Remembering Skagway, Alaska

Reviewing photos of our Alaska trip I had to share these -- sorry if I already have -- but they remind us of our gold prospecting.  The statue is in honor of the men who came up to Alaska in 1898 for the Klondike gold rush.  They got off the boat at Skagway and then had to go up through the Chilcoot pass - a horrible trip that many didn't finish.  The '"gold boulder" is a replica of the boulder of gold found in the area.   We didn't get to do any gold prospecting in the Klondike.  We didn't go up the Klondike highway and what we heard was you needed to go on someone's claim to look for gold.   

The wind blew so hard here this weekend that everything has a new coating of dust.  Jim had to clean the pool and hot tub.  They weren't covered during the dust storm so they were a disaster.  They were full of all kinds of flower and plant parts as well as a ton of dirt.  He spent almost the whole morning trying to get them a little bit clean.   We still prefer blowing dust once in awhile to blowing snow!

Cute Faces

Still looking at photos from our Alaska trip and thought these were so cute.  A bear cub eating some new green grass and a beaver busily fixing up his house all after a long winter.  It was amazing how many bears we saw alongside the road enjoying the fresh green grass on our way up to Alaska.  We were always on the road early in the morning so we always saw wildlife.  When we stayed at a cute little campground up in the northern Rockies we watched this beaver and his mate working hard to replenish their winter supplies. 

Here in Yuma we watched the Foothills Christmas Parade.  It's amazing how many lights and decorations they can cram on little and not so little 4-wheelers and jeeps.  Everyone who decorates their "ride" joins in the parade through the RV parks in the area.  They use portable generators to run all the lights on their decorated vehicles.  It makes it seem more like Christmas!

Memories of Snow

Since we will NOT be seeing any of the white stuff this winter I thought I would recall memories ofthe snow we saw this summer.  When we drove through Banff National Park in Alberta we were up at 6000 to 8000 feet on some parts of the parkway.  We saw lots of snow on the mountains, glaciers and frozen lakes.  When we drove through the Yukon and on into Alaska we saw lots more snow on the mountains and glaciers.

It is going to be a little cool here in Yuma -- in the low 60's for a few days brrrrrrr.   I know most of the country is having some warm weather which is always nice and helps make winter seem shorter.   We are happy not to have snow for Christmas.  Most of the people in our RV park are decorating their sites for Christmas.  Its starting to look very nice and I've come to love lights on the palm trees.  

Skinning Palm Trees

Jim is learning a new skill.  The manager of the park decided that the palm trees should be skinned.  In the past if someone wanted the palm tree in front of their site skinned they had to pay a local Mexican to do it.  Now the maintenance guys, Jim, are learning how to do it.  You can see in the top picture where the palm fronds have been trimmed over the years as the tree has grown.  It leaves the husks of the fronds sticking out of the trunk.  So to get the nice smooth look of a palm tree trunk you have to skin it.  You start at the bottom on hands and knees cutting deeply into the woody husks.  Then you start peeling it going around and around and up and up the tree.  Its really hard work. 

Jim asked the local Mexican guy what he charges to do it -- thinking he'd pay the guy to do it for him -- he gets $80.00 a tree.  So when one of the residents of the park asked Jim what he would charge to skin his tree Jim said $5,000.  Of course the guy said he thought that was too steep and Jim said it was $80.00 and the rest was for pain and suffering. 

Gold Mining

We have been out digging in the dirt twice now.  You can see our drywasher and the hole we've made digging in an old tailings pile.   We went out Thanksgiving morning and there were a couple of campers set up in this little canyon.  Camping is a big activity down here over Thanksgiving because its a nice long weekend for those who work and/or go to school.   Camping doesn't seem to have the same appeal up north over Thanksgiving.   Seeing the cold, rain, ice and snow that hit the center of the country I now remember why. 

I took a part time job at a local RV parts store working as a cashier.  Its one of the few jobs in Yuma that you don't have to be bilingual.  Its kind of fun helping people figure out what they need to fix their rigs.  Most of what they need down here are plastic parts that have disintegrated in the harsh sun and heat.   

Signs of Gold Mining

Our favorite spot to dig for gold is on some BLM land close to Laguna Dam.  There are holes where people have done some extensive digging.  They dug so far into the hillside in the bottom picture that the "cave" they dug collapsed and all you see is the piles of dirt that cover the area.  We do not go into the caves for two reasons -- they could collapse without warning or there could be some poisonous creature inside enjoying the shade. 

