This section of the trip has taken us back inland. We truly enjoyed being along the coast for a bit. Following the route on the map you will see we started at Valdez then to Tok via the Richardson and Tok Cutoff Highways. Tok being the junction you come through both coming and leaving Alaska. After Tok we headed north on the Taylor Highway to Chicken. The RV got parked at the West Fork Campground (50 miles from Tok) while we made our way to Dawson City via the Top of the World Highway. After spending a couple of days in Dawson made our way back to Tok then East via the Alaskan Highway to Destruction Bay on Kluane Lake where we hung out for two days. This is a beautiful area. The final leg of the trip was to Haines Junction on the Alcan then South to Haines from Haines Junction. After Valdez there were four border crossings which are always different and sometimes can be interesting (…hopefully just entertaining). The weather and experiences were outstanding again. However the trip on the Alaska Highway in Yukon Territory was challenging. The frost heaves and pot holes were significant (much worse than in early June). We suffered some damage to the RV which made for a bad day on the road. However the Congdon Creek Park Territorial experience quickly put the Yukon back in our good graces!

The time on the Richardson and the Tok Cutoff Highway was outstanding. After learning about Kennicott Mines and Wrangell Mountain Park wished we had planned time for a visit. The Wrangell Mountain Volcano and Mt. Drum were spectacular from a distance.

Chicken was a fun, hokey and interesting stop over. The assessment was glad we did not stay there. The West Fork BLM campground was big rig friendly and close to the river.

The drive over the Top of World Highway was easier than expected (110 Miles from Chicken). We could have made it with the RV in tow. Going there was rain and fog. Coming back the views were much better with just a little haze. The Yukon portion of the highway was easy. The US section (about 40 miles) is very narrow and not as good shape. There are great views from the top along the entire stretch.

Dawson City exceeded our expectations for two days and needed a third. The history of the area is rich with stories and how the area evolved from boom to bust then a tourist area managed by the Yukon Territorial Government and the Canadian Park Service. The selection of tours, exhibits, performances are plentiful and we did all that time allowed. The buildings are interesting with an active restoration program. I could do an entire blog on just Dawson City and the Gold Rush but will let the pictures tell the story. Today there is still considerable dredging activity trying to sort out all of the remaining gold. The total gold mined from the area is over a billion dollars.

The Dempster Highway a 400 mile plus road to Inuvik ranks up there with the Dalton and Top of the World as a travel challenge. Although a trip to Inuvik was calling us we resisted the call and opted to do a short one day trip to the Tombstone Territorial Park (80 miles up the Dempster). Staying at the 5th Avenue Bed and Breakfast was a great experience, strongly recommended. However always needing a bit more coffee fix had to do the tailgate thing…

The side trip to the Tombstone Territorial Park was an exceptional experience (an easy day trip from Dawson). The lack of time seems to be a constant theme for this trip as there is always just one more hike that is calling us. The Goldside hike was outstanding. The views are breathtaking. We travelled the entire length of the park along the Dempster and enjoyed seeing the varied terrain.

Sighting wildlife (except at Diamond Tooth Gerties) seemed to be the exception. We did catch a couple of moose and a black Arctic Fox along the road.

Making our way to Haines we had to get back on the Alaskan Highway. We got to see the mountains this time (which were grand) that we had missed due to rain when we came into Alaska along this section of the road.

After seeing the Kluane Lake coming in to Alaska we had decided to stop on the way out. The lake is in a great setting and while we were there the weather was “picture perfect”. It was good to get away from the private RV parks and enjoy the Yukon Wilderness up close and personal.

I think I said that the mountains to Valdez on the Richardson Hwy was a favorite. We now have to update that to the mountains from Haines Junction to Haines are even better (if you do not mind very large hills with steep grades).

We are now settled in at the Hitch up RV Park in Haines. Looks like there will plenty to do here until we catch the ferry to Juneau.

