28 August 2010 - Kingston ON

We are in Kingston (at Rideau Acres RV Park) for Dan Hamilton's wedding. It has been a hectic 3 days preparing to get here: Both Mom's glad to see us back and Mom's are doing fine, truck is washed camper is washed (for those that travelled with us I have attached a picture, I'm sure you won't recognize it clean), bees are attended to (estimated 1000 lbs of honey so far, and more to come with golden rod), and oil change and brakes attended to on the truck. The weather here is perfect.

As promised here are some answers for a quiz a few days back:

1. Mt McKinley (or Denali as the locals still call it)


2. 20,320 ft


3. Delta Junction


4. Berring Sea


5. Robert Service


6. 1942


7. Anchor Point


8. Beaver Creek


9. Summit Point


10. 2000 lbs


11. Larger than Life


12. George Carmack


13. William Moore


14. 36"


15. Mount Robson

22 / 23 August 2010 - PUSLINCH

Days 61 & 62

After a nice rest at Kakabeka we then did the final two legs (about 750 km each) to Sault Ste Marie and to home. We had great weather for both drives.
It was such a nice trip but it is nice to get home - we now have a lot of digging out to do, washing to do, truck and camper to wash etc etc.
Shortly after we got home I went to check my bees - I looked at 8 of my 20 hives (will check the others tomorrow) - one had died but the rest were 80% to 100% full of honey in the honey supers - this is the best year I have had in 20 years; assuming the rest are performing at the same level.

An odometer check tells me that we covered 18,161 km (11,350 miles) on this trip.

Although I plan to halt this blog at this point; just one final note that our travels are not over yet for this year - we are only home for 3 days, then off to Kingston (with the 5th wheel) for Dan Hamilton's wedding, then we are home for 2 days, then off to Colborne (dry camping this time) for the Country Western Jamboree, then we are home a week then off to the IPM in St. Thomas (dry camping again); and if we aren't tuckered out by them we may still join our regular camping group in Algonquin for the last camping of the season.

It's been a slice - hope you enjoyed reading along as we vacationed.

Terry & Sharon

P.S.
The answers to the quiz will be posted in a few days

21 August 2010 - Kakabeka Falls

Day 60

Today is a leisurely day at the falls; we slept in, plan to check out the street fair and generally enjoy the day. Got notes from Menheniots and Levesques that they doing fine in Brandon and Medicine Hat respectively. They also noted that both trucks and one trailer have been washed; we are still on vacation so neither of ours are washed yet (other than what mother nature did yesterday).

Carole: finished your book about George Carmack today - thanks.

I mentioned Bill's quiz the other day and thought for those of you that have followed this blog that you might be interested in trying the 15 easiest of the 25 questions (for the record we and the Levesques did get some of these wrong; but we had to do it closed book).

1. Name the highest mountain in North America (both names if you can)
2. What is its height
3. Where does the Alaskan (Alcan) Hwy start and finish
4. Where does the Yukon River empty
5. Who wrote the cremation of Sam McGee
6. What year did the Alcan hwy construction start
7. What is the westernmost town (accessible by roads) in North America
8. What is the most westerly town in Canada
9. What is the highest point on the Alaskan Hwy
10. How much food & equipment (in lbs) did the RCMP make each stampeder carry into Canada
11. What is the slogan for the Yukon
12. Who is accredited with first discovering gold in the Yukon
13. Who founded Skagway (bonus point for its original name)
14. What is the gauge of the WP&Y railway
15. What is the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies

19 & 20 August 2010 - Winnipeg & Kakabeka Falls

Days 58 & 59

On Thursday we drove into a headwind all day and got to Winnipeg as planned, had a beer, had dinner, went to bed.
On the way out we drove into headwinds as well - it shouldn't happen that way. The prairies are still wet, there are still lots of ponds and the camp grounds have a lot of soggy areas.

On Friday we got up early drove to Kakabeka Falls and got here at 3:30 EDT.
Last time we were here was June 28/29. Apparently they have had a lot of rain since we were last here; t-storms forecast for tonight, but clearing for tomorrow and sunny in the PM. We are taking a break from driving and staying here for 2 nights.

