DSC_0264 by Verryl V Fosnight Jr
Verryl V Fosnight Jr's Gallery Verryl V Fosnight Jr's Gallery
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  1. Verryl V Fosnight Jr's Gallery
  2. Yukon Territory and Alaska Aug 2013 Part IYukon Territory and Alaska Aug 2013 Part I
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Alaska 2013 Tour and Cruise0001a (Welcome!  This is the path of our Alaska adventure.  We started by flying to Whitehorse for 2 days (1-2 near the center of the map, took a motor coach (Canadian for "bus") to Dawson on day 3, to Fairbanks on day 5, flew on a bush plane to Fort Yukon above the Arctic Circle on day 6, took the McKinley Explorer to Denali Park for day 8 & 9, on to Anchorage on the train (with some side trips thrown in) (10), Got on the cruise ship Zaamdam on day 11, cruised all day and night and up the Glacier Bay on day 13, and on to Haines (13), then cruised to Juneau and  Ketchikan and left the ship at Vancouver.  On every stop we took exciting side excursions by bus, plane, and train to see the sights, especially the Alaskan and Yukon Territory wildlife.  This album is the story of the first half of that tour, and it concludes in the "Yukon Territory and Alaska 2013 Part II" album here on Slickpic.)
DSC_0001 (We started by flying from Los Angeles to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  This is the Vancouver Airport from the Fairmont Airport Hotel.)
DSC_0008 (The next day we flew on to Whitehorse, and this is the Klondike sternwheeler on the Yukon River in Whitehouse, Yukon Territory, Canada.  This is a replica of one of the steam boats that carried the Klondike Gold Rush (1896-99) prospectors and supplies up to Dawson City in the 1890's.  The earliest steamboats on the Yukon were in the 1860's, but in 1900 the White Pass & Yukon Route completed its railroad line between Skagway, Alaska and Whitehorse, and by the late 1920's the last steamboats were abandoned on the banks of the Yukon.  But for many years they were the only feasible means of travel to cover the 4,000 miles from San Francisco or Seattle.)
DSC_0009 (Part of  downtown Whitehorse taken from the motor coach.  We had just met our tour director Jaclyn Fischer and driver Dan, who proved to be an excellent guide also.  Our hotel is the green building on the left ahead.)
DSC_0013 (Sharon in front of the Westmark Hotel, Whitehorse)
DSC_0014 (Welcome Dinner at the Westmark Hotel, Whitehorse.  Jaclyn is talking to John Turner and his wife, lois, is seated by them.)
DSC_0096 and 97 reduced (This is the engine house near the hotel in Whitehorse.  It is the place from which I took the aurora (Northern Lights) the first night in Whitehorse.  The green transformer I used to steady the camera is in the lower right.  The aurora photos can be see with descriptions in another album "Aurora Photos Whitehorse, Yukon" on this Slickpic site.)
DSC_0040 (Whitehorse Cultural Center, the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre, highlighting First Nations culture and traditions)
DSC_0052 and 53 reduced (First Nation canoe and shield)
DSC_0060 (Royal Canadian Mounted Police Headquarters in Whitehorse.  Colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force') the RCMP is both a federal and a national police force of Canada, unique in the world as a national, federal, provincial and municipal policing body.  Formed in 1920 by the merger of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police (RNWMP, founded 1873) with the Dominion Police (founded 1868). The former was originally named the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), and was given the Royal prefix by King Edward VII in 1904.
    Sergeant Preston Of the Yukon  was a radio series (created by George W. Trendle, of The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet fame in 1947-55) and also a TV series that was purposefully kind to the reputation of the venerable crime-fighting force. As an officer in the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, Sergeant Preston trekked through the rocky terrain of Canada astride his horse Rex, and acting alone, with his dog Yukon King,  tracked down and caught criminals in the Yukon.)
DSC_0063 cropped (World's only (?) 3 story log cabin.  Built on a bet after he build the two story one across the street.)
DSC_0067 (The path of the salmon from the Pacific to Whitehorse, 3,200 Km or nearly 2,000 miles in 3 months.  4 to 6 years after they are born here, they will spawn very near where they were hatched in the tributaries or headwaters of the Yukon.  It is the longest salmon migration in the world.)
DSC_0071 (Whitehorse fish ladder on the Yukon River giving route for salmon around hydro electric dam.  Screens protect adult fish on their way upstream, but babies could get through screens and die in turbines coming back downstream, hence the extra need for fish ladder.  It is a series of stepped pools rising over the change in water level.  This power plant supplies all the electricity for hundreds of miles (not particularly large, now up to 40 megawatts, but a measure of just how many people are in the area.)
DSC_0085 (Chinook Salmon in fish ladder step heading upstream toward but around the dam)
DSC_0114 (This was in the McBride Museum of Yukon History in Whitehorse.  It was free, and well worth the time to visit, for the fine collection of stuffed Yukon animals upstairs.  I got a kick out of this display (darn physicist).)
DSC_0114 A Yukon News (Here is a write upon the sourdough thermometer from the Yukon News.)
DSC_0124 (After turning off Hwy 1 onto Hwy 2 for an excursion we crossed a bridge over the Stewart River that flowed into the Yukon River in the distance.   At least I think this is the Stewart.  Google maps does not give any name to it, but as you can see it is a large river.   There were dozens and dozens of large rivers we came across on the Alaska-Yukon trip, and this is one of them.)
DSC_0178 n 0183 (These next few wildlife pictures are from an private animal preserve a few miles north of Whitehorse.  These are the best  shots of an arctic fox I got, and they are poor.  Left:  darn fence, Right darn fence again, had to focus manually, as camera wanted to focus on wire.)
