Days 25 & 26 of Lupe’s 2017 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon & Alaska!
8-24-17, 3:46 PM, 58°F – About 10 miles from where the Steese Highway left its junction with the Elliot Highway NE of Fairbanks, Lupe and SPHP reached Cleary Summit. A large pullout at the start of a long gravel side road just E of the highway provided a convenient spot to stash the G6. From here, the side road continued E toward what must be a residential area judging from a long line of mailboxes nearby.
Lupe hopped out, still looking woozy. She hadn’t been feeling well. Up until now, she’d spent the day resting in the G6 while SPHP ran errands in Fairbanks without accomplishing much of anything except washing a ton of Dalton Highway mud off the now sparkling G6. A short while ago, the Carolina Dog had urped up on her blankets – nothing major, and she did seem to feel somewhat better after that.
Maybe fresh air and a little light peakbagging would help speed Looper’s recovery from whatever was ailing her? Lupe and SPHP crossed over the Steese Highway and headed W on Pedro Dome Road.
Pedro Dome Road was a wide gravel road. At first there were mailboxes, driveways, and other signs of habitation in the area. Lupe was quickly beyond most of that, but vehicles still occasionally drove by. Both sides of the road were lined with thick jungley stands of tall alder bushes.
The sickly Dingo’s peakbagging destination was an easy one. Pedro Dome (2,592 ft.) was only 3 miles from the Steese Highway. Pedro Dome Road or some offshoot should take her right on up to the summit. Total elevation gain required was less than 400 feet. SPHP could probably have simply driven the G6 right on up to the top of the mountain, but where’s the fun in that? Besides, Loop needed to spend some time out of the G6, anyway.
On the way here, Looper had stopped at a rest area along the Steese Highway. There SPHP had learned that Pedro Dome was named after Felix Pedro, an Italian immigrant who sparked a local gold rush in 1902 when he discovered gold in the Tanana River valley. During his prospecting days, Felix Pedro had actually climbed Pedro Dome. Lupe wasn’t expecting to find any gold, but was looking forward to seeing whatever Felix had seen from up on Pedro Dome over a century ago.
She might not see much of anything. Nearly a mile from Steese Highway, Looper reached an intersection where Pedro Dome was in view ahead. A thick spruce and alder forest covered the whole mountain. Several large towers stood up on a large, flat summit.
Now that the mountain was in view, Pedro Dome Road made a big curve to the NW. The road followed a ridgeline before turning SW again. Lupe came to a couple more intersections, but it was always easy to see which way to go. Along the way, she had occasional views of big forested ridges and distant low peaks. On the final approach, the road headed S along Pedro Dome’s upper E slope. A subsequent curve to the W brought Lupe to the summit.
The summit area was round and a good 10 to 15 acres in size. Only a fraction of the entire area could be seen from any one spot, since most of the summit was covered with the forest Looper had seen from afar. The highest part of the mountain was toward the NW, but the terrain was so flat no particular point stood out as being the true summit.
Four large towers and a number of smaller ones dominated the top of Pedro Dome. A maze of gravel or grassy roads radiated out from a large patch of bare ground where Lupe had come up providing access to these towers. Loop and SPHP visited each of the four largest towers, a couple of which were fenced off and bore “No Trespassing” signs.
Due to all the vegetation, there were few places to get much of a view from Pedro Mountain. A couple of minor side roads leading into the dense alder bush jungle went all the way to the S and W edges of the summit to provide what views there were.
Due in part to the haziness of the atmosphere, the views from Pedro Dome were pretty, but no more than that. All the towers and man made stuff didn’t do a thing for SPHP either. Lupe had the best time on Pedro Dome. She loved the shady grassy roads away from the towers, and had a grand time sniffing and exploring her way through the alder jungles where SPHP couldn’t go.
Apparently coming to Pedro Dome had done the American Dingo some good. Lupe was noticeably happier, more lively, and active up on the summit. She continued to enjoy exploring the alders now and then on the pleasant trek back to the G6. (6:16 PM, 61°F) Though the trip to Pedro Dome was the only active thing Loop and SPHP did all day, that probably wasn’t a bad thing. A day of rest was overdue.
8-25-17 – After spending the night in Fairbanks, Lupe and SPHP left town heading SE on Highway No. 2. At Delta Junction SPHP took Richardson Highway No. 4 going S. In 2016, Lupe had been on this road going the opposite direction. It had been a rainy, misty day. Loop had barely seen the rugged mountains of the Alaska Range that the road passed through. Much of what she did see looked daunting and inaccessible.
However, once the Richardson Highway was over the Alaska Range, the highway had dropped down to much lower, flatter territory on the way to Delta Junction. Here, Lupe had seen a high solitary hill. The hill was close to the highway, and looked like such an attractive peakbagging objective SPHP had stopped briefly to consider making an ascent right then and there. In the end, even though the rain had stopped, the weather still looked too iffy. Lupe and SPHP had driven on.
