Drayton then Home Again (end Alaska trip)

We are on our last leg home.

We left Drayton Valley in the sunshine this morning. This is the weather we were looking for yesterday so we could go fishing, but it rained and was windy and cool. This was the only thing we had to 'cancel 'on our entire trip due to the weather. We have been SO fortunate.

It was also the first time we were unable to find a spot in a campground. Two of the Drayton campgrounds were completely filled up. Most spots are taken by oil field workers, but there was also a horse show or something on. Obviously there is a need for more sites and we noticed one of the campgrounds is expanding.

We ended up parking in front of Charlies. When we arrived on Sat., we went to Carolyn's sister & brother-in-laws as they were all butchering and wrapping two 4H beef. They bbqued a couple of roasts after and we all stayed for supper.

On Sun, when we weren't able to go fishing, we went for a drive to the Brazeau dam. Not able to fish, but we did have halibut for supper..... yum.

C & C were off to work this morning before we got up and we 'hit the road' at 9:15 a.m. With lunch and a fuel stop to make, we should be home about 5 p.m.!! We are looking forward to 'life out of the 5th wheel' for a few days, although it means unpacking and loads of laundry ahead which I DON'T look forward to!

However -- This is "Day 47" and it will be the last update from our "Alaska Trip"

Thurs & Fri - Sturgeon Lake, AB

Williamson Lake Prov Pk
Site #9 - $24, p only, free wood, Cell, no internet, Temp 21C

We just got back from a short bike ride to check out the area. Ron is 'looking for treasurers' in the picnic and day use area.

We are spending two nights here. It was so nice to have a leisurely coffee this morning and not have to pack up and be on the road again. We've had so many "1 nighters' or 'rush to catch the tour' mornings, so we really appreciated having 'a day off''. Time to cook some bacon & eggs.

It's a fairly decent campground, although many of the sites are a little overgrown and in need of a good mow or trim. We are wondering if there has been too much rain and they haven't got to it yet, or whether it's just not kept up. Our site is okay, but best of all, we have power and free wood. We had a great fire last night without Ron having to ration the wood !!

There are only 3 other units camped here right now. Oh yeah, the mosquitoes are pretty bad. The coils, citronella candles and the spray is being put to use!

Tomorrow (Sat) we will head to Drayton Valley - just over 300 km away, and Charlie talked about doing some fishing on Sunday, which sounded good to us. That means we will be arriving home on Monday. I may not get this posted until we arrive in Drayton.

SATURDAY:  We are on the road to Drayton now. It was a relaxing 2 days. The mowers and trimmers were out in full force yesterday, so my first guess was right. They just hadn't got to it yet and likely because it was too wet. Everything is so lush and green. Also the place started to fill up after 6 p.m. with the weekenders.

So yes, it's that time of year. And it's time for us to be getting home! We much prefer the 'quieter' camping !! (yes, we're old fogeys, eh!?)

near Fort Nelson, then Fort St John area

Tetsa River Regional Park
Site #17 - $14, n/w, Temp 16C

Tuesday: So we are out of the Yukon and in BC now. The highway crosses between BC & Yukon about 6 times before reaching the 'official' border. We saw more wildlife this stretch than we've seen in a day -- black bear, a number of buffalo, a fox running along the shoulder of the highway, Stone Sheep, some caribou and a couple of moose.

What a gorgeous drive today -- through Muncho Lake Prov. Park and particularly winding the 11km along the lake itself.





It is one of those beautiful turquoise blue lakes, in this case attributed to copper oxide leaching in to the lake. There wasn't a ripple on the water and the surrounding mountains (some still snow capped) and the clouds were all reflected back in the lake. I was hanging out the window snapping pictures all the way along!



That highway between Watson Lake & Ft Nelson is considered by many to be the most scenic stretch of the Alaskan Highway and I would have to agree. Wow! We are beginning to see lots of RV's on the road now - heading north. Pretty much all American. They say over 85% of the tourists going to Alaska are American and that is why the US gov't kicked in $260 M towards the Yukon Hwy improvement. We are SO glad we made the trip when we did to avoid all that tourist traffic. It was great timing!!