God Bless,

Larry and Jan

The Alaska adventure continues. The Alaskan State Flower is the Fireweed. The story goes once the Fireweed is completely blossom out to the top summer is over. The locals are already prepping for winter. Needless to say we will be out of here before the snow starts in October.

The trip to Valdez was an easy one day trip. The route out of Anchorage is the Glenn Highway. The north south road into Valdez is the Richardson Highway. It has some nice mountains to climb but it is only 3,000 feet at the highest point. The road has lots of history starting with the early days with the Gold Mining rush. Note the poles along the side of the road which get completed buried at times in the winter with the 900 plus inches of snow each year. We are told that it almost is like driving through a tunnel. That being said it was one of our most scenic drives to date. The scenery here just keeps getting better.

Found another nice RV park, well maybe not as nice as we had on Kenai. It is in a great setting but does look a lot like a gravel parking lot.

The harbor here is large. This is a fishing area both commercial and sports. The seafood here reminds me of Newfoundland’s fare. The Halibut, Salmon (three different kinds) and Shrimp just melt in your mouth! Sunday we did a church service on a tour yacht that was very nice.

We did our share of museums. There is a lot of history here with the Exxon Valdez oil spill 20 years ago and the Good Friday Earth Quake in 1964. The quake and the resulting tsunami devastated many of the coastal towns. The original Valdez town was located in an area that had to be abandoned as it fell 9 feet during the quake. The town folks had completed the moved and the old town was torch by the end of 1966.

There is a daily show at the river by the fish hatchery. A mother Grizzly with four cubs (this is their second summer) comes three times a day to feed on the Salmon. On a way to a hike we caught their show along with many other folks who were there with camera in hand. The odds of a bear with four cubs is very rare and the fact that all four survived a year is phenomenal. It was very fascinating to watch them and see the different personality of each of the cubs.

Again more view pictures. There are over 100,000 glaciers in Alaska and I am sure I have missed a couple already.

Next we are off to the “Top of the World Highway”. We will be staying near a town called Chicken. The story goes town folks wanted to call it Ptarmigan (the State Bird) but they did not know how to spell it so they settled for Chicken. Needless to say they are leveraging that into a theme for tourist. We will be staying a couple of night in Dawson City in a B&B back in the Yukon Territory where we will do a side trip to the Tombstone Territorial Park. From Chicken we also do side trip to Eagle a native village off the beaten trail.

Living on the road and seeing this great country is the good life.

God Bless,

Larry and Jan

This Alaska adventure is exceeding our expectations in so many ways. It is clear now why folks keep coming back. My hope is you like pictures…to date the count is 6,150 (not to worry, I did not post all of them). The views here are so spectacular. On the numbers side of the trip (remember I have the MBA mentality) the gallon count for diesel fuel is 775 traveling 8,400 miles in 60 days. We are half way through our planned trip and we are finding time goes way too fast when you are on the road. Everywhere we go we find new adventures. Jan and I find traveling will broaden ones perspective of the world and outlook on life.

The next leg of our trip was to the Kenai Peninsula for 19 days where we covered 1,300 miles. We had heard from others who had been here that it was a must do. For the most part the itinerary was open ended. Included is a map of our route starting in Anchorage then Kenai, Homer, Seward and ending up back at Anchorage. The weather was great, with outstanding RV sites settings.

We started and ended in Anchorage which is a great place to restock food and fuel. There is a fun downtown. There are flower displays everywhere. The long summer days support a fast and aggressive growing season. We did a tour of the Alaskan Botanical Gardens which (in my estimation) looks better online than in person. Our RV site here was at the Alyeska Ski Resort 40 miles south. The route back and forth along the Cook Inlet (Turnagain Arm) was spectacular which by the way is home for the Beluga Whales.

We had the good fortune to find great places to stay on the Peninsula.

