|
Wayne Lake
Hi from the North Hinterlands, it’s been a while and about time for an update from you know who………………….
Willie Concert. I arrived MN early June and went to see Willie at a nearby casino shortly thereafter, an outdoor venue of about 50,000 folks. It was a great night, warm weather and a full moon rising during the event. Charlie Daniels got the crowd going and put on a pretty good show as usual. Willie and Family got on stage about 10 pm opening with Whisky River, as always. It took about three more songs for his vocal cords to warm up and provide the kind of melodies that we all expect to hear. He sang a new release; ‘I didn’t wake up dead again today’ which is the kind of lyrics I have always enjoyed. What a testimony to keep on keepin’ on as Willie and the entire band are really gettin’ up there with Willie at 84, Lil’ Sister Bobbie on the ivories, 86, Paul English (percussion and enforcer), about 85 (I think) and the youngster Mickey Rafael on harmonica, a mere 69 years old. Even with a slow start, I enjoyed the show.
‘On the Road Again’. Pee Wee’s summer ‘17 adventure takes us to the Land of the Mid-Night Sun for a little ‘Northern Exposure’.
Itinery. We headed to AK on June 26th for about 17 days returning July 13th. The objective this trip was to follow the Klondike gold rush trails from Skagway, AK to Dawson City, YT, stay in parks and see as much as we could of this beautiful area. We picked up a 22’ Mini Winnie in Anchorage, headed East on the Glen to Alaska Highways around the Wrangel and Elias Ranges (Mt. Logan 19,000+’) through the Yukon Territory to Haines AK, put the RV on the AK Marine Highway ferry to Skagway, then headed North up along the Chilkoot Trail toward White Horse and then along the Yukon River to the confluence with the Klondike River at Dawson City where the main gold finds (nuggets in the creeks, not flakes) were located such as the Discovery Claim on nearby Bonanza Creek. From Dawson City we took the free ferry (gravel landings on both sides) across from the East to West side of the Yukon River (8-10 knot current) and then take the ‘Top of the World Highway’ (64 degree latitude North) through Chicken AK and back to civilization. R/T with side trips 2,200+ miles).
Jack London. At 23 years old he also had the fever and went to the Klondike where he built his cabin and prospected near Bonanza Creek (found and authenticated in the 1980’s). When he returned home a couple of years later (without much gold to speak of) he was inspired to write and he penned Call of the Wild and White Fang (both classic novels and sort of a series of two) which were about life in the Yukon and his apparent love of animals. There is a Jack London museum in Dawson City.
Camp Sites. We mostly stayed in AK state/Yukon territorial recreational sites with limited facilities as the RV was self-contained and I really don’t care for most commercial RV parks too much. Besides the parks are really nice and of course camp fires (free wood in YT), lake/creek front sometimes and quiet, densely wooded areas are great on a cool evening.
Terrain and Scenery. Close your eyes and imagine, Colorado on steroids, ‘nuff said. In a single word, wild flowers, aspens, dense spruce forests, vast landscapes with vistas of glacier moraine graded valleys from long ago. Mountain lakes 20-80 miles long and 10-20 miles wide and glacier fed creeks and rivers. You can really get use to the quiet in the woods and lack of people around and traffic on the highways.
Wild Life. Best viewing is along the highways between 10 pm and 5 am but we did not travel at night, even though it never got really dark except between 1-4 am for most of the trip. However, we did see large game such as moose, wolf, bear, lot’s of small game and birds or all sorts like bald eagle and trumpeter swans.
Brief History of the Yukon Gold Rush. It all happened pretty quick and was over before most could get there to find their fortune. Two First Nation guys (Skookum Joe and Taglish Mike) and two white men (Carmack and Henderson) found the first gold on Bonanza Creek, a claim was filed in August 1896. News and a shipment of gold arrived in San Francisco July 1897 and the rush was on.
Bonanza Creek is just South of the Klondike and East of the Yukon rivers near the site of Dawson City. At the time, there were only natives and the two white men and their native wives in the area and within about a year, Dawson City grew to over 30,000 people, mostly Americans all looking to get rich from the new found gold.
