Month: June 2016
Alaska and Yukon – A Retrospective
What is it that summarises the spirit of Alaska and the Yukon for me? Perhaps the scenery, the wildlife, the people or its history, In fact it’s all these things but two things really stood out for me. The first thing is just how naturally beautiful Alaska and the Yukon really are – every corner […]
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Whitehorse – The End of Our Adventure!
There is no way to get from Haines to Skagway other than by ferry and the one on which we had a reservation did not depart until late afternoon, so we had all morning to fill in. This was not hard to do with a visit to the Chilkot State Park with a view of […]
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A Day on the Move – The Fast Ferry to Juneau
We caught the fast ferry from Haines yesterday for a day trip down to Juneau. It originates in Skagway (30 minutes to the north) and travels down the Lyn Canal which widens out to form Gastineau Bay. This is a deep fjord, nearly 300 meters deep) and the result of glacial action. The waters near […]
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Beating the Bike Race To Haines
The Haines Highway connects Haines Junction in the Yukon to Haines, Alaska. On the way it passes through a short section of British Columbia. It follows the route of the old Dalton Trail that is based on an ancient indian trading route and is about 244 km long. We were advised that we needed to be […]
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Back to the Mountains at Haines Junction
Our last week in the Yukon has been in a topography without any significant mountains – mostly in the broad valley and plain of the Klondike River along with some rolling hills. All that changed as we travelled down to the town of Haines Junction – obviously named because that is where the road to […]
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Whitehorse
We left Carmacks this morning for the relatively short drive south to Whitehorse, which we reached well in time for lunch. Somewhere along the way, we passed the ruins of one off the old roadhouses that were used in the stage coaching days. The information board described how one of the coach drivers, William Donnenworth […]
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Carmacks
It was raining when we left Dawson City this morning but it mostly cleared up except for a few brief showers throughout the day. Our first few miles along the Klondike Highway were through the piles of rock left by dredges in the gold mining days. These stretched for a long way out of town. […]
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Dawson City
We are in Dawson City for two days and we took the opportunity of having a rest day today, our second day here. We spent the morning walking around the streets of Dawson City taking in the architecture and the atmosphere of this town. We feel as though we are visiting the set of a […]
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Top of the World Highway
We left Tok in cold and foggy weather. This didn’t look good for one of the ‘highlight days’ of our trip – our drve across ‘The Top of The World Highway’. This road extends 258 km from Tetlin Junction, about 17 km south of Tok on the Alaska Highway, to the Canadian Border and then […]
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Travelling from Paxson to Tok
We were the only guests at the Tangle River Inn last night. As such, we had the royal treatment – a tour of all the mementos in the lounge and the bar including a bear skin, a photo of Sarah Palin (I had to keep my mouth shut) and a certificate from the President’s office […]
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Out in the Tundra
Our travels today have taken us into Central Alaska and to the Tangle River Inn, 20 miles out in the tundra along the Denail Highway from Paxson.. This place is a haven for fishermen but only offers very basic accommodation. I guess that our tour company, GoNorth, included it because the next town uo the […]
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On Towards Palmer
We left Seward yesterday morning in bright sunshine (warm enough for just a short sleeved shirt) and retraced our way back along the Seward Highway to Anchorage and then on to Palmer. The area around Palmer is the food bowl of Alaska, where the long hours of summer sunshine encourage the the fast growing of […]
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