THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 12, 13 & 14 May 28, 29, 30, 2009 Chena River Hot Springs, Ak

Thursday morning we headed for Chena River Hot Springs which is about 60 miles east of Fairbanks.

We decided to camp at the resort where the hot springs are even though it was dry camping. The campground was quite nice, secluded with lots of trees and the best part was that it was not busy.

We didn't hit the hot springs the first day instead opting for a hike along a nature trail. Kathy kept bugging me until I went but I am not sure why I had to carry an open honey jar.

However we enjoyed the hike without spotting any of the local wildlife. We topped the evening off with a nice meal which we ate outdoors and an evening fire ( with marshmellows )

The next day was overcast for the entire day and raining for a good part of it. With the rain Kathy decided to stay close to the camper so I hit the hot springs by myself. My first dip was about 7:30 in the morning and I had the entire lake to myself, it was extremely peaceful.
After a nice breakfast and a long nap I headed back to the hot springs for an afternoon soak.

Needless to say I slept very well that night ( about 10 hours)

On Sunday we hit the hot springs before breakfast and enjoyed about an hour soak. We then returned back to the campsite for a large breakfast of sausage ( on the BBQ ) french toast and eggs. Yummy. After breakfast we broke camp and got the camper ready to go and checked out of our campsite.. However before we left we parked and went back in for one last soak.

The next step was to head for Fairbanks so that we could do laundry, shopping and just getting ready for our 10 day stay in Denali National Park.

Kathy found a couple of new friends on our nature hike

Alaskan Christmas Tree

Gravel runway at the resort for the bush pilots.

THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 9, 10 & 11 May 25, 26, 27, 2009 Fairbanks, Ak

Its Wednesday May 27 and we have spent the last 3 days in Fairbanks and it was nice to slow down and get some rest. The first day was nothing but rest and it even included a nap for both of us. The campsite we are in has just opened and in fax does not have water to the sights yet but they do have water in the showers and potable water that we can use to fill the camper.

On Tuesday we went on a Riverboat cruise up the Chena River on a paddleboat. We did get a surprise when we got to the boat as we expected to find very few people there based on the activity on the highways. However we did not count on the dastardly tour buses from the cruise ship as about 14 of them showed loaded to the hilt. I am sure it will get even worse as we head further south.

The cruise was nice as we stopped by Susan Boucher place of business. Susan passed away three ago but she is the first woman to win the Iditarod and is one of only two who have won it three times.

We also stopped at a Athabaskan Native Village and learned how they survived before the westerner arrived with their tools. The native population has been in this area for 12,000 years and survived summers where it could go to 90 degrees and winter where it could go down to 70 degrees below zero.

Today we went to the Large Animal Research Centre where they mainly work with Muskox and Caribou. They are work with Reindeer which are domesticated Caribou. The Muskox were fascinating but I thought they were a lot bigger than they are. They are really just a big sheep.





After the animal tour we went downtown to the Ice Museum. The museum is full of ice sculptures and each year they have a international contest to see which team can create the nicest ice sculpture. Some of them are absolutely amazing.

We then did a little grocery shopping and returned home.

Tomorrow we head for the China River Hot Springs which is about 60 miles east of Fairbanks
and we will stay there for 2 or 3 days.



Old River barge that has been abandoned.

1951 Piper took off right beside the Riverboat

THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 8 May 24, 2009 Tok to Fairbanks, Ak

As planned today was a slow day. We only had to get to Fairbanks which is 195 miles up the road from Tok. We spent the morning confirming and making reservations for Denali National Park which we will head into on June 2. Therefore we didn't actually hit the road until 11:30 AM.

We stopped for lunch and gas in Delta Junction and almost had a heart attach when I went to pump the gas. $ 3.54 a gallon for diesel. The most we paid in the lower 48 was $ 2.27 a gallon.

We had another shock when we went in for lunch. Everything is expensive here.

Delta Junction is actually the end of the Alaska Highway. When they were first building it there was already a road from Delta Junction to Fairbanks.

The rest of the drive was uneventful except for the scenery although I must admit when driving through parts of it we could have been in Northern Ontario.

We arrived in Fairbanks late afternoon and settled in for at least 2 days, maybe 3.

Here are some shots of the scenery we viewed in todays travels.

Animal Count for the Day

Moose 1

THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 7 May 23, 2009 Dawson City,YK to Tok, AK

We got a pretty good start today as we planned to travel to Chicken, AK via the Top of the World Highway and we knew that the conditions would not be very good. The highway has only been open for 2 days. Prior to leaving Dawson City we filled up gas, topped off the propane tanks and took a drive up Dome Road for one last look at Dawson from a higher altitude.

We then headed back into town to catch the ferry across the Yukon River. The ferry runs 24 hours and is provided free of charge by the Yukon Government. It is not a very big ferry and so the wait was minimal today, however in the summer it can take up to 5 hours to cross the river.

Once we were across the river we took a few more pictures of Dawson from a different prospective and then headed out.

