Alaska Adventure–Days 20 & 21

Fairbanks AK to Denali National Park

The drive from Fairbanks to Denali Park was a cold and rainy drive most of the way.  It never rained real hard but it was constant, and most of the time we were in low clouds.  There were a number of long construction areas, which were basically mud roads.  We started the journey with a white truck but ended with it being a nice, earthy, brown color.  We set up camp at the Riley Campground, which is near the entrance to Denali Park.  The rain held off a few minutes while we got parked, but started again and basically rained all night.  This is a campground that you definitely need reservations for in the summer, as it fills early.  We rolled the dice and scheduled the bus trip into the park for Saturday, as the forecast was only calling for a slight chance of rain.  The only way to really see Denali is via bus, as they only allow private cars for the first 16 miles of the 100 mile park road.  We decided to take the 8 hour bus trip which goes to the Eielson Visitor Center, which about 65 miles into the park.  Fingers crossed that the weather clears for Saturday.

This was our view most of the way.

On Friday (Day 21) the sun came out for a few minutes in the afternoon, so we took a short drive up the park road to the 16 mile point.  We did get some nice views of the park, but no wildlife yet.

You may remember from your earth sciences class in high school that the earth tilts on its axis by 20 some degrees.  The most obvious result of this tilt is the yearly seasons, but a second result is the fact that the days get longer the more north you are.  We have really noticed this as we have traveled north through the Yukon.  The sunset in Whitehorse was half an hour later then it was in Watson Lake which was a days drive away.  Always on the look out for interesting “data”, we complied some data relating to the length of days in Chandler AZ vs Fairbanks AK.

Chandler ---- Sunrise 5:32 AM, Sunset 7:34 PM, Length of day 14 hours 1 minute, Visible light 14 hours and 57 minutes

Fairbanks --- Sunrise 4:13 AM, Sunset 11:38 PM, Length of day 19 hours, 25 minutes, Visible light 22 hours and 55 minutes

Basically, in Fairbanks we are getting 8 hours more hours of light per day than we were at home!  Since we crossed in to Yukon Territory, we have not seen darkness.  When we go to bed, the sun is shining and when we get up the sun is shining.  Sometime in the wee hours of the morning it may be dark but we haven’t seen it.  The near constant sunlight does allow the locals to grow some fantastic vegetable gardens and flowers.

Another thing we found interesting is that the satellite dishes at home point up at about a 50 degree angle relative to the horizon, but in Fairbanks they basically point even with the horizon.

 

Todays Stats:

Miles driven:	147 miles
Hours on road:	3 hours, 15 minutes
Gas prices:	$4.16

Route:

Alaska Adventure–Day 18 (Part 2)

Fairbanks, AK

Today we took a cruise on the Riverboat Discovery on the Chena River, just outside of Fairbanks.  The Discovery is a sternwheel river boat especially designed to operate on the shallow rivers of Alaska.  The boat, which holds 900 passengers and weighs 280 tons has a flat bottom and only draws 3.5 feet of water.  This type of boat has historically been used to move freight on the Alaskan rivers - especially the Yukon River during the gold rush.

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Shortly after leaving port we started passing some very nice houses.  Note the small play house on the left…

The tour included a demo of a float plane landing.  The plane is a 1951 Piper PA-18 Super Cub, 2-seat plane, which is ideal for water and off-field landings.  They said the plane can take off from very short fields, as its take off speed can be as low as 45 mph.  During the summer, they use floats or tundra tires to land on rivers or unimproved air strips.  During the winter they install skis for snow or frozen river landings.  Many towns and villages in Alaska are only accessible by plane.

This is an active air strip on the side of the river.  The runway is only about 300 feet long.

Following the float plane demo we stopped at the kennel of Susan Butcher, who is an Iditarod sled race champion.  In the summer they train the dogs by having them pull ATVs instead of sleds.  The dogs start training a few weeks after birth when they are paired with a retired sled dog.

These dogs want to RUN!

The highlight of the trip was a visit to an authentic Athabascan Indian Village, where natives demonstrated their ancient lifestyle.  This is a fish wheel, which uses the river current to scoop fish out of the water and deposit them in baskets.  They would let these wheels run all day then go collect the fish.  The salmon are then dried and smoked so they are preserved.

