Itinerary

While the itinerary is posted here at the top of this blog, you will need to read it from the bottom up to be in chronological order.

We did a lot of planning for our 7 weeks of traveling using the Internet and Alaska travel brochures - both the state and the major cities have excellent annual publications. When we requested the state promotional material, we began receiving city, cruise ship and tour info. Our road bible was the Milepost which also covers British Colombia and Alberta road networks. This publication is priceless! I think the only things missing were the exact locations of all the ups and downs in the road due to frost heaves and permafrost! Save a few bucks and get the previous year's book. The other 'bible' was George C. West's milepost approach to birding, Birder's Guide to Alaska. Jan 2009 publication, for my birding needs.

The Big Picture

May 4-June 4. Fly Albany, NY to Anchorage, AK. Rent RV. Travel AK's southeast road system
June 4-June 8: Nome
June 9-June11: Juneau
June12-13: south on State ferry Inside Passage to Prince Rupert, Canada
June 14-15: CANADA - Canadian Skeena RR across BC to Jasper, Alberta
June 16 -24: Rent car. Jasper and Banff NP, Canmore and fly home from Calgary.

The DAILY Schedule

May 4 - Flew Albany, NY to Anchorage - arv 3:30pm. Picked up RV from Great Alaskan Holidays - Night ANC
May 5 - S to Potter Marsh, Girdwood, Portage Glacier. Night Portage Glacier
May 6 - to Seward for pm boat trip Resurrection Bay with Renown Tours. Night Seward waterfront
May 7 - Seward Sealife Museum. (the first of MANY museums!) Exit Glacier and drive to Homer. Night Anchor Point SP north of Homer
May 8 - Homer Seabird Festival - (May 7-10). am boat trip to Gull Isl. Area birding. Night Homer.
May 9 - Festival events/birding. Night Homer
May 10 - Festival events/birding. Pratt Museum of Homer. (Excellent.) Night Homer.
May 11 - head N. Night Portage Glacier
May 12 - to Anchorage. Native American Heritage Center. Night Eagle River n of ANC
May 13 - Hike to Thunder Falls, onto Palmer along Glenn Hwy. To Independence Mine - still closed due to snow. Night Palmer area.
May 14 - Leisure drive Glenn Hwy. Night Lake Louise Rd.
May 15 - SNOW and rain. To Glennallen then N on Richardson Hwy. Night Paxon Lake campgd. BLM facility.
May 16 - Drive Denali Hyw 25 miles W. Night Tangle Lakes
May 17 - back to Paxson. visit Fish Hatchery. to Delta Jct. vicinity. Night Clearwater River, State Rec Area (SRA)
May 18 - Delta Jct. Sullivan Museum, birding Fort Greeley Army Post. Night Rika's Road House
May 19 - Tour Rika's Road House. North (now on AK Hyway) to Quartz Lake SRA for night
May 20 - NW to Fairbanks. Night Chena River SRA (huge damned river/lake to prevent repeat of 1967 flooding of Fairbanks.
May 21 - Fairbanks. Community Museum/Mushing Museum. Creamer's Field (birds!), Pioneer Park (altho shops and museums not to open until 23. Night Tanana Valley CG
May 22 - Fairbanks. UofFairbanks Museum of the North. Night MuskOx Research Center parking lot!
May 23 - Fairbanks. Free Museum Day. Ice Museum, Air Museum and SSNenana stern wheeler at Pioneer Pk and shops, night MuskOx Ctr.
May 24 - Head NE to Chena Hot Springs, Night SRA pull off.
May 25 - Hike Angel Rocks, tour Chena Hot Springs Resort. Night Red Squirrel SRA
May 26 - Fairbanks. more Pioneer Park museums. Night Tanana Valley CG.
May 27 - S on Parks Hyway. Night Nenana - heavy rain
May 28 - S to Denali NP. Drive in to mile 15. Ranger talk at CG. Night Riley CG
May 29 - Denali NP. Dog Sled Demo. Hiking. Night Savage CG.
May 30 - Denali NP. Shuttle into Tolkat River (road still closed beyond). Ranger talk. Night Savage CG
May 31 - S from Denali NP to Cantwell. E on Denali Hyway. Night Joe Pond and Jerry Ponds. Very productive birding! 37 species of birds and 2 cavorting moose!

