September 9, 2009 Fort Telkwa, BC

Today is a long day of driving across the trancanadian highway 16 across British Columbia and into Alberta. The scenery changes today are amazing. We start with the coastal mountains and glaciers, cross into ranch land with large herds of cattle & horses, then we pass through farm land and then back to the Canadian Rockies through the town of McBride. We enjoyed a brief stay in McBride in 2007 that led us down a gravel road to see the monster King Salmon and a near encounter with two large grizzles. We again take that same gravel road and look for a repeat viewing of the Kings and the grizzles. No luck this year so we are off again toward the Rockies to Jasper National Park.

We've driven almost the entire day in rain.We stop in Jasper and have a nice Italian dinner before looking for a campsite.

Well Mr & Mrs No Reservations enter the National Park campsite and find NO VACANCY for campsites with electricity. No generators allowed. Dry camping only. Here we go.

We purchased an adaptor for Mikey's CPAP to allow it to work with a cigarette lighter plug. Tonight will be the first time we've tried it. We get ready for bed and cross our fingers that the CPAP will work all night. Not to mention it's cold tonight and we haven't tried out the gas furnace either. Tonight will be an adventure.

We awaken warm and both having slept well all night. We make an early exit back toward town. We are surprised to see a bear trap at out campground entrance. Apparently there have been a lot of activity by the bears in the area. OH MY!

September 8, 2009 Iskut, British Columbia, Canada Red Goat RV Park

We continue down the isolated Cassier. It's still raining, but the road is in much better condition. We only experience a few miles of gravel. The mountains, glaciers, rivers all continue. We were planning to go the the town of Hyder, Alaska. We were there in 07 and enjoyed watching the grizzlies. We ran into another couple traveling north from Hyder and they tell us the salmon run is over and so is the bear watching. So we decide to continue south the head east for Calgary.

We do get to experience 2 black bears on the side of the roads. They were so polite as to stop & pose for a photo op.

Our next stop is the town of Moricetown, BC. We found this place in 07 & want to see if the same thing is happening. Yes it is. The local Indians have build an intricate system of walkways that lead to a narrow part of a canyon waterfall. At the ends of the walkways, young Indian men reach down into the waterfall with long nets and pull out very large salmon. They beat in the head with a mallet to kill them, then they hand the salmon off to the women that measure & record them, then place them in a cooler. This is a legal way for the Aborigines to net salmon. Not very sporting is it?

We decide to stay in the town of Talkwa. The RV park looks nice and is right on the same river several miles upstream of the young Indian fishermen. We check in and ask about the fishing. The owner looks at us like we were not well informed. She said if it wasn't for the "World Class Steelhead" fishing they wouldn't be here. WOW! I didn't know what a steelhead was??? Apparently it's a type of trout that you have to throw back after you catch it. SO! Mikey does try to get a license, but the closest place is more that 30miles away. Here we are at the home of World Class Fishing and he's not able to do anything but watch. Think he's in a bad mood, well don't tell him that. LOL.

Sept 7...Teslin Lake, Yukon

Happy Birthday Lauren McBee

We get up & at it and are on the road heading south. I know papa will be glad of that, we plan to be home before the fair is over.

The road we travel today is the Cassier. We traveled this road in 07, but our memory of the beauty of the mountains had faded. It's a rainy day and the road is rough. We are only able to drive 30mph or less on gravel, on the good section 50 is top speed. The Cassier mountains are all around us, the road goes up & down & in between the mountains. There are rivers & lakes everywhere. Fall is in the air, temp somewhere in the 30's. The high today is less than 50. The colors are bright yellow mixed in with the deep greens of the boreal forest.
We finally get to our destination, Red Goat RV park in Iskut, BC. It's right on the lake and Mikey catches a trout within the first 5 minutes; while I set up the camper. But that's ok, he drove all day so he can play while I work. Judy Miller would love Red Goat; they have Llamas all over. I asked the owner why the llamas and he told me they were his all wheel drive, self starting lawn mowers. The steep hillside of the park is very nicely mowed, maybe Mikey should invest in a few llamas.

