DAY SEVENTEEN - July 11, 2017 - The White Pass & Yukon Rwy.

We started our day on the bus from the White Pass Depot to Carcross (originally Caribou Crossing - the Caribou migrate between two lakes in this area).  An informative ride.  Surprisingly, it was raining.

The lakes in this area are narrow and long, due to the glaciation.  Tutshi Lake is 23 miles long and 250 feet deep.

A silver concentrator remains at what was Conrad City.  About 3,000 people lived on this spit of land.

We saw a Lynx cross the road near Bove Island, but all the camera got was a small patch of fur, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Next up was the Carcross Desert, 145 acres is all.

Our next stop was at Emerald Lake.  The chemical composition of the sand in the shallow areas of the lake gives it its colour.

The bus dropped us off at Carcross, a unique native village which played a big role in the gold stampede.

The train which had left Skagway at 7:30 this morning arrived to take us back.  Note the 3 foot "gauge" of the tracks, just 2/3 of the normal gauge we see today.  Looks like the whole thing could tip over pretty easily going around a mountain curve!

The car assigned to us was #328, the last car on the train.  This gave us a good vantage point for pictures (and lots of pictures of railway track as you will see).

We saw some glorious scenes as we followed the 40 odd miles of Bennett Lake.

And, at the former townsite of Bennett Lake, once home to 10,000 stampeders, now home to one native family, the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church remains.

These are some of the scenes on our way down from the summit.

And, a remaining section of the Trail of 1898.

We'll talk more about the trail(s) tomorrow.  But, for now, the rest of our WP&Y journey.

The railway used to do a switchback over this wooden trestle, but a longer steel bridge eliminated that section.

Two trains passed us while we waited on the siding.  Lots of cruise line business today!

A great day!  Another bucket list item ticked off.

Our hotel is having new routers installed today, so we are posting this from a coffee shop with four 15 minute vouchers.  Fast!  It usually has taken me 15 minutes per picture!  I'm going to hit the "Publish" button before I'm timed out.  See you later!

IMPORTANT PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

We interrupt our regular blogging to bring you this special news. My good friend Andy Hardy, a.k.a. Gary Parker, will be celebrating his 74th birthday on July 16th.  I am asking my readers (I have at least two) to help me make this birthday special for him.

You need to know that Andy is somewhat insecure about birthdays. He frets that his friends (he has at least two) will forget his birthday, and is regularly reminding us that the date is coming (even though that may be months away).

To get an idea of how anxious he gets, you can check out his video at:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw88NCbGp6c&feature=youtu.be

I hope that is correct.  I don't have enough internet juice to play it up here.

Please take a moment to send your birthday wishes to Andy at: andyhardy7@gmail.com

It doesn't matter if you know him (or even like him).  It also doesn't matter if your greeting is early or belated - he thinks about his birthday on a daily basis and will welcome your thoughtful gesture whenever it happens.

There is also no limit on how many times you may send him these wishes.  It's like Major League Baseball's All-Star Balloting.  You may send up to five emails per day from each email address, for as many days as you wish.  I know he will be excited to hear from you.  And I will really appreciate it as well. 😈

You are welcome Andy!

DAY SIXTEEN - July 10, 2017 - The Klondike to Skagway

A couple more pictures as we leave Dawson.

As you can see, some of the buildings still need a bit of TLC.

Surprisingly, NOT, it rained all day.  Temperature ranged between 6C and 8C until we were approaching Skagway.  Nevertheless, the views were still pretty good.

We're going to pay forward another BST, this time a Mammoth.

Woolly Mammoths ranged this area for two million years, until just 10,000 years ago.  Their bones and tusks are being constantly uncovered, particularly by the gold miners.  You see tusks in museums, stores, lodges - they do not appear to be a threatened or restricted fossil at all.

There is a 20 mile stretch of tundra on the route into Skagway that is called Tormented Valley.  Spectacular stretch, but it doesn't photograph well in the rain 

We have seen some wonderful scenery on this trip and it seems to keep on getting better.  I'll leave you today with this final photo.

Tomorrow we go by bus to Carcross, Yukon and return on the White Pass & Yukon Railway.  Another bucket item.

DAY FIFTEEN- July 9, 2017 - Top Of The World

We start today with our makeup for yesterday's Big Stupid Thing.  

Candy canes?  Really??
But, after the next exit sign it made sense.  We're near North Pole, Alaska.

