August 5-7 American Bald Eagle Foundation

August 5 - Today we visited the American Bald Eagle Foundation.  They take in injured birds and, if possible, return them to the wild.

This bird was hit by a car and can no longer fly so he will live out his life here.

A Barred Owl

A tiny little screech owl - yes, he's alive.

In the afternoon we went fishing/bear watching.  Then we met Dave and Julie Yocum from Virginia and enjoyed  a pizza dinner with them.  We've been corresponding with them because they also have a Landmark camper and were coming to Alaska.  Once again the internet, this time via the site for Heartland RV owners, served as introduction to new friends.  

August 6 - We drove around Haines a little more this morning.  We wanted to go to the place where they make totem poles but they were closed on Saturday.  With nothing else to do we did a little grocery shopping and washed a load of clothes.  Once again we did the fishing/bear thing.  This is two nights in a row the bears chased the fisher people out of the river.  They come very close and have cubs so you never know what they'll do.

August 7 - This morning we said goodbye to Haines and headed to Whitehorse in the Yukon.  Got to our campground around 4:00 pm.  Tomorrow our goal is Watson Lake, YT.  We're going to be taking the Cassiar Highway to Stewart, B.C. and then 3 miles into Hyder, AK to see a spot where the bears are abundant.

Glacier and waterfall

August 4 - Skagway to White Pass Train Ride

Construction began on the narrow guage railroad in 1898. The White Pass & Yukon Route was designated an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1994. This honor is shared by the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty and the Panama Canal.

The White Pass and Yukon route climbs from sea level in Skagway to almost 3000 feet at the summit. Construction required cliff hanging turns of 16 degrees, building two tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles. At times men were working in 60 below temperatures.

Our conductor



The railroad operated by steam until 1954.

Our train

This original suspension bridge, no longer in use, eerily appeared out of the low clouds.

An original wooden trestle still in use

Along the way we crossed the U.S./Canadian border

During construction two men were crushed by a 50 ton boulder.  They remain here.

The cemetary where the con man and gambler Soapy Smith is buried.

The Rush to the Klondike

The headline of the Seattle paper on July 17, 1897 broadcast news of gold in the Canadian Klondike. The news spread like wildfire and the country, in the midst of a depression, went gold crazy. Tens of thousands of gold crazed men and women steamed up the Inside Passage waterway and arrived in Dyea and Skagway to begin the overland trek to the Klondike. Six hundred miles over treacherous and dangerous trails and waterways lay before them. Each prospector was required to take in a ton of supplies 50 lbs at a time. Once they completed the climb to White Pass they still had 500 miles to go. 100,000 men and women headed north; only 30,000 to 40,000 reached the gold fields.

The Stampeders trail





August 2-4 Just resting & Skagway

August 2 - Yesterday Gary got a haircut, today I got one.  Just kind of hung out. We drove around and explored a little more of the town and Fort Seward. We ate dinner at the Fireweed and had really good pizza.   Did our regular fishing/bear watching routine except tonight the bears were really late arriving.  Both Gary and Roger were out in the middle fishing when I saw a guy next to Gary pointing downstream.  At the same time I saw the sow with the 3 cubs on the other side of the river.  I got Gary's attention and he packed it up and came to the truck.  Then we saw Roger just leaning on a rock trying to decide if it was safe to go back to the road.  He finally got back and all was well. No fish for us though; Gary lost all his lures on the rocks. Two caravans moved into the campground today - 6 or 7 big motorhomes each.

August 3 - We are really getting lazy.  I've been having some problems with my hip - a lingering result of somehow irritating it when we were fishing in Soldotna. Mostly bothers me when I do stairs or when in bed and trying to roll over.  Gary visited with one of the caravan guys and found out they've been on the road since April. From Alaska they'll go to Yellowstone and end at the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque in October.

About noon we took the girls and went for a walk to a wholefoods-type deli down the street and had a sandwich - really yummy homemade bread.  They we walked up to the fair ground to take some pictures of Dalton City that, as I mentioned before, was the movie lot for "White Fang." Jane and Roger moved into our campground today in preparation for our trip to Skagway tomorrow. After a dinner of salmon we'll be off for our standard evening fishing/bear watching activities.

August 4 - Today we took the 9:00 am ferry to Skagway.  It is 16 miles and about a 45 minutes ride.  If you drive from Haines to Skagway it's 350 miles.  We could have taken the big ferry and driven from Skagway but the road from Skagaway to Whitehorse is very steep and we were afraid our transmission would get hot on such a long pull.

