Dawson City to Chicken Alaska

Dawson City to Chicken
Spike posted new pictures of the tour at www.alaskarvtour.com.
Today (Saturday) we got up at 5:00 AM to leave Dawson City for Chicken Alaska. We didn’t hook up the pickup as we planned to do it at the ferry. The ferry would hold our MH, another small MH and the pickup. It runs back and forth across the Yukon river and is free because it is part of the Yukon highway system .We got there early to avoid a backup when 20 RVs show up at the same time. Once we crossed the Yukon we drove 11 miles to a wide turnout where we waited for the rest of the group. Once we all assembled around 9:30 we took off for Chicken. We drove 97 miles on gravel roads with no guard rails and steep drops of hundreds of feet at some points. The road was paved at one point but the maintenance was too high so they are letting it deteriorate to gravel which holds up better in the extreme weather. According to a couple that took the tour in 2003 the road (called the Top of the World highway) is much better than it was then. On the 2003 tour it was a single lane road with turnouts to use when you met oncoming traffic.
A few miles from the US/Canadian border one of the big diesel pusher Class A RVs called in to report he was overheating. Roger our mechanic, stopped to help. We were still 50 miles from Chicken and 140 miles from Tok which was the closest parts store. After a lot of discussion between Spike, Roger, and Leo (the RV owner), which at one point considered flying a part in from Tok to Boundary, they sent the rest of the tour on to Chicken. Spike joined Roger at the disabled RV. They determined that his serpentine belt had broken and they nursed it across the border to Boundary. Roger and Leo drove to Tok to pick up a new belt. Leo’s wife and 91 year old mother stayed at the RV with Teresa (another staff member). By the time we arrived in Chicken all the towed vehicles were covered with thick dust. One couple left a window cracked open on their fifth wheel and it was full of dust and dirt.
The temp Saturday afternoon was 84 with a few clouds. Did I mention that gas in Dawson City was $5.00 per gallon?
Top picture is Chicken Alaska (old section is across the road), Others are the Comissioners house Poker Creek crossing (most northern crossing point in US-no illegals here), and old dredge in Dawson.

Around Dawson City

Yesterday was a busy day. We started off with a guided walking tour of Dawson City, visiting a bank, the old Post Office (that was abandoned after a few years because it took 300 cords of wood to heat it during the winter) and an old theater. All had been restored and were in great shape. After lunch we attended a reading at Robert Service’s Cabin (he is a famous poet of the Yukon), Jack London’s cabin, the RCMP cemetery and the Midnight Dome. All that took until about 5:00 PM. We rushed back to the MH and ate some dinner. At 6:30 PM we drove about 10 miles to an open claim where we panned for gold until around 10:00PM. Everyone found a few flakes of gold and had a good time (we will try again Friday afternoon). Today we go on the Commissioners’s Tour. Friday we visit a gold dredge near where we panned yesterday and we will pan some more after the dredge tour.Right about now I would trade the sticky bun for chips and salsa at On The Border.

Dawson City

Tuesday we drove to Dawson City (297 miles) our longest drive of the tour. We made several stops to view five fingers rapids, buy huge sticky buns, and view the Tintina Trench (a big valley caused by plate movement). Today we have a walking tour of historic Dawson City, visit Robert Services and Jack Londons cabins and then go gold panning. Last night after dinner we walked around the RV park and down to a creek behind the park. After that we stood around and talked until about 10:00. The sun was still shining at 10:30 when we went to bed.
In Dawson City we are about 150 miles south of the Artic Circle. We have talked about driving up to the Artic Circle but the road is gravel and it would take about 5 hours each way. In Fairbanks we are about the same distance from it. Maybe we will consider driving from there.

On To Dawson City

Yesterday Pat and I went to the Transportaion Museum and the Macbride Museum in Whitehorse. After that we ate at Earls (a Canadian chain). We ate at Earls in Prince George and it was good. The one here was good as well. Then we did some shopping at Canadian Tire (kind of a Home Depot) and The Super Store (pretty good prices). We didn't go to Walmart because we heard they don't have fresh produce. Last night we hd a group steak dinner at the RV park. Today we take off for Dawson City which was the destination of the stampeders in 1898.

