A drive to the end of the road...

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I typically get Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s off from my park duties. This past week, I was feeling the need to travel and explore. Initially my thoughts were to head South. However the weather was not being very cooperative, so I decided to head North instead. After studying the map, I chose the Taylor Hwy (SR 5) as my path of travel. Off I went, East through Tok then up 5 towards Chicken, AK. It was a nice drive through some mountainous terrain, along the way I pulled off the road and made a tasty sandwich for lunch, while Otis got to run free and explore a bit. After about 60 miles the road went from being paved to a, for the most part well maintained dirt road. Shortly thereafter, I reached the Chicken city limits. There is not a whole lot to Chicken, they have a couple of gas stations, a post office and I think that’s about it...I didn’t spend much time there. I know you can attempt to pan for gold, but I can’t imagine there being much gold to be found. I wasn’t ready to turn around yet, so I continued on down the dusty dirt road.

While driving, the road twisted and turned through some very scenic landscapes, mostly forest covered mountains, with a river running through the mountain valley’s. It was refreshing to get out and away from pretty much all signs of civilization, I would pass an occasional vehicle, but for the most part the road was mine alone. I had to continually check myself, as the parts of the path going through valley’s or across mountain ridges were fairly straight and smooth and I had to fight the urge to fly across them...driving 60 mph on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere is probably not the smartest thing to do, but that is exactly what I did from time to time. (I may need to give racing rally cars a shot, i think it could be quite fun!) Well, I continued on and after about 100 miles of dirt road driving, I reached the end of the road and the Yukon River, I could literally go no further. Unless of course my truck was amphibious or had wings, unfortunately it has neither, so I had to stop.

I’m not entirely sure why the community of Eagle, AK exists, it is up in the eastern, middle portion of the state, only about 5 or 6 miles from the Canadian border, but there is no entry point...that is 60 miles or so to the south. It is the last or first American city along the Yukon depending on which way you’re headed, so that may explain it being there...I just don’t know. Anyway it was a nice enough place, not sure if it was worth driving 100 miles of dirt road, but since I was there I decided to grab a room for the night (I had some camping gear with me, but I felt dirty and dusty and a hot shower and real bed were sounding really good to me). There was a nice big log cabin bed and breakfast right on the river, it looked like a nice cozy place for the night, but unfortunately no one was working there. They had a phone number to call, but there was no cell service, and I didn’t see a pay phone anywhere...not sure how out of towners are suppose to get a hold of the “reservation line”. There was a motel right next door, so I walked over into the gas station / lobby and got myself a room. The woman working the counter got me squared away for the night, then showed me where to park and which room would be mine. I asked for the room key, and was informed that they didn’t have any and not to lock the door if I left the room! This was a first for me, I can’t recall ever getting a room without a key. I wasn’t too worried about it though, can’t imagine there being much, if any crime in Eagle.

I grabbed some things out of the truck and went up to relax...my neck was a bit jarred from bouncing around for the past few hours. I turned on the TV (first telly I’ve seen in about 3 weeks) and began flipping channels, it took me a couple times through to realize I only got 2 channels. Fortunately, they were 2 quality channels...Discovery and A&E, so I got to see a few episodes of Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters and Dog the Bounty Hunter (that was my first time watching Dog, interesting show...that guy really takes himself seriously?) I also discovered that A&E shows way too much CSI, unless you really like that show...I can honestly say I haven’t missed TV, with the exception of the Spurs run to the Finals. GO SPURS GO!

I’ll spare you all the details of my shower but I will say it was nice, warm and long!

I probably should have walked around and explored Eagle more than I did, but I couldn’t resist the siren’s call of the comfy bed in my room, so I wound up spending most of my time lounging around the room...I know boring and lame, but I say I deserve it!

So Wednesday morning, I got myself packed up and headed South, down the dusty dirty road. As I drove through a stretch of forested road just outside of Eagle, I came around a bend and what do you know...my first bear sighting. He was in the road, running away from the sound of my truck. I fumbled to get my camera out of the bag, and snapped a picture as he was running but it’s more than a little blurry. This guy was pretty quick, I knew bears could move, but I was probably going 25-30 mph trailing behind him for a while, until he made a right turn off the road and into the woods. I’m not entirely positive, but am pretty sure it was a juvenile grizzly, probably 4-5 hundred lbs and if he stood up on his rear legs, I would put him close to 6 foot tall. Not the biggest bear but a bear nonetheless, and I’m glad he’s about 200 miles north of where I’m at.

