We're in Alaska!

We made it!

Construction Scenes

Frost Heaves present a challenge
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Tom - Posting our sign at ...Sign Forest .............And another one from Anniston

Well, we finally made it to Alaska. We are in Tok, the first town you come to on the highway after crossing the border.

This trip is incredible – I wish everyone could have the experience!

We have spent the night in some really beautiful, picturesque spots – Liard Springs, on the shores of Teslin Lake – and some not so picturesque. Some of the parks have been little more than a gravel lot with electricity wired to posts at each parking place. But even at the most simple parks, there are the mountains, forests and lakes in the background to divert us.

We’ve seen animals and birds that we would never see at home – caribou, elk, wood bison, trumpeter swans, bears, beavers, arctic terns, stone sheep, Dall Sheep, mountain goats, Big Horn Sheep… And Sally finally got to see a moose live. (The picture is rotten, but the moose was real. There was even a baby that sprinted for the trees before we could get the camera out).

We have seen some of the most beautiful scenery there is and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly experiencing what the highway has to offer:
- We’ve enjoyed a natural hot springs less than 10 minutes walk from the highway (really hot – 40 degrees Celsius hot) at Liard Hotsprings Park.
-We went to a museum that featured a wooly mammoth fossil skeleton (among other prehistoric skeletons). We learned about the land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. The museum even has working “atlatls” which are devices that the early people used to increase the power behind their spear throws so that they could kill larger and faster animals in order to survive.
- We hiked to the ruins of Canyon City where the gold rushers coming up to the Yukon had to portage around the White Horse Rapids in the Yukon River.
- We have tasted the cinnamon buns that are a highlight of the Alaska Highway trip. I think Toad River has the best and Tom likes the ones at Johnson Crossing.
- We put up our sign in the signpost forest at Watson Lake. The “forest” is about an acre I would guess. It consists of 10 foot high poles covered with signs that Alaska travelers from all over the world have left behind.
- We have killed our first mosquitos - they really are the size of small birds. They sell mosquito traps and claim that you can make a mosquite-fur coat with only a few pelts ;-)

We had heard that the Alaska Highway was a very tough road to travel, but for the first two weeks we didn’t see what people were talking about. There are rougher roads in Maine or Louisiana or (insert state name here). BUT – now we know what they mean. The last two days, we have sometimes been reduced to 5 mph to get over the worst of the frost heaves. We traveled about 110 miles yesterday in a little over 4 hours. The math is pretty simple – even if you subtract about an hour for lunch and photo ops it's less than 30 MPH!

So now what? We plan to visit Chicken, Alaska, and take a side trip back into Canada to visit Dawson City - the gold rush town. then on to Faribanks and finally to our summer location near Denali National Park. Stay tuned for more adventures.

Daily Log:
-Sunday, 5/14 - Fort Nelson, BC
-Monday, 5/15 - Toad River, BC
-Tuesday, 5/16 - Liard Hotsprings, BC
-Wednesday, 5/17 - Watson Lake, Yukon
- Thursday, 5/18 - Teslin, Yukon
- Friday - Sunday, 5/19 - 5/21 - Whitehorse, Yukon
- Monday, 5/22 - Beaver Creek, Yukon
- Tuesday 5/23 and 5/24 - Tok, Alaska

A Week in Alberta

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Caribou in the Snow (5/10!)..........Mile 0 in Dawson Creek

We're on the Alaska Highway!

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View from our campground in Banff...............Tom in Banff Hotel
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Lake Louise..........................Parked on the glacier

Big Horn Sheep Babies
We have been in Canada since last Saturday morning - just a week. But it has been one filled with gorgeous scenery.
The border crossing was totally uneventful. We anticipated an inspection of our rigs, but they pretty much waved us through.
We stopped at Lethbridge at the visitor center and lunch and made our way to Smashed-in-Head Buffalo Jump. The ancient "first nations" people (that's Canadian for native american) would drive the buffalo herd toward the cliffs where they would fall to their deaths. This was before they had guns and was about the only way they could kill such large animals.

Sunday we drove through Calgary and on to Banff. We stopped breifly for a Costco shopping trip and lunch, but no sight-seeing. Calgary traffic was incredible for a Sunday afternoon. And Trans-Canada Highway 1 through town is more like highway 31 through Hoover or US highway 1 than an interstate like we expected.

Banff is one of Canada's most famous parks - it's in the Rocky Mountains. We stayed two nights in the park in a site with a remarkable view. The elk were right outside our door (we were asleep and missed them, but Glenn was up early and got pictures).