We headed west on "The Top of the World Highway" which travels from Dawson City to Tok, AK

I use the term highway very loosly as the conditions were not very good to say the least. The first 66 miles we not that bad as it was paved but has a lot of broken patches where we travelling on loose gravel. There was also areas where you were looking straight down with no guardrails.

The 66 mile point was the US / Canada border crossing and after clearing customs we were in Alaska.

This is just about where we crossed into Alaska.

Poker Creek with a population of 2. The two custom agents who man the border in the summer

Once we left the border we found out very quickly that the section of highway we had just travelled was the good section. The next portion of the road from customs to Chicken, AK saw the road narrowing, the pavement ending and the road getting very twisty and curvy.
At times the road was not wide enough for two vehicles and you just hoped you didn’t meet oncoming traffic in those spots. Again at times you were looking a long way down with no guardrails.

There were a couple of areas of the highway where you can see that they had a lot of snow as the banks are still quite high. This is understandable as the highway is not maintained in the winter and if fact had only opened two days before we travelled it.

In spite of the road the day was very exhilarating as the scenery was just awesome. I could have stopped and taken a picture every half mile except for the fact that there were not a lot of places to stop.

The same spectacular scenery followed us onto the US side and we took as many pictures as we could. We had originally planned to stay the night in Chicken, AK but realized after we crossed into the US we had gained an hour so we pushed it through to Tok.

I can understand why people are drawn to the north. It is not the towns or the people that is the draw. It is the sheer beauty of the landscape that just grabs hold of you. We are finding that we would much prefer to dry camp in the state parks amidst the trees and animals than stay in RV parks.

We have settled into a nice RV park that has a lot of trees and sheltered spots for the night. Tomorrow we are heading for Faribanks and hopefully we take a couple of days to relax and rest up. We need it.

Animal Count for the Day

Fox 1

THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 6 May 22, 2009 Dawson City, YK

We woke to a beautiful day in Dawson City and spent the morning walking around the town and stopping in at the Information Center and watched 3 films about the area. Dawson City was named in 1887 and was the capital of Yukon until 1952 at which time Whitehorse was named the new capital.

The film I enjoyed the most was about the River Boats that serviced the area in the early 1900's and the hardships they faced. They were wood burning paddle boats that could only run about 14 trips a year from Skagway to Dawson each year. They were restricted by the short summers.

Dawson City was home to well known people such as Robert Service, Jack London and Pierre Burton.


The town still mines gold but most of the mines are small and family owned as there are no large mining companies working here. You can see where the dredge from the mines of earlier times was just left anywhere there was space and actually has become a blight on the countryside.


The population of Dawson City is under 2000 people in the winter and doubles in the summer as people come back to either work the mines or the tourist trade. They get about 100,000 visitors a year.


In the evening we took in the show at Diamond Gerties Gambling Hall which featured Gertie and her Klondike Girls. It was a typical Can Can show but the talent was very good and the show was enjoyed.


Early tommorrow we head west on the Top of World Highway towards Chicken, Alaska.

Below are pictures of Dawson City as it is today.

THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 5 May 21, 2009 Whitehorse to Dawson City, YK

We did get a good start today and were actually out of the RV park by 8:30. I must admit we did this by not having breakfast. We stopped for breakfast as the Airport Chalet and then headed over to Soapy's to wash the truck and camper. It got pretty dirty the last week coming through the snow and dirt. We needed to get a few groceries prior to heading north so we stopped at the Superstore and stocked up. Prices are high here. A walking tour of the downtown area came next and then a quick stop at Starbuck's and we were on our way. Amazingly it was only 12:30.


We travelled out of town on the Alaska Highway. Just a short way out of town we turned north onto the Klondike Highway which is Hwy # 2. We had planned to stop at a hot springs just north of Whitehorse but somehow we missed the turnoff. By the time we realized it we decided to just keep going. The turnoffs are not well marked to many things in the north. The upside is the landscape is less littered.

The next place we did stop was the infamous Lake Laberge.


There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.


This lake was made famous by the poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service. It was one of my Dad's favorite poems.


When travelling in the Yukon along Hwy 2 you will pass through burn areas. There are signposts that state the year of the fire. A great portion of the area travelled from Whitehorse to Dawson City has been burned at least once during the last 50 years with a lot of the burn happening in the last ten years.

The most severe fire was at Fox Lake in 1998 which burned for over 3 months and cost over 2.2 million dollars to fight. The total area burnt was over 45000 hectares or 111,197 acres. This is a very fragile landscape, so the devastation is visible for many decades. The habitat for wildlife is forever altered.

As we travelled along the highway we came to a couple of areas where we stopped to take pictures. The first was a vista of the Yukon River.

One other vista was at the Five Finger Rapids which is on the Yukon River. The picture does not really show the rapids or how the islands form the five fingers without going right down to the river. It is about a 1 - 1 1/2 hour hike and due to time we decided not to go. From around this point in our travels today much of the foliage was well open, whereas earlier this morning there was only slight evidence of budding starting.

Five Finger Rapids

Twin Lakes ( one of them )

We arrived in Dawson City around 8 PM and after checking in and getting settled we had a late super and called it a night. The time was 11PM and it was still daylight.

Animal Count for the Day

Black Bear 2

Bison 1