Curiosity got the better of us in Alaska [S5E26] Lifestyle Overland

Welcome to the Alaskan backcountry. If you're new to the channel, we are the Lifestyle Overland family. I'm Kevin, this is my wife Sarah, and this is my nine-year-old daughter Caroline. In this series, we've been exploring Alaska in an outfitted Tacoma by Alaska Overlander, and our story picks up where we last left you, camped 70 miles northeast of Fairbanks. After a chilly and rainy night, we awoke to a brief glimpse of the sun through the heavy clouds before it was swallowed up yet again as the fog and mist returned. No surprise here, since moody weather is a constant companion this time of year in the north country, but the forecast continued to insist better weather was coming. Until then, coffee would have to suffice to warm us up. All right, well good morning. The forecast called for sun shiny days, 60s and 70s, but this is what we woke up to, and it rained mostly all night long, which is okay. I love the sound of rain on the tent, but this is definitely not not how we ordered last night. So, lots of coffee, and then let's move a little bit. Let's head for sunnier areas. This is our third trip to Alaska, and this time around our strategy is to embrace curiosity and simply explore whatever side trail looks interesting along the way. We've already visited some of the more popular touristy attractions on previous trips, so this time the goal was to travel light, eat simple, and put in as many miles as possible before returning to the lower 48. As you regular viewers know, Sarah is a phenomenal cook and has been known to whip up mind-blowing meals alongside some of the most epic spots across the country. But in the interest of travel, we resorted to pre-cooked or freeze-dried food to make the meal process fast and easy. How's the little leg bite thing? Good. I turned it over to kind of warm up the top back up for you. I gotta be honest though, after one bite of these quote-unquote pre-cooked egg bites, I was questioning our decision just a bit. You can taste a bit of cheese and... But at least the sausage and coffee was hitting the spot. Cheers. Can you get baby girl out and build some food for her? I guess so. I guess I'll give her some cereal. That's all we have to say to that. Incessant rain and stubborn clouds meant we were packing down wet today. And we're often asked, is it okay to pack down things wet so often? And the answer is yes, so long as you reopen it that evening to prevent mold. On our first trip to Alaska in 2018, we saw three weeks straight of rain while living out of our turtleback trailer. But since our 23Zero tent was getting reopened every day, it never grew any mold. The key is keep them well treated with a waterproof spray so most of it beads up and rolls off. Speaking of tents, it was last year's Alaska Overlander rental that sparked our interest in the iCamper models. We've been running an iCamper 2.0 since then and have really enjoyed the footprint, ease of pack down, and setup. On this trip, we get to try the new 3.0 with a few improvements like dual pane windows, spring rod storage bag, relocated rod holders, removable ladder, increased shell storage space, and a few other tweaks that really help dial it in. Our only complaint is that the mattress feels like a step backwards after several nights of using it, and this might be why they offer an inflatable option. Thankfully, we thought ahead and brought our backup air mattresses to supplement the padding for this trip. Now's a good time to subscribe and hit that notification bell if you haven't already to be notified of an upcoming in-depth review on the different types of rooftop tents we've been using since 2016. We'll also cover the pros and cons of each style, which might just help you decide based on your own needs and preferences. Alright, well, we're all packed down. We're really, really hoping for some sunshine. He's been teasing us a little at a time. I guess we're just going to hit the trail for a bit and see if the weather improves. I still, I still, I need to pan for my nugget. I need to find my organic Alaska nugget hand-picked from the stream. Lifelong dream right there. Alright, let's go see what we can get into and maybe Mr. Sunshine will rear his beautiful head here in a bit and we'll have a nice finish to this day. Alaska is known for a very famous pipeline, one which we'll probably be driving alongside shortly, but it's filled with other feats of engineering that just blow my mind. Long before the Alaska pipeline was built alongside the Dalton, engineers were putting together stuff like this, pumping over, I forget, millions of gallons of water every single day to the mining operations. It's just wild. It's just wild. And I know there's lots of talk about a pipeline from the Mississippi to the west coast to try and help with the drought issues. We need some of those guys and that ingenuity on the team. Unfortunately, I think their time has