Toronto part 2

Back in downtown Toronto for the night. It's still sunny and it's still over 90F and humid!

I'll fill in the train journey details later....it's been a long day....

Canadian Rockies

Most of the day was spent alongside the Canadian Rockies. Although the most spectacular sights would have been in the night it was still a spectacular day. With an hour to get off the train in the small town of Jasper to break up the confinement of the train.

The back drop was a mixture of evergreen forests and great slabs of twisted and folded limestone cliffs. Whilst the European Alps are stunning to see a range of mountains that you know runs for thousands of miles to the north and south of you is something to behold.

The Canadian

The Canadian is the newish name for the train between Vancouver and Toronto. It used to be called the Trans Canadian when it was operated by the Canadian Pacific Railroad. It takes 4 nights and 3 days to travel across Canada through some of the most amazing scenery in the world. The best thing is that there is the occasional bit of wifi in the towns and the bit of phone signal too. Other than that it's just the journey.

The original 1950's aluminium clad rolling stock is still used albeit with an inside bit of re-decoration. Very comfortable and great fun. This is still one of the great rail journeys of the world.

The cabin is cosy but once the mini bar was set up I was good to go....

Last day in Vancouver

Had a calm couple of days being shown round the things that Vancouver gets up to in the weekend. Having lunch, hanging out in the park and generally enjoying the last weekend in August. When the sun goes behind a cloud there is a distinct chill in the air and everyone knows that autumn is on the way. What a lovely city this is. The mountains of sulphur sitting on the dick waiting for a boat are still as big and yellow as before.

Vancouver Part 2

What a difference a three hour flight makes. Anchorage to Vancouver and I went from the rough last frontier to uber west coast civilisation. Within an hour of getting off the plane I was having a beer at the Jericho Tennis Club over looking English Bay as the sun was setting.

The sun is out and it getting warm so poor old Vancouver gets the full benefit of my skinny white knees again. There are more startling sights on the high street. It was drag night at the club on the corner last night and Vancouver's finest were out in force!

I'm not sure if you would have fit that at Chilkoot Charlie's in Anchorage. So, have a couple of days out and about sightseeing before boarding the train to Toronto on Sunday evening.

Talkeetna and Hatcher's Pass

The weather was sunny and this was the last chance to get sight of Mount Denali. I drove the 80 miles north to Talkeetna which, if the weather is with you, gets some of the best views of the Mountain. The weather was with me....which was nice! Great views of Denali but the town itself was very touristy and full of marauding coach parties eating or buying anything in site. If you stood still for any time someone would either try and find the price tag on your or start licking their lips. The coaches would have come down from the lodges at Denali Park and it would be been a good hour since breakfast and with all that waddling about to do!

I headed south again back to Palmer and then up to the gold mine museum at Hatcher's Pass. There was an amazing drive up through the mountains to the museum which is an old gold mine. The buildings have been left to decay and collapse which is a novel approach to curating but it works. When the mooching was done I worked my way back down the hill stopping every now and again to pan for gold in the cold mountain streams. No luck on the gold front but the whole day was under a big blue sky.

The bonus of the day was the Wasilla transport museum which had, planes, trains, automobiles, telephones?, skidoos, tractors (called Oliver), chainsaws and outboard engines!

Last night in Alaska...

5 weeks has flown by! I just caught up with a traveller I met in Skagway which was a month ago. I got to thinking that I haven't done much in my time here. In fact what have I done? I hope I haven't wasted my time. Better jot it down before I forget:

I've been to:
Juneau
Anchorage
Fairbanks
Denali
Homer
Seward
and Palmer

I've hiked up to and on to a glacier
I've seen mount Denali.
I've seen - Grizzly bears, black bears, dall sheep, Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, Humpback whales, Beluga Whales, Arctic ground squirrels, red squirrels, salmon spawning, a wolf, a coyote, moose, caribou and lots of ravens and jays.
I've seen the northern lights 3 times.
Sat in hot springs in the sun!
Driven a thousand odd miles.
Panned for gold.
Drunk beer.
Eaten home smoked salmon bellies.
Traveled on the Alaska Marine Highway.
Seen an illuminated hula hoop display in a bar.
Made loads of friends on the way.
Camped in one of the biggest national parks in the world.
Slept in a very cold tippi.
Avoided unnecessary contact with bears.
Visited the worlds first hammer museum.