18 August 2010 - Saskatoon SK

Day 57

We left the group of 8 at 6:30 am (but Marcel and Carole beat us away by 4 minutes) and we got to Saskatoon 16 RV Park at 5:01. The haze from the BC forest fires affected the visibility for almost the first two hours of our drive. Before we were out of Jasper National Park we had seen: 1 coyote, 2 sheep, 2 male elk (then 1 km down the road a herd of female elk) then a pair of deer (male and female); and when we got to Elk Island National Park we saw so many bison that we could not count them.

The strangest thing we saw today was in the middle of flat Saskatchewan, with the horizon in view for 360 degrees was a road called "Mountain View Road"; someone must have had a good sense of humour when they named that one...

Happy hour was not the same with only two of us today - but the beer was refreshing after that long drive.
P.S. - we did NOT stop for cinnamon buns anywhere today...

P.P.S.
Forgot to mention the quiz that Bill made up during our trip; at happy hour yesterday on our last day together as a group he dazzled us with 25 questions; the best any of us could do was get 14 correct; thanks to Bill - we all enjoyed reminiscing the whole trip in one hour.

(no picture today - we were too busy driving)

17 Aug 2010 - Jasper AB

Day 56

Last day for the group of eight; we have had a fantastic time. Today's forecast was sunny high of 32; but the smog from the BC fires affected that and we had a misty day, high of 23. We went to the visitor centre first and they suggested avoiding the Tram ride because of the smoke (we delayed a decision on that til later) and recommended going down the Maligne Valley - so that is what we did. It was a great trip, we had lunch at the lake and stopped at Medicine Lake on the way back as well as Maligne Canyon. The lake is strange because it has a river into it but none out of it - the water drains via underground rivers; so every fall it becomes a mud flat again. The canyon is not very wide (might average 20 feet) but has been eroded to depths of over 150 feet. Only pictures can describe it best.

We got back for happy hour then decided to drive up to the Tram to decide if it was clear enough to go up. It wasn't but we went up anyway (no idea when we would be here again).

Went out for dinner since it was our last night together. We ate at the Something for Everyone.

Coming back into the campground we counted 18 Elk, three as close as 20 feet from our camper.

Camera went caflewy as we ended the Tram trip - not sure if we will have any more pictures on this trip.

We are outta here at the crack of dawn tomorrow - not sure when the next blog update will come - we have no specific destination(s) we just plan to drive as far as we can each day....

16 August 2010 - Jasper AB

Day 55

We led for the last time today. It was a beautiful drive of about 400 km from Prince George BC to Jasper AB. The best part of the day was stopping at Mount Robson. Robson is the highest Canadian peak (about 13,000 ft) in the Rockies (remember we saw McKinley - aka Denali In Alaska, it is the highest in North America - 23,000 I think); In our opinion Robson far outshines Denali; but that is mainly because we got so close to Robson and Denali was 20 miles away (if I recall correctly). Can't remember if I put a picture of Mt McKinley in earlier, if I did you can go back and compare that pic to this pic and make your own choice.

We are now on Mountain time (maybe we can sleep in tomorrow before gallivanting around Jasper).

We are at Whistlers campground, it has 718 sites and is huge; thank goodness we had a reservation because the park is full and the line to get in (even with a reservation) was 20 vehicles long. But worth the wait, this is a lovely campground, with lots of trees and shade and the smell of pine trees and campfires and a nice breeze and no bugs.

After dinner Terry Carole and Marcel went for a hike and saw 3 elk; while Sharon Bill and Margaret went for a drive and saw a black bear and 8 elk.

Talked to Michael and Jamie on the phone today; Jamie remembers this park well and is not surprised that we like it; Michael has never been here but reminds me that Jasper National Park is unique in the world because it is the only watershed that drains into 4 bodies of water (Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and the gulf).

15 August 2010 - Prince George

Day 54

Another driving day but not as far as yesterday and yes we will make it to Jasper by tomorrow.

Today was the first time we got to our targeted park and found no room at the inn; we had to back track 5 km and ended up at the Northland RV & Trailer Park. It is very nice campground, with real grass!

