May 21, Finally a Bear That Gives A Pose

Finally…a good front view of a bear!  He still has grass hanging out of his mouth.  I can’t take the credit for this shot…Bill saw him, stopped the motorhome, and took the picture.  Again…on my camera I got his rear as he scrambled into the woods.  Maybe it’s my camera?  Altogether today, we saw 3 black bears, 1 caribou, and 1 moose.

Over 400 miles of mountain driving today.  We went by way of the Alaskan Highway/1 and connected with Highway 2 in Whitehorse, then headed north.  What we are now following is called the Klondike Loop.  Along this 498 mile loop are historic towns

that played a part in the

Klondike Gold Rush between 1897-1898. 

  They try to keep up with road maintenance; but as we travel further away from civilization…the roads get worse.  Nature is determined to return things back to its original beauty. 

It’s amazing how the landscape can change so quickly in the mountains…rugged peaks, jagged edges, weather-worn slopes, eroded cliffs, rolling hills, and even marshland.  That’s why we love the mountains…you never know what’s around the next curve.  Hopefully, more beauty and not one of those big potholes that makes the whole motorhome shake. 

The other thing that changes frequently in the mountains is the weather.  We have gotten up on a beautiful, sunny day and before the day has ended…it may have rained, became sunny, rained and become sunny a half a dozen times!  We have been very fortunate for

some great sight-seeing weather.

Spending the night in Pelly Crossing in the Yukon.  This small town was established when the Klondike road was put built in 1952. This is a community of the Selkirk Indians.  Most of the people we have seen are of Indian descent. Bill went in the store to ask about getting a campsite at the campground nearby. The woman told him he could setup and didn’t charge him because they haven't gotten cleaned up and ready for the season yet. It had electricity so we were happy.  Set for the night!

Awwww….these were growing at our campsite. 

Thanks for the nice welcome.

Where's the "Wildlife?" (Day 21)

"People watching" and "talking to people along the way" can be almost as interesting as marveling at the sites.  For instance....we were, what seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, saw a young guy walking along the highway in cut-offs, a stocking hat and was barefoot.  You can't help but wonder why he was there and especially...why no shoes?  Then we had to stop for construction and the lady in the car in front of us came back and talked to us.  She was from the area, which again was in the middle of nowhere.  She was really nice and we asked her some questions about living so far from others.  She said that most of the people around there worked for the lumber companies or are in constructions work.  I asked her if she was heading to town and how far that might be.  She said the closest was about 20 miles; but it was a pretty small town.  She was heading to a town near Anchorage, so that was about 200 miles.  People in Alaska have been very friendly...they probably are happy to talk to someone because neighbors are few and far between!  I wonder if they think the same of us as they see us toodling down the road and wonder where those cheeseheads are going :-)

Some beautiful scenery on our way to Valdez on Prince William Sound.  You probably remember the little town of Valdez and the Exxon Oil Tanker's destructive oil spill of 1989. The wildlife and the livelihood of the people that lived in this area are still trying to recover from that disaster. 

We are so glad we chose this route, the mountains have topped anything we have seen in Alaska "so far!"  We even saw a glacier!  They're easy to pick out because the ice has a turquoise color to it.

Remember all the wildlife someone told us we would see on this highway?  Do 3 bunnies (one of which was flatten on the road), and 2 mosquitoes and a fly that were in the motor home count?  Oh...we did see two white swans on one of the lakes that was very picturesque (except I missed the picture)  The lady in the construction zone told us that just a few weeks ago,  over 100 caribou crossed a short distance from where we were.   She said they were heading to where it is cooler and has less insects.  We can verify for the bugs, we saw them!  Maybe tomorrow when we have to take the same highway back; but this time it will be mostly uphill, they will come out of the woods to make some tourists happy. 

We came through a pass and there were these magnificent waterfalls coming down in numerous places.  I think our mouths dropped open when we rounded the bend and this view was in front of us.  We couldn't pull over fast enough to try and capture their splendor!  As we went down the highway, everywhere we looked we could see waterfalls pouring down the mountain sides.

There were other things we could see going down the mountain sides.  It was the Alaskan Pipeline.  It's something to see and must have been a nightmare to put in place.  This picture is a closeup of the size of the pipe that was used to transport oil from Prudhoe Bay in the Arctic Circle to Valdez where it is put on oil transporters.  Are the transporters going the wrong way because gas was $4.69 today!

I pictured Valdez as a good-sized town. There is only one gas station and one grocery store.  There are a lot of restaurants and gift shops because they cater to the tourists, boaters, kayakers, bikers and hikers.  All the activity is right by the water.  Our campsite is right across the street so we have a good view of all the sites.

    I guess you would say that the harbor is downtown area.

This my "Odd Photo of the Day."  It is by the office of our campground.  The cans are attached to a large tree root and has plants growing in each of the cans.  I thought it was artistic in an "odd" way....I won't tell you what Bill thought it looked like.  Tomorrow we are heading to Wasilla....oh...that reminds me I need to buy eggs at the grocery store :-)  You do know that meant I need eggs to make breakfast.