This RV park is really isolated. We do not have cell coverage and the WiFi is up the hill in the office. Even the locals can't have cell phones here. There are only about 300 people that live in this community and most all of them live on an Indian Reservation. How isolated is it? There are 450 miles of the Cassier Highway & only 1200 people live in that entire area! Iskut is between 2 large mountain ranges & national parks; the Mt Spatzi Wilderness Park & the Mt Edziz Park. We find that Red Goat is the translation of Spatzi. The top of Spatzi mountain is rich in iron. The local mountain goats roll in the dirt and get their with coats dyed red. There are pictures of red goats hanging on the walls of the park office.

We cuddle up for the night in the caboose & watch Johnny Carson DVD before we turn in for a good nights sleep. The lake has lots of waves & together with the wind, we are rocked to sleep.

Sunday September 6, Skagway, AK

The drive from Skagway up the South Klondike roads promises to be a good one. Bud & Rob have found out about Mikey's fear of heights and they want to make the ride with us. So with walkie talkie in hand we head off between two very nice motorhomes. Mikey says we are the oreo.

This is the bridge we have to cross over the white pass. Does it look like something Mikey would want to drive on????

Well with ribbing from Rob & Bud we do make it across the pass successfully.

The White Pass railroad is the traditional way to get across this pass. It's one of the only small rail trains still in existence. The railroad tracks are right on the edge of the mountain with no guard rails. You know this is as close to the train the Mikey would let us get.

Over the pass we get to the little town of Carcross. We have enjoyed spending time with our new friends. I never would have the chance to know these wonderful people if we had been traveling by car & staying in hotels. It's fun, like boating on wheels!

I didn't know Alaska had a desert but it does. This is the smallest desert in the world, in Carcross Alaska. The dessert sand is made from the glacial silt. It's probably the coldest desert in the world too. Mikey found it interesting that there were signs posted all around to respect the delicate plant life in the desert and to avoid walking on the edges and then all around us & the signs were 4-wheeler tracks. (The dessert plants life didn't seem to mind).

We decide to stay at an RV park I marked on the way up as a cool place to stay. The Yukon Motel & RV. It sits right on the beautiful Teslin Lake. It turns out our Washington friends have just checked in when we arrive. We all, Bud, Charlie, Rob & Sharon, have a good laugh and share our dinner meal cooked on the grill by Mikey & Rob. After dinner we walk over the the museum. (We have seen a lot of buildings labels museum here that we didn't give a second look but this one looks good). Once inside we see probably the best mounts I've ever seen. They have done a wonderful job recreating wildlife scenes. The animals look like they can just walk away any time.

Then on the walk back to the camper we see a very strange sight. The deep green pine trees on the shoreline have turned a bright freaky orange. It's the strangest thing I've ever seen. It was a little unnerving. Turns out that the sun was just setting and the glow of the sunset was momentarily shown in the trees. The orange glow covered several hundred acres the disappeared in just 30-40 seconds.

Saturday Sept 5...ferry from Skagway to Juneau for the day...

We book passage for a day trip to Juneau on the fast ferry "Fjord Express". We find on the ferry the ladies from Washington, Charlie (yes a girl,Bud's wife) & Sharon (Rob's wife). Also on the ferry we meet a couple that introduces themselves after they hear we are from Tennessee. They are Wendell Evans and his lovely wife from Tazewell, TN. For those that don't know, Tazewell is where my daddy is from. Turns out they are friends of my aunt Frankie (small world). They are on there 6th trip to Alaska.

I get to see the canal from Skagway to Haines this morning on the fast ferry and it's as lovely as I thought it would be. The Lynn Canal is rich in animal life. We see Stellar Sea Lions, Dall Porpoises, Eagles, Bears, Whales, and lots of birds! The glaciers & waterfalls are more beautiful from the water.