Tuesday we drove up the Icefields Parkway in Banff and Jasper National Parks. It was absolutely incredible. They claim it is the world's most beautiful highway and I believe it! We stopped at the Icefields Centre and took a tour of the Athabasca Glacier. They drive you out on the glacier in a 6 wheel drive bus and let you get out and walk around and take pictures. The area is groomed, of course, and there is no danger o falling into a crevasse but it was still a new experience.

Wednesday we made our way north to Grande Prairie, our last city in Alberta. Then on Thursday we drove up highway 40 to Dawson Creek. It had snowed the night before, but it did not stick on the roadway except for a little on the side of the road near the non-existent shooulder.

Dawson Creek is in British Columbia and is the beginning of the Alaska Highway. We spent Thursday and Friday sightseeing and taking a day of rest.

Today we actually start our Alaska Highway adventure. Only 1600 miles to go!

Pictures coming soon....

Log:
May 5 - Crossed into Canada. Stayed near Lethbridge
May 6 & 7 - Banff
May 8 - Icefields Parkway, stayed in Hinton, AB
May 9 - Stayed in Walmart in Grand Prairie
May 10 & 11 - Dawson Creek, BC

Wyoming and Montana

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Old Faithful ......................Bison everywhere - even in the road

Halfway to the North Pole!

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Strategy Session at Little Big Horn........The Last Stand Hill
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Devil's Thumb...........................................Another World

What beautiful country!
We left Denver the end of last week and stopped first in southern Wyoming at Little Big Horn.
It's quite a setting - you can actually see where the battle took place as well as a little museum that explains the background of the battle.

On Sunday we explored the Big Horn Canyon and then moved on to Yellowstone.

Monday afternoon after we arrived in Gardiner, MT, (the northern entrance to the park), we went to the visitor center and to the Mammoth Hot Springs area. What was supposed to be a quick trip to plan for our trip turned out to be more than 2 hours of exploration.

The hot springs in this area build gorgeous terraces of travertine - and some other-worldly scenery. We spotted a Western Meadowlark.

Tuesday we spent the whole day in Yellowstone. We started out looking for wildlife and saw plent. Elk in the Mammoth Hot Springs area, bison almost everywhere - and where there were no bison visible, you could tell they had been there :-) . We even got to see a wolf thanks to an expert wolf watcher at the side of the road who shared the view through her telescope. On the way we spotted a sandhill crane sitting on the nest and his mate feeding right around the corner.
Next we headed to Old Faithful and the other geysers. It's quite impressive. If you ever go, take binoculars so you can see the the small spurts of water that precede the main eruption.

Finally we drove up to the Grand Canyon of the Rockies and viewed the Lower Falls.

Time just ran out - we spent almost 11 hours in the park! We'll have to come back someday. We definitely will plan our trip either early or late in the season. It was so pleasant without huge crowds.

As we left Gardiner, we are actually more than halfway from the Equator to the North Pole and have pictures to prove it.

Right now, we are in Great Falls, Montana. We are waiting to see if the snow will hold off and allow us a quick glimpse of Glacier National Park near the Canadian border. It's been quite cold, windy and rainy the past day and a half - a contrast with the wonderful weather we've had in the past week. Driving the RV in the wind is a real challenge!

Next we're heading across the border and up to Calgary. For the next few weeks, we may not be able to post often since facilities may be scarce on the road. We should be in Healy, AK by the end of May and we'll catch up any missing posts at that time.

Timeline:
Friday April 27: Left Denver. Stopped at the Sierra Trading Post Outlet in Cheyenne. Spent the night. Stayed in a Walmart parking lot in East Casper, Wyoming
Saturday, April 28: Visited Little Big Horn National Monument. Stayed at the Grandview RV Park in Hardin, MT
Sunday, April 29: Visited Big Horn Canyon Natl Recreation Area. Stayed another night at Grandview in Hardin.
Monday, April 30: Arrived in Gardiner, MT. Visited Mammoth Hot Springs and the Visitor Center in Yellowstone. Stayed at the Yellowstone RV Park on the Yellowstone River in Gardiner.
Tuesday, May 1: Toured Yellowstone. Another night in Gardiner.
Wednesday, May 2: Traveled to Helena, MT and stayed at the Walmart there. Very windy - a hard drive. Windy and wet all night.
Thursday, May 3: Were planning to make it to Cut Bank, but decided on a short day since it was still very windy and difficult driving for the motor home. Everyone was ready for a quiet day. Saying at Dick's RV Park in Great Falls MT.