like parking lots, you drive into a slot and your neighbour is right beside you. You are so close you can hear everyone's heating system start up and see into each others living quarters.  If Alaska is so big then why the cramped space.  I was told that since the native Alaskans have so much of darkness/winter that when it is daylight hours that they make the best of it an stay up late at night. We did have a previous Alaskan neighbour next to up at Homer and they were very courteous. I guess there is always a bad apple in the barrel    While in Homer we took a cruise to the charming town of Seldovia.
We are back in the central Kenai region and at the Russian River CG, we had to go into the overflow area because they were full (another parking lot setup). Everyone is fishing in earnest. This time there was a Hugh Class C 3 slots next to us. Wouldn't you know it. They went fishing and when they got back at 11:00 p.m. they started their motor home around 12:00 and at 1:30 they were still running it.
Thursday, June 15, 2006.  We are in a regular campground to-night.  I am so glad, no really close neighbours to disturb us. (I hope). I would like to get a full nights sleep. We spent the day in Seward, and enjoyed the Alaska SeaLife Center, we also saw a film of the 9.2 earthquake that started in Valdez to Anchorage.  What a horror pictures that was.  It was on Good Friday in 1964. Where was I then??? I do not even remember hearing about it but from the film and other pictures we have seen in the museums, it was disastrous.
Sunday,  June 18, 2006. We are in Hope, AK today. The Spruce Bark beetle has infected all of Alaska but we can especially see it here. It is sad. We stayed a couple of nights in Portage Valley, what a place. If it is not raining it is snowing here is what we were told and I believe them. It rained all the time we were there. During that stay we took a cruise in Whittier. This cruise takes you to a number of Glaciers. Billings Glacier, Learnard Glacier, Blackstone Glacier, Beloit Glacier, Marquette Glacier, Lawrence Glacier Ripon Glacier.  The weather here has been about 2 to 9 degrees C, in the morning.  The heat kicks in at 13 degrees C often during the night.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006. We are back in Anchorage and notice the weather is warmer, we even see sunshine. Denis is having some adjustment done on the truck and then we will head North.

Due to Alaska being so big and so much to see, just click on the underlined place to go to see that page.

Thursday, June 22, 2006. We are on the Glenn Highway today. Weather is cloudy/rainy. It is too bad because this is such a scenic drive and we cannot see a lot of it because of the clouds. We are staying the night along the highway and having a feast of Alaskan King Crab. What a way to end the day.

This is our second feast of Alaskan King Crab.  The first was just a couple of pieces. A teaser. The price was right $11.49 per lb.
Boy am I ready for this. Apron on for the battle. Garlic butter for flavouring. Caesar Salad for roughage.
Denis is having a battle with this one.

 

Friday, June 23, 2006. Spent the night at Blueberry Lake and will visit Valdez tomorrow. The weather has cleared up today. It feels a little like spring but we think this is their summer.
Sunday, June 25, 2006. We are camped at the Copper River, just 1.5 miles from the Town of Chitina. The Copper River is known to have the best Salmon in the world. This Salmon  has the highest count of Omega 3.   We met Becky and Len from Wasilla.  They were really nice and treated us to freshly caught Red Sockeye salmon.  Becky went out of her way to help us find a good spot to park our trailer, since we are not familiar with the area and she said there are really high winds here. The salmon was such a treat. Thank you again, Becky & Len.
Tomorrow if the weather is good we will go on the 60-mile gravel road to the Kennicott River then to the towns of McCarthy and Kennicott and the historic Kennecott Mine where Kennecott Copper Mines first started.
On Tuesday we met Dan and Linda from Fairbanks. They both work at the University. They also gave us a fresh Copper River salmon fillet. These kind people of Alaska are spoiling us!  The salmon is so good that salmon back home will never be good enough. I really hope they keep in touch with us. Another fisherman offered us a salmon but Denis refused knowing how difficult it was getting them since the fish wheels were not productive. What a lot of the fishermen are not doing is dip netting from shore or drift netting from a boat. It is not an easy catch for the salmon to get close to shore they have to wait until dark which around here is 12:30 for about 3 hours, add to that the fact that this section of the copper river act like a narrow end of the funnel and you can get wind gusts of 30 to 50 miles per hour. Last night was  bitterly cold and they are standing waist deep in glacier cold water trying to keep their balance. It is not easy. You have to be tough to live here.

The salmon is so tender that your fingers could go through it. The Copper river salmon is so oily you can see the white stuff running down the middle... and this makes it the highest in Omega-3 content.


 
While visiting one of the fish possessors I picked up some new recipes for salmon. This is one of them. Alaska Salmon Potato Stack.
Shredded Potatoes, cheddar cheese, cream of broccoli soup, garlic salt, dried minced onion, dried dill weed all mixed together. Sprinkle lemon juice and lemon pepper on top of salmon and then top mixture on top of salmon. Bake15 min.
This is just pan fried with spices and lemon. Just as delicious.

 

 

 
Wednesday, June 28, 2006. We are on the "Taylor Highway" just past Tok. Have gone through the town of "Chicken".  I heard somewhere that way back when the town was formed, there was a town meeting to discuss what to name the town and because there where so many Ptarmigans there they decided to name the town that bird but no one could spell the name so instead it was called "Chicken". How true this is, I do not know.
Sunday, July 2, 2006. We spent the day in Eagle, AK. The road to Eagle was not as bad as we anticipated but it was very winding. When we leave tomorrow we will go to Dawson City in the Yukon.

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