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Alaska Adventure 2018

May 2018 - May 2024
An open-ended adventure by Bobbi and Rod Read more
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  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day 18

    Made it to the North Pole!!

    June 2, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Before I tell you about today's travel I wanted to show you what it looks like at 3:00 in the morning - see photo 1. The length of day is 20 hours and 36 minutes and the length of visible light is 24 hours meaning it really never gets dark like we know it. We also met a couple from Delaware at the Tok Campground. We spoke with them and found out that they live in Lewis - a town about 30 minutes away!! Also, I wanted to tell you something else about Chicken. At Chicken they have no electric or running water! All electric to run the cash register, lights etc. are with provided by a generator. Water is brought in - no flushing toilets - just out buildings. And, no cell phone coverage.

    We left Tok and headed north-northwest to Fairbanks, our most north location we will be staying at. We are actually staying at a campground just outside of Fairbanks proper in a town called North Pole. About halfway in to our trip, outside of Delta Junction, we stopped at Rika's Roadhouse. The roadhouse is named after Rika Wallen, who acquired it from a man called John Hajdukovich and operated it for many years. It became a hub of activity in that area of the interior. With the construction of the ALCAN (now Alaska) Highway and the replacement of the ferry with a bridge downstream, traffic moved away and patronage declined. The roadhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The roadhouse was built on the banks of the Tanana River. The Tanana River was one of the major rivers to be crossed by travelers along the Valdez-Eagle trail. A ferry was established just upriver of the Tanana's confluence with the Delta River. Several log cabins housed the telegraph office, a dispatcher, two repairmen and their supplies. Rika eventually became the postmaster and served in that position for many years. Last year, he Alaskan government wanted to end its support of the Roadhouse so a family from Delta Junction (a city just down the road) purchased it and now runs it. The Alaska oil pipeline crosses the Tanana River not far from this location also.

    The campground is located on the Chena River. The Chena River is a 100-mile tributary of the Tanana River. It flows generally west from the White Mountains to the Tanana River near the city of Fairbanks. We took our camp chairs to the river bank and enjoyed the view. We were surprised at how fast it flows.    Read more

  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day 19

    What do you do when at the North Pole?!

    June 3, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    You visit the Santa Claus House! In 1949 Con and Nellie Miller arrive in the community, North Pole. In 1952, the Millers had decided to build a trading post. The story goes that one day, while hard at work on the new store, a young Alaskan boy thought Con was Santa Claus and asked, "Hello, Santa Claus! Are you building a new house?" Inspiration clicked, the new store would be called "Santa Claus House!" In those days the Santa Claus House offered more basic necessities than it did Christmas treasures. Situated between two military installations and right in the middle of developing North Pole, Santa Claus House became an impromptu gathering place for area residents. In addition to purchasing their groceries, locals could mingle at the soda fountain or pick up their daily mail, as Santa Claus House, under the direction of Postmistress Nellie Miller, was a mail contract station and served as North Pole's first Post Office for almost 20 years. In 1972 the state rerouted the Richardson Highway, bypassing the store's location. The Millers built a new storefront just off of the new four-lane highway, where it still is today. Inside, the store's emphasis on Christmas items have replaced the aisles of well-stocked canned goods. Santa even makes a daily visit (when not busy in the toy shop!). The Santa outside the store is 42 feet high and weighs 900 pounds (photo 1).

    We then stopped at the Golden Heart Plaza. This plaza was created to celebrate the silver anniversary of Alaska’s statehood in 1984. Our next stop was the Ice Museum. The museum is located in an old movie theater. You start with a 25 minute film about the ice sculpture contests held annually in March here in Fairbanks. After seeing the film you enter into the "freezer" where it's kept at a cool 20 degrees. You can slide down an ice track and take your picture sitting on or next to numerous ice sculptures. There then is a demonstration on Ice sculpting.

