We started our morning out attempting to fix the flat tire.
The spare tire now on the jeep was in pretty good condition. The flat tire from
yesterday was in very bad condition.. as were 2 of the other tires. Basically
we had one good tire. The dry rot was so bad on the flat tire, we didn’t think
it could be repaired. We started calling around and quickly found that almost
everyone was closed for the weekend. We tracked down a guy named Roland, who
took one look at the tire and confirmed what we thought – No go. We called the
folks back up who owned the jeep and they were able to track down a tire that
would work. They met us at RJ’s Garage with the tire, and RJ quickly put the
tire on the rim. We rolled out of town with 3 good and 2 questionable tires,
bear mace, a full tank of gas, and left over pizza from the night before - on
to explore the 2
nd road on this adventure – Council Road.
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The 3 roads of Nome - (Map - Alaska Fish & Game) |
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RJ getting us squared away with a tire we can count on. |
Council Road is a 72-mile gravel road that runs along the
beaches of Nome and then turns inland to eventually end at a river with no
bridge. We knew very well that we would not be able to cross the river – in low
water, with the help of a local you can navigate your high clearance 4 wheel
drive vehicle across. We have a low clearance jeep and the water is high. Even
so, we wanted to drive the road to enjoy the scenery. This road allows you to
glimpse the gold mining history of the area – including the modern gold seekers
still scouring the beaches of Nome for their riches (didn’t they make a reality
T.V show about that?).
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Modern day gold miners on the beaches of Nome |
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Dredge like small crafts for sifting the gold on the bottom of the ocean. |
We had a beautiful sunny day and this road was very
different then the Teller Highway yesterday. The Teller Highway reminded us of
the Dempster Highway – flat rolling tundra for miles The Council Road often
reminded us of the Top of the World Highway near Dawson, YT. Canada and seemed
to have 3 distinct environments it covered, coastal, hills larger than rollers
but not really mountains, and then an area where trees actually appeared – a lot
of northern Alaska is tree-less. The road started out of Nome and hugged the
coast for a while then extended onto gravel bars with water on both sides. The
air was muggy and humid and we found we needed to have the windows rolled down
most of the day.
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The road travels out on a sand bar like ridge between the Norton Sound and Safety Sound. |
We passed seasonal fishing camps scattered for miles, as well
as gold camps with their tiny rigs floating in the ocean sucking up the gold
(hopefully) like vacuum cleaners the spitting out the muck out the back end of
their boats. The further we got out from Nome, the sparser the seasonal
structures became.
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Seasonal camp. The driftwood "teepees" are generally used for fire wood and temp dry storage of wood and miscellaneous items - not generally used for shelter. |
Eventually the road turned inland where a famous relic of
Alaska still lays, “The Last Train to Nowhere.”
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The Last Train to Nowhere |
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Me standing in the marsh without adequate footwear. |
The train was actually by the Council City & Solomon
River Railroad investors intended to carry gold from the area – linking a lot
of small places to a centralized area. But as the gold rush faded in the
region, the project was abandoned in 1907. Three locomotives still sit in the
tundra, along with all their parts and pieces. I wanted to take pictures here,
as well as the old town of Solomon. Driving through this area is interesting
because you see so many abandoned things.. business, cars, homes, gold mining
equipment.. everything. It looks like people just walked away at some point.
Then, you might see a modern house sitting next to a collapsed building, folks
outside BBQing for the holiday. We stopped and explored a few abandoned
structures, including a dredge that operated until the 1960s. We didn’t wander
too close, not wanting to get hurt.
The road climbed up to Skookum Pass with beautiful sweeping
vistas in every direction (thus the reminder of Top of the World Highway). We
reached the end of the road at the river Niukluk. Too high to cross and no
desire to cross the river by 4-wheeler (complements of the locals), we walked a
bit along the river and enjoyed the view before heading back.
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View near Skookum Pass, Council Highway, Alaska |
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The town of Council across the river. |
Near the town of Solomon we ran into a couple of locals
pulled over to the side of the road with tire problems. They had lost the bolt
that hold their rear brakes together cause the brakes to seize up, locking the
rear wheel tire from spinning. Michael helped them remove the brake from that
tire, fastening it to the leaf springs and tying it down. The vehicle only had
3 brakes, but the road was flat and at least they could limp back into town to
get it repaired. They thanked us and we noted their slow progress the rest of the
day. They arrived safely.
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Michael help folks out on the road. |
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Scenery near the ocean. |
We continued to stop along the way, including
visiting the historic Safety Roadhouse, the last stop on the Iditarod. We
chatted with the owner Tom, almost as historic as the Roadhouse itself. He
shared his favorite stories past and present of the last great race. He was
especially animated about last year’s race where we all thought Aliy Zirkle was
the winner and Jeff King’s dogs got confused. I wandered the structure looking
at memorabilia tacked to the walls of many famous race events. What a trip.
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Safety Roadhouse |
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Safety Roadhouse |
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Tom and Michael |
We rolled into the Polaris Bar and Grill for a big
cheeseburger and an icy cold beer.
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