12 - Homer, AK to Fairbanks, AK

with visits to Denali National Park, Alaskaland and University of Alaska Museum

Monday, July 20, 1998 (continued)

About noon I headed back out on the road. I stopped in town for some supplies and to see the Pratt Museum - very good wildlife displays and info on the Exxon Valdez oil spill - WORTH SEEING. They have a remote camera mounted on Gull Island out in Kachemak Bay that relays live pictures to a monitor in the museum.

The day had started out cloudy and blustery and the afternoon turned into showers. I made camp at the Lower Skilak Lake Kenai National Wildlife Refuge campground .

Tuesday, July 21, 1998

The morning got started with a Black Bear having a ball in the campground across the road from me. The people had left their ice chests out and done everything except put out a sign "Bear, come visit us". One or two of the party were sleeping in the bed of their pickup and didn't hear the bear a few feet away when it dumped out an ice chest. The bear was having a fine feast when the sleepers woke up and quickly moved into the cab of the truck.

People who had used my campsite earlier had left some fresh eggs on the table. Several had been broken on the ground. I had thought the night before that this was a good invitation to a bear but it was the only available campsite. The bear stayed busy in the other campsite but I decided not to tempt fate so I packed up and left - in case the bear liked eggs too <grin>.

I drove into Soldotna and had my Suburban serviced at a GMC dealer as the weather continued to be drippy.

Headed out toward Wasilla and Anchorage about 11 a.m. Stopped at the Russian River Ferry and thanks to some other people who pointed them out, got to see some Dall Sheep high on the nearby slopes with my binoculars - too far away to photograph but there were several dozen of them.

The Russian River is a very popular salmon fishing area - the Forest Service campground is tightly controlled with an entrance station.

Continued on around the Turnagain Arm toward Anchorage - stopped at the Potter Marsh Wildlife Viewing area and saw some Chinook (King) Salmon that were spawning, some Dolly Varden that were interested in Salmon eggs that floated by, and some Coho or Pink Salmon that had just showed up today. The volunteer naturalist wasn't sure which they were. Wrong time of year to see many birds, etc.

Drove on through Anchorage to Wasilla and camped at the Nancy Lake Alaska State campground.

Wednesday, July 22, 1998

It was kind of a sprinkly morning and I slept in an extra hour. The sun tried to come out but the rain soon won out as I headed up the Parks Highway toward Denali National Park. Took the side road to Talkeetna where most airborne trips into Denali originate.

Back on the Parks Highway, near Trapper Creek, saw several wheel chair racers on the highway. Each was escorted by a car with a flashing yellow light. I don't know if they were just training or if they were doing a timed race (each participant timed). It was raining pretty hard at times.

Soon entered Denali State Park and stopped at several viewpoints overlooking the Alaska Range - saw the tip of the Ruth Glacier and a few high snow capped peaks but Denali and much else was hidden in the clouds. Binoculars really helped to see things - to separate the clouds from the snowy mountains.

Stopped for the night at Denali View North Alaska State Park which is basically a big parking lot with superb views of the Alaska Range and of Denali when not hidden by clouds.

I had driven on beyond the campground a ways and then decided that maybe the weather would clear tonight or in the morning for fine views -- so I backtracked to the campground for the night.

Thursday, July 23, 1998

It rained most of the night and was raining in the morning. Decided to take a layover day and hope the weather would get better. It rained most of the time all day.

Talked with an interesting person from Germany who was on his fourth visit to Alaska. He had a camper van all fixed up and had been touring all over North and Central America most of the time for eleven years. He apparently had been a seaman of some kind and had to quit because of a disability. He was on a very tight budget but enjoying himself. He understood and spoke English fairly well - probably in his early or mid 50's. He commented on how the prices of things like campgrounds, etc. had gone up since his first visit - and how things had changed - more people, etc. Said this would probably be his last visit to Alaska.

Friday, July 24, 1998

Rained all night and was rainy in the morning. Took me a while to decide what to do - finally got back on the road about 11 a.m. The rain slowly stopped as I proceeded north. The Broad Pass was very scenic - even with the clouds.

The highway crosses the Alaska Railroad from time to time and the crossings all have electric gates and warning lights. Out in the wide open spaces, the signals are powered by batteries. I notice that both photo electric cells and small windmills were used to keep the batteries charged. Usually two windmills with blades about ten inches or so. An example of how they have to deal with the long winter darkness with no sunlight. In the major towns you see more street lights than you would normally expect - also to deal with the winter darkness.

