Alaska and the Rockies by RV from Los Angeles 2009

See Entire Route Map

Travel Itinerary 2009

Travel Costs 2009

1      From LA up the West Coast   See Route Map

          After a 15 hour flight from Australia we arrived at LAX airport on the 4^th April 2009 at about 4.30 pm and found the Disneyland Express which  took us firstly to the Disneyland  Hotel, sat there for a bit while the ticket man got on and collected the $32 return fare, the bus then took off and dropped people at the various hotels in the area, Ours was the Castle Inn, which is almost opposite the entrance to Disneyland. And was the cheapest on the internet when we booked it. It was handy, clean and plenty of facilities around.  A $20 taxi ride the following morning had us at the RV Storage in Anaheim, It was Saturday, we let ourselves in, found the RV, started it up and set about unpacking our gear and finding our way around our home for the next 7 weeks. After about  3hours we launched ourselves onto the Los Angeles freeway system and set the Tom Tom GPS to Santa Barbara on the coast, it’s called blind faith, but it was certainly better than trying to read the maps and follow the signs. Our biggest problem was getting used to Tom Tom’s instructions, sometimes she leaves it a bit late, other times she is early and you find you have turned a street early and do a few loop the loops to get back on track, come to think of it that was mainly in Hawaii where we were being tested  by her.

The West Coast
          We called in at Santa Barbara checked out an RV camp ground it did not impress at all, it was more like a storage yard for RVs than a camp ground, $50 they wanted, no one home, you leave the money in an envelope and pick your site.  We needed to stock up with supplies, so we took the envelope for a site and went in search of a supermarket, we found a “Scolaries” store and did our shop, so they got the $50. Although we are about 180miles  North of LA, you would be forgiven for thinking we had traveled South into Mexico.

We finished up spending our first night camped on a side road off the highway. $50 seemed too much for taking up a bit of gravel space for the night. Anyway our site was much better.

Hearst Castle
          Thursday we continued up the coast road, a sign “Hearst Castle” 10 miles ahead, we dragged our memories and realized that this would be William Randolph Hearst, the media Magnate (the Rupert Murdoch of the 1930s)  We called in and asked about a tour, sorry all sold out, we were told there was a little man in a cap who was going to return his tickets, we found him and ended up on the next bus to leave for the castle.  It was a great tour well worth the time and cost.    Photos
Heading north again we called in and photographed some sleepy Elephant Seals on the beach. The coast road we have been traveling on since the leaving Castle has been absolutely spectacular, I know we are proud of our “Great Ocean Road” in Victoria  but this is every bit as scenic. Our only regret is that we are traveling North, there are double lines for most of the road and as we are on the hill side of the road we do not get anywhere near the same opportunities to pull in and soak up the view, mind you we are not without some photos. We intend following this coast road right up to Seattle, as we write this we are camped, overlooking the ocean at Rockport, having traveled 940 miles from LA.

We called at Monterey where Clint Eastwood was mayor, (don’t think he was home) it was a nice town, we walked the wharf and bought some fresh fish.  Went on to Salinas where, after disobeying Tom Tom at one point, she got even and sent us through the middle of the market garden plots of Artichokes, eventually we got our destination A Walmart Store and a Home Depot (ala Bunning’s)  We bought some tools and materials for some motor home renovations and have been gradually sorting out a few of the bugs ever since.

Last night we camped overlooking Tomales Bay, again we called at a Camp Ground, no one home, fill in the form and leave $40 in an envelope and find a site. Thanks, but no thanks. It was much more pleasant on our own.  Today we called at Fort Bragg for supplies and fuel looked for an early stopping place, so far the commercial RV parks do not impress, all jammed in on top of one another.

We ended up at Rockport, at a council operated beachside van park, on some cliffs overlooking the Pacific.

9^th April, Thursday.   A miserable day it had drizzled all night, just enough to be a nuisance, we headed up Highway No 1 through the redwood forests, a feature that we wanted to see was the “Avenue of Giants” in the Humboldt State Forest, quite spectacular, huge redwood trees, one had a hole you could drive a car through, it was claimed to be 315 ft high and 21ft diameter. The avenue went for 31miles in and out of dense timbered areas. It was the original Highway 101 but it was so narrow they rebuilt the highway just outside the forest we have moved on to Clam Beach camp area, again overlooking the Pacific. It stopped raining which gave us a chance to walk the beach. The sand is dark grey here and has been for the past three days driving along the coast.

