Monday 19th May 2003, Carmacks to Dawson City

The cafe attached to the hotel was not the best so I decided to get breakfast on the road, not such a good idea as it turned out.  Places were few and far between and I didn't like the look of any of them so I was pretty hungry when I got to Dawson City.

There was more road damage between Carmacks and Dawson City, which was not always flagged here so I had to be pretty vigilant.  Nevertheless, even I couldn't miss what looked to me like a wolf as it loped out of the trees and turned down the road, heading straight for me.  It was a whimsical, meandering sort of lope, unhurried and seemingly without a care in the world.  As I braked he veered off to the other side of the road where he stopped and turned to look at me.  It was as though he was sizing me up, decided I was nothing to worry about and loped away into the trees.  I could have sworn he was laughing at me, it was so funny.  THEN I remembered my camera!!!

The guy in the car behind me saw me in a café further up the road and we discussed it.  He told me it was a coyote, not a wolf;  I bow to his superior knowledge but as I hadn't seen either in the wild before I was thrilled either way.

About an hour or so later I came across a car with it's bonnet up and a woman was flagging me down.

Ok, let's get this over with.  Yes, I KNOW, everyone (apart from George) told me not to stop for anyone, and I HAVE ignored the hitch-hikers; but there was this man working hard at the wheel, two women looking worried and a little boy about 4 years old looking confused, right in the middle of nowhere.  What would YOU have done?  I stopped.

I wasn't much help as I didn't understand which tool they needed but we rooted around in my car anyway.  By the time we decided I didn't have one, two more cars had stopped and one had the necessary.  This was the Klondike in the rush hour - I'd only seen half a dozen cars in the last four hours up 'til then.  No-one passed by - as one lady said, this is the Yukon way!


I didn't stop to make sure they got safely underway, I'm a little ashamed of that but I wasn't comfortable, I suppose ingrained suspicion of strangers is hard to overcome.  However, I did stop, against all advice and there were others there when I left.  I like to think if I'd been the only one around I would have stayed and made sure they were underway or plucked up the courage to offer a lift but I guess I'll never know now.  I was so flustered I automatically drove off on the left hand side of the road and it was about half a mile before I realised and moved over.  Oh well, let's hope that gave them a laugh over the soppy Englishwoman.

The rest of the journey was uneventful until I got near Dawson City.  I saw what I thought was roadkill until it moved.  It was a porcupine - I hadn't realised they were so large!  He didn't care for the look of me, so off he lumbered with a sort of rolling gait and disappeared round a hummock.  I may have just managed to get him on film but I'm not sure.  I could hear him rustling around but couldn't see him so I started off again.  As I did I spotted his sweet little face poking out at me from the other side of the hummock but it quickly disappeared once more when I slowed down.

Sunday 18th May 2003, Whitehorse to Carmacks

The Klondike Highway is in pretty good condition so I made good time.  The landscape is subtly different; rounder contours, less craggy, less evergreens and more deciduous trees.  It changes more though, the deciduous gave way to more evergreens then - devastation!

Mile after mile of blackened tree trunks pointing at the sky, branches mostly burned away; or felled, criss-crossed on the ground like a child's jackstraws and large areas of scorched earth.  The occasional stand of green trees where the fire that had caused this desolation had miraculously spared them for some reason.  I've seen smaller areas like this over here but the sheer scale of the disaster here is overwhelming.  I know it's necessary to the ecology, following a cycle of burning and renewal, but it is desperately sad to see and must have been terrifying to witness.

Marilyn, in Burwash Landing, had told me about the fire they had at the end of the 1990's, long before she got there.  It had swept down on the township taking three houses and the logs Horace had prepared for building his cabin.  The owners of the Resort were determined to save it and had been dousing the building with water.  But the fire was beyond their efforts and before they realised it, was roaring down at them where they cowered, laid flat on the roof.  Suddenly the wind, which ALWAYS comes from the same direction, miraculously changed and took the fire elsewhere.  You can stand overlooking Burwash Landing and see the path the fire took and how narrow their escape was.

This fire in the Klondike must have been a hundred times worse and is the sort of threat Yukoners live with every year.  Nothing is permanent here it seems and you have to learn to roll with the punches to survive.  Small wonder they are a hardy breed.

I arrived early in Carmacks and as it was Sunday there was nothing to do - not that there is much to do in Carmacks anyway.  I walked 2.5 kilometers down the length of Carmacks (there is very little width as the hills come so close to the waters edge) and got caught first in hail and then rain.  I actually rather enjoyed it although I looked like a drowned rat by the time I got back to the hotel.

The only thing left was TV and there were only 2 channels, one with some rather strange costume dramas and the other with obscure Indian and Australian programmes.  Suddenly I felt very tired!

Saturday 17th May 2003, Beaver Creek to Whitehorse

Beaver Creek is about six miles from the Canadian border crossing (now we know Dad - it's too small to show on the map).  I got a shock at first because there were big signs outside the hotel saying it was closed.  I weaved past them and found I was expected although they were not due to open officially for the summer for another week.  Whew!  A very nice room and a very nice place, looking past the fact they are still getting it up together after winter.  No problem with noisy neighbours tonight, I'm the only one here - and that included staff - only the manager was on the property that night, in a cabin somewhere 'over there' if I needed him.

 

I was recommended to Buckshot Betty's for dinner, which was fine by me, I'd been there for lunch on the way up a few weeks earlier.  There were 2 sets of Americans there who chatted to each other but not much inclined to include me.  No problem, the waitress was very chatty and friendly.

 

Had an early night, and really needed it after those kids got me up at 5:30 for the past 2 mornings.  Slept like a log.

 

Back to Buckshot Betty's for coffee in the morning; one of the couples from last night were there but more friendly and actually smiled at me.

 

The roads were pretty awful again and I was eating dust for a long way.  I wanted to breakfast at Burwash Landing but my plans went awry as usual (I don't learn, do I?) and arrive lunchtime.  Marilyn recognised me, which was really nice, and the couple from Beaver Creek were there and in the mood to chat.  They had overtaken me while I was being so careful of my car at the roadworks.  We all had a jolly time chatting; the couple were doing a tour up from Michegan, 'spending their kids inheritance'.

 

The place is done up nicely now and I could sit in the part that had just been unboarded for the summer when I stayed here a few weeks earlier.  Marilyn and the cook chatted with me for a while after the American couple left.  They asked about our chocolate, it has a good reputation over here.

 

I was off again and not planning to stop until Haines Junction.  No dice; what with all the tea at Burwash landing and the very bumpy road I gave up six miles short!  At Haines Junction I 'hung a right' for Whitehorse.  I saw a dust devil in the road ahead, a small whirlwind that caught the road dust up in a spout and danced it round from one side of the road to the other.  It was about 4-5 feet tall so I could see it from quite a way away and chuckled at its antics.  I'd slowed right down to watch it but it collapsed just as I passed, I suppose the wind of my passing disrupted it.

 

I stopped at Kluane (clue-ah-knee with a slight stress on the ah) Lake this time and hopefully got some good pictures for you to paint Mum.  There's a lot less snow than a few weeks ago; now the country is a picture of muted reds, yellows, greens and blues weaving a glorious tapestry of colour that you see in paintings but can't quite believe could exist.

 

Being the driver and navigator rolled into one, means I don't have any attention left for active wildlife spotting.  However, at one point I saw some movement at the side of the road.  It was bison so I slammed on the brakes; too craven to get out I just wound down the window and took photos of them from the safety of the car.

 

I had no trouble with the Whitehorse traffic when I got there, straight to the hotel without any fuss.  I've got the hang of traffic now.  Ever since I realised it wasn't my driving abilities I had any doubt of, it was my navigating skills - getting lost - I stopped being silly and I've been just fine.

 

There was no time for doing anything much in Whitehorse as I arrived early evening so just caught up with the laundry and went to bed.  I met a nice lady in the laundry though, driving up from  South Carolina with her husband and two young children, she had the most delicious drawl.  He's in the US Armed Forces and being relocated to Anchorage for four years.  They've been on the road with their belongings for nine days!  Imagine that with two children under three years!!!  She's a saint.

 

PS Hope this all makes sense, I’m sitting in an Internet café cum pizza place with a load of teenagers making a racket over some bloomin’ awful music, can hardly think!!

Friday 16th May 2003, Glenallen to Beaver Creek

I had another long drive ahead of me so I was on the road by 9 o'clock.  It was flat country and I was surrounded by forest.  I was fascinated at first, then..."well, ok, yes, they're trees!", then bored and finally completely awed by the scale of it all.

I gradually worked my way up into the mountains, still surrounded by forest; the road occasionally rising above the tree line to view the valley I'd just left, trees carpeting the valley floor and creeping up the mountainside, gradually giving way to a little scrubland before the mountains rise steeply to the sky.  Maybe a river or mudflats worming through the valley from one end to the other.  Sometimes the road winding so much I'd lose sight of it among the trees and have the illusion that I am completely surrounded by mountains, there's no way out, and the world has shrunk to this one small valley. 

I had planned to lunch in Tok but numerous road works held me up.  I really must learn that this country doesn't care about my plans and schedules.  So I just sat back, enjoyed the ride and stopped at the first place that appealed.  It was about 40 miles short of Tok and in one of those valleys.  It was filled (not hard considering it only took about a dozen people anyway) with locals including four gents who were exactly my idea of old coots, and who took great delight in 'chatting up the young lady'.

I've been travelling steadily north and climbing into the mountains since leaving Seward.  At some stage spring had withdrawn and the trees had been again in an uneasy doze.  Moving down out of the mountains onto the plains surrounding Tok, spring came again and I feel privileged to have seen it twice this year.

After coffee in Tok I drove straight through to the US/Canada border.  I was travelling under the Visa exemption scheme for UK nationals and was supposed to hand in the form, that was clipped to my passport, when leaving.  I explained I was going back into Alaska at Skagway so they marked the form for multiple entries and I've just got to remember to hand it in the last time I exit the US.  It's valid to July and they impressed on me the importance of not taking it back to the UK with me.  Must stick a reminder note somewhere!

And so it was goodbye to Alaska, for now; it's been wonderful!

A 'brief' interlude

Well, it's been a while, too long in fact.  Life interrupted my travels down memory lane but I've some time now.  I'm with friends in Egypt with time on my hands between having fun, so I shall pick up my mental meanderings again.  Not much point in posting my emails in 'real time' since in reality, ten years ago, I had already returned to the UK.  So the posts will come as and when I get round to them from now on.  Now, where was I?...oh yes, ...

Thursday 15th May 2003, Seward to Glenallen

I was up early again this morning but not from choice. Both nights a party of school kids was deposited at the hotel just before 10 o'clock with attendant yells, bangs and running around. Both mornings I was wakened around 5:30 as they got up and banged, crashed, chatted, shrieked and generally made as much noise as school kids can. Fine for them but I had a very long drive to Glenallen that day.

The internet was free again so having taken advantage of the email I looked up the ferry times.  I had hoped to get the ferry from Whittier to Valdez, then drive to Glenallen through the Chugach Mountains but found out that the next ferry wouldn't get in until 9:30pm leaving me with a 2-3 hour drive to follow.  I decided to go back towards Anchorage, turning off on the Glenn Highway just south of the city and I have no regrets at the choice.  Lunch was enjoyed while chatting with a lady from Surrey who moved to Alaska 8 years ago, and an Indian lady with her daughter.  She recommended the Indian Hospital in Anchorage if I wanted to buy authentic souvenirs.  The patients make them.  She was there in November having her stomach stapled and has lost 190lbs since.  The waitress (Surrey lady) advised me to just order extras for breakfast, not the set meals excluding this, that or the other.  Works out cheaper usually.  I love these times, chatting with new, friendly people - I'm changing!

I enjoyed viewing the Seward Highway from the opposite direction and I think I got some photos this time.  The Glenn Highway has varied scenery, breathtaking in fact.  I drove through many canyons, saw a glacier, caribou at the side of the road and - often - ‘slide area ends' signs.  Somehow I never saw the 'begins' signs.  (Slides = rock falls).  In these places you'd see great scars in the canyons or hillsides where vast areas have just dropped away.  I saw rocks on the road and rocks actually falling nearby but nothing ever fell near the road or me while I was on it.  Phew!

 

Road works were fun.  At one point I waited 20 mins to play 'follow-my-leader'.  This involves waiting for a queue of traffic to form then a Pilot Vehicle guides the traffic through the works.  It will be nice when I have the RV with my own facilities, it can be a long time between stops!  It snowed again before I got to Glenallen, much to my delight, and the chagrin of the inhabitants of the cafe I was in at the time; it had snowed there every day for the past week and they were sick to the back teeth of it.  However, they were highly amused when I briefly abandoned my meal to run out into the snow in excitement so I could say it had actually snowed on me in Alaska!  In fact today I started in warm sun and ran the gamut of rain, snow, sleet and hail before the day finished.

 

The New Caribou Inn in Glenallen was a very comfy, cosy place with decent food and I slept well.

Wednesday 14th May 2003, Seward

The next morning I walked a couple of miles along the waterfront to the harbour.  At one point a couple of ladies stopped and pointed out some seals to me.  Tried for a photo but couldn't get the camera out quick enough, I suspect they will just be black smudges in the sea as they had followed the current further down the coast by the time I got my act together.

 

The walk was lovely, a crisp sea smell and pungent seaweed; I love the smell of seaweed.  It got fishier as I neared the harbour.  I treated myself to a banana split and sat on a bench for a while watching the birds and boats.  A couple of ladies with prams wandered past chatting and gave me a friendly but curious nod.  They didn’t seem inclined to stop and chat so I wandered back to the hotel again.  Unfortunately I hadn't given my knee enough of a rest and hobbled the last stretch.

