Alaska 2012
Well here we go again. We are off to Alaska for the second time. Our first visit was in 2006 and we went to Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula, Valdez, Skagway, and Hyder. We especially enjoyed Hyder and that is why we are going again.
Our first day, July 30, 2012, we drove North to Sheridan, WY. We stayed at Peter D's RV park on our first trip and did so again on this trip. The town of Sheridan runs a bus route from various locations about town, so we took the bus down to the city park and had ice cream and watched the kids play in the stream that runs thru the park. We think Sheridan is really a nice town.
July 31, 2012
Today we headed for East Glacier, Montana. I believe that every road in Montana is under construction. Many times we were traversing stretches up to 30 miles of rough road bed at about 30 miles an hour. That really slowed us down.
We had reservations at Glacier Meadow RV Park which is about 16 miles West of East Glacier. The RV Park is very nice but cell service is almost nonexistent. They do have a cell phone booster installed, but you have to be right at the booster and hold the booster antenna next to your cell phone. They do have wifi, but it is slow and non-secured.
Aug. 1, 2012
Today we drove over to Hungry Horse to fill up the truck and Sue wanted to pick up a few grocery items. We made a couple of phone calls from there then returned to the trailer. After returning to the trailer, we relaxed, read books, and played "holey board".
Aug. 2, 2012
Today we took a drive up to St. Mary and then on thru the park on the "Going to the Sun Highway". We took a short hike up to a waterfall called Baring Water Fall. It was a short hike and the falls were nice.
Baring Falls Sue and I at Baring Falls
Next stop was at Jackson Glacier Overlook. Of the 150 original glaciers in the park, only 26 remain. When a glacier stops moving it is then classified as a snow field. There are several such snow fields still in existence.
Jackson Glacier Jackson Glacier Exhibit
Next we stopped at the Logan Pass Visitor Center. They have a path constructed of timbers that leads up to the top of the hill. We walked up about half way then decided that since it looked like rain, we would head back. The wind was blowing a gale as well.
Taken from Logan Pass Columbian Ground Squirrel
We then continued to drive West on the "Road to the Sun. On the very top of the pass, they had (you guessed it) ROAD CONSTRUCTION. There were multiple delays, but we didn't mind it as we were enjoying the views.
We passed the weeping wall - more info on that in the Aug. 3 dialog.
The last big item I'll mention now was the large lake at the West side of the park. It is Lake McDonald. As we drove around it, it seemed to go on forever. I don't know how long it is but it sure is a pretty lake.
Lake McDonald from the North End
We drove out of the park and thru West Glacier as we headed for the RV Park. The scenery is great up here. We passed by a place called Goat Lick Overlook and decided to check it out later.
Overall, the day was cloudy and cool, and we had a little light rain. Tonight it rained very hard. I thought at first that it was hail, but it was just really hard rain.
Tomorrow, Aug. 3, we are taking a bus tour of the park. We will see most of what we saw today except I won't be driving and if the weather is nice, the top of the bus will be open.
Aug, 3, 2012
When we got up, it was cool and cloudy with clouds hanging on the hill tops around us. We thought we might not get to go on the tour.
Cloudy this morning looks like rain
The bus arrived and Sue & I and two other couples from the RV park got on the bus, which already had several passengers, and away we went. Gary, our bus driver/guide was a super guy and did a great job with the history, tall tales, and correct information for us during the whole tour.
Our Bus
The bus has a canvas top that can be rolled back so we can have an open air bus. The top was covered as we started out, waiting of it to warm up a little bit.
Our first stop was the Goat Lick Overlook. There must be salt in the ground and the Mountain Goats like to come there for the salt. We saw about 7 or 8 mountain goats up on the hill.
Mountain Goats at Second shot of
Goat Lick Overlook Mountain Goats
Our next stop was the Izaak Walton Inn. The Inn was originally a work camp for the Great Northern RR. The old building has been restored and converted into a Lodge. Also on the property are several RR cars and Cabooses and one locomotive that have been converted into separate cabins. The whole lower level of the Lodge is full of RR memorabilia.