Actually that's not bad at all....

Camping tonight...

I was all set to camp and found a great little site in Palmer for $10 a night. Bargain! There were a few RVs in the lot but no tents. It was about 3pm when I was thinking about setting up and a caravan was just getting ready to leave.

Before I set up the chap in the van came over and asked if I was tent camping. Why yes I am. Did I have a gun? Err! Not on me, why? We've had 4 black bears a day through the camp site. That's why there are no tents and we're moving on

I am currently watching junk tv in a trash motel but it's bear free!

Wasilla and Palmer

Two days left in Alaska and its hit and run time! Leaving Seward behind after a quiet day yesterday taking in the Seward sealife centre which cost me $20 to see a single seal, some grumpy cod and a couple of sulky salmon.
The coffee shops of Seward took a beating as the rain came down and after a strenuous day I went for an early night.

Just after getting tucked up in my cabin/garden shed there was a knock on the door. "We're going salmon snagging do you want to come?"

Oh ok! All six of us at the hostel piled into the back of the hostel owners boyfriend's camper van with waders, fishing rods and 2 dogs. After a short drive down the road and a much longer one along a dirt track we all jumped out in the dark to wade across the estuary to get to the salt water channel. We fished for an hour in the dark and snagged some small dog salmon which we put back and then piled back in the camper. Lucky me got the leaky waders and wet feet!

It's a longish drive from Seward to Anchorage with a stop to see the Portage Glacier and a couple of stops to see Beluga whales along Turnagsin Arm. This stretch of water was named Turnagain but Captain Cook as he had to turn the ship around again when he got to the end.

I ended up in the little town of Palmer about 40 miles north of Anchorage. I called in to Wasilla to see Sarah Palin but she was'nt home which was a shame.

Seward

My road trip finds me in the small town of Seward on the other side of the Kenai peninsular to Homer. Apparently it has one of the most spectacular settings of any Alaskan city. Apparently because the rain and cloud are following me so I can't see a thing!!

There is the odd glimpse of mountain but then the cloud closes in. The sealift centre was populated with one seal and some sulky looking cod. Apart from the weather it's a great little town and the hostel is full of good people to chat to. Will have to see what the weather is doing before deciding to stay another day or push off.

Well, here I am....

I'm on a camp site at the tip of the Kenai Peninsular which was a stunning but long 6 hour drive south from Anchorage. As a tourist in a hire car I stood out a mile just by obeying the speed limit.

The view from the loo is stunning! Across the other side of the fjord are mountains and glaciers. It only costs $10 a night but the loo is outside (long drop) and the shower is a kettle and watering can. I kid you not!

Last day in Fairbanks

Another bright, sunny and warm day which just touched the low eighties this afternoon. Making the most of the car I wanted to see the start of the legendary Dalton haul road that runs up to the Arctic Ocean.

Setting off early to beat the rush hour I drove for an hour or so on the paved Elliott Highway which leads in to the Dalton. The drive yesterday on the Steese Highway was a breeze with hardly any traffic. Quite different today as I hadn't accounted for the lorries heading north.

I hadn't made the connection that the mega trucks hauling loads up to Prudhoe Bay on the Dalton would be using the Elliott to get to the start of the Dalton! After about 40 miles I realised that I was no match for the monsters. The highway is single carriageway with limited safe overtaking points, 6 inch wide longitudinal cracks, large areas of subsidence and lorries with huge double trailers overtaking whenever they wanted to at 80 miles an hour.

I called it quits a couple of miles later and ran the gauntlet of the lorries heading south. The empty ones being faster and extra bouncy with the fuel tankers fully loaded being even more menacing.

Recovering with coffee and a bun the afternoon would be devoted to the University of Anchorage Museum of the North and a trip to the Cheena hot springs. Quite why I wanted to sit in a boiling hot pool of mineral rich, sulphur smelling water in 80 degree heat I'm not sure! According to the sign in the wall I was detoxed, relaxed and will have silky smooth skin!

Turned our nice again....

There is a little post script to the arrival at the B and B. It was getting late and Fairbanks pretty much closes at 9.30pm so I dropped my bags and headed for Big Daddy's Bar-B-Q. Reeling slightly from the Big Daddy burger and a couple of pints of Alaskan Amber I opened the porch door to the B and B. The dog ran up to me barking. Come to think of it I don't remember a dog, the sofa has changed and where are all the tables and chairs laid up ready for breakfast? CRAP! I'm in the wrong house!

