Outdoors with Don Q: Exploring Alaska on the web

I have a "ton of fun" visiting all kinds of websites on the Internet, and enjoying all of their fascinating information and photos. They range all the way from our very own Carson Now Carson City to www.carsonvalleytimes.com in Douglas County to those in the far-flung corners of the world.

Of all of those far-flung websites, I mostly enjoy visiting those that are associated with the Far North: Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, The Northwest Territories and The Yukon.
That high level of interest is the result of having visited Alaska 14 times, British Columbia 6 times, The Yukon 3 times and Alberta once.

Elaine has visited Alaska 8 times and has been with me on my visits to British Columbia, The Yukon and Alberta.
I might add that we have never visited any of those locales in the winter.
Not us! We are strictly fair-weather visitors in the warm months. Here is where we have been:

01. On our many visits to Alaska, we have been to: Alyeska, Anchorage, Anchor Point, Cantwell, Deep Creek, Denali National Park, Fairbanks, Girdwood, Glenallen, Homer, Homer Spit, Hope, Hyder, Kenai, Kenai Fjords, Kenai Peninsula, Matanuska Valley, Montana Creek, Ninilchek, North Pole, Palmer, Portage Glacier, Prince William Sound, Sitka, Skagway, Seward, Soldotna, Spenard, Talkeetna, Tok, the Turnagain Arm, Valdez, Wassila, Whittier and Willow Creek.
Our favorite destination is Sitka, with all of its fishing, scenery and history.

02. On our 6 visits to British Columbia, we have been to: Bell Two Lodge, Creston, Dease Lake, Fort Steele, Gitanyow, Granisle, Hudson, Iskut, Jade City, Kamloop, Kitwanga, Kootenay, Kootenay National Park, New Hazelton, Ookpik Lodge on Babine Lake, Smithers, Steward and Vancouver.
Our favorite destination is remote Ookpik Lodge on Babine Lake, where we have visited with our friends and owners, Helmut and Carol Hofmeister.

03. On our 3 visits to The Yukon, we have been to: Beaver Creek, Carcross, Faro, Ross River, Rancheria, Teslin, The "infamous" Robert Campbell Highway, Watson Lake (and the Signpost Forest) and Whitehorse.
Our favorite destination is Watson Lake, where we have visited with our close friends, Barry and Susan Drury.

04. On our one and only visit to Alberta, we have been to: Banff, Banff National Park and Lake Louise.
Now that you know where we have been in the Far North, here are some favorite websites I visit and why they are visited:

Anchorage Weather Cam:
www.borealisboradband.net/Vid-DTN1.htm
Anchorage has a number of cameras located in the city or very near to it.
Pick one or more and enjoy the view(s) of Alaska's largest city.
Having been to Anchorage many times, those views bring back many memories of our enjoyable stays there.
If you ever travel to Alaska, Anchorage has to be on your "Must Stop" list, and while there, be sure to eat at Gwennie's in the suburb of Spenard.

Barrow Weather Cam: www.seaice.alaska.edu/gi/observatories/barrow_webcam
I have never been to Barrow, Alaska; but it is fascinating to see how people live in the farthest north community in the United States.
It was extremely interesting this summer to watch the winter ice slowly melt, recede and then leave the Arctic Ocean at Barrow.
Note: If you click on the photo of Barrow, it will enlarge.
As a matter of interest, in the wintertime, Barrow has two months of bitter cold weather with no sunshine. You won't find me there at that time!
CalTrans Live Traffic Cameras: www.dot.ca.gov/dist3/departments.traffic.cameras/
This is where I go to watch live traffic movement (or non-movement in winter snowstorms!) at places such as:
I-80: Castle Peak, Kingvale, Soda Springs and Truckee Truck Scales.
U.S. 50: Echo Summit, Luther Pass Junction (S.R. 89), Mayes Junction (S.R. 89), Ski Run Boulevard and Twin Bridges.
U.S. 395: Conway Summit, Doyle, Janesville and Mammoth Mountain.

Fairbanks Weather Cam:
www.fairbanksalaska.com/goldenheart/
You can watch traffic moving on the streets and people walking at the Golden Heart Plaza in downtown Fairbanks.
Having been to the Plaza, it was interesting, this year, to watch the ice break up and leave over a period of time on the nearby Cheena River.
It is also fascinating to look at this weather cam in the dead of winter when temperatures dip to -40F or more. Brrr!!!

Modern Sportsman:
www.modernsportsman.proboards.com
A website for hunters and fishermen from all over the world.
Modernsportsman (MS) has all kinds of different forums of which one is the Western States Forum, where I serve as its Moderator.
The most popular forum is the Campfire Forum.
You can become a MS member by merely supplying a user name and password, and there is no cost to join or to be active on that website.

Old Crow, Yukon, Canada:
www.oldcrow.ca
A website for the farthest north community in the Yukon, which is inhabited by natives of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation.
Old Crow is located at the confluence of the Old Crow River and the Porcupine River, and it can only be reached by airplane.
It had 267 inhabitants as of 2008.
Those residents depend mainly on meat from the annual migration of the Porcupine Caribou herd going north in the spring and south in the fall.
Check out their recipes for: Bone grease, stuffed Caribou heart, Caribou meatballs, Black Duck soup, roasted Muskrat and stuffed Ptarmigan.

Finally:
If interested, be sure to visit those websites for a glimpse of what's happening, how other people live and where they are located.
Those sites can be very interesting and enlightening.

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you what is my favorite, almost daily activity on the Internet.
If he grins and says, "Don and Barry Drury of Watson Lake like to visit each other, daily, on Skype, where they can see, talk and tease one another other," he has been in on one or more of those conversations.

— Don Quilici is the Outdoor editor for Carson Now. Don's wife, Elaine, is the Outdoor photographer. They live in Carson City and can be reached at donquilici@hotmail.com