Whitehorse Yk

They call it Whitehorse because the rapids look like the mane of a white horse. We just got back from a play, '98 Follies, it was cute. There was a little fox in the RV park when we got back. It wasn't afraid at all and kept running up and down the driveway. Pat got a left over hot dog and I threw him a piece of it. He ran over and grabbed it and ran up the hill to eat it. A bunch of people were standing around watching him. Then he came back for some more hot dog. This all happened at 10:30 PM and it was light enough to take pictures without a flash. We also got mor pictures of an eagle.
The weather today was in the 70's with a few rain showers. We toured an old stern wheel paddle boat today(the Klondike). They used to travel up the Yukon river from here to Dawson City. The train would bring goods from Skagway and they would load them on the boats to go to Dawson City (300 miles north). It was a day and a half to Dawson City (downstream) and 4 days back to Whitehorse (upstream). We also toured a museum where they had a lot of exhibits of the extinct animals. Tomaorrow is a free day. We plan to gas up and maybe wash the motorhome.

Skagway Ak to Whitehorse Yk

Today we left Skagway. On our two free days (Thursday and Friday) we did laundry one morning and walked around Skagway trying to avoid the “boat people”. Spike was so worried about us touching the boat people or touching something the boat people touched, he gave us all pen sized sanitizer sprayers to carry around. It was a big joke (Spike was serious) about asking everyone if they had touched a boat person. When he first mentioned it in Ksan I expected to see Vietnamese boat people walking around. I finally figured out he meant the 15,000 people that get off the boats in Skagway every day.
On our trip to Whitehorse today we saw a bald eagle and a bear. We stopped at Carcross (an old railroad town) and Caribou Crossing where we met a famous female musher. She ran the Iditarod this year. She had 60 dogs there. She provides dog sled rides for a price which also is good exercise for the dogs. We also had a BBQ chicken dinner. When we arrived in Whitehorse (pop. 23,000) we took a short tour to find the markets, Walmart, Starbucks and places to eat. Tomorrow we have a busy day.

More Skagway Pictures

Skagway Pictures

Skagway AK

Yesterday we had a full day of activity here in Skagway. We started off by going to a film and lecture at the National Park office. They talked about the Chilcoot trail that the "stampeders" had to climb to get to the gold fields. Most of them got dropped at Skagway and still had to make it another 500 miles to Dawson Creek.. Thats like landing in San Diego and having to walk to San Francisco in steep mountains, snow up to 20 feet deep, and carrying 2 tons of food and supplies (a years worth of supplies)with temperatures at times 40 degrees below zero. The RCMP (mounties) stipulated that the prospectors had to have a years supply of food so they wouldn't all get to Dwson City and starve. The sad part was that when the majority got to Dawson City they found that all the gold bearing lands had been claimed and many full scale mines were already established. After all they had endured to get there many spent a few days at most and then went home.
Atnoon at the RV park the staff put on a little play about how "Soapy Smith" was gunned down by Frank Reid of the Vigilance Committee. Soapy Smith was the local outlaw running all the scams to cheat the few successful miners out of their gold.
In the afternoon we took a driving tour of Skagway, went to the foot of the Chilcoot Trail, visited the old graveyard, and a waterfall. Last night we went to a play "The Days of '98 Show" at the local Eagles hall.
It lasted until about 9:00. When we left the hall, which is in the middle of town, it was really spooky. It was still light and the sun was still shining on some mountain tips. The street was absolutely deserted. During the day there were thousands of people roaming the streets. Every day during the summer there are three or four cruise ships docked in Skagway with up to 5000 people each. The ships dock in the morning between 5 and 7 AM. At 8 or 9 PM they and all their passengers depart leaving the town deserted until the next day.
Today and tomorrow are free days with no scheduled activities.

Teslin to Skagway

Yesterday we drove from Teslin Youkon to Skagway Alaska. The road has only existed since 1978. Prior to that travel to Skagway was by train or ship. Skagway is the 16th busiest tourist port in the world. When we arrived there were three cruise ships in port which equals 15,000 people in a town with a permanent population of 900.
The drive into Skagway comes down 3400 feet in 10 or 11 miles. That's a pretty steep (7% IN PLACES)grade. I had to watch it all the way down and keep the speed to 35 to 40 mph. About half way dow I started smelling brakes. I didn't know if they were my brakes or someone elses. About half way down they had the US Customs station. That stop allowed everyones brakes to cool off some. When we got to Skagway and the RV park it turned out that everyones brakes were hot and smelling. Going back up the grade on Saturday, Pat will drive the pickup and we will meet at the top of the grade and hook up.
It rained most of the night last night and it continues to rain this morning. We have a full day of activities today. Tomorrow and Friday are free days.
The pictures are, mountains, getting ice cream in Carcross, mountains on the way to Skagway.