Salmon drying on a drying rack before going into the smoker

A traditional shelter

Reindeer - which are basically a domesticated caribou.  Both the males and females have antlers, which are lost every year

When we got to the RV park the other day we noticed an interesting rig pull in.  It was a 5th wheel trailer, but instead of two wheels per side it actually had duals on each side for a total of 8 tires on the ground.  It was being pulled by a semi-truck tractor instead of a normal truck.  The most interesting thing though was the Smart Car that was sitting right behind the cab of the truck.  We were really curious how they were going to get it down since there were no ramps.  Yesterday we were lucky to see them load the Smart Car.  Basically, the tray in which the car sat, hydraulically tilted up at a 45 degree angle, then slid to the ground.  They then had a winch that pulled the car onto the tray.  The tray then slid back up onto the truck and tilted back down.  Very slick. 

Pulling the car onto the tray

Pulling the tray back onto the truck

Ready to travel

Anyone who is a fan of the “Ice Road Truckers” TV program will recognize this building!

We made a stop at the Fairbanks Farmer’s Market.  They had some really nice produce, but the prices were really interesting.  Anyone want some tomatoes at $6/pound?  Amazing as it sounds, they have some fantastic gardens in Alaska.  Of course having nearly 24 hours of daylight is a big help.

Tomorrow we will travel to Denali National Park where we plan to be until next Monday.  We expect to see lots of wildlife while in the park.  If we are lucky, we might even get a peak at Mt. McKinley if the weather cooperates.

Alaska Adventure–Day 18 (Part 1)

Fairbanks, AK

Today was a very busy day - with a visit to Gold Dredge 8, the Trans Alaska Pipeline, and the River Boat Discovery, so we will break the day into two parts.

This morning we woke to the sound of rain, which was not a welcome sound since we had outdoor activities planned for the whole day.  Luckily, the rain stopped and it turned into a fairly nice day.  Our first stop was for a tour of Gold Dredge 8 which is a dredge that was operated by the Fairbanks Exploration Company from 1928 to 1959.  During its years of operation, it produced 7.5 million ounces of gold!  Basically, to form the mine they removed the top layer of soil to get down to gold bearing rock and then they dug a pit which was filled with water.  The dredge floated on the water and chewed up the banks of the pit, sifting through tons and tons of rock to extract the precious gold flakes.

For the tour, we rode on an old train with various stops where the different steps in the mining process were described and re-enacted.  We then had the opportunity to tour the dredge itself.  Of course, the highlight of the tour was at the end where they gave us a poke of pay dirt and a gold pan to extract any gold that we might find.  After you extracted the gold, they weighed it and told you what it was worth.  Between the two of us we found about $16 of gold. 

We found the tour to be extremely interesting and a very good value, and would highly recommend it.  The tour cost $40 each but with the TourSaver book, the price was cut in half.

View of the dredge.  The pay dirt enters on the right and the tailings exit on the right. 

Ready to do some gold panning!

Starting to see a few flakes of gold emerge from the gravel.  Gold Fever!

GOLD!

Big tough safe for the gold

The tour also had numerous historical items around the dredge (not including Valerie!).

After striking it rich panning for gold, we stopped to visit the Trans Alaska Pipeline -which is what has made Alaska what it is today.  The pipeline, which was built between 1974 and 1977, moves oil from the rich oil fields on the north slope near Prudoe Bay, to the tanker terminal in Valdez 800 miles away.  It takes almost 12 days for the oil to make the complete 800 mile trip.  From the terminal, the oil is shipped to the lower 48 where it currently supplies about 10% of our needs.  The pipeline has drastically changed the economy of Alaska.  Before the pipeline was built, Alaska had the highest taxes of any state in the union.  Today, as a result of the oil income, Alaska has the lowest taxes of any state.  They have no income tax and no sales tax.  In addition, each Alaskan received a check for nearly $900 last year as their share in the oil revenue.

A view of the pipeline just north of Fairbanks.  Almost half of the 800 mile pipeline is built above ground to prevent the warm oil from melting the permafrost, which turns to liquid when melted. 

