0053 30th June - Calgary to Garner Lake

 Our first night in a hotel since we left Anacortes, and the first night on our trip when it has absolutely poured with rain and blown a gale.  But the hotel stay tonight was planned whatever the weather – We wanted a comfortable room with showers etc so Janet could repack after 2 months on the road, and at least be reasonably clean and tidy when she got on the plane to fly back to Australia ! (Those with yachts and similar vagrant lifestyles will be well aware that sometimes it takes more than one shower to get all the grime out !!).  Anyway, with the gales blowing outside in Calgary, it was nice to know we had made the correct choice, whatever the reason ! 

0052 29th June - Banff to Calgary

A lovely campsite at Mosquito Creek, just a few kms north of Banff.  It was a little overcast when we got up, but we had breakfast with the rushing ice-blue river right beside us, and we packed up and ready to head for Lake Louise by 9 am in an effort to beat the hoards. On the way out we went via Ad & Bernadette’s site to say good bye, and they were just leaving to do the same thing, so we took a couple of pics and headed south.  They filled up with 10% biodiesel a couple of days and are having all sorts of issues – one of which is the blowing of a LOT of black smoke out the back !  Hopefully some “normal” diesel will fix it.

0051 28th June - Jasper to Banff

Leisurely get up and breakfast, and then we headed into Jasper for a wander and bit of a shop for supplies. Jasper has such a nice “feel” to it, and we had a lovely wander round and shop – including a delicious ice cream from an ice cream shop also advertising Korean Kim Chi !!!  The guy was a hoot – He nearly managed to persuade us to stay in Jasper for a month !!

0050 27th June - Dawson Creek to Jasper

 Beautiful blue sky morning in Dawson Creek – And we were camping on grass (instead of gravel or permafrost !!) for about the first time since we started, which was a pleasant change.  Chatted to a couple of our neighbours who had come over and gave us a Dawson Creek stick pin after seeing all the Australian stickers on the car, had a really good shower, and packed up slowly.  We had one more go at wifi but it just doesn’t work up here.  Says you have a connection, but as soon as you try to do anything it drops out. So very frustrating.   Anyway, after trying, we then hit the road – All of 2 kms into town for photos at the “Start of the Alaska Highway” sign.

0049 26th June - Summit Lake to Dawson Creek

Beautiful sunny day – Hot ! Made it worthwhile that we had pushed so hard last night to make it to Summit Lake. It meant so much to me to wake up there, after promising myself 2 years ago that I would camp here next time – And the fact that it was such a beautiful day justified it.  I think the photo says it all.  It was cool out of the sun, as there was a bit of wind, and after all, we were at about 1400 metres, so a little cool was not surprising.

0048 25th June - Teslin Lake to Summit Lake

The section of Alaska Highway from Teslin through Watson Lake to Fort Nelson is not only very scenic, but also usually has the most wildlife on or near the road.  So it was great to find it was good weather when we woke up, and set off.  Unfortunately we slept in a little and it was quite a late start for us, and I knew it was going to be a long day ahead, not only from the distance to travel but also because there would be so many things to stop and look at. 

0047 24th June - Skagway to Teslin Lake

It was a pretty grey morning when we woke up in Skagway, so we packed up as we ate breakfast, and then headed off to see the 4 new cruise ships that were tied up this morning, while the 4 that had been in yesterday were already gone and headed to their next port. We had seen the ships in Juneau where the dock is right on the main street of town, and they dwarf the town centre.  But Skagway is a lot smaller than Juneau, and 4 cruise ships a day now come into town first thing every morning, disgorging goodness knows how many people.  These ships really are enormous, and you only really get the true impact of their size when you are standing right next to them, and no other building in town is more than 2 stories tall. From there we drove into town, and although early, all the tours were already underway, and the main street was crowded - As Janet said, probably just like it used to be in 1899 when there were thousands of prospectors and gold rush people living in Skagway !!  Quite authentic, really !!

0046 23rd June - Whitehorse to Skagway

After a fairly early get up and pack, we set off into Whitehorse for a look around.  Having been following the trail of and learning about the 1898 Gold Rush prospectors from Seattle all the way up to Dawson City, the only piece of their journey Janet hadn't seen was the Chilkoot Pass that they had to climb from Skagway before building boats and sailing up the Yukon to Whitehorse.  So first stop was one of my favourite statues to the prospectors, and the saying beneath it "This statue is dedicated to all those who follow their dreams".  It was this statue and saying that had given me the strength to carry on two years ago when I was so miserable and lonely I nearly turned around and went home - And I really wanted to see the statue again and show it to Janet.

