Alaska adventure, Early - Mid July 2019, Albuquerque to Fairbanks, Alaska

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Alarms set for 630 are not needed.  All the research, planning, scheduling and preparation are done, now to get on the road.  I had picked up two vegetarian burritos from the Burrito Lady the previous day; our regular morning ritual when starting a trip.

The road is quiet through to Farmington where we run into road construction traffic.  It’s warm, 80’s and sunny as we make our way to Monticello, UT, our first stop on this adventure.  The mountains west of town are spotted with snow; a big change from the snow covered mountains we saw this past April.

After dinner we walk main street.  It doesn’t take long but there are several historical things to see: the Big ‘4’ tractor next to the visitor center.  It’s 20’ long, 10’ wide and 11’ high.  It is one of ten in existence in operating condition.  Pioneer Park, close by, has a number of structures of early settlers in the area.  Power generating windmills line the hills west of town.

Bannack State Park - MT

Settling in after our walk, minuscule insects assault us.  We cannot even see them.  Finally after 10 minutes of seemingly random swatting our arms, necks and faces I see a tiny speck walking across the screen of my phone.  It make both of us happy; we are not imaging insects attacking us, but it means we are done enjoying the cool evening outside.

Passing through Moab, UT, on our way to Ogden, UT I see empty streets and sidewalks.  Moab on past trips was choked with vehicles and ATV’s, the sidewalks were just as crowded.  Today everything is devoid of traffic, even the line into Arches National Park is not existent.  I am looking forward to picking up a cantaloupe in Green River, UT.  I have heard they are very flavorful but was never fortunate enough to get one.  This time too, they are out of season, expected the end of July.  Salt Lake City metropolitan area is huge; I think we drive over 40 miles of city traffic before arriving at Ogden.  We see lots of haze between us and the mountains to the east.  Fortunately the air is clearer in Ogden.  From this point on our trip becomes all new.  Each of us has been to Salt Lake City but never any farther north.

Bannack State Park - MT

The terrain changes in Idaho then Montana.  Mountains surround us.  Searching for a campground in Montana I find Bannack State Park.  It is a 20+ mile drive from I-15 to the park but there is an open spot for the camper and a gold mine related ghost town to explore.  We spent several hours touring the 50+ buildings of Bannack.  Logs for the buildings were hewn by hand, the workmanship incredible.  We pan for gold, no luck there except for a few small garnets at the bottom of our pans.  An evening walk provides a high view over the town from the opposite side of the river.  A sliver moon rises over the campground, we fall asleep to owls hooting in the darkness.

Bannack State Park - MT

Great Falls, MT

Great Falls, MT has long been on my list of places to go.  The Lewis and Clark expedition ‘The Voyage of Discovery’ passed through here in 1805.  After visiting the Interpretive Center we came to the conclusion people were much tougher than we are today.  We saw models of the boats and heard the weight of the items (tons) that had to be portaged 18 miles past the series of falls on the Missouri River.  It took them about a month to make their way past all the falls.

At this point we start noticing the sun is setting later than we experience at home; no flash light is needed at 930 for tonight’s walk to the bathroom.

Continuing past Butte and Helena, MT we come to the US/Canada border. After reading all the requirements to pass into Canada we compiled a list of our food; finished off the fresh fruits and vegetables and are ready for a possible inspection.  Eight questions later we are waved on through “Welcome to Canada.”

Rapeseed - Alberta, Canada

Now we have to convert kilometers/hour into miles/hour so we are not inadvertently speeding.  We also have to convert liters into gallons.  The first few gas stations ask me how much I want to buy, giving me set dollar amounts.  Later, I find out I can select a very high amount then be charged what we fit into the tank.  I like driving using the metric system; distances look huge but they go by much faster than miles.

Barrel Racing - Calgary Stampede

Calgary is our next destination.  We are staying here to rest up from several days of driving and do some laundry.  From our previous trip in southern UT we also learned to stock up on food items in the big city otherwise we are at the mercy of the local grocery store.  During my search for Calgary hotels I found very few which I thought odd.  Arriving we find out the Calgary Stampede started a few days earlier continuing on through the next week.  Anybody into rodeos knows about the Calgary Stampede.  Deciding to go, we are directed to take a bus, then subway to the park.  We meet another couple from Germany that are travelling through Canada but based the timing of their trip on the Calgary Stampede.  He was a German cowboy in his day.  He enjoyed his time while he did it and even made a fair amount of money doing rodeos in Germany and the rest of Europe.  Watching him walk we could see he must have been bucked off a few times.

The Stampede is packed when we arrive around 10 in the morning.  People are already eating things that aren’t meant to be eaten; large turkey legs, bags of doughnuts, fried banana splits, fried anything…  Use your imagination.  Rides are packed with kids and adults, games are collecting money – occasionally passing out a prize.  All of this activity is an assault on the senses; flashing lights, loud music, hawkers yelling to see their shows, the aroma of fried anything.  Nicida and I look at each other shaking our heads in amazement.

