September 4

September 1

This morning we debated whether to go directly to Edmonton and have a few days out of the camper exploring the city, or detour via Lesser Slave Lake and get to Edmonton tomorrow. We opted to do the latter and since it was a pretty nice day, we detoured up to Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park. Stopped for a picnic lunch in the park - sat by the lake for a little enjoying the sun, then decided to spend the night at the Martin River Campground. A beautiful spot, and not too many people there, so easily found a spot away from everyone else. Lots of bugs though, so we had to find a spot near the water where it was breezy. We'd arrived early enough to go for a long walk on the narrow sandy beach. When we got back to our site, we hauled out the lawn chairs and parked them on the beach and got a little reading in- that was a first! At dinner time we built a great fire (tons of free firewood) and bbq`d prawns and baby potatoes. Entertainment provided by a couple of squirrels chasing each other through our campsite. Obviously used to people (and being fed!). Had power, surprisingly as it was a provincial campground. All in all a good day and it was really nice to see some sun and get in a good walk.

Sept. 2
Up at a decent hour and off to Edmonton, we arrived at the Reddington's house early afternoon. After unpacking some stuff we went for a short walk as their house is right by MacKinnon Park. It`s one of many parks along the North Saskatchwan River that are all connected making it the longest urban public park area of any city in North America. The main trails are wide and paved making it great for bicycling, roller-blading or walking. We walked to the nearest grocery store, about 8 blocks away to grab some groceries & wine, and discovered that they have WiFi at the in-store coffee shop. Very clever marketing!
The next morning we drove over to Safeway& got caught up on emails. Ran a few errands (CAA for maps for Kit's trip, Future Shop to look for roadtrip tunage etc) before ending up at the West Edmonton Mall – we were in Edmonton, what were we to do………? While we explored the mall & watched the sea lions it rained ( like we haven’t seen enough of that) but started clearing late afternoon. We went back to the house, washed the RV a little and enjoyed having a little more space. Had bought a really nice steak for dinner, so got to enjoy some famous Alberta beef. Should have bought another one to take home with us.
Thursday morning brought the sun and so we walked downtown, which took us a little over an hour and explored the centre core of the city. It`s a really nice city and we could certainly see why people love it. By 3 our feet were getting tired and it was time to hike back to the house, and get things organized for leaving first thing in the morning. As fantastic as the drive was, it was really great getting a few days off from sitting in the RV. Jo is flying back to Victoria early tomorrow and has to be at the airport by 7:30 a.m. The airport is in LeDuc which is about a half hour south of the city, so off to bed as we have to be up at 6.

AUG 31

August 31
The campground at Charlie Lake was really nice, large treed lots and very quiet (since it was late and rainy when we arrived). We drove into Ft. St. John for a quick look and for some fuel. Seems the town`s one and only claim to fame is that it is the southern end of the Alaska Highway, and they milk that fully, with a Mile 0 cairn, and an Alaska Highway Hotel etc. From there we backtracked a little & we headed off in the direction of Dawson Creek, detouring on a very scenic road that took us along the Peace River and gave us amazing vistas of fields with freshly mown and baled hay and the river in the background. We passed through the tiny, pretty town of Hudson`s Hope and on to Chetwynd. Every town here has its claim to fame, and Chetwynd has chainsaw statures, scattered all over town. We camped in Dawson Creek for the night, after a brief glimpse of a moose on the roadside.

Sunday a.m. we hit the road and had a pretty uneventful drive. We’ve left the mountains and are in Alberta, on the way to Edmonton, and things have flattened out. For the most part it was sunny with lots of clouds floating about and we did have a brief shower. We did manage to find the world’s largest beaver in Beaver Lodge, Alberta. We made camp early at a nice little RV park in Valleyview.

