Fairbanks to Denali

Last weekend was a restful one in Fairbanks, spent relaxing, catching up (laundry, paying bills, email, etc.), and resting. We find we enjoy our travels more if we take a break occasionally from sightseeing and being tourists. One of the highlights of the weekend was an early dinner Sunday night at a local Italian restaurant, Gambardella's. We were hungry for pizza, so we asked a local where to get good pizza, and she recommended them, saying it was an authentic Italian restaurant and much better than the Pizza Hut we were considering. It was in an older building, but flowers were planted outside, and the inside had been redone nicely--a little fancier than we expected, with cloth tablecloths and napkins :). Our waiter took us to an upstairs section, where there was also an outdoor deck/balcony, but we opted to stay inside since it was cool and cloudy outside. The pizza was superb . . . some of the best we'd ever eaten, as was the Chianti. The pizzas were much larger than we expected--they were supposedly individual sizes, but they turned out to be about the size of most medium pizzas (so we took some back to the camper and ate it the next night). After seeing some cheesecake go by on the way to another table, we couldn't resist, so we splurged on that, too--and it too was delicious! As we were finishing, our very attentive Bulgarian waiter came to our table with his accordion and serenaded us with accordion music! A very memorable evening!

Monday morning we headed out of Fairbanks toward Denali. We stopped outside Fairbanks overlooking the valley, and could see smoke from the wildfires that had been burning the previous week. At several points during the week, we had noticed the distinct smell of forest fires and could see smoke from them on the way to the Arctic Circle. Below is a picture showing the smoke still smoldering. Apparently that's a common occurrence during summer months in Alaska.

View of the Nenana River valley south of Fairbanks

We ate lunch in the little town of Nenana at this local cafe. Turns out the owner is an ex-Navy guy, so he and Ernie had lots to chat about. This is definitely an Ernie kind of cafe! I loved the flowers--flowers in Alaska are beautiful, even though the growing season is so short . . . I assume because it doesn't get so hot and wilt them as in Indiana!

We arrived in Denali Monday afternoon, got a space in a campground and drove to the park to preview it before spending more time there Tuesday.

Private vehicles are allowed to drive into the park only 15 miles; only one road goes into the park, and it's restricted to Park vehicles and a few others with special permits. They've done this to minimize the impact of tourists on the wilderness area and wildlife, in order to allow the land and animals to remain wild. So the only way to see the park after the 15 miles is to go on one of their buses or hike (with a permit). We investigated the different options for bus rides, chose one that goes into the park 66 miles and lasts 6 to 8 hours (the longest goes 92 miles and lasts 11 to 12 hours), and made our reservations for the next day. Then we drove the 15 miles as far as we could on our own.

One of our first views of Denali National Park and Preserve

From the Savage Creek Turnaround, which is as far as individuals are allowed to drive on their own

Denali Park Road and mountains from Savage Creek Turnaround

Savage Creek and bridge over Denali Park Road

Savage Creek

Rock formations at Savage Creek Turnaround--there was a path up the rock in the foreground, which we climbed. Ernie went a little farther than I did.

Views from the road

The next morning we boarded a bus for our ride to the Eielson Center and back, a trip of 66 miles each way. One of the goals of the trip, of course, is to spot wildlife in their natural habitat. Wildlife is not controlled at all and allowed to live freely in the wild, unrestricted by humans; no fences or borders hamper their movements. We were told that our behavior should not in any way cause changes in the animals' natural behavior. Whenever anyone spotted an animal, they would give the location, and the driver would stop the bus to give everyone time to observe and photograph (from the bus). Most of the animals were very far away, so it was difficult to see them sometimes (especially with my diminished eyesight--which was rather frustrating). Our driver was very knowledgeable and gave us lots of information about the park and the animals.

Some of the first animals we spotted were some moose grazing on willows.

We found out that it's very rare for park visitors to see all of Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America--on any given day, there's only about a 25 to 30% chance of seeing the mountain. One ranger said that historically in July, it's visible (or "it's out," or "it reveals itself" in local lingo) only four days; in August, four to five days. Winter is the best time to see it. It's so big that it creates its own weather system. We were lucky; the sun was out, and we caught a few glimpses of parts of the mountain at different times.

Our first view of the peaks of Mt. McKinley from about 80 miles away--look above the clouds to see the peaks. It's a pretty awesome sight!

More views from various places along the Denali Park Road

A mother grizzly and two yearling cubs (look just at the edge of the cliff). Eagle Eyes Ernie could see them with his naked eye, but I could just barely make them out with the binoculars we had rented! The picture was taken with a 10X zoom . . . obviously we needed a much stronger zoom!

