Some of the folks following our Troopy site and on Facebook or Twitter have asked just exactly where we’re located in Alaska. We can say, “At the end of the Alaska Highway,” but that doesn’t always work. We can say, “100 miles south of Fairbanks,” but unless you know where Fairbanks is it doesn’t do much good. Well, here’s a couple of maps that might help. Delta is the “A” on the map. The main highway systems in Alaska form a big triangle, with Fairbanks at the top north and Anchorage at the south left corner. There are two ways to get to Fairbanks from Anchorage: The Parks Highway that goes north from Anchorage and goes past Denali National Park (about 340 mile or so to Fairbanks), and the Glenn and Richardson Highways, which go east from Anchorage then turn north (a little longer distance). Very wild and beautiful country on both highways as they wind through the Talkeetna Mountains, Chugach Range and the Alaska Range. Both highways are only two lane (except in a couple of sections) and have little or no shoulders in many areas, so it’s easy to get in trouble if you pull off the road (especially in Winter!) Out where Troopy lives the Richardson passes near the shop and the Alaska Highway stretches out east toward the Canadian border and the “40-mile Country.” To the direct north is the Yukon-Charley Rivers area and to the west and south are the large peaks of the Alaska Range. Directly south of us is the Granite Range. Highly active geologically, our area and mountains are constantly on the move and you can actually see the geology working through the many glaciers carving the mountainsides, numerous land slides, the many braided river systems and many earthquakes in the interior and southeast of Alaska. To the far north of us is the Dalton Highway (the “Haul Road” or “Ice Road,” of “Ice Road Truckers” fame) and on up to the Brooks Range and out onto the flat tundra of the North Slope, terminating in Deadhorse and Prudoe Bay (oil terminal). The huge Alaska Pipeline runs right through Delta just down the street from us - on down to the town of Valdez, over 325 miles south of us.
There’s our geography lesson for today boys and girls. If you ever have a chance to get up to Alaska you should go without hesitation. It is a good thing to know that in our world of crowds, pollution, huge cities and vast developed lands that there is still a place, larger than most countries, that civilization has not held sway and still looks the way it did 10,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. While you can - get up here!
‘Til Next Time...