Republished Blogs

---

The adventures of Big Al and the Geoose in Alaska got lost by our friends at TravelBlog.com. Their server crashed and all is lost. Fortunately we have copies of most of the blogs. Here are days 7-20. We will publish some photos when we have a chance.

Day 7 July 20 340 miles Traveled -

Camped at Takhini Hot Springs last night and took another hot bath. We had a good cold rain shower while we where in the hot springs. That cooled us down a bit. The first stop today on the Klondike Trail was at "Moms Bakery". Mom has great buns, that is cinnamon buns. Mon is known for her cinnamon buns all over the Yukon. Came across several wrecks during our drive. A motorcycle pulling a small trailer went off the road when it hit a gravel stretch of the road. The same thing happened to a small Toyota 20 miles further up the road. That car had passed us earlier in the day at a high rate of speed, but that is how most people drive up here. Didn't find out if there were any injuries in either accident. We arrived at Dawson creek at about 3:00PM. and had the oil changed on the old Ford. They charged $100 price for the oil change. Diesel is also $4.80/gal. The gold may have run out in the Klondike, but I think they are getting rich from the tourists. A music festival was taking place in town and there were a lot of drunk Canadian kids running around. Probably not much different than a music festival in the US. We had dinner at a Greek restaurant, the Drunken Goat. We shared a table with a couple from Peace River, Alberta. They were on their way to Inuvik which is
at the end of the Dempster Highway as far north as you can drive in Canada. (Maybe that will be our next road trip.) We then took in a show at Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall. The entertainment was good and we didn't loose a cent at the crap table. Will post a photo of Big Al and a native friend when I get the computer fixed.

Wild life sited today - a very slow day - A diamond tooth gertie and a
couple of marmots - we are still mooseless!


Day 8 July 21 about 260 miles traveled

Started the day by taking a ferry across the Yukon River. We then visited a sternwheeler grave yard on the river. There were 5 old boats on shore that you could crawl around on if you were not afraid of things falling on you. We just took some pictures and were on our way up the Top of the World Highway. Most roads in this part of the world are built in the valleys. This road is built on top and the side of a mountain range. The views were magnificent, but the road was narrow and gravel most of the way. Thought we would get away from all the motor homes and travel tailors, but no way. We came across a few that had problems. Fortunately we didn't meet them in the narrowest road sections and we had no problems. We cross into Alaska at the most northern boarder crossing in the US. We had our lunch stop in Chicken, Alaska. Didn't stop at the bar there because we didn't know what the road ahead would be like. We about 30 miles through an area that had been burnt in a forest fire a few years ago. We ended the day camping in a wide dry river bed (Gerstle River) about 30 miles from Delta Junction. We saw a few vehicals parked out on the gravel bar so we drove out there too and set up camp. We did say a prayer that there wouldn't be any heavy rain and flash floods over night. The view of the snow capped mountains to our south was worth it.

Wild life count - Another slow day 1 ptarmigan and we are still mooseless!

Day 9 July 22 135 miles traveled

We are in Fairbanks now, at the China Marine RV Park. No there are no boats here; only float planes. We are camped next to a water runway. The park has a computer so that is how I am updating the blog. Had dinner tonight at the original “Pump House" near the RV park. Asked a few people about fishing Tanana or China rivers, but were told that they are too full of silt from the glaciers for fish. We will need to look for some clear streams. Will try to find someone to fix my computer tomorrow.

Wildlife Count - Al sighted our first moose, across the road from Eielson Air force Base near Fairbanks.


Day 10 July 23 traveled about 100miles

We added a bunch of photos to the last log.

Woke up this morning to a float plane taking off next to the camper. We dropped off the computer at the Computer Werks in Fairbanks to get checked out. We then drove up the Steese Highway towards Circle, Alaska. We managed to rescue a damsel in distress, who’s Suburban had broken down. Gave her a ride back to a lodge and then continued on our way to find some trout. We fished the Chatanika River for a few hours without success. Visited with an old timer, right out of a Louie Lamore novel, who was panning for gold. All he found was a fishing lure which he gave to us. Went back to Fairbanks to see if there was any success in fixing the lap top. I lucked out because they had the part theat was broken. We are back into the blogging business.
Wildlife Count - Another slow day (nothing worth mentioning)


Day 11 July 24 Traveled 154 miles to Denali National Park
Stopped for breakfast at Nenana, Alaska. Picked up our first Alaska geocache near the Park entrance. We had reservations for the Teklanika River camp ground which is 29 miles inside the Park. Also picked up our “Senior Passes” so we can get into any National park for half price. Our drive to our camp site was uneventful except for a Caribou which ran down the road in front of us for over a mile. No moose or bears sighted.
Wildlife Count - 2 caribou, 5 rabbits, 1 golden eagle, 1 bald eagle and a red squirrel who joined us for dinner.