Next we drove thru West Glacier which is the west entrance to the Park. We stopped at the Apgar Village and Visitors Center. Gary, our driver and tour guide, gave us a talk about how Lake McDonald was formed by the glaciers and how tourists came in the early days and took a boat to the Northern end of the lake to another Lodge that had been built. The lake is Glacier fed and is 10 miles long and 4 miles wide. I can't remember how deep it is, but it is quiet deep.
Our guide tells us
about Lake McDonald
Next stop was Lake McDonald Lodge. This is the lodge that was built by a wealthy man who ran it for a while and then sold it off. If you want more info on it, you can Google it. We ate lunch there and had time to look thru the "rubber tomahawk store". When we came out to the bus, the top had been rolled back and we were open air.
Front of Lake McDonald Lodge
Next stop was Avalanche Creek but I can't remember what was told about it. I think the picture is of Avalanche Creek Falls.
Sue and I with Avalanche Falls? behind us
Next stop was Logan Pass Visitor Center. On the way up there, we passed the "weeping wall". Because of the type of rock formation in these mountains, water works its way thru the cracks and this whole bluff is wet year-round. This rock formation also makes it hard to maintain the road bed as the water erodes the layers of rock and silt and then the weight of the road and the traffic on it causes the road bed to settle and the pavement to break up.
It was cold and windy up on Logan's Pass. As we left Logan's Pass, we could see new snow on Mt. Siyeh that had fallen the night before.
Fresh Snow on the Mountain Snow up high
Now we come to Jackson Glacier Overlook. You can see how much the glacier has melted. Of the 150 original glaciers in the park, only 26 remain. Some glaciers have become snow fields. Snow fields are glaciers that have stopped moving.
Jackson Glacier Jackson Glacier exhibit
Next, we stopped at Sunrift Gorge. This gorge was cut into the rocks by Baring creek. The pictures below show how beautiful this little creek is as it crosses under the highway. The creek then flows to Saint Mary Lake. Sue and I hiked in the falls the day before today.
Of course we had to stop and see Wild Goose Island again, but this time we heard an old Indian Legend from Gary.
Our tour is about over now as we head into the town of East Glacier. We have traveled the "Road to the Sun" twice now. Even though we had driven the road yesterday, we enjoyed today because I didn't have to watch traffic, we had a tour guide, and we stopped at places Sue and I missed yesterday.
Aug. 4, 2012
Today we cleaned the trailer some and Sue did laundry. We also took the day to just set around and read and enjoy the day.
Aug. 5, 2012
This morning we hooked up the trailer and headed out to Lake Louise. The drive was an easy drive (only 320 miles) and the roads were pretty nice. We arrived at Lake Louise at about 3:30, found our camp site and got set up. My body needed fuel so I had a cold beer and then we took a short walk to work out the kinks in our legs. We were warned as we checked in that there has been a lot of bear activity in the camp and to be very careful about leaving any food stuff out. We would not mind seeing a bear in the camp as long as no one is harmed in any way.
After supper, we sat outside and enjoyed the early evening. As I started writing the info for Aug. 3, I had to get out the tour map to remember were we stopped and what we saw.
Aug. 6, 2012
This morning we took a chair lift ride to the top of the ski mountain here at Lake Louise. What a view from up there.
Lake Louise with the Hotel
across the lake
We visited the "Interpretive Center" and enjoyed a short talk on grizzly bears. I would recommend the trip up to the top to everyone. When we came back down, we had lunch at the ski lodge and then while driving on down to town, we stopped to take pictures of our first grizzly on this trip.
After it cooled down a little, we drove up to the actual Lake Louise at the famous Lake Louise Hotel. This lake is glacier feed and when we saw it in 2006, the Glacier was much, much larger. I don't have the 2006 picture with me but I will add it when we get home. We walked to the head of the lake just to get some exercise. They have changed many things around the lake since we were here in 2006. They have added more docks at the hotel end of the lake and a canoe rental facility across from the hotel.
Aug. 7, 2012
Went in to town this morning to find some wifi. The post office had the best deal in town, price wise. The wifi itself was not very good. There were just too many people trying to use it at the same time.