DSC_0185 (Dall sheep on cliff.  See, I can take a 300 mm shot hand held and get it sharp.  ISO 640, 1/400 sec exposure, 300 mm focal length, f /5.6)
DSC_0164 (Dall Sheep in a large fenced area open to the cliffs in the last photo.  Again the fence through which I had to shoot was a problem.     2013:08:16 15:21:18   Exposure time: 1/640   F-stop: 5.0   ISO speed: 640   Focal length: 210mm)
DSC_0200 (Musk Ox shedding     2013:08:16 15:58:45   Exposure time: 1/250   F-stop: 4.5   ISO speed: 800   Focal length: 155mm)
DSC_0211 (Elk shedding its velvet prior to ruttin season.  The velvet is a blood carrying covering to new antlers that grow every year.  We saw many more animals at this preserve, but the fence or extreme size of the pens they were in was a problem, so I did not include any more if I got those species elsewhere  2013:08:16 16:08:55   Exposure time: 1/640   F-stop: 5.6   ISO speed: 800   Focal length: 280mm)
DSC_0214 (On the motor coach (don't say the "B" word) to Dawson.  ADR (another damn river))
DSC_0217 (Mist over the Yukon River on an overcast morning)
DSC_0234 (Another river flowing into the Yukon.  The Yukon is one of the world's truly large rivers.)
DSC_0242_0246 (Five Fingers Rapids on the Yukon River.  This was a dangerous place for steam boats to navigate through in gold rush times.  Eventually, they dynamited one of the rocks to remove it, so now there are only four and the stream is a lot more calm.  For us it was a rest stop.)
DSC_0260 (Huge River (Yukon) in an immense country, the Yukon.)
DSC_0264 (Minto lodge on the Yukon River where the motor coach stopped for lunch.)
DSC_0269 (Yukon River outside of lunch stop at Minto.   It is 1,980 miles long, and the average flow is 227,000 ft³/sec and the total drainage area is 321,500 mi².... By comparison, the Mississippi-Missouri River system is 3,710 miles long and averages from 200 to 700 thousand cubic feet of flow/sec.  Yukon means "great river" in Gwich'in.  The source of the river is located in BC, Canada....It gives its name to Yukon territory. The lower half of the river lies in...Alaska. The river is 1,980 miles long and empties into the Bering Sea at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.)
DSC_0292 (Moose Creek Lodge rest stop.  Rustic does not even begin to characterize it.)
DSC_0293 (Although we were still in the Yukon, we caught this shot of the unofficial Alaska State Bird.)
DSC_0294A (Moose Creek Lodge Business Center with radio telephone in tree.  Sorry, no Wi-Fi....Maybe next year.)
DSC_0296 (Highway 1 out of Moose Creek towards Dawson City, YT)
DSC_0302 (Sign about the Tintina Trench, a large valley extending through the Yukon. It is the northern extension of the Northern Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia and it has its origin from the Tintina Fault)
DSC_0301 (Tintina Trench, the large valley seen spreading out across the distance)
DSC_0320 (Tailings from mammoth gold dredges around Dawson, used in early 20th century with Rockefeller and Guggenheim family financing that decimated many square miles of the countryside around Dawson.  With the top soil washed away the flora could not recover.  In separating the gold flakes from the gravel they estimated $0.09/cubic yard would be profitable, (they did not have to restore the land). One dredge averaged 13 cents/cubic yard. When US went on gold standard they began to cease operations as unprofitable.)
DSC_0326 (Dawson.  It drizzled part of the day in Dawson, and it has no paved streets, but we were assured all the walks were boardwalks.  NOT!  Well Dawson City today is all about recreating the feel of the gold rush.)
DSC_0435 (Side street from hotel down to main street.  Street had nearly dried up in dry climate and gravel soil the next day)
DSC_0438 (Westmark Inn was a good hotel.  Not a great hotel, but certainly good.  Still some puddles to skip over this next day which was sunny.)
DSC_0422 (Dawson where they endeavor to keep the old time theme for all the buildings…)
DSC_0442 (…sometimes carrying this effort to extremes.)
DSC_0445_0446 (We were considering buying one of these fixer uppers as a Canadian investment until we heard about the unsolvable permafrost problem on the foundations.)
DSC_0437 (Diamond Tooth Gerties, saloon, casino, and showroom all in one barn like room.  Many of us tiptoed through the mud the first night the3-4 blocks from the hotel to see this Gay Nineties variety show.)
DSC_0338 (River Raft Float and Eagle Viewing ride down the Klondike River early morning.  Sit and swivel into the raft.  That's my girl, Sharon LOML (Love Of My Life) gracefully sliding into the Kevlar raft.)
DSC_0341 (We left the hotel at 7 AM and got on the raft at about 7:30  It was cool on the river, so we bundled up.  This is the Klondike River which flows into the Yukon about 5 miles downstream.  Our float was 6 miles down to and onto the Yukon River.)
DSC_0342 (Our very attractive and very tall, buffed out raft guide.  I am not allowed to remember her name.  She jumped in the water and pulled the boat up on the bank for lunch refusing any help.  At the end of the tour, drove the van pulling the raft and trailer.  She said she had been rowing ever since she was a little girl with her dad and through college.  She had a degree in geology, and lived full time in Canada or Alaska.  This was her 5 or 6th or more summer on the river.)
DSC_0348_0349_0350 composite (A young bald eagle on the Klondlike River Raft Float.  Bald eagles grow their white tail and head feathers only at about 5 years old.  This one is speckled,  so it is a juvenile.  This is one of two bald eagles we saw in this float, both juvenile.  #348 of this composite was 2013:08:18 09:36:21
Exposure time: 1/800   F-stop: 14.0 O speed: 800   Focal length: 55mm  So I switched to my 70-300mm lens.)
DSC_0360 (The float was very smooth, although our guide expertly had to steer us around some mild rapids.)
DSC_0372 cropped 150% (The only golden eagle we saw, and it was in flight by the time I got my camera on him or her.  2013:08:18 10:08:39
Exposure time: 1/3200   F-stop: 7.1   ISO speed: 800   Focal length: 300mm cropped)
DSC_0380 (Sharon and sorry-I-forget-your-name from New York and raft guide ?Sue? On shore for lunch break.)
