Canadian Alcan and into Alaska January 2017 #3 in a series: On this day, we encountered the coldest day of our trip, -35 F, and the wind was blowing, at Tok, Alaska. It actually hurts...

DougS Loc: Central Arkansas

On this day, we encountered the coldest day of our trip, -35 F, and the wind was blowing, at Tok, Alaska. It actually hurts to BREATHE at -35 F! It can freeze your lungs. After turning onto the Glen Highway, we encountered a small snow squall, and the worst road frost heaves of our trip, near Glennallen.
Other wild life we encountered along the way: moose, caribou, snowshoe hares. One dog sled, and VERY few wild automobiles.

Wood Bison in disguise. Near the BC/Yukon border. Saw several herds along the Alcan.

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Watson Lake, Yukon, is famous for the Sign Post Forest. We have one in there somewhere.

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Along the road cuts, we encounter quite often water seeps, not completely frozen even this time of the year.

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Kulane National Park, south of the Alcan.

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Even grainy, it is still my favorite of Kulane N.P. in the winter.

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Not far inside the Alaska border, frost heaving affects the power poles.

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The Chugach Mountains along the Glen Highway, well after sunset.

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lightcatcher Loc: Farmington, NM (4 corners)

Great images and documentation of your trip...enjoyed it.

BudsOwl Loc: Upstate NY and New England

DougS wrote:

On this day, we encountered the coldest day of our trip, -35 F, and the wind was blowing, at Tok, Alaska. It actually hurts to BREATHE at -35 F! It can freeze your lungs. After turning onto the Glen Highway, we encountered a small snow squall, and the worst road frost heaves of our trip, near Glennallen.
Other wild life we encountered along the way: moose, caribou, snowshoe hares. One dog sled, and VERY few wild automobiles.

Maybe I'm to blame for some of the frost heaves. I worked on the section from Tok Junction to the Little Tok River in 1952. The principal Wildlife we saw were black bears almost every day and lots of diesel trucks. They transferred me to Rampart on the Yukon River in the middle of July. Great to be reminded of my past. I'll have to get out my log book, and also find the 828 slides I took back then. Need to scan them one of these days.
Bud

DougS Loc: Central Arkansas

lightcatcher wrote:

Great images and documentation of your trip...enjoyed it.

Glad you approve! I posted these in order of our trip. So anyone who goes in the winter MIGHT see something similar. Of course I took lots more pictures, and missed even more! I have several more of the Wood Bison. Since they are along side the road, they can pose a significant danger to motorists. We had 6 days to drive 4,000 miles. Would have preferred a much slower pace.

DougS Loc: Central Arkansas

WF2B wrote:

Maybe I'm to blame for some of the frost heaves. I worked on the section from Tok Junction to the Little Tok River in 1952. The principal Wildlife we saw were black bears almost every day and lots of diesel trucks. They transferred me to Rampart on the Yukon River in the middle of July. Great to be reminded of my past. I'll have to get out my log book, and also find the 828 slides I took back then. Need to scan them one of these days.
Bud

Glad to remind you of your time in AK. I am sure you did what you could do with the heaves. We saw several major attempts in Canada and Alaska, to deal with them. Warning signs help! Just a fact of life. Closest we got to Rampart was while on the Dawson highway, going to Coldfoot.
Would love to see your photos! Tomorrow would be OK with me, lol. How long were you there?

Flyerace Loc: Mt Pleasant, WI

Sounds like a fairly wild ride. Thanks for sharing your photo series. They're great!

DougS Loc: Central Arkansas

Flyerace wrote:

Sounds like a fairly wild ride. Thanks for sharing your photo series. They're great!

Glad you are enjoying them! It was a very unexpected trip, and glad we got to go in January-early February. Got to see the aurora, and lots more!!!
We were traveling about 50 to 60 MPH, nearly all of the way. I would slow or even stop to take some photos, then have to do 60 to catch up! Snow covered roads from Iowa to Anchorage, never slid till we went into North Pole, AK, later in our trip. Mountain Snow tires are GREAT on snow covered roads. We had a temperature range of +43F to -35, but mostly 0 +- 20 degrees, and quite manageable.

Keldon Loc: Yukon, B.C.

Great shots. I lived for 26 years in the Yukon. I do not miss the winters.

BTW: the park is, Kluane.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Beautiful!

DougS Loc: Central Arkansas

Keldon wrote:

Great shots. I lived for 26 years in the Yukon. I do not miss the winters.

BTW: the park is, Kluane.

Thanks for the correction! I have added a photo showing the correct spelling, taken on a MUCH warmer day, obviously...

Kluane National Park correct spelling.

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Swamp-Cork Loc: Lanexa, Virginia

DougS wrote:

On this day, we encountered the coldest day of our trip, -35 F, and the wind was blowing, at Tok, Alaska. It actually hurts to BREATHE at -35 F! It can freeze your lungs. After turning onto the Glen Highway, we encountered a small snow squall, and the worst road frost heaves of our trip, near Glennallen.
Other wild life we encountered along the way: moose, caribou, snowshoe hares. One dog sled, and VERY few wild automobiles.

Beautiful set and great narrative, Doug---thanks!

DougS Loc: Central Arkansas

jerryc41 wrote:

Beautiful!

Thanks Jerry, even if the temps are below zero, it is still a sight to behold!

DougS Loc: Central Arkansas

Swamp-Cork wrote:

Beautiful set and great narrative, Doug---thanks!

Thanks for the kind comments. I hope to inspire many others to visit, just as Mike inspired me.

blacks2 Loc: SF. Bay area

Fantastic again Doug, Great photography. Omg. the Watson Lake signs grew. I have one picture from 1954 and one from1961, nothing like yours.

BudsOwl Loc: Upstate NY and New England

DougS wrote:

Glad to remind you of your time in AK. I am sure you did what you could do with the heaves. We saw several major attempts in Canada and Alaska, to deal with them. Warning signs help! Just a fact of life. Closest we got to Rampart was while on the Dawson highway, going to Coldfoot.
Would love to see your photos! Tomorrow would be OK with me, lol. How long were you there?

I graduated in early June and was in Alaska two weeks later. I left in October, because we were shutting down the field work and I couldn't afford to live in Fairbanks. When the snows started, they decided to stop our survey work at Rampart. Back then we had to fly in and out. They brought our bulldozers in by barge. One of these days I will catch up with my scanning. Probably will have them done commercially.
Bud