Thursday August 29, 208

We left Whitehorse early Wednesday afternoon after hiking at Miles Canyon, just as some dark clouds started moving in. We might have stayed around longer to explore the area, but decided to try to stay ahead of the rain. Still mostly overcast but with enough breaks on the cloud to enjoy the vistas.
A lovely stretch of road for about 30 km along Marsh Lake followed an hour later by a 53k drive next to Teslin Lake. Although we spent the afternoon in the RV, there was very little traffic so we were able to cruise along at a relatively slow speed and enjoy the scenery and it is spectacular. Snow capped mountains, jade coloured lakes and streams filled with rapids and eddies. Every 50 miles or so, a little place like Johnson’s Crossing, Swift River or Rancheria, each with a gas station/restaurant, and all advertising the “World’s Best Cinnamon Buns”. Stopped for a short hike & look at the Rancheria Falls - still under a little halo of blue sky as we cross the continental divide. By evening we reached Watson Lake and our last town in the Yukon. We found a typical RV park/gravel parking lot right downtown and within walking distance of a grocery store, post office and the famous sign post forest. As it happened to be dry and still daylight at the moment, we wandered over to check out the sign post forest-Watson Lake’s main (only?) tourist attraction. It’s a large area with over 70,000 signs of every description. Started with 1 sign from an American soldier during construction of the Alcan Hwy in 1942. It seems to be a favourite of the German tourists as there are a large number of road and town signs from every corner of Germany, but also thousands from the USA and from places as far away as New Zealand. There are road signs, city and town signs, licence plates and name plates off RV’s along with every other conceivable sign. Obviously people knowing they were coming here have brought a sign with them to nail to an empty spot on the posts. Sadly we didn’t find any from Victoria or from Guelph…. that is not to say that there aren’t any but we didn’t see them. A goal to strive for: obtain signs, by whatever means necessary, from both these places, get them to Watson Lake and mount them in the forest.

We were fairly late getting away Thursday morning, after discovering that the motorhome had two grey water tanks, not just one, buying some groceries and some local Yukon beer at the liquor store (cranberry-wheat beer!) and off to the Liard River hot springs – we can use some heat! On the way there we stopped for lunch at a little road side café that boasted great buffalo burgers so we thought we should try them out to see if it was true – it wasn’t. Not only were they not buffalo, they tasted like the greasy grocery store pre-packaged type. Onward to sit in the hot springs. The hot springs consist of 2 natural hot spring pools in a natural forest setting, complete with change houses. It’s the second largest hot spring in Canada. The water temperature was somewhere between 110F and 126F. We started off in the cooler section and it was fantastic. Jo worked her way up to the hot section while I stayed in about the 115 - 120 F range. We were not able to try out pool 2 because of bear activity in the area. It was a really nice break and while there we had one of our sunny windows and that made it even better. From Liard we moved on to Muncho Lake and made camp in a provincial park, at MacDonald camp site. It’s a beautiful 11k lake that’s famous for being one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. When the sun is on it, it is the most spectacular shade of jade and is surrounded by dark hills and snow capped mountains. We had site right on the lake with no neighbours and a view to die for. On Friday, the rain that had started overnight didn’t let up all day. It only went from drizzle to downright pissing down rain. We did have to stop a few times for small herds of caribou that were meandering on the highway, getting their salt fix for the day. The forecast for tomorrow in not much better for this whole area so we carried on the just north of Fort St. John and camped for the night at Charlie Lake, again in a provincial camp ground.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

We headed south despite the road closure warnings. We had checked the road reports first thing in the morning and were told that the road was still closed. Then, after cleaning up the breakfast dishes we checked one more time. The highway had been opened BUT could close again at any time. We decided to risk it and down the road we went. We got about 2 hours down the road, half way to Carmacks & we ran into a road closure warning. As the road wasn’t actually barricaded, Jo spoke to one of the Yukon highway workers, who suggested that if it were him he would go for it, so we carried on. Just north of Carmacks we passed a huge construction earthmover moving very slowly down the road. At Carmacks we hit the barricade; the road had closed about 25 minutes before we got there. The road had washed out, and a roadcrew was installing new culverts. We prepared to be parked there for a number of hours (days?). We thought about going about ½ mile back to Carmacks, but there really wasn’t anything there to do, other than nap or watch DVD’s in the rain, and so we opted to stay put at the barricade. About 10 minutes later the flag man came over and told us that this was going to be our lucky day, opened the gate and let us go through-ahead of the earthmover (and the famous red German sleeping bus). About 10 miles down the road we saw the problem. Lots of water damage to the road from the flooding from the day before, all kinds of mud and the road half torn up at one spot. They were in the process of installing more culverts to handle the extra water - and they’ve been getting lots of that this summer. We made it to Whitehorse, ended up with a great campsite, in the woods and no neighbours, kind of what we had imagined we would be finding everywhere in the North ( we should have been buying lottery tickets…). In the evening we wandered around Whitehorse (saw the log cabin skyscraper!) ate the best fish & chips we’ve ever had and went to the infamous “Frantic Follies Gold Rush Review”. A great vaudeville style show, like the show in Dawson City (but actually well done), Can Can girls, singing, Robert Service poetry and very bad jokes but a good time. It’s been running 39 years, so they must be doing something right, though they do bring in busloads of tourists from the cruise ships at Skagway. This morning when we got up there were actually a few little blue bits in the sky and we took advantage of it and went to Miles Canyon. It’s a beautiful canyon about 6k from Whitehorse that has walking and xcountry skiing trails all the way into Whitehorse. A very narrow gorge with high cliffs on both sides of the Yukon River, with a pretty fast current going through. We had a nice hike there and then back on the road.