DSC_0384 (A mother duck and 5 ducklings.  I could not find the name.   2013:08:18 10:49:49   Exposure time: 1/640   F-stop: 5.0   ISO speed: 400   Focal length: 210mm)
DSC_0389 (Black spruce tiny pine cones cluster near the top.  If conditions are right these trees are tall, but often short due to cold and short growing season.  The branches are short making them thin even at the base.  They consequently drop their cones very close to the parent tree and tend to crowd out other species.  They are said to be useless, too tar filled (creosote) to build with or even to burn for fuel.
   2013:08:18 10:58:34   Exposure time: 1/1250   F-stop: 5.6   ISO speed: 400   Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0392 (Black spruce, and Birch trees turning already.  Well it is 2013:08:18 11:12:49   Exposure time: 1/800  F-stop: 7.1  ISO speed: 400 Focal length: 70mm)
DSC_0393 (Witch's broom growing in a black spruce.  These are parts of the tree that grow abnormally as a response to parasites or other abnormal conditions, but do not kill the tree.)
DSC_0418 (We have now floated onto the silt filled Yukon River from the clear water Klondike River.  This is where they merge at Dawson.  The silt is very fine ground sand from glacier melt water that is washed out from the glacier and so fine it does not settle to the bottom.  A few hundred yards downstream the confluence is silty as is all of the lower Yukon as far north as Fort Yukon, which we visited just above the arctic circle.  Through Whitehorse, the Yukon is pretty clear, with only a little silt.  2013:08:18 11:48:49   Exposure time: 1/640   F-stop: 6.3   ISO speed: 400
Focal length: 70mm)
DSC_0397 (Fireweed which is common and grows rapidly after a forest fire, hence its name.  Here it is on the banks of the Yukon in Dawson.  Note how little grows up in the tailing of the dredges.)
DSC_0400 (Fireweed.)
DSC_0401 (This mountain is the Midnight Dome over Dawson.  A road goes up it now, but before there was a community party at the top on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, at midnight.  It was quaisi-religious having been started by a number of local Christian ministers who led or met some of their congregations at the top over a foot trail.  This first recorded group to gather on the Midnight Dome to watch the midnight sun was in 1899. The occasion was a catered event with entertainment. There were candies, cigars and drinks. And for entertainment the group invited a poet by the name of Captain Jack Crawford to recite some poems from his collection.

Unfortunately, the groups timing was off as the sun set 1/2 an hour before midnight - only to rise again 2 hours later..)
DSC_0405 (Some remains of the 74 mile "Yukon Ditch" left in the Yukon River.  It was built by the Yukon Gold Company in the early part of this century to deliver water for the hydrological mining and dredges..  Google "the yukon ditch" to find a treatise on it written in 1908 by an engineer (who'd think I'd like that?) who visited it while it was being built.  It was ..."a system of ditch, pipe, and flume that has a total length of a little more than 70 miles." according to the engineer)
DSC_0447 IMG_5700 from riding-the-usa_com (I took this image off a site http://www.riding-the-usa.com/2013/04/day-16-dawson-city-part-2.html because I forgot to take a photo of the Dawson Spirit side wheeler, on which we rode the afternoon of the the trip on it up and down the Yukon.  It is about 15 years old and we cruised down (N) the Yukon about 5 miles and back then up the Yukon to past the Klondike about 3 miles the other direction.  Sharon said they had good coffee.  But then she said everyone one had good coffee.  She even terms mine I bring to her "wonderful!")
DSC_0453 (Dawson (Dawson City, properly) from up river (the dity to the south).  Note the silty water here, but in Whitehorse the water in the Yukon was clear.)
DSC_0460 (Moosehide Village accessible only by boat or foot through the forest.  First Nation peoples originally lived here in 3 periods, the first ca 1300AD and the latest about 1750.  They were moved here forceably from their fish camp in Dawson during the gold rush years (1890's) onto land bought by Rev Frederick Fairweather Flewelling of the Anglecan Church.  I know you think, with a name like mine, that I made that up.)
DSC_0461 (Original Mission at Moosehide Village.  In 1957 the Canadian Government withdrew its financial support of the school at Moosehide, and by 1962 the last resident, the then present Reverend Richard Martin moved to Dawson.  The buildings in the previous photo are summer cabins or residences of locals who commute by boat from Dawson.)
DSC_0454 and Chilroot pass (Deteriorated remains of 3 steamboats abandoned when business declined after the gold rush.  Three of them were scuttled at high water at the river's edge side by side at this spot.  A very few remained into the early 1920's.
   The insert shows an old photo off the web of the line of prospectors packing their supplies up Chilkoot pass in ice steps carved in the mountain side.  The Canadian government required 1 ton of supplies for all men entering the gold rush area, and the only way, other than to risk the gangs of thieves and murderers on an easier alternate route, was to pack their stuff up this pass.  It took up to 40 trips up and back, and many men fell to their deaths in the attempt)
DSC_0478 (Clear Klondike River water merges into the silty Yukon.  The Yukon wins, and downstream a few hundred yards the resultant Yukon is all silty.
2013:08:18 17:36:36   Exposure time: 1/800   F-stop: 7.1   ISO speed: 400  Focal length: 70mm)
DSC_0484 (Klondike river to the right with clear water flowing into the silty Yukon River on the right.  This is taken from down river looking south.  
2013:08:18 17:40:10   Exposure time: 1/500   F-stop: 11.0   ISO speed: 400   Focal length: 18mm)
DSC_0502 (The Yukon River  beyond the just visible Klondike River from the top of Mountain Dome over Dawson City.  Even on this cold, windy overcast night (9:41PM but still light) you can see the silt versus clear water.    2013:08:18 21:41:17    Exposure time: 1/30   F-stop: 5.6   ISO speed: 400   Focal length: 55mm)
DSC_0494 (The Yukon River  north of Dawson (downstream) from the top of Mountain Dome.  Being an astronomer, I took a whole series of photos from this spot thinking I'd get a great sunset.  No, not at 64.06 deg N latitude, or at least I'd have to wait several more hours for the sun to set.  After about 20 minutes I figured it out.  Duh, I'm an astronomer/physicist.  2013:08:18 21:34:18   Exposure time: 1/80   F-stop: 4.5   ISO speed: 400   Focal length: 24)
DSC_0513 (Sign commemorating the Midnight Sun or "The Midnight Dome" celebration.)
DSC_0515 (To recap, we had the morning raft float where we saw the bald and golden eagles to the left of the "You are here  X," then in the afternoon went on the side wheeler down and up the Yukon river from the "X," and this evening went up the Midnight Dome by van to the "X."  Just to top it off, tomorrow we will continue by taking the ferry across the Yukon and continue to the right over the "Top of the World Hwy" on the Klondike Hwy, on which we arrived from the left.)
DSC_0519 (Ferry across the Yukon.  We got our bus, sorry "motor coach," on beside the SUV, and another car got on behind the SUV.  It is the only way to get across the River here.  As you can see it is very wide, about 1,000 yards here as measured by satellite photo.  Once a physicist, always a physicist.  Hey, I like to quantify things.  Makes me secure.  2013:08:19 07:15:39   Exposure time: 1/250   F-stop: 8.0   ISO speed: 1600   Focal length: 55mm)
DSC_0521 (There are probably 2 reasons why they call it "The Top of the World Highway."  The first is that Canada chose to build on the top of ridges nearly all the way across the mountain range with almost no highway built onto cliffs cut into the sides of mountains.  The second is this view across the bus out the window back over the Yukon and across to Dawson.    2013:08:19 07:28:02   Exposure time: 1/60   F-stop: 5.6   ISO speed: 1600   Focal length: 55)
DSC_0523 (Top of the World Highway.)
DSC_0539 (Top of the world Highway.  An immense land.  Here we are nearly at cloud level, and just above the tree line which is about 2,500-3,000 feet elevation here due to the cold, mostly, certainly not the lack of air (CO2).)
DSC_0551_0552 composite (Caribou up on a ridge.  These 3 were part of a small herd of 6 or so.  They prefer grazing on the highest point so as to keep a lookout for predators.     Left photo:  2013:08:19 08:48:04    Exposure time: 1/400   F-stop: 5.6    ISO speed: 1600   Focal length 300mm            Right photo:
2013:08:19 08:48:12  Exposure time: 1/640  F-stop: 5.6  ISO speed: 1600  Focal length: 300mm  Shorter exp time accounts for the "misty" look even though the animals were close together.)
DSC_0556 (An immense land as seen from the Top of the World Highway.  We are nearly at cloud level, and just above the tree line which is about 2,500-3,000 feet elevation here due to the cold.     2013:08:19 08:52:34   Exposure time: 1/250   F-stop: 4.0   ISO speed: 1600   Focal length: 70mm)
DSC_0557 (The Tundra.   2013:08:19 08:53:21   Exposure time: 1/160   F-stop: 4.0   ISO speed: 1600   Focal length: 70mm)
DSC_0567 (I did not dare to take any photos of the few and slight, scant buildings at the Canada-USA/Alaska border.  We were there for 20-30 minutes and remained on the bus while our passports were collected, examined, but non-US citizens got off for routine questions to be admitted in person.)
DSC_0569 (Sharon's passport stamped at Poker Creek entry station, Alaska)
DSC_0577_0578 (I shot these as we were lining up for the group photo of the "Grizzlies," our motor coach group, so I did not get everyone.  The other group was the "Moose.")
DSC_0598_0599_0600 (An independent gold mine, probably family run, with maybe a few non family member workers.  There are quite a few operating in the region.  They dig all summer while the ground is thawed out and sluice all winter.)
DSC_0635 (Of all the Chicken locations in the world, you had to show up in mine.  Chicken, Alaska, which claims a world exclusive on the name.  I wonder why no one else uses it.)
DSC_0642 (Rest stop in Chicken, Alaska.  As I stepped off the bus behind Sharon, she asked, "I wonder if they take US dollars here?"

Say goodnight, Gracie.)
DSC_0634 (Who says there is no culture in Chicken?)
DSC_0636 (Pedro Gold Dredge in Chicken, Alaska.  Being refurbished for tourist trade.  2013:08:19 12:00:56   Exposure time: 1/800   F-stop: 14.0   ISO speed: 1600   Focal length: 34mm)
DSC_0645 (Bucket boom to be lowered into the water and drag the buckets across the river bottom under the water and back up to the surface at the dredge end of the boom. The buckets are mounted to dig up from the bottom and carry the water and gravel up over the top of the boom.  At this high point of bucket travel the gravel and water would fall into a trough to be directed to a series of sluices of decreasing grid size which would slosh out the water and lighter weight gravel and leave the gold.  Some dredges would refine the gold with mercury and other means to purify it right on board, and others would ship the gold dusts to be so refined.)
DSC_0643 (The whole thing would float while tethered by cables out the sides to poles into the bank.  The dredge would rotate around a another single pole or "spud" driven into the river bottom so that the  bucket line would operate in a circle around the spud covering the whole river bottom.  The Tailings would go up a conveyor to be dumped behind the dredge (on the left here), making the "worm" pattern of gravel behind as this conveyor "tail" would turn around the spud also to exhaust the gravel out in the serpentine pattern.  Creeks and whole river courses were altered for many miles by dredges.)
DSC_0646 (Hydrological water spouts to blast the creek bank into gravel.  A man would point the spout with a timber sticking out the back side as a lever arm.  Woe be unto him if he lost his grip.  At least one man died of a crushed chest when the thing spun around and hit him.)
DSC_0647 (Two bucket lines, although they are just laying on the ground.  I don't think they were attached to the chain linkage, but they were connected this closely to each other.  Buckets ranged in size from 1.5 to 18 cubic feet, and these were about 15 or 18 cubic foot buckets.  These are arranged in line upside down.  Imagine them turned over and then dragged from the far end toward you up against the river bottom to raise gravel up to the surface and dump it into the structure to have the gold separated.)
DSC_0651 (Closeup of buckets, and you can see the replaceable lips.  Several are nearly new while many are worn.)
DSC_0653 (Our tour guide and coach driver, Jaclyn and Dan)
DSC_0709 sign composite (Some of the areas of this historical site.  I think the trading post by a strong lady named Rika was first.  She set up a small community that she grew into a small town/industry, raising a garden and livestock and running a ferry across the Tanana River.  This led to the Truckers' Rebellion.  It was also the site of a US military telegraph and telephone post.)
DSC_0696 (Main House and smokehouse)
DSC_0697 (Barn.  Not shown are several other buildings, officer quarters, telegraph office, post office, store, scales for wagons across ferry, and lots more in this large historical park.)
DSC_0708 (Tanana River and scale to weigh loads for ferry across it.  Tanana must be First Nation for big honkin' river.  "na" does mean "river," and I suppose "nana" means big river like we would say, "big, big" river for emphasis.)
DSC_0743 (Just after crossing the Tanama River someone on the coach, probably Dan, shouted "moose" and he stopped in the middle of the highway.  Why not?  There was no other traffic.  Besides, we would have moved if there had been.  Maybe Dan was the one who saw it first.)
DSC_0748 (A few  minutes later I shot this and called out "moose," but we were going too fast, and Dan did not stop.  I think I am the only one to see him.  Maybe I should have called out "bull moose." People probably just thought it was bull.  Shot at 200mm, f/5, 1/400 sec, and ISO 1600.  I did not have time to try 300 mm; he was long gone since we were traveling 45-50 mph.)
DSC_0748 crop and 1_5x (Bull Moose just under 1.5 enlargement.  A bit fuzzy at this magnification.  I made the above from the previous 200mm, f/5, 1/400 sec, and ISO 1600 shot.  Given time and a still bus, I would have liked to shoot it at 300mm.  My auto lens would probably would have stopped down to f/4.5 and 1/250 or 1/300, but I have taken a lot of photos at that extreme focal length and show speed.  Note how overcast it was at mid afternoon.)
DSC_0759 (Discovery II stern wheeler on a tributary of the Tanana river about 3 miles from that large river.  We rode this down stream nearly to the Tanana, and it was a real interesting ride--big time entertainment like Knotts Berry Farm or Disneyland.  Makes you proud to be an American, them setting up such a big moneymaking deal like shown in the next few pictures.)
DSC_0765 (First on the program was a float plane with a radio link to the boat.  He started his engine, took off (here) circled and landed making a big splash.  I mean it was short but very impressive.)
DSC_0772 (This seems to be prime Fairbanks Real Estate.  Many big, fancy houses on either shore.)
DSC_0773 (Also an on board was a guide/host who pointd out things on the shore and narrated videos when called for.  This is one of those hydro mining water spouts.)
DSC_0779 (Sled Dog breeder/trainer kennel run by the family of a 3 time winner Susan Butcher of the Iditirod sled dog race run in early March from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of 16 dogs, of which at least 6 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 9–15 days or more.  Shown are 3 puppies and lady trainer and the man is narrating to us with a head phone set.  All part of the steam boat ride.)
DSC_0784 (Then they hitched up a team of about 11 dogs to a 4 wheel ATV)
DSC_0787 (As the musher got in, the dogs were barking and very excited.)
DSC_0790 (And off they went)
DSC_0794 (Around this side of the lake...)
DSC_0795 (And around the other side of the lake)
DSC_0797 (And back home.)
DSC_0800 (Unhitched, they cooled off and some jumped in, and others got treats.)
DSC_0807 (A fish wheel.  Invented in the orient, they were imported to Alaska and Canada.  The river current turns it, and the baskets (one shown at 1 o'clock, the other just coming out of the water) dip into the stream and fish swim into a basket and are lifted out of the water and are dumped into a stationary basket above water where they are harvested by the fisherman.  The girl here is smoking salmon, for the sled dogs and for sale in their shop.  To us on the boat.  They did not miss a trick.)
DSC_0811 (In another part of the stern wheeler ride, we got off at this recreated First Nation Village.  Two First Nation girls about to leave for college (one in Hawaii) model native clothes and describe the skins used for each part of each garment.)
DSC_0814 (Here are some skins, Wolf, Beaver, Lynx?, Red Fox, Artic Fox summer coat, Silver Fox, and winter coat Arctic Fox)
DSC_0819 (They also had reindeer, or domesticated caribou.  All of the above was part of the Discovery II river cruise.)
DSC_0830 (Next we went to a gold mining/gold dredge operation that had closed active operations, but were open as a tourist demonstration park.  We entered under the Alaska Pipeline walking under an above ground section entering the Gold Dredge Park just outside of Fairbanks where we panned for gold with a pan and a poke of gravel they supplied and it was guaranteed to contain gold.  I got $9 and Sharon got $11 of gold flakes.  One woman got $39 and another got $33.)
DSC_0828_0829 (The pipeline is 48" diameter and 1/2" wall.  The boys are examining a "dumb pig" made from hard rubber or soft plastic, that is blown through the pipeline by the oil pressure and scrapes the inner walls to keep them clean.  There are also "smart pigs" that xray and otherwise examine the walls and welds to insure the integrity of the pipeline.  The two finned things above the posts are heat radiators that passively cool the ground via anhydrous ammonium or CO2 to keep the permafrost frozen.)
DSC_0845 (Inside the Gold Park we boarded a tram and stopped by a guide with a headset who described the use of the hydrological water cannon to blast off the banks of creeks to free the gold laden gravel before the dredge was sent in.)
DSC_0850 (Goldstream Dredge #8 at Fairbanks, Alaska.  Built and first operated in 1928 and closed down in 1959, it was credited with extracting 7.5 million ounces of gold from the Goldstream Valley near Fairbanks.  Here the bucket line is visible on the top of  the boom and you an see how it would carry gravel up into the structure for sluicing. The dredges were built in shipyards in San Francisco or Seattle, then disassembled and shipped to the Yukon where they were reassembled on the creek or river they were to operate.  Being so big, when they were shut down, they were just abandoned in place.)
DSC_0853 (Mammoth ivory on display in the gold dredge gift shop.)
