AK character

The trip to Delta Friday included some sightseeing beginning with the visitor center at the end of the Alcan Highway. Yes, the mosquitoes here are big!

Delta is a town of about 3000 and one of those residents provided our entertainment of the week as we got off the beaten path. We followed a garage sale sign looking for a couple cabin items and landed in a field of collectables (ie. junk) that included absolutely everything you can imagine.

The owner was one John Phariss who was 85 years old and had stories that spanned WWII, working on the Aleyska pipeline, homesteading in Wrangell-St. Elias, running from the IRS, trapping and hunting. Stories included getting shot in the leg in the Philippines; falling 60 feet off a bridge doing construction, landing on a pipe on the way down to hit the ground; shooting 20 caribou in one day; and living in a tent for a time in the winter when the temperature got to -80 degrees (maybe that 60-foot fall did hurt him!). He also told about his 91 year old brother who is currently the oldest person with a CLD license, still driving a 18-wheeler hauling alcohol! His tractor was running the entire time and he did get in it and move it about 2 feet, hauling a large metal pipe.

Today, Saturday, we’ve come back to town for Pioneer Days. We began at the seasonal opening of the Sullivan Roadhouse which is a historic structure from the turn of the century with wonderful displays and as well as photographs of Ma and Pa Sullivan who ran the place as a stop on the road from Valdez to Fairbanks. Pioneer Days included local talent singing (actually quite good) and lots of booths in the Farmer’s Market. No produce yet, but the plants were enticing and we wish we could take advantage of the tomatoes especially. One young boy told us we should go down the road a ways to his grandma’s greenhouse, which we did, and came out with a 2-ft high sweet basil plant. These folks, as well as others in the market, were Russian. One lady told us she came here a few years ago to escape religious persecution.

There is a big fire about 30 miles east of town so a good rain is needed, but it looks like it will be sunny and hot for Memorial Day weekend and we are enjoying that!

Cabin improvements continued this week with the completion of a deck on 2 sides of the cabin, more rock steps and a crushed gravel walkway. It’s very fortunate to have a stone quarry across the street and piles of gravel only 2 miles away, both ours for the taking.

Tom crafted some nice natural wood (collected from the roadside) shelf supports. We are fast becoming a 5 star volunteer camp host facility!

I went for a lovely walk one night at 10pm – looked like 6pm but with the birds chirping so much it felt more like 6am in the lower 48. From the dike behind the campground, looking across the braided river, I got my first close up view of a herd of 50 or so buffalo. Delta Junction is known as “Buffalo Center.” Alaska bison died out 500 years ago, but in 1928 a herd of 23 was transplanted here from Montana. Here's our Donnelly Creek at sunset, 10:30pm.

The Alaska Range dominates the scenery with peaks that begin at about 2500’ and top out from 10,000’ - 13,800’ high. I suspect they’ll be snow covered all summer, but some of it is melting visibly as it finally got hot this week and the wind quite blowing for 2 days in a row so far! “Hot” here is in the 70s, but with no wind, it truly felt hot. More wildflowers are coming up and the birch are almost leafed out. Summer seems to be here.

Donnelly Creek arrival

May 16-22
We arrived in Delta Junction late Monday afternoon, in a dust storm (glacial dust) that required headlights. Wind is a way of life here it seems but fortunately we don’t get the dust down at our cabin. After getting our vehicle and some campground supplies, in town we headed down to Donnelly Creek State Park campground. It is a very nice campground with 12 sites, water for campers from a pump and 2 of the nicest vault toilet restrooms I’ve ever seen in a public campground. Our cabin is bigger than we expected – 10 x 15 – and has a decent size fridge/freezer and a 4-burner stove with an oven, another unexpected surprise. Here's the cabin as we found it (we added the flag). Later you'll see lots of changes.

Much cleaning up before moving in and then the projects to make it more livable for everyone who is ever here began. We acquired a small sink and put that in the counter top; our water comes from the creek (potable from cubes in town), so Tom put in a dock to walk out on to make filling the bucket easier; we’ve added a deck on 2 sides of the cabin that were delivered to us from one of the lakes; and we’ve made stone steps up to the cabin door and have begun steps up to the deck.

Take a look at the size of the stones in the attached picture. Yes, we hoisted them up into a pickup and into place on the ground without help of a crane. Let me just say that I use to think the full 5-gallon solar shower was heavy! All this is still a work in progress.

The weather has been windy, windy, windy, but sunny. Saturday the wind finally quite and it was actually hot for several hours. Mosquitoes are not a problem yet and those that we have seen are big and slow and easy to kill. Our wildlife and bird list so far includes caribou, moose, porcupine, buffalo, one bald eagle, many robins and extremely friendly gray jays, warblers and white crowned sparrow.

The week ended with our first dutch oven cobbler which was delicious. For entertainment we watched a couple movies on the computer since I'm able to charge it up on a converter in the pickup. Evening walks provide lovely views...here's our backyard.

Last, but not least, the 24-hour light. It actually has not been bothersome, perhaps since after 8 hours of hauling rocks and building porches we are having no trouble sleeping! It is unique though to see the sun almost, but not quite, set at 10:30pm.

Fairbanks day

Sunday, May 15.
Up with the sun…OK, that’s now a relative phrase. Today is supply day, but first a bit of sightseeing at the Museum of the North. This is a wonderful museum on the UA campus and a good intro to native cultures. Highlights were the beautiful closely woven baskets, the seal skin clothing, & ivory carvings. Excellent exhibits of the flora and fauna including, of course, a polar and grizzly. Then it was on to shopping. Prices in Fairbanks are quite competitive with the lower 48 including gas that is $4.18/gal. but the Kroger type store offered 30-cents/gal. off with the card I have. Things will be significantly more expensive in Delta Junction, so we hit Sam’s Club, Walmart and Fred Meyers (Kroger/Frys) to get staples for hopefully the next 2 months. And yes, I found a dutch oven! Looked out over the Alaska range from the hill on the University campus, the high spot in town, after dinner. That picture was taken at about 8:30pm. As you see, the weather couldn’t be better – sunny and 60s – the perfect beginning. Monday we will be picked up and taken down to Delta Jct where we’ll get a vehicle and head to the cabin at Donnelly Creek.

flight to AK

Saturday, May 14. 

A beautiful morning in Flagstaff got us on our way to begin this grand adventure to the land of the midnight sun. Had good flights through Denver and Seattle and then the fun began. We left Seattle in the dark at 7:30, but the farther north we flew, the brighter it got first with a rosy horizon and then a dusky sky into Fairbanks at midnight. Snow capped mountains covered land we crossed with only an occasional light to mark civilization.  Not sure if we saw Denali and there was no pilot chit-chat to passengers, but there was one huge peak as we got near landing that I think might have been it.  The Dept. of Natural Resource has a cabin that they put up volunteers in and we shared it with another guy waiting also to be picked up to go to his position.

the day before departure

After a great sendoff pizza party last night with NPS and FS friends, we are almost ready to begin the Alaska volunteer adventure. Each of us has packed a box with 50 pounds, the airline limit, which includes everything from bedding to toothbrush and solar shower. Tomorrow morning starts with a shuttle ride from Flagstaff to Phoenix followed by the flight to Fairbanks via Denver and Seattle. The Fairbanks weather forecast is sunny and 60, the perfect way to begin. The next post will hopefully include a picture of our little cabin at Donnelly Creek.