Another sunny day, and the temps continue to rise - we think it got to 31 today. That is heat that we have not experienced all summer.

Today's drive was very scenic, especially along the Peace River (see attached) and also got us back into to mountain country; we never get tired of seeing mountains.

The only wild life we say today was one fake deer; but it was so good that most of us were fooled for a few seconds.

14 August 2010 - Sikanni River

Day 53

Today was our longest drive - 736 km - but we are pushing to make Jasper by the 16th and I am sure we can do it.

We didn't do much today other than drive but we saw Mountain goats, Caribou, Bison and Stone Sheep.

We did stop for cinnamon buns at Tetsa, and we did have happy hour.

For the second night in a row we have no cell or internet service, so this entry will be entered at a later date.

The attached picture is of fire-weed; but not in the flowering stage but in the cotton stage. Why this interested us is because we have seen fire-weed all along the way, and many tell the story that as the last petals fall from the top of the plant (and then the cotton starts to fly) that this area will have snow within 6 weeks.

13 August 2010 - Nugget City

Day 52

We made it up the hill; in fact it was not the toughest hill we have ever climbed: the hill outside of Rockey Harbour in NL is steeper (but much shorter) and the hill on US interstate 80 westbound out of Salt Lake City is only 10% but was done in very high temps, making it harder.

Today we drove 492 km from AK BC YT BC YT and ended up in Nugget City (intersection of Hwy 37 and Alaska Hwy); except for Hwy 8 from Carcross to Jakes Corners, we had travelled on all these roads some time previously in this trip. Having now travelled to and from Alaska I can now confirm Carole's quote: "All roads in Alaska are paved; just not all at the same time". The truth is the roads are not that bad, and all the horror stories people tell about bad roads in the Yukon and Alaska are really just tall tales.

You may be wondering what the attached picture is all about. That is us driving into Baby Nugget Campground; the lowest cloud in the center of the picture is not really a cloud, that is smoke from the forest fires in central BC. At this campground we could actually smell the smoke, and I think that had a role in our vote to avoid the Cassiar Hwy tomorrow. Today one caravan went southbound with a pilot car at 11 am; no guarantees for tomorrow - it would all depend on the wind direction and strength. Many of the fire fighters were camped in the same campground. They were letting this 5o K acres fire burn itself out and they were only dealing with the periphery.

So we are skipping Hyder and planning to get to Jasper as per our original itinerary.

The weather has finally warmed up - today we were back in shorts for the first time in about 3 weeks, and yes it was sunny all day.

12 August 2010 - Skagway AK

Day 51

WOW - what a day. We got a good sleep and then went off to ride the WPYR (White Pass & Yukon Railway). We did the summit tour, which means we went up and over Summit pass and 200 feet into BC (unless you were at the back of the train and only got in 50 feet).

The White Pass was one route the stampeders used to get to Dawson City and the gold rush (the other route was the Chilkoot Pass, that we hiked yesterday); but of course the railway was not completed until most of the stampeders were already in Dawson City.

The weather today was perfect; so perfect that the locals even commented of how rare it is to have a day like this. The view from the train was spectacular; we have many pictures, I have picked three.

After the ride, and after most of the passengers from the cruise ships have left the city, we walked around town a bit, found the creperie (instead of the cinnamon bun place) and basically enjoyed the town without the masses. Today there were only 4600 visitors - yesterday there were 8600.

Tomorrow we head to the Watson Lake area and cross our fingers that the Cassiar may open. The report this morning was "closed with a slim chance of opening but maybe one pilot car betwen 7 am and 2 pm" and the next report would be 5 PM 13 Aug. We should get to Nugget Bay about that time, stay tuned...

11 August 2010 - Skagway AK

Day 50

Our turn to lead again - it was the shortest drive of the trip (from Whitehorse YT thru BC to Skagway AK); but, it went down the longest hill (11.5 miles) with a slope of 11%. Stories from other campers about this road had us wondering; but, it was wide and very easy to do (mind you we have not driven out yet, see comments in 2 days for that). We did a much tougher road thru the canyon into Sedona AZ 4 years ago.

