On June 8, six Treks (Al and Cathy Cooper; Pat
and Arne Bohn; Win and Betty Tweedie; Don and Merna Price; Bob and Peggy
Beers, Wagon Masters; Janna Caughron and Wayne Vandergriff) met at Quesnel,
BC to begin a two-month trip to Alaska. A seventh coach (George Vlases and
Marcia Ellison) joined our group in Tok. (George and Marcia, plus picture
taker Bob Beers, are absent from the group picture).
From there we headed north on the Alaska Highway. Some
high lights were:
Azouzetta Lake Lodge is just past Pine Pass, (elevation 3061 ft), the
lowest Rocky Mt. pass in Canada. Unusual mountains of gray stone with
evergreen trees on the lower slopes, and pretty lake.
Liard Hot Springs is a large natural springs, with pools of varying
temperatures, and a resident herd of bison.
Mukluk Annie’s Barbeque: Free dry camping on beautiful lake and boat ride
included with dinner.
Whitehorse, YT: First of the major gold rush towns with museums, gold
dredge, and restored river boat.
Dawson City, YT: One of the best preserved gold rush towns, with mostly
old restored buildings, lots to see and do. From Dawson City, we crossed
the Yukon River on a very small ferry and traveled across the rugged but
very beautiful Top of the World Hwy. to Chicken, AK, all three buildings!
Several of our Trekers panned for gold there – and found some!
Fairbanks, AK was the next big stop. We took a river boat ride on the
Chena and Tanana Rivers, touring a native fish camp with demos in hunting,
animal hide uses, beautiful beaded and embroidered hide garments, dog sled
demos, etc. One evening we attended a show at the Malamute Saloon, at
Ester Gold Camp, plus lots of other things to see and do.
Denali National Park: Took an 8 hr. bus ride into the backcountry.
(Private cars only allowed to drive in 15 miles). Our bus driver, Wendy,
was a terrific guide. She knew lots of information about the park and
where we’d likely see animals. The best was a bear mom and yearling cub
that stood around and rubbed against a sign long enough for all of the
passengers to get great pictures!
Anchorage is a big city, but has several fine museums and was a good place
to restock Treks and shop for souvenirs at good prices.
Kenai Peninsula, Russian River, Homer: This area is known for great
fishing in several rivers, especially late summer for the salmon runs.
When we first arrived at camp in Kenai (town), people (100 or more) were
standing approximately 10 feet apart with big dip nets up and down both
sides in the river. Whole families camp on the beach and try to net salmon
by standing chest deep in almost ice cold water, approx. 45 degrees
Fahrenheit. One king salmon we saw pulled out appeared to be about 4-5
feet long, and probably weighed 30-45 pounds. It was as big as some of the
children running around. Only Alaska residents are allowed to dip net and
there is a strict quota per family. At Kenai, Bob, Win, Al, and Betty went
on a fly-in salmon/bear watching trip to a lake, fishing just a few feet
from black and grizzly bears. Homer is a quaint fishing town on a long
sand spit, facing 5 dormant or napping volcanoes across the inlet.
At Seward, AK, we camped on the shore of Prince William Sound, took a
fantastic glacier and sea life watching trip, including seeing a rescued
elephant seal released into the sea.
From Seward we headed back to Tok, AK, as there is no other highway
heading south to Haines, AK. The highway is bumpy from frost heaves caused
by permafrost melt/freeze. Matanuska Glacier (27 miles long and 2-4 miles
wide) is very large and impressive, although due to the cloudy weather, we
could only see a small part of it. We were not able to see the beautiful
Wrangell Mountains, which include Mt. Sanford, a dormant volcano, plus Mt.
Drum (12,010 ft. and rumbling at times) other mountains ranging from 8,147
to 13, 421 feet, due to the overcast.
The scenery from Tok, AK, through a small piece of Canada, to Haines, AK
was spectacular. The cotton grasses alongside the road were red/golden
color, and looked like silk cloths were waving in the breeze and the wild
flowers are amazing. We drove alongside huge, turquoise Kluane Lake. Many
streams, rivers, and lakes, surrounded by spectacular mountains show signs
of their volcanic past. We saw several bear, moose, eagles and small
animals along the way.
Haines is small, friendly, historic town, part of gold rush history. From
there we loaded the Treks on an Alaska State Ferry to Skagway, near the
famous gold rush Chilkoot and White Pass Trails. It is very much a tourist
town, with cruise ships daily, but has a lot of original history, too. We
took a very informative ranger walk around the site of Dyea, the base camp
for the Chilkoot Trail.
We drove up White Pass back to Canada, and turned south on the Cassiar
Hwy. It’s not a good as the more traveled Alaska Hwy, but after leaving a
construction area caused by landslides earlier in the year, the road
became a nice two-lane highway passing through very beautiful country.
Our last group stop was at Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK. The towns are 1 ½ Miles
apart. In Hyder, the Ak Parks Dept. have a boardwalk viewing area
overlooking a salmon spawning river. In the evening, we saw a mother
grizzly and 3 yearling cubs, 2 eagles, and a huge male grizzly (he chased
the mother and cubs away!)
Then the Trekers sadly said goodbye for now and headed in different
directions.
More Pictures coming soon