We have learned from an old gold miner that you really only need to run the top couple of feet of the dirt in this area because its flood gold left behind from when the Colorado River flooded over before all of the dams were built.    So if he is correct than these people digging deep into the hillside probably aren't finding very much.  We would love to talk to someone who has worked these holes to find out if they really have been finding anything.   We hope to be out there this week -- we had one little bit of rain a week and a half ago and the ground was too wet to drywash.  Its amazing how little rain it takes for the ground to soak it in and retain the moisture.  

Views from Imperial Wildlife Refuge

We went out to Imperial National Wildlife Refuge to visit our old stomping grounds.  We got to see the manager and a few of the workers we knew when we volunteered out there three years ago.  We also ran into volunteers that we worked with three years ago.  They were back at the refuge after taking a winter off from there.  We would go back but they have gotten rid of the bookstore at the visitor center and they don't have any outdoor projects going on so there just isn't much to do. 
The aerostat (white balloon) is just like the one that broke its tether out on the east coast and traveled all the way to Pennsylvania.  The tether dragging beneath it caused all kinds of damage.   This one is on the ground and we could always see it from our old  RV space at the refuge. 

The other picture shows the mountains on the California side of the river.   Piccacho Peak is sticking up in the middle of the picture.  It was our favorite view when we lived on the refuge.  There was a lot to like living out there --- it was quiet and the stargazing was fabulous with the dark skies.  Now we live right in town next to the freeway -- lots of lights all night and noisy during the day.  Although we do have wildlife in our RV park here in town.  There is a fox living in the park.  He is getting very used to people and eating his weight in mice and rats.   

Our winter home

We are settled for the winter at Las Quintas Oasis RV Resort in Yuma, AZ.  Its surprising to see so many Canadians coming back knowing that its costing them one third more than last year because of their low dollar.   I'm sure they are grateful to be somewhere warm for the winter.  I know we are!

We are still waiting for some more workampers to come.  Its too bad so many workampers make a commitment and then don't come.  Its understandable that health and family issues arise. We are finding that maybe half who say they have these problems are telling the truth.  The other half are not giving the real reason for not coming and they don't give much notice so the employer and fellow workampers are left holding the bag. 

We have started our search for a summer job close to a good walleye lake.  It will be interesting to see where we end up going.  Its fun to look across the country and ponder what area might be worth checking out for a summer. 

Yuma Swastika Bridge

 

 

 

 

This little concrete bridge is next to the Laguna Dam and was built at the same time as the dam --- around 1909.  It helped give access to the dam.    There are over 40 swastikas decorating this bridge.  They were placed there as decoration back before Hitler changed their meaning.  Swastikas used to mean sun, fire and lightening.   During WWII the bridge had to be guarded to keep it from being destroyed by outraged citizens.  It still is seen as controversial because people don't bother to look back at the history of the swastika symbol.

We are getting all of our chores done before the crowds come.  We've started working -- Jim doing maintenance and I'm in the office.  We are waiting for the rest of the workampers to show up.  I guess they will be dribbling in over the next month. 

Tyson Wells Museum

Just a last look at what Quartzsite has to offer as far as history.  They have a little museum crammed full of artifacts from the town and surrounding area.  Mr. Tyson came to the area and built a water station for the stagecoach.  It became known as Tyson Wells.  Its really what put the area on the map.  I can't remember if gold was found soon after or about the same time.   The top picture shoes a little table made out of cactus skeleton.  They used the skeleton of saguaro cactus a lot as building material.  The bottom picture has a metal roof covering what is left of an adobe building.  The problem with adobe made from mud and straw is that it slowly washes away.  A local guy made all of these miniature buildings out of rock as a little tribute to the old buildings around town.

We said good bye to Quartzsite and are now parked in Yuma for the winter.  We are trying to get all of our running around ( repairs and maintenance) done before it gets busy down here.  A lot of Canadians come down but with their dollar so low it will be interesting to see the impact that has here this winter. 

Hi Jolly -- Camel Herder

This is the tomb of Hi Jolly.  He came to Quartzsite in the 1800's and the U.S. Army had him herd camels.  They did an experiment to see if camels would work in this desert to haul supplies.  It probably would have worked out but they didn't give it much of a try.  Hi Jolly came over from Syria and his name was Americanized to Hi Jolly because that is what it sounded like in English.   Below the plaque on the tomb is a bronze time capsule.  It is said to contain the ashes of his camel.

