Adventures in Wiseman, Alaska

August 30 and 31

We continued down the Dalton Highway to Coldfoot and Wiseman, Alaska.

Lots of beautiful fall trees on this trip.

It was cloudy at times and we saw several rainbows.

We needed a break from the tent on the truck, so stayed at this Bed and Breakfast in Wiseman, AK.

  It had no electricity, but had a gas hot water heater and lighting.  The wood burning stove was plenty of heat as we slept in the loft.

The owner, named "Clutch" woke us up around 1 am so we could see the Northern Lights.  

WOW!   

They were unbelievable!
They moved over the entire sky, we just stood and watched in every direction in AMAZEMENT!

My camera couldn't even begin to copy what we saw.  So I bought a photo that is as close as I could find.  Isn't this awesome??  

We are so grateful that God gave us such a fantastic show!

The next morning we were served biscuits and gravy.  Charlie calls them 'Oklahoma Puddin' and they were terrific.  Cooked by a friend of Clutch's, so you can tell this was quite an adventure!  Clutch had two barber chairs that we sat in as his quests for breakfast.  I am so sorry that I failed to get photos of all of this adventure.

After breakfast we hiked up this trail and visited the Wiseman Cemetery.  Very interesting and special for this small community.

On the way to the cemetery is this 'beer monument' almost full of beer cans!

This is Clutch and he was doing some final gold panning before closing everything up and going to Fairbanks for the winter.  Charlie is looking for nuggets.

He did find one small nugget and a few tiny ones.  How lucky am I, Clutch gave them to me!  They will have special meaning and remind us of such an adventure!

Coldfoot is only a few miles south of Wiseman and we stopped there as we left to check it out.

Then we went to the Visitor's Center for more interesting information.

Stopped at the Arctic Circle again as we left and this time it wasn't raining!

We traveled back down the Dalton Highway, crossed the Yukon River, and on to Fairbanks.

University of Alaska in Fairbanks.  

Beautiful campus and they say on a clear day you can see 

Mt. McKinley from the University.

Fairbanks to Arctic Circle

August 27th and 28th

From Denali National Park, we drove north to Fairbanks.  On the drive north we could see Mt. McKinley as we looked back.

In Fairbanks, we went to the Sandhill Crane Festival.  Lots of cranes, geese, and ducks in one area.  They were everywhere!

The next morning we stopped here to learn about the Alaska Pipeline before going north onto the Dalton Highway!

A great picture of where the pipeline goes across Alaska!

We are headed for Coldfoot, Alaska, half way to the Arctic Ocean.  We simply did not have enough time to go on to Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean.

Charlie used to launch and catch the pig when he worked for Cities Service Gas Company.

You can definitely see the zig-zag in the pipeline as you travel down the Dalton Highway!

The Dalton highway followed along with the pipeline!
Or was it the pipeline that followed along the highway????

The road is also called "the Haul Highway" because so many trucks are hauling freight, mostly for the oil field.  Same road as seen on the ICE ROAD TRUCKERS SHOW.

The Yukon River has so much history and many people have traveled down it over the years!

The pipeline was very high across the Yukon!

Saw this moose as we traveled down the Dalton Highway.

A landmark for travelers in this area over many years!

We saw so many beautiful rainbows and awesome clouds as we traveled!

It was raining on us when we first arrived at the Arctic Circle!

Trip North

August 23 to 31, 2011    

First blog for this trip.

We took another trip using our truck tent and left our trailer at Kenai.

Beluga whales in Cook Inlet on our way to Anchorage!

Wonderful beginning for this trip!

Had a great breakfast at the Roadhouse in Talkeetna, AK.  Did some shopping and went to the museum there.

Saw this John Deere Ice Cream Freezer in front of a shop.

Charlie's kind of ice cream freezer for sure!

At the museum, a Forest Ranger did a program about climbing Mt. McKinley.  The display showed the route to take and we all pretended to be on a team of mountain climbers.  It was very interesting.  We learned that the time to climb Mt. Mckinley is May and June.  In July the ice becomes soft and too dangerous for climbing.

Notice the bucket on the Ranger's right side.  

Human waste is not left on the mountain!

We got a great view of a red fox and as we watched him he took off across the road.

We had a short tour of this plant where they made syrup.  Have never before seen them take the sap from the trees.

Camping on our
49th Wedding Anniversary!!!

The Alaska Veterans Memorial is just south of Denali National Park.

We got to Denali on a cloudy, rainy day.   

Mt. McKinley was showing some with clouds covering the peak.

Then the next day, August 26, 2011 was a beautiful day of sunshine!

Thank you, God for such a view!!

MT. MCKINLEY        20,320 FEET

THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN NORTH AMERICA!

This is the side that mountain climbers would go up.
You can almost see where the camps would be along the trail to the peak.

Yes, we were there and are so very grateful for such an awesome scene!

Wow!  The trees were gorgeous as the fall colors were starting.





Driving back to Denali Park, the train was on this bridge.

There are other mountains around Denali National Park that are worth a photo!