Northwest Territories

We did indeed head up to Northwest Territories this morning.  I’ll say right up front that we were underwhelmed.  This is how it went.

From our campground in Fort Nelson, we drove back along the Alaska Highway about 15 miles to the intersection with Liard Highway.  This is sometimes called the Liard Trail and that’s what is on the road sign at the junction.  It is possible to make this a longer adventure to Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, and some Alaska travelers do that.  From Grande Prairie, Dawson Creek, or somewhere in that vicinity, the traveler can get on Alberta Highway 35 which leads to Northwest Territories Highway 1 and then Highway 3 to Yellowknife.  Travelers can then reconnect with the Alaska Highway by following a gravel road around to Fort Liard and then down to Fort Nelson.  Although Yellowknife would be a fine destination, we don’t have that anywhere on our list of places to go or things to see.  I might just mention that when we were in Whitehorse the other day, we saw a caravan which had just come from Yellowknife.  Those were some of the dirtiest rigs I have ever seen.  They may never be clean again.

We just wanted to step our foot into Northwest Territories so we could say we’ve been.  Our plan for today was to see what we thought about the road after we got to the border then decide if we wanted to continue on to Fort Liard.

Deasum Creek

Liard Highway is newly paved, at least most of the 86 miles to the border.  What wasn’t paved in the past 2 years was still a fine paved road.  In fact, this may have been the best stretch of road we’ve driven on all summer.  We zipped along at 60 mph except for the 20 minute wait to cross the Fort Nelson River.

Liard Highway

Fort Nelson River is spanned by a one-lane bridge, which is being repaired.  Everybody gets a turn on the bridge--southbound traffic, northbound traffic, and the construction crew. The bridge has a wooden surface and the rotting lumber was being replaced.

We were disappointed in the scenery.  The mowed area along the side of the roadway is much more narrow than what we’ve been seeing along the Alaska Highway.  We felt almost like we were in a tunnel and we couldn’t see out.  The terrain is rolling hills, but the road didn’t cut through any of the hills or follow along side, but rather up, over, and down the other side.  We couldn’t see anything hardly of the expanse of land.

Fort Nelson Bridge

We were disappointed by the traffic.  Oil, gas, and lumber companies use this land.  There are numerous dirt roads which intersect Liard Highway and consequently, a lot of heavy trucks traveling the highway.  We saw a few private vehicles and one travel trailer.  I don’t want to leave the impression that there was a lot of traffic.  Certainly not.  We drove for miles without seeing anyone.  We stopped for lunch and only one truck passed.  Of course, it was lunch time for everyone, I suppose.  Still, this is a road which goes from nowhere to nowhere through howling wilderness.  We didn’t expect to see any traffic.

We were really disappointed in the wildlife.  Being howling wilderness, we did expect to see something.  The only thing we saw were ravens.

Being disappointed in the scenery and the wildlife, it was easy to turn around as soon as we got to the Welcome sign for Northwest Territories instead of continuing on 25 more miles to Fort Liard.  That was also where we ran out of pavement which made the decision all the more easy.  But we’ve been to Northwest Territories and we have the picture to prove it.

Petitot River

So that was our adventure today.  Not so adventuresome, but exciting nevertheless to actually be in the Northwest Territories, even just a little bit.

That’s all folks.  We’ll be boondocking for the next few days so we don’t expect to have internet again until we get to Edmonton on Saturday or Sunday.

Thanks for tagging along.

Back at Fort Nelson

Tuesday, we continued on down the road from Liard River Hot Springs to Fort Nelson.  The farther we get from Whitehorse, the better the road surface becomes.  There are rough spots, of course, but generally the road is in very good condition.

Today’s drive was slow and time consuming, however.  Not because of rough road, but because it was narrow and VERY curvy through the Northern Rockies.  We had one opportunity to wait.  It wasn’t for construction this time, but for mowing along the shoulder.  Only waited about 10 minutes.

