Alaska Sunday XX

Trip Log - Part IV

June 15 - 25

The fourth installment of the actual trip log of 'The Drive from Texas to Alaska and Back'.

As mentioned previously, this log does not contain too much commentary. It is mainly sequential locations, dates, mileage traveled, photographs showing the trip progress, and how the landscape changed. The Alaska Trip Log is divided into two week intervals (parts) and I am posting it on consecutive Sundays. Past and future posts of Alaska Sunday (apart from the trip log) will have more detailed information, and more photos of each specific area. A small number of the photographs were previously posted when describing specific locations.

Most are new photos not previously seen.

We are resuming our posting of the trip log after time out out for the Olympics.
Last week I only posted one photo of a Large Moose crossing the road.

Be sure to click on the photographs for full screen views.

And so, on with the trip.

6/15 Bellingham, Washington, U.S. to Clinton, B.C., Canada 255 mi

One of 7 tunnels
Shot through a clean windshield.
Martha is a hard taskmaster.
I have to keep it clean for her photos.

Riding the tram down

Martha did not want to go down but relented since she needed to be stocking up on supplies for the journey across the wilderness. They had a store down there where she could buy dried beans, flour, rice, salt, sugar, extra rope, duct tape, extra spokes for the wagon wheels, leather for harness repair for the oxen, canvas patches for the wagon, etc. Instead I found her here at the following location giving in to modern advertising. We bought supplies at the following location.

Supplies here

6/16 Clinton, BC to Cache Creek (Prince George), BC 270 mi

6/17 Prince George, BC to Dawson Creek, BC to Ft. St. John 326 mi

Mile Post Zero
Dawson Creek on the AlCan Highway

6/18 Ft. St. John to Toad River, BC 360 mi


6/19 Toad River, BC to Watson Lake to Nugget City, Yukon 222 mi

If you come in with your hat on, they tack it to the ceiling

6/20 Nugget City to Johnson's Crossing 177 mi

Wild Horses (not mustangs)

6/21 Johnson's Crossing to Whitehorse to Haines Junction (Kluane Campground) 176 mi

Teslin - Johnson's Crossing

Kluane Campground

It was really cold here. There is a mile-thick ice sheet behind those mountains. The brochure for our TrailManor says it can be erected, leveled, and locked in 2 minutes. We did it quicker than that. The wind coming off of that ice was bitterly cold. This may have been one of the coldest places that we stayed during the entire trip. We turned on the propane and Martha went in and turned on the furnace. While she was organizing inside, I connected the water, electricity, and sewer. No cable TV here. After the trailer is warmed, which only takes a few minutes, we keep it toasty with two 1' cube, 1500 watt space heaters.

Destruction Bay
Notice the white sand blowing

6/22 Haines Junction, Yukon to Tok, Alaska 298 mi

Made it to Alaska

Martha cleaning the seals, on the bed rails

We ran through a heavy rain and it cleaned a lot of the road grime off.
We'll give the vehicles a good cleaning and wash tomorrow.

6/23 Rest Day (Tok area) - 3 mi

Go to the grocery store, wash vehicles, check e-mails, read a book, call home (cell service at last), organize maps. Put up the "Milepost Guidebook". The AlCan Hwy ends tomorrow at Delta Junction, AK. Tok is at Milepost 1313 on the AlCan Hwy. We will go towards Fairbanks tomorrow. Going South was out of the question anyway. The bridge was out going South. Big storm and flash flood. As it turns out, the bridge was out for about 2-3 weeks. We came back up that Hwy in about 5 weeks. The bridge was open, but they were still repairing the road and putting the finishing touches on the bridge.


6/24 Tok, Alaska to Fairbanks, AK 206 mi


The Alcan Hwy is really tough on vehicles. I think they were out getting repair parts for this one.

In need of repair

6/25 Fairbanks, Ak (River's Edge RV Park) Around the town 35 mi

Fairbanks at 1 AM

We left our Travel Trailer here for 8 nights as we traveled North to Prudhoe Bay(Deadhorse) and the Arctic Ocean. 1016 miles round trip, of which about 800+ miles were gravel, dirt, potholes, mud, rocks, construction, and repair work on the dangerous parts.

Next week will be the log of the trip North to the Arctic Ocean and back, then down South to Denali and on to Anchorage. Links will be provided to photos and previous post for that section of the trip with mileages.

Mileage for this section of the log ...........2328 mi
Mileage before 6/13 .................................5481 mi

Total miles to get to Fairbanks ..............7809 mi

(Mileage assumes we didn't miss some logs). It's easy to get caught up in the moment. In addition to the odometer, I have 2 separate trip meters on the console. One was for total trip and the other was for the day trips. A helpful service tech in Portland (where I had the 4Runner serviced and the oil changed), reset my trip meters. Grrrrrrrr.

Do you have a favorite photograph?
Comments are appreciated.
Let me know if you are keeping up with the trip, or are just a one-time visitor.

Troy and Martha

Alaska Sunday XIX

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As last week, I spent most of my spare time this week watching the Olympics.
I will be back on my regular posting schedule for the travel log next week.
We will be continuing into British Columbia ( a most beautiful place filled with wildlife).

Speaking of wildlife, I will leave you with one photo from B.C.

While traveling, Martha always kept the D200 w/ VR lens in active mode for snapshots.
(BTW, the front windshield was always (most always) clean.

