12623 - Monthly July update

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Dag,
   Iris (Glacier NP, 12623 miles)

12278 - Random stuff in the Canadian Rockies

I know its Canada, but I have heard already in NL about the beauty of Jasper NP and Banff NP, that some side trips here are defensible. Jasper village in the Canadian rockies is touristy, and I am heading to Maligne lake for a 3 day wilderness experience by kayak. Some alone time.

Maligne lake
Its annoying to be naive as Maligne lake is beautiful, it doesn't bring me much alone time. There is for example the tourist boat running every 30 minutes, with people who see me as part of the wild life. I am probably shown all over the world right now on the many pictures being taken from me.

And then there is the campsites, I hear people talking, laughing and snoring at night. The central food court (picknick tables, bear boxes and fire pits) doesn't give much privacy either. Luckily on the water I am most of the time alone.



People
Maligne canyon, Athabasca Glacier, Lake Louise, Banff, its just people. I can not find the peace of mind to enjoy the Rockies really. My thoughts keep wondering back to Joshua Tree, when I hang out with my Alaskan friends. Growing up in the Netherlands, with a population density of 395.48 people/km^2, I thought that California with a population density of 90.49 people/km^2 was really empty and I didn't understand the complains of my friends about the many people in California. Now having spend a considered amount of time in Alaska with a population density of 0.46 people/km^2, I am brain washed. I can't handle people in combination with nature anymore. I go to Calgary, at least there suppose to be people in the city.


Downhill
L, my friend from SF, has set me up with P and S in Calgary, and that is were I crash for the night. In the meantime, L does the most sensible thing you can do for a person who lives his life, he books a flight as soon as he hears I am in Calgary with his friend. The next evening we pick him up from the airport, for a weekend exploring Canada.

P is a downhiller, something I am totally not up for. P doesn't mind that, while now me and the Oto are good for the ride back up the hill. Downhillers don't climb.

Uphill
With T-storms in the forecast, our big hike is cut into 2 shorter hikes in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. Ha-Ling mountain is the first challenge. The path climbs steep up the back of the mountain revealing its view only at the last moment. At once we can see down into the Canmore valley and over all the peaks in the surrounding. In the distance clouds are rolling in with the predicted rain.

Despites that the down goes fast and easy, we feel the first drop of rain when we are almost at the bottom. L starts running and we follow. In 3 minutes we are at the car, but soaked to the bone. Time for some food in town.

Hike 2 goes up to the tea house at Lake Louise. There are people everywhere, we have however each other to talk to, and do not mind them to much. Its just amazing to have L here, and P and S do feel like old friends.

Skating?
California and speed skating don't go together and my mom doesn't makes it easier on me. I love to skate, but when my mom and 2 million Dutch are on the ice, I am hanging out in Southern California in the sun. Packing my stuff before this trip, made me sit at home with my speed skates in my hand. Storage or car? I have to admit, it really went through my mind. Storage it became of course...but the thought lingered.

I vividly remember the Dutch Yvonne van Gennip winning 3 gold medals in speed skating at the Calgary Olympics of 1988. And since that time for me Calgary is synonym for the 400 meter speed skate ring, the Olympic Oval. Luckily this is north America, and with 30C outdoors, indoors there is ice!!!

I get P and S crazy enough to join me and when we bike to the Oval I am getting a little nervous. Will I still be able to skate at all. It has been 6-7 years ago before I last touched some ice. At the Oval we can rent skates. I get some kind of hockey skates pushed in my hand with long blades. What the hack...this is not what I had in mind. I can almost cry and don't even notice I have 2 right skates in my hand. When I find out, I run back to the little store. The guy looks at me and asks:" Are you a real good skater". In the Netherlands I am just a regular skater, here in Canada I might be really good. I decide, I am going to bluff my way in. "Yes, I am really really good. Please?" "Well, if you fit these and don't crash with them, you can try these." In my hand I am holding now some normal speed skates. Jeh, thats gonna work way better.


The first strokes are wobbly. People on ice hockey skates are soring by left and right. There are no defined lanes for different speeds and I have a hard time to avoid other skaters. Slowly it all comes back. The feel of swinging over the ice, leaning into the corners, balancing your weight over your skate. After 10 minutes I am flying over the ice. O my god, I love this.

Dag,
   Iris (Calgary, 12278 miles)

11765 - Alcan

Its 1260 miles from Dawson City to Jasper NP, so I am up for some driving. I take the Alcan, the Alaska-Canadian highway, via Whitehorse, Watson Lake, Fort Nelson, Dawson Creek down to Jasper. The purpose of my whole trip is to see the USA, and therefore I use the Alcan, more as a corridor through Canada to the lower states then as a destination in itself.

The trip starts with leaving B behind and I am all alone again. Boring is the best description of the winding road through spruce forest in the north. More south I leave the permafrost behind, the drunken forest (trees are all crooked by frost heaving) straightens out and the trees become thicker and taller. More birch and alders are mixed among the spruce and mountains and lakes of the northern outcrops of the Rocky Mountains are flying by.

For the rest it’s like any other zoo. I drive by kamikaze squirrels, wide open eyed deer, shaggy sheep, some lost caribou, a moose with 2 calf’s, groups of bison, 5 single black bears scattered along the road, a black bear with a cub, a grizzly bear with 2 cubs. Nothing really special.

At the end of the road the country opens up, with farms along the rolling hills. After 3 days of driving I finally arrive at my friends’ house in Jasper. Long time memories are brought back to live about the good old time we had 9 years ago on the Camino Austral, Southern Chile. Stories from another world, other times, another trip, it almost seems like from another life.

Dag,
   Iris (Jasper, 11765 miles)

Ps. PG-VIP, I don’t think its wise to account on me anymore as bear protection, the statistics are starting to work against me.

10130 - Diehards

The Klondike gold rush in Dawson city is over for more then 100 years, still there are diehards digging for gold along the river beds around the area. I am totally fascinated about who these people are and what they do. When X (I don’t remember the name) asked me to join him the next day to visit a mine I am totally up for it.

To be able to dig for gold you have to stake a claim (660ft x 1320ft), then go into town to pay your 10$ a year for the rent and the ground is all yours. As long as it produces gold, you can do with the ground what ever you want. Thats exactly what they do, welcome to the old method of destroying a valley, gold mining.

X is bringing us to an old renovated mining plant first, but I have never been very interested in history.

Soon we continue up the hill and drop down into the Gold Creek valley on the other side. We pass some sites in the far distance until we stumble upon a plant near the road. These mining die-hards are not up for busybodies, but 3 month in the bush without a woman...a whole tour is what I get from J. J looks like a miner. An old weathered rough brown face, old pants, a dirty shirt and rubber boots. He has however the sparkling eyes and I like him from the first moment. The plant is owned by 2 brothers from down South and J is working for a fixed salary during the warm summer months. The rest of the crew consists out of Filipinos.

Having visited a gold mining area in Bolivia, I did not expect the scale of this operation at all. The site has the access of over 50 claims all connected together. The big Cat equipment is digging away the valley to run the ground through a gold mining machine. With more high tech equipment then in the old times, the piles of gravel once washed for gold, are washed again. But also new ground is exposed, and after thawing the permafrost the gravel is shoveled in the rocker on top of the mining machine which takes over the job. All the big rocks are separated after being thoroughly washed. The small pebbles and sand falls through a screen to a lower level.

More water is added and the muddy substance is run over a sluice box. And that is the gold miners trick. A sluice box is a long tray with riffles over its entire length. The riffles great small barriers to the flow of water which created eddies in the water, giving the heavy gold to sink to the carpet on the bottom of the sluice box. Once a week the carpet is cleaned and the money is counted.

The water needed for this process comes from a big pond created by the miners along side the little stream. The runoff from the mining machine also enters this pond and left behind is piles of gravel. Energy is generated by a big generator which sucks up the expensive Canadian gasoline out loud. Its clear, miners do not care much about the environment.

Time to do it the old fashion way, panning. We find two little dust particles of gold, not enough to make me any jeweleries. Have to do it with the old natural look a bit longer.

Dag,
   Iris (Dawson city, 10130 miles)

10130 - Back to Alaska

We are on the way to Tok, B and me. B is going to bike from Tok to Haines, and that stings a little. I can see my bike on the roof of the Oto, new tires, new break pads and fresh oil on the chain, ready to go and so am I. But Tok to Haines is not really appealing to me. How can I convince him to do something else and drag me along.

“Iris, you go to Dawson City in Canada, right? Can I come along and then we do something together?" Sure!

That evening we sit in Dawson City with maps, books and folders around us. We can bike north or south from here. The thing however is that Dawson City is situated on the shore of the mighty Yukon and float trips are offered in town. Biking or floating? I am never so good in making choices when I want to do both. One more look on the map, one more time going through the folders. -Rent a canoe in Dawson and leave it in Eagle- But that’s it, we rent a canoe in Dawson, float down the Yukon to Eagle, leave the canoe behind and bike back to Dawson. We just do both, float and bike, thats it.

Packing for a luxury float trip and a light weight bike trip is a challenge, but we figure it out and all fits nicely in the canoe.

The Yukon river is 2880 km long and one of the last great uncontrolled rivers in the world. We are only going to float 165km of it, but do feel the respect this mighty river deserves. Upstream the glacier fed White River has dumped its sediment loaded water into the Yukon, making us unable to see even 1 cm into the water. When we float we can hear the sediment softly polishing our canoe and we float a lot. The GPS tells us that we go with 7 km/h when we float and 10 km/h when we paddle, not much purpose for paddling.

On the other hand confined in a small boat with a stranger is a challenge. Both speaking our second language doesn't make the conversation very fluent either. And then its good that there is the option to just paddle.

