MacKenzies

August 7, 2018August 6, 2018

Rolling Rocks and Yoo-hoo!

We are headed south on our way to Denali. Its raining, foggy, closing in on time to get off the road for the night, and its pretty miserable for camping. We see a small gravel road headed off into the mountains and decide to check it out for a place to camp. After a couple of miles of steady climbing the gravel track has shrunk to a 4 by 4 trail. After another mile or so, just below the base of the rain clouds we begin to see a glacier peeking out! We drive to the end of the track and find a little area somewhat sheltered from the wind to set-up.

Next to our spot is a raging torrent of a glacial stream. The thick silt filled glacial runoff is the color of Yoo-hoo and as we try to fall asleep the gushing river loosens a rock. It clunks around for a few seconds as it is pushed down stream. At first we thought there might be a moose wandering by as there is moose poop everywhere…nope. This “rolling of rocks” goes on all night and can be loudly heard and felt in the base of the sleeping platform! Pretty cool but very unnerving.

Darrin found a swinging bridge up above our campsite.

Notice who the smart one was who stayed on the edge.

August 6, 2018August 2, 2018

The Wally Show

We are back in Fairbanks and our choices are limited for a place to sleep. First choice free, second choice cheap, last choice expensive..okay not really a choice.

After driving around a bit checking the various iOverlander spots and finding them closed. We tried our luck at the in town campgrounds and found them to be a parking lots next to the highway or near the airport. It was time to hit the RV campers Ace in the Hole…..Walmart!!!!

Sidling up next to a nice elderly gent’s RV to block some of the wind we set up for the night.

For once the little Rover was not the talk of the park as across the way was what we have taken to calling the Urban Assault Vehicle! We have been told that primarily Germans drive these million dollar post apocalyptic vehicles ready for the end of the world!

Wally is loud, and packed with RV’s, but it’s free! We may not get much sleep tonight! But we will have time to download lots of books and up load blogs.

The Wee Rover feels all grown-up parked in an RV space!

Follow up: at 10 pm we put in our ear plugs and fell sound asleep! We got the best nights sleep in weeks…go figure!

August 5, 2018August 1, 2018

The Coldest Shower of All Time!

On our spring canoe trips one is always aware of what is called the “Gasp Reflex”. This is when your face hits very cold water. The body’s response is to quickly expel all of the air in your lungs and just as quickly suck back in a lung full of air (or water if your face is still in it).

While we have been in the arctic we try to dip in a river or lake when ever we can to clean up after driving and to cool down from the heat, believe it or not.
We have taken to gauging the water temp based upon the number of times one can dunk their head under to rinse.

Was that a double dunk? No only a single tonight!

Then we found the coldest shower of all times!

This artesian well comes straight from the permafrost
on the ice planet of Hoth (see Star Wars)!

Which brings us back to the gasp reflex; it’s a darn good thing we weren’t in a lake when this water hit the face!

Notice the sign says ‘no washing vehicles’…it doesn’t say ‘no showers’!

August 4, 2018August 1, 2018

Travel Companions

By now you are more than familiar with our wee Rover! We thought it was time to introduce you to our other companions, Puppy for when we don’t have another dog around to play with like Sophie and Oscar, and Buddha our calming influence when the road gets rough!

Puppy and Buddha sitting on the front dash.

Oscar, a sweet boy who couldn’t understand why he couldn’t sit at the table, too.

Sophie! The sweetest dog of all time! I think there might be a slight resemblance🤣

August 4, 2018August 1, 2018

Up, Up, Up…and Over

On the Dalton, the Brooks Range of Alaska is the definitive transition to the Arctic, not the Arctic Circle like the Dempster. The craggy, cloud covered peaks, shrouded in mist and pouring rain met us as we headed up the Antigun Pass. Up and up we went in first gear dodging the haul trucks and skirting the avalanche zone. Only the laundress will know how tense we were😂 Up and over we went to a record quick setup for the night due to the rain and very, very, did I say very thick mosquitoes.

Up we went into the clouds with the big rigs!

We woke the next day to sun in the Arctic with amazing views of the Brooks Range north slope and the tundra. We saw a single caribou being stalked by a huge wolf and we happened upon a musk ox chowing down! And we could actually see the pass on our way south!

We awoke in the morning to our first glimpse of the Brooks Range…north slope!

Hey look! It’s a musk ox chowing down. He was not impressed that we interrupted his breakfast.

What a place…

Amazing, and so worth the miles and miles of hills to get there.

August 3, 2018August 1, 2018

A Tale of Two Roads

It was the best of roads, it was the worst of roads (with apologies to C. Dickens), but which is London and which is Paris? The Dempster Highway of the Yukon & NWT vs the Dalton Highway of Alaska.

The Dalton was built in 8 weeks, during the 1970’s oil shortage, after vast reserves were discovered in Prudhoe Bay. The Dalton was originally known simply as The Haul Road and it was built that way. Straight up and over everything in its path! We were sometimes climbing in first gear for 10 minutes at a time. About half is paved, and most is rough from the weather and the constant flow of trucks supporting the oil infrastructure at Prudhoe (ironically many of them hauling fuel north to the various work stations).

