Month: June 2024

We left Tok early on the 28th (well, early for us), planning to go through to Paxson Lake Campground. The route took us on what’s known as the “Tok Cutoff”, a southerly highway that goes way south, then we make a sharp turn north and head up to the start of the Denali Highway, which runs between Paxson and Cantwell. Here’s a map from Trip Wizard, our planning tool, with some annotations to help put our travels in perspective.

The Denali Highway is another route that is always top of mind for Alaska travelers. We were apprehensive about its condition, but as it turned out, it was in better shape that we expected. Lots of potholes, but most were marked, or at least visible. And the drive was beautiful. We were fortunate to catch a glimpse of the elusive Mount Denali during the last few miles of the drive. Only 30% of aspiring viewers actually get to see the mountain, so we were very pleased. The mountain vistas during the lead up to that were terrific also. The only problem was the mosquitos and horseflies – they swarmed us whenever we left the van.

We had anticipated boondocking one night along the Denali, but in the end, we found we wanted to be in a campground for the night. We found Brushkana, a small state campground with no services, but at least there were a few other people around. The mosies were just a bad, unfortunately. We knew this would be the case in Alaska at this time of year, but this was the first time we had encountered them.

The couple on the next RV stopped by because they were from BC and saw we had BC plates as well. We got to talking and it turns out he was from Nelson, the town where Garry was born and raised. Garry didn’t know him because he was born three years before Garry left Nelson. But, it turned out, they did know some of the same people. Small world!

The next day, after a very short morning’s drive, we arrived at Cantwell, the terminus of the Denali Highway, where we had reservations, on Saturday, June 29. But we were very early in the day, and it was only about 25 miles to the entrance to the park, so we made a preliminary trip to the Park’s Visitor Center, which was excellent. Lots of info, well-organized, lots of day use parking for RVs. We then did the 15 miles into the park that we are allowed to drive. In the pic you can see the road going past the “end point”, where tour buses and those actually reserved in campgrounds are permitted.

Later we went back to our Cantwell park, which was quite modest, but the people running it were friendly and helpful, and we settled in, with plans to do more exploring the next day.

The morning dawned bright and clear, so we hustled up to the park entrance, planning to walk the Horseshoe Lake Trail. A 4 mile hike, with 250 feet of elevation change, we felt it was about right for us. (It’s called moderate – perhaps a different definition than we’re used to, but more on that later.)

When we arrived, we decided to drive the 15 miles again, hoping to catch a glimpse of Denali again, perhaps better than the day before. Well, we were lucky – around mile 12 we sighted the mountain clearly and against a blue sky. Took many pics over the next couple of miles!

On the return trip to the park’s entrance, where we knew we could park The Benz, we came to a stop behind a couple of other vehicles, including a tour bus. We hoped we knew why – and yes, it was because there was wildlife nearby! The tour bus stopped right at where the moose was grazing – people were leaning out to take pictures. The bull moose, however, wasn’t very interested, and continued to move – towards us! So we got some great pics up close of the moose nosing around the greenery at the side of the road. His antlers are not fully formed yet as it is spring, and they are still “in velvet”.

Once back at the parking lot, we wandered around till we found the entrance to the trails. Oddly, they are not particularly well marked until you get into them. The Horseshoe Lake Trail is in two parts. The first is through the forest, up and down in gradual steps, leading to the lake. Perfect for us.

Once arriving at the trailhead to the lake, or rather, well above it, we began the second part, known as the Loop, descending over 300 wide log steps to get to the lake’s shore. We were undoubtedly the oldest people on the trail, and we knew that the climb back up would be a challenge. But we felt that taking it slowly, we’d be OK. Best laid plans …

We got to the north end of the loop, where the trail meets the Tenana River’s edge, and saw immediately that there was a wildfire started on the far side of the river. We walked a bit further, and found a couple phoning in the report – it seems everyone knows where to call if there is a wildfire. We continued to go round the loop, deciding that the trip back up those 300 steps was going to take us a while, and we should get going. About 50 steps up we met a ranger coming down, telling us that the trail was being evacuated, and we should head back to the trailhead as quickly as we could. Well, there’s only so fast you can go up steps, at 81 and 75! A few people came along, and asked if we were OK, and did we need help! We didn’t, and not sure what they would have done, but it was good of them to ask.

