Alaska and Canada

Greetings from an RV park inside Glacier National Park – part of the Canadian Rockies. It’s been a while since I rapped at you, but as you may not know, Wifi has not been installed in the woods yet, so it’s tough going on the interneting department. I’ll try to make this blog as compact as possible since it covers two weeks.

So Monday two weeks ago we got up and left Anchorage and headed south towards Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. We decided to stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center on the way because we feared that with our luck we wouldn’t see any wildlife in Alaska. They had black and grizzly bears, moose, elk, a bald eagle with only one wing, musk oxen and wood buffalo, a species of bison once native to Alaska but has been extinct there for a century. They got some wood buffalo from Canada and have been breeding them for a few years. Next summer they will release a herd back into the Alaskan bush and then people should be able to see them as they’re supposed to be seen. From there we went to Seward, set up camp and then went to the Marina for a dinner boat cruise around Resurrection Bay, which is part of Kenai Fjords National Park. The boat was equipped with a park ranger to point out wildlife and explain the history of the bay (named by the Russians because they discovered it around Easter) and a salmon/prime rib buffet for $19, which was by far the best food value we encountered in Alaska. After dinner we made it near the edge of the bay, close to Bear Glacier where Humpback Whales were feeding. We were able to watch them jump in the air, then show some whale tale before descending hundreds of feet down to feed. It was about this time Alicia got a little sea sick, so she went down into the cabin and talked to the chef, who said this was only his second time seeing whales in the bay. We also saw some Dall’s porpoises, mountain goats, sea lions, puffins, and eagles. All in all it was a pretty nice cruise.

Tuesday we got up and went to Exit Glacier, just outside of Seward. Like most glaciers on earth, the Exit Glacier has been shrinking since the end of the Little Ice Age. Along the road they marked where the glacier once extended to, going back to 1815. In the last 200 hundred years the glacier has receded by at least a mile, if not more, which is kind of sad, but the way things are going. We hiked to a viewpoint of the glacier, then took a treacherous rouge trail along a Cliffside to actually go up to the glacier. Unlike the Root Glacier from Wrangell-St. Elias, you couldn’t easily climb on the Exit Glacier for it was too steep. That afternoon we tried to find bears but couldn’t not and then relaxed in town and destroyed some crab legs for dinner.

Wednesday we got up and drove north towards Denali State Park. We stocked up in Anchorage, where things are so much cheaper than anywhere else in Alaska. Gas was under $4 a gallon, which was the cheapest we’d paid since probably Idaho. We made it to Denali SP around dinnertime to much cloud cover, which is common in the area. On a clear day we would have been able to see Mt. McKinley. We took a short hike around Byers Lake, prepared for a night of rain and ate a delicious pork loin cooked over the coals.

Thursday we got up and drove to Denali National Park. After visiting the visitor center and learning about migratory birds (the Arctic Tern migrates from the Arctic to the Antarctic twice a year, chasing the sun) we drove as far as anyone can into the park (15 miles) in hopes of seeing some wildlife or the mountain. No major to wildlife to speak of, but we did catch a tiny glimpse of the corner of McKinley. We could only see it with our binoculars. Not enough to really count, but it was something. We set up camp, made a fire and prepared for the long bus ride into the heart of Denali on Friday. We went to bed with clear skies and woke up a few hours later to a steady rain that last most of the rest of the night.

Friday we got up early for our 7:15 bus ride and put the EZ-Up over the tent to avoid total seepage and soakage during the day. Of course by the time we got back we discovered it hadn’t rained all day. We caught our bus, an old, uncomfortable school bus and headed the 85 miles one way to Wonder Lake. Just as soon as we pulled out of the parking lot we saw a mother moose and her two calves snacking on the willows on the side of the road. Throughout the day we saw more moose, but not as close, Dall’s sheep high on the ridges, two large herds of Caribou (more Caribou than our bus driver had ever seen in a day) two blonde grizzlies. They were weren’t very close and hard to spot but it was still cool seeing grizzlies in the wild. We stopped for lunch at the Eileson Visitor Center and had a view of where Mt. McKinley would have been if it was clear. We drove on towards Wonder Lake and at some point the clouds cleared just enough and 12,000 feet above the next highest mountains, a snowcapped peak appeared. Even though it was just a tiny triangle in the sky it was incredible. Mt. Everest may be the highest mountain in the world, but McKinley has more distance between its peak and any surrounding peaks, 12,000 feet, like I said, so a peak appearing by itself so high in the sky was impressive none the less. We drove on to Wonder Lake, which in the 1920’s was originally intended to be the site of a resort, but by the 1960’s environmental issues finally squashed any plans to build there, so it’s just a lake and the second to last possible stop on the Denali bus tours. On the way back we saw the same moose eating in the same location, more Dall’s sheep and Caribou high on the ridge of the mountains, avoiding mosquitoes. All in all not a bad day of wildlife/mountain viewing. Only 30% of visitors to Denali get to see the mountain so I suppose seeing the peak puts us in that club. We bought a 30% club shot glass to commemorate that experience, so I guess we’re officially in the club.

Saturday we got up in the rain and packed up. The bus driver said Denali only gets 15 inches of rain a year, so it was unusually wet while we were there. We headed north, through road construction towards Fairbanks and checked into our hotel. You would think cities like Anchorage or Fairbanks would cater to tourists, but they really don’t. No touristy areas with restaurants and shopping. Nothing really. We ate some good Thai food, got some ice cream, got some booze and spent the evening in the hotel room. We had to get up early for our 7:30am bus ride to the Arctic Circle.