Arrived at Denali National Park a little after noon and stopped at the Visitor Center. Gathered information and drove the thirteen miles or so out to Savage River - as far as you can drive a private car for most people. The weather was still pretty poor so I decided to skip Denali for now and come back after seeing some other places - extra miles to drive - but, I have the time.

Drove on to Fairbanks and got a room at the Motel 8. Cost twice a much as typical outside of this tourist trap <grin> but not much choice.

Saturday, July 25, 1998

Spend some time seeing things in and around Fairbanks today. Went downtown to mail some film and stayed to watch most of their "Golden Days Parade" - started out with a bunch of antique cars, then included a variety of things from stock car racers, Fire Engines, dancing Bawdy Girls escorted by the "Sheriff", a bunch of political candidates for Governor and the Senate (Fairbanks is second largest town in Alaska), Veterans, all kinds of other organizations. After about an hour and a half I got bored and left.

Visited Alaskaland (It was originally named Pioneer Park and that name was restored in 2001) - free entry City Park with a "Pioneer Village" made up of log cabins moved from various places around town - all had some sort of "tourist trap" business in them but was nice.

Most of the Alaskaland stuff was manned by teenagers who were VERY polite, thanked me for visiting, etc.

Alaskaland is the home of the paddlewheel boat - S. S. Nenana a National Historic Landmark. It's been restored some but lacks the engines and has few furnishings - not as interesting as others I've seen. UPDATE 2015 - an on-going restoration is in progress. More information on the S. S. Nenana

The S.S. Nenana is the last of a dying breed, a wooden hulled sternwheeler steamer. At 237 ft. long, 42 ft. wide and 22,000 square feet of deck space, with a draw of just six inches, she is the second largest wooden vessel in the world today.

Built from designs by W.C. Nickham, she was launched in 1934 from Nenana, Alaska. This 500-ton ship traveled the Yukon River carrying passengers and freight to villages. When fully loaded, she carried a crew of 32, plus 35 passengers and 300 tons of freight. She also pushed as many as six barges loaded with merchandise.

The five-deck Nenana made the 774-mile voyage from Nenana to Marshall, Alaska, every two weeks during her five-month season, traveling 24 hours a day. In the early fall or in poor weather when it was dark, a huge searchlight mounted on the steamship made forward progress possible.

Her boilers were woodfired. Top speed was 17 mph downstream and 10 mph upstream. When under full steam, the boiler consumed a cord and a half of firewood every hour. Cutters along the river supplied wood, often using dogsleds to build stockpiles.

About 200 cords of wood were carried on the cargo deck and 16 cords piled on the bow for ballast. In 1948, the boilers were converted to oil. The Nenana was finally pushed out of the freight and passenger business in 1955 by faster, more economical methods of transportation.

Thirty-two years later, the Fairbanks Historical Preservation Foundation embarked on a mission to restore the Nenana. Workers used original chalk marks on deck floors and the recollections of the Nenana's last captain, pilot and purser to rebuild the sternwheeler as closely to its original design as possible.

In her heyday, the Nenana was the last and most luxurious of the paddlewheelers plying the rivers of Alaska and the Yukon. Once again, mahogany paneling and brass hardware gleam in the observation lounge. The original wheel has been restored and turns at the touch of a hand.

The ship's original bell is heard on deck again and telegraph/radio transmissions are possible. Velvet curtains and fresh white linen tablecloths once again grace her lovely interior. It took both public and private funds and thousands of hours of dedicated volunteer work before the six year, $1.8 million project was completed in 1993.

Went through their Pioneer Air Museum that had some interesting stuff and their Pioneer Museum which was mostly old stuff like I've seen elsewhere.

Visited the University of Alaska Museum of the North which is OUTSTANDING and well worth seeing. Lots of displays on natives, wildlife, white man history, etc.

The University of Alaska Museum of the North is a vital component of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the only research and teaching museum in Alaska.

The museum’s research collections – 2.2 million artifacts and specimens – represent millions of years of biological diversity and thousands of years of cultural traditions in the North.

The collections are organized into 10 disciplines (archaeology, birds, documentary film, earth sciences, ethnology/history, fine arts, fishes/marine invertebrates, insects, mammals, and plants) and serve as a valuable resource for research on climate change, genetics, contaminants and other issues facing Alaska and the circumpolar North.

The museum is also the premier repository for artifacts and specimens collected on public lands in Alaska and a leader in northern natural and cultural history research.

Stopped for the night at the Borough (like our counties) Chena Lake Recreation Area campground.