Bronc riding

The rodeo is entertaining and educational.  For each activity there is a description of what is going on and how points are scored.  It is as much the cowboy as it is the animal they are riding, roping or wrestling.  It made me glad I did not choose this as my profession.

Bull riding

Another evening, wanting some exercise we walk along the Bow River.  There is a nice paved trail with exercise equipment for use.  Canada geese, (we were told they are Canada geese, not Canadian geese) walk up from the river, cross our trail to an open area they decide to congregate.  We quickly find out it is best to dodge many little green tootsie rolls left behind by the geese.

During our trips we have talked with many people that have decided to go RV’ing full time.  We have been thinking about it, it has good points and bad points.  One of the bad points is getting to do laundry at a laundromat.  We are very used to having washers and dryers in our homes, start it and get back to it at your convenience.

Emerald Lake

Leaving Calgary for Banff National Park we see nothing but green rolling hills.  Clouds obscure the mountain tops so we can only guess how high they are.  Continuing on we enter a valley with enormous mountains lining the road.  Lake Louise is a famous stop in Banff.  There are hotels, campgrounds and many hiking trails around Lake Louise.  Fortunately as a part of my early research I was able to make a reservation for campsite for a night.  With the number of tourists flocking to this area there is no way we could have hiked and seen as much of the area we had planned to visit without camping.  The park employee checking us into the campground said camp sites are 100% booked through late summer.  Through other people working the park we found out that parking lots are full and closed by 8 AM, remaining closed until sometime late afternoon.  Tourists for shuttle buses are several busloads long.

Takakaw Falls

We are directed to Yoho National Park to see Emerald Lake and Takakaw Falls, the second highest waterfall in Canada.  Arriving, we find there are no lines at either location; so we enjoy our quiet afternoon.  Returning to Banff later that afternoon we try our luck going to Moraine Lake.  The parking lot is open with many open spots to chose from.  The water is robin’s egg blue from glacial runoff.  It glows when the sun shines on it.  We spend several hours shooting the lake.  Arriving back at the camper we notice lines of vehicles looking for parking spots.  Exiting the parking lot we lose count of the number of vehicles looking for a parking spot at 100.

Common Merganser

Avalanche area above Emerald Lake

Emerald Lake

Moraine Lake

Lake Louise

Our alarm wakes us a 5 for the Lake Agnes hike.  It is above Lake Louise an even more popular destination.  Arriving at the parking lot around 630 we find one of a handful of remaining open spots.  Everyone stops at the foot of Lake Louise posing for photos and we do the same.  Lake Agnes is 5 miles roundtrip with a 1300’ elevation gain.  The lake is gorgeous with high mountains surrounding it.  We enjoy pots of tea at the tea house; Lemon Rooibos for me, Nicida orders a berry based flowery tea.  90 minutes later we are back at the trailhead.

Lake Agnes

We stop for lunch in the parking lot before leaving while planning for our Icefields Parkway drive to Jasper NP.  On the way out of the park we see another line of vehicle looking for parking places.  The only difference is this line is a mile long.  We hurry to get away from the pandemonium.

Icefields Parkway

Icefields Parkway starts out as a tree lined road, after a few miles it quickly turns into a mountain lined valley.  There are endless numbers of waterfalls.  Glaciers up to hundreds of feet thick hang off the mountain tops.  We stop to see the Colombia Icefield; supplying ice for five different glaciers which in turn provide water for rivers flowing to the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans.  Sadly it is shrinking, predictions are that the Colombia Icefield will be totally melted by the year 2100.

Athabasca Glacier

Continuing towards Jasper NP we notice a lot of spruce tree die off due to beetle outbreak.  Extensive fire suppression contributes to the beetles wreaking havoc.  Old sickly trees not culled by fire are easy prey for the beetles so they can easily move into an area.

Athabasca Falls

Athabaska falls is our last stop before our campground.  The falls are not high, but the rocks in the area form ‘tubs’ generating a great deal of turbulence.  It make me think of what must be going on inside a clothes washer.

Enjoying our evening at camp commotion suddenly erupts.  A young elk is wandering through the campground foraging.   Dozens of people follow it through the campground photographing it.  Other people, some locals, raise then shake their heads at all the activity.  Talking with one couple ‘We see this quite often in our neighborhood.’  While all this is happening a double rainbow appears overhead.  It’s fun getting out of the house.

Dawson Creek

The next morning, leaving the town of Jasper, our progress is halted by a Rock Sheep jam on the road.  Families of Rock Sheep, around 20, are grazing alongside the road with a few seeming to lick or chew at the stripes dividing the road.  Ten minutes later we are back on our way.  Within an hour an all-day rain follows us until we arrive in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, start of the Alaskan Highway.