There were 3 big cruise ships in Skagway and loads of people.  Two thirds of the stores are jewelry stores - a real tourist trap. It's a cute time because they've kept the old-time style buildings.  We had a nice lunch with Jane and Roger and then we were off to the train.

$20 each for a half hour ride



An old-time bar

Visitor Information






 









July 25 - Aug. 1 From Valdez to Haines

July 25 - (7/31) Goodness I just realized I'm really behind on the Blog.   

Jane and Roger returned from their Prince William Sound tour yesterday when it was cloudy and rainy.  They said they could hardly see a thing.  We were supposed to go today but cancelled since the weather was the same as yesterday.  Didn't do much. We went to the museum and to Safeway to stock up.  Tomorrow we'll start our journey to Haines.

July 26 - The first leg of our journey to Haines takes us to Tok.

We stopped outside Valdez for a picture of Horsetail Falls.

Got to Tok around 4:00 pm and stayed at the same campground we'd stayed at before, Tok RV.  They have entertainment in the evening - music and stories.  Very enjoyable again.

July 27 - The next leg of our journey took us to the Congdon Creek Campground just outside Burwash Landing.  As it was before, about 110 miles of this leg is a very challenging section of road with lots of frost heaves and construction.  Last time we stayed at a commercial campground near here but this is a really nice provincial campground (Yukon).  It is on Kluane Lake which is huge and beautiful. 

Fireweed that is everywhere. They say when the blossoms reach the top of the spike winter is here.

From our camper door



Trumpeter Swans



July 28 - We arrived in Haines and are at the Hitchup RV Park.  This is a really nice park with wide grassy spaces.  Jane and Roger chose to stay at the Chilkat State Campground that is about 9 miles out of town. There isn't much to the town but the ferries for Skagway and Juneau leave from here. 

They have two grocery stores - an IGA grocery with really high prices (Royal cherries were $10.99 a pound; 2% milk, and gas, is $5.39 a gallon) and an independent store where prices seemed a little better.  Of course, everything has to be shipped in.  One thing I've found up here is that the fruit like peaches, plums etc. that are hard as a rock when we buy them at home are soft and juicy here - thanks to the long journey getting here I guess.

Hitchup RV - Our camper on the right.

Haines was the setting for the 1991 Disney movie "White Fang" and last winter's "Gold Rush Alaska" on the Discovery Channel was filmed here.  Each November up to 3,500 bald eagles gather in the Chilkat Valley, the largest congregation in the world.

July 29 - Today we drove out to see where Jane and Roger are camped.  It's a beautiful road along the river which then splits - one channel going to Skagway, the other ending in a lake. While we were out there we saw a sow and two of her cubs feeding near a fish weir. Today is the first day of the Southeast Alaska State Fair. We'll be going tomorrow.

After they played here awhile they walked down the bank and I got these closeups.

Mama



July 30 - About noon today we walked to the Fair. It's only about 2 blocks from our campground.  They had entertainment, typical "Alaska" events, food, etc.  The Fiddle Contest had some really good players.  In the axe throwing event they threw the axe at a bullseye target and if they hit it exactly in the middle they won $50.  Other events included log cutting and carving. There were men's events and women's events.  It was a beautiful sunny day in the low 70s.  The movie set, Dalton City, for "White Fang" is on the fair grounds and now has some small shops, a bar - even a masseuse.

 

This guy was the only winner of the $50.

July 31 - We're getting very good at "do nothing" days.  Today was one of those.  We drove around to look at the town and that's about it.  We've also been watching the ridiculous carrying-on of Congress.  It appears they think the American people are absolute idiots. 

This evening Gary wanted to go fishing.  I decided to just bear watch.  I'm just fascinated watching them. We were both successful.

Gary caught several red salmon but didn't keep any.  Next time we'll keep some.

Meanwhile, a small distance away --

One Mama bear and her 3 cubs showed up.

They were joined by another Mama bear and her two cubs.

Guess I'll have a sit.



What's over there?

Let's go fishing!





Where did they go? (After the triplets and Mom went into the woods.)

August 1 - Another laid back day.  Kind of cool and overcast today. Gary is getting into this retirement thing. He has his ham radio set up and plays with that off and on.  Jane and Roger stopped by and we confirmed our trip via ferry to Skagway on Thursday where we'll take a train ride. They'll move to our campground on Wednesday. We're all going together and hired a dog sitter to take care of our kids (they have two dogs also).   Probably later today we'll go do a repeat of fishing and bear watching.  These bears hang out here because of the good supply of fish.

July 20-24 Moving on to Valdez

July 20 Update - Gary went fishing while I was writing the previous blog. I decided to take the girls for a walk and we went to see how he was doing.  When I arrived this is what I saw.



