RV Home Yet?

Following the gold rush trail north

Though it was overcast, driving the Klondike Highway from Skagway to Whitehorse was still beautiful. I've driven it many times because we shopped in Whitehorse when working in Skagway and each time marvel at the stunning scenery.

The officer at Canadian Customs asked a few questions. A new one, after seeing our Sioux Falls, S.D. address, was, "Do you have a home there or are you full-time RVers?" We later read at the Boomer BB that recently a Canadian was turned back by U.S. Customs from entering the U.S. because they were full-time RVers and had no fixed address. They had to rent an apartment in order to cross into the U.S. What I've noticed over the years is that, when the U.S. cracks down on certain things, Canadian customs reacts in kind. So maybe that's why we were asked - and maybe he gets a lot of full-time RVers who reside in S.D. so that's why he asked. We've never been asked that before.

From the border crossing to Carcross, there are gorgeous lakes and mountains and virtually no sign of  houses or development other than the remains of an old mine and a few tiny cabins. Scenery like this in the U.S. would be either developed or have to be in a state or national park. This photo showing Bove Island in Windy Arm would be even prettier had it been sunny, but that's the way it goes. On both trips, the day was overcast.

 Carcross has the world's smallest desert, so they say. It is tiny. Hard to imagine a desert in the far north, but there it is. It was originally covered by a glacial lake. Strong winds from Lake Bennett have constantly worked this sand, making it difficult for vegetation to become established.

We have cinamon buns on the mind. I was on the lookout for a small shop north of Carcross with a big sign, "Get Your Buns in Here!" It had been for sale back in 1999 so I expected it to be gone. We drove right on by, but it was still there. Sorry, Lloyd. No report.

Emerald Lake is another awesome sight. Again, on a sunny day, the emerald green of the water shows up much better. The beautiful hue of green comes from "marl," or calcium carbonate from dissolving limestone and shells of diatoms.

We were also lucky enough to see another black bear. This one wanted to cross the road and was sniffing the air to determine if it was safe.

Next stop, Whitehorse. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak

Photos by George and Jaimie Bruzenak

The competition: Dyea and the Chilkoot Trail

Skagway was a hub of activity during the gold rush and with the advent of stops by cruise ships, once again is a bustling town. Its neighbor Dyea, where the Chilkoot Trail started, was equally busy during the gold rush, but now only a few rotting timbers remain.

The Chilkoot trail was a trail used by the Tlingit natives for centuries as a trade route to the interior. It was eight miles shorter than the White Pass Trail out of Skagway, but steeper. It was called the poor man's trail. Horses could be used on the White Pass, but people carried their own gear on the Chilkoot. They could hire native packers, but many carried their own outfit the whole way.

 A stampeder would have to make about 40 trips up and down the trail. That was because the Canadian Mounties required each person to bring a year's supply of food. That amounted to about 2000 pounds a piece. The policy saved many lives, but it made getting to Dawson City a much harder ordeal. Thousands poured over both trails, built boats and rafts at Lake Bennett, and then, when the ice broke up, floated down the Yukon River to Dawson City.

So why is Dyea no more? An avalanche on April 3, 1898 killed somewhere between 50 and 75 stampeders and packers. People were afraid to use the Chilkoot Trail and used the White Pass Trail out of Skagway instead. When the White Pass & Yukon Route narrow gauge railway was completed - after the gold rush was over - travelers chose that route and Dyea faded away.

Today you can follow a walking trail through the historic townsite. This doorway has been propped up, otherwise a few piles of timber are all that remain. Dyea has long tidal flats that stampeders had to haul their supplies through to the town. The photo shows the remains of the long piers that were built out into the mud flats. The  difference between extreme high and low tides is around 26 inches so at low tide, that translated to a long walk to shore if the tide was out - about a mile. The crew on ships that brought the stampeders would drop off their belongings into the mud if they could not hire a flat bottomed boat or packer to haul it in for them. Now the land has risen due to glacial isostacy, or glacial rebound. The land is about 8 inches higher now than it was during the gold rush. The water came much closer to the townsite then, but you can still get the idea.