WEDNESDAY:  We spent last night at a really nice Regional Park along the Tetsa River just out of Fort Nelson (no hookups). We pretty much had the place to ourselves. There was only one unit in another loop. We debated staying a 2nd night, but here we are on the road again. For tonight, we'll check out Charlie Lake near Fort St John.



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Charlie Lake Prov Pk, near Fort St John
Site #18 - $15, n/s, cell, no internet, Temp 18C

It was a tiring drive today with lots of climbs and truck shifting on the hills. Charlie Lake is a nice little park where we had q stir fry dinner and an evening fire with deadfall.  That's even allowed here!  We left the park at 9:30 am, but were held up with construction.

Mon 16th - Watson Lake, Yukon

Watson Lake Campground Services
Site #114 - $22.50, p/w, Temp 17C

We were chatting about our trip last night and how we've been in and out of Alaska 3 times this trip. Our first to time to Alaska was going from Stewart to Hyder (all of 20 min in Alaska!), then our 'big' tour and again yesterday, when we actually went from the Yukon, through BC, in to Alaska to Skagway and then back through BC to the Yukon! Again! (with time changes involved every time!) It sure is screwy how that Alaska border is layed out. It must cause lots of 'issues' for the locals and the gov't.

On this 'Yukon' drive between Whitehorse and Watson Lake we dip in to BC and out a couple of times also. We stopped at the spot where our tire tread stripped off when we were northbound. Ron walked along the ditch to see if he could find the rubber 'step pad' from the back bumper that flew off along with the mud flap. He found chunks of the tread, but not the pad.

We drove through abit of a rain shower 75 km from Watson Lake and the temp dropped from 14C to 6C instantly. By the time we stopped at the Watson Lake campground, the sun was out and it jumped up to 17C. I honestly think we are pulling the good weather & sunshine with us. We haven't experienced any horrible weather this entire trip!

We choose the simplicity of a pull through with 'hookups' at the edge of town rather than the natural beauty (but no services) at the gov't site we stayed in last time. I guess we are getting a little tired and lazy. It's been a LONG trip since we started out on May 8!!

Later:  Okay, I guess I was getting too cocky.  We just settled in the camground and it started raining. Plus some hail in those drops.  However, and it's still 16C so I'm not complaining!

Sun 15th - Skagway Tour

Hi Country RV Park

Site #29 - $26.10, p/w/s, Internet, Temp 11C & rain

This is my second time in this laundry room in this Whitehorse campground. The last time we were just starting out and this time we are on our way home! Sometimes you just have to take time out for those boring/mundane things!

We had a busy couple of days here this time around. We got settled last night, had a bite to eat and went downtown to the "Frantic Follies" show. It was a very enjoyable evening. It was similar to the show in Dawson as far as the dancing girls, but there was comedy and a few little 'skits' (based on the Robert Service poetry -- Sam McGee & The Ice Worm) plus there was other musical entertainment thrown in with bangoes, trombones, horns etc. They are a  multi talented bunch of performers.





This morning we did the White Pass Bus / Train combo excursion with a 3 hour stopover in Skagway. We took the bus to the Fraser station, the train to Skagway and then the bus home again.

                                  The Carcross Rail Station
It was a good choice for us. We both really enjoyed the trip... beautiful scenery... great to experience the train trip and just the right amount of time to spend in Skagway.







We even stopped at the Red Onion saloon - est. 1898 - for a beer before catching our bus home.







There are many many jewellery stores in Skagway! 

The tour also included stops at the small community of Carcross on the way down and on the way home, Plus we stopped at the Carcross Desert which is the smallest desert in the world, left behind from a glacial lake). All the places we wanted to see.



And now the laundry. It has been sprinkling on & off this evening, so it makes that chore a little easier.

Tomorrow it will be Watson Lake or there about and then it is down through Fort Nelson, Fort St John etc. It's a new travel route for us.

Sat 14th - Back at Whitehorse

I missed telling you about our border crossing in yesterday's email.

We drove past the US customs and see all these signs 'Leaving Alaska"; 'Welcome to Yukon' etc. etc, but no Canada customs buildings. We (at least "I") panicked for a minute thinking we must have 'missed' something and maybe the 2 customs were housed together. We nervously kept looking over our shoulders for the sirens and flashing lights and wondering if we'd 'run the border'. Finally we came to a sign saying Can. customs - 27 km !?? We've never seen the 2 ports so far apart !! Weird!

