NorCal damage: Race to the Finish

The NorCal “problem” tally, not counting sickness (Marcia is now recovering), comes to: Cam – 1 flat tire (replaced), 1 GFI ckt out (fixed), two leaks (one still leaking), radio antenna nearly off (fixed), many screws worked loose (mostly fixed); Larry – windshield to be replaced after trip, cracked hitch (replaced); Barry – 1 flat tire (replaced), another tire worn and replaced, kitchen faucet leak in cabinets (fixed), windshield to be replaced after trip, refrig electric not working (switched to gas), and another electric problem; Mike – very minor ding near trailer door, a worn tire (replaced).   (Mike will later feel compelled to replace three tires before going home.)

Mike was very lucky on his worn tire.  We arrived at camp today and he found one trailer tire worn to metal; if it blew it would likely have wiped out his drain fittings and caused body damage.  Barry is easily in the lead for number of problems in NorCal, but Mike came up fast today in terms of potential severity of a problem.

I’ve been carrying two spare tire skins, old tires from the replacement I did just before we left home.  Mike had one mounted to use as a spare, and Lloyd (from another unit) just claimed the other for the same purpose.  Hopefully in the time left I won’t need either, and I don’t have to figure out how to get rid of the old tires when I get home. 

This camp, named of Baby Nugget, was substituted yesterday by JJ and is closing down for the season on our departure.  JJ’s intended camp closed early without notification.  Can you imagine having to find a camp for 37 rigs on short or no notice?  JJ and Sandy did a great job solving this problem.

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.

We head north to start south

We are now starting our strange wandering journey to the end of the caravan.

NorCal departs Haines at sea level at 9:30 AM heading NW, a leisurely 171 miles.  But it is confusing because in a half hour we leave Alaska and enter British Columbia, a different time zone and different country; in another half hour we cross into the Yukon and proceed over a 3400 foot summit in dense fog to the Haines Junction and head east to the Otter Falls Cutoff where we camp.  It is a one-night-stand and the El Camino Unit is preparing a chili dinner at 5 PM for the group and it takes 10 minutes of a drivers meeting to figure out if this is Alaska time or Yukon time.  For reasons too complex to cover, we go with Alaska time although we will be in the Yukon.

After dinner we will set our clocks so we get up tomorrow on Yukon time and continue east, dropping briefly into British Columbia, then back to the Yukon and end up at Watson Lake YT.  We will then plunge south into BC, only to re-enter Alaska and a different time zone for Hyder AK, then back to BC and its time zone and south to Prince Rupert BC for the end of the caravan.  I told you this is complicated.

The reader cannot be expected to recognize it, but from Haines to Watson Lake repeats in the opposite direction roads previously traveled by our caravan.  So we are making progress toward home.  I think.

Haines Junction YT

Chili, prepared by Patty and her El Camino crew.

Otter Falls YT

Haines grizzlies, and fly fishermen

Better weather but very cold.  Marcia lost ground on the Juneau trip and takes it easy today, hoping to get better.  I’m hoping this thing skips over me, but that seems unlikely when you spend days and nights in such closed spaces.

After a light supper, I go maybe 9 miles from Haines to the Chilkoot River inlet to see if I can find bears.

The road along the river is barely a lane each way, and the pullouts are full of people also looking for bears.  I see a cluster of people and a ranger truck and find a place to park.  As I walk toward the people I find them all walking toward me, laughing and looking over their shoulders, and someone is telling them to go stand next to a car.  A man asks the driver if they – maybe 15 of them – can get in.

I notice a grizzly I photographed earlier has emerged from the river and is walking toward us.  Then it turns and goes up the hill and disappears.  

I wait with the others and finally go back to the warmth of my car to see what happens.  In about two minutes a bus pulls up, and everyone gets on, leaving me alone. 

I leave but find a few other individuals with huge lenses watching the river at a different spot, where there is a 2^nd grizzly.  I park and watch him for a while and head home, wondering about the concentration of the fly fishermen going about their game paying no attention.

Juneau AK and the Mendenhall Glacier

A cold, wet day as we take a catamaran ferry from Haines to Juneau, and from there take a tour bus to the Mendenhall glacier.

The catamaran provides great views and travels fast – over 30 MPH – but the drizzle today pretty well obscures the views on this long journey.

Our catamaran drops us off about 14 miles from town and a charter bus delivers us the rest of the way.  Juneau cannot be reached except by boat or plane.

Juneau is as I remember it from 10 years ago.  A downtown cruise ship dock (2 ships in port today), a good walking area, some genuine local shops, and some jewelry shops in bed with the cruise lines.  On the waterfront is the same seaplane operation that took us on a great trip to the Taku Glacier Lodge on our visit with our sons Andrew and Kevin.

We have little time before going to the glacier.  Most people, on the recommendation of the bus driver, choose to have lunch at The Hanger, on the waterfront.  Our waiter is a graduate student and full-time resident with an extremely good memory; without notes he keeps our six orders straight, and does the kindness of prorating the price of a pitcher of Alaskan Amber across the drinkers.

Marcia goes shopping with Larry and Martha and I choose to speed-walk the town, investigating the state capitol, the governor’s mansion, a museum, and the waterfront.  This is an expensive town but I think I could live here with pleasure for a summer.

Our bus takes us to the Mendenhall Glacier but the weather limits us to the visitor center.  I’m not sure even in good weather that you can get close enough to touch the glacier.  Maybe we’ve become glacier snobs.  The Mendenhall adds little to our experience.

The trip back by catamaran is in a light rain with limited visibility.  We scoot by several rock reefs marked with towers but no visible warning lights.  Our captain points out a famous reef from early in the last century; a Canadian “Princess” ship grounded on it and the ship’s captain declined rescue choosing to wait for the next high tide.  The weather changed and the ship broke up, with over 300 deaths.

Sea planes to Taku Lodge.

Resting in Juneau, with a friend.

Alaska State Capitol building 

Sara's home as governor.  Beats the California governor's mansion.

Mendenhall Glacier, from the visitor center.