Fortunately there is also the scenery, which makes us relax and enjoy each others company again after some tense minutes. And I have to admit, having B as a travel partner, who has massage and physiotherapy as a profession helps too.

In total it takes us 3 days to float down. We get our water from little streams as we camp on islands in the middle of the river. On day 3 we float back into Alaska, without seeing any customs at the boarder.

In the early evening we arrive at Eagle and I am very happy to be here. A while ago I was reading the book of John McPhee, Coming into the country, which describes life in 1976 in Eagle and its surrounding. I think its one of the master pieces about the Alaskan life and I read it in one breath. I passed the turn off to Eagle a couple days ago, but Eagle was partly destroyed this year by the Yukon spring ice break up and it made no sense to drive the 97 km dirt road to the village. With 138% of normal ice thickness this year and an early warm period melting the snow upstream fast, the water below the ice swelled up to break the ice with more violence then other years. Resulting in a major ice jam just below Eagle blocking the water and iceberg to move along and flooding a good part of the little village.

But now we are here, and its an depressing sight. The native Eagle village nearby is totally gone, the local bed&breakfast is pushed of its foundations, the local store is gone, the bar is destroyed and the customs are left without a building. Despite this fact, we find the next morning the custom officer in high spirit. The most friendly USA border crossing I have ever experienced. "Hey, you guys camped out on the airfield last night, right? I thought I will catch up with you somewhere in time. How was the float? You are biking back to Dawson, have a nice trip and good luck." Why can they not all be like that.

And then its time to mount our bikes. It feels so good to travel by bike again, instead of driving a car. This is so my thing and it feels so natural. Honestly I don't think North-America is a bike friendly continent and I don't regret that I have the Oto with me. But next time Beijing-Amsterdam, 3 years by bike, who knows... Now its only 3 days by bike and it starts of with a big climb. B has to wait for me here and there and when I catch my breath back I can just say: "Bear!". A black bear popped out of the woods and watches us for a while. Where is the bear spray?

The road climbs more and more and we finally end up above the tree line. Where ever we look we see fireweed, a weed spreading through burned down forest and covering the hills in a beautiful purple blanket.

The last part of the trip goes over the Top of the world highway. We cross the border back into Canada and continue the continuously raising and falling road on top of a long ridge. We camp high on the ridge and our water supply is getting low. With millions of mosquitoes aggressively attacking me, I loose my temper when making my morning coffee. B has learned quick in the last few days, before morning coffee, you better walk away because otherwise...Making the best of the situation, B tries to stop cars to get some more water. When he comes back and tells me that no car even slowed down, I have to laugh. Before me is standing a long hair, bearded, dirty man with a pot of potatoes in his hand. Without a tent in sight or any form of transporation around, even I would have totally sped up. Its good to have coffee and a laugh. The rest of the day we have an amazing ride with a well deserved 13km downhill back to the Oto.

Dag,
   Iris (Dawson City, 10130 miles)

9449 - Starting again

Starting this trip again, and leaving home behind is how it feels right now. Thinking of leaving Alaska behind, just makes me a little emotional at the moment. Besides the country, its the people who made me fall in love with Alaska. They opened not only their houses to me, but also their hearts.

L gave me a place to stay in Juneau and A did the same in McCarthy.

T rescued me from the clouds of mosquitos at my camping spot in Talkeetna and treated me like a princess the 2 days I stayed at his house. If you ever find yourself in Talkeetna, get a pizza at his restaurant: Mountain High Pizza Pie.

K and G let me stay in their self build cabin in Fairbanks, while they were out of town. Besides their cabin in the middle of the woods, the books about glaciers and permafrost made my stay totally enjoyable. The practicing session at their friends house gave me a good warm up for their performance with their band Slim pickin' at the Granit Creek Bluegrass festival.

But most of all my stay with my friends in Petersburg, who introduced me to a lifestyle that threw me of my feet and gave me a real sense of the Alaskan spirit. Miss you guys.

And of course V and A here in Anchorage. Besides giving me a room, and a look into their lives, they gave me a home. Love you guys.

Why am I leaving?
Because I did it all. I climbed, kayaked, hiked, biked, danced, road a river boat, drove an ATV, shot a gun, ate fresh salmon, halibut, shrimps, mussels and clamps. I saw a bear, sea otters, wales, beavers, mooses, goats, sheeps, marmots, caribous and musk-oxen. I saw mountains, permafrost, glaciers and Denali. I made new friends.

So really, why am I leaving?
Its evidently my curiosity that puts me back on the road. I want to see the National Parks Banff, Jasper and Yellowstone with my own eyes. I want to see the great lakes. I want to stroll around Boston. I want to see alligators in the Everglades. I want to experience religion in Texas. I want to see what other life styles there are. I want to see the rest of the USA. I am curious.

Dag,
   Iris (Anchorage, 9449 miles)