Prince George, The Final Stop

Traveling to Prince George, BC

Sintich RV Park, Prince George

Our travels to and arrival in Prince George, BC was bittersweet!
Our journey was coming to an end and, although we are very much looking forward to being back in Morro Bay, it will be hard to leave all our new friends!

Last Hurrah with our friends!

Our Caravan Leaders, Sandy & JJ

We had a final banquet, where gifts were presented, thanks given, and where we all performed silly skits - well, that would be me!!

(just ask!)

And so - on to Hyder

Driving from Dease Lake to Hyder, AK

So our second to last stop was Hyder, AK. Reading the information in Fodors were were wondering why we were staying here for three nights! It is described as a somewhat "lackluster town  that has a bar, post office, and a library" Hyder bills itself as "the friendliest ghost town in Alaska."

Camp-Run-A-Muck, Hyder, AK

We stayed at a park called Camp-Run-A-Muck - yes, a small, rather run down place that was reasonably difficult to park in.  Fredric and I soon discovered one of the best features about the park.... a very small wood backed up to the park and it was the most amazing place.  We found about ten different species of the most amazing mushrooms (didn't put pics up, but just ask!), and it was a great place to walk the dogs - mainly because it also had a beautiful creek running through the bottom of it.

Black Bear feeding on Salmon at Fish Creek

We got up earlier than usual (5:30am) to head out to a place called Fish Creek - about 5 minutes away.  We were lucky and a bear came down to feed on the Salmon running up stream.  It was late in the season for the bears, as most of them are now very fat and lazy and about ready to hibernate.  It was amazing watching the bear feed and waddle about.  I have some great video!

Bear swimming away (spot in distance)

Drive to Salmon Glacier, Hyder

Salmon Glacier lies north of Hyder and we traveled out there on our second day.  The road is almost non-existent and there are no barriers.... needless to say it was a very harrowing drive for me - but definitely worth it!

Standing at bottom of a glacier

 Again, the scenery was so spectacularly beautiful that we were - almost - speechless!

Salmon Glacier

Fredric digging dirt under a glacier

Fredric had been told by a crusty old local that gold seekers were now digging underneath the receding glaciers in the area!  So he tried!  Found a small sliver, but not the nugget he was hoping for!

Hyder was a funky little place, just across the border from British Columbia and surrounded by water. A very small piece of the U.S. of A. all by itself.  The people were definitely frontier people and they loved where they lived.  We decided, after a couple of days, that it was a pretty special place..... but we are not moving there!

Baylee playing on a glacier

H

Rainbow over the Airstreams

Travels to Haines Junction, YT, Watson Lake, YT, Dease Lake, BC

Haines, AK  to Haines Junction YT 

We are now almost at the end of the trip!

We  spent three days driving from Haines to Dease Lake, only stopping overnight at each location. The drives themselves were beautiful, but we traveled almost 700 miles on somewhat iffy roads, and by the time we arrived and set up we were exhausted. 

We did have a very splendid dinner with our good friends at Dease Lake.  We ate Halibut that Phil and Fredric had caught - it was delicious!

Haines, AK to Haines Junction, YT

Haines, AK to Haines Junction, YT

Elk, Haines, AK to Haines Junction, YT

Haines Junction, YT to Watson Lake, YT

Haines Junction, YT to Watson Lake, YT

Watson Lake, YT to Dease Lake, BC

Dinner with friends, Dease Lake

Burwash Landing, YT to Haines, AK

View while driving

On The Road Again

Saturday August 30th we headed on to Haines, back in the U.S. of A. The drive was wonderful, the roads very well maintained, and the scenery stunning!

Haines is a very interesting community: it’s history is made up of equal parts enterprising gold-rush boom town and regimented military outpost. Jack Dalton in the 1890’s maintained a toll route from Haines into the Yukon, charging $1 for foot passengers and $2.50 per horse. This Dalton trail later provided access for miners during the 1897 gold rush to the Klondike. The military outpost, Fort William Henry Seward, was built in 1923 and was the only military base in the territory. It is a beautiful town, on the ocean surrounded by a heavily wooded peninsula and a snow covered coastal range.

So Many Eagles!

Mendenhall Glacier and Falls

 We drove out to a beautiful state park and watched eagles and salmon running up the river. There were a lot of bears in the park but they were hiding when we were there(!)  Many of our group drove out there and saw numerous bears eating the salmon!