Notice the two fin shaped objects on the top of the pipeline stands.  These are radiators that prevent heat from melting the permafrost.  The upright structures have ammonia that passively circulates to the radiators to reject any heat before it can reach the permafrost.

A close up view of the radiators

As the oil moves through the pipeline it deposits wax and other precipitates along the sides, which over time would cause big problems.  To solve this problem, pipeline Pigs - as shown below - are passed through the line every couple weeks.  The pigs have scrapers that remove any buildup on the inside of the pipe.

In addition to using scraper pigs in the line to clean it, they also send “smart pigs” through the line to electronically inspect the line.  The inspection looks for thin spots, cracks, deformations, and other defects.  By doing periodic inspections of the line, they have avoided any major leaks in over 35 year of operation.  Remember the big controversy over the welds and questionable x-rays during the construction?

Alaska Adventure–Days 16 & 17

Tok, AK to Fairbanks AK

Today (Day 16) we left Tok heading for the Fairbanks area.  A couple hours after leaving we came to Delta Junction, which is the official end of the Alaska Highway at mile post 1422.  Back in 1942 there was already a road between Fairbanks and Delta Junction so the army was able to start construction of the Alaska Highway from here.  There was a nice visitor center there and a nice photo op to commemorate the completion of this part of our journey.

 

Just outside of Delta Junction we got our first look at the Trans Alaska Pipeline.  This is a 48” line that takes oil 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay on the north slope to tankers in Valdez.  Something like 15% of the domestic oil comes through this line.  We expect to get a much better look at this engineering marvel in the days to come.

Alaska is notorious for it’s mosquitoes, and these sculptures aren’t much of an exaggeration.  We have found them to be unbelievable, and like nothing we have ever experienced.  Of course, we are really spoiled since we don’t have mosquitoes at home in Arizona.

 

In the evening, we found a nice campsite at the Chena Lake Recreation Area - about 20 miles east of Fairbanks.  The park had 80 some sites and we were one of only three staying there.  Very nice park put likely busy on the weekends.

This morning (Day 17) we headed on into Fairbanks, where we will be for the next 3 days.  On the way, we stopped at the North Pole to check out Santa’s house.  Apparently a number of years ago a developer started the town of North Pole, AK in the hopes of attracting a toy manufacturer who could claim his toys were made at the North Pole.  Well, things didn’t turn out so well for the developer, but the town remains.  They do have a really nice store with all types of Christmas decorations.

Tonight we are at the River’s Side RV park on the banks of the Chena River.  Tomorrow we plan to take a tour of a gold dredge in the morning and take a river cruise on a paddlewheel boat in the afternoon.  The weather the last couple days has been cool with a few showers.  Yesterday they even had 2” of snow in Denali Park where we are heading later this week.

 

Todays Stats (Day 16):

Miles driven:	194 miles
Hours on road:	4 hours, 30 minutes
Gas prices:	$4.26

Route:

Alaska Adventure–Day 15

Visit to Chicken AK

Today we took a side trip from Tok to Chicken AK which is about 70 miles away.  Chicken is an old gold mining town that has created a tourist attraction around its name.  Everything in the town is related in some way to chickens.  A little strange but it seems to work for them.

To reach Chicken we needed to drive over some low mountains and for about half the way we were in the clouds.  Fortunately there was almost no traffic.

Welcomed by the town’s mascot

Even the outhouses have a chicken theme.  Actually they were first class outhouses.

The chicken that laid the golden egg

The flowers in the foreground are fire weed which is very pretty and is all over the road sides and fields

Was surprised to find that Chicken has a post office.  There are only 5 residents who live here year around and something like 30 in the summer.  The road into town is not maintained in the winter.

This evening went to church in a really neat small log cabin church here in Tok.  There were only 10 in attendance and 5 of those were travelers.  Was talking to one of the locals later and he said they lived 20 some years in the Phoenix area and moved to Tok after retiring. They lived in a tent while they built their cabin.  He said a typical winter for them is –50 degrees.  Yup, the people up here are a little different breed. 

 

Todays Stats:

Miles driven:	164 miles
Hours on road:	3 hours, 30 minutes
Gas prices:	none

Route: