Friday, July 8, 2011

Today we took a jeep ride on the Stampede Road.

We gathered at 11:05 in front of the campground office to catch the bus to where we would get our jeeps.  Of course the bus was late, but they did not leave without us since the bus driver was also our guide,  Here we are waiting for the bus.

We were assigned four to a jeep.  We rode with Dennis and Carol.  Don and Sharon rode with Jim and Pat, and John McBeath and Jo Wilson had the tail gunners jeep.  This was Dennis getting ready to drive,  He also tried to give Marilyn a kiss.

We stopped at the end of the paved road, and walked out onto the “tundra”.  Our guide explained the difference between “taiga” and “tundra”.  Tundra is flat land with very shallow soil on top of the permafrost.  Since it is so shallow, trees may only grow to two or three feet.  Water keeps the tundra moist because it has no where to run off.  The ground is spongy.  Taiga is a hill near the tundra.  Trees can grow to 25, 30 or more feet because there is more soil on top of the permafrost, and the water runs off down to the tundra.  This picture shows how flat the tundra is.  

Here we are leaving the tundra an going back up the hill to our jeep rides.

Gary and Mary, and Jean and Claudette drove the Stampede Road in there own jeeps.  They came back off the off road part just as we were getting ready to drive it.

It was interesting driving down this one-lane dirt trail called the Stampede Road.  The road was created to bring mined antimony out to market back in the early 1900s.  Of course one of our jeeps had to get stuck, so Dennis volunteered.  I took this picture as we were being pulled out backwards.  It was too muddy to take it while we were actually stuck.

 

We also got to go through some deep puddles in addition to mud.

One of the employees camps out on the end of the road 6 days a week just to cook some stew and provide lemonade for those on the jeep tour.

Our guide pointed out an old camper shell and some boots on the side of the road.  He said that Pistol Pete had died here after being attacked by a grizzly bear, although his boots were some 20 feet away from his body.  Of course that is why his ghost is constantly being seen in the area.

No one got stuck on the way back, but Dennis managed to get the most mud on our jeep and it windshield.

Here are some more pictures of the mud and water we went through.

Type at you later.