North to Alaska - 2005: AK

Showing posts with label AK. Show all posts

Yukon Whitepass Railroad

The bus picked us up at the park, and to our disappointment it was a dreary day. We stopped to take pictures at Emerald Lake and the township of Carcross. The little store in that town had an amazing amount ot "stuff". Watch for it in the slide show.

The bus took us to Fraser, BC. By departure time, it was starting to clear. We arrived in Skagway around 1:00AM, had lunch and time to walk around before boarding the bus back to Whitehorse a 3 1/2 hour ride. There were lots of lakes and mountains.

Haines

We left Whitehorse about 8:00AM on June 7th
The views from Haines Junction to Haines were spectacular. Unfortunately, most of the way it was very overcast, as shown in the photos. By the time we reached Haines, it was a sunny with temperatures in the 60s or low 70s. Haines has a large eagle population. The guys went fishing one day up the inlet, and we had dolly varden for supper.

Travel days.......

On June 10th we left Haines & drove 356 miles. It was a long day. We stopped just inside Alaska and checked into an RV park.......Should have chosen a different one....the water was rusty and a 10kw generator for the whole park - not to mention the mosquitos. We were pretty dirty by the time we stopped for the day.....

We were up early and drove to Gakona on the Gulkana River. Larry E was anxious to try out some fisning. They made it into the park easy with their 5th wheel, but we could not make such a sharp turn. Fortunately the road went across to another highway so we could turn around and head into the park. There was only one spot left with electricty. Since we had a generator, we paid $15 to dry camp.

Journey to Valdez

We arrived in Valdez on June 12th

The Richardson Highway to Valdez has some beautiful scenery. We had a clear travel day

The tall bars along the road are markers so the snow plows can find the road

A glacier behind us as we paused for some photos as Thompson Pass.
Looks like 2 really dirty RVs.

The picture doesn't begin to show the vastness and how far away the mountains are. Taken at Thompson Pass

A large glacier along the way

Bridalveil Falls was breath taking. It is right by the road and there is a larg parking area across the street

We stayed at Pioneer RV Park. Very nice and they allow RV washing. They also had free Wi-Fi. We stayed a few extra days because the Spurs wre in the playoffs

Mineral creek hike

We drove around to the back side if the mountains we saw from the campground. There is the Mineral Creek trail. It was t great day....cool & sunny. We parked & started the hike, but kept running into previous avalanches that covered the trail & had to get over them. The last one was too big for us girls so we went on back, and the guys went on and came back later.

Glacier Tour

We took an all day boat ride to the Columbia and Mears glaciers. A few days before we arrived, the Columbia calved such a large piece that it filled the bay for 7 miles out. Large pieces of floating ice prevented geting as close as the boat usually goes.

On this trip we saw eagles, seals, puffins, a whale fluke, and my favorite...those cute little sea otters.

Valdez was one of our most favorite places. The melting snow was replaced with green. This was taken just outside the harbor.

This picture was actually taken in the morning on the way out. It was foggy when we left, but soon cleared up.

The boat crew passed around pieces of ice fished out of the Columbia Bay

It was really cloudy and dreary when we got as close as allowed to the Columbia Glacier. The area in back of the barrier is the bay that is filled with ice

The mountains around were spectacular

The Mears Glacier is younger than the Columbia and still forming. The boat could get to within 1/4 mile.

We only got to see a vary small piece calve off. From the sounds of all the crackling, a much larger piece was getting ready.....

King Salmon fishing trip

We attended a Coast to Coast presentation to receive a "free" king salmon fishing trip.....right.....

Soooo, we are up early to wait for the boat which took us out into Valdez Harbor, about even with the end of the pipeline tanks and 700 ft deep

Ahhh, here we are fishing for king salmon....that pesky wife keeps asking about the water in the back of the boat. Everyone knows that is normal...........

Uh oh, the "captain" (his certification was in the mail) looks like he has noticed the rising water........Things sound serious when he calls for "any boat" for help . Time to check for life vests.....

The water was up to the valve covers and rising even with all the pumping

Yea....the rescue boat is on the way. It was a lot bigger. Since the deck of it was above my head, Larry was wondering just how he was going to get a very un-athletic wife up over that rail. No problem......I really do hate cold water.

The big boat captian tied us to it & hauled us in. They said the boat could be fixed & we could go back out in the afternoon. We said we wanted the free dinner instead......it was very good. AND.....it was not king salmon season yet!

Travel days.....

On June 20th we left Valdez for Anchorage. It was a cold & rainy day so we missed a lot of the scenery.

We stopped at the musk farm in Palmer, and arrived at the RV park in Anchorage.
On the 22nd we shopped etc.

On the road to Homer

June 22 was a travel day from Anchorage to Homer

Leaving Anchorage it was cloudy, but still a beautiful drive

June 22

Homer, place of "sweet cheeks and big butts"

Coming into Homer on a cloudy day, but a good view of the famous spit (the land area out in the water)

The famous "spit" can be seen even though it is a cloudy day

Taken when the tide was out. All the rocks are coverd with deep water when it is in. A glacier can be seen in the distance.

This was the one time I got to wear my mucklucks. It was a beautiful day for viewing sea life. As you can see from the jackets, it was a cool day

We went on a "nature hike" from the visitors center.
We walked down the beach at low tide and obsvered all the little creatures the tide leaves behind. We were instructed to go immediately when told to as when the tide comes in, this area is very deep.

We discovered all sorts of sea life left when the tide was out

Homer marina

The tall poles allow the piers to rise and fall with the tides

The catch of the day. We spend the evening vacuum sealing.....about 130 pounds in all

We saved out the cheeks, which are sort of cone shaped and fried them.

The pier floats with the tides, and when it is low the fish in the buckets have to be dragged up this ramp....really hard work.

The big halibut fishing trip. Larry caught the largest today at around 40 lbs. This is not extremely large for a halibut, but big for us TX folks

Click on the arrow for s short video

Time to go...............we loved Homer

June 29th through July 26th

We were in Soldotna almost the whole month of July and loved every minute of it. We didn't do much sight seeing because the fishing was just too good.