Tundy, house and beetle build thread...and exploring.

I'm still trying to work on some updates. Mostly through the pictures, just need to do the writing to go along with it.

Great day of climbing today wrapped up with filet minion, sauteed onions and peppers and mashed potatoes.

The northern lights are going to be peaking for the next few days so hopefully the skies will stay clear and I'll be in a spot for cool pictures.

 

Still looks like you're having an amazing time. Glad you actually did it.

 

Ahh, brings back your good ole working Colfax days.

 

#placescrocsgo

@Gramps

 

Update is written, just have to make it to somewhere with WiFi to upload the pictures... So at some point this weekend it'll be done.

 

The search for WiFi will have to wait for another day.

 

No one wants to see your legs!

 

My resume says otherwise!

 

Alaska in the Fall


After getting back into Fairbanks from Deadhorse, the weather continued to be cold and wet. I finished some errands and headed west towards Denali. I stopped at a few small towns along the way before making it to Denali. As I got close, I could barely see the mountains that lined the main highway. There were a few times of sunshine but it did not look promising to see Mt. Denali. I drove into the park not realizing that you could only travel 15 miles by vehicle. The scenery along the road was nice, but I was not lucky enough to see any wildlife… as usual.


20830171523a_HDR by Brandon M, on Flickr


The forecast for the weather showed no signs of clearing up for a possibility of seeing the mountain. I camped on the south side of the park along Peterson Road. It is a gravel road that is heavily used for hunting this time of year (as I found out after driving up there). I was hoping to get a view of Denali from the south side, but again, I was not able to see very far with the overcast and cloudy skies. There were plenty of water crossings as I made it further up the road along with many permanent hunting camp sites. All of the wildlife knew it was hunting season, and there were no critters to be seen.


20831171040a_HDR by Brandon M, on Flickr


Along the main highway south I there were plenty of views when the sunshine would peek through a cloud.


20830171702a_HDR by Brandon M, on Flickr


I did see a few moose foraging along the road though! I avoided the spots where there were a ton of vehicles stopped and luckily found some moose where I did not attract a crowd of tourists flocking in like they were seeing a once in a lifetime sight.


2DSC05334 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


There were a bunch of scenic spots and pull outs on the roadway between Denali and Anchorage. I even saw blue skies for somewhat extended periods of time!


20830171755b_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


I stopped by the remnants of the Igloo City that is along the highway.


20830171815a_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


And the Alaska Veterans Memorial


20830171926b_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


I explored the gravel road that accesses the Independence Mine. Unfortunately it was also a hunters paradise so the only wildlife to be seen was already field dressed and remnants left at the camp sites… which made no sense to me.


20831171617_HDR by Brandon M, on Flickr


Anchorage was relatively warm and muggy from what I was used to, for the first few hours I was there.


It was very cool how it was on the coast and surrounded by mountains and glaciers to the east.


20901171055a_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


20901171911b_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


2DSC05399 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

 

Alaska in the Fall, Part II



I made my way south wanting to catch a mountain bike event at a ski resort, but when I arrived, it was pretty obvious that it must have been cancelled or something as there were only a few people riding. Along the roadway there was a salmon viewing area where you can see hundreds of salmon slowly making their way up the river. They look very close to death, just making the pilgrimage up the river to lie their eggs. There were a bunch of dead salmon in the river and no signs of salmon leftovers from the bears… I was hoping to see the bears feasting!


2DSC05416 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


2DSC05467 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr



The next checkpoint was Whittier, Alaska which is accessed through a long single wide railroad tunnel that alternates with traffic when there is no train traffic. As soon as you enter the Whitier Bay area, there was a huge cruise ship and glaciers that are carving down most of the mountain valleys.


2DSC05691 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


The historic Buckner Building calls Whittier home, where it was finished in 1954 as a huge multipurpose building for the Army. It has been unoccupied for years and now is slowly deteriorating but makes for good pictures.


2DSC05666 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


2DSC05626 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


2DSC05676 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


I hiked up to the viewpoint of one of the glaciers near the tunnel entrance to Whittier and it was pretty neat. Although you could not get up to the base of the glacier, there were small segments that were near the bottom of the trail. Even those small pieces are HUGE!


203-09-2017 03.27.01 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


20902171929_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


Next up was Seward, Alaska which the first half of the day was nice and overcast. I hiked up the trail to near the top of the Exit Glacier. At the top, the views were breathtaking. It could’ve also been the fact that I was up there in just a t-shirt. I didn’t want to stop along the trail, and it actually was not too cold until the last ½ mile when it got really windy, light rain and was near freezing. As soon as I made it to the end of the trail I bundled up to take in the view of the sea of ice as far as I could see that was settled on top of the mountains. It was the neatest views I’ve seen of a glacier mainly because of the sheer size. The hike down was more challenging as it started to rain and didn’t stop all the way down, making the steep stairways into steep muddy stairways.


2DSC05711 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


20903171522a_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr


The forecast for the next few days was for an “early fall storm” that would drop a ton of rain. There was no sunshine in the schedule for the 7 day forecast and camping and hiking while being wet and cold was already old. I made my way to the east to get into Canada and go find some sunshine before it started to get wet and cold down there as well.

 

Taco up first!

Off to Vancouver Island!

 

What parts of the island will you be exploring??

 

I landed in your hood it looks like, just finished with the bomber hike and now near Tofino. No set plans other than probably hanging around this side of the island tonight.

If you're up for light wheeling or grabbing food or a drink, let me know!

 

Milky Way from horizon to horizon. Too bad I'm too tired to get the camera out.

 

Hopefully you don't look back on this one day and wish you'd have taken the 2 minutes to get a picture with your camera. I'm jealous. I've always wanted to see the northern lights and also to be somewhere dark enough to see the Milky Way easily with the naked eye.

 

I do wish I had a wide angle lens for the camera... Since it'd take quite a few pictures stitched together to take a picture of it. I've seen the milky way plenty of times, even brighter than last night. If it were the northern lights i would've got the camera out.

 

Moab is great for seeing it, just get a little distance from the city. And it's usually cool and dry enough that photos are nice and crisp.

 

Shot some photos of the Milky Way in Nevada when I was visiting my Brother and Mom (Photo taken from FB because I am on my work computer, full image is at home on my personal computer)

 

Just learned about TW Live! Need to work on some updates, maybe tonight.


Vancouver Island looking across the Strait of Juan de Fuca at the mountains of Olympic National Park!

 

Fairly certain I should have invested in oil companies before this trip... rough overlay of the route so far.

Over 15k miles driven so far.