Anyway, it was a smooth crossing with another friendly agent, although we noticed the motorhome that had passed us just before we arrived was pulled over in to one of the bays for the big search. Too bad for him! That's our biggest dread. Not that we have something to hide, but we have SO much stuff packed into every compartment and would hate to have it all pulled out and mucked through!!

We had another bad stretch of highway today. There are the continuous frost heaves -- like a roller coaster. We started out averaging 70 kph, but quickly slowed to 50 & 60 kmp. One begins to look forward to the gravel stretches because the frost heaves can and have been levelled out there. The gravel roads are better than the paved in most cases. You start to hate when you come to the areas where there is nothing but the stunted, scraggly black spruce. Not only are they ugly, but they are the only tree that will survive on poorly drained areas or permafrost. I read where some of those trees with their 2" diameter trunk could be 100 years old !! Anyway, you know with black spruce and permafrost you'll have the frost heaves on the road.

Whitehorse will be our stopping point for tonight. This last 180 km was a much improved road and we made better time than our a.m stretch. With the light rain & gravel roads we'll be looking for a car wash. It looks like the mud on our truck and 5th wheel will need to be chiselled off!! We will also need to change our clocks as we didn't do that yesterday! Oh yes, we saw a couple of brown/grizzly bears along the ditch today.

Fri - June 13 Beaver Creek, Yukon

Beaver Creek Motor Inn

Field Parking - $18, p only, Internet, Temp 16C

It is Friday, 13! I just realised the date as I type this.. Yikes. Maybe that accounted for our bad stretch today!

Well, we have now completed our Alaska loop arriving back in Tok, AK at 1:30 today. The last stretch (Tok Cutoff Hwy) was a bit slow going with lots of frost heaves. They are the worst for us, causing quite a bounce or 'whip' on the 5th wheel. Things (including us) get bounced around pretty good.

Another bad stretch of broken pavement and re-building from Tok to the border with construction delays. It didn't make very good travel time.

We crossed the border to Yukon and are heading southeast towards Whitehorse again. At this point I believe the plan is to leave our 5th wheel in Carcross and drive to Skagway for the 3 hr. train ride. We are getting a bit concerned about the date and the miles left to travel. We need to be home by end of June !!!

Later: It's 4:30 p.m. at Beaver Creek. Just beyond Can. Customs. The road was pretty bad and we are not driving the miles that we had hoped. We hit a down pour of rain just before crossing the border, but it's moved on now. It looks like they had a good dump here! Again, we are just too tired to go further, so here we stay. Hopefully it's a better stretch tomorrow. That type of road is very stressful on both of us!

Thurs - Tolsana, AK (if you can find it!)

Tolsona Wilderness Campground & RV
Site #14 - $27, p/w, Internet, Temp 14C

We were pretty concerned as we neared this place, and then we had quite a laugh. Tolsona shows up on my GPS under "Cities" so I set it as our destination. When the "annoying voice" (!!) comes on and says "Arriving at Tolsona on right", there was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING there!! We then read our "Milepost" book and find out that Tolsona is unincorporated with a population of 24 and it is spread over 16 miles of highway.  TOO FUNNY!! You would miss it in a blink!!

We also got a little worried when we followed the campground sign from the highway. It was gravel and not the best of roads for 1/4 of a mile. However, the book said it was a "Good Sam" with all hookups and internet, so we kept going. Anyway, it was a nice surprise at the end of the road and here we are!! In the middle of nowhere, but all the conveniences, and yes, I have internet!

It's a pretty place with a creek winding around the perimeter, so every site is creek side. The mosquitoes are out and about, something we haven't really dealt with since Watson Lake.

Emerald Lake on way to Skagway

The 430 km seemed like a long drive today. We didn't arrive until 4:30. We stopped about 45 min. at the Wildlife Conservation Centre just out of Anchorage. (Courtesy of our Kenai Marine tour yesterday when at the tour centre, I noticed that if you booked online you could get a complimentary pass to the centre, so I said we'd do that. The young lady offered us the pass anyway.) It was interesting to be up close to some of the animals (porcupine, elk, moose, black & brown bears, caribou, bison, and sitka deer.), but not quite the same as seeing them in the wild.