0045 22nd June - Dawson City to Whitehorse

After a good sleep, woke up and had a leisurely pack up, talking with Karl and Marie on one side, and Gloria and Mary Rose on the other side.  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so it was a very pleasant and leisurely breakfast in the sunshine.

Eventually got away at about 9.30 am, and headed south on the Klondike Highway towards Whitehorse.  Janet is booked to fly out of Calgary on the 30^th June, so we have decided to head down that way, following the Alaska Highway and then spending a couple of days through Jasper and Banff.

0044 21st June - Eagle Plains to Dawson City

By the time we woke up, the camp site was deserted !  Partly because of the bear sighting last night, not many people had camped, so that partly explained it !  But when I stuck my head out, the sky looked pretty dark and rainy, so we quickly packed up and didn’t even do our normal cup of tea. And lucky we did get going quickly because as we started driving across the camp area towards the Lodge, it began to rain.  So we slipped in and got a coffee to go, while I topped off with fuel for the run back to the main road (ie tarmac surface 300 kms away !!), and then we hit the road south.

0043 20th June - Inuvik to Eagle Plains

Yesterday in reverse !  Clear blue skies, again !  Spend morning exploring Inuvik but it is not really tourist orientated (more of a local Inuit community), so lot of things closed except to tours. The Eskimo church is well known, but closed except at certain times, the communal greenhouse allotments are the furthest north greenhouses,

they paint many of their houses bright colours, all sewerage lines are outside due to the permafrost, so you see them everywhere - Easy to fix if they block up though !! ,    The drive to Inuvik, and the incredible unspoilt scenery, is a big part about going but once there, there is little to do in town - The best things are flights or boat trips out to islands or National Parks. You need a couple of weeks and pre-booking to do this and it is very expensive unless you “hitch” a ride on Parks Canada charters (apparently an accepted and usual way of doing things, as long as you have time to wait for a flight).   

0042 19th June - Eagle Plains to Inuvik

When we woke up the next morning - It was already daylight !!  Of course - Only 2 days away from the summer solstice !!  The skeeters weren't too bad, so we packed up, but there was obviously something seriously wrong with the roof.  I found that one of the bolts holding the support springs had sheered off - Thus the washer I found last night.  The roof wouldn't even close properly without some violent manual effort and it was obviously that would get worse on the rough dirt roads.  So while I thought about a solution, we moved up to the pumps to get some fuel. While the guy was pumping it, I chatted with him and he seemed the "right sort of person" mechanically  (if you know what I mean) and as he had a big workshop available, I asked if he could have a look at the roof.  So we got the car in the workshop, and Norm and I agreed that with a drill and a hammer we might be able in insert a new bolt.  But first we had to remove the old one - which after a lot of hammering and drilling, we finally did.  The springs that support the roof movement are super strong, so we had to do everything working against the springs.  Hard work, but after an hour or so we succeeded, and got it all together, and he we tested it, it worked perfectly !  Phew ! Norm now became my new best friend, he was given enough tip to buy a few beers, and we finally set off up the road !!

0041 18th June - Dawson City to Eagle Plains

Despite all the beers and cocktails, and the “toe”, woke up feeling pretty good (for someone my age !!) and slowly packed up in slightly miserable damp weather.  We have got pretty good at packing up now, and even when it is wet, it isn’t too bad.  If there was a tropical downpour it probably wouldn’t work as well, but then tropical storms don’t often last too long anyway so we could wait it out…..!!!

Filled up with diesel at cheap US prices before heading into Canada, and then went out of town via a few local sight’s we hadn’t yet visited.  First of all to Robert Service’s cabin - Robert Service is a Yukon bush poet in a similar vein to Banjo Paterson in Australia, and very well known up here.  Andrew was the Parks Canada guide at the little cabin, and was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable – He even knew of Banjo Paterson and was thrilled when I was able to show him my book of his poetry which I always keep in my car !!  I shall have to investigate more into Robert Service’s work.

0040 17th June - Dawson City

Had a bit of a lie in as overcast and rainy.  Once we got going, we wandered the short distance into town to the Information Centre, where we found that a walking tour was about to leave – So we joined it.  We were given umbrellas so the intermittent rain wasn’t too much of a problem, and had a very enjoyable and informative tour of some of the key building in Dawson, all of which dated from the Gold Rush Days of 1898 to 1905. Basically Dawson was a wild and lawless tent town by the end of 1899, full of prospectors, prostitutes, and many others trying to make a buck out of the Gold Rush. But then the Government stepped in, (wanted to cash in on the boom, maybe ??!!), and consequently by 1905 Dawson was a cultural centre with churches, government buildings, theatres, social balls, and all the other trappings of wealth.  From tent city to busy cultural centre of the region in 5 years !  

0039 16th June - Tok to Dawson City

Took a photo just before I turned in, at about 10 minutes to midnight, and the sky beneath the tree line was a bright red from the sun on the horizon.  As usual, photos never do the actual view justice, but I can assure you it was magnificent in the flesh. 

The sky was clear – not a cloud in the sky – a PERFECT day to drive the Top of the World Highway.  But first we had to do a quick shop for some food, and get fuel and propane for the car and cooker respectively, and then after a cup of coffee to go from Beaver Fever, we set off on the road to Dawson City. We drove about 20 miles out of Tok on the Alcan Highway and then turned north on the Taylor Highway towards Chicken, and the Canadian Border. There was a pull over beside the Tanana river where the old bridge had suffered major damage in a 2002 earthquake, and a new one had to be built to replace it. Any construction job is a major issue in this part of the world because of the extreme distances for raw materials to travel, and it was no different in this instance – So they used a lot of the steel and other materials from the old bridge to build the new one !

0038 15th June - Matanuska Glacier to Tok

Late get up this morning, and it was about 11 am before we headed up onto the road. Very pleasant night in a great little bush camp site.  The Glacier was only about ½ a mile up the road, so we were there almost before we got into 5^th gear – And there was just this poorly signed steep dirt road going down past a house – We weren’t sure if it was the right road or not !!  Anyway, wandered down it for a couple of miles, through some very muddy sections, and over a very rickety looking bridge that I wasn’t sure if it would take our weight or not, and then came to a boom gate over the road, and a kind of house / shop with an “Open” sign in the window.  On going in, we were told this was the right place, it cost us $15 each (Senior’s rate !) as we were crossing private land, and it was about another 2 miles up the road. So off we went, and after winding along this dirt road, we finally came out in a car park over looking the magnificent glacier.

0037 14th June - Anchorage to Matanuska Glacier

 The option of possibly getting an oil change done this morning, despite it being a Saturday, got us moving, and by 9 am we had said good bye to Magda and Fred, and set off to see if the Toyota Dealer could help us at short notice, with no booking.

When we got there it looked closed – But when I tried a door it was open – Turned out you drive your car up to a roll up garage door and it opens automatically and you drive right in, they take your particulars and when your turn comes, the car is taken straight into the workshop – So efficient !! I spoke Michelle Barling in Service and she said no problem, of course they could help us – As long as we had the filter and the tool to remove the filter, because they do not have this diesel engine in America !  I did have both, so Troopie was whisked through, while Janet and I made ourselves comfortable in their enormous waiting area – Big screen TV, coffee, wifi – This was Service with a capital S !!!

0036 - Fri 13th June - Glacier Cruise

It rained all night, quite heavily at times, and we woke up in the morning dry – On the inside, at least, even if the outside was pretty wet.  So success ! (This was in fact the first REALLY wet night we have had – only drizzle before).  The fly sheet on the outside of the pop top, and the tent – mostly – had kept the rain out, so I am well pleased !  Now, when we have wet nights, I won’t have to lie awake worrying that we have leaks everywhere !!

0035 Thurs 12th June - Homer to Portage Valley

It was a bit overcast when we woke up, so we started to pack up before it started to rain and everything got wet.  Everything went really smoothly, and within an hour we were almost ready to go. We just had to dump our “honey pot”, and fill up the water tank to last us for the next few days, and we would be ready to go. Plan was to head towards Whittier because we have booked a Glacier Cruise out of there for tomorrow, so if we can get close to Whittier we can have a relaxed drive to get there in time for the cruise at about noon.

0034 Tues/Wed 10-11th June - Homer

I was up at 6 am, and went for a walk on the beach – Only to find a golden eagle sitting down there watching the world around him !  I sat and watched him for a while, and then one of the Alaska Marine Highway Ferries came past so I got a photo of the two of them together in the morning sun.  Meanwhile the small charter boats were heading out for a day’s halibut fishing – The prime reason that most people come to Homer. 
 