Our truck had been redecorated.

We looked on the windshield and didn't find a note. Then we started asking people around if they saw anything.  Somewhat discouraged we went to get in the truck and Gary found a note on the driver's door.  He called the number and the man was very nice. He called his insurance agent (State Farm) who then called us so we're all set to get it fixed when we get home.  Thank goodness he didn't hit it in an area that would have impeded our travel.

That night Gary went fishing again and caught about 20 salmon and got 7 up to the shore.  He had a great time.  He gave one fish away and released the rest.  We have no more room in our freezer.

July 21 - This morning we got up and took the girls to the groomer at 8:00 am. From standing in the river and flipping the line I somehow did something to my right hip. I could barely walk.  I decided I couldn't go any farther without seeing a chiropractor.  Luckily we found one who could see me in half an hour so we waited.  An hour later I had had an adjustment and we were again on our way.  I could at least walk but I was pretty sore.  (July 24 - I'm still sore but now I can walk and lean over and except for muscle soreness I'm almost back to normal.) 

We picked up the girls and by noon we were on our way to Valdez. 



My beautiful girls. Gracie already lost her kerchief.

Jane and Roger had left the day before and made the drive in one day.  



Along the way, near Girdwood, we stopped at a Wildlife Refuge where they keep animals who have been orphaned or otherwise unable to live in the wild by themselves. They rehab them and return them to wild when they are able.

Moose

Musk Ox

They're pretty big when they're up close.



They are trying to reestablish wood bison herds.

By 4:30 we were in Palmer and registered at the Homestead RV where we had stayed before. This is a really nice campground and has two couples from near Monument as camp hosts.

July 22 - We left Palmer headed for Glennallen and then Valdez. This is the Glenn Highway and of course has beautiful scenery but the road was pretty bumpy.

 



Gary said the tire we'd been having trouble with felt funny so we stopped and sure enough it had a slow leak. There's not much for towns between Palmer and Glennallen so every 50 miles or so we had to stop to add air. We made a few phones calls to see if there was a tire store in Glennallen but found there was a filling station who had some. Thank goodness they had a few truck tires. After fixing the tire it still wouldn't hold air so out came the spare which they said was good enough to put on and then we bought another tire for a spare. All this took about 2 1/2 hours. It was now 3:30 and Valdez was still 110 miles away.

We're usually settled by 3:30 or 4:00 so this day was seeming to go on and on. About 50 miles from Valdez the scenery became gorgeous. Some of the mountains were very rugged.



Worthington Glacier - the bottom reaches almost to the parking lot.



Thompson Pass, the snowiest place in Alaska, is just around the corner to the south. In the exceptional winter of 1952-53, the pass got 974 inches -- 81 feet -- of snow from storms blowing off Prince William Sound.





Bridal Veil Falls

We finally arrived at the Bayside Campground where Jane and Roger were camped.  Shortly after we arrived they returned from a drive and we went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner.  It wasn't The Rio but it was alright. 

July 23 - This morning we slept in, then decided on a drive to look around.  We drove to the sight of  Old Valdez.  Old town Valdez was pretty much wiped out by the 1964 Earthquake that devastated Anchorage and Seward. As a result the town was moved four miles west.

We then drove around the bay.  The tide was out but people were out fishing for pink salmon.  We stopped to see the weir at the fish hatchery. 

The Weir



Fish in the hatchery

These fish were born at this hatchery and are now returning to spawn.  They will strip the eggs from the females and fertilize them.  Then those fish will return next year and the process goes on.  This is one way they assure that the fish population remains stable.

One guy told me that last year a sow and her 3 cubs came most evenings to get fish. 

There is a dam across the road and up in the hills.  This sign would flash red and emit a warning if the dam should be breached.

 Valdez is surrounded by 7 glaciers.  It really is a gorgeous setting but there isn't much to do here besides fish, hike and tour the Prince William Sound.  Yesterday afternoon we went to a local store where they showed videos of  the Alaska pipeline, which begins at Prudhoe Bay and terminates here, and the 1964 Earthquake.

July 24 - Today it is in the 40s and rainy - the first day we've had like this for a long time.

 

From our camper door.

Jane and Roger are on a 9 hour Prince William Sound cruise.  I hope they were able to see all they had hoped.  We're taking the same cruise tomorrow and I think the weather is supposed to be similar.  We're baby sitting their dogs and then they'll return the favor. Gary has been smoking salmon.  It is sooooo good.  After while we're going to drive around the bay to see if the sea lions and seals are close enough to see.