Watson Lake to Telsin

Yesterdays drive was pretty quick and easy. It was the same mileage as Sunday but the road was a wide two lane, well maintained road. Along the way we spotted a moose and a sow grizzly bear. Spike said she might have cubs but we didn't spot them. At Teslin there was a small gift shop/museum that was interesting it has examples of many of the local animals, bears, beavers, wolves, fish, etc.
Today we drive to Skagway where we will spend 4 days. We have lots of activities planned and a couple of free days as well.

Dease Lake to Watson Lake Youkon

Yesterday we drove from Dease Lake to Watson Lake. We left around 10:00AM. We stopped at Jade City where they mine jade and ship all over the world (see picture). The scenery ranged from ordinary to beautiful. We saw one bear. In Watson Lake we saw the sign forest where people from all over the world have posted signs. Originally a soldier during WW2 posted a sign with the distance to his home town. Since then it has grown to an acre at least of signs. At 9:15 PM the sun was still 10 or 15 degrees above the horizon. We are gaining up to 30 minutes of daylight per day. The last picture is Watson Lake at 9:15PM.
We had our worst roads of the trip so far. The road was pretty narrow in some spots. The worst was a five mile section of washboard gravel just before Watson Lake. Watson Lake is above the 60th parallel only 30 degrees below the North Pole.

Hyder to Dease Lake BC

Today we left Hyder for Dease Lake, about 245 miles. I filled with gas in Stewart (near Hyder) and Calculated I got 8.4 MPG. Probably because we drove 50 and 55 all the way and the last 40 miles was down hill. We all (all 20 rigs) left at our own pace and met at Bell II (Bell two) about 100 miles up the road. three of the vehicles were searched reentering Canada at Stewart (really ridiculous since we had only gone about a mile into Alaska) Fortunately we weren't among the lucky ones that got searched. We saw about three bears and one moose on the way to Bell II but for some reason didn't see anything the rest of the day. Traffic is pretty light going south maybe 6 or 7 vehicles an hour. Last night in Hyder we had a halibut dinner paid for by the Tour.

To Hyder Alaska

We finally got going on the guided part of the tour yesterday. We drove 160 miles from Hazelton to Hyder. Lots of beautiful scenery, a glacier and a few bear sightings. We are in Hyder Alaska today. It is just a mile or so across the border from Canada. There is no, zero, zilch cell phone service here. Both the RV park and our fearless leader Spike have sattelite systems to provide internet access. I'm currently using the RV park access because I've had trouble on Spikes Sattelite service.
I'm trying to upload pictures but it has taken 10 minutes so far and they are still uploading (three pictures). Spike has a photo site for the tour at www.AlaskaRvTour.com.

Hazelton Bridge

To get from New Hazelton to Hazelton you cross a one lane bridge that spans a 2oo foot gorge. I have posted a few pictures (I'm doing this early so hopefully it wont bother anyone trying to use the Wi_fi).

Hagwilget Peak

The middle photo in the previous frame is Hagwilget Peak at 6811 feet.
We just finished our first of three orientation meetings. The tour leader,Spike, has a $14,000 satellite system in his motorhome and pays $220.00 per month to provide the tour with Wi-Fi. He mentioned at the meeting that if one or two people try to use Skype, download music or movies, or upload big pictures it will eat up all the bandwidth on his satellite system and no one else will be able to get to the internet. I'm not sure what I will do with my pictures now. We each have a VHF radio provided by the tour for communications among the group. We will get more info tomorrow and Wednesday.

Getting it Together

Today we will do laundry, and tonight have our orientation class. All the participants should be here by today (I think most of them are here). Driving the MH isn't too bad. I just have to watch downhill speeds and when I have the MH in cruise control it will downshift going down hills to maintain the set speed. Windy days are bad especially a crosswind. I don't know how it is possible but it always seems like we have a headwind, never a tailwind. As for gassing up, I have to be careful that I can pull in and pull out without getting stuck or hitting a gas pump. Saturday we pulled into a rest area only to find it was the only rest area in British Columbia without a drive through exit. It wasn't large enough turn around in and we can't back up with the toad attached. We had to unhook, back up, get turned around and rehook the toad. After that we were very careful of where we pulled into. It also takes some getting used to paying $200 to $250 every time we get gas(every 400 miles). We have seen a few deer so far, no moose, but Pat saw a bear on Saturday. I was driving and didn't see it.
P.S. I found out that if you double click on the pictures they will enlarge to almost full screen.