It is now 9.15pm Good Friday, in US they are aware of Good Friday, but shops are open, no holiday here, not even displays of Easter Eggs in the shops, haven’t even seen a hot cross bun.

We have booked in to a nice state run park in Brookings Oregon, just over the border from California, on the coast, we have power, internet, dump site, etc, etc. We did not travel far today, although we have covered 1172 miles since leaving LA. We got here at 11.30am and have had a rest day, spent a bit of time tinkering with the motorhome. Still a very scenic coastline.

We begin to think that we have got used tom the left hand drive, then all of a sudden you find you have approached the wrong door to get in. Must be vigilant about becoming complacent, when the mind wanders one reverts to the comfort zone.

The helpful part of driving on the wrong side of the road, is that they put the steering wheel and controls on the wrong side as well.      Photos

2   Brooking Oregon to Vancouver Island     See Route Map

We are now in Canada, Victoria, on Vancouver Island to be precise. We came by ferry from Port Angeles in Washington State and landed here at 3.30pm today Tuesday 14^th April and booked into the Fort Victoria RV Park about 8 miles out of town, at last we have internet for a couple of days.

We left the coast road in Washington at Lincoln City and headed to Portland as we wanted to see the Mt. St. Helens Volcano visitor centre, The last time we were here in 1983 St. Helens had erupted not long before and was still smoking.  The visitor centre showed details of the damage that was caused by that eruption.  We have now been told that a volcano near Anchorage in Alaska is playing up and they are diverting planes from some areas, it’s only hearsay at this stage so we will have to wait and see.  Whilst we were able to see all of the things the visitor centre had to offer, outside it was raining cats & dogs and visibility was so bad not only could we not see the mountain, it was difficult to see the tail lights of the cars ahead, wish we could send some of it home, it might break the 10 year drought that going on in Australia .

Coming through Portland the Tom Tom lead us on a merry chase, we had it programmed for the shortest route, I would hate to see the long way, we were sent through the elite area of the surrounding hill country, it was like winding through the small lanes of Tacoma in the Dandenongs. Still as frustrating as that was the homes were well worth the diversion, the gardens were a picture, being early Spring the blossom trees are in full splendor. Lorraine and I have different names for the Tom Tom, the main difference is that I swear. It is an absolute necessary evil.

We avoided Seattle and chose to head towards Port Angeles on the North Coast of Washington State, at this time we were searching for a place to pull up for the night and following a sign to a State Park we ended up at Twanoh State Park on the shores of the Hood arm of the waterways that surround this picturesque area. The road winds around, about 30 ft from the shoreline and between the road and the water there is a continuous string of houses, some of them extended out over the water, many have their garages and tool sheds built in hacked out cuttings from the hillside on the other side of the road, as there is no room for them on their house lot.

The camp site is in a cedar forest, we were the only campers there amongst these huge 250 ft high cedars. The weather had cleared and the next day looked to be good so we decided to hang in for another night and take advantage of the power to complete the renovations to the cupboards, as by now we had obtained the rest of the materials needed by a visit to Home Depot just out of Portland.

Lorraine took time at Home Depot to check out the Spring blooms and found the our old fashioned Columbine was the in flower, other wise  most of the flowers were the same as at home, camellias and rhododendrons being very popular.

We finished installing the shelving and a few other tit bits that had needed to be done, We were warned by the ranger that we could expect hail and snow overnight, the hail came but alas no snow. I am sure we will have had our fill of snow by the end of this trip so not a big deal.

The drive from Twanoh to Port Angeles, we expected to take a while but we were soon onto a freeway system that took us over a massive floating bridge and had us there by 11.30am. A ferry was leaving at 2.00 we booked our berth and waited.