passed, but it's just crazy. So crazy. Now, I know to most of you this rusty pipe in the middle of the wilderness may seem insignificant, but the ingenious engineering involved to move hundreds of thousands of gallons of water a day across 90 miles using sections of open ditches and pipes really becomes astounding when you realize they did this in the 1920s using only gravity and the siphoning action of the pipe sections. There were no electric or gas-powered pumps involved. Think about that the next time you have to siphon fuel or water a couple feet. And just maybe, this technique could help with the engineering obstacles standing in the way of an interconnecting water pipeline for the drought-stricken west. Before we hit the road again, I glanced around and found that we were standing in a patch of ripe blueberries. Another one of our favorite parts about Alaska. And so, we had to spend a few minutes getting fresh handfuls of our favorite roadside Alaskan treat. Just enough tart to... Pardon the flashback, but picking these with Caroline brought back some sweet memories along highway from 2018. Isn't it crazy how fast she's grown? Look. I know. She's a snacky snack. Some people run forever. As we made our way along the steeze highway en route to Circle, we again, like curiosity get the better of us, peeled off into the bush to follow a trail that looked enticing. Up we go. Up, up and away. We've left the trees behind too. I know. These are the kind of surprises we like. Stumbled on this trail, never ever heard of it, and it just keeps going. Come to find out, this is the historical route from Circle to Fairbanks. So, we're literally traveling on a road that wagons and dog sleds and miners and all that kind of stuff used to move from the Yukon River at Circle down to Fairbanks. This is crazy. And looking at the map, it goes on and on and on. The historical part, the actual passable part, I don't know. We're gonna go over here to this next little rise, scout it as best as we can, and then head to Circle, top off fuel, get some signal, see what we can find out, and maybe return to see how far we can go on it. This is cool. Yeah, you don't find stuff like this in Alaska very often, at least we don't. This is so crazy. All right, so we were not expecting such an extensive opportunity on this little trail. We don't know much about this trail. We don't know anything about this trail, other than the fact that we've gone about three miles on it. So, we're at exactly half a tank right now. So, we're gonna bounce into Central, try to get a little bit of signal. I've already sent a satellite text off to Craig to see if he knows anything about this place. Top everything off, and then maybe, maybe, no promises, we'll see how far we can go on it. If reports come back that it's impassable, you know, not much further from what we've already experienced, we'll call it good. But, what a cool find. What an awesome find. And there's a couple epic camps out here that we'll have to revisit. And it's not nasty. I know we got more clouds moving in, more rain moving in, and it just gives it that moody Alaska vibe. You just never know what kind of mood she's gonna be in, but it's all right because she's pretty. She might be moody, but she sure is pretty. Somebody actually lives up here. Look at that. Not five minutes. Not five minutes after I recorded that with the crazy clouds and stuff. Look, and that would be Craig. He's helping us research our satellite text message. If you don't like the weather in Alaska, wait five minutes because it'll change. While our fuel wasn't dangerously low just yet, we knew that there was still some ground to cover before we hit the next fuel stop and didn't want to commit to travel down an unknown route without first topping off. So, we backtracked to the main road and made our way towards the historical town of Circle, Alaska, located on the banks of the Yukon River, where we knew fuel should be available, or at least we hoped it would be available. A few hours and one gorgeous drive later, we unceremoniously arrived in Circle, Alaska. Established in 1893 when gold was discovered in the nearby Birch Creek, miners from the Forty Mile River in Canada were grub-staked by none other than my own relative Jack McHuston, who later built a two-story log store and warehouse in this very town. I'm not gonna lie, it seriously gives me chills every time I cross paths with Jack, and this is no exception. You'll have to watch our 2018 adventures in the Yukon to see where I first stumbled upon this family member who historians call the Father of the Yukon. It's already cool enough to chase gold history, but to know McHuston played a huge role in its success? It's just simply incredible. Circle also served as an important supply point for riverboats making their way to other gold towns along the mighty Yukon, and at one point had a bustling population of 1,200 people before the strikes in the Klondike and Nome cleared