We made it back to the visitor center and The Benz, and were glad to be there. The fire, as many of you might already know, became the Riley Creek Fire. It grew to 388 acres, and is still, a week later, only 25% contained, and that mainly thanks to smokejumpers, hotshots, and local fire crews as well as planes and helicopters dropping water and retardant on the fire since its start. We heard the planes for the next two days while in our campground in Cantwell.

The Park has been closed since we were there, and most of its visitors were evacuated. Still not clear what started it, but there were rumors that it was human-caused. Very distressing. Some pics …

Open only in the summer, this 65 mile (106 km) drive follows a ridge “highway”, mostly gravel, with lots of potholes and washboard, but offering spectacular views of the Alaska Range. Starting in Dawson City, Top of the World ends officially at the US Border, turning into Taylor Highway (same road, same conditions, different name), which travels a short distance to the town of Chicken, then continues south to Tetlin Junction where it joins the Alaska Highway. Most continue on to Tok, a major stopping point for road visitors to Alaska.

We were fortunate to travel this road in excellent weather, with no troubles at all on the gravel surface. We stopped in Chicken for one night, then spent 3 nights in Tok.

We chanced upon a large bridge crossing the Tanana River at Tetlin Junction. An information spot nearby drew us in, and we discovered the history of this bridge. The original bridge, built in 1943, was the only one of its kind in Alaska – it’s called the “Tanana River 3-span cantilevered subdivided Warren steel through truss bridge”. It remained in excellent shape, but vehicles got wider and taller, and in 2010 it was replaced with a concrete girder style bridge. The inset picture in the info-board (below) shows the two bridges together. Today, only the concrete bridge remains, but a number of the original trusses are on display at the information rest-stop.

June 16-17: Drove the remains of Highway 37 north to the Alcan, leaving BC behind, and heading into the Yukon. Could have made it to Whitehorse, but decided to stop at Marsh Lake Park, a Yukon Territorial park. Beautiful large sites with huge picnic tables, in the midst of lightly treed forest. Lakeside sites were all taken (no surprise) but many of the rest of the sites were open so we took a big pull-through. No services, but a great welcome to the Yukon. Just $20!

June 17-20: Hi-Country RV Park, Whitehorse, for 3 nights. (Sites 98 for 2, 104 for 1). Very convenient to central Whitehorse, easy in and out. Great laundry – you’d be surprised how important laundry facilities become! Sites a bit slim, with little privacy, but for a city park, it was great. We really enjoyed Whitehorse, finding it a beautiful, complete city. Population of around 32,000. Lots of shopping, with, most importantly, a Superstore, as well as the usual Walmart, Save-on-Foods, Marks Wearhouse and Canadian Tire. We sampled them all, but also got some walking time in, just admiring the city. They had an excellent RV washing station, which was very welcome.

June 20-21: Drove North Klondike Highway, through Carmacks, Pelly Crossing and eventually stopped in Stewart Crossing at Moose Creek Campground. (Site 33) Very quiet, clean, campground. WAY too many mosquitoes and horseflies to do much walking.

Best part of the drive was our stop halfway through the day. We had read about the little store in Braeburn having “the best cinnamon buns” in the Yukon. “Huge, but expensive – $10 each!” Well, being cinnamon bun fans, we decided to treat ourselves. So we went in to this little café, and there were indeed cinnamon buns. Yes, large. But wrapped in plastic wrap, looking as if they had been there for a day or so. And the price list was posted. The $10 had been crossed out (not erased or replaced), with $20 overwritten! I asked the young woman if that was correct, attempting to bring my jaw off the floor. She said yes. Well, I said no. (We did finally buy two butter tarts at $4 each, not wanting to seem TOO cheap. They turned out to be average. Sigh.)