Day 12 July 25 Traveled 110 miles on Park bus
We were up early this morning to catch the 6:30 AM bus to Wonder Lake. Had a great driver who was very informative during our trip. He also had the ability to talk, look for animals and drive the bus on narrow crooked roads that had 1,000 foot drop-offs. We saw 4 of the big 5 animal species. (See Wildlife count and photos) We were also blessed with a clear day and were able to see Mt McKinley almost all day long. The last time I was in the park there was no mountain to see. I thought it was a mith. Today I know it is real. All I can say is it is magnificent! We attended a ranger talk this evening. We learned that we have been seeing “hares” not rabbits. Big Al and I now know the difference between a hare and a rabbit. The Hare is in it’s 10 year population high. We have many in the campground. The Linx is their main preditor, but we haven’t seen any of them around.

Wildlife Count - Many Caribou and Dahl Sheep, 3 Moose and 6 Grizzly Bears.Also at least 1,000 hares.


Day 13, July 26 Traveled about 100miles to Brushkana Campground
Did a hike in the morning down the dry river bed of Teklanika River. We climbed a rocky out-crop and sat for an hour looking for wildlife. No luck this morning. Others had watched grizzlies and wolves from this perch. Drove out of Denali National Park and headed east down Denali Highway; 120 miles of rough gravel road. Managed to find 3 geocaches. 2 of them were near the lodge that we stayed at the last time we visited Denali. Camped at Brushkana River and tried arctic grayling fishing. We are still fishless. We did meet a fishing expert, Alabama Billy Bob, who gave us the lowdown on catching grayling.

Wildlife Count - 1 ptarmigan, lots of snow show hares and that is about it.


Day 14, July 27 Traveled 100 miles, all gravel to Tangle Lake Campground

We took Billy Bob’s advice and bought some nymphs, dry flies and casting floats. We fished Tangle River and caught our dinner of 5 graylings. They tasted delicious. The drive today was one of the more scenic drives we have taken. The Alaska Range was visible to the north with many high snow capped mountains. We stopped at McCarthy Lodge for a bowel of chili (Wayne) and clam chowder (Big Al). Very friendly people. They let me charge up my computer battery and use their internet connection. Also saw a lot of sled dogs in the area. The Tangle Lake campground is a BLM campground. It is very popular place for local Alaskans. We also share the campground with a busload of Amish. They were having a great time fishing and collecting antlers.

Wildlife Count - 1 galloping Caribou and several ptarmigan (Al wants to come back in September and go ptarmigan hunting

Day 15 July 28th traveled about 120 miles to Tolsona Wilderness Campground west of Glennallen.

We finished our drive on the Denali highway on a smooth paved section of the road. We stopped at the Paxson Lodge to get fishing info for the area. The fellow told us where to go to catch 20 inch grayling. When he told us he was chased out of the river at that location by a bear and her cub last night we decided to look for another fishing hole. We stopped at the Gulkana River to try salmon fishing, without success. We had to settle for pork chops, boiled potatoes and Italian salad for dinner at the Tolsona Campground. We also had to replentish our beverage supply. We stopped at the beverage depot just west of Glennallen and had a good visit with Grandma Olie. She remembers the Stenbergs. Said she taught 4th grade until she went to work at the “cop shop.” She talked our ear off for half an hour. Her husband Jack Wilson was a pilot and wrote a book about his experiences “Glacier Wings and Tales”. He also shot the record Dahl Sheep in Alaska.

