Hyder, Alaska

Well, I guess you can probably see that Hyder is not a really big place. Actually the last tally gave them 87 fulltime residents. But to their credit, they didn't let small numbers stop them. They have two liquor stores and three bars. They also have two RV parks for us tourists on wheels. One of them even has electricity (and WI-FI).


But I didn't come here for the bars. One attraction was the fifth largest glacier in North America, the Salmon Glacier. Your are looking toward the head of the glacier. It splits as it comes toward the camera and goes both left and right. It has to be at least 4 miles long. But it wasn't really the glacier either...

And believe it or not it wasn't to catch any of these Chub salmon which are plentiful in Fish Creek. What I did come for was a fishing lesson......


From this guy. The salmon in Fish Creek, during their run from late July to early September, draw the big Alaskan brown bears (Grizzlies). They come to fatten up for the winter by eating their fill of salmon. I was as close as 10 yards to some of these flesh eaters, watching them catch, tear apart, and devour 15 to 20 pounders.

In case you thought I was nuts enough to stand on the creek bank taking this picture, think again. I was on an elevated viewing platform (with about 100 people that I was sure I could out run).

Skagway, Alaska

Skagway was once the gateway to the Klondike gold rush. Now it is beautifully restored as a National Historic Site. The National Park Service has done an amazing job in restoring around 20 buildings (and still going).

The cry of "gold" brought tens of thousands of would be prospectors through Skagway on their way to the gold rich creeks around Dawson City in the Yukon. They came North to Skagway by boat out of Seattle and then made their way North by foot and then hand made boat for 700 miles. It was an unbelievable journey and many died along the route or once they reached Dawson and found all the claims taken.

But lets see Skagway now. This is the old train station which has been renovated and is used as the Park's visitors center. There is something for everyone in this town.

Here is entertainment for the men. This is a lady of the evening, I assume also renovated by the Park Service.




And here is a carriage ride for the ladies.










Here is a train ride for the entire family.










And here we go back to the men. This is the Mascot Bar, restored perfectly (except the bottles are empty). In Skagway's heyday there were more than 30 drinking establishments. The only business that was more pronounced in Skayway than bars were ladies of the evening.

There is a lot of fascinating history here and throughout Alaska. If you would like to read about the entire history of Alaska then get yourself a copy of James Michener's book "Alaska". It is a fascinating, partly fictionalized, history of Alaska from the land bridge with Russia to statehood.

Chicken, Alaska

Today we left Dawson City in the Yukon Territory. This required riding across the Yukon River on the George Black Ferry. I don’t know who George was, but he probably had something to do with ferries, at least that is how I am telling it.

Here’s a passenger’s eye view. Note almost no bugs on the window. That’s only because I just fueled up and cleaned the windows. Otherwise it would be speckled (and became so within a few miles). By the way, a note to those cry babies back in the states that think they have it bad with fuel prices. Canadians pay as much as $1.35 per liter. With the exchange rate being at $1.00 US to $1.05 Canadian and adjusting for liters to gallons, that makes it near $5.00 per gallon. I’ve been thinking about pushing one out of every five miles to get better mileage (but Sharon can’t seem to push her fair portion of 9/10 miles of that mile, so I’ve given the idea up).



Our goal for today is to make Chicken, Alaska. Here we look down on the border crossing into Alaska.





Well, we made it through the border station. The border guard that greeted me was very friendly and we talked about our diesel pickups, while the younger guard got our travel companions and grilled them. Regardless, we both got across.

No more pictures of this day. Unfortunately a recurrence of the plague of problems that have been following me has occurred, only I seem to have passed them over (temporarily I am sure) to our travel companions. One of the brand new tires on their trailer is bald on the inside, with cord showing in spots. We stop so it can be changed. Not 20 minutes later they have a flat on the other side, which shreds. They put the near bald tire back on to replace the shredder and limp on at 10 MPH while I drive ahead to Chicken to find somebody to put a new tire on the rim. Digger, the tire guy, destroys the valve stem while changing the tire and has no spares (for the most common type of rim).

So, I am thinking that Digger is a terrible mechanic and a real loser, but we are bigger ones because it is 90 miles to the next nearest service. But, a ray of luck shows up and the trailer comes limping into Chicken on its bad, but still inflated tire. With constant supervision by his customers (us), Digger is guided through the proper method of changing a tire and all is well with the world. Tomorrow we can resume our journey, more or less through this latest challenge.

North to Alaska!!!

Today, Monday May 28, at 9:00AM we started on the road to Alaska. This picture shows we two intrepid explorers (yep, I had someone else take the picture so I could be in it) as we point toward Alaska (or in that general direction) and prepare to head out.



Our starting point was Montrose, Colorado, where we had the slide-in camper in storage (and where our fifth wheel now sits in storage). We will cross into Canada at Eastport, Idaho (a border patrol station) after meeting up with the couple that is travel with us. The expected crossing should occur around June 1st.

Sorry, don't have much to add at this point as all the great pictures and high adventures lie ahead. More to come, I promise.