The Sun Shines on Homer!

Herring Gull auditions for Crested Puffins

sea otters

Seldovia

* A note on the photos.
I spend a silly amount of time arranging the photos so that they fit the text. Blogspot has its own ideas about where they should go and rarely do they match mine.

Thursday, Aug. 19th - Homer Spit

Last night's dinner saw us back at Captain Pattie’s: Dar has scallops wrapped with shrimp and I have a very rich seafood linguine.

On Thursday the waves have calmed and we take our charter and include a stop at Seldovia on  the other side of  the Katchemac Bay. Lots of gulls and murres and cormorants but only two crested puffins among the thousands of birds nesting on Gull Island. We see lots of sea otters too but they are wary of boats and are not really close enough to photograph. Seldovia is a pretty little town but it suffers from its isolation - only accessible by boat or air - and the First Nations Co-op will close in September because it has ceased to make money.
Dinner is steaks on the BBQ with garlic bread and a great salad.

OBSERVATIONS:

Just strap it on, fire it up and go

• Bungee cords and pool noodles are an essential part of RV life.
• So is an ipod loaded with tunes. Sirius has serious problems up here - no signal.
• Alaskans seem determined to have fun. On just our bit of beach we have seen surfers, kayakers, paraboarders, long boards with paddles, horses, a donkey and this morning a guy who strapped a large fan to his back, shook out a parasail, and took off over the beach!
• Homer has the only Farmers’ Market I’ve seen where the jewelry kiosks outnumber the food kiosks by 10:1. It was actually very sad.
• Alaska King Crab is everywhere and everywhere it’s ridiculously expensive. I can buy it cheaper “outside” - which is how Alaskans refer to the lower 48.
• As soon as you’re two miles outside any city the average number of bullet holes on any traffic sign is 6.4.
• In spite of the fact that guns are prevalent and hunting is a way of life, there don’t seem to be a lot of gun shops.
• The ladies and girls dressed up as Snow White in bright coloured satin, head caps and long flowing gowns are not going to a party. They’re ethnic Russians. This seems to be the daily wear. The men are much more subdued but I did see a belted tunic and Tevye’s cap!

By the side of Silver River

Friday, Aug 20th, by the side of Stormy Lake

We’re getting better at this “boondocking” thing. (Pull up, drop the stabilizers, shoot out the slides and call it home for the night. Buying the generators has proved to be a smart idea; they’re getting a lot of use.) We tried Capt. Cook State Park but the angles were wrong or the site was too short and after two attempts we decided to move on. Now we’re overlooking a lovely lake and that $15 shall go back into our pockets.
In the morning we bike back to the park to check out the bluffs and Mt. Redoubt and then drive back into Kenai, visit the river’s edge, a historic Russian Orthodox church and an art market and then on across the peninsula. Lots of people drift-fishing the river. It’s Saturday and sunny and Alaskans are making  the most of it.

Sat. Aug 21st, by the side of Silver River. (I  think)

Another boondock - this time beside a small river with lovely rapids; kayakers and rafters entertain us as they shoot through. Just across the stream we have a bald eagle, keeping an eye on us lest we leave a salmon unattended - or a small puppy.
At dinner time two suspicious layabouts pull up behind us in a beat up car and - after a cigarette and much discussion - haul a bunch of stuff down to the river’s edge. Just your average two guys out on the town, wearing their Sponge Bob t-shirts and camouflaged hip waders ......... panning for gold! It’s Zane and Jessie and when they get too cold they pack it in and we talk for 30 minutes about the vagaries of gold panning and how, if they had a dredge ($4200.) instead of just a sluice they could process 20 yards of gravel in four hours and maybe take home a 1/4 ounce of gold. When they leave Zane presents us with a gold pan in case we catch the fever. My god I love this state! Eagles, kayaks, rafters, and gold seekers - just ‘cause we pulled over and stopped for a night.

Monday, August 23rd, by the side of the Taklina River

We’ve moved on. Spent last night at the Mat-Su Tourist Information Centre in Wasilla so that we could pursue a leaky faucet with Earl at Valley RV in the morning. He can’t find the cause either, but I do buy a can of spray lube to soften the squeaks and squeals of our rear stabilizer jacks.
Leaving Wasilla I miss the exit to Palmer (not uncommon when I drive anywhere) but this takes us to Eklutna. We decide on a bike ride by the lake which is approached by a literal “ribbon of highway”.  And someone has tangled the ribbon. And cut off the edges. There are no shoulders, just a really skinny winding road with drop offs on either side that would cripple us were we to visit one. So, of course, I try.
In a fit of thoughtless generosity I pull over to let a car pass on what I think is a fairly stable edge. No, no no. Tires spin, rubber burns and we slide slightly backwards. Hearts race and adrenaline pumps.  And so for the first time on the trip I switch to 4x4 and now the truck pulls easily back on to the road. Crisis averted.