June 21-23: Bonanza Gold RV Park, Dawson City. Drove rest of the North Klondike, stayed 2 nights in Dawson. Was our most northerly stop, and it was the longest day of the year. Sunset was at 10 minutes before 1 in the morning, with sunrise at 3:45 in the morning. A 3-hour night! Twilight, really; it never got dark. Our blackout blinds got good use, as did our sleeping masks.

Washed the Klondike dust off the Benz – goat rodeo! The wash site was very muddy, making sure we got some dirt back on the van right after cleaning. Best was us trying to fill a bucket with a high-pressure hose. Managed to get water over both of us, along with soap and muddy splatter. Fortunately we just kept laughing!

The town has lots of history, and we spent a gorgeous, warm day walking around. Very colorful buildings, bought a trinket or two, and had our first beer of the trip.

The morning of our final day there, we took the ferry across the Yukon, to start our trip north on the Top of The World Highway.

Left Witset morning of the 10th to head back to intersection with Highway 37, often known as the Stewart-Cassiar Highway, or just the Cassiar. By whatever name, it’s the main road that heads north from Hwy 16 to eventually connect with the Alaska Highway (aka the Alcan). It has a bit of mystique about it, with rumors abounding about its conditions and traffic. We found it to be in excellent condition, with a few frost heaves, and a few potholes, but all in all, not nearly as bad as we had expected.

June 10-13: Meziadan Lake Provincial Park was our first stop. We stayed 2 full days so that we could visit Stewart/Hyder on one day, and just do R&R on the other. It was a great park, with lots of visitors, but quieted down completely at night. We had a site (59) right next to the forest, with a decent view of the lake. 30 amp electricity was available, so we plugged in. Weather continued to be cold the first night, so we had our little electric heater going all night. That is, until around 6 am, when … a bear pulled the plug out of the post!! We didn’t hear it happen, but the temperature inside cooled down pretty quickly. After an hour of wondering where our heat had gone, Garry looked out the window and we thought someone had stolen our power cord. However, two big piles of bear scat, and a plug tossed away with severely bent prongs, gave us the clues. Fortunately the plug was fixable, and we were able to reconnect and all was well again. Quite a lot of excitement before 7 am!!

We drove to Stewart (about 1 hour away), so we could go into Hyder (Alaska), and say we did. And we came right back out (no option, really). Both towns are very small, with little to offer except gorgeous mountains surrounding them. The drive was beautiful, and we were glad we did it. Our next day was solid rain, so we caught up on some of this blog, and did a couple of chores around the Benz.

June 13-14: Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park, Site 23. About half-way up Highway 37. This was our first experience with “First Come First Served” parks, and it was very positive. There were few others there when we arrived, and we chose a spectacular little site right on the lake. And as we are seniors, we actually only had to pay $10 for the privilege. No services, but we were able to use the Benz’s systems (batteries, inverter and generator) with no difficulty. Potable water and tank dumping are always a challenge with dry camping, but we can last for 2-3 days if we are careful, and so we were.

June 14-16: Boya Lake (Tā Ch’iLā) Provincial Park, Site 5, then 28. About 100 km south of Alaska Highway. Once again a beautiful drive to get there. We were joined by a mama Moose and baby for a little bit. We also saw a lovely fox which was too quick for a picture. Quite exciting!

Our sites at Boya Lake were both right on the lake. The bottom of the lake is comprised of marl, a mixture of silt and shell, and when the sun is shining it looks like the waters of the Caribbean. The coastline is indented by great variety of inlets and there are several islands. Great for kayaking and canoeing. Fishing too, probably! To cap of our first day, we saw two fat Ruffed Grouse on our walk around the campground.

It’s an international campground at the moment with two small campers next to us, one from Germany and one from Switzerland. In another double site, there is a Hymer on a Mercedes 4×4, modified for offroad with a 25cm lift. Their travelling partners are in a custom off road vehicle on a large Iveco chassis. We had a very interesting conversation with the Hymer folks yesterday. They are travelling with a young son, and are on a two year parental leave which is apparently quite common in Germany. From here they leave for Whitehorse and then up the Dempster Highway to Tuktoyatuk, returning to the Alaska highway and traveling to Fairbanks where they will then transit the Dalton Highway to Prudhoe Bay. They then explained to us that the real part of the trip will begin for them as they travel south all the way to southern tip of Patagonia. Brave and adventurous souls!

