Wild Places and Open Spaces

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July 23rd – 29th 2006

On July 23 we arrived at Pat and Denis Fox’s house in Fairbanks, Alaska – Pat Fox is my aunt’s cousin. We were treated royally and for the first time in months had civilized accomodations. Pat was a gracious host and an excellent cook. Denis is retired and a good storyteller and we whiled a lot of time away listening intently to his stories. They made us feel completely at home and literally gave us the run of their house. They also helped make it possible to travel up the Dalton Highway – also known as the haul road – by letting us store some of our belongings in their garage to make room for a full sized spare to fit in our car. So after purchasing a spare tire and rim ($60 US) we began our 670km journey up the Dalton Highway.

The Dalton Highway traverses three different watersheds – the Pacific, the Bering and the Arctic – over it’s length. It’s mostly dirt/gravel with approximately 1/4 paved. It follows the Alaska Pipeline all the way to Prudhoe Bay – right on the Arctic Ocean – where the oilfields are which was the catalyst for the creation of the pipeline and “haul road”.
Our thoughts were only trained on making the Arctic Circle, but when we reached that goal without tire failure we thought we would attempt Coldfoot, which was only 100km further. Besides, camping at the Arctic Circle was currently prohibited due to aggressive wolf behaviour in the area!

It got late – only in time, not sunlight – so we stopped at a pullout just short of our destination and camped for free. In the morning we drove a short distance to Coldfoot and filled up our gas tank (gas is few and far between up this road), and then visited the brand new Arctic Interagency visitor center. It was there we were urged by a friendly interpretor to continue our journey northward and assured us the road was reasonably good.

A quick huddle between the 3 of us found that we were all eager to continue. Heck, we had a spare tire and it was only 385 more kilometers. So once we were finished at the visitor center – which was very nice with friendly staff I must add – we were once again headed north now with our sights on the Arctic Ocean!

On the way we took a recommended side trip to Wiseman. A tiny little ex-mining town with a handful of die-hard northerners who are able to eke out a living on this meager land much akin to Keno City in the Yukon. We met a guy there who was nice enough to give us a bunch of lettuce he grew in what he called “the most northern garden in Alaska” – and he might be right. Kristin enjoyed Wiseman so much she bought a T-shirt as a souvenir from there (her first souvenir for herself on our journey thus far).
With 380kms to go we pass the farthest north spruce tree on the highway. We’re not sure how they arrived at this conclusion as there are definitely more and livelier trees north of this one?! But rest assured, it is one of the most northern as once you pass through the Brooks Range onto what is called the North Slope, it is truly treeless barrenlands and was full of Caribou, Grizzlies and a plethora of Arctic birds and waterfoul. It’s a spectacular sight looking miles in every direction of smooth, velvety looking carpeted landscape of open tundra.

We opted to camp about 60km outside of Deadhorse (aka Prudhoe Bay) as it was getting late. So, we found a spot up on a hill to experience the non-setting sun which occurs up here from June 10th to August 10th. I say experience because practically just after we positioned our tent it clouded over and stayed that way! Oh well, we know the sun never set and we were there and that is good enough.

In the morning we made our way to Deadhorse. Deadhorse is an industry town with no permanent residents. It is a bleak place which would be terribly cold in the winter (not to mention dark) in this bleakest of barren lands – the largest oil field in the US – but we managed to find some beautiful wildlife amongst the oil wells and fabrication shops intermittent with tundra lakes. There was a good sized grizzly in town while we were in town and we were fortunate enough to see snow buntings, long-tailed jaegers, tundra swans, brant geese and arctic loons just to name a few (the only ones I could recognize!).

Even as close as one comes to the Arctic Ocean in Deadhorse, one cannot dip one’s feet in the ocean until one pays the oil company $37.00 US per person to drive one on a “guided tour” through the oil fields to the gravel beach. So, we did of course – how can’t you? Anyway, it was worth it, albeit unceremonious. Erik went for a swim (yes, a swim), Kris and I dipped our feet, we collected a few rocks, took a few photos and were quickly headed southbound – mission accomplished. This would be the northermost point on our journey – to give you an idea how far north we have travelled, if you drove 2700km straight north of Oshawa you would be as far north as we were. That would put you around the middle of Baffin Island!

We saw two huge caribou herds on our way back to ‘civilization’ (over 200 caribou at once) and managed the trip without incident. It was definitely a highlight in our adventure.

We arrived back at the Fox’s to pick up our gear which was stored in their garage, and they were kind enough to let us stay with them yet another night and get cleaned up. In the morning we needed to continue on our journey so we said our good-byes and in parting were given 6 tins of smoked sockeye salmon which Denis caught, smoked and canned himself! Absolutely succulent! (we later sacrificed one of the tins to an Aussie friend we would meet…)They also gave us a Milepost – a thick magazine with descriptions down to each mile of every road in all of Alaska and the Yukon which is a “bible” for all travellers in these parts and has certainly come in handy. Thanks for everything Foxes….we’ll always have fond memories of our visit with you both! The only thing we deeply regret is not getting a picture of us all together! We cannot believe we forgot to do this!