When working in Skagway, we camphosted out in Dyea. Our macerator came in handy those two summers! The irises were in bloom and the chocolate lillies. And, we even saw a bear scamper across the road. When working here, we knew bears were here - campers would report seeing them walk through the campground - but I never saw a one. So this was a treat.

From here, we will follow the trail to Dawson City and gold only we'll take the Klondike Highway. It's incredible to think of the journey the stampeders took with no Gortex® or fleece or sturdy boots. What a time that must have been. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak  Photos by George Bruzenak

Gold rush town of Skagway

Having worked in Skagway in 1998 and 1999, I wanted to show George the town and see what had changed. We'd had lovely weather to that point, but not the best as we headed down Klondike Highway South. In fact, while there we had cold, wind and drizzle, though half the day the clouds lifted and we could walk around. We also had one sunny morning for a hike.

These days, there are more cruise ships coming into port. Three cruise ships at a time was a big day when I worked there. Now three days a week there are four huge cruise ships! Ugh... makes the streets crowded, as George's photo shows - actually our first afternoon it was even more packed than this - especially when you consider less than 900 people live here year round. It was almost deserted after about 5 or 6 o'clock when the streets cleared.

One other thing my Skagway friend Barb told me; there are something like 30-32 jewelry shops in town! During the gold rush, they joked about the shops mining the miners. Now they hope to mine the cruise ship passengers!

The Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park has a new film they produced. While it doesn't go into some of the interesting details that their old film did, it gives a good conceptual view of what happened. We also went to the visitor center for a showing of "Charlie Chaplin and the Gold Rush." This silent film was a hoot to watch and beyond silly, but it was good entertainment.

We did hike up to Lower Dewey Lake and around it. This hike goes about 3/4 mile up the side of the hill in a series of switchbacks. You can get a nice view of the town in a couple of places and then arrive at a lovely lake. We hiked the trail around it, though I must warn you, about half the back section is a scramble over rocks. Mostly locals and seasonal workers hike this trail as a way to escape the madness in town.

The weather was too iffy to do the other hike I had hoped we could do. That was the train/Laughton Glacier hike. You take the morning train to the trail head, hike, then meet the afternoon train on its way back for a pickup to go home.

It was fun to come back to Skagway. It is a neat town. The huge rhubarb are still there and the historic buildings. A couple of additional historic buildings have been donated to the park to be restored and preserved. On days when four large cruise ships are in port, you can get a feel for the hustle bustle during the gold rush when 10,000 or more stampeders on any given day crowded the streets, headed to the Klondike. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak

Is this really camping?

Here's an interesting article about campgrounds adding services and amenities titled, "At Some Campgrounds, 'Roughing It' Means No Expresso." Some do food delivery - and yes- some do have expresso bars. At others you can have the use of a golf cart. Of course all of this comes with a price. For the campground owner, it can be an easy way to increase the bottom line. And, it does appeal to families, in particular.

“We’re campers in name only at this point,” says one guest at the Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay KOA. And, staying at a campground like this is still cheaper than going to a hotel with similar amenities.

Campgrounds like these are not in our future but they do provide a nice contrast and do appeal to some. These campground owners have found a profitable niche and, I say, more power to them. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak

World's largest weather vane?

Whitehorse claims this is one of the world's largest weather vanes. You won't get an argument from me! This is a Douglas DC-3, known also as the "Gooney Bird." This was the workhorse of the 1930s and nearly all commercial aircraft were DC-3s. At the end of the 1980s, more than 1000 were still flying.

This plane has a length of 64 feet, 5.5 inches and a wingspan of 95 feet. In 981, after four years of restoration work, CF-CPY was raised on a pedestal. It is perfectly balanced so moves with the wind, which George and I can verify. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak Photo by George Bruzenak

Wildflowers along the way

I wanted to share some photos of wildflowers we've seen on this trip. The shot of the highway, with yellow flowers along the sides, shows what we saw in the Rockies - miles of dandelions. We saw two small clusters of tiny yellow moccasin or yellow lady slippers at the provincial park at Muncho Lake.

