{"id":10105,"date":"2017-09-14T10:47:20","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T00:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/?p=10105"},"modified":"2017-09-14T10:47:20","modified_gmt":"2017-09-14T00:47:20","slug":"on-the-road-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/?p=10105","title":{"rendered":"On the road again"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Before<\/a>

Before leaving Fairbanks we filled our water tank which had run almost dry during our long stay<\/p><\/div>\n

After ten agonising days in Fairbanks we were finally handed the keys to Tramp and with almost childhood zeal we climbed onboard and hit the road again.\u00a0 Tramp\u2019s extensive surgery to his rear end was more painful for us than for him but the Chevy dealer did the right thing and covered all our costs during Tramp\u2019s convalescence.\u00a0 The whole experience taught us how totally reliant we were on our vehicle and that we needed to make some major changes before driving off this continent.\u00a0 But for now we were heading north again to parts unknown!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Julie and I have been half joking when we\u2019ve said we want to drive on every road in Alaska before we leave \u2018the last frontier\u2019.\u00a0 One road we missed last month was a 160 mile cul de sac heading northeast from Fairbanks to the historic town of Circle.\u00a0 Circle is significant to us because it sits on the Yukon River and is the sister town to Eagle, the small community on the Yukon we visited on our second day in Alaska.\u00a0 Hopeful prospectors in the 1890\u2019s would float from Eagle down to Circle to get supplies or to head towards Fairbanks.\u00a0 We missed it last time due to engine problems but were determined to catch it this time.<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>

Our campsite on the banks of Birthday Creek the first night after leaving Fairbanks<\/p><\/div>\n

It is now early September and the autumn colours amongst the birch, aspen and cottonwood trees feature an array of bright yellows with hints of orange and red.\u00a0 They blanket the mountainsides, intermingled with the green spruce trees, and even when we rose above the tree line the low growing alpine tundra showed us dazzling new colours.\u00a0 We loved this northerly drive and camped on the banks of a little babbling brook with splendid technicolour views and named it Birthday Creek to mark my special day.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A great view for cocktail hour on your birthday or any other day<\/p><\/div>\n

There\u2019s one big northern attraction for visitors to Alaska that we hadn\u2019t ticked off \u2013 the Aurora Borealis, otherwise known as the northern lights.\u00a0 Most of our time in Alaska has been in summer and it never gets dark enough to see this famous light show.\u00a0 But now it is September, it is getting dark around 10.30 and on this clear night we hoped we might get a glimpse of this strange phenomenon.<\/p>\n

We threw more wood on the fire and were admiring the big dipper and other stars as the temperature dropped to -2C (28F).\u00a0 At first we thought we saw a pale green light in the sky, like a stationary search light.\u00a0 Then another, then some more.\u00a0 And suddenly we were spectators to an extraordinary show, greenish lights constantly moving across the sky, sometimes in long straight parallel lines, other times in swirling circles, then again in wavy designs across the sky.\u00a0 They would constantly change, fade and reappear as something else, coming and going, sometimes almost fluorescent in the sky, just spectacular.\u00a0 And the strangest thing of all, a full moon was rising on the opposite horizon, partly blotting out some of the colour and brightness.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t photograph any of it but we just lapped it up, a real treat.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The northern lights were brilliant on my birthday – obviously not my photo<\/p><\/div>\n

The next morning we woke to -4C (26F), thick frost everywhere, a clear blue sky and rising sun to help thaw us out.\u00a0 We drove north along the dirt road, past all the camping hunters who were preparing their muddy ATV\u2019s and favourite rifles for another big day of moose hunting. The stunning scenery was all we needed as we rose above the tree line, crossed the colourful alpine tundra and passed over Eagle Summit at 3,680 feet (about 1,200 metres).\u00a0 From there we descended back down into the boreal forests with all their changing colours, crossed many mountain streams and eventually came to the end of the road in downtown Circle on the banks of the Yukon River.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>

An arty-farty photo of frozen leaves around camp on our sub-zero morning<\/p><\/div>\n

\"After<\/a>

After months of driving through endless green forests we’ve now been confronted by this incredible array of forest colours<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A<\/a>

A major theme of the last couple of weeks in Alaska is moose hunting season and every serious hunter has to have his own ATV to get around<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The town phone box in Circle…not sure if it really works<\/p><\/div>\n