More tomorrow.

August 26,2008

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Yesterday we left Delta Junction, Alaska and headed for Dawson City, Yukon. Having been told by a few people that the “Top of the World” Highway was in terrible shape, lots of gravel & for the most part a mess, we had much discussion before deciding to give it a go. We figured that we may never be this close to Dawson again so let’s just do it. We’d also heard that it was a beautiful drive and the weather was not too bad, overcast with the very odd bit of sun but at least it wasn’t raining, so there was hope of seeing some scenery. At Tetlin Junction, just south of Tok, we headed east toward Chicken, Alaska. The road to Chicken was quite good for the most part. The town/village (hamlet ?) of Chicken was interesting. It consists of an RV park, a couple of stores, half a dozen houses and a bunch of rusting mining equipment. There is no electric power in the village, no plumbing or conveniences that we take for granted every day. Not some place that I would want to live, thank you very much. We hit gravel road just before Chicken and it was gravel until the Canadian border, with lots more stretches of gravel on the so-called “paved” sections. That said, the drive was spectacular. The section from Tetlin to about the Canadian border is spent slowly climbing and then the road snakes along the top of ridges and you get the most amazing views on both sides. The terrain is high, rolling hills covered in the most amazing colours of vegetation. There are stunted spruce trees, and spindly birches, but at the top of the ridges they’re scarce because of the altitude, and the shrubs, because it’s fall, have changed colour and it’s an unbelievable display of dark reds and yellows interspersed with very dark green (almost black) spruce and fir trees. The underlying rocks and lichens are various shades of greys, greens and browns, and you can see for miles and miles across this tapestry of colours. The drive was very much worth the extra miles. The Canadian customs post is perched on a windswept hill with no sign of neighbours except the local herd of caribou (some of which calmly crossed the road in front of us). The customs officers work one week on, one off, from May to October, with only their US counterpart to talk to, though we did notice a big satellite dish at the post. We crossed the muddy brown Yukon River on the little ferry & arrived in Dawson City at about 7:30 p.m. After checking into an RV park just outside the city we went back into town to check out “Diamond Tooth Gertie’s” - an old style saloon/casino with some games tables, slot machines and on-stage entertainment. We caught the 8:30 show, lively if amateur, with a chorus line of dancing girls doing the Can Can, then wandered the streets of the town. The streets are not paved and still have old style wooden sidewalks. Many of the shops, hotels etc. are in the old western style and very nicely done – painted multi-colour to show off the trim on the windows and verandas. Unfortunately, most of the businesses were closed for the day, other than the numerous bars and saloons. We briefly considered trying a Sourtoe Cocktail, but agreed that we could live without that experience. There are paddle wheeler boats tied up along the levee of the famous Yukon River. Signs everywhere suggest you try your hand at panning for gold. We got home too late to make dinner so settled for a glass of wine and some cheese and crackers before bed. Off to Whitehorse today we hope, though there’s word that the road south of Carmacks is closing because of flooding that’s caused a washout. So, do we backtrack to Tok? Great drive though it was, it’s a long rough road to repeat. The decision is made: head south!