Since then, SPHP had learned the name of that solitary hill was Donnelly Dome. Today, more than a year since she’d first seen it, Lupe was on her way back to find and climb it. Donnelly Dome is situated 18 miles S of Delta Junction on the W side of Richardson Highway No. 4. SPHP didn’t have to drive far out of Delta Junction before Lupe once again spotted Donnelly Dome (3,910 ft.) up ahead.
Looking for a place offering both possible access to the mountain and a good place to stash the G6, SPHP found a gravel side road on the W side of the highway about 50 feet S of milepost 247. A flat area large enough to accommodate 2 or 3 vehicles was close to the start of this road. SPHP parked the G6 and Loopster hopped out. (12:09 PM)
The day was brightly sunny and pleasantly breezy as Loop started for Donnelly Dome. Bushes waist high on SPHP crowded both sides of the road, so Lupe did the obvious, easy thing and simply followed the road. SPHP could have driven the G6 somewhat closer to the mountain, but it wasn’t long before the road deteriorated to a point where high clearance would have been required.
The road was soon winding around on a series of little hilltops. Spirits were high as Lupe and SPHP drew nearer to the mountain. This was looking like a great day to climb Donnelly Dome. Lupe had seen some huge white peaks of the Alaska Range to the SW from the Richardson Highway on the way here. The views of those mighty peaks from up on Donnelly Dome ought to be stunning. The prospect was exciting!
At one point, the road overlooked a small pond where Lupe saw 4 ducks. Beyond this pond, the road started fading away. It eventually turned S away from Donnelly Dome, but Loopster found a good single track trail in this area that headed W through the bushes toward the mountain. Lupe couldn’t see much of anything due to the bushes, but she was going the right way.
The single track trail became a maze of interconnecting alternate paths as it wound through the bushes, but Lupe eventually arrived on higher open ground free of bushes at the base of the mountain. A cairn sat up on this bare ground. Lupe was at the far SE end of Donnelly Dome.
Donnelly Dome must be a popular destination. A heavily worn trail left the open ground near the cairn, plunging right back into the bushes. This trail began climbing so aggressively up the steep side of Donnelly Dome that SPHP was often clinging to bushes for support. A bunch of loose rock on the trail didn’t help matters any.
After gaining a fair amount of elevation, the trail became somewhat less steep as it went NNW along Donnelly Dome’s E slope. Lupe was making good progress. She was above most of the bushes, which thinned out a great deal up here. Views to the E were already impressive. By now, however, what had been merely a pleasant breeze down below was an annoyingly strong S wind.
Lupe climbed and climbed. The trail was braided. She often had her choice of routes. They all headed the same general direction, NNW along the E slope of the mountain. SPHP kept hoping the mountain would provide some protection from the wind if Loop went far enough N, but the wind only got stronger the higher she went.
After a while, it kept looking like Lupe was about to reach Donnelly Dome’s summit ridge. Each time she reached a high point, it all proved to be an illusion. Hardly any bushes remained by the time the Carolina Dog found herself on the most barren, windswept, steepest slope yet.
It seemed like Lupe had made it quite a long way N along the E slope of the mountain. She had gained what looked like an incredible amount of elevation, yet there was only supposed to be 1,660 feet of elevation gain from the highway to the top of Donnelly Dome.
SPHP resolved to leave the trail. Looper would climb straight on up this steep slope. The top didn’t look that much farther. The summit had to be close by now, didn’t it? Grabbing whatever was handy, which wasn’t much of consequence, SPHP started up. With her 4 on the floor, Looper powered her way up the slope with ease.
Top of the mountain? Hah! When Lupe reached the upper end of the slope, she wasn’t at the top of anything. This was just the E lip of a more gentle slope going up. Another trail here led still higher, continuing NNW. At least this was far easier terrain than that super steep slope. Lupe ought to be able to make a lot faster progress. The way the wind was roaring up here, it might blow her clear to the top of the mountain, or off it completely.
Lupe wasn’t as far N along the mountain as SPHP had thought. She was still coming up from the SSE. She didn’t have to go far on this upper trail, though, before it was clear the Carolina Dog actually had made it to the broad, sparsely vegetated summit ridge. The upper trail faded. The top of Donnelly Dome (3,910 ft.) was directly ahead 200 yards away.
Although it was now certain Lupe was going to reach the top of Donnelly Dome, there was bad news, too. During the American Dingo’s ascent, the mountain had blocked her view of the huge white peaks of the Alaska Range off to the SW. Upon attaining the summit ridge, she immediately had a panoramic view in that direction.
The monstrous white peaks Looper had seen before she began her climb in earnest were gone! The fierce S wind had blown in a giant cloud bank that somehow clung stubbornly to the Alaska Range. Despite the wind, those clouds didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Only a tiny fraction of the formerly glorious views remained, glimpses of parts of individual peaks that didn’t convey the same overall impression at all.