The rock that makes up the tomb is local rock.  The top is white quartz and then their is blue domerterite (close to the right spelling) and below that the darker colored rock is all petrified wood and then another layer of quartz and then some harder stone as the base. 

This tomb is the centerpiece of the main cemetery in Quartzsite.  It is all very neat and carefully tended which is a surprise.  If you have been through Quartzsite it looks like a scary down and out little town.  There are a few nice areas in town you just have to look.

Quartzite Mining History

There is a lot of mining history in and around Quartzsite.   The town is situated in a valley called the La Paz Valley and it along with the surrounding mountains held lots of gold at one time.  There was also some silver and a little copper mined here but mostly gold.  One 47 ounce nugget was found along with lots of good sized nuggets back in the beginning of the "gold rush" here.  There was hard rock mining as well as placer mining.  Hard rock mining is where gold is found in rock that needs to be crushed to get the gold out.  Placer mining is the kind of mining we do just digging in the dirt and running the material through a machine to separate the gold from the sand. 

These old structures are left overs from the old mining days.  We guess that they were stamp mills where the gold was processed into saleable gold.  It was a little bit of a hike out in the desert close to the long term dry camping area just south of town to get a close look at this bit of history.  There were signs near these structures stating that the area was protected as an Arizona historical artifact.  People are crazy enough to take pieces of anything as "souvenirs" so Arizona is trying to protect its history by making it illegal to get too close or take anything. 

Arizona Sunsets Again

Yeah, we are back in the land of beautiful sunsets.  We moved from Wickenburg to Quartzsite where we will be staying for a few weeks.  We joined the local prospecting club and have started looking for gold on one of the claims.  When we got here everyday was about 105 degrees and the nights only got down in the 80's.  Now its started to cool down to the high 80's, lower 90's and in the 70's at night -- much better.  We feel like we finally are enjoying summer after being cold in Alaska. 

A few people are starting to trickle down from up north besides us.  So we aren't the only crazy ones coming here this early.  With any luck and some hard work digging we hope to find a little gold while we are here.  So we are happy that its cooled down enough to go out in the desert!

Vulture Peak

We left Kingman, AZ and went down to Wickenburg which is about 50 miles west of Phoenix.  Kingman weather was beautiful - in the 70's to low 80's.  We probably should have stayed longer because we hit Wickenburg and its been around 100 degrees every day and only cooling down to the high 70's at night.  Wickenburg is a cute little "western town" in Arizona.  The Vulture Mine is a tourist attraction here (in the winter) its closed to tours in the summer.  The Vulture Mine gets its name from the neighboring Vulture Peak (pictured above).  You can climb to the top but its not recommended in the summer.   We needed to get to Wickenburg to rescue our boat that has been in storage since April.  It seems to have survived the outdoor storage alright. 

It is the end of the monsoon season (hopefully).  I took a picture of the towering clouds that formed east of us while we were in Kingman.  These are the kind clouds that let loose with the torrents of rain that are known as monsoons.  It can rain inches in minutes like a bucket of water just being dumped from the heavens.  The park we are staying in here in Wickenburg suffered damage in July from a monsoon when rushing water jumped a wash and broke through a wall and ran down the streets in the park.   When we got here you would never have known they had had a problem it was so well cleaned up. 

Wickenburg is a cute little "western town" in Arizona. 

Northern Arizona

We traveled down into Idaho after leaving Montana and then jogged over so we could go south through Nevada.  Glad we avoided Utah with all the flooding they had in the southern part of the state.  We were lucky going through Nevada because they were closing one of the roads we were on for the Silver State Challenge Race on highway 318.   It was closing at 5AM on Sunday the 20th and would be closed until 2PM -- we got through there on Saturday.  The race is one hundred miles long -- not sure why it is big deal -- didn't see a lot of activity getting ready for it. 

We got through Las Vegas and made it as far as Kingman.  A nice place to stop.  South of the Boulder Dam we stopped at a scenic overlook.  You can see the Colorado River meander through the valley.  This spot is at Willow Beach where you can camp and boat on this part of the river.  I got a nice picture of mountains colored purple being close to sunset at our campground on the outskirts of Kingman. 