The scenery on today's drive was the most spectacular of the trip, and we have driven thru some great spots prior to today; the picture at Emerald Lake does not show the colours like we saw in person; too many of the mountains we did not get pictures of because of all the bugs on the windshields and no place to stop. The shot I picked is of Skagway harbour (with 2 or the 4 cruise ships of the day), our campsite is just to the left of this picture.

We stopped at the Yukon Suspension Bridge (it is in BC - go figure); the views from the bridge of the Tutshi River made me wonder how any stampeder survived in a raft or boat (I guess some didn't).

In Skagway we went to the visitor center, found the national parks walking tour (saw William Moore's orginal log cabin and his house), and museum; then, we drove over to DYEA (pronounced die-ee) to see the start of the Chilkoot trail. There is nothing left to Dyea today, but it was a bigger community before the White Pass & Yukon Railway was built and Skagway took over as the gateway to the Yukon gold rush. Sharon and I had been to Skagway before but on that cruise we had no way to get to Dyea; today we did. Then we started a hike up the Chilkoot Pass - to imagine that many of those prospectors did that route 20 times with 100 lbs packs (in order to carry 2000 lbs of supplies up) - we had enough trouble just getting ourselves up....

10 August 2010 - Whitehorse YT

Day 49

Driving day - we covered the reverse route to go from Dawson to Whitehorse stopping at almost all the same rest stops as we hit 2 days earlier. The only difference in Whitehorse is that we are at the Pioneer RV park instead of the Hi Country RV park.
Heard today that the Cassiar Hwy is sometimes open with pilot cars escorting; we don't get there for another 4 sleeps so things are looking up for getting to Hyder AK and Jasper.

9 August 2010 - Dawson City YT

Days 47 & 48

Sunday we drove all day left at 7 am arrived at 6 pm; but that was not all driving time: we had stops for cinnamon buns at the Braeburn Lodge, we had an hour stop for lunch and multiple other rest stops. Final result we arrived at Dawson City, even though the Tok AK to Chicken AK Hwy is still closed, and saved a day getting here.

Monday was a great day, it started with a great sleep after the long day before, then we went up to Midnight Dome (not Dome Mountain as originally reported) for a spectacular view of Dawson (see picture) and the surrounding area - there is 360 degrees of mountain visible from the top. Also note in the picture, the line showing the clear water from the Klondike River not-mixing with the muddy water of the Yukon river.

After crossing the Yukon River by ferry (the George Black) , we drove to the most northerly point of the TOP-OF-THE-WORLD Hwy (is is about 1/2 way from Dawson to the US border). When back in Dawson we went to the visitor centre to plan the rest of the day. First order of business was to find a place for lunch; next we asked if they knew Jamie's friend Heather, and the first person knew her, and sent us to the Downtown Hotel - two bird's with one stone, we met Heather and had a nice lunch at her hotel.

We did the downtown walking guided tour - it was very informative and enjoyable. Next we went to the river to meet the rafters coming in from the Yukon. This was a group of 10 people on two rafts re-enacting the journey of the prospectors of 1898. We had met their film crew when we were in Whitehorse on July 22 on our Yukon River cruise at Miles Canyon, had we waited 15 more minutes in the rain that day we would have seen the rafters as well then.

We have pictures of the homes (log cabins) of Robert Service and Jack London, and of the birthplace of Pierre Burton; they are all within 200 feet of each other.

Back to the campers for a few brew then off to Diamond Tooth Gertie's for dinner / gambling / show. The rafters and their film crew also showed up at Gertie's: Sharon talked to one of the guys; they had climbed Chilkoot pass 70 days earlier with all their gear and supplies and did it just like they did in the gold rush days. The documentary is scheduled for french TV in Feb or March next year...

For the record we did not win at the casino this time - I donated $20 and Sharon donated $15.

7 August 2010 - Haines Junction YT

Day 46

We are back in Canada: Today was a driving day; we went from Tok AK to Haines Junction YT over the same road that we took NW bound, and it is still the worst road I have ever travelled on. The scenery was great and there was no rain to block the view of the mountains; the colours and views at Kluane Lake were spectacular.
We decided that we can make it to Dawson City tomorrow in one day; It will be a long drive (about 660 Km) but we all agreed to get up early and go for it.

