Trapper Creek, AK to Fairbanks, AK

Trapper Creek, AK to Fairbanks, AK

July 7 - 18, 2019

It's been a while since I've posted but we've either not had cell service or been busy.  This is going to be a very long post.

On Monday, July 8 we drove to just outside the Denali National Park entrance and stayed at the Denali Rainbow Village.  These people should be ashamed and embarrassed to charge what they do.  It was a dirt parking lot and the only thing that could be said for it was it was close to Denali and it was full hookups.  Good thing we had great neighbors!

On Tuesday, July 9 we drove 29 miles into Denali National Park to Teklanika Campground.  The only people that can go that far into the park are the people that stay at the campground.  Everyone else has to ride the bus.

It was pretty smokey for the first couple of days.  I took this picture from near our campsite.  It was taken at 10:09pm.

On Wednesday, July 10 we had reservations to ride the green park bus another 37 miles on a dirt road to Eielson Visitor Center.  The bus picked us up right outside the campground.  The smoke kept us from seeing how beautiful it really was, but we enjoyed it anyway.  In addition to the smoke it was very dusty because they hadn't had any rain lately.

We saw a Dall Sheep resting on the side of the mountain.  At first it looks like a patch of snow, but then you can tell it's a sheep.  (If you want to see the wildlife and beautiful scenery you are going to have to click on the pictures to open them.)

We stopped at Toklat River rest area and saw these dinosaur tracks.

In some areas the road was curvy and dropped straight down.  The driver slows down approaching the curve to make sure there's not another bus coming.  Then they swing so it looks like the bus is hanging over the side.  I didn't like that part very much.

We got to Eielson Visitor Center but couldn't see Denali.  This is what we were supposed to see...

and this is what we saw.

They had a display of these two bull moose that got their racks stuck together and couldn't get apart.  They eventually died that way.

We saw a young caribou...

and an older one...

two grizzly bears...

and a couple of Willow Ptarmigan.

The Ptarmigan is the Alaska state bird (no, the state bird is not the mosquito).  They are this color in the summer, and when the snow comes they turn white.

At the visitor center they have artwork they display of Denali.  This was a quilt that someone did.  It was very large and beautiful.

On Friday Bill and Lisa took the bus to Wonder Lake and encouraged us to do it on Saturday.  By then it had rained and the smoke had cleared.  It was so much more beautiful.

This is one of the green buses.

We got to see the very top of Denali through the clouds.  Look for the triangle in the center of the picture and then go up to the right.  You can see the top ridge.

This is Kodachrome Mountain without the smoke.

We saw a gyrfalcon, which is rarely seen.  Our bus driver said that's the first one she's seen this season.  Look on the top of the right rock.

We also saw three grizzly bears, a mama bear and two cubs.  This is one of the cubs...

and here is another cub and the mama.

We made it to Wonder Lake, 56 miles from our campground and mile 85 on the Park Road.

There were a lot of mosquitos there but it was beautiful.

Fireweed grows all over Alaska, starting to bloom the beginning of July.  It blooms from the bottom up, and when each blossom gets done blooming the flowers puff into seed.  They say once the last flowers puff into seed there is six weeks more of frost-free weather.  These are still blooming nicely.

When we stopped again at Toklat we saw these four Dall Sheep on the hillside.

We made it back to our campground stop and said goodbye to our very dirty green bus.

The people on the bus still had another hour before they got back to the park entrance.

On Sunday, July 14 we left Denali and drove to Fairbanks.  Here are a couple of pictures of the road out.

We are staying at River's Edge RV Park.

On Monday we made a quick grocery run and then had a very nice visit with Charlie and his wife Amy in their beautiful home.  Charlie and John were in the same high school class.

On Tuesday, July 16 we took the Arctic Circle Drive Adventure with Northern Alaska Tour Company.  We left at 6:30am and got back at 10:30pm.  It was a long ride on a bumpy dirt road, but we can now say we've been to the Arctic Circle.

We traveled the Steese Highway to the Elliott Highway to the Dalton Highway.  This is the road that the Ice Truckers use.

This was our bus.

We stopped and looked at the Alaska Pipeline.  The portions below ground are stable soil, but the portions above ground are permafrost.  Because the permafrost can/will sink if heated each of the pipes holding up the raised sections of pipeline contained a sealed tube of ammonia. As the permafrost below the pipeline warms, the ammonia absorbs the heat and rises to a radiator on top of each pipe. The ammonia is cooled by the outside air, condenses, and falls back to the bottom of the tube, where the process repeats.

We also stopped at Finger Mountain.  It's a rock formation created by the permafrost heating and cooling and pushing the earth up around it.  Finger Mountain was a landmark for the native peoples, as well as bush pilots.

We made it to the Arctic Circle and have our Arctic Circle  certificates!

On the way back we stopped and our tour guide, Caity, dug up a small piece of the permafrost.  It was cold and wet, and underneath in the hole it was frozen.  It was really hard to walk on the permafrost as it was very spongy.  I wasn't sure if where I was placing my foot was going to hold me or sink.

We have truly seen some amazing things and are so blessed.  The verse below is certainly true!

For those of you that stuck with the long post - thank you!  Hopefully I'll be able to put them out more often.

Roving on...

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.  Psalm 19:1