We had some beautiful scenery today.  The Northern Rockies are awesome and nestled among the high peaks is Muncho Lake.  At the top of Stone Mountain is Summit Lake.  This lake was still frozen in late May when we passed going the other direction.

Toad River

Our plan had been to drive past Fort Nelson 20 or 30 miles to a pullout somewhere, but a strange thing happened on the way.  About 15 miles north of Fort Nelson, we passed the junction of Liard Trail which leads to Fort Liard, Northwest Territory.  That caught my eye and I started flipping pages in the Milepost to see what kind of road we were talking about and how far it was.  It turned out to be a some paved/some gravel road and only about 130 miles.  Very uncharacteristic of us, we immediately decided we could do that as a day trip.

Muncho Lake

With a new plan formulating in our minds, we stopped for the night at Triple “G” Hideout Campground in Fort Nelson.  We were here in May.  It’s a nice campground and for $33 we have full hook-ups including cable TV and free WiFi.  We signed up for two nights.  We went on our adventure to Northwest Territories today.  That story tomorrow.

Summit Lake

GAS REPORT:  We filled up the motor home at Toad River Lodge.  We expected the fuel to be more expensive in British Columbia and it was.  $5.98 for gas and $6.13 for diesel.  By the way, these prices are what we actually have to pay in US dollars; I include the latest conversion rate I have.

CRITTER COUNT:  Not so many bear today--we only saw 2.  The caribou were out, however.  We saw 5.

That’s all for now.  Thanks for tagging along.

Haines and Skagway

Monday was an exciting day along the Alaska Highway.

Just before we left this morning, Gene went out and made some photos of what is left of an abandoned lodge which offered food, gas, and souvenirs to travelers from 1976 to 1989.  We spent the night in front of what used to be the gas pumps.  The only building left standing is the small “office” for the service station.  Everything else has fallen down.  We’ve seen so many businesses which are closed along the highway that I wouldn’t be surprised if, in 20 or 30 years, we found nothing left of them either.

Our first stop this morning was Watson Lake for fuel and internet.  Fuel we got, but, unfortunately, internet was not available.

As we were leaving Watson Lake we noticed a young couple hitchhiking.  We had seen them a couple times yesterday and passed them by.  Today we stopped and picked them up.  We were very glad we did.  Raphael and Bettina are young university students from Switzerland touring Canada after their 3-month English Language course in Vancouver.  They were headed to Liard Hot Springs which was our destination for the night.  We were happy to give them a lift.

We are parked for this evening at a large rest area right across the street from the entrance to the Hot Springs.  Decided not to pay the high price for this provincial park just for a soak in the hot springs.

I wanted to just mention Haines and Skagway for those thinking about a trip to Alaska.  We didn’t go to either of those towns this trip because we had been previously and they are several miles out of the way.  We’re trying to save those gas dollars, you know.

Not wild, but free range

Haines has a couple things we enjoyed.  If you enjoy old Forts, there is a walking tour of Fort William H. Seward established about 1900 as the first post in the territory.  The Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve is in Haines and naturally there are a lot of eagles here.  Summer is not the time for the huge population of eagles, but there are always some around.  Haines is on the coast, so you have the coastal view, but I don’t think it is as pretty as Seward’s view of Resurrection Bay.

When we visited in 2004, we took the Alaska ferry from Haines to Skagway and did not make that long drive around.  As far as the town is concerned, we liked Haines better than Skagway, but the drive out of Skagway is absolutely drop dead gorgeous.  I would go there just for that drive.  If you’re not taking the ferry to Skagway, the road is from Whitehorse.  The Red Onion Saloon in Skagway is popular.  We went there, but it was on a day when the cruise ships were in town and we had a very long wait, shared a table with another couple, and felt rushed to get out of the way of the next group.

Our favorite thing in Skagway was the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park with it’s excellent displays and movie about the gold rush miners along the Chilkoot Trail.  We also took a day cruise to Juneau from Skagway which we really liked.  The cruise included a sightseeing bus tour of Juneau and Mendenhall Glacier.  If I remember correctly, the cruise was with Fjord Express.

