ZR-1 Alaskan Adventure Travel Log

[ZONER 95]

Amazing pics Jim!.....keep em coming........looks like the weather is treating you folks well too. Safe travels..... Kevin

[BOB HDZ]

[QB93Z]

We left Watson Lake on Tuesday morning and headed to Tagish, Yukon. Most of the day's drive was on the Alaska Highway. The conditions were excellent and the weather was fine.
Shortly after we got underway, we spotted a black bear grazing on the plants on the sholder of the Highway. He was a black bear but he had a funny light colored stripe of fur down his back. It looked like adolescent fur that he had not rubbed off yet. He stayed near the road for quite a while and Lyndi got a lot of pictures of him:



Just like the last few days, we had the road virtually to ourselves. As we travel west, the mountains are getting higher and we are now seeing snow on some of the mountains.




We stopped by a mountain stream for a photo:


And we found some more wildlife:


In the middle of nowhere we came upon a traffic light:

It was beining used to control one-way traffic while a washed out section of the Highway was replaced.

[scottfab]

Now that's something you don't see everyday.
Excellent !

[QB93Z]

As the Alaska Highway continues west, we crossed the continental divide, the ridge line that separates two of the largest river drainages in North America. The Alaska Highway crosses the divide at one of the lowest points. Only humps of sand and gravel separate the west-flowing Swift River from the east-flowing Rancheria River.
Drop a leaf into the Rancheria River to the east and it would float to the Liard River near Watson Lake, continue to the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories and eventually reach the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean); a long journey of 2,650 miles.
Drop a leaf into the Swift River to the west and the current would take it to Teslin Lake and the Teslin River. The Teslin flows northwest to the Yukon River which cuts across northern Alaska enroute to the Bering Sea (Pacific Ocean); a journey of 2,300 miles.

　
Our next stop was in Teslin, Yukon. Here you can see Teslin on the shore of Lake Teslin and the bridge accross the Teslin River. Teslin is home to the largest concentration of First Nation Canadians. First Nation people are descended from the natives that were were present prior to the arrival of European settlers in North America:


Later in the afternoon we got some rain, but not enough to wash all the dust off the car:


We spotted some more wild life. I am not sure if this was a deer or a young elk:


At Jakes Corner, we left the Alaska Highway to head south to Skagway, Alaska. We drove about 20 miles on the Southern Klondike Highway to the "town" of Tagish on the Six Mile River. Our accomadations in Tagish were a cabin at a "resort". We had to walk to the main building to use the facilities and take a shower. A little rustic, no WiFi or TV, but it worked out fine:


Jim

[tomtom72]

I just have a question: Where are all the other vehicles? It seems as if you and Lindi have the road almost to yourselves.

This is a great travelogue Jim! Thanks! Be safe and have a great time!


Tom

[QB93Z]

Tom, this highway is amazing. There are very few cars using the Highway. When we stopped to photo the bear, we were there for about 15 minutes, and only four cars went by us. Most of the businesses on the Alaska Highway are closed due to no traffic.

Jim

[WB9MCW]

Terrific adventure and grand photos.

We look forward to observing it all unfold on this thread.

Godspeed to you both on this magnificent voyage.

[QB93Z]

On Wednesday, we drove south on the Klondike Highway, heading for Skagway, Alaska. We entered the Coastal Range mountains. As we climbed up the mountains, we entered the water shed area of the Yukon River. There are a numerous long, skinny, deep lakes that were formed by ancient glaciers:


As we climbed, we reached the clouds and the scenery became very striking:


The valley floor that we were driving next to, was an amazing landscape. There was a rocky floor that had been scraped clean by the glacial action and very little sand and soil has built up yet. It was a very foreign looking place.


The evidence of the glacier's effect was clear from the scratches on the bed rock of the valley floor:


We crossed the border into Alaska for the first time in our journey:


On the US side of the Border, we climbed up the White Pass into the clouds again and were above the level of the remaining snow:

[QB93Z]

Skagway Alaska is a very small town that is located near the top on the Alaskan panhandle. Cruise ships dock in Skagway daily and the tourism industry have turned Skagway into a boom town once again.




The first boom for Skagway was the Klondike gold rush of 1896. Over one -hundred thousand prospectors traveled through Skagway on their way to the gold fields of the Yukon. By 1898, a railroad was built to take the miners over White Pass and into the Yukon to what is now Whitehorse. The railroad runs now as an excursion. We road up to White Pass on some of the most stunning railroads in America:


Along the route of the railroad, it is still possible to see the trail that thousands of men followed when they walked the 21 miles up the Chilcoat valley to White Pass:


Jim