0033 Mon 9th June - Anchorage to Homer

Beautiful morning when we woke up in Eagle River north of Anchorage, with the sun shining………but still no bear !!   After a leisurely breakfast and pack up, we went for a walk down beside the river, but after 20 minutes or so the mosquitoes were getting REALLY bad, so we turned back and hit the road and headed into Anchorage for fuel and a grocery shop – We were almost out of both after our Prudhoe Bay and the Denali Highway. We were rewarded by getting our diesel for $1.05 per litre !! Then got our groceries and some beer and wine, reloaded the fridge etc, and then set of south out of town towards Homer on the Kenai Peninsula.

We've been away !!!

Sorry for our silence - We have been away, out of range of wifi !!
It took us 4 days to drive up the Dalton / Ice Truckers Road to Prudhoe Bay and back, and it was an AMAZING trip.  The Atigun Pass is all it is made out to be on the TV, and Prudhoe Bay is just like an enormous Oil Rig Camp out in the middle of nowhere !!  Freaky.   And while there we walked on the Arctic Ocean, of course !
Then 2 days to get back to Fairbanks - In perfect blue sky weather !  Through the snow covered Atgun Pass in sunshine at 10.30 pm at night - Absolutely magical.
Then back to Fairbanks to wash the car (wait till you see the photos !!) before we set off south again, this time to drive the Denali Highway, another dirt road from west to east across Alaska - Again, just the most incredible scenery, mountains, and camp sites.

We have seen push bikes, push bikes with babies in trailers, motorcycles covered in mud, cars and trucks of all descriptions, and have met some amazing people along the way, everyone of them with a fascinating story to tell !  We have seen, moose (and mooselets !), caribou, lots of ground squirrels (known as "fast food" for all the other animals up here !!), ptarmigan, lots of ducks, geese, and trumpeter swans that have flown north for the summer, but very few bears.  The Alaskan Oil Pipline has been our constant companion, winding along beside us as we drove from Valdez to Prudhoe Bay.  And almost constantly we have been surround by the most beautiful snow covered mountains that you can imagine. 
Tonight we have just got wifi for almost the first time - And I still have to write all my blogs and finish downloading pics.  Hopefully some can be up shortly, but once you get behind on these things, catching up is nearly impossible !  So please bear with me !!

Some uncaptioned pics are here.  (Most recent first, so start at the bottom !)

https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0031TangleLakesToDenali?authkey=Gv1sRgCN7b_KadiYmWEQ#

https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0030FairbanksToTangleLakes?authkey=Gv1sRgCLXFusyt9KP3OQ#

https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0029Fairbanks2?authkey=Gv1sRgCOy_qPe826eETQ#

https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0028AtigunPassToFairbanks?authkey=Gv1sRgCL3C0dP4lISsvAE#

https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0027ToPrudhoeAndBackToAtigunPass?authkey=Gv1sRgCLfi2dOjisTDHA#

https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0026ArcticCircleToIceCut?authkey=Gv1sRgCKvp9_XajMmtSA#

https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0025FairbanksToArcticCircle?authkey=Gv1sRgCJTfx9GlzJCnEA#


https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0024Fairbanks?authkey=Gv1sRgCOf7mbzhpYXQbQ#

0032 Sun 8th June - Denali to Anchorage

I woke up early and spent a couple of hours sitting in the early morning sunshine downloading photos while Janet snoozed on. But by about 9 am, dark clouds were starting to come over, so we quickly packed up and got on the road.  It wasn’t long before the rain started, and as it was quite heavy, we elected to miss dropping in on Brian who we had met at the Bake a few days earlier – Sorry about that, Brian, if you are reading this ! It rained pretty solidly for 2-3 hours, so once again, Janet missed seeing the dramatic back of the Denali mountains and Mt McKinley as we drove down the parks highway towards Anchorage.

0031 Sat 7th June - Tangle Lakes to Denali

Woke up to a warm (ie 10 deg C !) cloudless morning – Absolutely beautiful. This is such a beautiful spot.  After breakfast, Janet had a quick walk round a Lake Trail while I fiddled around, an then, after saying farewell to camp host Denny, we hit the (dirt) road west towards Cantwell and Denali, on the Denali Highway. I wanted to do this road two years ago in Elsie but was put off by the dirt.  Now I had the chance to do it, and if the first few miles yesterday are anything to go by, it should be as good as everyone who has done it has said.  Almost as soon as we got going on the gravel, a ptarmigan ran across in front of us – And then shortly afterwards, after passing a cut in the mountains through which caribou and other animals used as a migration route, we spied our first moose…..with mooselet in tow !!  They were some distance away, but very clear through the binoculars.    It looked to be a promising day !!