Victoria, Vancouver Island

          We have had a busy day, took the bus to town, did a bus tour of the Victoria, Museum, Craigdarroch Castle etc. then caught another bus out to Butchart Gardens (about 25km to the North) so we are ready for an early night. Money was a bit of a problem, the regular buses do not give change, I had a few $1 & $2 notes left over from our last visit to Canada (1985) It was quite a novelty for the bus drivers as they have not been in circulation for years. We must say it was pleasure to hear the teenagers going to school almost all, thanked the bus driver as they got off, not only the teens, but most adults as well. The bus drivers were all most helpful in guiding us to the next bus connection stop, in all quite a pleasant experience. The Castle was great, the grounds were in the process of being re-laid out in the original form, so that part was a mess. The Butchart Gardens were a picture, and we certainly took a lot of them, perhaps a bit out of season for the main blooms (roses and rhododendrons) but the blossoms and bulbs were in full strength.  We feel we have seen Victoria and so will move on up the island tomorrow.
Victoria has a similar climate to Melbourne, rarely snows if ever, about 20" rainfall per year, temp range 1 - 30 degrees so it is perhaps a little cooler.
They claim to have the best weather in Canada and as such is a favorite spot for retirees.

3.  Victoria to Prince Rupert   See Route Map

   
       We left the Fort Victoria RV Park and headed North along highway 1.  The highway No1 Starts at Victoria and continues across to the Atlantic.  The Canadians claim to have the longest continuous highway in the world, they quote Australia and Russia as having longer, but they are not sealed all the way.  I don’t know what part of the sea they sealed between Vancouver Island and the mainland, but there is an hour’s ferry ride in the middle of the highway from Nanaimo to Vancouver.

A brief detour at Duncan , where we turned West to have a look at Lake Cowichan, it is a huge lake which they use to train on for ocean canoeing, very pretty countryside with patchy snow still on the tops and ski slopes of the mountains to the West, we returned to highway 1 sidestepping a couple of times to have a look at some of the coastal towns.  We were quite surprised, we had envisaged that the island was sparsely populated when you leave Victoria, not so, there is a freeway 2 and 3 lanes each way so far and by the number of shopping centres there must be a fair population to justify them, and they are still building more.

 Anyway highway 1 turned west into the ocean and we took to No 17 to continue North.  We were very glad that we chose to get the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria rather than from the Vancouver port. We docked in the harbour in central Victoria, whereas the Vancouver ferry docks at Nanaimo 111 kms North of Victoria.

We found a very nice State Park on the coast just out of Parksville where we setup for the night, no power or water at the site, but very nicely laid out amongst the tall trees.

Port Hardy

          We saw our first wild deer this morning, in the camp ground. later on in the day, just before Port Hardy a couple of black bears beside the road. No chance for photos in either case.

Port Hardy is pretty well the end of the road here on Vancouver Island, a smallish timber and fishing port and I suppose the ferry creates a bit of work and industry. The drive up the coast road was very interesting, we went through Fanny Bay, famous for it’s oysters we stopped and watched at one of the piers, the bank of the beach was probably 3ft deep with oyster shells.  Several communities have their houses built on the bank and extending out over the water, small houses, no front yard and the only outdoor space a wooden deck.

Several areas had logs floating in the bay , bound together for transporting to the mill

Shakes and Shingles are a popular building cladding for roof and wall . Some mills specialize in churning them out.

They look good, mostly they are left in the natural split state.  Another interesting method is the log cabin construction, which they seem to have perfected here.  The barns many of them the Dutch type (double pitched roof) are huge, In Europe they house their stock in them over winter, but we are not seeing much stock  here at all, maybe it’s for the big boy’s toys.  So many homes have motorhomes stored in their yard.  Another feature we noticed was the ads for sale of motorhome sites along the resort areas.  Motorhomes of course come in a range of sizes. Many of the 5^th Wheelers are obviously not for traveling purposes, particularly when they have 4ft high 3 pane, bay windows in the front end. They are almost certainly intended to be driven to a site and left to be used as a luxury cabin.

The snow capped mountains in the north of the island are quite spectacular the camera was constantly clicking away and occasionally we would be able to stop and do justice with the camera. The highway finally reduced down to one lane each way and the traffic reduced to odd cars & trucks carting logs. We checked out their “fish & chips” at Port Hardy, the fish “Halibut” was very nice, but we will pass on their chip making next time.