out most of the inhabitants as they headed off for fresh opportunities. Today, only about 60 people live in this remote town, and it has to be expected for such a small community that hours for the fuel station and general store are somewhat sparse, even though the proprietors live upstairs. As we pulled in the top off, we found that our next window of service wasn't until 10 a.m. the next morning, and so after some careful calculations, we estimated if we drove conservatively, we could make our way back to central Alaska, where, rumors had it, there was at least one last chance at a fuel pump. Bring it on over. Squeeze it. All the way. Squeeze hard. There you go, now let it go. Now let it go. Make sure it doesn't fall out. Stay right there. Hang it up. There you go. Good job. I almost ripped over that. All right, well, that was about as close as we've gotten to run out of fuel so far. Unfortunately, the little fuel station up there in the circle was closed, but these guys here, they were gonna be around for a while. The grocery store slash bar slash laundromat slash fuel station, that was a place to hang out apparently. There was 20 or 30 folks in there. Very Alaska experience. I'd love to just sat down and listen to the stories that were being told there. We're gonna go find camp now. A long day. I didn't intend it to be a long day, but as per usual, that's what happened. Thankfully, in Alaska, we get all kinds of daylight. Yeah, so, all right, we're gonna go take a swing at this little idea that we got and see what happens. Since our travels have yet again run a bit long, we opted to hit what I hope to be an alternate route along this section of the Sties Highway. The map was pretty clear that this was a open route, so we hoped to make short work of it and camp at the other end where we could skip on over to the trail we bailed on earlier in the day. So, we've taken this little back road just trying to find camp and there's a lot of mining activity out here. So many mining claims and we're kind of just driving through them now. This is still a legal road, but it just goes right through the spots. Little did we know that things would get a bit hairier than we had hoped for and our travel slowed to a crawl as we picked our way through a very old, mostly abandoned trail. Now, I do try to film everything I can, but we've been on the road for 13 hours and it was simply time to push through and find camp. So, you just have to take my word that this was one touch and go trail. After another couple hours, the trail disappeared and we found ourselves following a set of four-wheeler tracks along the creek bed in the hopes of picking it back up. Well, this trail has just gotten worse and worse and worse and now it's... I don't even know where it is. I'm thinking we're probably gonna pull a plug on this one. Just gently working our way down this creek bed because that's where the road is. Being real gentle on everything. Try not to get hung on anything and I just want to turn around. I just don't see anything hopeful ahead. We found the invisible trail all thanks to our handy dandy drone. You would think that it's just a tool for getting epic scenery and in fact, it's actually a scouting tool and I'm just scanning ahead like, does this trail get any better? Does it get any better? I zoom out and I'm like, wait a minute. There's a trail about 50 yards over there. Again, the ATV tracks were just misleading. So, now we're above the creek and I'm working our way down something that is definitely much more substantial. Fingers crossed this loop continues. It doesn't turn into a long 10 p.m. Not as deep as we thought. All right, well, we found camp. At 10 we should add. At 11. This is a classic example of what I don't like to do. It's one of those trails that you think just a little bit further, just a little bit further around the bend. It's getting a little... Nope. It's getting worse. It's getting worse. Getting tighter. So, we finally found this nice high spot along the river here and it's getting dark enough that I don't want to make a stupid mistake. I don't want to high center us in one of these river crossings. So, I'm just gonna play it safe. Get some sleep. Throw some fresh eyes on it in the morning. Probably send the drone up first thing. Scout ahead. We know we can go that way. I don't know if we can go that way. So, this is... This is not my favorite position to be in right now. Between a rock and a hard trail. So, we're gonna make the best of it though. Like I said, get some sleep. Reboot. Refresh. Fresh eyes in the morning. We have no rain in the forecast. So, I'm not worried about the river levels. Go from there. Stay tuned. I am bummed though. I drove through some really cool stuff without filming it. Just because I wanted to get my family in a safe spot for the night. So, I might have to revisit this one once we confirm it's actually passable. But, if we have to go the other way, you'll get to see it anyhow.