Aurora Borealis! (08-27-14)

To say that I am obsessed with the Northern Lights would be an exaggeration, but not much of one!  I have practiced with the new camera, and even had to get the hang of the tripod.  I’ve never used this one before. 

We left Whitehorse because the Northern Lights were supposed to be active and we were on the hunt for a dark place with a northern exposure.  We found it at Morley Lake.






There is a space science website that you can go to that tells you when the aurora is going to be active, so for the last week, (since its been dark enough at night) I’ve been checking the website and staying up many times till the wee hours, just waiting for the lights to show..  Most nights it has been too cloudy, but we finally got lucky!


As I was sitting, staring out the window in between playing a game on my phone at the lowest light level possible, I saw a green arch in the sky.  First I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, but when I realized it wasn’t, pandemonium ensued.  It must have been comical to see us try to get dressed and put shoes on in the dark. Finally we ran outside- without jackets.  I was too awestruck to go back in and get one, so I was frozen by the time we went back in.

I kept playing with the settings on the camera and I think I finally got the hang of it, somewhat.  It was still pretty cloudy, but the aurora was active for about 30 minutes, at about 2:00 AM.




It started as a ribbon across the sky.  We thought it would be on the northern horizon, but it was directly above us!











It would get bright, then fade away, then get bright in a different place.












 

I should have tried to move a little for this shot- it was hard to see in the dark and we didn’t want to put on any lights.

Sometimes it looked like a curtain, with greens and reddish purple.

It would change color from green to white

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  There were times when it would swirl around, and move from one area of the sky to another.
















The following day we moved about 150 miles, and checked the aurora forecast.  This time we prepared better- shoes were lined up and untied, ready to put on, jackets were right by the door ( I still  didn’t take the time to put mine on!) and we threw the cat in the bathroom so he couldn’t try to escape. Its really dark outside the cities. We spent a lot of time the night before, making sure he didn’t try to get out while we wrestled the camera equipment out. So, we were ready, just in case.


I didn’t even have time to doze off this time.  The lights showed up at 11:40!  thought we were lucky to see them so well the first time, but the display the second night was  mind boggling! We were on a ridge, with great visibility, and finally, there were very few clouds in the sky.  I did a little better job taking the pictures this time!













 





 

Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada (08-25-14)

The road to Whitehorse was a long one, so we had to stop for sustenance along the way.  For $10 you can take home the world’s biggest, but not the world’s best, cinnamon roll.  They aren’t kidding when they say it feeds 4. 

Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory, and a pretty good sized city. The first thing we set out to do is go hiking. 










Unlike downstream, the Yukon River in this area is a beautiful blue. We took the 4 mile trail to the ghost town of Canyon City.

Before the railroad came, when goods were brought up the Yukon for distribution, a tramway was built here because of the rapids. Cargo was taken off one ship, ported by land on the tramway,  and put on a different ship. The railroad spelled the death of Canyon City, and all that’s left is the interpretative displays.

One of the “must do” things in Whitehorse is the Frantic Follies.  This is an old time Vaudeville type act, set in the late 1800s.  It was rowdy and fun.  They encourage some audience participation and after teasing a couple from Oklahoma City for a bit, every time they needed a town to be the butt of a joke- Oklahoma City was it!  At one point they seriously announced the “classical portion” of the program, saying they had the “sympathy orchestra from Oklahoma City visiting” and they all played a tune on their saws.

While exploring the rest of the town, we came upon the fish ladder.  The salmon in Whitehorse have the longest migration of any salmon in the world- all the way from the Bering Sea, almost 2000 miles away.

When the river was dammed in the late 1950s, the salmon had no way to make it upstream any further, so a fish ladder was built along the shore.  The salmon slowly make their way up this ladder to their spawning grounds.









We probably could have found a few more things to occupy us in Whitehorse, but we had a reason that we wanted to be outside of town on the day we left…….more on that in the next post.

Dawson City (08-23-14)

On the shores of the mighty Yukon sits Dawson City, Canada. Dawson was at the heart of the Klondike gold rush.






    
 
In 1896, when Skookum Jim and his pals discovered gold in Bonanza Creek, they set off a massive stampede of would be miners who flocked to this area to strike it rich.

By 1904, heavy equipment such as dredges, were being used to strip the river of it’s gold.  Bonanza Creek turned out to be one of the richest creeks in one of the richest gold fields in the world.

Although large dredges are no longer used, gold mining operations, both large and small, are still the main focus of this town.











The sides of the streets are piled high with tailings, for miles on end.

The town itself has retained it’s old world feel, with colorful storefronts, dirt roads and elevated boardwalks.

