Post of Interest

During my time in Alaska I watched the movie "Into the Wild". The true story of the death of Christopher McCandless,who in 1992 hiked into the Alaskan wilderness with very little supplies and ended up living in a bus parked on an overgrown section of the trail near Denali National Park. This is the last photo of Chris which was a self-portrait found undeveloped in his camera. He knew he was dying and his final words were "I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all". Chris died of starvation 113 days later and his body was found approx 2 wks later by hunters. The bus was located in Denali Borough; what is now known as Stampede Road that begins near the Nenana River at the Alaska Railroad's Anchorage-Fairbanks route in the village of Lignite.
Our B&B is located on Lignite Road, close to Lignite village and is opposite the Stampede Road when you cross over they hwy. Very interesting to think we are so close, but probably still quite far from the actual "magic bus" as Chris called it. These are the signs at the intersection where we turned in to our B&B.

Day 21 - June 30th

No travel today!!

We headed to Denali National Park which is six million acres and larger then New Hampshire! It is one of the world’s last great frontiers for wilderness adventure and remains largely wild and unspoiled. It is known for wildlife such as grizzly bears, moose, caribou, fox, wolf and Dall sheep. We toured the park by a shuttle bus that was approx 8 hrs round trip. For the first half of our trip we were in pretty dense fog most of the time, esp. when we got to the visitor center half way through our tour. We were unable to see some of the beauty of the mountains around us, but by the time we left 40 mins later the fog was lifting. We saw several dried up river beds that once used to be filled with water from glaciers. Due to the receding of the glaciers over the past several thousand of years, these rivers are basically dried up, or have some slight trickle of water present. The river beds are filled with gravel that is being used to make roads in the park..
During the first 5 mins of our tour we spotted a moose feeding on the willow trees on the side of the road, very close to the bus. It was the first time I had seen a moose so close up. Wow, they are huge creatures!!
We also saw several caribou during the day and one golden eagle. Walking along side of the road was a fox with a vole(like a mole) in his mouth.The biggest wildlife thrill occurred on our way back when we spotted a lynx in the middle of the road. He was at first sitting like a dog then crouched like he was going to attack as he starred at a pica (like a small groundhog) in some rocks. We watched him for about 5 mins hoping he would make his move, but someone on one of the buses behind us startled him by talking too loudly and he walked away. Although we did not see any grizzly bears, our tour guide told us it was more exciting to see the lynx as they are rarely spotted in the park. At times the bus travelled on the edge of very steep mountains, approx 800 feet high!! That was scary when you looked down. The road was narrow also and there were only certain spots where buses could pass each other. When that happened I looked the other way! Overall it was a very nice day and the weather cleared up!!

Day 20 - June 29th

Travelled from Anchorage, Alaska to Denali, Alaska
Our trip today was in rain and a chilly 11'C the entire time. It was sad as we watched the beautiful mountains disappearing and the landscape return to mostly trees and low lying hills.We travelled through some road construction again today. The pavement was all chewed up and there were some mighty massive machinery being used.There is lots of construction on the roads in Alaska but overall we have found most of the roads to be in really good shape. The construction today was only for about 1/2 mile and not nearly as horrifying as what we had encountered the other day after crossing the border from the Yukon Territories into Alaska! We saw one moose grazing in the ditch on the side of the road and one fox. Nothing too exciting. We stopped in at the Denali National Park where we picked up our tickets for a bus tour tomorrow. Staying tonight in a B&B that is out in the middle of no where!! Originally had us in a “loft” with tiny rooms and one bathroom to share between the 6 of us. We were not too impressed with this so they offered us decent rooms with our own bathrooms for $20 more a night. We jumped at this at will be much more comfortable for the next two sleeps! It is a beautiful view from the B&B! Our host though was quite "different" as he was a little too "happy and chirpy" for us. Almost wanted to offer him a Valium! He was quite nice though and was willing to do anything for us. Had to wonder though when he drank a beer in a coffee mug in the morning at breakfast.!!

Day 19 - June 28th

Day of rest in Anchorage, Alaska
We headed off this morning in gloomy weather but as we travelled to Whittier to take a “26 Glacier Cruise” the sun started to come out! We went through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, a 2.5mile World War 11 era railroad tunnel transformed in the longest vehicle-railroad tunnel in North America.In 2000 it was upgraded to accommodate vehicles.We then boarded the cruise ship, a catamaran named the “The Klondike Express” which holds 342 passengers on 3 decks for a 5 hour tour! The cruise followed a 135 mile route through fjords and glaciers. We saw the cutest otters in the water and a harbor seal sunbathing on a chunk of ice. One of our stops was at a glacier called the Surprise Glacier that was beyond words. It was the closest we were able to get to a glacier and very hard to describe the beauty!! It was 1 mile wide and 300 feet high. While there, we watched chunks of ice fall off the glacier,(calve) into the sea 3 times. It happened so quick we didn’t get to even get a photo of this. People on the outer decks heard a loud boom when the ice broke off. The captain said that the ship before us did not get to see any calving on the glaciers so we were very lucky!! The ship made one last stop at the Kittiwake bird rookery that has over 10,000 birds that inhabit the rocky cliffs. I just can’t describe what we have been seeing here in Alaska!! One thing keeps topping another and we just can‘t believe what we are seeing.

Day 18 - June 27th

Travelled from Homer, Alaska to Anchorage, Alaska
Once again we had a yummy breakfast made by Paula!! Interesting how Willie put his sugar in the syrup container mistaking it for his coffee!! We all had a great laugh and I warned Will that this had to be put in my blog!! Before leaving Homer we travelled up a large hill to a look-out where we were able to see the entire town of Homer. Very spectacular to see! Today we travelled all day in the rain - sometimes it was just drizzling, sometimes raining harder. Temp was around 11’C which was quite chilly when you also have the rain. Once again thank goodness for my heated liner! We drove through Anchor Point which is the most westerly point you can drive to in North America. Two years ago we were on the most easterly point when we visited Cape Spears in NFLD. Lots of snow still on the roadside in some areas! Along the coastline there is salmon fishing charters and a very busy tourist attraction for this area. We passed a number of people fly fishing in the Kenai River. Stopped for lunch along the river and had moose chili which was quite good.
Before arriving at our B&B we walked along the Rabbit Creek boardwalk in Potter’s Marsh which is where Uncle Al the kiddies pal saw his first moosie!! Anchorage is embraced by six mountain ranges, over 2,000 resident moose, home to the brown and black bear, fox, lynx, Dall sheep and numerous species of birds! We ordered supper in and enjoyed some Greek salad, pizza and chicken wings! We have travelled a total of 7,000KM to date!!! We will enjoy sleep tonight!

Day 17 - June 26th

No travelling today!!
Enjoyed a much needed rest day in Homer, Alaska.
After a visit to a clinic to get a prescription for a nasty rash I have developed on my face from the sun, Grant and I went down to the “spit” which is like a little strip of land here in Homer that has seafood restaurants and souvenir shops. We had lunch and then walked around a bit visiting the shops. Grant bought a really nice Alaskan coin for his collection! We came back to our B&B to relax. The rest of the gang are out there touring around somewhere. Homer is one of the few places in the world, if not the only one, where several glaciers and active volcanoes can be viewed at the same time. Our hostess Paula is a very nice lady with a cute little dog "Bear"!! She made us a very yummy breakfast this morning and we are looking forward to another one tomorrow morning before we head out again!

Day 16 - June 25th

Travelled from Palmer, Alaska to Homer, Alaska
Started the morning off in fairly cloudy skies with the temp around 11'C. Chilly!! We travelled along the Hatcher Pass which took us onto high mountain summits. Cabins left from the Gold Rush still rest on the summit of the highest peaks to the lowest areas of the valley. There was some pretty intense fog as we travelled up the mountain to the top, at times the fog so intense it was hard to see. We got some spectacular pictures today!!! It was interesting to be in the fog.. We were actually above clouds with the valley below us.
,,,We saw 2 hoarey marmots which are similar to a ground hog. The rest of our ride to Homer was nice, passing some magnificent snow covered mountains. There was even snow on the side of the road still. No wildlife spotted today. We are staying at a nice bed and breakfast that is like a little apt we are all sharing. The view from our window is very hard to take - wonderful snow covered mountains!! We are here for 2 nights so it is nice to have a rest once again from riding. Another great day!!

Day 15 - Thursday June 24th

Travelled from Tok, Alaska to Palmer, Alaska.
This is why we came to Alaska!!!
We saw scenery today that takes your breath away. The mountains once again are just too beautiful to describe. As we turned each corner Grant and I were both ooohing and ahhing at the spectacular beauty we were seeing. Andrea could hear all this on her mic and said it sounded like we were having an "Alaskan Orgasm"!!. Too funny!! Just magnificent, indescribable scenery all day. The roads were so much better than yesterday but we still hit many "gravel" patches. This was probably the best motorcycle road we have ever been on!! Saw the Matanuska Glacier and walked about a mile towards it to get a closer look. Very very spectacular!! The high temp today was 18'C which was much more comfortable for riding than yesterday. We are staying tonight in Palmer which is a nice little town. We have now covered 6,100KM !!
It is so hard to believe we are actually in Alaska. Home seems so far away,and is so far away. The group we are travelling with are awesome, great people. We have so many laughs!!! Can hardly wait for tomorrow!!

Day 14 - Wednesday June 23rd

Travelled from Haines Junction, Alaska to Tok, Alaska
The was the first day in our vacation that we can say was not great. We started out from breakfast with some sun but very black clouds in the skies. About 1/2 hr out of town our fuel injection light came on! We pulled over and the guys looked at a few things to see if they could fix it. No luck. We called a local mechanic from Honda and he did not deal with motorcycles, however did try to help, but the light stayed on. We drove about another hour in which the rains came and on went our lovely rain gear grrrr!! When we next stopped for gas and Grant decided to call our mechanic in Markham who has worked on our bike many times. He told Grant there was no concerns and we could continue safely on our journey!! We all took a big sigh of relief. We are now in very remote, desolate land in Alaska. At times it reminds me of northern Ontario. The trees are small and narrow, growth very low here due to cold temps and the snow. It was cool with the temperature ranging between 11 and 13'C all day. We hit the worse roads of our biking careers, many bumps, dips, uneven pavement with huge grooves. This continued for approx 250kms and not fun at all to ride on. To top that off there was approx 6km of the road under construction and we rode through loose gravel, mud and just plain horrible, horrible roads. I have to admit there were a few times I was scared and a few times when we hit bumps I thought I was going to fly off the back of the bike!! Being still in constant rain made things so much worse. It is at times like this that I am so thankful for Grant's motorcycle skills and thankfully we all made it safely to our hotel. Our bikes are crazy dirty though!! We didn't see any wildlife today, however bikers we talked to while we were having our breakfast told us they say many bears in the morning! It was nice to get off the bikes, relax and have a great supper. I think it will get dark tonight close to midnight as we are farther north in Alaska now.

Day 13 - Tuesday June 22nd

Travelled from Skagway, Alaska to Haines Junction, Yukon Territories
This morning before leaving Skagway we took the Scenic White Pass and Yukon Route - Railway of the World!! This unique railway has been in operation since 1898 and was built to transport men to the interior to mine for gold rather a path/road where they had to ride on horseback or walk over the mountains to get to Dawson City. By the time the railway was finished (approx 2.5yrs later) the gold rush was over. During the train ride we saw some of the actual paths that the men had to travel and it was very interesting to step back in time. I can't even begin to describe the beauty of the land that we saw on this train ride!! You have to see it to believe it!!
As our journey continued on the bikes we saw never ending changes in the landscape and beauty. It went from mountains to huge valleys with the mountains in the distance. Very short little trees, lots of mountains with no trees on them at all, only rocks. Much more snow noticed also on the mountains here. We did hit some rain and in the mountains the temp dropped quite a bit. We saw about 10 elk on the side of the road. They are beautiful animals!! Just before we got into Haines Junction we saw our first grizzly bear!!! That was exciting to say the least and we were certainly happy to be moving fast on our bikes and the bear wasn't near us!

Day 12 - Monday June 21st

Travelled on the ferry to Skagway, Alaska
This morning the ferry docked at Juneau, the capital of Alaska around 4:30AM. The town was approx 14 miles away so we decided not to go in as we only had an approx 2hrs stop over. We got up around 8am and had breakfast then relaxed and watched with breathtaking scenery once again. We never get tired of seeing the mountains!! The ferry stopped in Haines where we got off for a short 1/2 walk along the road and then the shore. Nothing to see here as the town was quite a way from the docks. We arrived in Skagway around 2pm and got booked into our "historical bed and breakfast". Now this is an interesting place as it was once used as a brothel!!! All the rooms have girls name over the doorway, ours is Ida! We can only imagine the things that went on in these rooms many years ago. Skagway is a very cute little place, with the old wooden sidewalks and buildings. The town was the starting point for the gold seekers heading over the mountains during the gold rush during 1897-1898.
After supper Grant and I saw "The Days of "98 Show" which was about "Soapy Smith",a true story that happened in the 1800's during the gold rush. He was a swindler, con artist etc and eventually was shot and killed by Frank Reid! Go figure..this might have been Grant's great great great Grandpa!!lol.During the show, the cancan girls selected my hubby from the audience to be part of the show. Let me tell you how hilarious this was!!! The girls were swooning over Grant and he turned a few shades of red on a few occasions. They took him up to their "rooms" at one point and he came down wearing pj's that looked more like a clown suit to me! Too funny!!! All in all it was a great night!! The others in our group had decided not to go to the show, so I just had to take some pictures to prove all this really did happen!!