Monday, September 3, 2012

What’s different about Alaska and the Yukon


The immensity of Alaska and the Yukon is hard to fathom, even for people from a large state like California.  Alaskans like to point out that if you split Alaska in two, Texas would be our third largest state.  The population density is very low in Alaska and the Yukon.  The Yukon likes to point out that they have more moose or caribou than people.  The second largest town in the Yukon has a population of a little over 2000.

There is really no paved highway north of Fairbanks, other than the haul road to Prudhoe Bay.  Our Barrow guide talked about their dependence on supply barges, and the fact that Barrow and Prudhoe are maybe 22 hours apart by ice road.  Ice road?  Not terms we normally use.  There are many places up here that can only be reached by plane or boat, most notably the Alaskan capital of Juneau.

Probably only 4 or 5 cities across Alaska or the Yukon will ever have a rush hour traffic jam, and even then it is nothing we would consider a traffic jam.  These same cities might have fast food chains, a WalMart, Sam’s Club, or Costco.  Carrs/Safeway is pretty common, but most of the time the markets seem locally owned.  Diesel is readily available.  Fuel prices are higher in the Yukon than Alaska, probably because of taxes, and maybe also because in Alaska the oil companies may go easy on the locals since so much oil comes from Alaska.  Food is expensive in both places.

You may drive 50-100 miles or more on a highway without seeing anything retail or a place to get gas or eat.  Café and restaurant fare would look  familiar to Americans, and often the ingredients are very familiar (hamburger patties, cole slaw, buns, etc. from Costco).  Otter Falls, shown in the previous post, is typical of a large number of supply and rest stops.

Alaska and the Yukon are both incredibly beautiful, friendly, and vista filled.  I love them both.

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