Today the little town of Circle, misnamed by people who thought it was on the Arctic Circle (it is 50 miles south), is a shadow of its former self.\u00a0 In 1898 it had 1,200 people, dance halls, saloons, hotels and all the infrastructure needed to support the rabid gold rush of the day.\u00a0 Today there are barely 100 people there, almost all of them native Alaskans, there is only one small shop in town and no other businesses.\u00a0 The new government-built school sports 20 students from K-12.\u00a0 Meanwhile the muddy waters of the lazy Yukon River continue to slowly flow by, oblivious to all these changes, just doing its thing.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The long road to the tiny town of Circle ended on the banks of the mighty Yukon River, a great scene<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Circle<\/a>

Circle claims to be the largest log cabin town in the world but not all the homes are in top condition<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Yukon is home to many different forms of life, including people<\/p><\/div>\n

We retraced our steps the full distance back to Fairbanks and headed south, camping on the banks of Scout Lake near the huge Eielson Air Force Base.\u00a0 A moose came down to drink at the water\u2019s edge across the lake and the reflections off the lake were sublime.\u00a0 Unfortunately the clouds came in too early and blocked out any viewing of the northern lights.<\/p>\n

\"Lunch<\/a>

Lunch on the banks of Birch Creek<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Rounding<\/a>

Rounding every turn and over every ridge opened up more stunning autumn views<\/p><\/div>\n

\"We<\/a>

We climbed to the top of a small hill near Eagle Summit and were rewarded with all these magnificent colours of alpine tundra<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A<\/a>

A beautiful late evening on Scout Lake south of Fairbanks<\/p><\/div>\n

Our mission was to reposition ourselves in southern Alaska before we broke down on the road to McCarthy and we spent a whole day retracing the steps of our two tows over two weeks ago.\u00a0 It was a glorious day of driving, the colours, the snow-capped mountains, braided rivers and distant glaciers, occasional glimpses of the pipeline, everything you want out of a day in Alaska.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The wide Tanana River provides scenic views south of Fairbanks<\/p><\/div>\n

\"More<\/a>

More beautiful scenes…we may have taken a few photos<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Not<\/a>

Not just brilliant fall colours but also high steep mountains and glimpses of snow<\/p><\/div>\n

Hunting is an integral part of life in Alaska.\u00a0 Regardless of your views on guns and killing wild animals you have to appreciate how this vital this activity is to Alaskans and how it blurs the line between sport and one of life\u2019s essential tasks.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The essential kit for any self-respecting hunter – truck, camper, trailer and muddy ATV<\/p><\/div>\n

We have spoken to a lot of hunters and to even more people about hunting, and the overwhelming impression is that hunting bear, moose, caribou and sheep is tightly controlled by the government and principally benefits those who are looking to fill their freezer with meat for the long cold winter.\u00a0 Yes, some may see it first as a sport \u2013 almost an Alaskan right \u2013 but rules are followed, meat is cherished and the outfitter stores do a roaring trade in selling camouflage clothes, rifles, ammunition and camping gear.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The spoils of war – hunters hang up their quartered moose before taking it home<\/p><\/div>\n

We did this drive on a Saturday in the middle of moose and caribou season and every self-respecting Alaskan had his flatbed trailer hooked up to his pick-up and was hauling his ATV to the next hunting spot or was already parked on every inch of spare space along the road and was off hunting.\u00a0 We saw a few moose being carried home in the back of trucks and a number of skinned animals along the side of the road.\u00a0 We even saw \u2013 twice, in fact \u2013 small herds of caribous cross the road in front of us, presumably running hard to stay out of reach from hungry hunters.\u00a0 It was great entertainment.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The ones that got away – every one of these caribou with antlers would be fair game to hunters but we just saw them cross the highway<\/p><\/div>\n

The day ended on the banks of the beautiful Copper River with its wide flat river bed braided with endless streams weaving their way down to Wrangell St. Elias National Park.\u00a0 We were in new territory now, happy to be exploring new places, living the dream.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>

We camped one night on the banks of the Copper River near the end of the dirt airstrip for the little town of Chitina – and were treated to some scenic flights landing just behind us<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A<\/a>

A fish wheel still scooping up unsuspecting salmon, just like they have been doing for a hundred years<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Copper River spread out across its broad plain, the different channels braiding their way through the gravel<\/p><\/div>\n

\"One<\/a>

One last shot of the bright colours of Alaskan autumn – a Cottonwood provides shade for Tramp in the small remote community of Central<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After ten agonising days in Fairbanks we were finally handed the keys to Tramp and with almost childhood zeal we climbed onboard and hit the road again.\u00a0 Tramp\u2019s extensive surgery to his rear end was more painful for us than for him but the Chevy dealer did the right thing and covered all our costs during Tramp\u2019s convalescence.\u00a0 The whole experience taught us how totally reliant we were on our …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alaska"],"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/DSC_0714.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10105"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10147,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10105\/revisions\/10147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}