Western Montana

We left Libby, Montana and stopped in Missoula for two nights.  The Elk Country Visitor Center sounded interesting so we checked it out.  They had beautiful elk mounts and lots of info on how their organization helps the elk population throughout the country.  They aren't shy about their stand that hunting and hunters help the elk flourish.  We had fun pushing the buttons to hear what a bull elk bugling sounds like as well as what kind of noise a cow will make.  Missoula has lots to see but they also have a lot of traffic.  There just aren't that many roads and lots of traffic on them. 

We are in Dillon, Mt now and took a little drive west of town.  We saw this beautiful mountain with the bright red area below it.  It was a great day for a Sunday drive and we saw some great cattle country in the valleys along the Pioneer Mountains.   The RV park we are in has its own military museum.  The owner rides around the park in his mini tank.  Its very cute and it looks like he's having a "blast" driving it around the park. 

Proud as a Peacocok

While there are deer and turkeys everywhere we came across some peacocks along the road.  Very pretty but they must have escaped from someone's yard.   I doubt they are part of Montana's wildlife landscape.   The fires around Libby have died down with some cool, wet weather so we've been able to stick around and the smoke is gone so we can breathe. 

We've been gold mining on Libby Creek and have to show off the gold we've found.  Believe it or not the amount in the pan is about $100 worth.  We also got some good exercise moving rocks, shoveling and panning.  The other benefit was seeing some great wildlife while we worked.  We watched an American Dipper bird work the fast moving water of the creek looking for insects.  Those birds are amazing, they can swim as well as any duck.  We also had a black bear come down to the creek and check us out.  He was busy looking for berries and not really interested in us.

Libby, Mt

We have had two days where it was clear enough -- not so much smoke-- that we could take pictures.  The area is loaded with wild turkeys.  We've seen flocks of them everywhere too bad its not Thanksgiving.  The Kootenai River runs by Libby, Montana.  Its a beautiful river and its running a little low with it so dry around here.  We did see some folks fishing - not sure if they were catching anything. 

A fire in the wilderness area has finally broke out into an area close to homes.  They aren't allowed to put fires out in a designated wilderness area so they have just been watching it until now.  Of course now its big, threatening homes and forcing folks to evacuate.  Its too bad the fire couldn't have been dealt with when it was small.  It could reach the main highway that leads south out of town.  This is the direction we want to go and we were hoping to stay until after Labor Day.  We will be watching the fire fighting closely but the dense smoke might chase us out before the actual fire does. 

Montana Fires

The area around Libby, Montana is beautiful.  You can see some snow/glacier in the mountains surrounding Libby.  The problem is there are also fires all around us.   There are fires in the mountains just to the south of us and more fires 50 miles to the southwest of us.  Also there are fires 50 miles to the northeast of us.  The air has been so smoky that they advised everyone to stay indoors.  The good news is we had a little rain and its not as smoky as it was.  The rain didn't stop any of the fires so the smoke will return soon. 

We've been doing some gold prospecting on Libby creek.  We have found some gold so its keeping us occupied.  We are tired of running from fires so we've decided to keep on gold panning and hang out here until after Labor Day or we have to evacuate which ever comes first. 

British Columbia

We stayed in some beautiful areas in British Columbia.  We stayed by Revelstoke National Park and from there drove through the Canadian version of Glacier National Park along the Trans Canadian Highway.  The highway was only two lanes with lots of traffic and not a lot of passing lanes and lots of steep ups and downs.  We saw a large bear cross the road in front of a lot of traffic.    We also saw a mountain goat along the way up on the mountainside close to the road.  It was one of the white shaggy looking goats.  We were traveling too fast for me to get a picture and no place to pull over --

We stayed in Radium Hot Springs at a very nice RV park where I took this picture.  We had nice mountain views and a cement patio with a gas grill to use.  Toward evening it got very hazy from all the forest fires burning in the province.

The picture of the smoke is actually a mountain top on fire that we passed a few miles across the border in Idaho.  We stayed in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho for a few days but it was so brown and dry there that we left.  It looked like one spark would cause an explosion of fire.  We are now in Libby, Montana and its a little greener but still hazy from the fires in Idaho. 

Forgotten Skagway

I forgot about the town of Skagway that we visited down on the Alaskan coast.  We took at day trip from Whitehorse down to Skagway.  The drive down was beautiful.  You travel through the Yukon, British Columbia and then Alaska to get to Skagway.  You can also get there by ferry since its in the Inside Passage.  Skagway is now a cruise ship town.  All of the cruise ships stop there and the shops cater to the cruising crowd.  