So disappointing! And aggravating to think that if Loop had only arrived a couple of hours earlier, she would have seen the entire grand display. Well, it was what it was. Lupe could still see a lot from up here. The clouds weren’t everywhere, just unfortunately concentrated where the best views should have been. In any case, Lupe didn’t waste any time getting to the summit. The wind was going to make staying up here for very long far less enjoyable than it should have been.
The summit area was a nearly flat 0.5 acre strewn with mostly smallish rocks. A variety of cairns were present. Two were considerably larger than the rest. They were positioned near the SW and NE edges of the summit. The SW cairn was at Donnelly Dome’s true summit. Everything else was clearly a little lower.
A steady 30-35 mph wind scoured the mountaintop. Not a hurricane, by any means, but Lupe didn’t care for it one bit. The big SW cairn was built up like a wall. The Carolina Dog eagerly took refuge behind it whenever she didn’t have photo duties to fulfill.
Right away, SPHP noticed two flat rocks with writing on them propped up against the rock wall cairn. A large group of military personnel, no doubt from Eielson AFB, had been here on 7-23-17, only a month and a day ago. The “Peacocks” and “Night Train”, presumably two separate units, had recorded their names on these stone tablets. Names were scrawled on many smaller rocks, too.
SPHP was unable to find any registry other than these rocks, so after poking around the true summit at the largest cairn, Loop next paid a visit to the NE cairn. It was a poorly organized pile of rocks, but Lupe had a fabulous view to the E from here. She saw Panoramic Peak (5,150 ft.) and other peaks in the Granite Mountains area.
Having been to both of the big cairns, some relief from the gale was in order. Loop retreated far enough down the N slope of the mountain to feel fairly well sheltered. Here, Lupe and SPHP took a pleasant break. Lupe could see the N spine of Donnelly Dome. The Delta River and Alaska oil pipeline headed N across many miles of level terrain toward small mountains in the distance.
After the break, it was time for a few more photos. Loopster thought it best to continue hiding out from the wind as best she could behind the big rock wall cairn. SPHP wandered around looking at this and that.
The temperature had to be in the mid 50’s °F, which ordinarily would have been quite comfortable. However, it felt chilly in the wind. SPHP made only a half-hearted effort to search for the Pillsbury survey benchmark shown on the topo map, and didn’t find it. Oh, well. Hardly mattered. 35 minutes after reaching the summit of Donnelly Dome, Lupe was ready to begin her descent.
Lupe retraced her route up on the way down. SPHP was plenty slow as usual on the steep slopes. Some sort of military plane practicing takeoffs from a dusty landing strip 4 miles off to the NNE provided the only real excitement. The plane buzzed Donnelly Dome several times, which set the American Dingo off into ferocious barking fits.
Many hours of daylight remained when Lupe made it back to the G6. (4:33 PM) With Loop’s breezy Donnelly Dome adventure successfully concluded, the plan was to continue S on Richardson Highway No. 4 up into the Alaska Range to see some of the sights she had missed due to poor weather in 2016. Clouds still hampered the views in most places, but Lupe did see a big glacier E of the highway.
By the time Lupe reached Summit Lake, patches of blue sky existed among the cloud cover.
3 or 4 miles S of Summit Lake, just S of Paxson, SPHP turned W on Denali Highway No. 8. The first 14 miles of this 136 mile long road connecting Paxson and Cantwell are paved. Lupe had only seen the W 10 or 12 miles of Denali Highway No. 8 back in 2016. This time, she was going to travel the entire route. The evening drive was beautiful. Loop and SPHP stopped now and then for photos along the way.
As Lupe got farther W, Denali Highway No. 8 turned to dirt and gravel. The highway was fairly rough in places with potholes and such, so SPHP had to drive quite slowly. That was fine! The scenery was spectacular. This area felt strangely as remote as the Dalton Highway had been.
To the N, Lupe saw snow-capped peaks of the Amphitheater Mountains. Sometimes glaciers were in view right from the road. To the SW were a number of high rounded hills. They looked like easy climbs, but were a long way from the highway.
Denali Highway No. 8 eventually turned NNW and went down a long slope taking Lupe into the Maclaren River valley. Looper could see the toe of the Maclaren Glacier far upriver. Near the Maclaren River, the American Dingo had a close encounter with a grizzly bear!
One might think that an encounter with a grizzly bear would be the most memorable event of almost any day. The feisty American Dingo came out on top, but didn’t seem to think it was such a big deal. In fact, she appeared rather bored with the whole affair.
W of the Maclaren River, the light began to fade. Evening was drawing to a close. Lupe saw many pullouts along the highway, but for a long way they were all full of vehicles and people camping out. The Carolina Dog finally arrived at an unoccupied pullout 47 miles from Cantwell. The light was almost gone now. This would have to do.
By now Lupe was happy to get out of the G6. The incredibly dangerous predator Dingo, who had recently come out on top in her encounter with a grizzly bear, spent the rest of the evening prowling around in the bushes as dusk turned to night.
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