Bidding Farewell to Denali and Moving On

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There was still the lower visitor centre at Denali National Park that I hadn't seen yet. I headed over there after getting up and had a look. It was quite interesting with lots of displays of animals and their habitats. I am getting more and more impressed with the interpretive material put up in national parks in Canada and the US.



I decided that I would stay around and watch the sled dog demonstration as well. Denali National Park is the only park in the system that has an active sled dog kennel. Indeed, it is still the case that they use sled dog teams to do the bulk of their work in the winter, from patrols in the park and preserve, to bringing in equipment for various projects and research studies. They also give demonstrations for the public, since this is an integral part of the operations of the park and they want to show yet another facet of going green.



While I was at the sled dog area and waiting for the demonstration, I heard a familiar voice. It was Joe, whom I had met on the Dempster Highway at Two Moose Lake. Colleen was right next to him. It was a surprise to say the least. We chatted for a while, and I was able to give them some suggestions on what to do in the south. They were headed around the Alaska loop in the opposite direction from me. It was good to see them again.



After the demonstration, I headed off towards Fairbanks. I'm sure Fairbanks is a nice enough place, but I didn't even really stop there for more than a bite of lunch. And Joe and Colleen had not much use for the place either except for the Pioneer Park, which is a collection of old-time buildings from the beginnings of the city that were moved to a park where they have descriptions and whatnot of how they came to be and who owned them, etc. It sounded a lot like Heritage Park in Calgary, and I didn't find that too interesting. So I moved on.



Fairbanks was at one time considered the end of the Alaska Highway, but at some point this was shifted to a place about a hundred miles away, Delta Junction. Between Fairbanks and Delta Junction lay North Pole, which sounded like a money-making tourism factory, if I heard one. Only it wasn't. They had cutesy candy cane light standards all through town, and the streets had cute names like Santa Claus Lane or Snowman Road, but there was no overt play to get tourists to stop in. Even the visitor information centre was small and insignificant. It was rather disappointing. I did, however, find the post office of North Pole, and presumably the post office that receives mountains of mail every Christmas.



I headed on down the road to Delta Junction hoping for more of an oomph than that. I found it. There is a marker for the official end of the Alaska Highway. There is also a couple of giant mosquito sculptures. And inside the visitor centre at the site there is the opportunity to purchase a certificate for having reached, by whatever means, the official end of the Alaska Highway. I didn't have to purchase such a certificate for passing the Arctic Circle. Oh well. It was only a dollar.



Then it was off for Tok. I decided that I didn't want to kill myself trying to get to Canada that day. It was going to be enough to travel about 500 kilometres. I ended up at the same campground as when I first arrived. That was cool.

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Photos

Colleen and I
I met Joe and Colleen on the Dempster Highway at Two Moose Lake. I met them again at the Denali Visitor Centre two weeks later.

Joe and I
Here is Colleen's husband Joe.

Sled Dog Demonstration
Because there is very little vehicular traffic and infrastructure in the national park, they use alternate means of transportation. These sled dogs get supplies around the park, and they make for an entertaining demonstration at the visitor centre.

The North Pole
Well, maybe just North Pole, Alaska. They don't market it very well, but it must get a lot of mail in December.

The Alaska End of the Alaska Highway
There is a visitor centre and terminus marker for the Alaska Highway in Delta Junction in Alaska. A certificate can be purchased to show that a person has made it. Of course, I hadn't started at the other end, so I still had to make it there in order to really complete driving the highway.