6 August 2010 - Tok AK

Day 45

Today we got back to Tok, the place that holds the world record for lowest recorded temperature (-83 F) in an inhabited area(if you drive in or out of Alaska you must go through Tok). We finally had a night without rain, we drove all day without rain and we got to see all that beautiful mountain scenery again today; as we get to the campsite it starts to sprinkle, then heavier, then rain, and more rain - but it did stop and we had a nice evening, we went to the concert and had a good time, then we heard the news....

The Taylor Highway is closed again; there was a lot more rain, a mud and rock slide and another part of the road washed out. We talked to some people who got through early this morning and it was closed after they got through; I looked on the web and found a story out of Anchorage that showed a picture of the wash-out - it was so depressing. They say when travelling that "the shortest distance between two points is under construction"; when in Alaska this summer "the shortest distance ... is closed"....

So here is our plan - we have no choice for tomorrow, we are heading back the Alcan hwy route; it takes us across the worst road and we expect a long day, then we plan to go via Whitehorse and then back up to Dawson City the long way; this means that it will take 3 days to get there instead of 1 and that puts us 2 days behind schedule again; but the other bad news is that the Cassiar Hwy is still closed and we may have no choice and will gain those 2 days back because we can't get to Hyder.

Two weeks ago when we were here it was wonderful; since then they have had a lot of rain; and, since then they have hatched a crop of mosquitoes that are carrying us away.

5 August 2010 - Glenn Hwy Mile 109.7

Day 44

More rain, more rain forecast; those guys building that arc must be up here somewhere!

Last night we changed our itinerary: We now are almost sure that we can get to Dawson city, and we all want to do that; so, we removed Valdez from the agenda in order to gain the 2 days we needed to get to Dawson and to keep our Jasper reservation; we also decided to drive a little farther than Palmer today and got this far. This now makes the trip to Tok tomorrow about the same distance as we drove today. When we leave Dawson City on Aug 9 we will get to the Whitehorse area, then on Aug 10 we should get to Skagway AK and will back to our original itinerary. We are still uncertain about getting to Hyder and Jasper since the Cassiar hwy is still closed due to forest fires in BC.

Today after arriving at the campsite, we drove back a few miles to see the Matanuska Glacier. This is a glacier that has receded very little over the years; it is 24 miles long and averages 2 miles wide. We were able to walk on this glacier; it is different from the Exit Glacier; the gravel that looks like the edge is really stones and mud and silt on top of the glacier ice; as you get close to it you can see the ice under it and the water running through it; we also got to walk on white glacial ice too. The picnic table is not on the glacier; but you can see some of the edge right behind it

4 August 2010 - Addendum

Carole sent the attached pictures from the Exit Glacier for inclusion in the blog

4 August 2010 - Seward AK

Day 43

It rained and rained and rained, but that did not stop us from doing anything. This morning we visited the Alaska Sealife Center in downtown Seward. It is an amazing museum and research facility. It was still raining when we came out, so we went for lunch, Sharon craved pizza, so off we went searching for and found a pizzeria.

It was still raining; but, that was not going to stop us from going up to Exit Glacier. We drove up to the visitor center, parked and hiked up to the Glacier. This was significant for two reasons: 1) We got into a National Park without having to pay any fees, and 2) I now have scratched an item off my bucket list.

Getting close and personal with a glacier is exciting. The air was a lot warmer than I would have expect; the view was spectacular. Carole and Marcel had been here 4 years ago, the glacier (a thumb glacier, as opposed to one that calves at the end) had retreated well over 400 yards, and the river was much bigger. The river was probably only bigger because of the weeks and weeks of constant rain that has been falling here all summer. The rain finally stopped and visibility improved and we got a lot of good pictures. On the way down we hiked by the outwash plain; Marcel and I actually picked ice chunks out of the river. Then against Sharon's better judgement we hiked down the outwash instead of going back the way we came, and came to a steam that could not be jumped; long story short, Carole has a picture of Terry with a soaker and a wet arm and a soggy knee....