    It was then on to something a little warmer. Rod was able to play a round of golf at the North Star Golf Club. It is located in Fairbanks and it is not only the Northernmost golf course in America, but also one of the most unique. This is not just because of the unusual and ever-changing lay of the land but also due to the likelihood that you will share the golf course with any of a host of wildlife species. We, unfortunately, did not see the wildlife. The golf course has a visitors special where they rent you clubs, balls, tees and you also get a logo hat. The cart path is dirt/mud - you need an ATV instead of a golf cart. Rod played a good round of golf.    Read more

  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day 20

    Arctic Circle

    June 4, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    It was a busy day as we spent the day traveling to and from the Arctic Circle! We started at the tour company's office which is located at the Fairbanks airport for a briefing. Our original tour was to drive up and back but there was not enough signed up for that tour so they upgraded us to a fly and drive tour which worked out even better!

    Our plane was a 10 passenger Navajo Chieftain piloted by Tod. We were asked our weight and our camera bag and backpack were weighed. Rod was able to sit next to the pilot. Our one hour flight took us to Coldfoot, Alaska which is an oil pipeline camp and about 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Coldfoot Airport, on the west side of the Dalton Highway, is a 4,000-foot gravel strip. There, we were met with our guide, Sabrina, for the remainder of the trip.The rest of our trip back to Fairbanks was in a passenger van on the Dawson Highway. Our first stop was to the Coldfoot camp which is right outside of the airstrip and then to the Visitors Center. This Center is unique as it has 3 federal agencies under one roof - the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife. There was no cell service for the next 10 or so hours.

    Along the way, Sabrina gave us the history of the area, pipeline and the area in general. The town of Coldfoot is said to have gotten its name when between 1899 and 1908 gold miners had been mining for gold in the Slate Creek area and not finding much got 'cold feet' and left. Coldfoot primarily serves as a truck stop on the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay. North of Coldfoot, there are no services for 240 miles until Deadhorse. It has a restaurant and a small number of overnight accommodations that are converted pipeline construction camp quarters. The stop actually started as a summer mobile food truck. Eventually the truckers wanted something year-round and asked the person running the food truck if they helped build a building would he become year-round. Of course, the answer was yes. The truckers provide everything for the approximately 8000 people working in some capacity at Prudhoe Bay.    Read more

  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day 20

    Along the Dalton Highway

    June 4, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We made several stops along the Dalton Highway:

    Grayling Lake - two to three thousand years ago Native people stopped here to camp and hunt for caribou and moose. Many of their tools used for hunting were found during the building of the road (Photos 1 & 2)

    Finger Mountain - is not really a mountain but hills. The rocks on the hills were formed over 100 million years ago from magma seeping through the surface and then cooling. The Anthapaskan Indians lived and hunted in this area. (Photos 3 & 4)

    Yukon River Camp - one of the stops where truckers can get a meal, room and fuel. We stopped here for dinner. The bridge crosses the Yukon River and is 2,295 feet long and 30 feet wide. The driving surface of the bridge is wooden planks supported by a steel deck attached to a pair of steel box girders. The wooden deck has been replaced in 1981, 1992, 1999 and 2007. (Photos 5 & 6)

    Arctic Circle - The Arctic Circle is the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. It marks the northernmost point at which the noon sun is just visible on the December solstice and the southernmost point at which the midnight sun is just visible on the June solstice. The region north of this circle is known as the Arctic, and the zone just to the south is called the Northern Temperate Zone. As seen from the Arctic, the Sun is above the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year (and therefore visible at midnight) and below the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year (and therefore not visible at noon). The position of the Arctic Circle is not fixed; as of 23 May 2018, it runs 66°33′47.2″ north of the Equator. Its latitude depends on the Earth's axial tilt, which fluctuates within a margin of 2° over a 40,000-year period, due to tidal forces resulting from the orbit of the moon. Therefore, the Arctic Circle is currently drifting northwards at a speed of about 49 feet per year.