0030 Fri 6th June - Fairbanks to Tangle Lakes

It was still raining when we woke up, and I started to pack up in the wet – But fortunately it soon stopped and we ended up being able to pack up in the dry, even though the awning and Blue Loo were wet. I had to go back to REI to get a part for the small gas cooker we had bought yesterday, and as that didn’t open till 10 am, there was no urgency.

We eventually got on our way, got the part from REI, and headed south on the Alcan to Delta Junction, before forking right onto Hwy 4 to Paxson and the Denali highway, which runs east to west across the country. Before they opened the direct north / south road between Anchorage and Fairbanks in the 1970’s, the Denali Highway was the only way for people to reach the Denali Nat Park, so the old coaches and charabancs used to come along this (still dirt and closed in winter) road.  I had heard of its scenic beauty from many people, so I was really looking forward to driving it – The only issue was that the weather forecast was for rain, and as it is a dirt road for 130 miles, I really wasn’t in the mood for more mud after the Haul Road mud of last week !

0029 Thurs 5th June - Fairbanks

After the rigours, roadside camp spots, and the exhausting taking-on-board the perpetual scenic beauty of the past 4 days (believe me, that is HARD work !!), today was a day of rest, showers, and laundry in Fairbanks.  It was a wet and miserable day, so after doing our chores, we went into town to the Information Centre to check on weather forecasts for the next few days so we could decide on a route south.  It looked better to the south, so we decided to try the 120 mile dirt Denali Highway and hope it wasn’t too wet and muddy – I have been wanting to do this road for so long !  A quick visit to REI to buy a small propane stove to use as a back up, and an insulated mug for Janet to use on the road, and then I took Janet to North Pole to see Santa –Just because it is something you have to do when you are at a place called North Pole !!  The photos tell the story – Even down to the reindeer living out in the field at the back !!  Oh dear, oh dear !!!

0028 Wed 4th June - Atigun Pass to Fairbanks

After coming through the Atigun Pass in the (nearly) midnight sunlight last night, it was almost an anti-climax to wake up this morning knowing we “only” had to drive another 200 miles on dirt road back to Fairbanks !!   But no worries – we knew there were unexpected and happy adventures to be had during the day, not the least of which was a hot breakfast just 30 miles down the road in Coldfoot !  So after a quick tooth clean (yes Jamie (my dentist), every morning and night, even in the most trying conditions !  You’d be proud of us !!) we headed off down the road.

0027 Tues 3rd June - Ice Cut to Prudhoe to Atigun Pass

We hit the road by about 8.30 am with over a hundred miles still to go to Dead Horse and Prudhoe Bay. The land basically just gets flatter and flatter, with less and less features the further north you go.  It is essentially a desert – dryer than many of the true deserts around the world.  The pipeline continues beside us as always, sometime disappearing underground in areas where there is no permafrost, but otherwise always on its stilts. But while the land is flat and relatively featureless, it is far from uninteresting.  In fact it is amazing.  I kept saying that it was nothing like I had expected, but then I didn’t really know what I had expected !  Sounds silly, but it is how I felt.  I guess not many people ever get to see what is this far north in the world, so it is bound to be a bit unexpected !!

0026 Mon 2nd June - Arctic Circle to Ice Cut

It wasn’t actually raining when we woke up, so we were able to have some breakfast and a hot cup of tea from our thermos, and were on the (muddy) dirt road north by 9 am.  Stopping at scenic Gobbler’s Knob for a quick stretch, the views weren’t as clear as I had hoped, but weren’t too bad.  Many of these places were named by the early truckers and freight haulers who have driven this road for years, and are certainly interesting, like Roller Coaster, Connection Rock, and Gobbler’s Knob, while Indian names reflect the past history of the Athabascan Indians and Inupiak Eskimos who hunt and fish these lands, and  Prospect, Gold Creek, and Bonanza speak in turn of the dramas of the miners.

0025 Sun 1st June - Fairbanks to Arctic Circle

The next morning we packed up – And the Blue Loo folded up first time !!!!  Am I getting mastery over this animal at last ?  One more time and I might claim victory !!  Anyway, after a quick breaky, and a bit of a damp pack up, we headed north – North to the Arctic Circle !  We had already filled up to the brim with fuel before we left Fairbanks, knowing that the prices on the Dalton Highway (aka Ice Trucker’s Road) were high, so we set off, expecting to get a cup of coffee at Joe and Nancy, who live in Joy at the start of the Dalton, about 2 hours away.