Once in Juneau, Mikey gets into shopping. OK the only reason he liked shopping was that he found himself an eagle souvenir.

We also find lunch at old saloon. Turns out the Red Dog is famous in Alaska & McMinnville. It's full of atmosphere and fun. The floors are sawdust & there's lots of dead animals on the walls. Mikey finds the most interesting to be a hand gun that belonged to Wyatt Earp.

After a few hours in town, the bus picked us up for a short drive to Mendenhall Glacier. That was too cool in so many ways.

We both really enjoyed our day in Juneau and the ride back at sunset was great!

Friday September 4, Skagway Alaska

We wake up this morning in Pullen Creek RV park in Skagway. Having arrived after 11pm last night, we haven't really seen this place. OH MY it's lovely too. A glacier is staring at me through my kitchen window... Surprise...

We rode over on the ferry with our new friends, Barry, Beth, Connie & Mike and now Beth's mother has joined them. We are all staying at the same RV park. The ladies & I are off on foot for shopping in town.

Skagway, originally a gateway through the Chilcoot pass for the gold stampeders, is now a cruise ship town. Some days there are up to 6000 tourist walking these streets. Today just one ship is in town and it's not very crowded. The town is just like the busy Caribbean towns that the cruise ships frequent. Every other shop in for jewelry and the others are tee shirts etc. It's still fun to look at the same old souvenirs with my new girl friends. A farewell lunch with all the gang at the Alaskan Brewery. We exchange numbers and promise to keep in touch. I hope we do, they are such fun people.

We are again reminded it's a small, small world when we go back to the RV park, we find out we are parked next to another motor home couple we had met at Kluane and their friends in another RV from Washington. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since their are very few roads here in this part of the country, but I still am surprised. Mikey and the guys, Bud & Rob, share stories about the last few days and then he & I go off exploring Skagway.

It's another beautiful place, full of mountains, glaciers, & lovely water everywhere.

Mikey wants to stop in at the Red Onion Saloon, a former bar & bordello. We find the place very interesting and even take the tour upstairs with the madam in charge. Mikey really enjoyed this (a little too much!)

We really enjoyed our day in Skagway and turn in for a good nights sleep.

Thursday Sept 3, 2009 Haines, Alaska Valley of the Eagles (& the bears)

We wake up on the last day here in Haines. I can't help but compare the total lack of waves in the ocean in front of us to the loud crashing waves of Kluane Lake. It seems just the opposite should be correct. It seems that each day we are leaving a place we have fallen in love with, it starts raining. Well today, it's raining again. Mikey was planning of fishing again, but not in the rain.

We drive around the other side of the peninsula and take in some of the history of this town.

We try to see the bears, but they are not co-operating, maybe they don't like fishing in the rain either. So off we go to the 10pm ferry to the town of Skagway, Alaska. This town is 15miles by water from Haines or 360+ miles by land. We choose water. I'm sorry that the only ferry ride available is at night and I won't get to see the sights tonight.

Wednesday Sept 2...Haines, Alaska

Happy Birthday Kenny!

After a little reorganization of the truck and a lovely little breakfast at a local bakery, we're off the Chilkoot lake for a little fishing.

We are only there a minute when Mikey catches his first salmon. Then over the next 30 minutes he catches 18 fish. All good size, all salmon, all he sets free. I don't know how long we would have stood there by the river fishing had we not had a visitor. YES A BEAR!

We watch as the bear moves down to river toward us, on the opposite side, and fishes. We decided bears have the right a way so we let him fish without us!

We have a 3pm meeting in town with Dara for some fun bill paying on line. Thank you Dara for being so smart and so sweet as to take care of things while we are gone. YOU ARE THE BEST!

After our little work session, our new friends from Michigan return from halibut fishing and invite us to join them for a fresh fish dinner. You know we accepted! We added some fresh salmon spread Mikey made from our catch and some smoked halibut we purchased in Kodiak. We had a lovely dinner by the beach and then we went back to the lake for more bear watching. I guess everybody knows but me that bear watching is best done at daybreak or sunset when they are most likely feeding.

AND YES.....BEARS, BEARS & MORE BEARS...more eagles & more salmon & another lovely sunset.

Back to the campsite for a gathering around a campfire. Before the evenings over we have lots more new friends and hear lots more travel stories.

Tuesday September 1, 2009..Kluane Lake, Yukon

Happy Birthday Stephen Bess!!!

I awaken with the sounds of the waves just outside my window. The wind is strong and it has gently rocked our little home all night long. I sit up in bed and look out the window and marvel at the beauty as the sun peeps out from the mountains and the clouds over Lake Kluane. How GREAT is this?

We continue south this morning with bright sunshine and bright spirits to match. We are about an hour or so from "the most confusing intersection". This is where I took the only nap in the car in 07 & Mikey took the only wrong turn. I have to keep reminding him of this (sorry). Today the wrong turn in 07 will be the right turn for 09.

The views continue to amaze & delight us.

We stop for a brief hike down a trail that leads to Million Dollar Falls. Mikey is skeptical about what they call waterfalls up here, some a just a small trickle of water down a mountain, but this is not too tall but very rapid. I could not imagine anyone trying to go down this!

We continue heading south on the Haines Highway that leads to the intercostal town of Haines, Alaska. This is one of several towns on the Lynn Canal that links the Capital, Juneau, with surrounding smaller towns like Haines & Skagway. Like many places we've been in Alaska, there's one road in and 1 road out (about 150 miles).

The Lynn Canal is an inlet (not an artificial canal) into the mainland of southeast Alaska.
The Lynn Canal runs about 90 miles & at over 2,000 feet in depth, the Lynn Canal is the deepest fjord in North America and one of the deepest and longest in the world.

Know what a Fjord is? I didn't til I came to Alaska.

Fjords are formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Many such valleys were formed during the recent ice age. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice load and eroded sediment is remove. In some cases this rebound is faster than sea level rise. Most fjords are deeper than the adjacent sea

We cross from the Yukon Territory, into British Columbia before coming across the US border. This agent was more interested in knowing if we were carrying any firewood with us. Of course he did ask about handguns when he found out we are from TN. The sign at the US border welcomes us to the US and Haines (The valley of eagles).

There is a bald eagle refuge just about 20 miles from the town. We stop at a pull out, pop up the camper and cook a little lunch. We enjoy our treats on a picnic table as we watch the eagles watch the river for fish. It's really great to see so many eagles. They migrate to Haines in the fall, but I guess a few of them came in early to greet us. THANK YOU!Just a bit farther down the river we see an unusual fishing device. Doesn't seem quite sporting does it? I walk down and listen to what appears to be some official type game warden measuring Sockeye Salmon and throwing them back in.When we get to town this is what we see! WOW!

We stop first at the visitors information station and get the low down on this little town. We check into Ocean Side RV park (by the water of course). Then we head done to Chilkoot Lake, per advice of the visitors center to see the Salmon running. And YES we see fish. Then we see this big boy come out the woods just across the river from us. We watch him for quite some time as he plays on the fallen tree, plays with a few fish and wonders carelessly from our sight. OH MY!Back at camp, we run into 2 couples that stayed near us at Kluane Lake last night. They are also a Ocean side, just a couple spots from us. They are from Michigan on their 3 trip to Alaska. They fly in and rent a motor home for a couple of weeks.

Mikey & I go to dinner at the Lighthouse restaurant just beside our camp and order a delicious meal. While our food was arriving, someone called out "bear". There was a fully grown grizzly walking down the beach in front of us. He walked out on the floating dock at the harbor and up the rock walkway. Needless to say, I left my food and we out to see the bear! This guy had on a radio collar and a tag in his ear. This told me he was being observed probably due to bear mischief. I don't get too close, but he is fun to watch. A family dog out for a walk on the pier sees the bear and goes nuts barking. I guess bears don't like dogs & off he goes back down in front of the beach where our RV is parked. Back to my cold pasta, but it was worth it.

