Alaska rondreis met CV

[Wellingrwf]

Epilogue Alaska
When on Tierra del Fuego I was wondering if Alaska would be similar. No, it is not. Yes, there are fjords and glaciers but inland it is different. Alaska is mostly covered with threes till roughly the Pool Circle. While Tierra del Fuego is dry without forest till you reach the southern part of the island where finally the ocean winds drop rain. There is also much more tourism in Alaska then at Argentina’s southern point.
In Alaska we had many rainy days but, on some days, it was clear enough to even see Mnt. Denali (6190 m) and other mountain ranges covered in snow. We drove up to the artic ocean in Canada to Tuktoyaktuk and also in Alaska to Prudhoe Bay. Both roads are different but also similar. You drive over lang sections of graded road following the oil pipeline (in Alaska) which become slippery when it rains. You have to slow down when the large trucks pass and hope the flying stones do not crack your windshield. Further north you cross the Brooks Range and descend on to tundra where you can see reindeer crossing the road trying to stay away from the hunters during the just started hunting season. The end point of the road, Deadhorse, is a drilling camp (Prudhoe Bay) while in Tuk it is a lovely Inuit village.
We were lucky to be in Alaska at the end of the salmon running season. In many rivers in the south, you see the fish desperately trying to swim up the streams to spawn their eggs. They were even swimming over the road! Many of the cities and towns in Alaska started with gold mining. Later the oil industry took over.
One of my highlights was the visit to the Kennecott abandoned copper mine. This mine, in the Wrangell Mountain range, only produced for 27 years ending in 1938. To get the concentrated ore out, a 315 km long trainline with 129 bridges had to be constructed through the mountains to the coast at Cordova. Still, this was a profitable enterprise with $200 million worth of copper ore being exported. Another relic of the mining past is Skagway. Here the treacherous trail over the Chilkoot pass started for the fortune seekers during the Klondike gold rush in 1897.

https://youtu.be/l8ANd3yZ_ig

We hope you enjoy this video. Let me know what you think of it.
Regards
Rudy and Jamaliah Welling
PS See also our blog at rudywelling.blog