Kiskatinaw bridge

Leaving Dawson Creek smoke from Canadian and Alaskan wildfires appears.  Some places, valleys in particular the smoke is thick, we are not able to see from one end of Muncho Lake to the other.  The road becomes more remote and wild life starts appearing.  A handful of black bears appear over the day’s drive.  A herd of about 70 buffalo feed on the grasses lining the highway.  We stop at Liard Hot Springs for a soak in the hot spring pools, we are not alone.  It’s a nice break from the multiple day drive we are doing.

The Watson Lake sign post forest started in 1942 by Carl Lindley serving in the army building the Alaskan Hwy.  I was expecting a few hundred signs.  We were surprised to see several thousand.  4” x 4” posts are planted in the ground for people to bring their sign.  Some appear to be official signs, probably ‘borrowed’ and brought to the forest.  Others are handmade by families noting the dates they passed through.  A must see.

Traffic jam

SS Klondike stern-wheeler

We planned an extra day for rest/laundry at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.  With laundry done, and oil changed in the truck we did everything but rest.  Touring Whitehorse is fun.  We start at the Burnt Toast Café, where we both have the salmon, eggs and arugula making a scramble.  This is our first opportunity, of many we hope, to savor salmon.  We see: - the Klondike stern-wheeler museum.  One of the last existing stern-wheelers on the Yukon River.  We see a movie and tour the boat.  It burned a cord of wood an hour to make its way upstream.  That’s a 4’ x 4’ x 8’ stack of wood per hour for over 48 hours of travel time.  – A DC-3, the world’s largest wind vane.

DC-3 Windvane

– The Lumel glass blowing studio.  We met Luann Baker-Johnson owner and glass blowing artist.  She is a ball of positive energy.  She has seven children and just keeps going; seeing positive in everything even in the bad.  - The log church, and the log high-rise, a multiple story log cabin.  Even though this was supposed to be a rest day we are glad we took the time to visit Whitehorse.

Truck bath-time

Continuing our trek to Alaska, today’s destination is Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory.  Wildfire haze comes and goes.   Stopping at Kluane National Park for a rest stop we notice a few spotting scopes on the deck pointed in the general direction of the top of the mountain.  I look through seeing white spots centered in the scope.  They are not moving…  Snow or Dall sheep??  Look again I cannot tell.  Gazing with my naked eye I cannot even see any white spots on the mountain.  The ranger comes out and confirms we are looking at Dall sheep.  The haze get worse as we drive the 10 plus miles along the side of the lake.

Approaching Beaver Creek we spot evidence of recent wildfire activity.  Everything lining the road is black, the odor of recently burnt wood is in the air.  We even spot still smoldering tree trunks.  Small, widely separated fire crews are ‘mopping up’ the middle of the widely charred area.

Beaver Creek is very small.  The area has quite a number of ravens in town, the campground in particular.  They fly above us, looking.  They land and watch, quite creepy.  Watching them walk is comical, most strut around pigeon toed, some hop.  One in particular had issues; it would take a few steps then jump like it stepped on a sharp rock, then it would take a few more steps and jump again.  We watched this bird for some time always walking with the same routine.  During our visit to the Beaver Creek visitor center we find out from Donna, working the visitor center, 90 people live here.  She is transplanted from somewhere else but loves living here.  She tells us to go to Buckshot Betty’s, a restaurant, to see the band playing there, “They are great.”  After walking through town, not taking very long to do, we decide to see the band.  The Lack Family Band is playing.  They do covers of assorted 70’s and 80’s rock bands, tonight all acoustic. Tonight the band consists of mom, dad and three daughters.  They are very good, having 9 CD’s out on the internet.  We enjoy our time listening to them.  No rush on our part to get home before dark, the sun sets at 11:58, then comes up just before 5 tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow we arrive in Alaska.

The next day starts out with heavy rain, continuing for several hours.  Our arrival to Alaska is early; we gain yet another hour going from Pacific to Alaska time. We don’t see anybody on the road for quite some time.  The US customs office asks us a series of questions, wishes us a good day waving us on.  The road continues as a two lane highway but its condition degrades, we have to slow down for the dips and bumps over the first 30 miles.  After that conditions improve.

Pencil thin black spruce come and go along the highway.  We see five moose at different spots grazing.  Stopping at Delta Junction we get our certificate saying we drove the Alaska Highway.  The visitor center at Tok fills our arms with papers, brochures and books on what to see and do in Alaska.  Now all we need it the time to study them.

Fairbanks, population 32,000, is the largest city we have seen since Calgary over a week ago.  I have not made any reservations so I’m hoping there will not be huge caravans of trailers and RV’s taking up an entire campground.  Riverview RV Park is the first one we come to; they have a couple spots open for small vehicles like ours.  We walk the park a few times working out the kinks from driving for the past couple weeks.  Multiple caravans are here, all have large RV’s, 5^th wheels or trailers.  Later that evening taking a stroll to the bathroom at 11 PM, with pretty much the light of day I notice the place looks deserted.  No people, no pets, all the lights in campers are off.  It is a strange feeling, like I am the only one in the campground.

More Fairbanks to come.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark