Monte Clinton's Travel Journals

Alaska: week 3

ALASKA! I arrived in Alaska this evening after 4,500 miles. Today was a long 400 mile trip from Whitehorse, Yukon to Tok, Alaska. It rained all day so it was a good day for travel. Unfortunately, clouds covered the views but I have to go back the same way so hopefully, I will have better weather on the return trip. I never thought I would be happy to see gas at $2.39 a gallon but after spending $3.50 and $4.00 a gallon in Canada, it was a bargain.

A change of plans - Fairbanks is out and Anchorage is the new destination. After talking with two couples last night around the campfire at 11:30pm with the sun still shining, it was generally agreed that Fairbanks was not really worth the 400+ mile round trip. Instead, I will be headed for Anchorage and then the Kenai Peninsula for a few days. One of the days will hopefully be a day-long cruise to see two of the glaciers (before they melt). Alaska is so big you have to pick the place/thing that is most important and do that.

I stopped by a national park in the Yukon on the way and listened to a ranger give a young guy (hiking alone with a guitar with a year's worth of dreadlocks) some pointers on black and grizzly bears. Since there are so many, the park requires that every hiker take a bear proof container (loaned for free) and listen to an overview on how to protect yourself. He was told that with a black bear, you have to become the potential aggressor: looking bigger, sounding louder while never looking directly into their eyes then slowly back away. "If that doesn't work, do the best you can to protect yourself". With Grizzlies, you cannot become the aggressor - it just gets them mad and ready to fight. With them you can play dead - they may try and cover you up and come back later for a well rotted, stinking dinner. You, of course, run away when you should be rotting. The poor guy was trying to negotiate his way out with the ranger - she just said, "you're on your own out there".

Tok, Alaska is a real frontier town - it's only purpose is to serve as a road junction - you either take the Alaska Highway north to Fairbanks or head south to Anchorage. It also serves as an RV stop over - Tok has three RV parks, five gas stations and several motels. It's interesting that Holland American has a 100 room hotel in Tok - they bus people taking one of their cruises the 350 miles from Anchorage here for their "land" adventure.

Over 50% of the vehicles on the road for the past two days are RVs. The RV culture is pretty interesting - everything from the tiny campers like my T@B to the huge $350,000+ road yachts pulling a Lexus SUV behind. The key word in RV park lingo is a "pull through" parking spot, just drive through it - that, of course, comes at an extra charge. The RV park has live entertainment tonight -- so it will be a night out after two weeks on the road.

JUNE 20

Today is our wedding anniversary - been thinking about it and Pat all day. When we were married in 1964 we took a trip from Iowa to NYC through Canada. So this trip brought back a lot of memories.

Tok, Alaska turned out to be an interesting town. The entertainment was two guys playing guitar and singing folk songs about Alaska - very entertaining. The lead guy was from Vermont (came to Alaska in 1971) - he reminded me of Jim Roberts from NH. Apparently Tok has no laws - no building codes, elected officials, etc. They have two cops that cover an area the size of Connecticut, which includes Tok, so we were told they settle most problems themselves.

The 365 mile drive from Tok to Anchorage was through pouring rain and fog so I only caught a glimpse of the mountains, which was covered in fresh snow from a cold spell last night. This morning it was 40F. As I drove into Anchorage, the sun came out and it warmed up - right now at 6pm it is wonderful.

Some of the roads to Anchorage were pretty steep - 9% grade down for 20 miles or so. I kept reminding myself that I have to go back that way.

The car and the T@B are doing great. Tomorrow it's time for an oil change on the car and a little Anchorage sightseeing. Then it's on to the Kenai Peninsula for a few days at one of the national parks - hopefully I will be able to use my new senior golden pass (no charge to camp). I also want to take a day cruise to one of the glaciers. The King Salmon are running - not sure if I will be running with them (or after them) - I am sure Peter Spiegel would enjoy this part of the trip.

June 21

Well today is the longest daylight day of the year and it's a perfectly clear day. In Anchorage the sun almost goes down then it starts up again - very strange feeling to go to bed at 11pm and the sky is lit up like it's 4pm.

Today was a day of rest and museum visits. Plus an oil change.

I started off the day watching the King Salmon run going right through the middle of Anchorage. There must have been 100 people fishing and pulling in these 36 inch monster fish - but not everyone went away with a fish since this is near the end of the salmon run, which started June 1 and ends June 30.

The Alaska Museum in Anchorage was very interesting - telling mostly the story of the Eskimo people. One thing I learned is that in Alaska and Siberia the native people are called, and want to be called, Eskimo, which is a French Canadian term for eater of raw meat - the guide corrected that to say "the eater of frozen raw meat". The native people in Canada and Greenland are offended by being called Eskimo -- they want to be called Inuit.

In the afternoon I went to the Alaska Native Heritage Center, which is run by Eskimos and really focuses on the life of Eskimos and their family life. Another interesting fact is that they had slaves - generally people from other tribes who were captured during battles. After 5 or so years, the slaves were given an option of staying or leaving - most stayed because they had become part of the owner's family.