DSC_0858 (Sharon is pointing to Fort Yukon just north of the Arctic Circle, and the arctic circle is the parallel of latitude that runs 66° 33′ 44.″  Fort Yukon is located at 66°34′2″N 145°15′23″W, so we were off to 18" north of the Arctic Circle (about 0.3 miles).)
DSC_0860 (Sharon ready to board the twin engine turbocharged Piper PA 31-350 Navajo Chieftain.)
DSC_0863 (8 passengers.  Guess who gets to ride in the rear seat.  The guy who is prone to motion sickness, that's who!  The pilot picked the seating by looking at us and asking our weight.  I wish I had said 400 pounds.)
DSC_0869 (The Yukon River fed by a clear water tributary)
DSC_0875 (Early Warning US radar station north of Fairbanks.)
DSC_0876 (Tundra)
DSC_0878 (White Mountains in search of Dall Sheep)
DSC_0879 (In a sharp, steep turn.  What the hell am I doing here!??  The pilot, a real dare devil, probably enjoyed whipping up and over and around the mountain tops.)
DSC_0881 (6 Dall sheep)
DSC_0886 (Alright already, Cowboy.  We've seen the damn sheep.  Now straighten it up and fly right.  We actually had several more sightings, but I found these pictures the most exciting.  Actually "exciting" is not quite the right word for me.)
DSC_0891 (Rainbow.  Not as nice as we see in Sedona, but at least we are flying smooth and level, so I admire it loudly hoping he'll hear me.)
DSC_0897 (That Yukon is one big river.)
DSC_0902 (Are we there yet?)
DSC_0904 (Fort Yukon was established Alexander Hunter Murray as a Hudson's Bay Company trading post on 25 June 1847. Murray drew numerous sketches of fur trade posts and of people and wrote the Journal of the Yukon, 1847–48, which give valuable insight into the culture of local Gwich’in people at the time.  American traders expelled the Hudson's Bay Co in 1869, following the Alaska Purchase when the Alaska Commercial Company took over the post.  Lately it has become a minor tourist destination, being just above the arctic circle and mainly due to this man...)
DSC_0911 (...our guide and driver, Richard Carrolls, a first nation native of Fort Yukon.  He was hilarious, as funny as any comic you's see in Las Vegas, just telling about his life in Fort Yukon.
     Welcome to the Fort Yukon Airport.  During the Klondike Gold Rush, in the winter of 1897-1898, Fort Yukon received two hundred prospectors from Dawson City, which was short of supply.  A post office was established on July 12, 1898 with John Hawksly as its first postmaster, but the settlement suffered over the following decades as a result of several epidemics and a 1949 flood.)
DSC_0912 (And here's our motor coach, which is the oldest Bluebird bus we've seen yet.  During the 1950s, the United States Air Force established a base and radar station at Fort Yukon.  The town was officially incorporated in 1959, 149 years after the bus was built.)
DSC_0914 (It is impossible to relate how funny Richard was.  Everything he said, he said with his own twist.  Here he told us about digging graves in the summer and trying to get the right number dug, or they'd have to store the bodies all the rest of the winter frozen until next spring when they could dig more.)
DSC_0918 (The only liquor store in town.)
DSC_0919 (Richard was worth the trip (and the flight).  We enjoyed his telling how one of them faked being drunk to get arrested so another one could be the paid guard at $90/day.  He said 3 of them spent 9 days in jail before the new Mountie caught on.  And about his wives and children who, surprise, all moved to Fairbanks.  And at seeing his "future ex" wave to him from the front door of their house.)
DSC_0925 (On to the train for Denali Park)
DSC_0928 (upper floor is seating--all observation seats)
DSC_0934 (Lower floor is dining only, called in turn)
DSC_1006 (Denali train depot)
DSC_0005 (Nenana River rafters taken from window of Nenana bar and grill in Denali National Park McKinley Chalets Resort.)
DSC_0007 (Our "Chalet" room in the resort.  It was a fourplex cabin separated from the main lodge front desk-gift shop-restaurant-bar and grill. Rustic but nice except for late night sun at 11pm and 3AM leaking around the BR drapes.)
DSC_0021 (Our first moose in Denali Park                       2013:08:22 07:51:09 Exposure time: 1/80 F-stop: 5.6  ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0028 (Same moose, note band and transmitter on neck   2013:08:22 07:52:59 Exposure time: 1/80 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 300mm  Pretty steady hands for 300mm at 1/80 sec exposure! Actually, these 2 shots were 2 of 18!)
DSC_0031 (Bull moose hiding behind tree  2013:08:22 07:58:16 Exposure time: 1/125 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0046 (Raven  Original date/time: 2013:08:22 08:38:17 Exposure time: 1/200  F-stop: 5.6  ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0048 (Mama Grizzly Bear and two cubs   2013:08:22 09:22:53 Exposure time: 1/800  F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0061 (Another Grizzly and two Cubs.  One cub is directly above her.  The other one may be behind the first mostly hidden by the scrub   on the 2013:08:22 09:33:51 Exposure time: 1/500 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0064 (Same Grizzly and two Cubs.  The first cub us directly behind the mother, and the second is tagging along and still harder to see.    2013:08:22 09:33:51 Exposure time: 1/500 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0066 (The Grizzly and one of the two Cubs is in sight.  2013:08:22 09:36:53 Exposure time: 1/500 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1600 Focal  length: 300mm)
DSC_0071 (Fall starts early in the Polychrome Pass Denali, Alaska  Date:  2013:08:22 09:59:43  Exposure time: 1/320  F-stop: 9.0 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 28)
DSC_0072 (Alaska Range Peak across from Tundra in Polychrome Pass, Denali   2013:08:22 10:06:50 Exposure time: 1/800 F-stop: 7.1 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 85mm)
DSC_0073 (Many colors  2013:08:22 10:08:00 Exposure time: 1/640 F-stop: 7.1 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 75mm)
DSC_0078 (Grizzly bear head down feeding on berries 2013:08:22 10:41:25 Exposure time: 1/1000 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0085 (Caribou out in open   a few others nearby  2013:08:22 11:13:10 Exposure time: 1/80 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 300mm   Fuzzy from camera motion (not poor focusing, because nothing is in focus from foreground to backgrond)  Note very slow shutter speed for extreme focal length, so it is slight camera motion for hand held shot.  Very dark overcast day at 11:13 AM)
DSC_0090 (Grizzly bear in open  Fuzzy from camera motion (not poor focusing, because nothing is in foreground from foreground to backgrond)  Note very slow shutter speed for extreme focal length, so it is slight camera motion for hand held shot.  Very dark overcast day at 11:16 AM   2013:08:22 11:16:59  Exp 1/100  ISO 1600 Focal Length 280mm)
DSC_0092 (Dall Sheep on cliff.  again 300 mm shot hand held at slow shutter speed almost impossible to get sharp.  Fuzziness is due to camera movement now poor focus, because no range is in focus.   2013:08:22 11:34:28 Exposure time: 1/100 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 300  This was the best of 4, but only slightly so.  I chose it because the horn is just barely visible.)
