Well, Fairbanks did not get through September without a hard frost. The thermometer read a very solid 20F in the Goldstream Valley.
Late afternoon I visited the bus to drain the water tank, and the frost was still on the ground.
Winter is around the corner.
The Oxford & Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition left Hyde Park in London on this day in 1955. Their destination was Singapore.
They had a few adventures along the way. The trek was documented in the book “First Overland” by Tim Slessor.
The revamped Yukon Quest race had its start on Saturday morning. It was a balmy -45F at the first mush.
Officially, Fairbanks dropped to -50F that morning. It was our first “official” -50 since 2017. It was the third morning at the cabin during this cold snap, that I saw -50 on my thermometer. For some reason, my cabin is not considered the official weather station for Fairbanks. For purely political reasons, that honor lies with the Fairbanks International Airport.
Speaking of streaks broken: I broke my previous record for distance traveled with “thumpity-thumpity-thumpity” coming from my tires. For those left out in the heat, tires make that sound after a flat spot forms where they met the driveway during extreme cold temps. It usually only takes a few hundred yards for the tires to warm up enough to reform, but in fifty below, the flat spot lingers for a mile or so.
It’s possible, some readers may have noticed, that I have not been much of a contributor to wordpress lately. Life has strange detours, and in the past year I have taken on a new project that seems to devour time like a humpback whale gulping down krill. This reroute of my world has been fairly drastic, and I have not found a way to include blogging in my time management plan.
The flip side of the same coin, is that I have not found a creative way to bring the new project onto these pages. Maybe I will find a path between the two, but so far that is a trail I have not traveled yet.
This blog originally started out as a travel alert when I drove the old Land Rover down to the Yucatan from Alaska’s North Slope. It eventually morphed into a window to Alaska’s cabin life. I’m not sure where it will go from here, but it seems like it will have to morph once again if it is to continue in some fashion.
Some readers have been dropping in to see what the heck is going on between These Circles from the very first mile, and some have been lured in due to the Fat Bear content. Whichever the case may be, I sincerely appreciate the interest, comments and, in general, simply the interaction. After 13-14 years of posts, I felt a proper explanation was warranted. Time will tell where things go from here. I do have one or two ideas to proceed, but I still need to create the time and find something I want to say.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers
P.S. The image came from one of the Alaska Railroad’s social media sites. I included it here because it is one fine image, and because there is no caboose.
With the warmer weather and midnight sun comes the arrival of another summer anomaly: The Tourist. In March and April, we shared the roads with new tour bus drivers, who were learning how to drive while sharing Alaska tidbits over the bus loudspeaker.
Last week, I spotted the first full tour bus in Fairbanks. The bus had traveled the Parks Highway from Denali National Park. The swans, geese and cranes have been here for a few weeks, and now the tourists join the gaggle.
To add insult to injury, for those of us who are accustomed to seeing moose along the roadside, Sunday was National Tourist Day. Where did that celebration come from? Or, is that day, considered a warning? Time to prepare for the inevitable sudden stops for wildlife viewing.
As much as I love having them around, they are still just a moose! Alaska Tip: Pull off the roadway completely before stopping to gawk. The resident behind you will appreciate the effort.
It’s National Parks Week!
My visit to the Gila Wilderness and its cliff dwellings happened early on in the Original Beetle Roadtrip. In many ways it was in the Gila, that a 24 year old Aldo Leopold found his footing. As someone who really enjoyed Leopold’s writing, it was only a matter of time for me to visit the wilderness he proposed and the very first Federally recognized wilderness in the United States.
I found a nice place to camp in the national forest, driving the Beetle across a stream to limit my neighbors, and from that campsite, I explored the Gila.
Theodore Roosevelt designated the cliff dwellings a national monument in 1907. The monument is 533 acres, and had just over 41,000 visitors in 2016. To me, there seemed to be almost that many people there when I visited. It became a challenge to get a picture taken without a person in the frame, but I worked at it.
The dwellings are located in an absolutely beautiful part of New Mexico. It was easy for me to see why the Mogollon people settled here, and I wondered why they abandoned it years later.
Hiking the trail early in the morning, I was lucky enough to come across a black bear on its morning excursion. Later in the day, I met up with a couple who had seen a mountain lion. I was not at all surprised by either in this beautiful, rugged terrain.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park was established on this date in 1972. As I’ve said before on here, GMNP is one of my favorite National Parks. My trip there, which involved some serious dirt roading in a ’73 Beetle, was completely spur of the moment and unplanned. I brought back a Bug full of memories when I found this gem in Texas.
On Saturday at Pioneer Park, the Borough will celebrate SS Nenana Day, to honor the Last Lady of the River.
The SS Nenana steamed the waters of the Yukon and Tanana Rivers between 1933 and 1954. It was officially retired in 1957, and has been a museum ship since 1965.
The Nenana is one of only three steam-powered passenger sternwheelers left in the U.S. and the only large wooden steamer to survive the years.
The Nenana has been neglected, restored, and then neglected once again. Efforts, including today’s celebration at Pioneer Park, are underway to try to stabilize, and hopefully restore the Last Lady of the Yukon.