 

Just across the road from the hotel is a sea-aquarium place and I spent some time wandering around, really very enjoyable and informative.  There were a lot of children in school parties.

 

I had a nap before a dinner of tasteless shrimp, bottled horseradish and tomato sauce mixed together to start followed by a main course that wasn’t up to much either – very disappointing.

Tuesday 13th May 2003, Anchorage to Seward

I found my way across Anchorage reasonable well, only getting confused twice.  The Seward Highway is easily the most consistently beautiful that I've seen so far.  The Alaska Highway is marvellous but is so long it couldn't possibly carry the beauty the whole way.  The Seward however, manages it.  I stopped many times but didn't take many photos as my camera didn't like the light.  I will just have to carry the images in my memory.  It snowed a bit at one stage and I let out a loud whoop, even though it only lasted all of two minutes.  Never mind - it snowed in Alaska while I was here!

 

I stopped for a bowl of chilli for lunch and though he swore there was no flour in it one of the other ingredients must have included a bit because things were getting a bit anxious towards the end of the road there!

 

It's a lovely hotel built around an inner atrium.  There's complimentary Internet access for residents, so I'm making sure I keep up to date as Whitehorse is likely to be the next time I get a chance to email.  Sadly, I don't have a bay view but I suppose the parking lot has its own charm!  That's par for the course for singles; we get a raw deal.  I made up for it at Ray's Waterfront Restaurant, sat next to one of the panoramic windows, right on the harbour front looking out at the boats coming and going and watching the birds diving for fish.  My fish came in a more civilised manner - on a plate. I wrapped myself round oysters followed by crab with lemon and cilantro butter, rice and broccoli.  Absolutely excellent.

 

Seward has been my food Mecca since I left England and I'd been looking forward to this.  No thinking of the cost for forty eight hours, even if I have to starve for a week.  (OK - so there's no real chance of that happening!)

 

Just time for a short walk before bed.

 

Nighty nighty

Monday 12th May 2003, Anchorage

I put a film in for developing and went looking for breakfast while I waited.  Two hours and one Snickers bar later I finally found something I could eat, so I made it brunch.  A rather nice, if salty, salmon chowder.  After collecting the photos I headed for the Museum, which is supposed to be very good, but it was closed.  No idea why.  However I twisted my bad knee very painfully so the rest of the day was spent alternating walking until I hobbled too badly, and getting my emails up together.  This hotel offers free Internet access to guests so I made the most of it – it was a good call not sending them from Talkeetna.  Hence the mass of emails you all received over a short period.

 

The hotel is lovely and the service is spot on but I've been spoilt by the friendliness of people in the smaller places; I find the service here excellent but impersonal.  People generally are not so friendly and tend to avoid looking you in the eye as you walk around, but that's the same for any major town or city worldwide.

 

Not much else to say for Anchorage, George - you were right; nice to see for a day but that's about it, thanks for ignoring me and not booking me in longer.

Sunday 11th May 2003, Talkeetna to Anchorage

 

I got up promptly as I wanted another breakfast at the Roadhouse, and this time I went for the half-plate, still pretty substantial.  Talkeetna may be small but it is a popular base for climbers from all over the world.  Mt McKinley is the main attraction but there are plenty of other climbs around.  Apart from climbing, a lot of people come here for flight-seeing (doesn't appeal to me, going up in small planes), fishing (only if I don't have to put worms on the hook) and rafting (not in these freezing waters-thank you! - maybe when I get to the Rockies).

The land was very flat for a while after leaving Talkeetna but then I hit mountains again, figuratively speaking.  I stopped at a posh looking place in Willow for a while, only for the waitress to put the frighteners on me about the traffic in Anchorage.  Everyone else I’ve spoken to has told me the same – it’s terrible!  I was going to use the loo but when I got inside there were 2 loos side by side, out in the open, and when I looked back at the door - no lock - perhaps not!!  I came to regret this later , I was VERY glad to get to the hotel.

The hotel - wow - is called the Clarion Suites, and that is what I have, a suite.  A living room with a sofa (opened into a double bed), TV, writing desk, fridge, microwave, filter coffee maker and sink; en-suite with vanity area; and 6' wide bed in the bedroom with 2 armchairs and yet another TV in case getting out of bed is too strenuous.

I could only find one restaurant open, Sullivan’s; it was a bit expensive but I thoroughly enjoyed escargots followed by scallops.  Again there was nothing for my diet but this time they were happy to improvise.  The scallops were served without a sauce but they didn't need one they were so plump and delicious.  There was nothing else to do so I had a very domestic evening washing, some mending (thank you Wendy and Mike for the mini-sewing kit) and bed.