DSC_0101 (More Dall Sheep on very far cliff, same dark day, low light, no tripod to hold camera steady, but at 2013:08:22 11:44:16
Exposure time: 1/200 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0107 (Arctic Ground Squirrel. Very large animal  compared to lower 48 size.  By side of the road, so he was not too far away, only 20 feet or so, therefore slow shutter speed and camera motion not magnified by distance.  2013:08:22 12:02:21 Exposure time: 1/80 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0108 (Alaska Range from the Polychrome Pass.  This is part of the same view as in ""Denali:  A Living Tapestry"" book that Mary  driver-guide gave away as rewards for seeing wildlife ( page 36-7) 2013:08:22 12:19:12 Exposure time: 1/800 F-stop: 14.0
ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 18mm)
DSC_0118 (Denali Park Visitor Center)
DSC_0120 (Dog sled.  The sign proclaimed, "Dogs don't run out of gas."  No, they just die.)
DSC_0123 (Leaving Denali on McKinley Explorer Train over highway.  We are supposed to be able to see Mt. McKinley (soon to be Mt. Denali) on this ride.  Nice day for it, especially following one low light overcast day and 1 rainy day. 2013:08:24 13:27:41
Exposure time: 1/400 F-stop: 10.0 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 26")
DSC_0128 (Down the tight spiral staircase to the dining room on the Explorer Train Tourist car. 2013:08:24 13:47:20 Exposure time: 1/125
F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 18 mm")
DSC_0138 (Alaska Range from Explorer Train 2013:08:24 14:41:58 Exposure time: 1/500 F-stop: 11.0 ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 55mm)
DSC_0139 (Alaska Range from Explorer Train  2013:08:24 14:43:21 Exposure time: 1/3200 F-stop: 7.1  ISO speed: 1600 Focal length: 240mm)
DSC_0156 (Alaska Range)
DSC_0181 (Our Lucky Day!  Mt. McKinley (soon to be renamed Denali) 2013:08:24 15:47:41 Exposure time: 1/500 F-stop: 11.0 ISO speed: 1000 Focal length: 135mm  some reflections from train window)
DSC_0180 (Beautiful day!  Mt. McKinley (soon to be renamed Denali) 2013:08:24 15:47:37 Exposure time: 1/500 F-stop: 11.0 ISO speed: 1000 Focal length: 220mm   some reflections from train window)
DSC_0187 (Nenana River south of Denali National Park fed by tributary    2013:08:24 15:49:04  Exposure time: 1/320  F-stop: 10.0  ISO speed: 1000  Focal length: 18mm)
DSC_0190 (Alaska Range foreground mountains ice field or glacier, depending on whether it moves   2013:08:24 15:54:08 Exposure time: 1/1600 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 1000 Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0221 (Mt. McKinley from Explorer Train  2013:08:24 16:02:19 Exposure time: 1/640  F-stop: 11.0 ISO speed: 1000 Focal length: 100mm)
DSC_0235 (Nenana River from Train's Explorer Car dome windows.  Lotta big rivers.  I guess coming from Wyoming, So CA and Arizona, I am impressed, but it seems they have a LOT of water.    2013:08:24 17:27:32 Exposure time: 1/500 F-stop: 11.0 ISO speed: 1000
Focal length: 70mm)
DSC_0242 (Good bye Alaska Range and Denali (Mt. McKinley) No charge for the window reflections.  2013:08:24 18:00:06 Exposure time: 1/400 F-stop: 11.0 ISO speed: 1000 Focal length: 55mm)
DSC_0244 crop (Swan pair that mate for life in pool beside tracks on the way to Anchorage from Denali.  While most of Alaska is very dry with less that 12" of rain a year, a desert, the southeast coast is a rain forest with 60 inches of rain and 70 inches of snow a year.
Cropped from 2013:08:24 18:19:27   Exposure time: 1/160   F-stop: 9.0   ISO speed: 1000   Focal length: 46mm)
Gulf of Alaska Sat Image (This shows the rest of our trip.  After the train from Denali we stayed in Anchorage one night then got on another train for Seward to meet the Zaamdam, but about 20 of us left that train and took a bus along Turnagain Arm for a boat out to Portage Glacier on Portage Lake.  Then that same 20 went to a wildlife preserve and then across the Kenei Peninsula to Seward to board the ship.  That night and next day till noon we cruised up Glacier Bay to the Johns Hopking Arm th see that glacier calve.  After an 1 1/2 hours we turned back to Haines and the next morning we did the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve by raft then on to Juneau by ship.  There we took a bus to the Mendenhall Glacier and in the afternoon took a boat whale watching tour.  We thn went by ship to Ketchikan and took a catamaran to the Misty Fjords and a float plane back to the ship where we boarded to return to Vancouver and our flight home.)
DSC_0257 (We stayed in Anchorage one night after the train from Denali, and this was taken on the next day on the train leaving Anchorage along Cook Inlet.  After a while we left the group on the train and got on a bus and went along the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet of the Gulf of Alaska to Portage Lake to take a boat out to the Portage Lake Glacier.)
DSC_0289 (Portage Glacier Cruise on Portage Lake)
DSC_0318 (Portage Lake Glacier)
DSC_0325 (West Glacial Dark brown dirt from rock ground up by different sections of the glacier sliding against the underlying rock and each other which brings up ground up rock.)
DSC_0330 (East Glacial ground up rock line)
DSC_0335 (Crevasses and blue Ice.  2013:08:25 16:21:25 Exposure time: 1/2000 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 400 Focal length: 185mm)
DSC_0337 (Blue Ice.  Sun directly behind ice and shining through, and all colors but blue absorbed.  2013:08:25 16:21:53  Exposure time: 1/2000 F-stop: 5.6 ISO speed: 400 Focal length: 180)
DSC_0350 (Blue Ice.  Sun directly behind ice and shining through, and all colors but blue absorbed.  2013:08:25 16:27:48 Exposure time: 1/2000 F-stop: 5.6  ISO speed: 400 Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0359 (Ground up silt at interface of ice and rock.  The rock is ground down by silt, sand, and rock carried along by the glacier, although we commonly say "the glacier grinds down the mountains and land" as if the ice itself does the wearing away.  2013:08:25 16:31:59 Exposure time: 1/400 F-stop: 5.0 ISO speed: 400 Focal length: 120)
DSC_0341 (Waterfall off melting glacier at end of lake to left of main glacier.  2013:08:25 16:25:48 Exposure time: 1/640 F-stop: 6.3
ISO speed: 400 Focal length: 98mm")
DSC_0362 (Same waterfall off melting glacier at end of lake to left of main glacier.  2013:08:25 16:33:09 Exposure time: 1/320 F-stop: 5.6 
ISO speed: 400  Focal length: 300mm")
DSC_0364 (Piece of glacier ice in tank on board the boat)
DSC_0370 (Icebergs from glacier   2013:08:25 16:38:50  Exposure time: 1/800  F-stop: 7.1  ISO speed: 400  Focal length: 125mm)
DSC_0347 (Kayaks on lake amidst icebergs 2013:08:25 16:26:54  Exposure time: 1/2000  F-stop: 5.6   ISO speed: 400  Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0302 (Iceberg, about the size of a motor home   2013:08:25 16:05:43  Exposure time: 1/640  F-stop: 13.0  ISO speed: 400  Focal length: 55mm)
DSC_0378 (Another glacier and waterfalls near the lake, this one not a tidewater glacier on the water's edge. 2013:08:25 16:59:53 Exposure time: 1/400  F-stop: 5.0  ISO speed: 400  Focal length: 135mm)
DSC_0379 (Pretty view of that glacier.  It may be an ice field, that is a mass of ice that does not move, because I can't see the black line of ground up rock at its front base.)
DSC_0383 (Ice Fields and water falls down to Portage Lake)
DSC_0386 (Leaving Portage Lake on our bus we went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, a nonprofit organization to preserve Alaska’s wildlife through conservation, public education, and quality animal care. AWCC takes in injured and orphaned animals year-round and provides spacious enclosures and care. Animals that cannot be released into the wild are given a permanent home at the center.)
DSC_0387 (Elk)
DSC_0393 (Musk Ox  2013:08:25 17:20:29  Exposure time: 1/250  F-stop: 5.0  ISO speed: 400  Focal length: 200mm)
DSC_0397 (Grizzly Bears  2013:08:25 17:25:54  Exposure time: 1/640  F-stop: 6.3  ISO speed: 400  Focal length:  70mm)
DSC_0401 (Grizzly Bear.  Huge and huge paws and claws   2013:08:25 17:26:45  Exposure time: 1/640  F-stop: 6.3  ISO speed: 400
Focal length: 98mm)
DSC_0403 (Grizzly Bear   2013:08:25 17:27:28  Exposure time: 1/800  F-stop: 4.5  ISO speed: 400  Focal length: 135mm)
DSC_0427 (Elk with velvet starting to peel off horns)
DSC_0429 (Red Fox)
DSC_0439 (Moose with velvet on antlers)
DSC_0452 (Eagle with one wing shot off  2013:08:25 18:00:48    Exposure time: 1/1250  F-stop: 4.8 ISO speed: 400  Focal length: 185mm)
DSC_0454 (Eagle with one wing shot off  2013:08:25 18:01:00  Exposure time: 1/1000  F-stop: 4.8  ISO speed: 400  Focal length: 185mm)
DSC_0456 (Owl  Not very good, but only one we saw   2013:08:25 18:01:45  Exposure time: 1/250  F-stop: 4.8  ISO speed: 400  Focal length: 185mm)
DSC_0465 (Lynx   2013:08:25 18:12:17  Exposure time: 1/100  F-stop: 5.3  ISO speed: 400  Focal length: 260mm)
DSC_0471 (Bison.  Wood bison in Alaska, supposedly they are the same species (because they were imported from lower 48 to restart herds), but larger.  2013:08:25 18:21:24  Exposure time: 1/640  F-stop: 5.6  ISO speed: 1000  Focal length: 300mm)
DSC_0475 (Large bull bison  2013:08:25 18:25:29  Exposure time: 1/250  F-stop: 4.5  ISO speed: 1000  Focal length: 135mm)
DSC_0478 ("Two bull elk separated from herd?  Ready to rut?  2013:08:25 18:26:04  Exposure time: 1/2000  F-stop: 5.6  ISO speed: 1000
Focal length: 300mm")
DSC_0482 (Kenai Peninsula, a beautiful valley runs up it that is a favorite local vacation and holiday location summer and winter  2013:08:25 18:55:55  Exposure time: 1/400  F-stop: 5.0   ISO speed: 800  Focal length: 70mm)
DSC_0491 (Kenai Peninsula   2013:08:25 19:15:01  Exposure time: 1/500  F-stop: 11.0  ISO speed: 800  Focal length: 40mm)
DSC_0493 (Kenai Peninsula  2013:08:25 19:35:36  Exposure time: 1/250  F-stop: 8.0  ISO speed: 800  Focal length: 55mm)
Don't Miss (Part II is in the album here on Slickpic "Yukon Territory and Alaska 2013 Part II")

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