Random thought:
I have decided to invest in some weather predicting hardware.  The weather forecasters up here are just as accurate as their counterparts further south.  This summer has been one of the wettest on record, and we’ve spent a lot of time trying to reach areas where the sun was supposed to be shining, only to find more gray skies and downpours- so I am going to start using a Weather Rock.


  If it’s wet- its raining,  if it’s white-it’s snowing, if it’s warm-its sunny, if it’s gone-it’s windy.

Exit- Stage Right! (08-22-14)

Someone once told me that when the Fire-weed stops blooming in Alaska- summer is over.  Well, folks, the Fire-weed has stopped blooming and we have started our trek south.

Our road of choice is the Klondike Trail, which is actually 3 roads-  the Taylor Highway in Alaska, Top of the World Highway in the Yukon, and the Klondike Highway in the Yukon. 

 This route has a reputation- as both a beautiful, scenic byway, and a dangerous, slippery road. Indeed, 2 motor homes have “fallen off” the Klondike Trail  this summer.

The Taylor portion was the spookiest for me.  Much of the road is dirt, and it has soft shoulders with sheer drop offs.  Paul was confident and the truck handled fine, but the passenger admits to some white knuckle moments.

Its not a road that anyone takes when they are in a rush nowadays, for sure.  We took two days to drive it, spending one night near the Canadian border.

There are very few towns along the way, but the few that are here are definitely full of character!


 The town of Chicken has a population of about 200, mostly gold miners.  The story goes that the original inhabitants really wanted to name the town after the state bird- the Ptarmigan, but no one knew how to spell it, so they settled on Chicken. 

There are 3 business downtown, as well as an overgrown chicken.  The signposts point out distances from such places as Clucker’s Hall, Illinois,  and Chicken Scratch, NC.

The historic post office has been open since 1903, and receives mail twice a week.  There is no phone service in Chicken and the water and electricity are generated locally.

Once we crossed the border, the view got even more incredible.

 

The road was in pretty good condition and an easy drive.

This is why they call it Top of the World. 

You can see the road skirting along the tops of the ridges for miles.

We did drive through clouds at one point, but we only got rained on a little bit so the road didn’t get too slippery.

Eventually we landed where the Klondike Trail has been bringing people for over a century- Dawson City.

Denali Highway Revisited (08-19-14)

After our adventure to the Arctic, we stopped overnight in Fairbanks to regroup.  Regrouping consisted of doing laundry, rinsing the grime off the rig, and picking up my new glasses, which had been delivered to the RV park.



While we were busy taking care of business, Dozer was outside trying to climb into some nearby bushes.  That's not unusual for him.  He loves to explore, so I thought nothing of it, but took him inside for dinner a short time later.

 
After chatting with my neighbor for a few minutes, he told me he was getting a kick out of a mommy mole who was quickly relocating her babies by carrying them one at time in her mouth, from one bush to another. Of course, the bush she was evacuating was the one Dozer had been exploring!  So cute to watch and I am so glad he didn’t catch them!



Once our chores were accomplished we decided that we needed to go in search of a few things. What were we searching for?

1) Denali.  We’re here, and didn’t really see the mountain so we decided that one more shot at it would be worth it.

2) The View- We had already driven down Denali Highway in the rain and fog.  With improved weather in the forecast, we were hoping to actually see the mountains that line the highway.

3) The Aurora Borealis- The aurora forecast is saying that we might be able to see them for the next few nights- IF we have clear skies.

So, here’s how we did on our quest:

1) Denali- Nope, sad to say, after spending more than 2 weeks within sight of Mt. McKinley, we just got one glimpse of it one day.

2) The View-Yup!   We were a little nervous since the clouds were thicker than we hoped and it kept raining on us, but that just created numerous rainbows for us.

We spent a great day driving down this dirt road again.

The mountain views were outstanding and made up for not seeing “the big one”.

We spent the night along this road and Dozer got to get out and explore. The weather was perfect.

We even got to watch a Bald Eagle go about his business.

This is where we spent the night.  We both agree that its our favorite spot so far.










3) The Northern Lights (aurora borealis)- Yes!  This is still ongoing.  We saw the lights for about 5 minutes one night- not enough time to even get a camera.  It was mostly cloudy so it wasn't the best display, and just whetted our appetite.  But at least we saw them!



Every night that the weather might cooperate, we make sure the window is facing north (where the lights would appear). One night that looked particularly promising, we actually slept on the dinette so we could watch out the window.  The lights did NOT show up that night.

I did take the opportunity to play with the settings on my new camera, since I was awake most of the night.  Not many stars were visible. mostly just the big dipper.

We’ll keep trying to see them as we make our way out of Alaska and through Canada.

(We are in Canada now, so internet will be spotty for a while)