Alaska day 1 part 2

[grizz1]

A typical back yard in Alaska, this one on the Chena River near Fairbanks


A Fish wheel on the Chena river, it was being used on Sept 5th to catch Chum Salmon

This pic shows why the Chena is now closed off for navigation by large boats from the Tanana, the Glacial silt is really rolling in and settling where the two rivers merge.

This shot is looking across the Tanana river from the Chena.

Another shot across the Tanana, the Glacial silt bar shows up good in this shot. The silt is extremely dangerous, so fine that it will swallow you like quick sand, even more dangerous along the coast line where the tide comes in.

[grizz1]

 A Bronze of "Granite" the greatest lead dog of the Iditarod, lead Susan Butcher to 4 victories, one race was during a raging blizzard and when all other teams had stopped Granite kept going and won the race by many hours. During the storm for a long, long time the snow fell so hard that Susan could not even see Granite, her lead dog, but he was able to stay on the trail and kept going, she allowed him to choose the path and trusted him. Granite was born a the runt of his litter, with crooked legs and was told he would only make a good pet. He later got sick and had to be taken out of a race , Susan was told he would most likely die, at best he would never race again. He did race again, all the way to four consecutive wins of the Iditarod, one of which was during the blizzard.

Chum Salmon air drying next to the fish wheel where they were caught. We were told most of these will be used for dog food for sled dogs.

Chum Salmon being air dried and finally smoked to cure them.

[grizz1]

In this shot I have crossed the Chena river by boat and took a shot up stream of the Tanana river basin which has the Fairbanks Int. airport starting on it's banks and then running towards town. We landed here on an A300 airbus and I can recall how you could see the rivers so well as we flew across Alaska with no lights in sight for hundreds of miles, then coming down to skim across this river to the Fairbanks runway, was a good feeling to see concrete and runway lights just before touchdown.

Common sight was the float planes, the rivers and lakes are their runways and they have a lot of them.


Keeping the load light and only a 2 passenger these little planes can take off in a very short distance, they use them on land, water, snow, just depends on what time of year, but they are used to get around like most of us use a car.

[Kt29]

Excellent series of photos Steve.  It is great to see what I would call, everyday Alaska.  Your storylines compliment the photos very well.  Thanks for sharing, and I look forward to seeing more.

[grizz1]

Thanks for the nice comments Terry, I'm trying to keep on track from the beginning so that I can keep my facts straight. I want to jump ahead and show some wildlife but afraid it will confuse us all. Thought by showing my pics from beginning to end on our journey someone else may find part of it interesting and visit there someday. If I could afford it, Alaska would be an annual trip for me, I love the area and the people.

[grizz1]

Later on the first day, Sept 5th we visited the Alaska Pipeline North of Fairbanks.  In the background, the pipeline is buried but where I'm standing it is above ground because it is crossing an area of permafrost, the pipes supporting the line are filled with anhydrous ammonia to keep it frozen.

The results of my gold panning, wasn't very fast at this when I first began, it really isn't difficult once you catch on and of course when you see gold one seems to learn more quickly. Have to say, this would be very addictive for me, I would enjoy doing this often. When I had my gold weighed they said I had $36.00 worth on that days market.  A local person at the mine called it " chasing yellow rock". When panning you just look for yellow rock and don't let it wash out, get rid of everything else.