The Dempster was built to explore for resources and to connect Inuvik via road to the rest of the world. It was built at a slower pace and follows the natural contours of the land it travels through. None of the Dempster’s 550 miles is paved, and much is rough from the weather and the materials used to construct it!

Glaciation is the biggest variation we saw over the 2 roads. The Dalton in Alaska traverses an area called Berengia that was spared the effects of the ice age glaciation. When you hit the Arctic Circle on the Dalton you could be in the Maine woods! It isn’t until you pass over the Brooks Range that you feel like you are in the Arctic. When you pass the Arctic Circle on the Dempster, you “feel” that you are in the Arctic.

Both roads are rough, the Dalton due to its route and the Dempster due to the materials used to construct it.

Both are long out and backs, the Dalton at 830 miles round trip and the Dempster at 1100 miles.

Both are beautiful in their own way, the Dalton has the Brooks Range and the Dempster has the Tombstones, Ogilvies and now the Arctic Ocean.

We found the Dempster road to be ‘expansive’ because much of it is Arctic tundra and the Dalton to be ‘industrial’ since it follows the pipeline and was built quickly as a truck haul road for the pipeline.

You will just need to add both to your bucket list and decide which is London and which is Paris!

August 2, 2018August 1, 2018

Beep Beep Beep

So, we go into Fairbanks, stock up and head north to the next gravel road, the Dalton Hwy. About 20 miles north of Fairbanks we come across Olnes Pond, a small recreation site for day use and 12 campsites for overnight campers. We grab one of the few remaining sites, set up and settle in for a quiet evening.

At 2 am we are awakened in our quiet little spot by trucks with back-up beepers…and they run continuously for the rest of the night. Unknown to us, our idyllic campsite is next to a gravel pit and just south of a huge road reconstruction project, Alaska road crews apparently work 24 hours a day.

So much for our good night’s sleep.

The road construction site just up the road.

August 1, 2018

Eagle, Alaska

We made it into Alaska (yes, the US foolishly let us back in) and promptly took a right turn north on the first gravel road we came to. Sixty-five miles and a few hairpin turns later, we entered the tiny ‘city’ of Eagle, not to be confused with the native town next door of Eagle Village, or the suburbs in between, as the locals call it for when you need to move away from the other 86 people living in the area.

The gravel road to Eagle had a few turns!

And it used to have a snack stop. (Apparently it shut down because the owners died, not because of lack of business)

We camped at the local BLM campground for 2 nights, $10 a night, and explored the area, in 90 degree heat…an Alaska heatwave (we almost got caught skinny dipping, again)!

The town consists mostly of log cabins, even the town hall and church are in old cabins, restored Fort Egbert, a grass airstrip right in town, and a fairly new 20’ish room hotel that looks completely out of place.

The town water supply…and you thought it was the gas station.

The sign says it all…notice the telephone booth?

The airstrip. The town office and church are at the far end.

The town of Eagle is on the Yukon River which we have crossed on a ferry, followed, swam in, crossed over a bridge, been our co stant companion for several weeks now…and absolutely loved.

We purchased our most expensive bag of chips, yet…$11. We needed the salt in the hot weather…that’s our rationalization.

All in all, we loved Eagle. It is a very small town at the end of a dirt road that isn’t plowed in the winter (it becomes a snowmobile super highway) where people are eeking out a living, very much like Tuktoyaktuk in the Yukon.

I almost forgot! We saw a herd of caribou on our way into Eagle. It was what is know as the Forty Mile herd. Very cool!

July 31, 2018July 26, 2018

Poker Creek, Alaska

Today we crossed back I to the US, of course we had to do it in style, we crossed into Alaska at the most northern land border crossing we could find! We only had to drive 60 some odd miles across a road called ‘The Top of the World’…totally worth it!

I wonder what the 3 residents do when they are off duty?

July 30, 2018July 26, 2018

Ghosts of Fortunes Won and Lost

We made a stop in Dawson City, after seeing a wolf near the end of the Dempster and after washing the wee Rover, ourselves and our very dirty clothes. A restocking of groceries and a celebratory ice cream cone were in order after the Dempster! We wandered around town a bit, took a look at Jack London’s cabin, decided that was enough town for us and headed to the ferry across the Yukon River and to the Yukon River Campground.

He gave us an exasperated look. I think we disturbed his hunt.

Hey look! The wee rover is actually green!

After dinner and a quick dip in the Yukon we went for our usual evening stroll. The river has a wide bank at this time of year perfect for a walk, so we headed away from town.

Guess what we found?! 3 old paddle wheelers from the days of the gold rush! You can climb around, in, on, or through the old girls. I climbed up onto the deck and couldn’t help thinking of the stories these ships could tell. The stories of the fortunes won and lost in the gold mines.