Go To See Alaska - Part 5 -

Scenic Richardson Highway and Fairbanks



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遠眺高入雲端的北美洲最高山峰，似乎永遠披著那神秘的面紗， 雲氣

變幻莫測， 總是藏在雲中難以看見。



We were very happy to see the peak of Mount McKinley as we were driving south from the historic

gold mining town of Fairbanks along scenic Richardson Highway in the afternoon of August 17, 2009.

Mount McKinley in Alaska is the highest mountain peak in North America, at a height of 20,320 feet

(6,194 m) above sea level. The lower portion of the mountain was covered in cloud on that afternoon.

There is a pullout roadside parking area on Richardson Highway between Fairbanks and Delta

Junction for tourists to enjoy watching and taking picture of Mount McKinley. On a clear day, the peak

of Mount McKinley is visible from Anchorage and from Fairbanks.



Mount McKinley is in Alaska Range which is a 400-mile mountain range in the south central region of

Alaska.



Map: Click here to see Google Map showing location of Mount McKinley in Denali National Park and

Richardson Highway from Fairbanks going south.



神采飄逸，亭亭玉立的 丹頂黃鶴仙姿。



Each August as thousands of Sandhill Cranes (有丹頂的美洲鶴) begin their Autumn migration from

Alaska and Siberia southward to New Mexico, the Tanana Valley here in central Alaska rings with

gathering calls of sandhill cranes. As you can see from these photos that these sand hill cranes have

red crown. In the fall season, sand hill cranes begin to group up in areas called staging ground. One of

the such staging ground is at Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge in the heart of Fairbanks,

Alaska where daily Sandhill Crane tallies regularly top 1,000. This is the staging ground to prepare for

their Autumn migration south through Platte River in Nebraska to reach their wintering ground at

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, USA. The best time to enjoy fall staging is

late August and early September. Peak time is during the annual Sandhill Crane Festival sponsored

jointly by Friends of Creamer's Field, Arctic Audubon Society and the Alaska Bird Observatory.



In the morning of August 17, 2009, we drove from Healy to Fairbanks. Upon arrival at Fairbanks, the

first place that we visited was Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge to see huge number of

sand hill cranes here as shown in these photos. Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge is located

at 1300 College Road, Fairbanks, AK 99701, two miles from downtown Fairbanks. Phone: 907-452-5162.



Map: Click here to see Google Map showing location of Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge



晶瑩的冰川從險峻的山谷之間傾瀉下來，雄偉壯觀，震攝人心的，山

川冰河峽谷地形，讓人歎為觀止



The paved scenic 364-mile Richardson Highway from Fairbanks to Valdez bisects the Alaska Range which has

seven peaks above 12,000 feet. The Richardson Highway is a very scenic route, offering magnificent views of

the Chugach Mountains and Alaska Range, and some of the best glacier viewing in Alaska. It provides tourists

many opportunities to enjoy breathtaking views of spectacular mountains, glaciers, valleys and rivers.



長風萬里送秋鶴，天空中傳來一陣陣歡快的鶴鳴聲。



Some sand hill cranes in flight at Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge



The third place that we visited in Fairbanks is the Large Animal Research Station of the University of Alaska

where we saw muskox and caribou as shown in these photos. It is located at 2220 Yankovich Road,

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7000, Phone: (907) 474-7207



Map: Click here to see Google Map showing location of Large Animal Research Station



We saw this female moose on the roadside when we were driving from Healy to Fairbanks on the paved

George Parks Highway on the morning of August 17, 2009.



Zoom in for a close view of a section of 800-mile-long Trans Alaska Oil Pipeline System for transporting oil

from Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope in arctic circle going south through rugged and beautiful terrain to

Valdez in Prince William Sound, the northernmost ice-free port in North America. The scenic Richardson

Highway essentially parallels this Trans Alaska Pipeline. So, we got several opportunities to see this huge

pipeline with a diameter of 4 feet. This section is part of a cable suspense bridge for the big pipeline to cross

the Tanana River at Big Delta (about 9 miles north of Delta Junction) as shown in the following photo.



Map: Click here to see Google Map showing location of Big Delta where Richardson Highway and Trans Alaska

Oil Pipeline cross Tanana River



More views of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline which provides about 20 per cent of the US domestically produced

crude oil, or about 10 per cent of the total oil consumption of the United States. Astronauts say they can see

this pipeline from space.



In addition to sand hill cranes, there are also many Canada geese, great white-fronted geese and other

waterfowl here.



Many sand hill cranes are in the grain field in addition to the open field.



仙鶴與秋雁振羽飛翔。



Two sand hill cranes and several Canada geese in flight at Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge.



I also took a movie clip of these sand hill cranes in action at Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge as

shown on the YouTube website at:



http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6b-RbI7HMg





We toured the wintering ground of sand hill cranes in Bosque del Apache in New Mexico in February, 2006 to

see 18,000 sand hill cranes there as shown on my Travelogue web page at:



http:// www.shltrip.com/Bosque_Del_Apache.html



More mountains along scenic Richardson Highway



A picture of me (Sing Lin) and giant cabbages. The second place that we visited in Fairbanks is Georgeson

Botanical Garden (117 W. Tanana Drive, Fairbanks, Phone: 474-1944) on the campus of the University of

Alaska in Fairbanks to see the giant cabbages as shown in these two photos. Vegetable growers in Alaska are

setting records in the Guinness Book of World Records for their giant produce such as cabbage, zucchini,

Brussels sprouts, etc. Alaska is becoming known as a land of “Super-Sized Veggies.” One reason is almost

two months of nonstop daylight. During the summer, darkness never comes to Alaska. Vegetables just keep on

growing and growing into the jumbo size in the summer season.



Map: Click here to see Google Map showing location of Georgeson Botanical Garden



The Trans-Alaska Pipeline goes underground here to cross Richardson Highway. The unpaved gravel road in

the picture is the service road of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The S shaped pipeline is to allow expansion of the

metal pipeline when temperature changes.



The white aluminum radiators atop the pipes are used to remove heat into the air. The oil in the Trans-Alaska

Pipeline is heated so that the oil can be pumped through this 800-mile pipeline in the cold weather of Alaska.

However, In warm permafrost and other areas where heated underground pipeline might cause undesirable

thawing, the supports contain two each, 2-inch pipes called "heat pipes," containing anhydrous ammonia, which

vaporizes below ground, rises and condenses above-ground, removing ground heat whenever the ground

temperature exceeds the temperature of the air. Heat is transferred through the walls of the heat pipes to

aluminum radiators atop the pipes.



We saw another female moose on the roadside while driving on Richardson Highway



Caribou in the Large Animal Research Station of the University of Alaska



平展開闊，一條粗獷豪放不拘的大河，流水時分時合延伸

構成一幅美麗的畫圖。



Tanana River running along Richardson Highway. Meltwater from glaciers feed sediment-choked rivers

whose channels intertwine into a braided pattern. This is typical for many braided rivers in Alaska. A

friend who has been living happily in Fairbanks, Alaska for more than 30 years said that such wide

open braided river is a good representation of the Freedom spirit of Alaska with wide open space. The

braided channels in such river can change their courses any way and any time they want because of

available wide open space in Alaska.



Map: Click here to see Google Map of Satellite view of braided Tanana River



More views of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline



World's largest statue of Santa Claus (42-ft tall) stands on Richardson Highway at the town of North Pole

located 14 miles east of Fairbanks.



Santa Claus House in the town of North Pole along Richardson Highway. Address: 101 Saint Nicholas Dr, North

Pole, Alaska 99705.



Map: Click here to see Google Map showing location of Santa Claus House in the town of North Pole



During the Christmas season, the local post office is besieged with letters to Santa from children all over the

world. The town receives mountains of mail from all over the world, answered by a "Santa," or SASEs at least

postmarked from the North Pole (Zip code is 99705). There are several live reindeer in a fenced in area to the

left of the Santa Clause House.



遠眺雲霧遮繞的雪山如仙境般, 看不真切雪山的真面目。



Another view of the peak of Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America.





The sequence of our 2-week Tour of Alaska is the Following:



One-week Alaska Cruise:



Vancouver in Canada, the starting point of 1-week Alaska Cruise --------> Ketchikan in Alaska (Misty Fjords

National Monument) --------> Juneau (Mendenhall Glacier, Macaulay Salmon Hatchery, Gold Creek Salmon

Bake) ---------> Skagway (8-hour Excursion Land Tour into Yukon Territory in northwest Canada) -------->

Glacier Bay National Park --------> College Fjords --------> Whittier, the end point of our Alaska Cruise.



One-week driving tour of Alaska starts from Whittier as follows:



Whittier --------> Denali National Park --------> Fairbanks (Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge,

Georgeson Botanical Garden, Large Animal Research Station of the University of Alaska) ---------> Town of

North Pole --------> Scenic Richardson Highway going south --------> Boundary of Wrangell-St Elias National

Park ---------> Scenic Glen Highway going west ---------> Scenic Seward Highway going south -------->

Seward, (Kenai Fjords National Park, Exit Glacier) --------> Seward Highway going north to Tern Lake, then

Sterling Highway going west to Kenai, then south ---------> Homer --------> Sterling Highway going north to

Kenai, then east, to Tern Lake, then Seward Highway going north ---------> Alaska Wildlife Conservation

Center --------> Anchorage, the end point of our driving tour of Alaska





Part 6 of 11 of my tour of Alaska is about spectacular Wrangell-St Elias National Park, scenic Glenn Highway

and scenic Seward Highway. It is at:



http:// www.shltrip.com/Go_To_See_Alaska_Part_6_Wrangell.html



The Richardson Highway was Alaska’s first road, known to gold seekers in 1898 as the Valdez to Eagle trail.

Gold stampeders started up the trail again in 1902, this time headed for Fairbanks, site of a big gold strike. The

Valdez to Fairbanks trail became an important route to the Interior, and in 1910 the trail was upgraded to a

wagon road under the direction of Gen. Wilds P. Richardson, first president of the Alaska Road Commission

(ARC). The ARC updated the road to automobile standards in the 1920s; it was hard-surfaced in 1957.



白雪皚皚，雲霧繚繞，連綿起伏的雪峰，像不像一張明信片？



百鶴田園。



Hundreds of sandhill cranes in Creamer's Field



Rainbow Mountain - a riot of rock colors, a mountainside of copper, nickel and cobalt sulfide mineralization

along with some platinum group metals and gold



On March 4, 2011, we visited Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area in Indiana, USA and saw large number of

sand hill cranes in their spring migration north as shown on my Travelogue web page at:



http:// www.shltrip.com/Sand_Hill_Cranes_in_Indiana.html





Our winter tour to watch many red crowned white cranes (whooping cranes) near Aransas National Wildlife

Refuge on Texas Gulf Coastal area is described on my web page at:



http:// www.shltrip.com/Red_Crowned_White_Cranes.html



讀萬卷書 行萬里路

