AKsilvereagle
North Pole, Alaska
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Joined: 04/17/2010
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Joe -
White River Crossing RV Park has been open all summer long and Pops is still hard at work keeping up with everything while entertaining guests in between, and still does the daily campfire gathering in the evenings and gathers the willing guests to show them the local bears along the trails in the mornings...
The old rooms and the kitchen are still being leased out to the drilling outfit staff while the generator costs around $8000 a month to run.
It was so nice to see Bob again as he was real surprised I showed up, chased me down on the ATV cart and put me to work lol.
I was talking with the drilling staff and mentioned the great times when this place was a roadhouse, they say to Bob how come you never told us this used to be a roadhouse ? .... His reply was "Oh, I actually owned and ran 12 roadhouses along this highway at the same time, those were real busy days back then".
This is the takeoff/landing strip that was mentioned behind the lodge July 2010 :
Inside a remodeled portion of the lodge :
White River Crossing RV Park in Aug 2008 :
The former White River Lodge in June 1994 :
1970 Ford F250 2WD Sport Custom (Owned April 1996)
390 V8 (17K Rebuilt Mi) C6 Trans (201K Original Mi)
2000 Fleetwood Angler 8ft Cabover
Air Lift 1000(Front)
Air Lift Loadlifter 5000(rear)
Hellwig Front and Rear Sway Bars
Goodyear G171 LT Series(siped)
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joe b.
Florida
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Joined: 08/24/2002
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Eagle, good to hear the White River Crossing is open again. Must have just been closed the one summer, 2009. Wish more of the old lodges could figure out how to stay open. But until someone, government or power company decided to run a power grid along the highway, I suspect it won't happen that they can get off generator electricity which is too expensive to use and make a profit.
Does Bob have his salmon bake and fuel sales going again?
joe b.
Stuart Florida
Formerly of Colorado and Alaska
Dodge/TCD - Rockwood 8281 SS 5th Whl & 2008 Lance 845 TC
www.pajbcooper.com web site
Alaska Trip 2011 - now posted.
Alaska-Colorado&others, photos
"Without challenge, adventure is impossible".
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explorenorth
Whitehorse, Yukon
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Joined: 02/21/2004
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joe b. wrote:Eagle, good to hear the White River Crossing is open again. Must have just been closed the one summer, 2009. Wish more of the old lodges could figure out how to stay open. But until someone, government or power company decided to run a power grid along the highway, I suspect it won't happen that they can get off generator electricity which is too expensive to use and make a profit.
White River was closed for a few summers in the late '90s. They're in the perfect position to put a run-of-the-river generator in the river there (close, with a strong, reliable flow), but the cost is high without year-round demand.
Murray
Whitehorse, Yukon
http://ExploreNorth.com/
and blogging at http://ExploreNorth.com/wordpress/
I live to travel, and travel to really live
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AKsilvereagle
North Pole, Alaska
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No salmon bake or fuel sales....
As Explorenorth has stated, White River Lodge first closed in 1998 as Bob originally planned to renovate the lodge while Dawson was celebrating the Centennial Gold Rush and he figured it would be a good time to do so since there would be less traffic projected along the Alaska Highway, then after taking a vacation he sees a newer generation of people not stopping by roadhouses anymore while lined up at fast food joints instead, and since he was getting older he decided not to reopen the lodge at that time, along with other reasons.
The lady at Jade City on the Cassiar told me she pays on average $10,000 a month to run her generator and earlier in the spring this year the government asked her if she would consider a power grid hook up, she was like oh yeah and the other 30 residences around me would love to have that, so that extension might be in the works.
Also, along the Klondike Hwy I seen a power grid extension in the works between Pelly and Stewart Crossings.
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sue.t
Ibex Valley, Yukon
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Joined: 08/05/2004
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White River Lodge ... wow, I used to flip burgers there back when our friends owned it ... Tom & Norma Bradley. We're talking the 1970s though!
It was open this year ... the RV Park and the cabins, too, I think.
Kluane Wilderness Village was closed but had some industrial stuff going on. I think the mining back in the Quill Creek area is busy.
Bear Flats vacant as usual.
Pine Valley Lodge was open, which surprised me. It was closed last year, and previous years too.
Koidern River Lodge was also open. Maybe the additional traffic on the Alaska Highway due to the Taylor Highway being closed prompted folks to open up again.
Another that was open this year but closed last year was Otter Falls lodge, just south of Haines Junction. As usual, cheapest fuel around.
sue t.
Pictures from our many RV Adventures to Yukon & Alaska
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AKsilvereagle
North Pole, Alaska
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Joined: 04/17/2010
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Sue :
This is very encouraging to hear that Koidern River Lodge is open again.....
I was planning on stopping there to visit ...as I seen the entire place boarded up like an expected hurricane storm coming in - every window and door frame was plywooded over with a log across the driveway which posted a closed sign - this was in mid July or as recent as a month and a half ago.
Bob at White River asked me if I stopped by Koidern River as I mentioned the place was boarded up and closed, and I was told the owner went for a scheduled hip replacement as they determined cancer was diagnosed with unknown specifics, I was saddened to hear this and I wish for the best....Koidern River Lodge was one of the longest surviving roadhouses along this stretch.
I was as surprised as you were to see Pine Valley open once again, the impression I got the way it looked was : seemed limited or rather just a few facilities were being utilized, however the main thing is it was open !!!
Otter Falls and Pine Valley made me say 'wow' when I seen those places alive.
Hope you all are enjoying your Alaska trip, thanks for the recent update.
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