June 1 - S on Parks Hyway. Night roadside.
June 2 - Wasilla - AK Transportation & Industrial Museum. Page Museum. Night Finger Lake SRA.
June 3 - Back to Palmer to visit Independence Mine State Historic Park (must do!) Night RV park
June 4 - Fly to Nome
June 5-8 - NOME birding
June 9-11 - Juneau. Mendenhall Glacier, Tracy Arm Fjord, AK State Museum. Nights Driftwood Motel.
June 11-13 AK State Ferry. Kennicott south on Inside Passage. 2 nights on ferry.
June 13 - Prince Rupert, CANADA. Night Pioneer Hostel
June 14 - Board Skenna Train. 12 hrs. Night Prince George.
June 15 - Skeena Train to Jasper. 8 hrs. Night Seldom In home stay, Jasper
June 16-18 - Jasper hiking and viewing and Jasper Yellowhead Museum. Fabulous! Night Seldom In
June 19 - S on Icefields Pkway through Jasper and Banff NPs (windy and rainy). Colombia Icefields, Lake Louise. Night Banff Border Lodge, Canmore - just outside Banff NP south gate
June 20 - Hike/drive Canmore area trails and Provincial parks. Night Banff Border Lodge.
June 21 - Into Banff NP to Banff town. Banff Park Museum National Historic Site, Whyte Museum, Native Peoples Museum, town walk, Hot Springs -old-view, new-use! rainy. Night Banff Border Lodge
June 22 - Hike trail Canmore area. (rain) To Calgary. Night U of Calgary, dorm/hostel
June 23 - Explore farmlands N of Calgary. Hike Big Hill Springs Provincial Park. Night UofC.
June 24 - Return Avis rental. HOME Calgary to Minn/St Paul to Albany, NY. Night E Dorset, VT!! zzzzzzzz!

BIRDS! The final chapter.

The defining dates for our AK trip were the Katchemak Bay Shorebird Festival in Homer the first week in May (there is also a birding festival in Cordova that same time) and catching the migration/vagrants in Nome AK the first week in June. There was great expectation of actually seeing shorebirds resplendent in breeding plumages. The birds did not disappoint. An added reward was witnessing the fun and marvel of courtship displays, 'dances', vocalizations and antics. Did I know that Yellowlegs perform this wonderful aerial display with LOUD chips and calls - day and night?? Then those Red-necked Grebes... on one lake there were at least 6 pairs within sight. They paddle their bodies into an upright posture and form a symbolic heart shape beak to beak with necks curved...to say nothing of the caterwauling and calling!


One of the best displays I witnessed were from Semi-palmated Plovers. (From my journal notes.) W end Denali Hyw. 9 pm. Still light. A low cackling/clicking sound alerted me to look outside our RV. A SP Plover was frantically scrapping out a hole in the dried mud - pushing it back with the feed, head totally down in the hole. Aha! Nest building??


A second bird scurried in (female?) and checked out the fit of the hole. The first bird (male!) postured above with tail fanned and wings pointed out and down. Copulation observed. 'She' left and 'he' resumed digging, this time working on two 'holes'. She came in again to check the hole. Display occurred but I did not see copulation. She left. He continued to scratch and also began to pick up small pieces of dried grass and sticks to 'throw' around the edge of the hole. He last seen scuttling sideways towards her and then they flew off.