CRITTER COUNT: This has been the day for wildlife.  First off this morning we pulled into a rest area just to take a picture of the view.  When I snapped the picture I realized there were moose in the pond below.  Just past Watson Lake we started seeing bears.  We saw 8 total with one trying to get into the garbage container at the Liard Hot Springs Rest Area where we’re parked for the night.  We also saw the bison heard sprawled out on both sides of the road.  A big day for wildlife.

GAS REPORT:  Gas at Watson Lake Tempo was $5.16 (diesel $5.32).  There was a station just as we were leaving town that was a couple cents cheaper.  We had stopped at Tempo because we were hoping for internet.  Oh well.

That’s all for today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Rivers, Museums, and Cinnamon Buns

We got away from Whitehorse this morning even though there was some talk of taking a zero day.  I’m glad we left; it was a beautiful day for driving.

We didn’t go very far, only about 189 miles, but we made several stops along the way so it took us most of the day.  Our first stop was at the bridge over the Yukon River a few miles south of Whitehorse.  I don’t think there’s anything too special about the bridge, but its blue color over the clear waters of the Yukon and Marsh Lake make it something special to look at.  Just as we were walking toward the bridge we spotted an eagle flying low over the river with wings spread and head and tail gleaming in the sunlight.  What a magnificent bird.

The Yukon River is 2000 miles long beginning at the Yukon/British Columbia border and flows Northwest through Alaska to eventually empty into the Bering Sea.

Wouldn’t you know, right about lunch time, we were at Johnson’s Crossing.  This is the place we stopped as we were inbound to sample the cinnamon bun.  I was thinking Johnson’s Crossing won the contest with the best cinnamon bun.  Gene says it tied for first place.  I don’t know; all I know is we stopped to get another one today.  While Gene went in to purchase said bun, I prepared our lunch sandwiches.  We shared the bun for dessert and it was very fine indeed and right from the oven.  Yummy.

Teslin River at Johnson's Crossing

Johnson’s Crossing, the name the locals use when speaking of the bridge over the Teslin River, is the location of one of the original lodges on the Alaska Highway.  Before the highway was built, all goods and supplies for Teslin traveled this river from Whitehorse.

On down the road at the town of Teslin, we stopped to visit the George Johnston Museum.  Actually, Gene went in and I sat this one out.  He gave me a good report when he got back to the motor home.  The museum is basically a Tlingit Heritage museum with George Johnston as the main attraction.  

George was a Tlingit living near Teslin.  He was a trapper and maybe a little eccentric.  He was the first person in the community to buy a car which he used for winter trapping on the frozen river.  He painted the car white to blend in with the snow and ice.  It was so cold he had to drain the water from the radiator and he kept the water in a pan on the stove.  When he saw an animal walking on or near the river, he poured the water back in the radiator and off to the river he went.

Swift River

Other items in the museum included traditional Tlingit household items and ceremonial clothing, animal hides, stuffed animals, and a replica of a trapper’s cabin.  This is not an art gallery and the items displayed were made for home use and well worn--precisely the kind of museum Gene likes.  He felt it was well worth the $4 admission.

We stopped for the night at a pullout near Rancheria Falls.

CRITTER COUNT:  Just after we crossed the bridge over the Teslin River at Johnson’s Crossing we spotted two black bear cubs.  I’m sure mom was somewhere close by, but we didn’t see her.  Even though we’ve seen many eagles, so many that I’ve quit counting, I’m going to count the one we saw today because his low flight across the river was breathtaking.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Kluane National Park

We’ve had one round of excitement after another today.  Some good; some not so good.

My day starts pretty early with the Peanut wanting his breakfast at 5 AM.  This morning I got to sleep almost an extra hour since Peanut hadn’t switched his internal clock from Alaska time to Pacific time.  That part was not just good; it was great.

However, when I put my foot down on the floor as I got out of bed, I discovered the carpet was wet.  It had rained hard most of the night and we apparently have a leak somewhere around our bedroom slide.  The bedroom carpet was soaked and a puddle was forming in the bathroom.  A corner of the bedspread was touching the floor and had wicked water all the way up and gotten the rest of the bed covers wet on that corner.

We’ve spent much of our time today trying to soak up the water with towels and now we have a small electric heater blowing on the carpet.  With only a brief inspection, the most likely spot for a leak seems to be at one of the lower corners of the slide where the rubber gasket feels a little loose.  Our first priority now is to get the carpet dry and we’ll try to find the leak during the next rain.

As we were sitting on the sofa drinking a cup of coffee and trying to unravel the mystery of the leak, a grizzly bear walked right into our campsite, stood up on hind legs to give himself a good back scratching on the tree, then proceeded on to the next site.  I grabbed on camera and Gene grabbed the other.  What a treat.  Almost made me forget about the leak.  The bear was close; only about 10 feet away.  I didn’t dare open a window, so you’ll just have to look around the rain drops and dirt that were on windows.

We hung around longer than we planned before heading out this morning.  We were hoping the bear would come back, but he didn’t.  We finally got going about 9 AM.

Our first stop of the day was at Sheep Mountain Information Center.  This is part of Kluane National Park and serves as a backcountry office and information center for hikers as well as an interpretative center for Sheep Mountain.  The high mountains behind the center are home to the largest concentration of Dall Sheep in the world.  We saw no sheep today because at this time of the year they are all on the other side of the mountain out of view.  Even if they’d been there, we probably wouldn’t have been able to see them due to the low cloud cover.

About 40 miles further down the road is Haines Junction which was our next stop.  The Visitor Center for Kluane National Park is here and we stopped in for a few minutes to look at the displays and see the movie. Kluane National Park along with Wrangell-St Elias and Glacier Bay National Parks in Alaska together are designated a World Heritage Site.  Within Kluane National Park is Mt. Logan--Canada’s highest peak and the second highest peak in North America.

Across the street from the Visitor Center is Village Bakery.  It was so easy to just walk across the street and get a muffin.  Well, Gene got a muffin and I got a cranberry scone.  My scone was better than his muffin, but he disagrees with that assessment.  In any case, they were both excellent.

I think the drive from Haines Junction to Kluane Lake is just about the most scenic along the Alaska Highway.  I’m sorry the clouds were so low and thick that they blocked the view of the high peaks.  Perhaps we’ll be by this way again someday.

We arrived in Whitehorse about mid-afternoon.  The first thing on Gene’s list was to take that spare tire back.  Remember when we were here in June and Gene talked the salesman at the tire store into selling him a full-sized tire on a rim for the Honda to take on the Dempster highway with a promise to take the tire back and give us a refund if it wasn’t used.  Even though we had a flat on the Dempster, we used our donut spare to get us back to the service center and had the flat repaired.  We never used the tire Gene bought in Whitehorse and it was still wrapped in plastic.  We really didn’t figure the salesman would remember that discussion and agreement, but he did and Gene got all the money back except what the shop charged for mounting the tire on the rim.  Yea!!!

We are again staying at High Country RV Park in Whitehorse.  This time we have only an electric (20 amp) and water site.  It’s a little cheaper ($28.50) than a full-hookup site and there is a dump station here which is convenient.  All I really wanted was electricity and WiFi anyway.

GAS REPORT:  We filled up as we came into town and paid $5.05 (US) for gas.  Diesel was $5.13 (US) a gallon.  A little better than when we were here in June, but almost a dollar more than what we were  paying in Alaska.

CRITTER COUNT:  one fine grizzly bear.

That’s it for today.  Sunday morning we’ll hit the road again.  Probably no opportunity for WiFi again until Watson Lake.

Til then--thanks for tagging along.

Kluane National Park

We’ve had one round of excitement after another today.  Some good; some not so good.

My day starts pretty early with the Peanut wanting his breakfast at 5 AM.  This morning I got to sleep almost an extra hour since Peanut hadn’t switched his internal clock from Alaska time to Pacific time.  That part was not just good; it was great.

However, when I put my foot down on the floor as I got out of bed, I discovered the carpet was wet.  It had rained hard most of the night and we apparently have a leak somewhere around our bedroom slide.  The bedroom carpet was soaked and a puddle was forming in the bathroom.  A corner of the bedspread was touching the floor and had wicked water all the way up and gotten the rest of the bed covers wet on that corner.

We’ve spent much of our time today trying to soak up the water with towels and now we have a small electric heater blowing on the carpet.  With only a brief inspection, the most likely spot for a leak seems to be at one of the lower corners of the slide where the rubber gasket feels a little loose.  Our first priority now is to get the carpet dry and we’ll try to find the leak during the next rain.

As we were sitting on the sofa drinking a cup of coffee and trying to unravel the mystery of the leak, a grizzly bear walked right into our campsite, stood up on hind legs to give himself a good back scratching on the tree, then proceeded on to the next site.  I grabbed on camera and Gene grabbed the other.  What a treat.  Almost made me forget about the leak.  The bear was close; only about 10 feet away.  I didn’t dare open a window, so you’ll just have to look around the rain drops and dirt that were on windows.

We hung around longer than we planned before heading out this morning.  We were hoping the bear would come back, but he didn’t.  We finally got going about 9 AM.

Our first stop of the day was at Sheep Mountain Information Center.  This is part of Kluane National Park and serves as a backcountry office and information center for hikers as well as an interpretative center for Sheep Mountain.  The high mountains behind the center are home to the largest concentration of Dall Sheep in the world.  We saw no sheep today because at this time of the year they are all on the other side of the mountain out of view.  Even if they’d been there, we probably wouldn’t have been able to see them due to the low cloud cover.

About 40 miles further down the road is Haines Junction which was our next stop.  The Visitor Center for Kluane National Park is here and we stopped in for a few minutes to look at the displays and see the movie. Kluane National Park along with Wrangell-St Elias and Glacier Bay National Parks in Alaska together are designated a World Heritage Site.  Within Kluane National Park is Mt. Logan--Canada’s highest peak and the second highest peak in North America.

Across the street from the Visitor Center is Village Bakery.  It was so easy to just walk across the street and get a muffin.  Well, Gene got a muffin and I got a cranberry scone.  My scone was better than his muffin, but he disagrees with that assessment.  In any case, they were both excellent.

I think the drive from Haines Junction to Kluane Lake is just about the most scenic along the Alaska Highway.  I’m sorry the clouds were so low and thick that they blocked the view of the high peaks.  Perhaps we’ll be by this way again someday.

We arrived in Whitehorse about mid-afternoon.  The first thing on Gene’s list was to take that spare tire back.  Remember when we were here in June and Gene talked the salesman at the tire store into selling him a full-sized tire on a rim for the Honda to take on the Dempster highway with a promise to take the tire back and give us a refund if it wasn’t used.  Even though we had a flat on the Dempster, we used our donut spare to get us back to the service center and had the flat repaired.  We never used the tire Gene bought in Whitehorse and it was still wrapped in plastic.  We really didn’t figure the salesman would remember that discussion and agreement, but he did and Gene got all the money back except what the shop charged for mounting the tire on the rim.  Yea!!!

We are again staying at High Country RV Park in Whitehorse.  This time we have only an electric (20 amp) and water site.  It’s a little cheaper ($28.50) than a full-hookup site and there is a dump station here which is convenient.  All I really wanted was electricity and WiFi anyway.

GAS REPORT:  We filled up as we came into town and paid $5.05 (US) for gas.  Diesel was $5.13 (US) a gallon.  A little better than when we were here in June, but almost a dollar more than what we were  paying in Alaska.

CRITTER COUNT:  one fine grizzly bear.

That’s it for today.  Sunday morning we’ll hit the road again.  Probably no opportunity for WiFi again until Watson Lake.  Til then--thanks for tagging along.

