We left Fairbanks about 5:30 Friday eveing, which, of ocurse, is no hardship, since it NEVER GETS DARK anymore. We camped about 3 hours up the haul road at a pull-off by a little pond.
The only problem was that it was FREEZING, WINDY AND RAINING. Yuck! it was really cold, but we were smart this time, our second camping trip with Fred, and we put him in the car for his camping sleep. It was so rainy and windy in the morning that we did not even stay for breakfast. I wanted to pack up and go home, but luckily David said we should continue and we did, on to Wiseman. We had a wonderful afternoon and evening on the Yukon in Wiseman after a stop for breakfast at one of the two places on the whole of the haul road and the obligatory stop at the Arctic Circle.
Please note that this is May 23!Along the way we saw this moose. Notice the antler nubbins. probably the closest we wille ver get to a male moose!
Here we are in Wiseman. As you can see, they do have a sense of humor.
We decided not to stay overnight a second night in Wiseman, but to press on up the haul road and into the Brooks Range, the farthest north mountain range in the world. What a good idea! this was probably the most beautiful trip we have taken since coming to AK!
We had to go past the shadalar Shelf, which is a flat plain ringed by mountains
and then past the last spruce tree in the Brooks.
. And then over Adigan Pass into the Arctic tundra. Then we started seeing the wildlife! Ground squirres, caribou, a grizzly bear in the road, Dahl sheep and moose.
Unbelievably, there is a fairly unmarked BLM rustic campground right by Galbreith Lake, that lots of "in-the-know" folks seem to know about. Luckily, a Wiseman resident told us about it and we found it, unmarked though it was, and had the place to ourselves until about 10:30 pm which made it quite lovely. Rushing water, bright sun, blue skies, lots of snow and enough ground squirrels to keep poor Fred from sleeping!
We cannot wait to go back!
Memories, memories! So much & so different. We had few of the opportunies you guys have- being in the "banana belt", it wasn't so easy to get to the interior. We never even heard of the Iditorod race. It was not commercialized. But when did the ice go? They were betting on that even when we were there.
ReplyDeleteWe are well, keeping busy, but I'm not sure with what. While you guys were writing about the winter solstice, we missed it. In fact we had two summer soltices in 2008. We spent the second one near the Straits of Magellan & the Beagle channel. We spent a good part of December cruising around the tip of South America. We spent 3 days in Buenos Aires, then 2 weeks on the ship and then 3 days in Satiago including a bus trip half way up in the Andes, (Summer there, no snow at that level, but we could see it above us).
Sorry we haven't been in touch. I've been wanting to write for a couple of months, but somehow don't get to it. Our computer crashed a couple of months ago & we lost all email addresses. Please send again. Would rather have written this in an email, but as I said, no address. Take care, keep the blog going. It's so neat for us.
Neicie & Al
We got your postcard today. Unfortunately I could not make out your e-mail address on the bottom of the card(postmark was superimposed). We have been following your exploits in Alaska on this blog and look forward to more colorful posts in the future. As we indicated during our brief time together last year, we have every intention of making an Alaska trip or cruise sometime in the near future. Perhaps we'll meet again real soon!
ReplyDeleteAsher & Ellen Bronfeld
PS Our e-mail address is above. We would love it if you could e-mail the picture that you mentioned in the card.
So enjoy your travel log and fantastic pictures!
ReplyDeleteJust stopped in for an update and to say "Happy 4th of July" to you both, and to Fred, of course. Still planning on visiting Alaska but with the economy, some in the family are concerned about their vocational income.
Continue to enjoy each day and each other.....Janet
Hi Ellen & Dave,
ReplyDeleteI really love checking in with you guys from time to time. It warms my heart to see you both so thrilled with your decision to move north.
Enjoy the long summer! We all think of you often,
Crystal