There are opportunities for boat trips, shorebird identification with many experts/opinions and great lectures during the Homer shorebird festival. During the three days we were there, I 'ticked' 72 species adding Long-tailed Jaeger, Red-faced Cormorant and Tufted Puffin to my life list, and Wandering Tattler, Pacific Golden Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit to my US species list. Highlights were the massive rafts of Common Murres, nesting colonies of Black-legged Kittiwake, hundreds of rusty backed! (not all grey!!) Western Sandpipers, a chance to compare the differences between all three species of Godwits - Marbled, Bar-tailed and Hudsonian and hearing the songs of Fox (color much grayer than in eastern birds) and Lincoln's Sparrows. The Kenai Peninsula is definitely the place to be in AK during spring migration.

As we moved through drivable AK during the next three weeks, it was mostly ducks, grebes and loons that caught my eye while Willow and White-tailed Ptarmigan and Sharp-tailed Grouse boosted my life list. Again, lots of courtship activity... a gyrfalcon chasing a Golden Eagle in Denali NP, and robins and ravens hanging on to their status as 'seen every day' birds.

Nome lived up to its reputation with 'highly variable' weather. We arrived and left on fine weather days, but the three in between were either extremely windy, cool, rainy or all of the above. Nonetheless, our independent birding group 'ticked' target birds such as the Aleutian Tern, Bristle-thighed Curlew, Bluethroat, Yellow Wagtail and Rock Ptarmigan. Additional lifers for me were Cackling Goose, Arctic Loon, Parasitic Jaeger, Hawfinch (this year's unexpected vagrant) and Northern Wheatear. Unfortunately I missed Arctic Warbler and Emperor Goose seen by my birding group the day we left.

The total species list for AK was 154. This represented 19 U.S. life birds (Seven I have seen in places other than U.S.) with 12 being first time ever sighting. The birding on the remainder of our trip through the Inside Passage and across western Canada was generally uneventful. That's not to say we didn't enjoy the Bald Eagles, Swainson's Hawks north of Calgary and the last bird seen the day before we returned to VT - a Gray Partridge, lifer # 13! Not bad considering the 'holes' in my US life list. To top it off, when we got home, a Henslow Sparrow hung around in nearby MA long enough for me to 'tick' another year lifer. I would be glad to provide a complete species list to interested parties. Contact: stewdor7@comcast.net.

HOME!

Five Lakes Trail, Jasper NP

One of the best things about a vacation is coming home!!! - being in your own bed; laying your head on your own, smelly pillow; having your own space again! Even catching up on the mail, the weeds, the friendships, the bird happenings, the routines is a good thing too.

We arrived home June 24 to lots of humidity and rain almost every day since. Guess it has pretty much been the same since we left. We never realized how dry AK and the western Canadian are. Golly- the weather had to be one of the best parts of the trip.

Here it is - this post date is really July 4, 2009. It's taken me that long to catch up around here and finish this AK trip blog. At some point, our pictures will be labeled and posted someplace to share with any interested travelers. Certainly can provide lots of travel advise for anyone AK bound.

Additional comments and thoughts: The Canadian Rockies were every bit as spectacular as AK. If you only could go to one place, I would suggest Jasper and Banff NPs.

The AK national vehicle is either a pickup truck or an ATV!

AK must have more churches per capita than any other place in the world!

And 7 weeks away from home was too long! But we have lots of great memories - if only we can remember all of them! even some of them!

And Sarah Pailin announced her resignation as governor of AK on July 3! What would she have done if she was VP???

Calgary

Our last day was in Calgary where we stayed in a dorm at the U of Calgary! Remember those days of white concrete walls, 2 beds, 2 desks, (only) 1 chair, small closet and the bathrooms down the hall shared with 20-30 others!!!! How did we ever do THAT?

There is some great open agricultural land north of Calgary which is rapidly being eaten up with large developments with row after serpentine row of houses only a few feet apart... Ugly!

The last evening I went on a bird walk along the Bow River Park which runs through the city. As we returned to the parking lot, the leader asked me if I had seen a Gray Partridge in my travels yet? Heck, that bird wasn't even on my radar as a possible!!! It was life bird # 20 during the trip!!! What a great way to end!