Back on the Alaska Highway

Thursday, we pulled out of our campground in Tok and were soon back on the Alaska Highway.  But we weren’t in a big rush, that’s for sure.

Our first stop was at the Chevron station on the corner of Tok Cutoff and Alaska Highway.  We wanted to wish Cool Judy, Luke, Frank, and Gloria safe travels.  They were heading toward Canada, as well.  They all pulled out ahead of us.  Gene went in the Chevron to get a cup of coffee, so we didn’t see them again.  Perhaps our paths will cross again on down the highway before they turn south and head for the US border.  It was sure nice getting to know them.

The first few miles of the road out of Tok was fine, but it wasn’t long before we ran into some rough patches which lasted almost to the Canadian border.

We stopped for the night at a scenic pullout overlooking Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge.  I still had some fresh vegetables, fruit, milk, and cheese.  Call me stingy, but I didn’t want to relinquish those things to the border patrol.  Thursday was a big fruit and vegetable day and we washed it all down with milk, so that by Friday morning after breakfast just about all was gone.  What was left, I wasn’t going to worry about.  As it turned out, the only thing we would have lost would have been the apples.

The list of restricted items, when you can find one, is very vague.  I’ve seen more than one list and the items are different.  What’s up with that?  At every border crossing, they’ve always asked us about fresh fruit and vegetables, so I knew that was a problem.  However, today, when we started listing all the stuff we had, the guard asked specifically for anything with a pit or a core.  Now, that’s a real guideline.  Why don’t they just say that to start with and print it on the lists?

Friday morning, before crossing into Yukon, we stopped at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center.  This is a very nice facility with displays, a small gift shop, a movie, and free coffee.  We wandered around there for about 30 minutes before heading back onto the highway.

We had heard the section of road in the Yukon to Haines Junction was in very bad shape.  We hadn’t looked forward to driving it.  We missed this portion of the highway on our inbound trip because we went to Dawson City from Whitehorse.  There was no going around this time.  We rolled off the pavement at the Alaska/Yukon border onto dirt road that was nearly as bad as Top of the World Highway.  Then there was the sign announcing road construction for the next 186 km.  We were both dismayed.  However, the dirt didn’t last long.  We were soon back on pavement, but I’m not so sure it was much of an improvement over the dirt.  The pavement had some pretty bad frost heaves and pot holes.  The “improved” areas were gravel and were some better than the pavement, but the seams where the gravel met the pavement were very rough.  It was a long, slow 100 miles.  Our average speed was 35 mph.

Shortly after the border crossing we stopped at Beaver Creek, the westernmost community in Canada.  We stopped in the Yukon Visitor Center and asked about the road conditions.  To our surprise, the gentleman said that most of the construction had been completed.  That was good news.  As bad as it was today, I hate to think how bad it was at the beginning of summer.  No wonder we heard such horror stories.

While in Beaver Creek, we walked over to Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church.  This is one of the three or four Quonsit hut churches along the Alaska Highway.  After the road was built, the Quonset huts and most everything else used during construction was abandon.  Locals used what they could for various things and the rest is still sitting along the highway, especially old jeeps and army trucks.  Our Lady of Grace is still being used for services twice a month.

Another stop today was at Burwash Landing.  Gene wanted a cup of coffee, but the building he went into turned out to be a museum.  He had to make his own coffee in the rig.

After a long day of hard driving, although not so many miles, we finally parked by Kluane Lake at Cottonwood RV Park.  We stayed here in 2004 and liked it so much we had to come back.  It’s expensive, but a very nice campground and the sites on the water are just gorgeous.  We’re in a site without any hook-ups, on the water for $32.

GAS REPORT:  Before crossing the border into Canada, we filled up the gas tank.  Gas at Border City was 4.34 and diesel was 4.72.

CRITTER COUNT:  We saw a black bear today.  I was so excited.  That was the first bear we’ve seen since Denali.  We’re back on the Alcan in Canada.  That’s where we saw them all before.  We also saw 7 swans.

That’s it for today.  Hoping to post this in Whitehorse.  Thanks for tagging along.