Thursday, July 8th we had a long, 600 mile, 10 hour drive from Whitehorse in the Yukon to Fort Nelson in British Columbia. It was a picturesque ride but the best part was all the animals we saw.
It was like a safari! We saw rabbits, a grizzly, two black bears, moose and baby moose, and deer. We also saw a big bison just walking down the shoulder of the road. We drove up next to it and I took a picture. He looked in the window and just kept walking. About 15 miles on there was a field with a herd of about 30 bison with lots of calves.


We also saw a lot of mountain sheep by the road. It was an extraordinary day. Toward the end of the day we came upon the Canadian Rockies.

Today, the 9th was another long drive to Prince George. Tomorrow we will be in Jasper.

Tuesday, July 6th, We left Tok and took a windy, often gravel road up to Chicken. We drove along the Mountain ridge, sometimes a bit scary, steep drop offs, no shoulder or guardrail and huge RV's that hog the road. We went through an area where a wildfire in 2004 burned 1.3 million acres. Alaska has on average 700 wildfires a season.
Chicken is a town of 21 in summer and 6 in winter when the road closes and it is a very long snowmobile ride. It has 3 businesses, All three are in the photo!

We continued up higher on razor back ridge to the Canadian boarder at 4,127 feet, with 1000 foot drop offs. Paige was not a happy camper. After the border we took the "Top of the World" highway to Dawson City, and it did seem like we were driving along the top of the world. Spectacular views. After 175 miles we came down the Mountain to the Yukon.

We came down the road and there was Dawson City on the other side of the Yukon. We had to take a little free ferry over the river. It was late afternoon and there was so much to see.
We started by touring the steam paddleboat, Keno, one of 72 steamboats that carried people to Dawson City during the gold rush and in the 1900's. Then we took a 90 minute historical walking tour led by a guide. Dawson City is so full of history, today it has a population of only 1,879 but in 1898 there were over 30,000 not counting all the Stampeders and miners in the hills and along the Klondike river. It was a booming, wild town. Many of the buildings are original from that time and you almost feel like you were there. Our guide was hilarious, dressed in costume and she has been in Dawson for over 30 years. She told us lots of stories and had lots of opinions. We learned so much or the history. At 8:30 we went to Diamond Tooth Gerties to see a Klondike "girly" show. Great fun, then we drove up Dome Hill Rd. that overlooks the city and you could see all the carved out mines along the Klondike.

Today, Wed. we drove the 323 miles from Dawson City to Whitehorse on the Klondike Highway along the Yukon. This was a trail in the 1900's for stage coach although most people traveled by steamer up the Yukon. We stopped to see Five Finger Rapids, a rock formation in the river that made steam boat travel treacherous. Our trip was long and we were glad to reach our Hotel in Whitehorse. Tonight we are going to a two hour Klondike show, music, dance hall girls, Can Can dancing. It should be great fun.

July 4th, we spent eight hours in Denali National Park. We took the green school bus, the only way you can see the Park, in 66 miles to the Eielson Visitor center. Our bus driver would stop whenever anyone saw an animal and we saw a lot. Caribou, golden eagles, arctic ground squirrels, Dall's sheep and a red fox that we watched trot down a ridge towards our bus and cross behind it.
The highlight was three sightings of grizzly bears. One, a mother and two cubs was right near the road. We watched them eating for quite a while, then one of the cubs decided to eat where the mother was and she got mad and cuffed the cub who made quite a noise in protest. It was just great to see it so close. And of course the scenery was beautiful.


Today we drove into Fairbanks and went to the museum at the Fairbanks University then we headed back south to Tok. On the way we saw a moose having lunch in a pond right next to the road.

This is our last night in Alaska. Tomorrow we head into the Yukon and then down into the Canadian Rockies. Hard to believe that we have been in Alaska over a month. What an adventure.

We came here to Talkeetna to fly around Mount McKinley, 20,320 feet. We were suppose to fly at 8:00AM and after two delays due to poor visibility we flew at 6:30 in the evening. I don't think there are words to tell how amazing the two and a half hour flight was. we flew along the rivers and into the Alaskan Mountain range and when we were over 10,000 feet there was the Mountain in the sun. We flew all around it and got in very close. There were 10 of us in the plane and we had earphones. The pilot gave us lots of information on the different peaks, on climbing, flying, and on the many glaciers we could see. Later we landed on a glacier, over 5000 feet thick with ice. The snow on top though was soft. We got to walk around and spent about a half hour on Ruth Glacier then we flew down the glacier back to the airport. It was the highlight of our trip so far. Just awesome.

This morning at breakfast we sat with two climbers from Vermont and it was fascinating to here them talk about their climb. They made it to about 17,000 feet after two weeks. They said it was tough, carrying 60 pounds for over 20 miles tying not to fall in any crevasses and with half the oxygen they are used to. Does not sound like fun to me! Not my adventure; but wow what a day!

We have been in Talkeetna since Wednesday afternoon. A town of about 900, it was established as a mining and railroad town. We did the self-guided historical walk and most of the log cabins were here in the early 1900's. They are gift shops now. The Fairview Inn was built in 1923 and the RoadHouse built in 1914 has had very little done to it and it is still

A restaurant and lodging. Nagley's Store, the only general store was built in 1917. It is an amazing place and is jam packed to the ceiling, the clerks climb on boxes and counters to get things for the customers.
You had to get here by bush plane or train until 1964 when they put in a road. Now it is where anyone that wants to climb Mount McKinley has to come. The bush pilots fly them into base camp on a glacier 7500 ft up to start the climb. While we were there there were about 200 on the Mountain. We met a couple from Alton Bay, NH staying in the same motel we were in. First New Englanders we have seen.