Mendenhall Glacier

View from the boat

Stellar Sea Lions

We all took a beautiful catamaran trip out to Juneau, the capital of Alaska. Juneau is Alaskas third largest city and is on the North American mainland but can’t be reached by road. The city owes its origins to two colorful Alaskan pioneers, Joe Juneau and Richard Harris, and to a Tlingit chief named Kowee, who led the two men to rich reserves of gold at Snow Slide Gulch in 1880. The city was originally named Harrisburg, after Richard Harris, but the name was changed to Juneau after Joe Juneau’s political jockeying at a miners meeting in 1881.

Chilcoot State Park

The boat ride was beautiful and we saw Porpoises, Eagles, Seals, and Whales, it was a spectacularly beautiful day! Juneau itself was a little disappointing and very hard to maneuver around as 6 - yes 6 cruise ships were docked and the passengers were wandering around town.  We ate great crab and drank the local Alaskan Beer!

Lighthouse we saw from the boat

Sunset as we arrived back in Haines

Rv Park

Valdez to Tok to Burwash Landing - Uneventful except for????

Drive from Valdez to Tok 

Drive from Valdez to Tok

 We have spent the past couple of days basically making our way from Valdez, to Haines via Tok and Burwash Landing.  The drive was way too far to do in one day so the trip was split up into three days driving with two overnight stops, one in Tok, one in Burwash Landing.  The drive from Valdez to Tok on the 28th was beautiful and uneventful and the only thing we did in Tok was have a beer, take a hike, sleep, and get up again to drive again.

RV Park in Tok

Drive from Tok to Burwash Landing

Drive from Tok to Burwash Landing

Baylee chasing squirrels

RV Park in Burwash Landing

We left around 9am on the 29th to drive to Burwash Landing which is back in the Yukon Territory, Canada. Consequently we had to go through customs again where we met a great young man who was spending his vacation next week in Morro Bay, Ca - what’s the chances of that!!  We were passed through with no problems!

The road changed drastically once we passed into the Yukon Territory and it became one of the worst, bumpiest gravel covered, dustiest roads since we took the highway to Chicken. 

While driving from Tok to Burwash Landing another SOB (some other brand) passed us going about 60 miles an hour ( everyone else, including us was going 30 miles an hour because the roads were so bad). We didn't realize until we arrived at the camp that a stone had gone through our "stone guard" and shattered the front window on the airstream..

So, plastic sheet later and lots of tape, we are ready to go again. In terms of problems, this is an easy one to deal with.  It beats the loss of a wheel someone on the caravan had to deal with!

The Disaster!!!!!!

Valdez, August 25th

Driving to Valdez

Our drive from Palmer to Valdez along the Richardson Highway was stunning through high-alpine country with 360 degree views. Fall was very evident and the colors were magnificent along the mountains on both sides of the road. The road decended into a steep canyon with rushing waterfalls from glaciers into rivers that just roared.

Driving to Valdez

As we usually do, we stopped to stretch our legs and take a hike mid way into the 7 hour drive.  We found what was the original road before the highway was constructed.  It was kind of eerie as it was all grown over with moss and lichen, and in many parts the trees had fallen down on to it. It felt like we were in some wierd sci fi movie!

Our Hike - that's the old road

View from dock in Valdez

Valdez is the largest of the Prince William Sound communities. This year-round ice-fre port was the entry point for people and goods going to the interior during the gold rush. Today, Valdez is the southern terminus for the Trans-Alaska pipeline.  The old town of Valdez was relocated and rebuilt after its destruction by the 1964 earthquake - a 9.2, the largest earthquake in North America. There was no visible evidence of the oil spill in 1989, though local residents told us that if you dig, you can still find oil.  

RV Park

Our RV park in Valdez was at the base of beautiful mountains filled with waterfalls and from our campsite we could see six glaciers!  

Otters

View from back of boat

We all went on a glacier cruise and had the best weather ever (for a change no rain!) I will let the photos speak for themselves because, as usual, I am out of words. The captain of the boat took us all the way into the glacier through huge amounts of ice, kinda scary in parts but beautiful. We saw otters, puffins, bald eagles, and stellar sea lions.

Heading to Glacier

Baylee watching the salmon

We took a wondeful hike through the town to a creek where the Salmon were spawning. A amazing sight as they swam and jumped their way up the stream. The female carves out a nest in the bottom of the stream and once that is done the male fertilizes the eggs. After this event the Salmon die, so the stream was filled with dead salmon also. Apparently, the journey from the salt water ocean up the fresh water streams depletes them completely, and because they can’t eat in the fresh water streams, they starve!  Pretty interesting evolutionary process, but sad!