We are now enjoying a beer by the creek. And we are looking forward to an easy meal of leftover chili. Here in Tolsana!

PS. Rene, we are camped beside a couple from Quebec. He sounds just like you! They left Montreal in April. He's said he "bought license and fish" in AB & BC so "leave much money there" but "catch much trout". He has his rod out here already.

Moose Pass and Seward area

Ptarmigan Creek Forestry Campground
Site #15 - $14, n/s, Temp 12C, cloudy & windy

We spent the last 2 nights at Ptarmigan Creek Forestry Campground between Moose Pass & Seward. There are no hookups and we made good use of the furnace. This was about the coolest weather we've dealt with on this trip. It was 11-12C during the day, but the wind made it chilly coupled with the fact that the snow is pretty low on the mountains.  There is a dampness from the Gulf of Alaska / Bay. I made use of all my 'layers' !

After arriving on Tues, we did a drive tour of Seward. We watched them loading a coal freighter which takes about 1 week.

We also drove up to Exit Glacier with a paved 1.5 mile hiking path up to the glacier base. I was only able to go part way, but Ron made the trip to take some pics. Strange, but it was warm up there and all the people who had bundled up with toques, mits and heavy jackets were pealing down to shirt sleeves. (Back at camp we had to layer up again! Weird!)



On Wednesday we did the 6 hr. Glacier/Wildlife Marine Tour. We have become a little 'wildlife tour' shy because of our not so good experience in Denali with the minimal sightings! (and this trip was considerably more $$). Anyway, it was an awesome tour! We were not disappointed.







We had lots of great sightings - orcas, humpback whales, sea lions, sea otters, harbor seals, puffins and many many other birds. The glacier was spectacular.  There was lots of calving (glacier chunks breaking off and crashing in to the Bay -- if you are naive to that as I was!) All in all, it was a wonderful tour with lunch and cookies that were baked right on board as we travelled.







And now I guess you would say we are starting homeward. We are working our way SE again. Alhough we still have a few side trips planned. ie. a train trip to Skagway.

Tomorrow we hope to camp somewhere around Tolsona. Hopefully there will be some internet available. I wasn't lucky here!

Must go -- It's chili time (and it smells yummy!)

Mon - June 9 Soldatna, AK

We've had some great tour guides on our trip and Doug and Faye are right up there with the best. We really enjoyed our day trip to Homer and back.

We had quite a laugh to start our day when Doug needed to move his car from one repair shop to another. The shops weren't too far from each other, but it's a bit of a dilemma when it's along a very busy highway and the car won't start. So Faye gets behind the wheel and Doug, Ron & I proceed to push it along the sidewalk !! Too funny!! I'm sure we 'turned many a head' and the boys having coffee break outside the garage we were headed to also had quite a laugh when we 'pushed up'. "Did you just push that car down the sidewalk??" they said. (They did help up us get it up the drive and in to the shop!!

And then our day continued. (Once we got 'up to speed' that is. Doug, who was driving our truck, finally figured out the parking brake was still on!) We spent a lot of time getting in and out of the truck. There were a lot of stops and so much to see in such a short stretch.

The beautiful Norman Lowell art gallery - at the end of a winding country road, middle of nowhere;



The historical towns; the mountains including the active volcanic peaks of Redoubt and Iliamna (no smoke was seen today however); the rivers, the creeks, lakes & seashores, all the fishermen lined up on the shores plus more golden eagles in one day than I'd seen my lifetime.



Homer is certainly a hub of fishing/boating activity.  Halibut seemed to be the catch of the day. There are lots of neat little shops and we stopped for some yummy clam chowder.





The "Salty Dawg Saloon" was something to see. Dollar bills, bras & gotch and business cards (and who knows what else - there is too much to see!!) are covering every inch of wall and ceiling with peoples identification and other remarks. I've included pics, but it's one of those 'gotta see it to believe it' places!!!









We stopped in to meet some of Doug & Faye's fishing buddies. They have some great contacts if anyone is looking for a Fishing Charter in Alaska!!!



It was another fun day and we were all pretty exhausted when we finally got home around 7 p.m. And so, it was time for bed!! Doug & Faye will be up and fishing by 6:30 a.m. and we'll be moving on to our next stop, probably somewhere around Moose Pass.