By the side of Eklutna Lake

The bike ride by the lake is really beautiful along rocky paths and dirt trails. It ends when  we see very fresh bear scat, full of the berries we’ve been passing. We both decide we’re ready to move on to the Glenn Highway and set out for Glenallen where we turn right on to the Richardson Highway and head for Valdez. After dinner tonight we go for a walk, cross a bridge, and discover that a mountain has appeared in the distance garbed in sunset hues of pink, purple and salmon. Just another day in Alaska.

Mt. Drum shows itself in  the evening

Life in a Gray Mist

August 15th - Clam Gulch National Park

We left Anchorage on Wednesday, Aug 11 stopping at the Alaska Native Medical Centre on the way out. Not for illness - this hospital has an amazing gift shop where First Nations artists leave their works on consignment. I looked at a paddle and a ptarmigan mask - both exceptionally beautiful and both about twice what I could afford. Even the walls of the different wards were hung with artwork.
At Portage we stop in to see the Alaska Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and I learn just how much bigger an Alaskan Brown bear is than a Grizzly.

Kenai Fjords

Sea Otter

Stellar Sea Lions

From Anchorage we drove down the Turnagain Arm and gradually lost the sun. We camped Wednesday night next to a salmon stream beneath blue glaciers on the mountains that surrounded us. It was lovely but would have been more so if we weren’t cloaked in mist.
We’ve now worn that mist - cloud, fog, rain, drizzle - for the last three days. We camped in Seward, on the beach. I’m sure it was beautiful - but it was difficult to tell. On Friday we took a boat tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park, which I highly recommend WHEN IT’S SUNNY! Half of a fjord is the water. The other half is the mountain that surrounds it. We saw the first half.
There was wildlife too: sea otters, seals, sea lions, humpback whales and a host of birds but everything was overpainted with a coat of wet gray.
Apparently this part of Alaska is having its wettest summer in the last 30 years. One has to feel sorry for these people. They don’t get a long summer. To have a month wiped out by rain makes it very hard on many of the local businesses.
On Saturday we walked up to Exit Glacier and I asked Darlene “ Tell me again why I said I didn’t need to bring my rain pants.”

Dar at Exit Glacier

Today - Sunday - we motored out of Seward heading for Homer on the other side of the peninsula. The biggest educational opportunity came in a Fred Myers (big grocery superstore chain where you can get five types of Mexican beans, fifteen types of tofu or a bottle of Gefilte fish.) I found a long cylinder with a “T” handle attached. Turns out it’s for digging clams but a friendly clam enthusiast said the shovel method was better as long as you dug beside the clam and not behind it.
In Ontario, grocery stores will soon be putting out all the supplies for putting up preserves. Here they sell the supplies for doing your own salmon canning! It’s a shame that all this fish is lost on me.
This afternoon we try for  the State campground at Johnson Lake. It turns out to have access roads like a battlefield and we are both seriously worried about damaging the hitch when the truck twists one way and the rig, the other. And so we move on to Clam Gulch where we are the only people camped high above a popular clam beach. Clam season for August ended yesterday and now this place is empty.

Tuesday, August 17th - Homer, Alaska

And still the rain continues. We pulled in yesterday and have found a beautiful spot, camped on a beach, the rear window looking out on Cook Inlet and the Kenai Mountains. And for about two hours, in the late afternoon, we got to see it. Right now? Grey waters and mist. ( Darlene is becoming a weather network junkie: searching for the sun but never finding it close by. )

Homer is a fishing town. Halibut is the name of the game. I was considering an afternoon’s trip, but what would we do we 20 kg of halibut? And some of these monsters go up to hundreds of pounds. Soon we shall head for the library - free Wi-fi - where we can catch up on some banking and then we’ll probably do a scenic tour. Had a great clam chowder yesterday at Captain Pattie’s - will probably return so that Dar can get a fish dinner tonight. I may even try fish & chips.

Land of Dreams

Denali National Park

August 6 to 8th - Denali National Park, Alaska

Ian is having a beer - at lunch! Unheard of! He is celebrating.  This is because he has performed a masterful parking job getting us into a spot in Denali’s Teklanika campsite, 29 miles inside the park. We are the only 5th wheel here. Everyone else is in truck campers or small motorhomes. Just before leaving the Grizzly Bear campground south of the park we were treated to an amazing display of 5th wheel virtuosity when a neighbour driving a 35’ fifth wheel did a three-point turn in about the same time as one might turn around a small car. We applauded and he was good enough to give us some pointers. (One of which I used to get parked today.)

Grizzly sow and cub

Big excitement. On the way into the park we see our first grizzly. And our first guy on a bicycle as I came up behind them. I was so impressed! As the bear approached he dismounted, held the bike between himself and the bear and stood his ground. When the bear got to about 15 ft, it finally turned away. And there am I trying to figure out how I can help if it attacks, so much that I forget to take photos! A shame, because none of his friends are going to believe him when he tells this story.

Dall sheep - This is NOT photoshopped!

