In our first full day in Fairbanks we were busy. We went to the Tanana Valley Fair, the Alaska North Museum at the University of Alaska and Pioneer Park.
The Tanana Valley Fair was similar to local state or county fairs in upstate New York and western Massachusetts. We arrived to discover it was senior day. All seniors got in free and were treated with a free turkey dinner. We passed up the dinner and tried the reindeer sausage instead.
The exhibits at the Alaska Museum were excellent. We were a little disapointed in that we had seen similar materials at prior museum visits all over Alaska. It still took us about 3 hours.
The Pioneer Park was a unique experience. There was no entrance fee to this public theme park that contained a number of small museum attractions for Railroads, Bush Planes, River Boat, etc. There were many original log cabins moved to this site where they were used for gift and craft shops.
On our second full day in Fairbanks, it was rainy all day. We decided to take a 60 miles drive out to the Chena Hot Springs Resort. We toured the Ice House there which is powered by Geothermal Energy. We took a dip in the hotsprings rock pool which was very warm. We had a great dialogue with the Chena Ghost (Mark Ransom) with whom Fred had been communicating via the Alaska Living Yahoo Group. Mark is a manager at Chena Hot Springs.
While we were talking with Mark at Chena Hotsprings, a Milepost reporter introduced herself to Mark. She was same Milepost reporter that took our pictures at Wrangell-St Elias primitive campground earlier this summer. We exchanged stories.
Tomorrow morning, we are dropping our camper off at RV service facility to get the wheel bearings repacked while we fly to Ruby for an overnight visit. Ruby is an isolated village of 200 people on Yukon River about 200 miles west of Fairbanks. We will be staying at the home of Emmitt and Edna Peters, who were friends of Fred’s uncle Fr. Ron Dunfey.
We flew from Fairbanks to Ruby Alaska on the morning of Friday August 14th. The flight took about 2 hours.
Ruby is a small isolated village of 200 people located on the Yukon River about 250 miles west of Fairbanks. There are no roads leading to Ruby. Access is only by flying, boat in summer and dogsled/snowmobile the rest of the year.
Our hosts in Ruby were Edna and Emmitt Peters. They were married in Ruby some 30 years ago by Fred’s Uncle, Fr. Ron Dunfey. Their oldest Son, Sunny, was also baptized in Ruby by Fr.Ron.
Edna is an Eskimo from Nome. Her former name was Edna Ungudrukan. Edna went to college in Anchorage with Kristine Harder, who we met on the Alaska Ferry from Juneau to Haines. When Kristine met Fr. Ron in Juneau, she discovered that Fr. Ron knew Edna. This came as a shock, since she had thought of Edna’s move to Ruby was “to the end of the earth”. Kristine and Edna communicate often today by email. Kristine gave Fred Edna’s email address.
Fred emailed Edna a number of times. When Fred and Milly decided to go to Ruby to meet her and visit an isolated village, she offered to have us stay with them. Our plan was to fly in one day and leave the next. We ended up staying a second night when our return flight was cancelled due the inclement weather.
When we arrived in Ruby, we were met at the airport by our host Emmitt Peters, who works as the local agent for Warblows Air Ventures. He introduced us to Harold Esmailka who drove us to the Peter’s house from the airport.
When we settled into the Peter’s house, we found out that Emmitt Peters had won the 1975 Iditarod Race. He is known as the “Yukon Fox” all over over Alaska.
He won the race as a rookie and cut 6 days off the record time. His mushing methods changed the way the race was run. Google Emmitt Peters to learn more about his history. He is a member of Iditarold Hall of Fame and was recently inducted into American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame.
Emmitt Peters is an Athabaskan Indian who grew up in Ruby and has lived there all his life.
During our stay in Ruby, Emmitt regaled us with stories about the Iditarod, his travels as a professional musher, fish camps, moose hunting, his parents, etc. When Emmitt was busy, Edna filled us in on her experiences.
Edna has travelled over over the United States on various fellowships. She decided that to help avoid disappearance of native culture that natives should marry another native. She had read about the “Yukon Fox” and decided he was the kind of man she was looking to marry. Emmitt never had a chance!
Edna worked many years in Ruby as a health aid. She was the source of all medical help for all residents. It seems that she even performed minor surgury under the direction from a remote Doctor.
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Fr. Ron Dunfey and St. Peter’s Church
Harold Esmailka gave us a tour of Ruby. He took us to meet his Wife Florence in their home. They shared with us their life experiences and tragedies. Their daughter was the local postmaster who was murdered at work by a robber. Another Son was shot dead when he stepped in front of gun pointed at a another man’s woman. Another Son died in a plane crash. They have adopted several of their children.
