From Seward to Carcross

Hi! I know you know the drill by now so I won't repeat myself!

Hard to imagine a desert in the Yukon, but there is one at Carcross. It is the world's smallest desert composed of sandy lake-bottom material left behind by a large glacial lake. Dirt bikers were having a great time riding up and down the sand dunes.

July 5 - After spending the night at a turnout at Takhini Burn, about 40 miles from Whitehorse, we drove down the South Klondike Highway to Skagway. We just had to stop at Emerald Lake (aka Rainbow Lake) just as beautiful as its namesake near Field, BC. Haines Junction - Gateway to the Kluane. A neat monument welcoming everyone to the area. We were very glad to reach Haines Junction, too. We finally found a road worse than the ones leading from Cabri, SK to Gull Lake and Leader. Driving the road from Tok to Haines Junction was like riding a roller coaster. You can dodge potholes, but it's hard to avoid a frost heave - especially miles and miles of them!

Nothing like a fake police car to slow you down. I guess this is Haines Junction's substitute for photo radar. It seemed only fitting that we saw a bear at Bear Creek Summit, the highest point on the Alaska Highway between Whitehorse and Yukon.

Kluane Lake - the largest lake in the Yukon covering more than 154 square miles/400 square kilometres. Unfortunately it was cloudy and drizzling rain so our view was not the best. One cub was trying to play with Mom, but she ignored him and kept on foraging for food. It was fun to watch them. More grizzlies - a sow and her two cubs.

Driving through Kluane National Park, we got a great view of the Icefield Mountain Range, the main group of peaks in the St. Elias Mountains. This range also includes Canada's highest mountain and the second highest in North America, Mount Logan, which is difficult to see from the highway. Burwash Landing is one of the oldest settlements in the Yukon and its known for its black spruce burl bowls. It also claims to have the world's largest gold pan.

We were hoping to see a grizzly in our travels and finally we got our wish. This bear showed absolutely no fear as he munched on the flowers on the side of the road. He did get a little testy-looking when Ted whistled at him to get his attention!

Snag's claim to fame is the lowest recorded temperature in Canada: -81.4F/-63C recorded on February 3, 1947. Now that's a cold from which we'd really want to escape.

At Tok we rejoined the Alaska Highway and spotted these two trumpeter swans just before crossing back into Canada at Beaver Creek.

What is it about dogs? You blow in their faces and they get mad, but give them an open window and they've got their heads out the window letting the wind blow through their ears. July 4 - On the road again. We had to wait in Tok for the 4th of July parade to go by. Unfortunately we missed most of the parade, but the state trooper made us wait until all was clear. Chapel on the Hill - a log church built in 1942 by Rev. Vincent Joy and U.S. Army volunteers stationed in the area. The church bell was sent from a church in Pennsylvania and had originally been used on a Pennsylvania Railroad steam locomotive. The town of Copper Center, 100 miles north of Valdez, is situated on the Klutina River and was the first gold rush town in the Copper River Valley. As you can tell the residents have a good sense of humor. Beside the Thompson Pass is a pullout where you can get an awesome view of the valley and the Chugach Mountains. Early gold miners hauled gold shipments, freight and even an entire riverboat, the 70-ton "Chitina", piece by piece over the Pass to the Copper River.

The Old Railroad Tunnel - This tunnel was hand cut into the solid rock and is all that remains of the railroad era when 9 companies fought to take advantage of the short route from the coast to the Copper Valley. A gun battle was fought between supporters of the Cordova to Chitina Railroad and competitors from Valdez. The tunnel was never finished. The road through Keystone Canyon is actually a restored section of the Trans-Alaska Military Packtrain Trail that led to the first glacier-free land route from Valdez to the interior of Alaska. On the way back to our campsite, we drove through Keystone Canyon about 13 miles north of Valdez and managed to get a picture of both Horsetail Falls (on the right) and Bridal Veil Falls (on the left). This is all that remains of the waterfront of the original townsite of Valdez. The Good Friday earthquake of 1964 had a devastating impact on Valdez. The quake triggered an underwater landslide which created huge waves that washed away the Valdez waterfront, drowning 30 people on the dock and 3 men on the steamer "Chena". In 1967 the Town of Valdez was condemned when it was discovered that the town was sitting on unstable ground. Fifty-two buildings were moved 4 miles east of its original site to the town's current location . This is where the original Valdez Post Office stood and the plaques detail the town's history and commemorate those who died in the earthquake.