August 7& 8 - Denali National Park

Two glorious days! No private cars are allowed in the park but they run shuttle buses all day long. It is these that we travel on both days. We see grizzlies, fox, moose, wolves, golden eagles, Dall sheep and lots of caribou. Today we got off at the Eielson Visitors’ Center and hiked down to the river bed and then along and up into the tundra plateau. Tougher going than we’d expected. Lots of low plants that tried to break our ankles and plenty of willows to hide bears. ( It didn’t help that we saw a grizzly just as we reached the river bed. It was eating blueberries and wasn’t at all interested in us.) The hillsides were steep and at one point I think we both wondered if this was a mistake. Walking along the edge of plateau - to avoid the ankle-twisting brush - the wind was strong enough to make me concerned about losing my glasses. 

Golden Eagle

Caribou

But perseverance rewards the stout of heart and we made our way back to the road without mishap. Only two minutes later a bus picked us up for the return journey. Just flag them down and hop on. IF there are seats. Our bus filled up very quickly and we left a number of campers at the edge of the road hoping the next one would have spaces.

Denali - Mt McKinley

And then there’s the mountain. I’m pretty blaze´ about mountains. Seen a lot in a lot of countries. So I wasn’t really sure what all the fuss was about; whether one could see Denali (Mt. McKinley). Yesterday it was mostly covered in cloud and I gather that’s pretty standard. Well today was clear and the mountain was glorious! It towers over its neighbours, cloaked in snow, gleaming in the sun. It’s the perfect backdrop. Wow!
Denali is a magnificent park; it combines grandeur and majesty with beauty and silence. In a strange way it feels like coming home and yet everything is new and exciting. I understand why people keep returning here. I’m wondering if I’m too old to do a backcountry trip.

Dawson City To Fairbanks

Ian pans

July 29th - Aug 1  Dawson City, Yukon
We arrive at the Bonanza Gold RV Park to discover that my glasses have yet to arrive. Further investigation reveals that they are in Edmonton. They will not arrive before we leave because they were not sent promptly from Burlington. I shall have to have them forwarded on to somewhere else.

Dar plays

Dawson proves to be a lot of fun. We take in the show at Diamond Gertie’s, a historical walking tour, a drive up the Midnight Dome and we try our hand panning for gold on Bonanza Creek where it all started. (Ian finds gold but Darlene washes his storage container for sandwiches. Yes, it was a few VERY SMALL flakes.)
On Saturday we tour Dredge #4 - a fascinating introduction to the power of the Dark Side of gold mining. A mining monster that creeps forward 10 feet a day, ripping the river bed apart down to the bedrock in its hunt for gold. The tailings from the dredges surround Dawson - piles and piles of washed gravel in long squirming lines.

We also visit the Moosehide Gathering, a biannual get-together for all of the Han people who live in this area of the north. First Nations people ferry visitors to the gathering down the Yukon by boat as it is inaccessible by road. Native crafts are on display and this afternoon there are lessons on moose hair tufting. We see a number of dance groups but it is very hot and we decide to head back before the feast. (We head back to a beer at the Snakepit complete with honky tonk piano and two types of beer - Canadian or Budweiser)

Tlingit Dancer

Monday, Aug 2nd Tok, Alaska

In the morning we roll the truck & trailer onto the Yukon ferry, cross the river and head up the Top of The World Highway. This, and the Taylor Highway on the Alaska side are the roughest, dustiest roads so far. The road has been closed for a week because of wash-outs and has only recently opened. There are sections that look like a mine field - after the explosions. At one point we are doing 10 km/hr and it’s still a little too fast.We arrive in Tok covered in dust and a thin film has settled on everything in the trailer. We lost the cap to the waste pipe somewhere along the line and the night table drawer has fallen out and come apart. Fortunately the dishes and the latte maker have all survived.

Ferry to the Top of the World

In Tok we get some wonderful advice from a German couple next to us and the next day we are able to reserve a campsite well inside Denali for Aug 6,7 &8. That will give us time to see Fairbanks.

Tuesday, Aug 3 - 4 - Fairbanks, Alaska

The Chena River State Park in Fairbanks is well laid out amidst trees but very noisy due to the traffic. On the road into town we pass the USAF base and are treated to a series of fighter jets taking off, one after the other. ( This may be my highlight for this part of the trip.) Fairbanks is trying hard but we cut our walking tour short. I do like the headquarters of the Yukon Quest dog sled race - 1000 miles from Fairbanks to Dawson. They switch directions every other year. This is a part of the world where they say “I mush dogs” with a straight face.
We also visit the LARS - Large Animal Research Station to see some musk ox and caribou. I hoping for lots of photos but this really is a research lab - it’s double fenced and I come away with just one bull musk ox. Another highlight is restocking at Fred Meyers - haven’t seen too many big stores lately. We are sorry to miss the museum but somehow time has moved on and so must we - to Denali.

NOTE: If the photos seem oddly placed that's because the blog has issues - or an attitude -  I'll take what I can get.