 

Lupin have been more common lately - these were taken in Dyea. The photos of wild iris, chocolate lily and the scarlet columbine were also taken at Dyea.

The Yukon beardtongue in the Penstemon family was taken in Whitehorse. The wild roses were taken in Whitehorse too, though we've seen them in many places.

We haven't taken any photos of fireweed, though it is pretty common since Watson Lake. That is the Yukon Territory flower. The ditty goes, "When the fireweed turns to cotton, summer is long forgotten." We'll keep an eye on it. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak

Photos by George Bruzenak

AK Highway - Ft Nelson to Jake's Corner

The Alaska Highway from Ft. Nelson isn't quite as good as the road from Dawson Creek to Ft Nelson, though not bad. Sections have always had construction when we’ve driven it, but that is par for the course in the north. We had to stop for a bit here where they are constructing a new bridge after Fort Nelson and there was about a 20 mile stretch of gravel between Watson Lake and Teslin. We encounterd some other bridge work and a few other small construction projects as well. One the whole, it wasn't too bad. RVs need to take their time and drive defensively on gravel stretches.

Some sections of construction are long lasting and even have signals. You might see creative warnings about frost heaves - flags or small stop signs stuck in a bucket. Often your warning is wavy lines, especially early in the season.

While maybe not as smooth as the first leg, the drive from Ft Nelson to Watson Lake is probably the prettiest - so far! As our post, "Wildlife mecca" showed, we saw a lot of wildlife along here.

Muncho Lake is pictureseque. We arrived early enough to score a campsite right on the lake at Strawberry Flat campground in the provincial park. The lake has a beautiful aqua hue with snow-topped mountains framing the valley. 

Liard Hot Springs was outstanding. George likes very hot  water and I don't so Liard is ideal. The end near the source is practically scalding; below the water flowing out of the pond is like a bathtub. You can situate yourself wherever is pleasant to you or let hot water bombard your back at the spillway. George was up for the challenge of wading to near the source to add a rock to the stack. I wasn't fast enough with a photo to get him putting it on top, but he wouldn't give a repeat performance!

We did make it through the wildfire area without a problem, though parts were still smoldering and smokey.

Of course we visited the sign forest in Watson Lake. George found the Roving Rods sign and added our names in permanent black marker.

In Teslin we visited the George Johnston Museum and the Tlingit Heritage Center. I love the Tlingit designs. George Johnson shipped a car to Teslin in 1928 and built 4 miles of road to drive it on. As a photographer, he captured daily life of his people. The film about his life included a portion on building the Alaska Highway through their area. No one had told them about it. Some people had been away working their traplines, returning to find their homes gone- bulldozed to make way for the road. Many natives lost their lives to disease that came with the military. Army personnel were allowed to hunt in off hours and dragged bears out of hibernation, slaughtering hundreds of them.

 At Jake's Corner, we took the cutoff to Carcross to the Klondike Highway South to visit Skagway. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak

Photos by George and Jaimie Bruzenak

RVers' quest

I always enjoy hearing about the themes for RV travel. Friends who love history have followed many historic trails like the Lewis and Clark and Oregon trails and visited all the missions in California. Other friends wanted to watch a baseball game in each stadium.

Ken and Happy Jackson have a map on their RV to fill in, but before they add the sticker, they must first walk 10 kilometers in a state or Canadian province. They have their map almost filled in. This year they want to walk their 10k in capital cities. Read more about their quest in the Nipawin Journal. Their goal not only gives them a direction for travel but helps keep them fit too. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak

Wildlife mecca

The highway between Ft Nelson and Watson Lake took us through gorgeous country. The scenery is absolutely stunning. Construction was minimal so delays and really rough road weren't bad. After reaching Stone Mountain Provincial Park we saw lots of wildlife.

First we spotted a lone caribou. Later we saw a group. These, I believe, are called mountain caribou. I  had never realized there were several subspecies of caribou.

