Alaska 2022

  The quick trip south to Valdez only took a few short hours. The mountains were misty along the Richardson Highway until we topped the pass and then it was thick with fog. A few travelers stopped along the way up stopped to view the Worthington Glacier through the mist. The mountains along the coast are incredibly beautiful and rugged with lush greenery along the lower slopes and forbidding black rock contrasted by snow and ice above. The interior mountains tend to be less rugged looking with some appearing to have high flat meadows along with more color above tree line.   We stopped for a couple of geocaches and to walk Trey along the way. Larry even turned around at one point to go back to a roadside seller of caribou and moose antlers, a Trey favorite! Betsy and I stopped a few miles on at the bottom of a long steep decline to get a geocache and some firewood at a local store. The firewood was outside in a covered open-air display where you paid on the honor system. But I ...

  Just when you think the road can’t get much worse, it does. The Canadian side of the Alaska Highway from Beaver Creek to the border is a piece of cake compared to the US side from the border to Tok. I was thankful for having a spare and duallies on the back. At lest one tire might make it through unscathed when the other five hit giant unavoidable potholes. Thirty five mph seemed to be the top speed. I swear that Alaska wants RV tourists to turn around and go back to Canada. The first two miles into Alaska were unbelievable! If you weren’t worried about breaking an axle in a pothole you might worry about separating the overhead portion of your camper from the body of the vehicle as the pavement reminded me of a Six Flags Rollercoaster Ride. Rough Road signs just made us laugh as those were some of the better spots on the highway where the road crews had already made repairs.   We stopped on Tok for fuel, groceries, and liquor before driving 120 miles south to another mosquit...

We  left Haines mid-morning, arriving at the border check station around 9:30. Re-entry to Canada is fairly easy if you remember to fill out the ArrivCan app, which we had done. Along the way we passed thru a sixteen mile section of road that had been washed out and was undergoing significant repairs. Then it was a steady climb back into the mountains and boreal forest. More fireweed along the highway.  150 miles north of Haines we stopped at Haines Junction for gas and then made a left onto the Alaska Highway towards Tok.  The view from Haines Junction of the mountains.  For about 10 or twelve miles the highway was pleasant, and then it wasn’t. Intermittent gravel was a welcome sight because we knew that at least one part of the road had been graded and wasn’t full of potholes or frost heaves. We stopped for the night at Little Lake Creek Campground, a Yukon Recreational Site. These are no frills campsites similar to our National Forest campgrounds, unless you consi...

 Sorry about missing images  the internet is obviously a problem here   July 14 was a travel day. We left Whitehorse around nine for the five hour drive to Haines, Alaska. Unfortunately we had to turn over our eggs to a very nice US Port of Entry agent from Tucson who has been here 12 years and loves it!     And I thought any native Tucsonan would be freezing to death up here!   We’ve been to Haines before and knew we wanted to stay at the Hitch-up RV Park. It’s very nice with green grass lawns and full hookups including cable tv. The owners are exceptionally nice. The first afternoon here Larry and I did a little driving around to revisit the state park where we stayed the first nights of our previous trip, the brewery to check on hours, and the fish and chips food truck to also check on hours and prices. All was pretty normal except that a piece of halibut had increased from $20 with chips to $24 with chips being extra. That was by pretty much a no-go....

  We left Johnson Crossing fairly early, but stopped for a geocache witching half a mile. This one was located on another World War II truck being used to hold a billboard for a local business. In the Yukon people use whatever is available to get the job done! Unfortunately the mosquitoes had the e same attitude and did everything possible to chew their way through Betsy’s clothes, even entering her mouth in their attempt to extract their pound of blood. They won. Betsy lost.   While the mosquitoes were terrible, the flowers along the road were amazing.  So then it was on to Whitehorse and the Pioneer RV Park in the rain. This stay started with a dead battery on the Jeep despite my meticulous attention to keeping the coach lights on. A jump start solved the problem only to find that our assigned spot was taken by some guys who came in after hours and didn’t register beforehand. Back to the office! Our new site put us within a very short distance of a nice Class A motorhom...

  Dease Lake to Teslin was 196 miles. We passed up the Alaska Highway to Cassiar Junction gas station where gas was 2.379/liter (9.04/gallon) in favor of the relatively cheap Teslin station at 2.229. It only cost me $364.66 to fill up. Yikes!   From Teslin we drove a short distance to Johnson’s Crossing where we pulled into the rest area and parked for the night. The claim to fame for this rest area is twofold: 1) it’s off the highway, 2) there are a large number of abandoned vehicles here from World War Two! Betsy even found a geocache inside one of them!  Once the geocaching was over and Larry, Trey, and I walked to the other vehicle ruins, we all hunkered down inside our vehicles to keep the mosquitoes from carrying us away!  Glad we’re not driving that rig! No longer needed on the front lines these vehicles were abandoned to the forest and scavengers. 

  Saturday we drove north on the Cassiar to Meziadin Provincial Park and camped in the same spots we had in 2019. While it was a short drive, just 150 miles, it was good to get in early as the park quickly filled up later in the day. Sunday we drove to Stewart and crossed the border into Hyder, Alaska where we visited the one open store, Caroline’s curio and fudge shop, the Fish Creek bear viewing platform (no bears), and the Salmon Glacier (no views in the clouds and rain). The day wasn’t a total bust as Betsy found a geocache in an old mining tunnel out past the glacier and we had a nice lunch at the hotel/restaurant/liquor store in Stewart.   Same place, different year.  Meziadin Lake. View from our campsite.  Bear Glacier, along the road to Stewart/Hyder.  The Salmon Glacier is there somewhere.  The road to Salmon Glacier.  Location of a geocache along the road past Salmon Glacier. Old mine shaft.  Relaxing with a game of Rumicub, minus 8 of t...

  Close to Terrace BC are several provincial parks. We chose a smaller one with only thirty four campsites nestled in the forest along the creek. The sites are spacious, level, and appear to have fairly new picnic tables made with thick planks. Two nights with a bundle of firewood cost $50 Canadian, or about $40 US. That’s a pretty good deal. The camp host was very friendly and gave us the low down on the local wildlife: cougar and cub sighted walking through camp multiple times on their way up stream to the ‘deer park’; grizzly and cub sighted just off trail to the west of camp, but likely using the animal trail found between the campsite and the park entrance to the west. So, when I went for my walk Friday morning, I followed suggested protocol by making noise as I strolled through the forest. “Hey Bear! Hey Bear!” and “Here kitty kitty!” I chanted every few yards as I walked.   On Friday we drove out to Prince Rupert for a look-see. The route follows the mighty Skeena River...

  Long wet drive over mountain passes and down valleys choked with high water. The rivers are full and fast! The lakes show no signs of drought being also full to the brim. It’s surprising that anything in this area of British Columbia could ever catch fire.   At the end of the day I got a little exercise chopping up a log left behind for firewood at our campsite. Although getting it to burn was another thing. Good thing Larry always carries his BoyScout Juice.  The campground is no frills, but also no cost. 10 tight sites along the town beach next door to the local hockey pavilion, skate park, swimming beach complete with a slide, and a playground for the kids. Many towns have similar facilities and camping. Down the street is the local “Sani Dump,” A free dump station anyone can use. BC really has it figured out! Travelers only have to find a moderately sized town to camp, dump, and toss their trash for free. Some of our towns could learn a thing or two about encouragin...