It's amazing how much effect where you are staying has on how you feel about a town. I didn't like the hostel when I first stayed in Fairbanks but where I ended this time round is great and I now really like Fairbanks! Fickle!

Picking up the hire car I headed for the Alaskan Prospectors store and got my gold pan. A short drive north up the Steese Highway brings you to the Felix Pedro memorial. This was the chap that discovered gold in Fairbanks and you can pan for gold in the river opposite the memorial.

So I joined the other prospectors and got loads of mosquito bites and loads of sun burn but no gold.

To cheer myself up I drove to the nearby town of North Pole where it is Christmas every day! There are year round Christmas shops and the town receives all the letters addressed to Father Christmas at the North Pole. For younger viewers of this blog, the letters are then passed onto Santa personally.

So I had a coffee and fudge cake on the Christmas store with carols playing while out side it was sunny and the temperature had just topped 80 Fahrenheit.

PS: All and I mean ALL roadsigns on the way up the Steese Highway today had been shot with either a shot gun or small bore rifle!

Fairbanks part 2

What a day it was yesterday! All was good until arrival in Fairbanks. It took so long to collect my bags from the train that all the cabs had gone so had to call and had a half hour wait.

The taxi driver took us the long way round and overcharged us which I pointed out to the cabbie. That didn't go down too well! She wasn't going to get a tip. The cab far was $14.60 and I made her give me the odd 40 cents in change too!

I was going in the same direction as a Japanese girl at the station so we shared the cab to the hostel. This hostel was a change from the one I had originally booked as I felt really uncomfortable there. Being a gentleman I let the girl check in first. When it came to my turn, the hostel was full. Although I'd booked a room,that didn't seem to matter!! However, the place was a bit of a dive so wasn't overly happy about staying there. It turns out the landlady's family had shown up without notice and nicked all the rooms!

I put on my 'Im not happy about this, what are you going to do about it face'. That didn't get much of a response so it tried my 'Its 9pm and I'm on my own in a strange city and have no where to stay' face which did the trick.

The landlady called her friend John who had a room and called a cab for me. So I'm very happily settled in the "Ah! Rose Marie!" bed and breakfast being looked after by John the widow of Rose Marie. I'm getting bed and breakfast in a fantastically eccentric little place with an equally eccentric host and get my washing done too. Happy days......

Last day in Denali

This was the last full day in Denali so after a late breakfast there was a free visit to the dog sled kennels. The dogs are used to patrol the 2 million acres of the reserve that is declared 'wilderness' in the winter months where no mechanised vehicles are permitted. You could stroke the Alaskan Huskies which were the most beautiful and friendly dogs.

The dogs are bred for strength rather than the racing dogs which are bred for speed and are much bigger than other huskies.

Bit a late decision to embark on a hike in the middle of the afternoon but it's lift here till late so it would be a problem finishing early evening. Mount Healy towers over the Nenanna Canyon and there was a decent hike up about half way to the 'overlook'. It was beautifully sunny and quite a few people on the trail to keep the beard away. It was well worth the 2 hours or so slog. There was a very tempting ridge up to the summit of Mount Healy but it was getting on and sensible hiker took over deciding I needed enough in the legs to get safely back.

There was a very entertaining Arctic Ground Squirel who loved bring photographed on the top.
On the train to Fairbanks tomorrow for another poke around up there. I fancy a bit more gold panning.....

Mile 66

To see the best of the park you can either take a themed tour or just ride the green shuttle buses. You by a ticket to various points on the park road and can get on and off buses until you reach the point you paid for.

Now if you see wildlife you can ye stop and the driver will stop for photos. It can take sometime to get anywhere. 3 hours to travel 66 miles. What you get to see is a staggering landscape, skulls, antlers, caribou, moose, golden eagles and a grizzly sow teaching here cubs to dig for roots.

Not bad for a days work......

National Park

With such a big park to play in the only way to get around is to go on a tour or use the green 'school' buses that take you in to the interior and drop you off at a visitor centre or in the middle of nowhere!! It's up to you.....

No sign of mount Denali but I've seen moose, caribou and loads of arctic ground squirrels.

Photo of my new tent below along with a couple of views from the bit of hiking yesterday.