Harold is quite the entrepreneur. He was a pilot. He started an airline that serviced Ruby and owned the general store there. He is quite active in the community and beyond. Approaching 80, Harold is now planning to initiate a Gold Mining business a short distance from Ruby. He was adopted by the Esmailka family and is a cousin of Emmitt.
Harold knew Fr. Ron Dunfey. He took us on a tour of the new St Peter’s Church built in 2005-6 time frame. The old church was attached to the new one to be used as a gathering hall. He showed us the old priest’s room in the old church where Fr Ron stayed when he was in Ruby. Fr. Ron would come a stay a week at a time in Ruby. Fr. Ron travelled to Ruby periodically from Galena, which is further down the Yukon. Harold introduced us to other people who also knew Fr. Ron.
We attended Sunday Church services in the new church. We had rabbit stew and other munchies with the parishioners after the service in the gathering hall.
There is a painting over the alter in the new Church called “DENAAHUTO” – Athabaskan for “Our Father”. This painting was done by Jon Van Zyle inside the church. It was inspired by Harold. The story of this painting is a great story! I have a copy of the story and will will be put into a separate TAB – Ruby Gift in the the Blog when I get the chance.
We also got pictures of Fr. Ron marrying the Peters and baptizing their son, Sunny.
Life in Ruby Alaska
Our brief stay is Ruby gave us a wonderful glimpse into the current native life in an isolated Alaskan village. It is hard to describe and communicate what we learned and discerned. We don’t fully understand it all. We stayed two nights. When we were in their home, Edna and Emmitt talked to us almost non-stop about their lives. Harold and Florence Emailka also shared so much with us.
Tom Esmailka met us while we were walking the street of Ruby. He took us on an ATV trip of the surrounding area. He pointed out the canyons where he liked to hunt.
Life in Ruby is now much different than in the past. They have snowmobiles instead of sleds powered by sled dogs. They have Satilite Tv and DSL Internet Access. There are daily airplane flights to Ruby from Fairbanks that bring provisions and mail. They are more connected to the world but still isolated.
Their native corporation provides medical support and periodic dividends.
As in the past, everyone helps out their neighbor. They look after each other. They share facilities. There is a village saw mill that anyone can use to cut their wood – just pay a trained operator. There is a gas depot where almost everyone gets their gas and oil. There is a large assembly hall.
Many natives still go to their fishing camps for as long a period as the regulations allow. They also go on hunting trips as they have for generations but now they have motors on their boats and use modern methods wherever it makes sense.
Many homes are still made of logs but many homes were constructed by HUD. The Peters’ home was made by HUD. It was a comfortable 3 bedroom home outfitted almost the same as found everywhere outside. “Outside” seems to be a term used to describe non-Alaska locations.
Winter gets quite cold here – minus 40 degrees is common.
We shared a salmon meal with Edna and Emmitt. Emmitt caught the salmon, half smoked it and froze it. He unfroze it and baked it. It had a wonderfully different taste.
Our visit to Ruby was a highlight of Alaska Journey.
We a very thankful that Edna and Emmitt invited us to stay with them. They were very gracious. As we left, we all hugged each other like lifelong friends.
We travelled on 8/17 from Fairbanks to TOK on our way to Dawson City, Yukon via Top of the World Highway.
In the morning of 8/18, we headed up Taylor Highway to “top of the world highway” which goes from Chicken Alaska to Dawson City. We arrived in Chicken for lunch, toured the town and headed towards Dawson City. Chicken was somewhat interesting but not worth going out of your way to visit. It is a good stopping point on the way to Dawson City. Only 4 people live in Chicken year round. It grows to 24 in summer. There are a couple of RV Parks, a Restaurant Cafe, a couple of Gift Shops, a gas station and a few historical points of interest.
After lunch, we drove he first part of the “Top of the World Highway” through Boundary and to the Canadian/US Border. The scenery was great. The road winds its up up to the top of ridges and runs these ridges across the top of the world. The views are beautiful! Much of the time you are above tree line looking over the valleys below and across to the mountains near and far. The road is called gravel but resembles hard packed dirt. The trailer was bouncing a little.