3 August 2010 - Seward AK

Day 41

Today was a driving day, we went from Homer to Seward. It rained overnight; but that doesn't matter; but, then it rained as we were driving. We drove out of that into a warm sunny day, that only lasted 2 or 3 hours then we were back into rain, and the forecast for tomorrow is the same - so much for our good luck of bringing sun where ever we go.

During the sunshine break we stopped at the Alaskan Carousel Carvings (yes that is our 5th in the background).

Since it was raining we went to the Seward Museum when we got here.

Seward is a small port town with a railway terminus, a dock for cruise ships, and a few fishing boats. The earthquake of 1964 that was mentioned in Anchorage, caused a lot more damage in Seward, since Seward was closer to the epi-centre.
The rain stopped for happy hour; we tried our first serving of halibut - delicious...

2 August 2010 - Homer AK

Day 41

The guys got up at 5 AM today (I think we opted for EDT again today, to make it a reasonable hour of 9:00 AM) and went fishing just for the halibut. The boat left at 6:00, with 10 plus 2 crew on board (plus Max the Whale watcher dog). We went out about 23 miles via Kachamak Bay into Cook Inlet. It was absolutely awesome (and that is from someone who is not a fisherman); the seas were as calm as calm could be and we all had a wonderful time. From the drop of the first hook, till we all had our limit, seemed to take less that half an hour. Marcel got the first fish, Terry the last. After all was filleted and weighed, Bill did the best with 15.7 lbs, Terry reeled in 15.05 lbs, Marcel 14.2 and Bob got 13.4; but Terry did the most fishing, being the amateur, I reeled in 7 times, two got away and three we decided to go for a bigger fish. On the way out & back we also saw sea lions, otters, one puffin, thousands of seagulls and one humpback whale, but no partridges this time. (picture is compliments of Bill, and will be appended here as soon as I get it)
While this was all happening, the girls were shopping.
We met them at the docks, browsed some more shops and the Salty Dawg Bar, then went for lunch of Halibut fish & chips etc. Rested and read in the afternoon, and of course enjoyed another Happy Hour under sunny sky's.
Learned that the Cassiar hwy in BC is still closed due to the forest fires in BC, and may cause us to change plans on how we get back, this concerns us because it would force us to miss Hyder and Jasper; we also read comments from someone who has travelled on the newly opened hwy from Tok to Chicken, it is rough but passable - looks like we will be getting to Dawson City now.

1 August 2010 - Homer AK

Day 40

DOH (for those of you that do not follow the Simpson's; please ignore that last comment).

Today is the half-way point (from a mileage perspective) of our trip, so far we have travelled about 8,000 km; today we drove from Kenai to Homer AK, a distance of only about 140 km; but, it took us over 5 hours to do it because of the many stops along the way: Wal-Mart (sorry Jamie & Michael, but when travelling they are so convenient), Fred Meyers (for both diesel and salmon), The Moose is Loose Bakery (for cinnamon buns etc) and many scenic viewpoints.

I have to comment on the cinnamon buns: we have stopped at many places that advertise the world's best cinnamon buns; but, clearly today we all voted either 8/10 or 9/10 because the buns today were to die for. For the record the Burr's had their first one eaten before we got out of the parking lot, Bob & Ann finished theirs before the next coffee break stop only 5 minutes down the road; and Marcel ,Carole, Bill, and Margaret had the gall to eat theirs in front of us.

After setting up the campsites, we went down to the spit to arrange our fishing trip for tomorrow, then we drove to Anchor Point, just because it is the most westerly point (that you can get to by roads) in all of North America. The attached picture is of the plaque on the highway; in truth the real westerly point is another 1.2 miles down the spur road right at the water, where we watched the most fascinating way to launch and pick up boats from the water - if you are interested, come see me when we get home and I'll show you the pictures.

For Happy hour today we sat at our camp-sites looking over Kachamak Bay / Cook Inlet, with a mist across the top of the water, snow on the mountains in the background and the sun shinning - it makes retirement SO worth it...

Yes, we brought sun shine again to this location; the morning was overcast, temp ranged from 11 to 17.