My Way to Alaska

Our neighbour in Chilliwack, Gordy, had worked as a paramedic in the Yukon and had lots of stories.
They were driving their ambulance through a small valley on a nice clear day. They saw what they took to be an Airstream trailer approaching them way farther down the valley, but on the same road. They then realised that the trailer was actually on the other side of the valley, but there was no road on the other side. By this time they could see that it was not an Airstream as whatever it was, went silently past them, just above the trees, on the other side of the Valley.
The other story was of a friend of Gordy's who was a pilot. He told of a flight he made in which he claimed that it appeared that a mountaintop had disappeared (!) and in its place was a huge complex. He radioed it in and talked about it when his flight was over. A few days later he received a visit from the 'authorities' who warned that if he continued to talk about this, he would be considered delusional and would lose his flying license!
Not sure I could accept these stories, but would be interested if others had heard similar stories.

There's been many odd sightings of unidentified things in the sky in Yukon http://www.ufobc.ca/yukon/index.htm

I knew the fella who told this story about an event near Snag, Yukonhttp://www.ufobc.ca/yukon/moosehuntufo/moosehunt01.html

Many of us who lived in Beaver Creek have similar stories. We compared our stories on our "People of Beaver Creek" facebook page a while ago. Lots of similarities.

OK, Joe, the clear night eliminates the Moon rising behind the clouds and a bright aurora as it was non directional. How about the extreme dark adaption that I have experienced myself at a 'Star Party', 6000' up in the Okanagan Valley with no artificial lighting visible?
(As you can see, I have an interest in all lights in the sky!)

joe b. - being a bush pilot in Alaska in the "old days", have you read the book "Glacier Pilot"? It is the biography of Bob Reeves (Reeves Aleutian Airways) and mentions a lot of the early pioneers and how they got their start. Growing up there at the time and then reading the book was a real trip down memory lane.

Orion, it was a clear night, probably in February or March with the temperature running about -30 to -40 F that night. It would have been about 1974 or 75. 1974 turned out to be one of the coldest winters that I remember as I got stuck in the village of Allakaket for 13 consecutive days. Flew my plane in there and the temps dropped below my minimums for flying which was -50F if I was by myself, -40F if I had the family or others with me.

1964 was before my travelling time on the Alcan, but FWIW, to me that last photo does indeed like the southerly approach to Teslin...which, right or wrong, always felt like True North to me.

thanks joe b ,sue t and the rest of you guys.we went in 2012 and enjoyed every minute of our three month trip.so we are leaving in june for our second trip.we are doing things this time we missed. keep telling rvers about how great a trip it is. sincerely richard

I find your sighting interesting Joe! Was it clear? If it was cloudy, could it have been the Moon rising? Could it have been your eyes super dark adapting, that can happen when people are camping well away from artificial lights?

bob-nestor, I too like the works of Robert Service. I have his "complete works on my Kindle" One of my favorite things to do in either or both Whitehorse and Dawson town, is to sit on the Yukon River bank and read several of his poems. Then try to get my mind back to those days, when he lived in the area. That man sure had a way with words.

Think we need more forum members posting photos of their trips and or living in the north Country. Photos sure help a person's credibility at times.

There are some spooky and amazing things happen in the north country. Especially in the winter time, when you are all alone or maybe with one other person camping. One such trip, I was with my buddy, Alfred (considered himself to be Alaska Native by heritage) about 100 miles north of Tanana on the Allakaket Trail, going to retrieve a broken down snow machine for another friend. We set up our tent, started a campfire with wood we had picked up before we got above tree line, on the way there. Probably about 10 PM when we both noticed it was getting lighter all around us. No specific location for the light, it was just all around our area as far as we could see, probably 10 miles every direction. When Alfred started getting spooked, I decided it was time for me to follow suit. He grabbed his sleeping bag out of the tent and crawled under a near by spruce tree, about 30 or 40 ft tall. only tree for miles from what we could see, so I did likewise. After about an hour, the light started to subside and returned to normal. Neither of us had any idea of what had caused this to happen but we weren't going to sleep in that tent that night. LOL

So we decided to sleep under the spruce tree. The boughs were touching the ground and it was fairly snug looking. So we cut off a few of the lower branches, laid them on the ground for our bags. Alfred decided to start a small campfire under the tree with us. (not a good decision) We were as comfy as if we were in a snow cave when somehow a spark from the fire caught a branch on fire and quickly the entire tree was abaze. We grabbed out bags and were back out to the tent again as we watched the spruce tree burn totally. We looked at each other and both said, "hoclannie, atsa ghee" in Athabascan Indian, haunted area, scary. We decided neither of us was very sleepy anymore so struck camp, loaded the sleds back up and headed back south toward the village of Tanana (which is about 150 miles west of Fairbanks) After a run of an hour or two, we were back in the wooded area and stopped again to set up the tent for the night. We had picked up the broken snow machine and had it on a freight sled behind Alfred's machine.
Make it home, the next day we visited several of the village elders to see what they thought we had experienced, but no one knew.

Here is downtown Anchorage in 1962, a couple of years before the Good Friday Earthquake turned much of this area into rubble.



Here is the Alaska Hwy in 1962, best I can tell was in the Yukon as the mountains in the distance sure look familiar.


One more photo taken on my second round trip to/from Alaska in 1964. I have to believe this is the south approach into Teslin but that is not the current bridge as I remember it looking. The current one may have replaced this one. If anyone, sue, Murray, Pa12, Bob or anyone else has a better guess I would appreciate hearing it. Thanks

Maybe we'll cross paths with you this summer. We don't take anything extra either. I will admit the spare tire and belts are on board, but then they always are.