We also saw Bullwinkle Drive, Snow White Lane, Cold Foot Road, Flying Squirrel Lane, and other similar choices.  Apparently, the long dark winters have some strange effect on people!

The pipeline came up again as it was bridged over the Tenana River.

Mardi is beginning to believe that there really are Moose in North America.  Saw one in a pond by the side of the road but it's taking me over fifteen minutes to upload each picture so you'll have to take my word for it.

It's more important to show you today's BST.  They grow their mosquitoes big in Alaska.

We reached Delta Junction, the Alaska end of the Alaska Highway and proceeded to Tok, to complete our end-to-end.  Bucket list item checked off.  All in all, the highway was excellent.  A few miles of repaving and the permafrost slumps being the exception.

We then deviated from our planned itinerary.  Rather than repeat the Alaska Highway from Tok to Whitehorse, we headed north on the Taylor Highway to Chicken, Alaska.  It was named after the Chicken Gold Company, without which there would have been no need for a road.  Excellent highway all the way to Chicken.
Let's consider this tomorrow's BST.

We then turned east on the Top Of The World Highway to Dawson City.  This is more what I expected the Alaska Highway to be like. Over 100 kilometres of dirt and gravel - it was more challenging than the Beartooth Scenic Highway north of Yellowstone Park, but less scary than the Road to the Sun in Glacier Park.

Much of the highway was above the tree line.

If you ever decide to take this route leave yourself lots of time.  Progress is slow on the road - probably averaged 50 kilometres per hour - and Customs closes at 9 p.m. Yukon time (8 p.m. Alaska time).

We were actually leaving Alaska (for a day) but National Geographic calls this the most beautiful road sign in America so we took the picture.  They remove the sign for the winter to extend its life.

Canada Customs is a lonely spot on top of the world.

A free ferry across the Yukon connects the highway with Dawson City.  It comes in sideways to combat the current.

Dawson City is my new favourite town.  Other than the main street through town, the streets are not paved, sidewalks are wood, and the buildings downtown are maintaining the gold rush theme.

The building above left is the theatre/dance hall.  It is being updated with new HVAC and safety features.

We also saw Robert Service's cabin.  He was a Yukon legend and was beloved in Alaska as well.

And, down the street was the temporary home of author Jack London.  The Yukon influenced his books far beyond his short stay.

The British Commissioner's home was on the edge of town, apart from the rowdy downtown.

Tomorrow we head for Skagway, but before we close off, a tip of the hat to Maureen Barlow who celebrates her birthday July 13, when you may be reading this.  Happy Birthday Maureen!

DAY FOURTEEN - July 8, 2017 - We're Rich

We stayed last night at the Denali Park Hotel.   The name is a bit grandiose considering what we saw.

Room A9

Just $170.13 per night, internet barely capable of accessing email, no breakfast, BUT, short season, high demand tourist attraction nearby, limited competition.  Location, location, location.

Our two hour drive to Fairbanks was uneventful, or as my friend Maurice would say, "BFD, more rocks and trees".  We did see another example of global warming's effect on the landscape. When the permafrost melts and the ground slumps, Black Spruce on the edge of the slump start to lean, in different directions, and eventually fall over.  When enough trees in an area exhibit this effect, they call it a "drunken forest".  The picture below shows an early drunk.

In Fairbanks, we hit the high spots.

The Alaska Pipeline starts at Prudhoe Bay in the Arctic and crosses Alaska to Valdez in the south.

In permafrost areas it runs above the ground and the support pipes have a heat transfer mechanism to extract heat from the ground to preserve the permafrost (those Spruce trees could use this technology!).

Our final event of the day was panning for gold.

First, you dig up the ore.

Then, you slosh it around a few times.

And, gradually slide the lighter gravel and sand off the pan.

And finally, voila!  You're rich!

Tomorrow, we complete our journey on the Alaska Highway, and then make a change to our itinerary.

There was no Big Stupid Thing today, unless you voted for the Green Party and count the pipeline as a BST.  But, we'll make it up tomorrow - I know, because tomorrow has already come and gone!

Sorry for the delay!

Sorry for the delays folks, but the internet is getting worse every day.  Can't get into my email tonight and it took about three minutes just to get the blog to fire up.  We'll look for a better internet service tomorrow.

However, I can say that the drive from Whitehorse to Skagway today was worth the whole trip!  Despite the temperature being between 6C and 8C all day, and rain the whole way.  A sunny day would have been too much!

Tomorrow we take the White Pass & Yukon Railway to Carcross.  Forecast - rain - every day for the next week!