We made it to Hazelton

Hi All, we made it to Hazelton BC yesterday. Before we left St George we went to Walmart and bought a small heater. We also went to five stores looking for a spare tire for the motorhome. A few people suggested we buy one for the trip since the MH doesn’t have one. Today we met some of the other tour members. All seem nice. We will be here until Thursday morning. Rob called and wished Pat a Happy Mothers Day. Tomorrow we start “Orientation”.

Cooold

When I got up this morning (Pat wouldn't get up until I turned on the heater) it was 36 degrees inside and outside. That's an indication of how poorly theses MH's are insulated. It is also pretty cold for people from San Diego. When we checked in yesterday we were talking to the owner about the weather. He said he thought about turning on the heat at about -2 degrees. It can get down to -40 here. I told him in San Diego if it is below 67 when I get up I turn on the heat (he didn't believe me). It is bright and sunny so it should warm up soon. Today we are going to Walmart to buy a spare tire for the MH (it didn't come with a spare). A couple of people have told us it would be a good idea since we would probably pay triple the price in an emergency. We are also going to buy a small electric heater to run overnight and keep the temp around 50.
After we finish our erands we will head for Hazelton, about 250 miles away.

Cache Creek to Prince George BC

Today we traveled from Cache Creek to Prince George BC which is about 250 miles. I had been looking at the map and had an idea how far it was. I saws the first highway sign that said it was 400+. It took me awhile to realize the signs were in kilometers. All day long I was converting 50,60,90, and 100 kilometers per hour to miles per hour. (100 km/h is ~ 62 mph. We saw more pretty scenery. Lots of trees and rivers. It wasn't quite as green as Washington but pretty impressive. When we checked in to the RV park here the guy was telling us about the bears that visit the park. He said he hadn't seen them for a few days but there was a mom and two cubs that graze in the field. Later in the year they create problems with his garbage and actually frightened some guests.He had to use his "bear banger" to scare the bears away. Tomorrow we will head to Hazelton where the tour starts.

Cache Creek BC

The Wi-Fi is working so well at this RV park I thought I would post more pictures. Yesterday we had to go through Canadian customs. Being as honest as I could I told the officer we had 6 bottles of wine, no beer or other alcohol, no firearms, but I had a box of 38 caliber bullets that I had forgotten to remove after our last trip. He filled out a slip and told us to park the RV and go inside the building. Inside we talked to a female officer and repeated the story about the bullets. She asked me what other guns I had and I gave her a list. She asked where they were and I told her at home. She said she didn't believe that there was no gun in our RV and that if I told her at that time where it was we could work it out but if they searched the RV and found one I would be arrested. I told her go ahead and search ( but I was pretty nervous because I wasn't sure what was in the storage bins underneath). I took about 30 minutes for the search. They didn't find anything and I guess she was embarresed because another officer gave us our passports AND the box of bullets back. Pat ask them to keep the bullets as we would be going thru customs two or three times on the tour and didn't want the hassle but they said no. The good news was they were so focused on the bullets that we didn't get hasseled about the wine.

Hi again, Here are more pictures. We forgot to take the camera to Dianes and Davids so no pictures of them. Here are some flowers and the RV park. I'm redoing this one because the pictures didn't gert posted. We are in an RV park in Cache Creek BC tonight. We found out that the couple next to us in the park are also going on the same tour as we are. They are from Phoenix and will be the tailgunners on the tour. That means they are always the last ones in the caravan and have to wait for anyone that has mechanical trouble. They went on the tour ten years ago. We got a lot of info from them about the tour. We may get to Hazelton by Saturday (acouple of days early).

Hi again, Here are more pictures. We forgot to take the camera to Dianes and Davids so no pictures of them. Here are some flowers and the RV park.

Pictures from Bothell

Hi all, here are some pictures from Bothell. We had dinner with Marcia and Gloria Tuesday night. Wednesday we went ot Dianes for lunch. She's a great cook. Then we went to Davids and played cards for a couple of hours. Today we are leaving the country for Canada.