The RV Park in Kenai was on a high bluff overlooking the Cook Inlet, affectionately called Beluga Overlook. There are big tide changes so the walk on the beach was always different. This is a big fishing area for commercial and sports fishing. One night we saw at least 35 commercial fishing boats returning to harbor. Of course I found another great seafood outlet. The last day we were there the Alaskan Resident Dip Netting season began. The picture was taken in the first hour the season opened. By the end of season in three weeks over 30,000 folks descend on the City of Kenai hoping to take home big catches. From our site we could see Mt. Redoubt a volcanic mountain which is part of the Ring of Fire chain which extends from New Zealand to the Aleutian Island in Alaska. As a side note, we are getting accustomed to daylight all the time…

The City of Homer has several RV parks on the Spit along Kachemak Bay. Long story made short, a Spit is a sand bar created by Glaciers. We found another great park on the beach where we could see a glacier in the distance. There are so many Eagles ever where but we never get tired of trying to capture just one more photo shot.

In Seward we stayed at a rustic campground about 5 miles out. The setting was Resurrection Bay on a fun beach with mountain and water views. The salt water killed the trees here and the remaining stumps are petrified now by the salt water…great photo opts. Our RV park, Miller’s Landing on Lowell Point, is a great place to rent Kayaks, a fishing boat or to catch a water taxi to your site of choice. All our RV parks worked nicely as a base camp for launching other adventures.

We got to explore the Kenai National Refuge which includes about 25 percent of the peninsula. We did a fun walk with the Mosquitoes.

Another personal record was set for us when we went to Anchor Point the most Westerly Road Point in North America. Ironically, last year at this time we were at Cape Spear in Newfoundland, the most Easterly Point in NA.

There is a strong Russian influence on Kenai. Checked out two noted Russian Churches in Nikolaevsk and Ninilchik…lots of character!

Great view of Mt. Iliamna another Ring of Fire Volcano which is One of “The Four Sleeping Giants” along the coast of Alaska.

Lots of nice bike trails in all the communities. Here is a picture I took along the trail of a boat graveyard near Homer.

Anyone who comes to Homer has to go to the Salty Dawg Tavern.

If you are ever in Homer check out the Skyline Drive, a drive where it is hard to keep your eyes on the road.

Highly recommend anyone who comes to Seward to check out the Alaskan Sealife Center. This is an easy way to spend half a day.

The hike to the Harding Ice Field along the Exit Glacier is a top ten pick for us. However we did find the 9 mile hike challenging as we made our way to the top, a 3,000 foot climb. Rather than go into too much detail here will let the pictures tell the story.

For our top ten events rating, the Kenai Fjord Tour may end up being number one. The tour is a nine hour journey to the Northwestern Glacier. We left Seward through Resurrection Bay traveling 100 miles to the glacier. The glacier was impressive but so was the wildlife. We got to see Hump Back Whales up close and personal. The experience included Porpoises, Stellar Sea lions, Orca Whales, Sea Otters and lots of birds. Again I think the pictures will give you a snap shot of the experience.

Looking back we did a lot in those 19 days on Kenai. There is way too much to post in one blog. Not knowing what to expect, I think we did it about right. There is always more thing to do and see if you have the time. This part of Alaska is very different from the interior. Personally Jan and I just enjoy being along the water.

We now move on to Valdez for four days. Heard great things about the area and looking for to another Alaskan experience.

More to come…

God Bless,

Larry and Jan

Denali proved to be an interesting and a learning experience. It is a true wilderness (for the most part) with a historic management objective to keep it that way. The general public areas we found congested and somewhat limiting for our taste. Overall it was a good experience but much different than we originally expected.

There is one road into the park and only one which is 92 miles in length to access the park’s six million acres. The road is highly restricted. The public can only drive in the first 15 miles. There is a campground (Teklanika) at mile 29 which you can drive to but you cannot use your own transportation once you get there. I tried to get a site there about a month ago but none were available for our timeframe. Riding a bus to get anywhere was a major mindset shift for us. It took some time to learn how to deal with it but in the end grew to accept that is the way it is. The For us we did not find the well marked accessible hiking or backpacking trails that you find in the lower 48. There are marked trails near the entrance but for the most part were fairly short and more in the flatlands along the rivers.