Ten Eskimo teenagers put on a native dance show mid-afternoon. Interesting that the men were very aggressive in their dancing - frowns on their faces, stomping feet, thrusting spears and making loud noises. The women were rather gentle waving feathers. One girl had an embarrassing moment during her dance when her cell phone slipped out of her costume and hit the floor. Progress comes to Eskimos.

Anchorage is a great place to visit - very tourist friendly with lots to see and do. Great place to bring a family. I also stopped by the Ulu Factory - this is a factory that makes a special rounded knife that was used by the Eskimos to skin animals and cut up whale blubber. It's still being used by most of the Eskimos now.

June 22

I drove 130 miles from Anchorage south to Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. Seward is a small fishing village that has a fairly large tourist business filled with Alaska souvenirs made in China. My concern that there will be no RV parks in Kenai proved to be unfounded. Lots of parks - from in town near the beach or out in the country on a river - I chose the country one next to the river.

As I drove into Seward I hit the 5,000 mile mark - this has been quite a trip so far. From now on it will be backtracking to Anchorage - I think I may take a different route to the Alaska Highway and go past Denali - also known as Mt. McKinley. We'll see which way I end up going.

The high point of the day was a hike in the Kenai Fjords region to the Exit Glacier, which is part of the National Parks. The glacier was quite a site -- the thing is still actively moving at a slow pace of 24 inches a year. The ever present bear warning are up everywhere. The National Park rangers are pretty adamant about bear safety - according to them bear bells don't work - the best warning of your presence is the human voice - so talk or sing. It was interesting that while I am in bear country in Alaska, Pat saw a black bear walking through our back yard in New Hampshire yesterday.

The end of the day was seeing a bald eagle swoop down to the river for a fish - amazing.

June 24

Last night's bluegrass jam was wonderful. The music was good and the conversation interesting. Most of the people were locals - either young men (and their girlfriends) who work on the many river rafting adventures or the local people looking for their weekly night out. I talked to a guy, Don Friedman, who had been in Alaska for 9 years. He was a woodworker from Iowa who moved to Hope to be near his grandchildren who lived in Anchorage. He found an acre of land with a small house - with electric but no plumbing. He added on a room and had it plumbed. He now does woodturning of bowls for local gift shops. His grandchildren have since moved to New York State. Don and I share a common political philosophy, so we had an interesting conversation. Speaking of politics, I have been listening to talk radio shows while traveling in Alaska. Most of these are hate shows from both the left and the right. Now I can understand why the country is so polarized. It's interesting that both sides have come out against the Supreme Court's recent ruling that will permit the taking of property. Each side is blaming the other for this ruling.

I had a relaxing day of hiking and photography. It was a perfect day: sun, a few high clouds and a nice breeze to keep the mosquitoes away. With all the warnings about bears, I found myself singing a variety of songs rather loudly to ward off any interruptions from bears as I hiked along.. The trails were full of moose tracks and bear scat. Fortunately, I saw neither.

I drove to Portage Valley, which is a beautiful valley ringed by mountains with glaciers spilling out from all sides. It was amazing to see icebergs floating in the lake formed by the melting ice. The Portage glacier is melting rather fast - the visitor center, originally built in 1989 next to the glacier - now the glacier can no longer be seen from the visitor center since the glacier has receded more than a mile in the past 16 years...global warming they say.

June 25

Departed the Chugash National Forest after a two night stay and decided to head north to see Denali. Somehow in Alaska, 250 miles doesn't seem too far. I was well rewarded for making the trip. It was a perfect day - blue skies and a few white clouds. Denali, which makes its own weather, is frequently covered in clouds. Not this day, the mountain was spread out in all its glory with the sun shining and a few white clouds over it...breathtaking.

When leaving the campground this morning, I had to stop at the construction flagger and wait for about 15 minutes. I had an interesting conversation with the flagger, Linda. She is new to Hope - having come only 5 years ago after spending 15 years in Hawaii. She was born in Anchorage but when she came back, it had changed so much she couldn't live there. Her brother, who builds log homes, suggested Hope.

She makes a living by sewing and a few odd jobs like the summer-long construction job. I asked her what people do over the long, dark winter. She said that only she and one couple spend the winters in Hope - there are a few others scattered around the mountains. She said the women get together for social nights - pot luck suppers and beading, quilting and the book club. She said she has no idea what the men do to socialize. She gave me a few facts about Hope: they have about 100 residents in the summer, 14 students in the school - the school has 4 classrooms, a gym, home economics room and a woodworking shop. All this is handled by one teacher who has been teaching at Hope for 14 years. She said they manage to get a good ranking in the state. They have one senior this year so they will have a graduation.

Linda says she lives in a 14 x 16 foot room above a store on Main Street that she fixed up herself - "perfect" for her at only $250 a month. She said only about two thirds of the residents in town have water - the other third buy bottled water and use the town's public outhouse.

She seemed very happy with her life in Hope. The night is at an RV campground near the entrance to Denali. There is another camper with a T2 T@B camper from Iowa, Earl Curtis and his wife.

to continue to week 4, roll over Alaska on the left and click on week 4...