    Permafrost- permafrost is ground, including rock or soil, at or below the freezing point of water 32 °F for two or more years. Our guide stopped and dug up a small area only a few inches deep and we got to put our hand in the hole and feel the ice! Plants in this area have a root system that doesn't go deep in the ground. (Photo 9)

    Joy, Alaska - is a trading post. This place was originally set up as a lemon aid stand along the highway. The owners children set up the stand to serve to truckers along the highway. They dug down several feet to keep the lemon aid cold to serve at the stand. Soon, they began to sell other items such as cold drinks and candy bars. The trading post then followed, as a stop for the truckers to come in.    Read more

  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day 20

    The Dalton Highway

    June 4, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    There are only 3 roads in the world that cross the Arctic Circle and the Dalton Highway is one of them. The Dalton Highway is a 414-mile road. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse near the Arctic Ocean and the Prudhoe Bay Oil Fields. Once called the North Slope Haul Road (a name by which it is still sometimes known), was built as a supply road to support the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in 1974. The highway, which runs parallel with the pipeline, is one of the most isolated roads in the United States. There are only three towns along the route: Coldfoot at Mile 175, Wiseman at Mile 188 and Deadhorse. Fuel is available at the Yukon River Bridge (Mile 56), as well as Coldfoot and Deadhorse. The road itself is mostly gravel or packed dirt and very primitive in places. The nearest medical facilities are in Fairbanks and Deadhorse. Anyone embarking on a journey on the Dalton is encouraged to bring survival gear - in fact our guide was trained in survival methods, carries a first aid kit, food and a satellite phone for emergencies. Our van also had a CB radio which she used to inform truckers at certain locations that we were on the road or pulling back on the road from a pullover area. The truckers travel fast and don't move for oncoming cars and there are no shoulders. Truckers that travel the highway have given their own names to its various features, including: The Taps, The Shelf, The Bluffs, Oil Spill hill, Beaver Slide, Two and a Half Mile, Oh Shit Corner and the Roller Coaster. The road reaches its highest elevation as it crosses the Brooks Range at Atigun Pass, 4,739 feet (which we saw in the plane). We traveled through Beaver Slide, Oh Shit Corner and the Roller Coaster. They are doing some 'repairs' (putting more dirt on the road and smoothing it - somewhat!). It took us nearly 10 hours (with some stops along the way) to travel the Dalton Highway.Read more

  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day 20

    Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline

    June 4, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C

    Traveling the Dalton Highway you see the pipeline. We stopped at one point to get up close to the pipeline. In building the pipeline, engineers faced a wide range of difficulties, mainly from the extreme cold and the difficult, isolated terrain. The construction of the pipeline was one of the first large-scale projects to deal with problems caused by permafrost, and special construction techniques had to be developed to cope with the frozen ground. The project attracted tens of thousands of workers to Alaska. Here are some facts on the pipeline:

    - it starts in Prudhoe Bay and ends in Valdez (800 miles). Fairbanks is about halfway.
    - it was built in 6 sections by 5 different companies costing way over the estimated cost - costing 8 billion dollars and took 2 years 3 months to build
    - the pipe is 1/2 inch thick steel; 48 inches in diameter; has 3-3/4 inch fiberglass insulation
    - the maximum grade of the pipeline is 55% and is at Thompson Pass (see our visit to Valdez)
    - the highest elevation is 4739 feet at Antiqun Pass
    - the zig-zag design in different locations helps the expansion and contraction of the pipeline
    - "fins" on top of the posts of the support structure are filled with ammonia and there to keep the permafrost ground from melting - much like how refrigerator works
    - 'pigs' go through the pipeline. One is to clean the pipes and the other is to record any erosion points and such. A helicopter flies over the pipeline and can pick up the signal from the pigs
    - the first barrel traveled in 1977 and originally it took 1 month for the oil to travel from start to finish. It now takes 2 weeks
    - the support structure has bumpers to allow for movement during earthquakes
    - there are 11 pumping stations; 4 are in use now. They are used to relieve pressure and to maintain the temperature    Read more

  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day 20

    Dalton Highway continued

    June 4, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We passed through some beautiful scenery the remainder of our trip. One community we went through, Livengood, is no longer viable. Gold was discovered on July 24,1914, on Livengood Creek by N.R. Hudson and Jay Livengood. The village was founded near the Hudson/ Livengood claim as a mining camp during the winter of 1914-15, when hundreds of people came into the district. A post office was established in 1915 and was discontinued in 1957. A construction camp was located near Livengood during the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. We stopped at a general store in a community called Joy. This community was named after the mother of the founding family who had 23 children - the majority of them were adopted.