June 7-8: Prince Rupert RV Park, Site 37. Arrived at 1:30 AM, after ferry finally landed and disgorged us. Park is right near the terminal, and while convenient, is not ideal for more than one night. Site was perfectly level as it turned out! We left early the next morning. Had a beautiful drive north beside the Skeena River almost the entire way.

We stopped at a small white chapel, all on its own beside Highway 16, the Yellowhead Highway. Part of the town of Usk, directly across the Skeena River and about an hour north of Terrace, the original chapel was a center of worship for the locals. Floods in 1936 destroyed the town, including most of the church. In 1967, in celebration of Canada’s centennial, this chapel, a replica at 1/3 size of the original, was built by volunteers and trucked to its current location on Highway 16. An arson fire in 2022 nearly destroyed it again, but a local passing by saw smoke, and used his fire extinguisher to save the small building once again. It is always open, and many locals and passersby still stop in for a quiet moment. There are over 50 years of guest books, as well as the original bible that was the only thing not ruined in the floods. The whole story is here. This was also a spot where there was a statue honoring the forestry workers.

June 8-9: Smithers Municipal RV Park, Site 13. Again perfectly level. (This is important for sleeping, and for keeping the fridge level, especially when on propane. We do have levelers, but tend not to use them if there is lots of wind, or if the site is very unlevel – too much strain!) We had intended to stay at Kitwanga Park (at the beginning of Highway 37, the main road that takes us north to Alaska), but there was no one there when we got there, and somehow, it didn’t feel like a good place to stay. So, we continued on to Smithers, an area where Garry had worked a lifetime ago. The town is small, but cute, and the Municipal Park was well-populated with families – we got the last site! A quiet night was followed by a walk around the town. The drive in and out was through the beautiful Bulkley Valley.

June 9-10: Witset RV Park. Site 25. Again, level, with all services. Only half full, and very quiet. Near a lively set of falls on the Bulkley River, which could be accessed by what seemed like 100 stairs (down from the park. We didn’t go – coming back up seemed like a LOT of climbing!) All on First Nation Land, with a small museum (closed, unfortunately) on site. The falls were known previously as the Moricetown Falls though certainly known today by their First Nations name. Garry last visited in 1961 and watched the FN fishermen standing on the rocks high above the falls gaffing salmon using 25 foot poles out of a backeddy after the first stage of the falls. Unfortunately, the salmon don’t run until late July or August so we weren’t able to see that on this trip.

The crew “started” loading the ferry around 5:30. In fact, we didn’t load till 6:30 – a very slow process because each vehicle has to be chocked, and the load balance has to be managed. We had chosen reserved seats in the front section of the ferry, so we would have a good view throughout the 16-hour trip, rather than opting for a cabin. (Would get a cabin if we ever did the trip again, just to have a place to leave our stuff, take a nap (!), have a bit of quiet. Views are wonderful no matter where you look!) But still, we enjoyed the forward perspective, and got some great pics. Our weather was very cooperative – a bit of fog at the beginning, with mostly sun and a few clouds the rest of the day. The main restaurant wasn’t open yet (too early in the season?), so it was ferry-quality café food all the way. They allowed us to go back to the car deck several times throughout the trip, so we were able to get at our own food (and wine, had we thought of it!)

It was truly a spectacular trip. There are many who had done this trip via Alaska cruises, and who will remember this portion of their trip as quite special. We feel very lucky to have been able to do this in our own motorhome. These are just a few of the sights presented to us.

June 1-3: Living Forest, site 133. First stop on the trek north on Vancouver Island. Had been there before, and found it just as good this time. Made a big pot of chili, using the induction cooktop inside. Good smells while cooking, but took a few days to air out the van.

June 3-4: Took the Benz to Big Boy’s Toys to get the noisy heat pump fan fixed. They couldn’t do anything that day, but were able to fit us in the next day. Spent the night at Rathtrevor Provincial Park (site 185). No services, but a beautiful spot, and we would have walked the beach nearby had it not been pouring rain all day.