Wildlife Count - 2 Moose




Day 16 July 29 Traveled about 130 miles to Valdez, Sea Otter RV Park

We started the day with a good breakfast at the Caribou Lodge in Glennallen; one of Karen and Gary’s favorite places. We stopped at the Wrangell St. Elias National Park Visitors Center. This is a new and very nice visitors center. This is the largest National Park in the US. It’s 6 times larger than Yellowstone. It has 6 of the 10 tallest mountains in the US. It is very remote with only 2 roads that penetrate the park a short distance. We will probably visit the park later in our journey. We stopped at Copper Center, an old mining area, and visited the Museum. We also checked out the Klutina River to see if the red salmon were running. We decided that the current was too strong to fish there, so headed down the Richardson Highway towards Valdez. This was probably one of the more scenic drives we have taken. The mountains are big and you get very close to them. We also stopped at the Worthington Glacier. The glacier has retreated since we visited it 15 years ago. GLOBAL WARMING! It was about 80 degrees at Copper Center, but when we got close to the coast it was in the low 50s. At Valdez we watched the fishing charter boats return and clean their catches. We talked to the captain of the boat that looked like it had the most halibut. He just happened to have 2 openings on the next day’s charter so Al and I signed on.

Wildlife count - Only a few ground squirrels (We did see some beautiful water falls)


Day 17 July 30 Traveled 170 miles (by boat) Still at Sea Otter RV Park in Valdez

Up early to meet Captain Mel Grove at has boat the “Halibut Grove”. We were joined by 4 other guys; 2 from Oregon, 1 from Iowa and 1 from Alaska. We left Valdez on the boat at 6:30AM and traveled almost 3 hours and 85 miles to the fishing hole. The action was slower than usual. Big Al and I caught 1 keeper halibut each. We did catch a number of sharks. They were not great whites, but not so great brown dog sharks that kept stealing our bait. We were a little disappointed that we didn’t catch any fish to enter into the local halibut derby. The biggest halibut this season was a whopping 340 pounds. At least we have enough halibut so we won’t go hungry for a few days. One of the high points of the fishing charter was the wildlife.

Wildlife count - 6 humpback whales, 3 porpoise, 3 Orca (killer whales), 4 sea otters, too few halibut and too many dog sharks.


Day 18 July 31 Traveled 30 miles Still at Sea Otter RV Park in Valdez

We woke up to thick fog, drizzle and 50 degrees. We hear it is in the 90s back in the midwest. Drove to Alison point to do some pink salmon fishing. There is a fish hatchery on the point where they release baby salmon. After about 2 years they come back to spawn, but there is no river to spawn in; only commercial and sport fisher men and women waiting to catch them. We each caught and released about 20 over a 2 hour period. We have plenty of halibut to eat so didn’t keep any of these salmon. They are not the best type of salmon to freeze. They say they are great smoked, but we didn’t bring a smoke house with us. We also drove to see Valdez glacier, but it was too foggy to see any thing. This is the longest we have stayed at any one place since we started this trip. We both like the Valdez area. There are many fishing opportunities in the area and it is not over run with tourists.

Wildlife count - 2 seals, 2 sea otters and 2 elderly ladies looking for bears when they spotted us.


Day 19 August 1, 2007 Traveled 120miles by boat and 85 miles by Ford pickup, Seward municipal campground.

We decided that we were ahead of schedule and that we would have time to visit the Kenai Peninsula. We caught the 8:00 AM ferry from Valdez to Whittier. This was a 5 hour trip. We visited the Portage Glacier visitor center. Couldn’t see the glacier since it has receded to the other end on the lake. We drove towards Seward and stopped at the Exit Glacier. We got close and personal with this glacier. It was a tough 1 mile hike up to the glacier. We were too tuckered out to take the 7 mile hike to the top of the glacier and the Harding ice fields. We were very hungry after all this exercise to stopped at the “Cheap Beer and Lousy Food” restaurant. The Beer wasn’t cheap and the food wasn’t lousy Met some folks from Minnesota that were having a fun time. Camped for the night at the Seward municipal campground.

Wildlife count - Many sea lions and puffins seen from the ferry. 1 sea otter.


Day 20 August 2 Traveled about 120 miles. Camped at Quartz Creek. Kenai Peninsula

We tried fishing the Kenai River for Salmon. This is a very famous salmon fishing area. We saw lots of fishermen but not too many salmon being caught. There are a lot of complicated regulations for fishing in the Kenai River. I hope we didn’t break too many of the regulations. We are camped at Quartz Creek National Forest campground next to Kenai Lake. It is raining and we will be having Dinty Moore Chicken and Dumplings with Creamy Chicken Rice.

Wildlife count - 1 bald eagle and that’s about it.

---

Photos

Start of Alaska Highway
The old ford got us this far.

Big Al and California Joe
Anoher character we met along the Highway.

Grizzley in Denali
He, or she, looked hungry.

Mt McKinley
The Mountain on a clear day!