Artist Peter Toth created this huge carving dedicated to the Indians of America. It is located in front of the Prince William Sound Community College dormitory. Another is located right on the campus itself. In fact, it's so big, it is currently in third place in the Halibut Derby. It is also the weekly leader. Last year's winner caught a 340 lb. halibut. This is a huge halibut- 192.7 lbs. - that was caught just before we arrived at the dock. We couldn't believe the size of it especially when you compare it to a regular halibut. If you don't know how to cut up a salmon or halibut, Valdez is a great place to learn. There are fish processing stations at all the docks where pros will teach you the basics of Fish Cutting 101. Another indication of how great the fishing is in Valdez. You can fish from the dock at the city dock, from the shore at Allison Point on Dayville Road or from a charter boat in Prince William Sound. The Halibut Derby runs from May 24 to August 31 and the Silver Salmon Derby from July 28 to August 31.

Dayville Road leads to shoreside camping, picnicking and lots of fishing by the young and the old. We started to think that you had to enjoy fishing to get the most out of Alaska. It's definitely the state pastime.

The end of the line for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline - Valdez, Alaska. This is the Alyeska Pipeline marine terminal complex. At least one tanker a day comes into the port, but no tanker will ever be as famous as the Exxon Valdez which struck Bligh Reef on Good Friday (March 24), 1989 causing the largest oil spill in North American history. Once again we are travelling parallel to the Alaska Pipeline and occasionally we get glimpses of it through the trees. Snow poles along the highway mark the road edge for snowplows. We are descending from Thompson Pass where record snowfalls have been measured - 974.5 inches for the 1952-53 season, 298 inches for the month of February, 1953 and 62 inches for a 24-hour period in December, 1955. Glad we don't have to drive this highway in the winter! Here I am standing at the edge of the glacial moraine left behind when the glacier started to recede.

Ted and the dogs climbed right to the base of an ice fissure. You can hike to one finger of the glacier. Another glacier - what can I say? Alaska is full of them. This is Worthington Glacier on Girls Mountain. Only Mount Wrangell is visible in this picture; it is Alaska's largest active volcano and a plume of steam can often be seen rising from the dome-like summit. Across the Copper River four beautiful mountain peaks in a row - Sandford, Drum, Wrangell and Blackburn - make up the Wrangell Mountain Range, part of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. This is actually a range of ancient volcanoes. Four mountain ranges and 9 of the 16 highest peaks can be found in the largest park in the United States. Here you can see Mount Sanford and Mount Drum.

July 3 - We stayed overnight at Dry Creek State Recreation Site outside Glennallen and drove the Richardson Highway down to Valdez. Our first stop was the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve Visitor Center. During the Klondike Gold Rush most stampeders headed to the Yukon via Skagway and the Chilkoot Pass. Many Americans objected to that route because it was under Canadian control so the U.S. government constructed an alternate route from Valdez to Fairbanks. This is the last remaining section of the original Valdez Trail. Colourful Sheep Mountain is home to Dall sheep (but we didn't see any).

We drove past beautiful Matanuska Glacier in Glacier Park. We decided we'd seen enough glaciers for a while so we just took pictures.

After travelling through Anchorage we drove the Glenn Highway through Palmer, Alaska's only agricultural community, and on towards Glenallen. Just past Chickaloon we had to wait for construction - a common occurrence on Alaskan highways. Here they are blasting a new road through the side of a hill.

July 2 - We're back on the Seward Highway heading towards Anchorage. This, a few other buildings in similar shape and a rusty truck are all that remains of the town of Portage. The Good Friday earthquake of 1964 was centered 50 miles from Portage. Though the earthquake lasted less than 3 minutes, it completely destroyed the town and all residents had to be evacuated. The ground slumped 8 feet and the buildings were buried by silt from incoming tides. The dead trees were killed by salt water.