August 24, 2008

Here we are in Delta Junction, Alaska. Since our last post we have spent a day and a half in
Denali National Park - WOW - what a place! We found a great RV park on Thursday evening
about 7 miles from the park entrance and spent a couple of nights there. On Friday a.m. we
boarded a bus for an 11 hour ride to the end of the only park road, at Wonder Lake. Wonder Lake is about 90 miles in from the visitors centre. Now 11 hours sounds like a long time but when you stop very regularly for wild life plus a rest stop every hour and a half, it wasn't that bad. It certainly didn't seem like 11 hours. We saw grizzlies - 17 of them - moose, Dall sheep, cariboo, a red fox and ground squirrels. Besides all the wild life, the scenery was spectacular. The only thing we were disappointed over was not seeing Denali (Mt McKinley -Alaskans do not call it McKinley, after some guy from Ohio who was never in Alaska, and refer to the mountain as Denali which means the Great One in Athabascan). It was an overcast, drizzly day, but the clouds broke occasionally, and the early fall colours on the hills were spectacular.
The next morning we awoke to glorious sunshine - something that has been rare this summer
in Alaska. We hemmed and hawed over whether to head up the road to Fairbanks or go
back to Denali and hope that the mountain was showing itself. We opted to go back and take our chances. Private vehicles are only allowed in for the first 15 miles, after that you need a special permit or to be camping (for a minimum of 3 nights). At about mile 5 we saw a grizzly bear right along the side of the road enjoying a snack of some sort. Unbelievable to be 10 feet from
a very large grizzly that was pretty much oblivious to our presence. We, on the other hand, were very happy to have the car between him and us. We watched him for a while and then moved on and at about mile 9 there was Denali in all her splendour. What a spectacular sight! At this point we were so glad that we had taken the time to backtrack a little. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful day & drive the whole 15 miles & and do a short hike at the end of it. While on our hike we spotted some Dall sheep, more ground squirrels, ptarmigans and a marmot. A great time was had in Denali but it was time to move on, and so off to Fairbanks- the only sunny place in Alaska this week. We found a good RV park right in the city and Jo frantically perused the guide books to find things to see and do here. It's not the most exciting place in the world but thank goodness the Sandhill Crane Festival was on. We went off to see the cranes, as well as hundreds (thousands?) of Canada Geese on a stop here while migrating south for the winter. Apparently the cranes pause here every August en route to Saskatchewan & ultimately Texas. Then we cruised through the Fairbanks downtown area - a very brief stop, as it was pretty much closed for Sunday, but didn't look like it would be much livelier on a weekday - and off to North Pole, Alaska. We had planned to spend the night here but it was just a little too much. The light standards are candy cane colours, the street names are things like Santa Clause Lane, Kris Kringle Lane - well, you get the idea.
A must see - so we were told - was Santa Claus House where one can buy anything and everything for xmas decorating. All this xmas spirit and xmas music was just too much for us and we had to move on, and move on we did to Delta Junction - the starting point for the Alaska highway. Tomorrow onto Tok, Chicken and Dawson City, Yukon.
More in a couple of days.
j&k

Aug 22, 2008

We woke up to a lovely morning in Seward. It's on a narrow bay, surrounded by snowy peaks. Like Homer, it overlooks the area of the Harding Icefield, so multiple glaciers in view, appearing to slide down the mountains towards the sea. Toured town (that took about 5 minutes) and then went back up the road a few miles to Exit Glacier. We hiked up a mile or so to see it up close and personal but were unable to touch it, due to instability in the area. It was still spectacular to see it so close up, blue, like all the others we've seen, looking oddly like it's made of blue styrofoam. You can hear the road of the melting water flowing underneath the tons of ice. Plus the hike was good, as we're not getting as much hiking in as we had hoped so far. Amazing to see how far the glacier has receded over the past 50 years.
After our hike we headed back to Anchorage and spent the night there at the same campground that A&B used, noisy but do-able. We left first thing this morning for Denali. Drove up the Parks Highway, which is supposed to be scenic, but the clouds have moved in, so the mountains are hiding, and the 5 hour drive up wasn't all that exciting. We have a bus ride into Denali booked for tomorrow, hopefully the skies will clear a little so we can see something. But we did finally see our first Alaskan moose (2 of them, in fact, albeit at a distance) on our way to tonight's campground. With luck we'll see some wildlife closer up tomorrow.
As mentioned, our sunny skies left us somewhere near Anchorage and we we're back to rain today. I'm having high hopes for tomorrow.
The camper is working out really well. Lots of room and easy enough to drive and maneuver.
One of we has been sleeping quite well in it - that would be the one taking it back to Ontario.
More in a couple of days.