Farther along the road, another mother grizzly with two spring cubs (look between the creek and the bushes for the mother; the cubs are to her left at the lower edge of the grass)

More views from Denali Park Road

From the Eielson Center, the end of our ride, the base of Mt. McKinley showing through the clouds

The peak again (look above the clouds at the very top of the picture)

A little of the peak and a little of the base between the clouds

On the return trip, a mama grizzly and her two spring cubs (probably the same ones we spotted earlier)

An eagle in flight

A male caribou in the middle of the river bar

Some Dall sheep on the side of the mountain

The entire trip was awe-inspiring and humbling--so much natural beauty and wildness--so different to see wild animals in their natural surroundings just being themselves instead of in captivity! It's just mind-boggling to see the variety and balance that was created, both in the terrain and wildlife!

We originally intended to leave for Anchorage on Wednesday but decided to go back to Denali to the Visitor Center. We ended up spending hours there, reading and looking at all the exhibits, listening to a ranger presentation, and watching a movie. Then we had to spend a little (?) time in the bookstore and then eat lunch/dinner in their "grill." We decided before we left to make another trip to the Savage Creek Turnaround, as far as allowed. It rained all day Wednesday, but we decided we'd like to see it in the rain, too.

On the way we spotted a cow moose not far from the road

On the way back, we spotted another on the other side of the road

An idea of what the day was like!

This must have been the day and time for moose to eat dinner because we spotted another one very close to the road!

When we went by again, she had been joined by two bulls--our first close-up look at bull moose. One seemed to be younger . . . at least his antlers were smaller (but I guess I didn't upload any of the pictures of the younger bull)

The bigger bull posing for us between munching on the willows--in the pouring rain!

A very cloudy, misty, rainy day in Denali!

We finally headed south along the Parks Highway but decided to drive only as far as Cantwell

A scene of the clouds curling around the mountains along the way

Arctic Circle Adventure Part 1

On Tuesday morning, July 13, we planned to leave to drive up to the Arctic Circle, then return to Fairbanks that night, just so we could say we'd been to the Arctic Circle. We had seen signs that said 156 miles from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle so we didn't think it would be too strenuous for a day trip. We got a later start than we intended (big surprise there!), and then after we were on our way, we saw signs that indicated it was farther than we thought. So I looked in some of the guide books and discovered that it was more like 200 miles each way between Fairbanks and the Arctic Circle. The scenery was spectacular, and as we left Fairbanks behind, it was a relief to be out in the wilderness again after having done all the "touristy" things in Fairbanks for several days. About 80-some miles north of Fairbanks, we picked up the Dalton Highway, also called the "Haul Road," and described as "one of Alaska's most remote and challenging roads." It connects Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay and was built for the Trans Alaskan Pipeline and follows the pipeline all the way to Prudhoe Bay. It didn't open to the public until 1978. We had talked about driving all the way to Deadhorse (about 8 miles from the Arctic Ocean--as far as an individual can drive without being part of a commercial tour group) but decided it was too far (1000 miles round trip from Fairbanks). The guide books we had that described the Dalton Highway warned that it has few services (in only three places along the entire 415 mile span), no emergency services, and road conditions are severe . . . one description said, "On some gravel sections of road, the washboard can be so severe your teeth rattle." It was pretty rough, but it was definitely wilderness, and we could really get a sense of Alaska's immensity and wildness.

One of the smoother sections of gravel road

A view of the road with the pipeline snaking through the wilderness beside it . . . we followed the pipeline for hundreds of miles.
Some of the scenery along the way

A little pond we happened upon along the road . . . gorgeous and peaceful! Joanne in front of the pond

Trying out the new tripod we bought and the timer on the camera

The first view of the Yukon River

The Yukon River from the bridge. The Yukon River Camp is the first stop for services on the Dalton Highway, but we didn't stop since we had a full gas tank when we left.

Dalton Highway or "Haul Road"

A field of wildflowers

The wilderness just stretches for miles and miles, as far as we could see

"Finger Mountain," a landmark for years and years

Terrain around Finger Mountain

A panoramic shot of the terrain

Dalton Highway and the pipeline headed north

Made it to the Arctic Circle!

By the time we got to the Arctic Circle, we had decided we would either have to go on to Coldfoot, 60 miles north, for fuel, or go back to Yukon Camp for fuel. But Yukon didn't have a campground there or south of there until almost Fairbanks. So we decided to go see what Coldfoot was like, since they had a campground.