The rest of my drive back was bouncy but uneventful, although I again pretended to be a rally driver and drove a little faster than I probably should have been. I was quite relived to get back onto a paved road, dirt is fun and all for a while but it is definitely not my preferred choice of road and especially not for miles in the triple digits.


I have some thoughts and observations about Alaska, not all are positive so if I offend anyone then deal with it and post your own thoughts!

I think I figured out why Alaska receives such short summers, and it has nothing to do with its global position...Alaskan’s don’t know what to do with themselves in the summer months, so the Earth took it away from them. Now I’m going to stereotype a little here, but nearly every local Alaskan I’ve spoken to has no idea how to enjoy the summer. All they seem to have interest in is 4 wheeling...everyone has 4 wheelers up here, and I find it rather odd. I have nothing against 4 wheelers, when they stick to dedicated trails, but it seems that most of these yahoos go around riding where they please, tearing up the earth and leaving ugly tire tracks over everything.
(all the more reason for Mother Earth to punish them) I believe everyone has snow machines up here too, they obviously don’t care about the land or are too dim witted to realize that dirt tracks don’t melt away like the one’s made in snow.

Back to summers...When asked what they do in summer, most Alaskan’s I’ve encountered respond (after expressing their enjoyment of 4 wheelers, and asking if I have one) with blank stares, searching for an answer. Some work on their homes, which I completely understand, others may do some work in their gardens...also quite valid. But when I ask if they fish, hike, bike, basically do anything outdoors beside 4 wheel I get a whole lot of nothing. I would think that after a long cold dark winter, these people would be itching to be outside playing. But so far I haven’t seen any indication that they even want to be outside. Maybe they are so use to avoiding the cold of winter that they don’t know any different. Maybe it isolated to the region of the state I’m in. Maybe sunlight frightens them, while the dark comforts their souls. I don’t know the answer, but I do know I would go crazy if I lived how I perceive most Alaskan’s living...(I’m telling you my theory of Ma Earth taking summer away isn’t such a bad one!)

by the way so you know, Tomorrow is June 1. spring just got here, plants are just now beginning to get their green leaves. Temperatures are in the 50’s. I got snowed on this past Monday and it was 40 degrees all Memorial weekend, so with that said, Summer (or at least my idea of summer) is not here yet.

Next, Alaskan’s like to shoot guns. Again, I don’t have a problem with guns, I am building a small arsenal myself. I do have a problem with moron’s shooting things for the hell of it! I don’t think I have passed one road sign in this state, that doesn’t have a bullet hole in it, most have 3 or more depending on the size of the sign. WHY!!?? Are these people that bored, that they go around blasting every sign in sight? Now I’ve done some stupid things in the past, relinquished some street signs from their poles, so I suppose I don’t have much ground to stand on. But really, damn near every sign is shot, unless it’s in or very near a city, and even some of those are shot up. do people just drive around shooting signs? Is there really no better method of entertainment or use of ammo? Are they just driving along saying “Hey Cletus, that darn sign don’t have no holes in it. Lets you and me shoot it up.”

I need to understand these things!

Now, as far as the people of Alaska are concerned they all, for the most part are quite friendly and laid back. A very nice population, one surprising thing to me however is the complete lack of diversity and culture. Again, this may have something to due with the areas I’ve visited. But Alaska is full of white people. I’ve seen one African American girl, she worked the Front Desk at a hotel in Anchorage. Other than her, i’ve seen a whole lot of whitey. I can’t even recall passing by anyone who wasn’t full on white, while walking around Anchorage. Which you (I) would expect some amount of diversity in a city of half a million people. All I know is, if I were Hispanic, African, anything other than Caucasian I would probably feel very uncomfortable being up in this part of the world. Not to say that I’ve witnessed any kind of hateful behavior, it’s just a very odd environment to be in.

Ok, that’s probably enough ranting out of me. I don’t want to give the impression that I’m unhappy here. I’m enjoying myself well enough, but I think I’ve had a little too much time to think about things. I’ve had to spend too much time inside my little cabin...weather has been kind of crappy and the wind is absolutely atrocious. I’m going to have to sack up and deal with it. Maybe show some of these Alaskan’s how to enjoy their time in the sun and respect the land. Maybe then Mother Earth will be kinder to them.

Until next time...
Shanerb

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