The Canada Territorial government required each man to carry one year’s supply or about one ton of food and supplies (about $500 worth at the time) and they had to get the stuff to the area, nearly 600 miles North of Skagway, some of the most challenging mountains and weather (20-40’ of snow/year and temp ranging from -80F to +90F) in North America.
Several trails were routed but most took passage to Haines, Skagway or Dyea (a tidal flat port nearby) from San Francisco or Seattle and then up the trails 33 miles to a 3,300’ elevation pass (Chilkoot) across the mountains and on to water ways such as Bennet Lake and on down the Yukon River. Most had never built boats but fell trees and built sailing scows or rafts to share the load of 3-4 men. Most turned around or died before reaching the gold fields. They say about 100,000 attempted the trip and less than half made it.
One canyon called Dead Horse claimed 3,000 pack animals over two short years (horses like Texans do not tolerate cold weather). There are some great photos on the internet of the steady stream of men headed up the snow covered pass as they had to make several trips to get the ton of stuff up the mountain. A single avalanche in April 1898 buried/killed 67 men. It was all over by 1899 and most ended up with nothing as those that found gold would lose it to whisky, gambling and ladies of the evening. What a way to go, huh? Dawson City was said to have streets of gold but only a few ended up with any of it.
Today’s locals of the Yukon and Alaska. Imagine Texans on Steroids. Big, hairy, tattooed, pierced, Carhart/rubber boot/camo wearing, swearing, beer drinkin’, huntin’/fishin’, pick up truck drivin’, etc and then there’s the guys! If it don’t feed you or keep you warm, you don’t need it. No need for BMW’s or clothes with logos.
Highway Conditions. For the most part the roads were good but frost heaves cause major discontinuities. There is always construction in the limited timeframe summer months to repair damage. The top of the world highway is mostly gravel, wash board, dusty, no shoulder or guard rails and few vehicles for over 100 miles. You just have to take it slow in these areas but what the heck, you are on vacation. We did see a wolf on this lonesome stretch of gravel road close up as he ambled down the road toward us, stopped and looked to see if we had hand-outs and went on his way when we did not feed him/her.
Trekkers and Modes of Transport. Not much traffic on the highways in most places after you get away from Anchorage AK and White Horse YT, sometimes 40-100 miles between gas stations. Limited cell and internet service, no roadside phones so you are on your own for the most part. The road warriors were mostly tourists/travelers from all over Canada and the US with some Europeans driving everything from European made Arctic Expedition AWD, high clearance vehicles, Freightliners and pickups pulling 5th wheels, Class A, B, and C Motorhomes, 4x4 pickups with slide in campers, cars and trucks pulling travel trailers, lots of touring motorcycles usually in groups carrying everything they could including spare tires and even touring bicycles or as the grizzly bears refer to them as ‘Meals on Wheels’.
Rating. All in all, the rating based on all of our trips is about an 8.5 out of 10 with only deductions due to varying weather, a few bad road conditions and bugs (black flies and ever present mosquitos), like the circus it may be something you only do once.
If you Decide to Go. Get yourself a Mile Post magazine, available from Amazon for $20, it is invaluable.
Next Trip to Alaska. I think I will try to take the entire in-land passage on the Alaska Marine Highway from Bellingham WA to as far as I can afford with some onshore stops along the way. The cruise ships have onshore facilities but I am simply not cruise ship material and the ferries travel the same route but during the daytime so you can see the onshore sights (food is lousy but they do have cabins with heads) and you get to meet locals and not just more blue hairs from the hood.
WTL Travel Philosophy. “It is better to travel and get lost than to never travel at all and, All round trips are good trips.”
Vayous con dios amigos, try to stay cool this summer, hope to see you in the fall, wtl
PS. There is a total eclipse of the sun on August 21st with best viewing stretching across North America from GA East coast to the Pacific NW. Google of course has all the details if you interested.
|
.jpg)
.jpg)