We came to a scenic viewpoint about a half mile past the border. We could see the border station on a neighboring mountain peak. We went for a short hike on the tundra and walked up a road out to the end of the canyon top. We spotted some caribou. We met another couple there. We all decided to stay the night high up on top of the world. It was wonderful. We took our chairs, wine, cheese and rice crackers out to the edge of the canyon. We enjoyed each others company while taking in the breath taking views.
In the morning, we finished the trip to Dawson City. The rest of the trip across the Top of the Work highway was much more pleasant. The road was in much better condition with half of it paved and the rest seemed to be coated with oil that made the unpaved sections very smooth.
We stayed in Dawson City for two nights. Dawson City has a large permanent population of about 1800. The Canadian National Park Service has guided a historical restoration activity here. Dawson City has wooded sidewalks on a huge downtown area. The Dawson City museum is a must see! There are a couple of movies about the Klondike Gold Rush. There exhibits was well done. In Dawson City, there is a mix of historical tourist type activity with the life of the town. It is a very pleasant place to just walk around.
On Thursday August 20th, we drove from Dawson City to Whitehorse. It was a fairly long drive in rainy/cloudy weather. We noticed that our camper battery wasn’t charging when hooked to AC. This meant losing lights, heater and toilets when battery dies since these all operate on 12 v. Fred traced the problem to camper power converter box. We took camper to RV Repair shop. They told us that the Power Converter Box needed to be replaced but it would take 10 days to get the replacement to Whitehorse. They suggested getting at battery charger which we bought at Canadian Tire.
On August 21 after RV Repair Shop visit, we drove down to Skagway, Alaska. It usually is a very scenic drive but it was raining most of the way. It got very foggy also as we came thru passes into Skagway. We stayed two nights in Skagway. The weather was so bad we passed on riding the White Pass Railroad. We would have stayed a 3rd night if the weather was going to change.
While in Skagway, we drove to Dyea, strolled the old town site and hiked up part of the chilkoot trail. We also attended a musical play,”The Days of 98 Show”. The male lead was Jonathan Baldwin who is married to Tegan Towle from Grantham, NH. Tegan is daughter of Cynthia Towle, Grantham Deputy Town Clerk/Tax Collector. We introduced ourselves to Jonathan before the performance.
On Sunday August 23rd, we drove to Watson Lake, Yukon to the top of Cassiar Highway, which we plan on taking to Hyder/Stewart on way down to Vancouver. We attended a showing of Northern Lights at their planetarium. In the morning, it stopped raining and some blue sky showed. We decided to stay another day to dry out and enjoy the good weather. We took a hike around the local lakes. That night it started raining again.
We didn’t get any pictures in Skagway at all. We forgot our camera for trip to Dyea. Our next stop in Hyder, Alaska will be our goodbye to Alaska.
We drove all day down the Cassiar Highway from Watson Lake to Stewart-Hyder. We started and ended in the rain with periods of partly blue sky in between. This highway has many beautiful spots to stay overnight and relax. The whole trip was scenic with the last 40 miles down canyons to Stewart, BC being especially spectacular. The canyons were narrow with craggy rough mountains raising up on both sides as the road wound down to sea level. We passed Bear Glacier as close to the highway as any glacier we had seen.
We woke up on morning of 8/26/2009 to find the rain had gone and the day was beautiful. Since the rain returned the next morning, this would be our last day in Alaska. It would rank among our best days on our trip.
Who would have thought that Stewart, BC – Hyder had so much to offer.
We came here to see Fish Creek Salmon Observation area in Hyder, Alaska. This is where Black Bears and Grizzlies come to feast on Salmon. We did see many, many Salmon spawning in 2 miles long creek. There were many people and photographers waiting for the bears to show. We came twice to find them and never saw them at the creek. We did spot a couple of teenage bears as we found our way back to Hyder from our trip the the Salmon Glacier.
The 20 mile mountian gravel road trip to the top of the Salmon Glacier was stupendous! Fred was white knuckling most of the drive. The mountain/canyon views were outstanding. We were able to see the Salmon Glacier from its toe all the way up to the ice field at the top. We looked down to the glacier from the road. This is the only trip like it anywhere we had been. It also came as a complete surprise. We didn’t know about it until we arrived here.
We would classify Stewart-Hyder as a must see. It appears to be not highly recommended and out of the way. This are presented us with a fond farewell from Alaska.
The Bear River RV campground was woodsy, full service, a Good Sam and inexpensive. We had lunch at The “Bus” in Hyder as recommended at the campground. The seafood was outstanding. The owner’s husband does the fishing, she does the cooking. Her seafood chowder was the best Fred has had in along, long time.