    We left Fairbanks at 1:00pm and returned to our camp site at 3:00am! It was a long day but we did get to see the sun setting (it never sets completely off the horizon) - it's called the midnight sun.    Read more

  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day 21

    Fairbanks continued

    June 5, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Today was a relaxing day after yesterday's long Dalton Highway experience. We did go on a stern wheel paddle boat. This boat travels the Chena River from Fairbanks. We saw a float plane take off as we started down the river. The boat stops at the dog mushing facility of Susan Butcher. Susan Butcher is an American dog musher and is the second woman to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1986, the second four-time winner in 1990, and the first to win four out of five sequential years. Although Susan died in 2006, her husband and two daughters have kept up the dog sled training facility on the Chena River. We were able to meet her daughter Tekla who gave a demonstration on the training. In the summer months they use an ATV (without the engine) to train the dogs. The next stop was to a remake of an Athabaskan village. Our guides in the village were native Alaskans from some of the local tribes.

    The Athabascan people traditionally lived in Interior Alaska that begins south of the Brooks Mountain Range and continues down to the Kenai Peninsula. There are eleven linguistic groups of Athabascans in Alaska. Athabascan people have traditionally lived along five major river ways: the Yukon, the Tanana, the Susitna, the Kuskokwim, and the Copper river drainages. Athabascans migrated seasonally, traveling in small groups to fish, hunt and trap. They did not live in log cabins until the white people became known to them. Clothing was made of caribou and moose hide. Moose and caribou hide moccasins and boots were important parts of the wardrobe. Styles of moccasins vary depending on conditions. Both men and women are adept at sewing, although women traditionally did most of skin sewing. Canoes were made of birch bark, moose hide, and cottonwood. All Athabascans used sleds --with and without dogs to pull them – snowshoes and dogs as pack animals. Photo 4 is of a fishing wheel. This is how salmon were caught.    Read more

  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day 22

    On to Denali

    June 6, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We left Fairbanks and headed southwest on the Parks Highway, also known as Alaska 3. You can see where parts of the road have the dips and heaves showing it was built on permafrost. Also, you pass an access road that leads to Clear, a large radar site that is part of the ballistic missile early warning system. After crossing the the Tanana River we stopped in the village of Nenana. This village is used as a transfer point for fuel and other goods from the railroad to river barges headed for villages on the Tanana and Yukon Rivers. Nenana is known for their Nenana Ice Classic, an annual betting pool where hundreds of thousands of dollars are wagered by people around the world trying to guess the exact day and time in the spring when the river ice will go out. Of course we placed our wagers! When the Alaska Railroad was completed in 1923 President Harding drove a golden spike in Nenana to commemorate the railroad completion. Nenana has also been a stop for the Iditarod Race. We then continued on to Denali.Read more

  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day 23

    Denali National Park and Preserve

    June 7, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    Today was spent touring Denali National Park. We took the Wilderness Tundra bus tour which was about 8 hours long.

    Denali National Park and Preserve has just one road, called the Denali Park Road, and it is the only way in and out. The road is 92 miles long, and only the first 15 miles of it are paved. That paved portion, leading from the park entrance to Savage River, is open during the summer for public vehicles to drive, which is why we did a tour so that we could go deeper in the park. The remainder of the road is packed gravel and there are no guard rails. We traveled about 2/3 of the 92 miles. Today, 100 years ago, the 1st party to set foot on the highest part happened. At this moment, there are 500 climbers on the mountain.

    In 1917, Congress created this park for one main reason: to protect Dall sheep and was called Mt. McKinley. In 1906 gold was being mined by approximately 2000 people. Dalo sheep were in abundance in this area and were hunted to provide food. In 1980 Congress expanded the park boundaries and added other reasons for its existence, including protection of North America's tallest mountain (now called Denali) and to provide a place for wilderness recreation. The word "Denali" means "the high one" in the native Athabaskan language and refers to the mountain itself. Denali is a huge park (more than 6 million acres), but has very few trails. This is intentional - to preserve wilderness recreation.    Read more

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