Later in the day I filled up the truck. Diesel is running over $4.00 per gallon up here. The campground emptied out today as it was the last day of some Canadian holiday. We hooked the trailer up to the truck so we wouldn't wake up the couple in the space next to us the next morning and then enjoyed the evening.
Aug. 8, 2012
We got an early start this morning. We planned to drive about 350 miles or so and then stop at a provincial park that we had stayed at in 2006. Well, we never did find that park and we just continued on down the road looking for a park to stay at tonight. We drove all the way to Burns Lake and found a municipal park that was free and very nice. We had driven 500 miles. I was tired. Two wild turkeys were required before I could really relax.
We met a couple from Florida that had just driven in from Hyder - where we are headed. They were returning to Florida and had just been to most of the places we are headed for.
Aug. 9, 2012
We woke up to a beautiful day today. We got the truck pointed in the right direction and headed out for Hyder, Alaska. We stopped at Smithers, for diesel and a an egg McMuffin and some hot coffee. After a quick breakfast, we saddled up again and made it to our destination of Hyder. On the way we say 2 separate black bears along the road. We finally arrived at the "Run-A-Muck" RV park and got checked in. We had driven in the rain for many miles and had to set up the trailer in the rain well. That always makes it fun to get set up. We ate a late lunch and then drove up to the Fish Creek bear viewing area. We were really lucky because the rain did let up and we saw one grizzly come down and catch his supper and then a sow and her cub came in and she was teaching the cub how to fish. The cub only wanted to play. I took 260 pictures this afternoon. Some were good and many of them will get deleted. While the cub was playing at catching salmon, I just had the camera to "rapid fire" so I could catch the action I wanted.
We tried to use the wifi at Camp Run-A-Muck but it was terrible. We are having a terrible time trying to update this blog.
Aug. 10, 2012
This morning we drove over to Steward, BC to check out another campground. We liked it better than Run-A-Muck so we changed to the RV Park in Steward. Found out that their wifi is much better. The park is Bear River RV Park. It has grass, good wifi, and FULL hook-ups and cable TV. We were able to watch some of the Olympics.
We visited the Fish Creek site again this evening and got a few more pictures of the sow and her cub. We stayed there until 9 PM to see if the wolves would come in or not. I guess we will have to try to see them tomorrow around mid-day when they reportedly visit the site.
Aug. 11, 2012
This weekend is the Bear Festival/Fire Fighters Festival in Stewart. They were have a pancake breakfast in the park this morning - all you could eat for $5. They had pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, ham, and coffee or orange juice
We went back to Fish Creek this morning to try and catch the wolves that come in to fish. Sue and I waited for several hours hoping to see them. Sue got tired and went to the truck to rest for a while and I joined her when I got tired. We had heard that the wolves came in several days around 1:00 to 1:30 PM, so about 1:00 PM, I went back out to watch. I met a Forest Service Ranger and she told me the wolf had been seen at the Lagoon, but had left. At the lagoon, I watched for a few minutes then saw the wolf peeking out from some bushes. He (or she) turned and headed back into the bushes and I thought I might know where he was going so I followed on the walkway. Sure enough, he came out into the stream and caught a fish, went up on the far bank in to bushes. A short time later he came into the creek again and caught another fish. I couldn't go get Sue and still take pictures so she didn't get to see the wolf.
We waited around quite a while longer hoping that the wolf would come in again, but he didn't so we went back to the trailer.
Aug. 12, 2012
Sue went to church this morning while I did some maintenance items on the trailer. When Sue returned from Church, we went back to Fish Creek in hopes of catching the wolf again. When we arrived, we were told that they had 4 wolves come in that morning and fish for quite a while.
We stayed until around 3:00 PM hoping that Sue could see at least one wolf. NO LUCK We gave up and came back to town and had a nice supper at the King Edward Hotel. Price was high, food wasn't that good. We stopped and washed the truck on the way to the trailer.
Aug. 13, 2012
This morning we left Stewart and headed to Dease Lake, BC. There were many stops along the way due to road construction. Also, they are clearing a path for a large power line. We were stopped for quite a while at one point while a helicopter was used to pick up down timber and put it in a pile. It was interesting to watch the helicopter do its job. Of course what would a day of driving be without rain.
Arrived at Dease Lake and checked in to the RV park. We had stayed here in 2006 when we were up here before. They have full hook ups and great wifi. There was a caravan coming in today so we could only get water and electric and then move over to full hook up tomorrow.
Aug. 14, 2012
Moved the trailer over to a site with full hook up this morning and I worked on this blog a little. Sue needed an ice cream cone so we went into town? (gift store, gas and grocery store, and several homes). Prices are high. Diesel is $1.549 per liter. I think that is about $5.87/gallon. Oh well, you can't take it with you.
Sue caught up our laundry today and we did some reading and just enjoyed the quiet.
Aug. 15, 2012
Today we took a drive out to Telegraph Canyon which is about a 70 mile drive each way. We packed a lunch and ate at a rest stop (the only one along the way). The canyon and river were beautiful – drove through a little town which had a sign mentioning Tahltan people. This village is part of the Tahlatan Nation Reservation. Their sign said "No Fishing, No Hunting and No Trespassing"; however we were allowed to drive on their land. There were maybe 10 houses and a school. Then we drove to Telegraph Creek which is pretty much a ghost town. The only wildlife we saw today were two chipmunks and a small rabbit. Guess the bear and moose decided to sleep in.
We had been told that one place on the canyon wall, if the light was just right, you could see the image of an eagle with its wings spread out. We think we found the place, but had to use our imagination to see it. Hopefully our photos will show it more clearly.
Tomorrow we head for the Alcan Highway. I hope the road is better and the fuel prices are more reasonable.
Aug. 16, 2012
We headed to White Horse today. We had stayed at a Provincial Park on the East side of White Horse when we were up here in 2006, so we stayed there again. The parks cost $12/night and are very well maintained. They usually include free firewood. We had a fire this evening and fought the flies and mesquites until the fire died out then said goodnight.
Aug. 17, 2012
Today we went to White Horse and I got a haircut, Sue got a Latte, and we paid Wal-Mart a visit. Of course we made our contribution to the Canadian petro fund.
Diesel prices range from $1.229/liter ($4.669/gallon) to $1.559/liter ($5.87/gallon). I don't think I'll ever gripe about $3.80/gallon again.
After returning to the campground, we relaxed, read, and walked around the park.
Aug. 18, 2012
This morning we headed to Tok, Alaska. Not far out of White Horse, the road turned to s##@. Road construction was the main attraction all day. Several delays waiting for the escort car and just driving extremely slow so as not to tear up the truck and trailer.
I'll comment here about the roads in Canada. First let me say that Canada is a beautiful country, the people that we have talked to and interfaced with in any way are very nice. That said - they work on the road all the time, they just don't FIX them. They tear up long stretches of asphalt, throw down a lot of gravel, wet it down and have the general public drive thru it to pack it down and then they move to another stretch of road of road and do the same thing. They don't bother laying any asphalt. Since we have been in Canada, we have seen ONE asphalt laying operation. Boy! give me the good old USA roads.
We arrived in Tok, checked in to the RV Park and got set up. It was time for an oil change on the truck so I went to "Willards" for an oil change and grease job. I had reservations about having him do the work after seeing his shop, but he did a good job. I paid his rent for the next month (they aren't bashful about charging an arm and a leg for services).
Aug. 19, 2012
Today we drove to "Chicken" Alaska. It was a nice drive. We drove thru a huge area that was burnt by forest fire in 2004, I think. We did see a moose swimming is a small pond along the road but by the time we got stopped, he was headed away from the road. The pictures below is the only ones we could get.
(insert moose pictures here)
Chicken is not much to see, but now I can say we went to Chicken. There is an RV park there, but I wouldn't want to pull my trailer into there. The pavement ended about a mile from Chicken and the road was pretty rough from that point. You can continue to Dawson City from there, but the road is really rough and not much it is paved. It is called "Top of the World" road.
