The Last Land Leg of our Princess Journey

After our two days at Denali we are off on the final leg of our land journey with Princess. This time we are off to Fairbanks. The start today isn’t too early so that is nice for a change. We have an easy breakfast and wait for our coach to arrive. 

Our driver Jessica is a fountain of information but we are starting to tire of the never ending cheerfulness and people talking at you all the time. We do understand it is their job but sometimes it can just be too much and after the couple of 2 night stops and packing up and on the road again we are tired.

Nevertheless Jessica manages to tell us quite a lot about herself as well the journey we are taking.We pass through areas of rain and some wildfire landscape as well. It isn’t as long as some of the other days so it passes quickly.

As part of the deal with Princess we have a pre booked tour in Fairbanks and that is a riverboat ride on a paddle steamer. We get dropped off and as with all the other stopovers we are assaulted by shopping opportunities! By this stage of the trip we are quite over shopping as it seems as Peter puts it you are a captive of the Princess experience all the time wanting you to put your hand in your pocket at every turn. As Australians we aren’t used to things like tipping and it does seem that you have your hand in your wallet constantly. We did know that the US was expensive but we have found especially at the lodges there is nothing simple about the food and it does come at a price. 

Anyway enough whinging about that! We have found some of the bus days challenging simply for the fact that you don’t get an opportunity to eat let alone eat sensibly. This is quite different to other holidays especially for us. We board the boat at 1.50pm but way before that all the people are lining up waiting to get on. We decide that we will wait until almost the end of the line and we still manage to get on and get reasonable seats.

The sternwheeler was the Discovery III on the Chena River. The steamboat tradition was first started by Charles M Binkley who saw an opportunity to chart and navigate the Yukon River and its tributaries. His son Captain Jim Binkley Snr followed in his father's footsteps and pilots freight vessels on the Yukon and Tanana River in the 1940s. As time went on and transportation changed  and in the 1950s the last of the steamboats was retired. Noting these changes Captain Jim and his Mary began a river excursion business in Fairbanks in 1950 and in 1955 built the company's first sternwheeler. As they went on and had a family they all worked on Discovery I. As business grew so did the fleet and Discovery II was put into service. By the 1980s plans were made for another boat to come into service and this is the one we went on the Discovery III. Mary still lives on the river and 3rd and 4th generations of the Binkley family are now at the helm.

As we make our way down one of the locals takes off in his float plane and lands on the river right beside the boat. Very impressive to watch and lots of the locals have these as in winter it is one of the best ways to get around. The change the wheels to skis and land on the frozen river. The houses along the river are spectacular and there are many different styles. 

As we go down the river the commentator tells us the stories of the area and some of the people who live along the river. One of these people is Susan Butcher a famous female Iditarod race winner. She started kennels for sled dogs along the river and this is now run by her daughter and we are given a display of the training they go through. Clearly they love it and it was an unusual stop along the way.

As we made our way further down the river we ended the first part of journey where the river water meets the glacial river a confluence where there are two distinct colours to the water, very interesting indeed.

As we make our way back up river we stop at a recreation of an authentic Athabascan Native camp . One of the first things is a demonstration on the riverbank of how they caught salmon and what they did to it before smoking it in a smokehouse. After disembarking  we were split into groups for a tour and presentation about the village. The group leaders were all young natives to the area who are learning about the ways of their forefathers and imparting that knowledge to visitors. This was such a different experience to our tour out of Skagway which was a commercial venture. This was very interesting and and well done. The young people presenting it were engaged and looked like they were happy to be involved.

After that we were back on the boat for transfer to our destination Fairbanks Princess Lodge. We arrived and went to our room, then had a quick walk around the property which was located on the Chena River downstream from where we had been earlier in the day.

Dinner and then bed as we had a very early start for our flight over the Arctic.

Fairbanks Day 2
Today we are up early to arrive at the airport by 6am for our flight over the Arctic Circle. We are given a short safety briefing and meet our pilot Andrew. The plane is a little 8 seater and Andrew asks if anyone would like to sit up front with him and Cheryl immediately put her hand up. She was nervous about going so I think this was a great way for her to see that it was all ok. 

As we flew over the landscape Andrew pointed out all the important features as we passed over them. Great views of the Yukon River and a little settlement called Stevenson. 

As we passed over the Arctic Circle I was actually asleep so missed it! There isn't actually a point where you can see that we have passed over it as it is an imaginary line which is the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of the Earth. It marks the northernmost point at which the noon sun is just visible on the northern winter solstice and the southernmost point at which the midnight sun is just visible on the northern summer solstice.

We land at a place called Coldfoot which is an airstrip and northernmost trucker stop in the world. Before we actually get to Coldfoot we are met by Steve our driver for the morning. We drive to a settlement called Wiseman. We are met by Jack Reakoff who is a long time local. It is a small community that started due to the mining in the Yukon. Jack spoke to us about the history of the settlement and what life is like in the settlement.

This is a place where there is no running water, no electricity or sanitation save for an outhouse. It is dark 8 months of the year and only has 4 months where the sun is up but it is up for an extended period during those months. Jack has a licence to shoot himself a moose before winter but he must quarter and cart it back to his abode as there are no motorised vehicles allowed within the park area. No vehicles off the road at all. Not the life for me! He was very interesting to talk to though.

After leaving Jack we go to the Coldfoot Camp, an interesting place which I will let you read for yourselves. 

http://www.coldfootcamp.com/history/

After our visit here we are flown back to the Fairbanks airstrip and back to the hotel where we decide to go into Fairbanks for the afternoon. We go in on the shuttle from the hotel and just as we arrive the skies turn black and the rain starts. We try and brave it but without any wet weather gear with us we decide to go back and pack ready for our departure tomorrow to San Francisco.