We did find some of the historic sites while we were there.  This old building was made of branches from trees.  Of course the statues depict the men going to the Klondike goldrush up the trail out of Skagway.   We also visited a historic cemetery and saw the spot where a big boulder of gold was found.  You can take a train ride from Skagway to Whitehorse -- its a very pretty ride if you don't want to drive it. 

We are now in Radium Hot Springs just on the back side of Banff.  We should be back in the U.S. tomorrow and can't wait.   We drove part of the Trans Canadian Highway #1 through Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Park (the Canadian Glacier Nat'l Park).  The road is only two lanes with a few passing lanes, lots of up and down and winding roadway.  Not much fun to drive with lots of traffic on it.  We can't wait to see a freeway again. 

Last look along the Alcan

We met up with Wood Bison along the Alcan just south of Watson Lake.  There are big warning signs along the road warning of buffalo on the road.  This time we saw lots of them munching the grass alongside the road.  The bison keep the grass nicely mowed along a long stretch of highway.   At one point we had to stop and wait for them to cross the road. 

The views along Muncho Lake in this picture are spectacular.  The water is that pretty aqua color -- can't really see the color here.  We saw caribou, bear, sheep, moose and lots of porcupines as well as the bison on this part of the trip.  Of course we hit nasty road construction the last 100 miles back to Dawson Creek.  We went to the Ford dealer and had an oil change and had to put in a new air filter.  The dust in the construction zones is unbelievable.  They also checked the truck over and we need some front end work (things tightened) and an alignment which is no surprise after bouncing and banging down the nasty road. 

Another week in Canada and then we should be in the U.S. again. 

More Yukon

We left Alaska a week ago and are slowly making our way back across the Alcan once again.  We made it through the bad construction zone/ worst part of the Alcan which is the 100 miles in the Yukon by the Alaska border.  At least we hope it was the worst -- as we meet people on their way to Alaska they are reporting a bad 30 some mile stretch out of Dawson Creek.  So we might get it again at that end of the Alcan. 

We met up with the grizzly bear around the Kluane Lake area.  He was busy eating and digging close enough to the road that I was able to get a picture.  The drive through this area is probably the prettiest part of the whole trip.  If the road wasn't so bad it would be perfect.  The fireweed is in full bloom.  It blooms from the bottom up and supposedly when it blooms at the top that means summer is over and we've seen a lot of it blooming close to the top. 

We are in Whitehorse and should be in Dawson Creek by next weekend or at least very close. 

Glaciers

We got some close up views of some glaciers while in Alaska.  The top picture is Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjord National Park outside of Seward.  Its a bit of a hike to a platform that overlooks the glacier.  The glacier melts and runs into the Resurrection River which runs to Resurrection Bay in Seward and on to the ocean.  The bottom picture is Matanuska Glacier which is along the Glenn Highway northeast of Palmer.  It melts and runs to the Matanuska River which is mostly mud with some rushing water. 

We have left Seward and spent time in Palmer, Glennallen and now Tok.   We will be back in Canada tomorrow.  We have decided to take the Alcan all the way back to Dawson Creek.  We were planning to head south through British Columbia by way of the Cassiar highway but recent reports we've gotten say its bad.  We'll keep trying to get updates because its supposed to be a beautiful drive.  We do all agree that the last 100 miles of the Yukon before you get into Alaska are very bad.  Oh Yeah! we get to go through it again -- hope we get through without damage -- but I'm not feeling very lucky this time. 

Alaska Sealife Center

We finally made it to the Sealife Center in Seward.  They have seals and sea lions swimming in big tanks.  You can see them above the water and below the water.  This sea lion loved to swim up to the glass and check us out.  He would wave his flipper at you once in a while but we didn't see him do it.  The sea birds were amazing.  These were some tufted puffins.  They are fabulous swimmers.  We watched them from below the water as they dived way down in search of fish.  They would shoot straight up to the surface like rockets. 

The center also had king crab, octopus, urchins, all kinds of salmon, jellyfish, sole, halibut, rockfish, hermit crabs, barnacles and the list goes on and on.  They even had things that looked like starfish that you could gently touch with a finger in open tanks.   They felt squishy.  They also have an outdoor viewing platform overlooking Resurrection Bay.  We happened to catch sight of a sea otter swimming and eating close to the center.