Canmore

Canmore is a lovely town/city just to the south of Banff NP with extensive hiking trails, steep mountains and vistas, wildlife, proximity to Canada Provincial Parks and somewhat cheaper accommodations than can be found in the parks. It's every bit as worthy of visiting as the NPs. However, one must always be prepared for inclimate weather in these mountains! Guess what? Umbrellas aren't ideal for hiking in the woods! Best utilize a convenient rock overhang to wait out the rain.

Banff town

The next day we drove back into the park to visit the wonderful museums (yes!! more museums!) in Banff. The town is really very historic and interesting despite the horrendous influx of tourist. (We were told it is far more crowded in July and August!)

The Banff Park Museum was put together mostly by one man (1903) with the intent to showcase all the animals and other fauna and flora in the park. It was thought that that was the only way people would ever get to see the treasures in the park. Fortunately, a new philosophy now prevails - see the treasures in the wild. Nonetheless, the building and museum contents have been 'resurrected' and is a great visit, esp. on a rainy day!

The Whyte museum had a opening exhibit of Robert Bateman's (wildlife artist extraordinaire!) work as well as the exhibit explaining the origins of the Banff 'settlement' - (gold and hot springs) and the connection to the Luxton and McDougall families.

Lastly, the Luxton Museum of the Plains celebrates the history of the Native People. Norman Luxton was an important figure in Banff's development and a friend of the Stony Indians. He was a passionate collector of native artifacts and handiwork which is displayed through authentic activity scenes.

The Cave and Basin National Historic Site of Canada commemorates the birth place of Banff NP and the Canadian NP system. Arguments over the ownership of hotsprings here were settled when the government stepped in, in 1885, and declared the area a national park. The facilty was closed to the public in the 90's? when an endanger snail was discovered living in the warm waters (!) and when keeping the facility updated and open became cost prohibitive. The Upper Hot Springs remain open and gave me a warm, soothing bath to end the day in Banff! Course when I went to find Charlie and the car in the parking lot - it was teaming buckets of rain!!!

Lake Louise and Banff NP

We stopped at Lake Louise (in the mist) for the obligatory visit to the Chateau and a drive around the town. It was relatively busy with other visitors. As we continued south for our night in Canmore, just outside Banff NP south gate, we enjoyed one spectacular rainbow!

Colombia Icefield

It was cold, windy and rainy as we headed south through Jasper NP to Banff NP. Of course, we had to stop at the Icefield Visitor Center opposite the Colombia Icefield that feeds a number of glaciers including Athabasca where the Ice Explorer will take you onto the Glacier. It certainly is the thing to do (for others!). The Center has excellent information including one of the original 'buggies' that went on the glacier. And did you know that the Colombia Icefield feeds rivers that flow into the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans? Pretty amazing!

More Jasper area

We have had 4 glorious days in Jasper area. Because the city is entirely within the park, its development has been entirely controlled since the park was established in 1907. Nothing can be done in the 'city' without Park (read government) approval. There can be no expansion of the city footprint, design is controlled and it is just a delightful community of about 5800.

Athabascan Falls was just spectacular. Wildflowers are just coming out - and we did finally see a male and female elk (not together), mountain goats and Rocky Mt Bighorn sheep - female and kids. But just being in this environment to look, enjoy, marvel, sense.... hard to describe.

Jasper National Park

The pictures tell the small and the big of it!

The sign at Mystery Lake explains the origin of the name. The lake disappears into cracks and fissures becoming nothing more than a trickling steam as the summer goes on. They have just found the outlet for this underground 'river' which is believed to be one of the longest known.

The picture of Annette Lake with Pyramid Mt in the background just gives a small hint of the vivid turquoise waters. Just great trails, peace and tranquility - and few people around to enjoy it all.

We saw mama bear and 2 cubs, golden mantled ground squirrels (VERY obnoxious!), marmot, mule deer, red squirrels and only a few birds today.

VIA rail across B.C.

WOW!! We have had a few days of sensory overload, and I expect it will continue. We boarded an Inside Passage Ferry from Juneau to Prince Rupert, BC. - depart Thurs, June 11@ 7:45pm, arv early a.m. Sat. (2 stops) The community is celebrating Seafest. What fun watching the parade of local bands, floats, organizations, native dancers, etc. - and - there were more people there than we have seen our whole trip!!!!

Sunday, 8 am, we boarded the Skeena train on the VIA rail system for a 2 day trip across British Colombia. The trip takes you along 2 major river systems and the only road across southern BC. Despite the time on the train, 13 hrs on day 1 and 9 hrs on day 2, the fact that we were such a small group (only 25-30) of travelers - mostly European - made for good fun and conversation. The picture shows Mt Robson, the highest peak in Canada which is on the western edge of the Rockies.

Tracy Arm Fjord

A truly spectacular day of sun and awesome 'beauty' on an all day tour to Tracy Arm fjord and the S. Sawyer Glacier. To paraphrase the author of a book about Tracy Arm - "a journey to Tracy Arm isn't about a checklist of spotted species, or an accounting of facts and figures or miles on a map. Such details add context, but ultimate meaning lies in grasping the magnitude of the drama of creation and destruction cast on a scale so grand it must be felt rather than understood."

Compare this glacier to the Mendenhall which ends in a lake accessible area close to Juneau.

The ice Charlie is holding was scooped up at the terminus of the glacier where we watched the events unfolding for over an hour. It's hard to imagine the age of this ice -- but not the age of the 'cutie' deckhand to the right of Charlie!

The images fill in the rest - 100s of seals and pups floating on ice flows, humpback whales feeding, black bears at water's edge, Bald Eagles fighting over a fish, steep glacial rock walls, spray from up close and familiar water falls, vivid blue ice floats,, the thunder and crack of the ice calving off the glacier and the glacier itself - 200' above the water and 900' below, 1/2 mile across and a constant work in progress. Spectacular day!!

Publish Post

Juneau

We're on our second day in Juneau and have had 2 very busy days. We hobknobbed with the hundreds who came off the 4 cruise ships on day one - WHAT A MOB SCENE!!! Imagine over 1000 (2000?) people hitting 2 street's worth of multiple 'harbor view' shops all at once... the shops all selling furs, jewelry, native crafts and more things that one doesn't need than you can possibly imagine. Tonight we watched a store owner assure a buyer that the 7' 'stick' she was buying would definitely get shipped safely. We couldn't imagine her concern until we asked what was so valuable about that stick. It was a narwhal "horn"!!!!!! Very rare and just what the owner wanted to sell - $15,000 or more!!!

We also visited the Mendenhall Glacier just outside the city, walked some lovely trails, missed seeing the bear (yay!), but got great views of the porcupine!

Charlie's Impressions!

This household has all the tools for survival in Nome - snowmachine, dog sled and ATV!

But Charlie is not ready to move to Nome! Too messy for one thing! Seems whatever anyone owns ends up in the front yard or out in the boonies wherever it stopped - like snowmobiles! We actually saw a couple of guys heading out with snowmobiles on trailers ready for one last ride - in the wind and rain!! Probably warmer than in Jan. at least!!

ONE orange was $3.29! A gallon of windshield washer fluid - $9.99! Parked next to almost every house was at least one snowmachine and one ATV. But these people are innovative and resourceful as the covered 'buggy' indicates. He visited and is glad to have left.

Nome

We arrived in Nome with temps in the 50s and departed on a beautiful sunny, 50s day today, Mon, June 8. However, the weather in between was typically Nomeish - highs of 41-42, high winds and overcast to steady downpours!! One makes the most of it!! Each of us come away with different impressions. For me, it was 3 intense days of birding with a final tally of 84 species which is very good with 5-6 life birds - up to 16 now, I think! The hunt was as exciting as the find! I joined up with some others and friends and we all had a great time. Charlie was able to 'relax' for a couple of days and do his own thing. Ice was still in the harbor and snow in many places.

Independence Gold Mine

These images show what we encountered on May 13, when we first tried to visit the Independence Mine outside of Palmer. (snow!). I'm glad we went back today, June 3, (right) to actually visit this site. Since it was active from 1936 until 1941 when the government shut it down because it was not essential to the US war effort!!, this was a very productive gold mine. The manager was a keen historian so much of the history of this place remains in pictures, ledgers, bills, etc. It is a state site and the information signs are excellent as well as access to what remains so this was really interesting. At the Wasilla Visitor's Center we met a young woman who was caretaker herein the winters of 1991, 92. The 12 mile road in was not paved and electricity was by generator, etc. She loved it! Still lives here in Palmer.. and says you get used to the DARK winters! I think that would be harder to get used to than the cold.

Interestingly, neighboring Wasilla (hear me Sarah!!) is the ONLY Alaska town we have passed through that does NOT have WIFI access at the library!!! We're back in Palmer before we head to the city - ANK - and then to Nome on Thursday. Yay!! New birds!!!

Mt McKinley!

Well, it's right between us there!! Do you see it?

I think that is the question everyone asks... we may have seen it while on park road in Denali, but not here. (Signing information all over in the NP left a lot to be desired.) However, the view and day we headed S out of Denali were spectacular regardless.

A note about the signing for state areas, access, camping, rest stops etc. It has been superb!!

more Denali

We were real lucky to see a mom grizzly with two cubs, maybe 3 months old - the 2 out of focus fur balls to the right of mom. The other wildlife were the snowshoe hares - a HUGE population explosion evident by the heavy gnawing on the willows above snowline and the numbers everywhere!, Dall sheep and Arctic ground squirrels and a mom moose with a young one. The other special sighting was a Golden Eagle being chased by a Gyrfalcon - an arctic bird larger than the peregrine. We have not really seen Mt McKinley but other views of the Alaska range leave little more to be desired.

Denali NP

We have spent 3 days in the park and had the most clouds since the start of the trip - to say nothing of the cold, daytime only in the 50s, if that with strong breezes! None the less we have had a full experience. The sled dogs are used for winter patrol, access and research in the Park. They maintain a 30 dog kennel and were a joy to visit, pet and learn about.

We've hiked several of the developed trails around the visitor's area and taken the tour bus into mile 51, Tolkat which is as far as the road is open so far. The rest still needs to dry out. We could see why the road is not open to the general public - some STEEP in places. Along with caribou and moose, we were very lucky to see this Willow Ptarmigan. We had a steady rain on Fri night at Savage CG which turned into about 1" of snow by morning. The best thing to do was to curl up with a good book - #4 for Charlie!Fortunately, we did have partly sunny weather the day of our tour so, did bundle up and walk some on the way out.

On May 24-24, we traveled NW of FBKS along the Chena Hot Springs road through state recreation land (camping, fishing, atv-ing, snowmachining, hiking, picnicking, etc) ending at Chena Hot Springs Resort. Interesting facility-they just came on line with new technology converting hot water (165) with the infusion of cold water (50) and refrigeration to produce electricity. We did the tour but I didn't really understand the process. They were going broke powering the facility with diesel.

They have been using thermal to heat and grow hydroponic veggies. In the tomato hot house the vines have been growing for a year and they just wind them around the bottom and readjust the growing part upward. Tomatoes year round! In fact they say their winter tour business supports them, not the summer trade. I'm not sure who comes here for very long when it is -40 all day with only 3 hrs of daylight - they say the Japanese!

Just filled up with gas here at the local Fred Meyer store - $2.42. We have paid up to $2.75 and expect it to be much more in NOME! There are 2 huge F Meyer stores here, 2 Safeway, a super Walmart, Lowes and Home Depot -- yet the city is very 'user friendly', probably about the size of Rutland. Headed to Denali now with the weather clouding over after 20+ days of spectacular sun.