Sunday we got up and early and made our way to the tour company headquarters for our nearly 17 hour round trip bus ride to the Arctic Circle. It was expensive but from what we heard the Dalton Highway (the Ice Road Truckers road) was pretty rough. It’s mostly unpaved and a victim to the weather, but it wasn’t any worse than the McCarthy Road we did a week before, so we could have saved some money and did it ourselves, but we got a pretty good tour of it. Out of the 23 participants on this tour, 19 were from Kansas and part of a larger tour group. The rest of their group mates went on the 6:30 tour. We ended up sitting next to the only other couple not from Kansas, a retired couple from Florida and we spent the last 4 hours or so chatting with them about travels. Our bus drive/tour guide was John, a 22 year old college student at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. You could tell the old Kansans were worried about his age initially, but he turned out to be a capable driver and an all-around interesting guy. When he finishes school he wants to buy some land on the Yukon River and work in Prudhoe Bay doing mathematics for the oil companies. We first stopped in Joy, AK at gift shop/rest stop. The town was named after store owner and wife of the original settler to the area, Joy. Her husband’s name is Dick, so Joy was the better choice. We were given baggies of baby carrots, which was kind of neat. We next stopped near the Alaskan Pipeline for pictures before watching a PBS documentary about the building of the pipeline. We drove on to the Yukon Camp, a restaurant/lodging on the north side of the Yukon River, right next to the only bridge crossing the river west of Whitehorse, YT. There is a man whose job is to watch the bridge and make sure no one stops on the bridge for fear that someone will blow it up. The oil companies have made bank from Prudhoe Bay and it would cut off any supplies to and from the area. We picked up our sandwiches and drove on. A few hours later we stopped at Finger Mountain, which is basically a rock sticking out of the ground that kind of looks like a finger. They say it points directly to Fairbanks but that’s unconfirmed. Finally around 3pm we arrived at the Arctic Circle, the imaginary line in the ground at 66’ 33” North latitude. The line basically means that on the Winter Solstice the sun doesn’t rise above the line and on the Solstice the sun doesn’t set. John rolled out a red carpet with a line on it and we all posed for pictures by the sign. There was really nothing spectacular about the location, but it was neat going north of the line, I suppose. At the end of the trip we received certificates with our accomplishment, so you bet those’ll get framed. John served us chocolate cake with whipped cream to celebrate.  On the way back we stopped to walk on the squishy tundra and pick wild blueberries that were just becoming ripe. We ate a pretty good at the Yukon River Camp and made it back into Fairbanks at 11:30 that night. Quite a long day.

Monday we got up and left Fairbanks and stopped in North Pole, AK the Christmas themed town a few miles out of town. This was our last few hours in Alaska. We left the state on the Taylor Highway headed towards Dawson City, YT. We had our easiest border crossing into Canada and drove on the Top of the World Highway once we got it Canada. We were basically on driving on ridgelines until we descended near Dawson City. We took the fairy across the Yukon River and entered Dawson City, which hasn’t changed aesthetically since it was founded over 100 years ago. That evening we went to Diamond Tooth Gerties, Canada’s oldest Casino. We lost $10 on the slots and watched the midnight performance of singing and dancing.

Tuesday we got up and drove to Whitehorse. We soaked in the Takhini Hot Springs and called it a day.

Wednesday we drove a long, long way to Fort Nelson BC, about 13 hours in total. We stopped at the Sign Post forest in Watson Lake and looked around a bit and drove some more. We did see a bunch of black bears near the road as well as Wood Buffalo.

Thursday was another long, 13 hour day: From Fort Nelson to Jasper National Park. After lunch at Boston Pizza (apparently “Boston-style” pizza is only a Canadian thing and is slightly better but much more expensive that CiCi’s pizza) it began to rain. We stocked up for a few days in Grand Prairie, AB and descended upon the park on the first night it got dark at a somewhat reasonable hour. It was still raining and 45 degrees outside and Alicia wasn’t happy of course, but we got the tent set up and entered a pretty dry tent, chugged some wine and slept.

Friday we got up, showered for the first time since Fairbanks, ate at a diner and began our visit to the park. Finally vacation could resume again. It was still cold and overcast, but at least the rain had stopped. We drove down to Maligne Lake and then Maligne Canyon, a very narrow Canyon. We drove in the valley between some gorgeous, jutting mountains and camped at the Honeymoon Campground. I

Saturday we drove to the cluster**** that is Banff National Park. The park itself was beautiful but of course it was a Saturday in July so it was insane. Fortunately I’m adept at parking in busy lots, a skill I learned from working at Crabtree Valley Mall for a couple of Christmases. For the amount of people there, parking was never an issue in Banff. We first went to Lake Louise, with its green waters and then to my favorite lake, Moraine Lake.

Sunday we drove down to the town of Banff, soaked in the Upper Hot Springs, walked around the town and what not and called it a day.

Today we drove through Yoho National Park, Glacier NP (Canada) to Mt. Revelstoke National Park up the Meadow in the Sky parkway to the top of Mt. Revelstoke which is known for its wildflowers, unfortunately the wildflowers weren’t in full bloom yet, but some were. We hiked around a bit and took lots of pictures.

No pictures this time because internet is shady but I promise anyone full picture/video slideshows as well as more detailed stories when we get home. All you have to do is ask. Only 12 days left. It’s hard to believe we’ve been on the road for over 40 days now. Wednesday night we’re really celebrating our anniversary by staying at the Prince of Wales hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park (look it up). See everyone soon!