This evening we enjoyed listening to a young musician and singer that entertains at the RV Park ever night. He played the guitar and harmonica and sang mostly 50's and 60's music.
Aug. 20, 2012
We headed back to White Horse today. Guess what, the roads are still torn all to h##l. We had thought we would stop at Haines Jct. and then just drive the truck down to Haines, but I am tired of fighting the torn-up roads so we just fought our way back to White Horse.
We didn't see any wildlife today at all. Guess they all are hiding.
We stopped at the Wal-Mart RV Park and spent the night. It was cool there and windy. There were many RV's in the parking lot.
Aug. 21, 2012
This morning we filled the truck and headed to Watson Lake. I am trying to limit our drives each day to 300 miles or so and then take a day every once in a while to stay in one place and catch up on things.
We found a real nice campground at Watkins Lake called ----Watkins Lake campground. There were all of four other campers in there. The lake is large and very pretty. We took a short hike around the campground and over to the shore of the lake to stretch our legs.
Aug. 22, 2012
It rained last night. Boy! - the thunder and lightening was something else. It even woke me up. Since we didn't have hook-ups last night, it was easy to get going this morning, pull in the slide outs, run over the wheel chock, pick up the pieces of the wheel chock and then off we went.
Mother Nature wasn't done with us though. We drove in the rain all day to Ft. Nelson, BC. The roads were better and the day was cool, so it wasn't all bad. We did drive thru a herd of buffalo on the way. The herd was spread over at least 20 miles. Sometimes there would be 10 to 20 in a group and then 5 miles down the road, there would be a single buffalo, then further down the road another small group.
We got to Ft. Nelson, checked into a nice RV park and got settled. We are going to stay 2 nights and do laundry, wash the truck, etc.
Aug. 23, 2012
It rained again last night. Weather is cool and we slept in awhile. Sue did laundry, I went to the grocery store and later washed the truck. I guess we are set to go again. We will load up in the morning and head for Dawson Creek. We have a system going now. Two nights in a full service park and 2 single nights in a provincial park. Getting cheap aren't I? It sure did help to get the dirt and mud off the truck. For a while there, we didn't want to touch the outside of it because it was SOOOOO dirty. It did sprinkle a little bit later in the evening, but that's ok.
Aug. 24, 2012
Well this morning I took down the trailer in the rain. We got started out of town and drove in rain almost to Ft. St. John. So much for washing the truck yesterday!! We did see one deer on the way and that was the only wildlife seen. We arrived at Dawson Creek at about 2:30 PM and found the Wal-Mart RV Park. The wind is really blowing here today and it is rather damp, cool, and windy.
We visited the Wal-Mart store and picked up a few small items, then back to the trailer. We didn't bother sight seeing as we had seen the mile post "0" before and when we drove by it today, it looked the same as before.
Tomorrow we head South thru Prince George and beyond. Hope the sky is clear and the wind is at our back.
Aug. 25, 2012
We drove on Highway97 from Dawson Creek to a provincial campground about 70 miles south of Prince George.
The drive was beautiful - lots of ranching and farm land with horses, cattle, sheep and a few lamas. Further along we drove through some mountainous areas with several lakes nearby. We planned to stop in Prince George for lunch but couldn't find a restaurant with enough parking space for us so we stopped at a nice rest stop and had a picnic lunch. Since we have cell phone service again we called and talked to a few people.
After we got set up in the campground, we needed to stretch our legs so we walked down to Ten Mile Lake which is the anchor for this provincial park. We have a nice campsite and have enjoyed spending time outside for a change. Lately it's been too rainy or cool to do much of that.
I would recommend this campground to anyone coming this way and needing a place to stop for any length of time.
Aug. 26, 2012
We made our way to Vancouver today. The RV park I had selected had no vacancies so we called another park as we came into town. They had room for us so we headed to that park. It turned out to be the same park we stayed in in 2006. We didn't care much for it then but decided we would stay there again as we were only staying a couple of nights.