Art work

While we are not collectors of artwork, we can appreciate the effort and there is much talent on display here. We enjoyed talking to the carver who created the fisherman at the left. He is carved from moose, caribou antlers, whale, seal and walrus bone, tusks etc, pieces chosen for the colors and textures... he was really a 'bargain' at $950. The detail on that Meerschaum pipe included the man's face!

Museums

I think we have visited almost every museum in Fairbanks, most which are conveniently located in Pioneer Park and all excellent - Pioneer Museum, Air Museum, Train Museum, Steam Paddle Boat which plied the Yukon River for 25 years, etc. I tried to get Charlie to climb aboard this snowmachine in the Ice Museum, but he said it was too COLD! There is a big carving festival in Feb, but this museum is the work of 4-5 persons created and opened for the tourist season - which has begun! We are back in FBKS after a couple of days NW of here and there were 8 tour buses in town! They say bookings are down, but there is so much connected to 'making it' in the brief 3-4 month tourist season. And the mosquitoes are now VERY WELCOMING!!!

Fairbanks

Thursday, May 21
We arrived in Fairbanks today with the temperature reaching into the high 70s. Most of the museums seem to be opening this Sat. Our evening meal was a salmon/roast beef/halibut buffet for $13.00, normally $31.00!!! They run this special this week before the big opening. It was all outside with great ambiance. Temperature at 11pm as I write this, is 65 and it is dusk!! Sunrise is at 4am!

Quartz Lake Recreation Area

The state operates many fine recreation areas open to many recreational activities. These introduced rainbow trout were coming to the shoreline to spawn, but the eggs would not develop in the silt bottom lake. These fishermen were catching the trout and stripping eggs to make roe sacks which they were using very successfully for bait. The take is 10/p/day all year! I was MOST delighted that these guys taught us a lot about AK fishing, but also shared one meal of fresh salmon for dinner!

Rika's Road House

Fortunately we were able to get good accommodations and help at Rika's Road House outside Delta Junction. This historic roadhouse was one of many along the Valdez-Fairbanks that was in business from 1903-1950s and is now a very informative historic site along the Tanana River.

The AK pipeline goes across the river here on a bridge.

Rental vehicle problems

We've had a real problem with our rental car.....

Denali Highway (E access)

The Denali Highway runs E and W connecting Paxson and Cantwell. It had been cleared of snow and opened 2 days before we drove in the 21 paved miles from Paxson. The views of the Alaska Range to the north were spectacular. I was in quest of any of the 3 species of Ptarmigan, a member of the grouse family. As we stood looking at the first information sign, there was a loud squawking to our rear and a male Willow Ptarmigan landed almost at our feet. A female was over the bank in front of the sign. Not sure if we were in his territory, or whether he was so intend on impressing the female that he didn't care about us, but he performed a spectacular strut and then flew off. Now that's what I call a life bird to really count!

This is the view from Paxson Lake campground. The ice was just pulling away from the edges and there were lots of ducks close in for viewing. Charlie identified his first Wandering Tattler all by himself without me around. Another lifer for us both and a good bird to get.

Moose # 6

We have seen moose in the front yard of a house in Homer, moose along the roadside, moose at a distance, but this was the best sighting so far.
This big bull was maybe 150' from our vehicle - and SOME BIG! His antlers are just clubs so far; be was very much aware of us and easily disappeared in the scrubby black spruce swamp. While watching the moose, 3 Pintail Ducks flew into the open water and out again, but were almost overlooked in the excitement of seeing this guy in a natural habitat.

SNOW

We've been bragging about the fabulous weather so far. Well, yesterday, May 14, started out as very overcast. Nonetheless, the views of the mountains, the Matanuska glacier, Dall sheep high on the hillsides, and lots of waterfowl, including Red-throat ed Loon calling and in breeding plumage, attracted our attention as we drove E on Glenn Highway. That night it began raining lightly around 8pm. I awoke at 4am thinking the rain had stopped! Not really. It had only changed form!
The mountains are socked in and it looks like an all day rain. We are expecting clearing skies on Sat.