After dinner we are invited to ride with our new friends up to the creek where we had been earlier to look for bears. Mike, Connie, Barry & Beth drive their motor home to the river with us tagging along. Do we see bears....YES!!!!

Bears, Bears & more Bears. We get to see about 8 more bears and lots more eagles & salmon. TOO COOL!

Then we set back and enjoy the sunset behind the glaciated mountains of Lake Chilcoot.

Another great vacation day.....

Monday August 31..Tok, Alaska

As I wake up this morning laying comfortably in my bed I can't help but remember the last time we woke in Tok, Alaska. It was 20 days ago...4am up and a mad rush to get the Anchorage and home for papa's heart surgery.

A lot has happened in those 20 days. We have a lot to be thankful for. We are thankful utmost to God for seeing papa safely through the surgery. We are thankful to Nancy Nurse for taking such good care of him. We are thankful for all our wonderful friends that have helped us in so many ways & prayed us through these times. AND I'm thankful for the opportunity to travel and enjoy this wonderful northern vacation.

We leave Tok this morning just HAPPY to be here. We will be backtracking for several miles as we head back into the Yukon Territory. It must have been cloudy or foggy or something 2 years ago as we drove this stretch of highway, because neither of us remember it being so beautiful. The Wrangle St. Elia Mountain Range is on our right and the sunshine is bouncing of their glaciated peaks. The river beds are huge. It's easy to see that when the summer thaw happens these rivers become be monsters.

The Boreal Forest has been with us right after we crossed over to Canada in early August.

The forest stretching from Alaska across Canada all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, North America’s Boreal Forest is one of the world’s largest remaining intact forest and wetland ecosystems. Though not familiar to many Americans, North America’s Boreal Forest accounts for one quarter of the earth’s remaining original forests. It covers 1.3 billion acres and is larger than the Brazilian Amazon.

The forest changes a lot in this section between the Alaska & Canada border. The permafrost here is very bad. The road conditions are the worst for the entire 1500 miles of the Alaska Highway. The forest here suffers as bad as the roads. All the trees are dwarf. This is because the permafrost will not allow for normal growth. So no matter how old the trees get, they'll still be small. Mikey loves the northern evergreen trees because they look so much like the trees to his Christmas village. I tell him the permafrost trees are almost small enough to be in his village.
We arrive at Kluane Lake, Cottonwood RV park early afternoon. This is the same place we saw bear warning signs just 3 weeks ago. The owners confirm, they have had a lot a bear activity & the state camp ground was closed for a few days. Apparently a bear figured out how to get into the bear proof trash containers and became a problem. We are told in person & by sign...NO Garbage is allowed here. We take out everything we bring in. They have no garbage cans and the only bears they have seen were just passing through or stopping for a few berries. She also tells us that her husband has destroyed most of the berries the bears look for on their property. It still deserves a heads up when I walk to the bath house!

Our campsite is just were we wanted it...right by the lake. The views from our windows and our front door are amazing, the glacier is sparkling in the afternoon sun. The pictures do not do the lake justice today. The glacier fed waters are the most dramatic clear turquoise you have ever seen. Mikey & I fell in love with this lake 2 years ago and have been wanting to stay here in this spot ever since. Mikey says he has seen a lot of lakes, but never one so lovely as this...Kluane Lake, Yukon.

We set up the grill and as the coals heat up Mikey makes a few cast into the lake not really expecting to catch a lake trout. He just has to do it.

The grill tonight is steaks from the market before we left Tok and thanks to Adam Bouldin we are toasting bread on the grill for some wonderful bruchetta.

An after dinner walk around the property to enjoy the beautiful flowers and the fabulous mountains. We both agree....THIS IS THE VACATION OF OUR DREAMS!