On our way back south from Fairbanks we were to reap one more benefit from meeting the Foxes. They gave us directions to the ‘Fish Camp’ where the Fox’s friends Mike and Jacque Tinker own some property on the Copper River – famous for it’s sockeye salmon runs. At the camp Mike and Denis run a fishwheel to catch sockeyes. There they filet them, vacuum pack them or filet them and smoke them and can them. Either way, you can’t get them any fresher!

Mike is a very interesting person who has spent years as a hunting guide up in the Brooks Range and North Slopes. So needless to say, he has incredible stories and a great deal of wilderness wisdom. Anticipating our arrival, Mike presented us with a nice big fresh sockeye salmon fillet that he had caught earlier in the day. We began salivating immediately, seasoned up the fish and baked it in a portable oven – aka BBQ – and in seconds it was consumed.

That night we drank a few wobbly pops and chatted with Mike around the fire. Erik actually had a pretty good buzz going and entertained us after Mike went to bed. It began to rain so Mike had offered us someone’s camper to sleep in which was luxury and we stayed warm and dry. We just want to say thanks Mike and Jacque Tinker, and whoever the camper owners are; we had a great time and it was a pleasure to meet you both.

July 20th – 24th 2006

Our trip with Erik would be Northward bound to start off with. On the way to Denali State Park we joked with Erik that he had brought horseshoes with him, because the weather had (momentarily) cleared up. This was terrific because as soon as Mount McKinley came in view we were able to see the entire mountain/summit totally unobstructed. We stopped at a pull off at the side of the road and were mesmerized by it’s grandeur. Apparently we were very lucky to be able to view its entirity, because one Alaskan there said he hadn’t seen its peak for 2 years due to cloud cover!

Mount McKinley (aka Denali) is North America’s highest peak at 20,320ft (fyi Mt Logan is Canada’s highest peak at 19,551ft in Kluane NP in the Yukon, but one cannot see it unless one flies in – it is surrounded by ice fields….we didn’t have the cash to fly in…).
By the time we left the mountain view, it had started to cloud over again, so our timing had been perfect. It was raining by the time we found our campsite (so much for Erik’s horseshoes) but we weren’t letting it get us down. We set up, ate, and headed for a 5 mile walk in the rain. Somehow on this journey Kristin lost her favorite hat….she just has not been the same since!

Next AM we packed up our wet tent and drove up the road to a trailhead to hike. A moderate uphill climb for about 6 miles where a ton of ground squirrels posed for Erik to take pics. They were the only animals out in view that day…the rest must have been hiding in shelters/dens to get out of the crummy weather.
After our hike we drove to the famous Denali National Park where we were lucky enough to get one of the last tent sites available. There is one road that goes into Denali NP, and public vehicles are only allowed to drive up to mile marker 15. After this, if one wants to venture into the park to camp, or just to visit for the day, you have to buy a seat on the bus. This really limits the number of people that go into Denali, and has kept the park wild. The road itself in the park is dirt/gravel, and most people probably wouldn’t want to drive it anyways. We had reserved a spot on the camper bus and camping at Wonder Lake – a 5.5hr drive into the park – for the next day. We retired that night to our usual game of Skip Bo that we had got Erik addicted to. Our entertainment was heightened by Erik as he had a little bit to drink and he became a happy/talkative/funny lush.
Our camper bus was to leave at 4pm, so we visited the Denali Visitor Centre, did a short hike, then caught the bus. Our bus was scheduled to have ~20 people on it, but instead we ended up with only 8, so it was a nice small group. The bus driver, who initially appeared very gruff, turned out to be excellent – she stopped anytime anyone asked and for all wildlife viewings.

For about 2 miles shortly after we started, there were signs erected along the road stating, ‘caution area closed’. There had been a fresh caribou kill and grizzlies had been seen feeding on it…needless to say, no one was allowed out at this point. However, 3 guys on the bus were destined to go backcountry in this area (the backcountry is set up as a quadrant system – only so many people can be in a quadrant at a time…again keeping Denali wild). So, they waited a little ways after the signs and we bid them all good luck as they jumped out the back of the bus.

The bus ride was incredible! We saw grizzlies, our first Dall Sheep, Bald Eagles, wolf pups playing at a river, Northern Hawk Owls, Caribou, not to mention beautiful scenery – tundra, mountains and Mt McKinley.
Upon arrival at Wonder Lake around 10pm, we ate dinner and once again sat in awe of McKinley which the sunset had turned a beautiful pink colour.

Next AM, Erik’s horseshoes were back again because we arose to another unobstructed view of the mountain. We hiked a trail that took us closer to McKinley, and it was hard to take our eyes off the Mtn the whole way there. We crossed a few creeks, and much to Jim and Erik’s horror…they saw grayling and didn’t have their fishing rods with them! We sat and had apple slices with peanut butter (a nice snack if you haven’t tried it), then headed back to camp to catch the bus. We ended up having to run about the last km or so back in order to catch our bus in time….we made it, but just. The bus ride out was packed – we crammed ourselves and our backpacks in the back seats hoping our ‘eau de camping’ didn’t offend the day trippers. We were again lucky enough to see caribou, bears, moose, and various birds on the way out.

Denali National Park is an incredible park – if you can get past the ridiculous confusion between ARAMARK who runs the buses, and the National Park itself – we would definetly go back and spend more time in the backcountry…..maybe someday again.

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