Along the road in the provincial park was a pond with two beaver lodges and a dam. No sign of the occupants, but fun to see their huge houses.

At Stone Mountain and then right before Muncho Lake, we saw stone sheep. These are a subspecies of thinhorn sheep - their horns are thinner and more pointed than bighorn sheep. They are attracted to the minerals along the road and can often be found there.

A herd of about 250 wood buffalo live in the forest in the Muskwa-Kechika area, a 4.4 million hectacres managed area, which includes wilderness and several provincial parks. It is managed to sustain one of North America’s most significant large mammal predator-prey systems. After Muncho Lake we saw several groups of males, including some who hung out just north of Liard Hot Springs. In spite of all the wilderness they have to roam, they seem to prefer the verge or expanse of cleared area bordering the sides of the highway with easy access to forest. Signs warn of buffalo but more than a dozen are killed on the highway each year by truckers and motorists.

George spotted a moose feeding in the warm water runoff from the hot springs. Mostly hidden by  trees, you can make out that it is a moose. Marmots lived under the boardwalk leading to the upper spring. They duck under the boardwalk at any disturbance.

We did see two more bears after we left Liard. A cub was feeding along the edge of the woods. No mother in sight, but I’m sure she was keeping an eye on her youngster. A few miles down the road another black bear chomped clumps of green grass as he walked along the verge.

On his previous trip, George was told that in the Yukon the First Nation people can hunt at any time to maintain their traditional way of life. However, this translates into fewer wildlife to be seen along the road in Yukon Territory than in B.C.

It is always a thrill to see animals in the wild for me. In fact, as girls, my sister and I were thrilled to see cows - and we grew up in the country with dairies nearby! We have been fortunate to see such a variety and have them close enough to photograph - from a safe distance. These were taken with George's Nikon D70, a digital Nikon that can use a variety of lens. Someday maybe he'll get one of those giant lens, which allows for fantastic wildlife shots. For now this works, and the real thrill is seeing them - the photo is frosting on the cake. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak

Photos by George and Jaimie Bruzenak (depending on which side of the road the animal was on!)

Tires and Wheels...again!

The saga continues. We started this trip to Alaska on six new tires on our GMC 3500 dually, and after a short, event-filled trip from Pine, AZ to Winslow, AZ, four new tires on the trailer.

Somewhere near Prince George, British Columbia, I hit a pot-hole while going around a construction vehicle. We were in a construction zone, and the speed limit was 30 KM/Hr. Slow. But the jolt from that pothole belied the slow travel.

A day later I noticed that the front, curb-side tire on the trailer was slowly losing air. Couple of pounds a day. Not too much of a worry as I had an air pump as part of the tool bag. But, each day it would lose a couple of pounds.

While parked overnight in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, the rate of loss rose and our tire monitoring system flashed a warning. I took the tire to a shop and there discovered that the aluminum rim had a small fracture that was causing the leak. Nothing so simple as a nail or defective valve stem.

After some discussion with the grizzled veteran of the north who ran the shop, I decided to use that rim as the spare and had a tube installed. If we need the spare at least it will have air.

The danger of running with a known defective aluminum rim is extreme. The rim could fail at any time and the results would not be pretty. Aluminum looks pretty, and is possibly lighter than steel. But according to the veteran, aluminum hubs have a life expectancy of four to five years, less in extreme conditions. That fits my experience with these (installed in 2004), and a previous failure on a F350 we had previously.

We travel with this trailer and are now considering replacing all aluminum rims with steel. We’ll decide that after this trip is over. Hopefully we won’t have another failure.

So, a word to the wise. If you have a tire losing air slowly, make sure you get it serviced. It may only be a small nail or a bad valve stem, then again it might be something more serious.

Another word to the wise. Either check your air pressure daily, or install tire pressure monitors. We have Doran Pressure-Pro (no commercial intended) monitors on all tires and they give us some peace of mind, considering our continuing saga of “Tires and Wheels.”

Photo of the Happy Camper by Jaimie Bruzenak, mini-rant by George