There are green shuttle buses which come with drivers that will provide info along the way and will stop to view wildlife. They also will drop you off almost anywhere along the road and then you flag down a bus when you want to return. There are the tan buses which are narrated with different themes and objectives. There were over 40 buses on the road at any one time. We also got to experience the hordes of folks from various bus, ship and train tours near the main visitor center which made it seem more like downtown America.

In retrospect Jan and I both came away glad that we did it. However at this time it is not calling us back. Our recommendation is Denali is something that everyone should experience. There are many other options here in Alaska that can provide for a better “hands on” experience, at least for us. The most exciting part was getting to see and photograph Mt McKinley. However only 30% of the people who visit Denali ever get to see the mountain due to the weather limiting the visibility.

All the shuttles leave from the Wilderness Access center which is different from the main visitor center and run by a concession vendor. We had booked three days on the green buses. The first trip was to Wonder Lake an 85 mile trip one way with duration of 11 hours. The average speed is 20 MPH. At the Wonder Lake destination you are near the base of Mt McKinley. As luck would have it our trip was hampered by all the smoke from the many forest fires, low hanging clouds and rain (we were part of the 70% club). The visibility for the entire day was very limited with no view(s) of McKinley. The word we got from J.J., our bus driver, was the Mosquitoes are the worse that they have ever been in the park and the Wonder Lake experience confirmed the fact. We sat at Wonder Lake for the allotted 20 minutes in the rain and fighting the Mosquitoes…wondering why we were there! At the end of the day we were both exhausted and crashed early that night. The highlight of the day was the interaction with J.J. a young man who truly loves and lives the rustic Alaskan Life-style.

We both agreed that we could not do a second day on the bus. It proved to be a good call as it rained and there was still a lot of smoke. Our third day tickets were to Eielson a visitor center at mile 66 leaving at 6:15am with a duration of 8 hours. Our RV park was 30 minutes out so we had to be out of bed by 4am. The good thing is the sun never sets so it is always daylight so getting going in the morning is easier. It was a windy day which blew away the smoke (and Mosquitoes) and the sun came out for much of the day. This was a totally different experience being able to see and photograph the mountains. On day three we joined the 30% club… Yes, I got the T-Shirt!

Our bus driver on the third day was Kat. She is a transplant from the lower 48. We sat near the front and got to know her quite well. She entertained us all day with her life in Alaska stories. The road can be a scary at times especially when you are on the outside of the road on a cliff with no guard rail. Half of the Park Road is one lane through the mountains with pull outs and switch backs. There are plenty of rustic pit stops along the way. There are designated places to stop to take pictures and the drivers will stop to let you take pictures of wildlife but only out the bus window.

We saw wildlife, many times at a great distance as you can see from the pictures.

The park has 30 sled dogs. They use them to patrol the park as well as take construction supplies to the various sites in the winter. There are three demonstrations daily which are fun and very informative. This is a must do event.

What a difference a day makes! The mountains and rivers are spectacular. I had a picture hanging in my office for many years of the Teklanika River. Getting to see the river in person was rewarding. The other major river is the Toklat. All braided rivers which tend to be shallow with many different streams. The rivers are all fairly white from the silt from the melting glaciers. I took over 500 pictures during our three days in the park. All I can say is Mt McKinley is impressive. The Athabasca’s called the mountain Denali (large one) which is where the Park gets its name. Many locals still refer to it as Denali and not McKinley but that is another story.

What more can I say! The assessment at the end of the day is we have had another great adventure. The sheer size and natural beauty of the park is breathtaking. Jan and I both think visiting the park should be on everyone’s bucket list.

The time has come to move on. The next leg of our journey will be to Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula. Some of the places on the list are Anchorage, Kenai/Soldotna, Homer, Seward and Whittier. We will be on the Peninsula for 19 days with camera in hand; the bikes/kayaks polished and are ready to take on more of the Alaskan outdoors. More to come….

God Bless,

Larry and Jan