June 4-6: Seal Bay RV Park: Site G13. The BBT service guys did something to the heat pump, and it stopped making noise for a short time. (EDIT: The noise came back worse than ever a day or so later.) Courtney/Comox is a favorite area, with lots of good shopping. The park itself is excellent, with some permanents, but with a lovely clear area for transients like us (with Starlink!). Probably not ideal in the heat of summer, but great for us. We had a good sunny day to do laundry.

Had an excellent visit with John & Brenda Bavin, old friends from the days of building Freja II (early 80’s). They have a beautiful modern house that John built on an infill lot in Comox. View to forever, including to the glacier to the north.

June 6: Port Hardy Ferry Terminal. Beautiful day for a drive to Port Hardy in prep for ferry to Prince Rupert the next day. We expected to have to sit in the parking lot, wake up at 4:30 to get into ferry lineup, and wait there till the 7:30 departure. As it turns out, they let you actually get into the lineup the night before, so that’s what we did. We were second in line! The lineup spot was not even remotely quiet, as the terminal operates all night, doing what is not quite clear, but it was done with lots of engine noises! Nevertheless, it was better than we expected. Met a very nice couple, Chris and Cheryl, in front of us in line, and whom we ended up seeing several times over the next 24 hours.

May 20-21: Spent the night at Wild Rose Park just south of Hope. Good park, dismal day, so we did little walking around. Barely got out to set up the power!

May 21-23: Burnaby Cariboo RV Park, site 165. Tiny sites. Best of only two parks within reasonable distance from Vancouver, where we had to be to attend a meeting downtown on the 21st. Took the SkyTrain in, easy and fast. Vancouver has changed SO much; we barely knew the downtown core. Finished our business in the morning, and walked to False Creek, then took the little ferry to Granville Island. Brought back many memories of living there, building our first boat there, and in fact getting married just down the creek aways. Had fabulous soup at the Stock Market! Ferried to Science World, then SkyTrain to Metrotown Mall before going home. One of the biggest we’ve ever been in, and was it ever busy! Finally back to our campground at the end of a very tiring day. 15,000 steps!!!

May 23: Left Burnaby to get to Tsawwassen for the ferry to Vancouver Island. We fortunately asked, and were told to NOT take the Patullo Bridge, unless we would be comfortable spanning two lanes going across. SO, we went via the Queensborough and Alex Frazer bridges – no hassle. Got to terminal 45 minutes before sailing, and got on no problem. $150 (CAD) later, we were in Sidney, on the Island.

May 23-24: Spent a lovely night at Island View Regional Park, RIGHT on the beach. Only 17 spots. Very windy, but beautiful. Site 11. No services.

May 24-26: Pedder Bay RV Resort – Site 21. Excellent park, full service. Had a wonderful visit with friends Natalie & Ron McCulloch, who live in Victoria. They brought food every night, including excellent quiche one night, super fresh spot prawns the next, then platefuls of scallops the third. To compensate, and for the pleasure, we walked to Matheson Lake Park one day, then hiked a small part of East Sooke Regional Park and the length of Whiffen Spit on a second day. Again, loads of steps!! It was a special visit with the two of them.

May 26-June 1: Sooke River RV Campground, Site 38. This was a return for us, and a welcome one. Great open space for the StarLink, only a few sites occupied, and the people and services here are great. Water & Electricity only. Sani-dump at exit. We’ve been spending time with Garry’s sister Daphne and her husband Lynn and working on some projects. Garry installed the strut kit for The Benz hood to replace the dinky OEM manual support, and did preliminary work for the thermostatic shower control installation which he plans to complete on Sunday. Ann experimented with the installation of Reflectix in a couple of the cupboards to see if that might reduce some of the heat transfer. And we did a huge laundry at the local laundromat. And, we walked…..up the long hill from the campground into town…twice. Great coming back though, and 8000 steps each time. All in all, a fun time in Sooke. AND, we had three sunny days in a row!