Monday, September 6, 2021

 Monday, September 6, 2021

What another awesome day!! We woke up this morning to about 2 inches of fresh snow.  It beautifully coated all the hills and plant tops.  It made for a little cold potty break but was absolutely stunning.  We got a little slower start this morning by waking up at about 9:00 and not really getting moving around camp until 10.  I slept a little warmer last night.  Jeff made a delicious breakfast once again. 

A little before noon we decided we would go out and head toward Prudhoe Bay and fish and look for ptarmigan along the way. Unfortunately, the truck decided to die overnight. The truck we are renting has a limit on miles we can use, but at least we had a plan b in case we needed it.  They plugged the generator to the truck with things that looked like jumper cables but it was questionable if it was working.  We decided that if it didn’t work we would take our truck in for our tour this afternoon. We knew that Ryan and Ryan were going into Prudhoe Bay and would be able to pick up jumper cables for us.  So we decided to get in our truck to see if we could get a signal to call or text him to get the cables.  By pure luck, and maybe some good karma, Seth and Sam, our new neighbors, were driving about a mile away from camp.  We saw them, flagged them down, and luckily they had jumper cables.  We were able to jump the truck and were on the road about 1:00.  We headed right to Prudhoe Bay but had a little wiggle room in time in case we saw any ptarmigan.  

When we got to Prudhoe Bay we filled up with gas and waited for our tour.  

Our tour guide was Phil and I was shocked that we had a full tour of 13 people.  People were from Washington, California and Alaska. The people in the front two rows had to wear safety goggles in case a rock flew into the windshield from a passing truck. Phil told us facts as we drove. There are about 2000 people working up there right now. Each company has their own little area. A company named Halliburton has everything from a full cafeteria to a 122 person movie theater in their camp area.

We had to stop by security where they scanned our IDs and then we were off into the oil fields. It was about a 15 minute to the Arctic Ocean.  When we got to the dock, which wasn’t really a dock, more of an inlet where a dock(made of barrels) previously stood.  Phil offered towels to anyone who was going to go in and people were off into the ocean.  We had people in our group chat who stripped down to their swimming suits or boxers and went all the way down.  We got in but only to our knees.  And yes, it was cold! We stayed for about 20 minutes and then got back in the van to head out. 

On our way back from Prudhoe Bay we saw an Arctic Fox, muskox, swans, geese and lots of caribou.  The Arctic fox was still red and had a white tip on its tail.  Our plan was to go fishing and use our waders, but the spot they normally go had a truck looking at caribou so we couldn’t stop there.  We went another few miles down the road, got our waders on and took a little longer trek down to the river.  When we got there we realized that that part of the river was actually an offshoot and was incredibly shallow.  I liked it because we could go and wade in the water, but unfortunately, there were absolutely no fish there.  We walked up and down the river a little, but then decided to head back to the truck to find another spot.  As we were approaching the truck Ryan and Ryan drove by so we decided to head back to camp.  Although we were unsuccessful at ptarmigan or fishing today, it was still a blast.  I used my waders and got to walk about a mile to and from the river.  The scenery just can’t be beat.  

When we got to camp we got a fire going. The wind really picks up in our little camping area.  Ryan and Ryan stopped to look at some caribou along the way so we beat them back to camp.  In casual conversation last night I had mentioned to Ryan Dunbar about how I am not a hoodie fan,  but wish I would have brought a hoodie because it would have kept my neck warm. When he was up in Prudhoe he found a neck gaiter and purchased it for me. I thought that was incredibly thoughtful of him. Dinner tonight was chili, cheese, fruit cups and chips.  Sam and Seth joined us for a bit and more stories were swapped.  

Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in and we didn’t see the northern lights again.  I am crossing my fingers hard that the sky is clear tonight.  

Sunday, September 5, 2021

 Sunday, September 5, 2021

What a great day! The first sleep of camp was a little chilly, but I kept relatively warm with my long underwear, thick socks, t-shirt, sweatshirt and stocking cap.  Last night Ryan and Ryan didn’t come back to camp. They were going out to do the five mile hike so they could use a gun, but they didn’t return. Everyone was a little worried because they didn’t take proper gear to stay warm. They didn’t take a tent, or food, or the proper boots.  The only thing they had was a space blanket. 

Jeff made breakfast of eggs,  bacon, pancakes and sausage and we were enjoying our meal when the Ryan’s came back to camp.  Ryan Dunbar had gotten a caribou, but they couldn’t finish the trek out last night and ended up “sleeping” outside.  They used what very little kindling leaves and twigs they could find in the wet tundra to stay semi warm.  Needless to say, they were exhausted when they returned to camp.  

After a bit of talking with them and hearing their story Jeff, Taunie, Dad and I headed out to look for ptarmigan and to go fishing. We headed north toward Prudhoe Bay. Along the way we say many caribou in the distance, but could not find any ptarmigan—they sure camouflaged well. Taunie saw a white bird flying as we were driving, and sure enough, they were ptarmigan.  So our hunt for ptarmigan began. 

The ground of the tundra is mushy and has little bush like plants all over. We spotted them near the service road which was probably 50 yards away.  We started as a group of four but quickly split into two and two.  In practicing, I knew I could do up to 29 yards,  it nothing further than that.  At one point when we were walking through some thicker brush I would have had a shot, however I had tripped and fallen and was now facing the wrong direction in the brush.  

These ptarmigan were so easily spooked. We could not get within 60 yards of them.  We followed them for a few hundred yards back and forth over the service road, but could not get within range.  I couldn’t figure out my range finder and was getting frustrated.  As we decided to finish up Dad and I started walking back toward the truck which was parked on the side of the highway. We got relatively close to some ptarmigan that we didn’t see and spooked them. They flew about 50 yards and sat again.  We got about 36 yards away and I attempted a shot (remember I can’t shoot over 29) and missed. Dad then took his turn and hit the ptarmigan. 

After we returned to the truck we headed again toward Prudhoe Bay seeing all sorts of ducks, geese and caribou along the way.  The town of Deadhorse is incredibly industrial. There are only dorm type style housing for the workers who come two weeks on, two weeks off.  There is a little Deadhorse sign that we stopped by with a convenience store. I got a couple stickers, but their selection on tshirts were slim.  After that we filled up with gas and headed back south. 

As we were heading south we saw a muskox and her baby.  Taunie and I stopped and got out to get a closer look.  Muskox can be aggressive and we knew not to get too close.  As we approached the mama stood up and looked at us.  Taunie kindly talked to her to say we just wanted a picture and then would be on our way.  She shook, nestled her baby and laid back down.  

Fishing and to get water was our next stop. We pulled off the highway and walked to the Sag River.  The area we were fishing had an eddy; this is where the water backflows to fill a back area. So the water back fills into a pocket area and the fish hang out in the pocket because they don’t have to fight the speed of the current. They wait for food to come down the current, jet out and grab it, then return to the calmer waters. It looks neat because it looks like the water is traveling in opposite directions right next to each other.  We stood out on the big rocks to fish.  Jeff filled up the water and Dad got a fish on his first cast.  We spent about two hours fishing.  Taunie and I didn’t catch any,  but we sure had fun.  We would move up the river and try different spots.  At one spot, Dad had the couple fish that he and Jeff had caught on the stringer.  When we went to move the stringer and big fish was coming up and about to eat our fish.  We had no idea what it was!Taunie spotted wolf prints in the mud and we continued to cast and reel in.  The catch of the day was done by Dad.  He caught an Arctic Char.  The others were all greyling.  We would be eating well night.  6 total fish were caught.  As we left we saw all sorts of fresh footprints, birds, geese, ducks, caribou and wolf.  It was a popular area.

We then headed back toward camp.  It was starting to mist and rain.  When we got back we huddled around the fire while Jeff and Dad cleaned the ptarmigan and fish.  Jeff put the fish in aluminum foil with pineapple and potatoes on the fire.  

While dinner was cooking a truck pulled up.  We thought it was someone to look at Ryan’s caribou, but it was two guys asking if they could camp up a bit from us.  We enjoyed dinner in the tent because it was raining. Dinner was Arctic char, grayling, beans and mashed potatoes. It was really good. I liked the Arctic char more than they greyling. We then invited our new friends down for our left over fish.  

Sam and Seth are very nice.  Sam is a taxidermist from South Dakota and Seth is a veteran who now lives in Fairbanks.  We had a great time talking with them. Everyone, minus me, was swapping hunting stories,  but I thoroughly enjoyed just sitting and listening, sipping on my cold red wine.  They enjoyed cigars, which got a little stinky and smoky in the tent, but it was all fun.

We went to bed at about midnight to get some rest for tomorrow! Tomorrow we do kore ptarmigan hunting, fishing and our tour of the Arctic Ocean! I may jump in—we’ll see!

Saturday, September 4, 2021

 Saturday, September 4, 2021

Boy, did we sleep well last night! Both Dad and I slept soundly though the night and didn’t wake up until 6:30. Once we were up we showered and hit the road.  The motel  had a little breakfast which was perfect. We grabbed snacks and muffins to enjoy on our journey. Then we were off from Fairbanks headed north.  

The drive as a whole was absolutely incredible. The scenery was breathtaking and I truly cannot find words to even describe it.  As we left there was thick fog. But because the road goes in and out of the hills and mountains sometimes we were above the fog and sometimes we were below the fog. Dad had a good idea to take a picture of the road about every hour to show the difference in the road and terrain. The road at times was smooth and concrete, and other times was fought and filled with potholes. The leaves are changing here so the hills were filled with green spruce trees, a vibrant yellow and red of the lower plants. 

The Dalton Highway is named after James W. Dalton who was a pioneer in Alaska petroleum exploration. We stopped at the Dalton Highway sign but someone had gotten to it and wrote “No Ambler Road”. 

We stopped along the way to get a picture with the pipeline.  Our first “big stop” was at the Yukon River to fill up with gas, use the bathroom, and check out their gift shop.  They had signs all over in different languages from people who had visited. They also shared a little story of the time a bear got into their building. 

Back on the road the skies started to clear a bit and we had beautiful blue skies with a few light clouds. The traffic was really light. I bet the whole drive we saw under 50-75 vehicles. As we were driving we started looking for animals. Dad saw a wolf run across the road, but I was taking a picture of the scenery and missed it. We also saw two grizzly bears about 50 yards from the road. Our sudden stop spooked them so they went off running but seeing them running through the field was incredible. We believe it was a mama bear and her older cub. The cub was curious and turned around a couple times to look. 

We made a little mission to stop and get firewood along the way in case they needed more at camp (this ended up being a great idea and we had fun at little stops along the way to hunt for wood). We found large dead trees due to a fire and they were perfect. We were able to use the gate of the turn offs to use leverage to break the trees into smaller pieces for the backend of the truck. 

Our next stop was the Arctic Circle. Everywhere north of the Arctic Circle line has at least one full day of light and one full day of dark during the year.  The terrain continued to change as we drive each mile. At one point we stopped for a picture because you could see for miles and miles and miles. We gathered a couple trees and found some wild blueberries!

Coldfoot was our next big stop. We stopped at their gas pump to get gas, mailed some postcards and ate lunch.  I got the fried chicken sandwich which was three chicken tenders on an AMAZING homemade potato bun. Their tater tots were delicious! We were able to watch the fourth quarter of the Iowa game while we ate. A tour guide was also speaking in the room so we listened to him. His job when they get to their next stop is to sit up and watch for the northern lights and wake up the guests if he sees them. After our meal we headed across the highway to the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center which was so neat! They had Gates of the Arctic stuff and I was able to get a Gates of the Arctic stamp and a Dalton Highway sticker. We were soooo close to the Gates of the Arctic, but could not go in because the only way to access it is via helicopter tour/plane or hiking in. We looked at the mountain that on our side was not Gates of the Arctic, but on the other side was.  The lady showed us on the map where the line was and we were able to peek through a couple times as we were driving to see what we believe was mountains in Gates of the Arctic.  

The next town to Coldfoot is Wiseman. It is just a few miles north. Dad had never been there so we decided to drive in.  It was such a small town with log cabins and each home had little pens for their mushing dogs.  The dogs sat on top of their pens.  We stopped at a tiny little log cabin that said “open”. It was a woman who made jewelry from caribou antlers, doll sheep antlers, and all natural items. It was neat.  There was a tour guide there (husband of the jeweler) and he said their last frost was on June 3 and their first frost was on August 17.  

We then continued to head north. Shortly after our stop in Wiseman we were driving along and saw a truck facing south. We drove by, but as we drove by the guy flashed his lights. It was a Ranger. We backed up and dad got out to talk with him. He explained that it was a holiday weekend and wants everyone to be safe and dad was going 62 in a 50 and needed to slow down. Then he looked over at me, told me to roll down the window and asked “Are you ok?” To which I said yes.  Then he asked if I was getting kidnapped. I honestly thought he was joking, but answered that I was not getting kidnapped.  He told us to drive safe and have a good weekend.  Dad said “young girl with an old guy must have looked suspicious.”

We continued to stop and look for wood along the way before we hit the “north most spruce tree” (which was cut down by a vandal in 2004). The. There was no more looking for wood because there were no more trees!

Antigun Pass was our next big mile marker. It went right through the Brooks Range. It was beautiful! Snow capped mountains and we were going right in between them all. The road was a little scary because it was slick from grease and rain, but gosh it was gorgeous.  We even saw a couple mountain goats, but no dall sheep.  Once we were through the mountains it really felt and looked like we were in the tundra. The terrain started to look so much more flat and there were absolutely no trees. 

We made it to camp about 7:30pm and Taunie and Jeff we’re outside by the fire waiting for us. We enjoyed a delicious dinner of burgers, beans and corn and enjoyed the amazing temperature -about 58 degrees. We stayed up a bit I. Hopes of seeing the northern lights and enjoying good conversations but the clouds started to take over. We knew the northern lights were present behind the fluids due to the light sneaking through some of the lighter clouds but we weren’t able to see them completely.  At about midnight we called it bedtime and came in the tent to sleep. I have the first bunk to the left and dad is behind on the left.  I slept decently, but was a little chilly.  Ready for a great new day!

Friday, September 3, 2021

Our flight from Seattle to Anchorage was a breeze. We had to walk outside to board. It was a full flight, but Dad and I were next to each other. I got to sit by the window and the scenery out the window was beautiful. There were so many mountains as we left Seattle. They also provided movies during the flight so I began watching Les Misérables, but ended off falling asleep after enjoying my ginger ale.  We couldn’t see much as we entered Alaska due to fog and rain, but we landed safely and were on our way.

Our bags didn’t come out right away and we had to get our bow cases in the special baggage area. Once they were all gathered Dad waited for the truck guy while I stayed with the luggage. It took a little longer than we thought to get the truck, but once we got it it was like a weight lifted off our shoulders that we could begin our drive.

We made a quick pit stop at Best Buy and McDonalds before we were on our way to Denali.

The landscape of Alaska is absolutely beautiful. We were able to stop and get out multiple times along our highway journey to take pictures and soak it all in.  The leaves are all changing colors for fall.  We made it to Denali in good time and were able to get Dad’s LIFETIME National Park pass and check out the gift shop. We then decided to go on a small hike to say we explored just a little of Denali.  Denali has one main road and you can only go 15 miles on it in your private vehicle. To go any further you must buy a bus ticket. We didn’t have time for the bus, so we went to mile marker 13 to enjoy the Mountain Vista Trail.  It butted up against the Savage River. The drive was beautiful, the river was beautiful, the mountains were beautiful. Truly, just breathtaking. 

Once we completed our hike we headed back to the main road to keep heading north. I found a brewery in one of the flyers Dad picked up and thought that would be a good stop as we headed out of town. After a quick stop at a souvenir shop we headed to 49th State Brewing Co.  On the way, Dad told me about the story “Into the Wild” and how the boy was found just right outside of the town we were going to. 

By pure irony, when we arrived at 49th State Brewing Co, the bus that we were just talking about was there. We were able to  walk around it and see what it was like. We thought about eating there, but the line was very long and we wanted to get to Fairbanks. 

Dad continued the drive and, again, after a few stops we made it to Fairbanks. The gentleman working the front desk was clearly overwhelmed so Dad helped make sure our room was clean before moving our stuff in.  

Next began the challenge of finding a place to eat. we had asked the front desk guy and is response was “Brewsters”, but he had never been there. When we drove by it looked a little dumpy so we decided to look elsewhere...In case you were wondering, there are practically ZERO restaurants in this town. We ended up back at Brewsters and the food and service was good. 

After dinner we filled up with gas and made a quick grocery store run for some pop and granola bars. We are so tired. As I write, Dad is sleeping and I am falling asleep. Tomorrow we continue our long drive!