One of the first views of the Brooks Mountain Range, which runs east to west across Alaska

Some more views on the way to Coldfoot

A view of the Trans Alaskan Pipeline winding its way through Alaska 's wilderness

Grayling Lake

We arrived in Coldfoot between 9 and 10 pm, fueled up (at $4.50/gal.!) and ate dinner in the restaurant there. Coldfoot was originally a gold-mining camp and made a resurgence as a camp for pipeline construction crews. Now it's a service stop on the Dalton Highway, catering mostly to truckers driving the highway to supply the oil industry at Prudhoe Bay. While waiting we talked with some other travelers . . . a woman and her friend and their kids who we had seen earlier at a few pull-offs along the way. It turns out that a few years ago, before she had kids, she had worked as a tour guide taking groups from Fairbanks to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay. When we told her we planned to return to Fairbanks the next day, she said, "Oh, no, you have to at least go on to Atigun Pass; that's the most beautiful scenery of the trip!" She also told us we'd be much more likely to see wildlife there. So we studied the map and decided to take her advice and go that far the next day.

View from our campsite at Coldfoot Camp just before we went to bed at 11:30

The truck in front of the restaurant in Coldfoot Wednesday morning before we left. Ernie had decided by this time that we should not only take the tour guide's advice and drive on to the Atigun Pass, but since we were that far into it, we might as well go all the way to Deadhorse on Prudhoe Bay! I wasn't 100 percent convinced that was a good idea, but we were so close and would never have another chance to drive as far north in Alaska as possible. So off we went to continue our adventure! I made some sandwiches to eat for lunch

on the way, since we knew there were no services anywhere before Deadhorse--240 miles away!

After leaving the Coldfoot Camp, we went across the road to visit the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center, a beautiful facility run by the Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service . . . extremely informative about the Arctic region of Alaska. They even have a summer volunteer from Anderson--student at Ball State--but she wasn't there that day :( They loan out binoculars, so we borrowed a pair for our trip north since we had sadly forgotten to take ours.

The tour guide lady had told us about the village of Wiseman north of Coldfoot, a few miles off the highway and one of her favorite spots . . . in fact, she loved it so much, she chose to get married there. So we decided to take her advice and check it out. It's pretty much out in the wilderness and not much there, but on a river in a beautiful setting. The Boreal Lodge was the only obvious place of business, with a lodge and gift shop. When we drove up, we spotted two labs lying in front, who immediately jumped up to greet us. The black lab grabbed a stick and ran toward us, and the white lab grabbed a ball and was obviously eager to play! I just had to laugh . . . they reminded me so much of Carter, Jesse and Amber's lab! The white one, Reload, is just begging Ernie to play ball with him!

Reload and Bogie in front of their Boreal Lodge in Wiseman

The gates to Boreal Lodge in Wiseman

Sukakpak Mountain as we drove into the Brooks Mountain Range

The last spruce tree along the northbound Dalton Highway, which was killed by vandals in 2003 but is still standing. The terrain changes in this area. . . few trees of any kind

Driving into the Brooks Mountain Range

A good view of the Brooks Mountains with the hovering clouds, the pipeline, and the road

Approaching the Atigun pass with snow on the windshield. The Atigun Pass is the highest highway pass in Alaska and the Continental Divide, dividing rivers running north to the Arctic Ocean and south to the Pacific Ocean

The road up the mountain

A musk ox on the side of the mountain--too far away to get a good shot. With the binoculars he was quite impressive!

An example of the condition of the road much of the time

We arrived in Deadhorse a little after 11:00 pm. At that location, the sun never sets between May 13 and August 13, so it still seemed like daylight to us. But there wasn't too much activity at that time of night, so we didn't feel like we were in the way when driving around looking at the sights. My impression of Deadhorse was that it looked like dozens of construction sites in one place--all the buildings are the metal buildings that are usually on construction sites, lots of trucks and lots of machinery. It all looks very industrial--everything there supports the oil fields and industry. We couldn't drive out to Prudhoe Bay, where the oil fields are--individuals aren't permitted beyond Deadhorse, which is about 7-8 miles from Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean. The only way to go is with a commercial tour group, and we didn't really want to do that, so we settled for going as far as Deadhorse and seeing as much there as we could.

A few sights around Deadhorse . . .

We gassed up at a self-service gas pump, one of only two places to get gas there, and located the "campground." The only camping permitted in Deadhorse is in the parking lot of the Arctic Caribou Inn--which is not like any hotel I've ever seen before--or any campground, either! There were no hook-ups, no services--we could use the restroom inside, but that was about it. So about midnight we set up the camper, ate the remainder of our sandwiches we hadn't finished at lunch, and tried to get some sleep after a very long, hard day!

See "Arctic Circle Adventure Part 2" for the return trip back to Fairbanks.