Moose on the Loose
200 mm focal length ....... at 70 mph
(Click on the photo for an up-close and personal look)

The Moose crashed out of the trees and trotted across the road.
Way to go Martha! Good eyes. Great action photo.
Do you think the Moose had crossed here before?
Look at those skid marks.

Photo by Martha
Good driving by Troy

Comments appreciated.
Scroll down one post and see if you can help with an ID.

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Double Rainbow

Skywatch Friday

Double Rainbow
(Click on the photo to see the colors better)

Camped in British Columbia. Canada.
We had just pulled into our campsite after a rain shower.
The air was crisp and clean and the pines and firs smelled great.

Notice how strong and separated the colors are.
Starting from the bottom, the primary colors are:
violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, red

This photo is a poor reproduction of the scene.
We just stood there and drank in the scene for a long time.

For other SWF posts,
see Tom's new SkyWatch site here.

Troy and Martha

Muncho Lake and Light

Alaska Sunday XV

I am going to take time out from the regular Alaska Sunday Travelogue and show two photos that were taken only a couple of minutes apart at different focal lengths and slightly different light conditions. The lighting changed during those few minutes and the matrix metering interpreted the scene differently. I always shoot raw so I was able to make some small adjustments to the photos before saving them in tiff format.. The reason I wanted to show these and bring this to your attention is an interesting post over at Transient Light Photography. Read this at your peril. It will cause you to rethink your approach to scenic (or other) photography. It is not about equipment or software but discusses "light".

Muncho Lake is a highway services community in northern British Columbia, Canada, located at Mile 462 on Highway 97, the Alaska Highway, within Muncho Lake Provincial Park. A person could spend a lifetime in B.C. engaged in hiking, photography, camping, skiing, canoeing, fishing, exploring, prospecting, or just admiring nature (Sorry if I left out your favorite pastime. Leave it in the comments.). Follow the British Columbia link to learn more about this fascinating Province or check out the BC Interior link. Rocky Mountain Girl is from the B.C.Interior. Check out her blog here.

I won't bore you with technical details, but just be aware that the two photos which are vastly different in appearance, are only very slightly different in handling technique and light capture. In the second photo the light was blocked by a darker cloud which caused the exposure to differ slightly. For instance, the small change in light and scene contrast cause the clouds to appear to have darker bases among many other small noticeable details.

Grandpa used to say, "Grain and oats is what makes the Mare go".
Well, light is what makes photography go.

Yes, that is the un-retouched color of the lake with its high copper content.
Depending on light angle of light, it can appear dark blue, turquoise, or green.
(Click on the photographs for better views)

Plan your photo shoot. Even if you are "just taking snapshots", watch the lighting, direction of light, and color balance and experiment if necessary to achieve "that perfect shot". Make every photo a perfect photo.

Troy

From Upper to Under (U)

w/ Udder in between

Up on top of the Mountains
Near Keno, Yukon, Canada

Udder
Where the baby Stone Sheep gets his milk.
This is a two spigot model.
Photographed in B.C. Canada

Under the Ice
Ice cave Above Valdez, Alaska
(photographed by my sidekick, and
top photographer of the Expedition - Martha)

The river of water must have been a lot bigger earlier in the Spring to have cut a hole or ice cave this large. The cold wind was really whistling coming through the tunnel. I could see light at the other end of this river tunnel (Cave), but wasn’t too sure about the stability of the ice. I sure would like to have explored it to the other end. There are a lot of Glacier and Ice Fields above Valdez.

To play, visit ABC Wednesday, mrsnesbitt's place. Click here.

Scroll down to see:
Mt. Rainier and
Scott's Bluff

Troy and Martha
Texas Travelers

Hell’s Gate

Bridges Between

Air Bridge & Foot Bridge
(Remember to click on the photos to get close)

On June 26, 1808 the explorer Simon Fraser passed along these cliff on a series of bridges and ladders built by the Thompson Indians.

Hell’s Gate is the narrowest point on the Fraser River.

The route of the present Tans-Canada Highway through the Fraser Canyon follows what was originally a fur brigade trail. It became a wagon road in 1863 and after 1925 it was passable by automobile.

Fraser River Narrows

This canyon has been traveled by foot, boat, mule, horse, wagon, steam tractor, auto, railroad and even camel.

Bridge across the River

Hells Gate Airtram takes visitors 500 ft. down and across the Fraser River.

Airtrams

Bridges Between is a Monthly Endeavor by RuneE. Click here to participate.

Troy and Martha

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Sunsets - Yellowstone and Golden, B.C.

ABC Wednesday

Eye Candy
For Your Viewing Pleasure

(Click on the photographs for the full Sunset effect)

Looking for our Campground
Golden, British Columbia

Martha shot this through the front windshield as we were going down the road at 70 mph. The Vibration Reduction Lens was on active. She only had about 10 seconds before the flare from the sun was gone. She grabbed the camera and ripped off about 10 shots. This is the only one that had the effect she was looking for. The cool blue and strong orange and yellow contrast was outstanding. Wish you could have been there and, "I wish this was my photograph", said Troy

Yellowstone Sunset
Totally Un-Retouched.
Exactly as Shot

Another "Martha Photo" through the front windshield as we were going down the road. The beautiful colors were gone in just a few seconds. If we had found a place to pull over and got out of the car, it would have been too late.

The moral to this story is, "Keep your front windshield clean".


To play, visit ABC Wednesday, mrsnesbitt's place. Click here.

Photography by Martha
Driving by Troy