Aug. 27, 2012
Got an early start this morning going to Victoria Island and Butchart Gardens. I'm glad we started early. The route to the ferry that we got from the RV Park, was nothing but road construction and detours. We finally made it to the ferry terminal, drove on board and went up to the passenger area for a one hour and 40 min. trip to the island. We enjoyed watching the ships and the small islands that we passed.
The Butchart Gardens were beautiful. Flowers were everywhere and the grounds are kept very clean, with interesting facts posted along the walkways.
By the time we had walked the gardens, we were ready to return to the trailer so back to the ferry we went for a 1 hour 40 minute ride back to the mainland. We wondered what it must be like to live in some of the houses on the small islands and have a beautiful view of the water all the time.
Aug. 28, 2012
We left Vancouver this morning headed to the good old USA. The border crossing took almost an hour. After we got thru the crossing, we were headed South for Seaside, Oregon. We actually stopped at a small town North of Seaside, Gearhart. We were able to find an RV Park with a spot for us but it was right against the highway. The park is ok, but the noise is an issue. The noise settles down somewhat at night, but Sue still has a little trouble sleeping.
Aug. 29, 2012
Today we just relaxed. I was to the point that I needed some "down time" from driving. We did go to the grocery store because I like to eat no matter how tired I am.
Aug. 30, 2012
Drove into Seaside today and did some site seeing. They have a beach area that is just beautiful. Most of the property from the beach toward the town is hotels, motels, and cabins.
We visited a small aquarium and enjoyed the fish displays. They had a small octopus in a tank in the middle of the room. It would move around quite a lot and it was interesting to watch it propel itself.
We walked along the beach for a mile or so and then stopped to have lunch before returning to the trailer.
I noticed a tire on the trailer that had an abnormal wear pattern on it so I decided to have it checked out the next day.
Aug. 31, 2012
Well I pulled the wheel off the trailer this morning and noticed that the wheel bearing had a slight amount of slack in it. I took the wheel to a tire store and we reversed the tire on the rim. I tightened the wheel bearing and reinstalled the wheel. I hope that will resolve the issue until we get home. I'll have to watch it closely until I see that it isn't wearing any more.
After the maintenance issue was resolved, we headed down to a little town called Cannon Beach. Sue has a friend in Littleton that wants to move there so we thought we should take a look at it.
North of Cannon Beach is a real nice State Park - Ecola State Park. We stopped in there and hiked one of their trails to Tillamook Rock Lighthouse viewpoint. Tillamook Rock Lighthouse was an old light house and it was replaced by a modern warning horn. It sits out on an island so you can't get too close to it.
After the hike, we once again returned to the trailer.
Sept. 1, 2012
Today we visited another state park north of Gearhart, Cape Disappointment State Park. It has two lighthouses that you can visit. We took hikes to each lighthouse. The Northern most lighthouse is called North Head Lighthouse. It was established to warn sailors of the rocks as the ships came from the North because the cliffs hid the light from the second lighthouse. The second lighthouse, Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, is at the entrance to the Columbia River.
You can't enter either lighthouse, and the structures are getting very old but is is interesting to imagine how the lighthouse keeper might have lived there and maintained the lights. The reflector had to be polished everyday, the wicks trimmed, and one a month the reflector was polished with wine. One lighthouse consumed 5 gallons of oil per night.
You can google either of the lighthouses and obtain additional information.
Sept. 3, 2012
Left Gearhart this morning headed East. Took time out in Portland to find a Wal-Mart. The truck apparently has a coolant leak somewhere and I need to add "Dex-Cool" every once in a while. I am trying to nurse it home so I can work on it at the house.
Twenty miles West of Pendleton, Or., we blew a tire on the trailer. I was looking in the rear view mirror when it happened so I was able to put the brakes on quick. Nothing left of the tire! I retrieved the spare and put it on and we came on in to Pendleton. Checked in to a KOA and am waiting until the tire store opens tomorrow. After installing the spare, I noticed that when I applied the brakes, the trailer shook pretty bad. The spare is under inflated and I am hoping that may cause the shaking. I guess a piece of rubber could have gotten in the brake drum. I'll have to check that tomorrow.
What a Day!!!