The motorhome is traveling well and we are delighted with the way it handles, at 10 miles per gallon, while the cost of running is not cheap, when you consider that it is our accommodation, transport and restaurant it becomes cost effective.

We have driven 2164 miles (3482kms) since leaving LA through to Port Hardy at the top of Vancouver Island. Think that’s about the same as Melbourne to Perth.

We are free camping just out of Port Hardy tonight and will check out the ferry details and check-in time tomorrow  then spend the rest of the time looking around the town.        Photos

Prince Rupert B.C.

          We are here in Prince Rupert after 22 hours on the ferry, Booked in to an RV park for the night and will head off towards Whitehorse and Skagway tomorrow. The ferry trip was interesting through the inside passage, very much like the cruise down the Yangtze River in China, the main difference being that there was no action along the shores of this one and there was a lot of snow capped mountains along the way. Unfortunately the weather was not favorable, a fine misty rain most of the time and low cloud, which was impressive on the mountains but stopped a lot of visibility. The water was very calm and the trip smooth. It was the last voyage for the “Queen of Prince Rupert”, it is to be de-commissioned tomorrow (not our fault).  We enquired about leaving the RV here and taking another ferry from here to Skagway, but the delays along the way and the fact that there is no other way to return to Prince Rupert to collect the motorhome aided our decision to drive to Skagway.      Photos

I have just returned from visiting a neighboring RV (Martin & Barb Tighe, from Ketchikan ), Alaska, I went over to see if I could get some information on the roads up north, 2 hours later I returned with 2 travel books that the couple gave me to assist us with our travels in Alaska, one of them the 2008 “Milepost” unbelievable generosity.

Other neighbours here, a couple had been to Australia last November, the wife being an Aussie was having withdrawal symptoms for the Sydney surf, she has been here long enough to loose her accent, hang on, we don’t have an accent, they do.

It appears that the best time of the year in the Alaska area is June /July, that is when the salmon are running up stream  and all systems are up and running, but we will make the most of it for what is open and available now.

We saw two sea otter playing in the water by the jetty this afternoon and there are a few deer wandering around the campground.

Prince Rupert has a area called Cow Bay, there is a café that sells Cowpaccinos, the boardwalk is lined with black & white lamp posts, litter bins and all other appropriately painted items. On the other side of the street is “The Udder Place”.

We were able to find a supply of Muesli, at Port Hardy of all places.  The store was “Overwaitea” who advertise as “B.C.’s very own food people” so we are assuming they are wide spread in B.C.  They had a huge “loose” products serve yourself area , where you select, bag and weigh your product. Nuts, dried fruit, sweets, jams, chocolate, grains, muesli, plus plus plus,  All very professionally set up.

This RV park has arranged for wireless internet, he gave me the password and said I would be the first to use it, didn’t work and the couple next door said they had been given the same password 12 months ago and it didn’t work then either.     Photos

We are now in Terrace, the drizzle has stopped, now it’s raining.  A beautiful drive from Prince Rupert , the snow is melting, parts of some lakes were still frozen over and the waterfalls down the mountain sides are all over. The road is clear of snow, so at this stage it’s just the rain that is a constant nuisance.

4.  Prince Rupert to Skagway   See Route Map

 Well we ended up sending the emails from an internet Café in Terrace. Tearing my hair out trying to hook up with hot spots,  just aint my cup-o-tea.

We camped a few miles out of Terrace, it rained all night, and looked like it was set in for a while. As we moved further East the rain eased and we at last saw the sun, it is bright and yellow, we had almost forgotten, we fueled at Kitwanga and were advised that the forecast was for more rain. 

The Cassiar Highway.
          We turned onto the Cassiar Highway and the sky started to show patches of blue, it was a great drive, the mountains snowcapped rising from the rivers still partly frozen, lakes were just a sheet of white. We both have to soak our right index finger tonight, they are suffering from an overdose of camera clicking. We seem to have it all today even snow, although it was very warm traveling .

We free camped by the Ningenaw River , we seemed to be in a spot where moose or elk visit there were several sightings of droppings but no positive ID. We were expecting to be woken by them during the night, but no such luck.

We did however wake to the silence of light snow falling, there had been a fair bit overnight as the Jamboree was covered and all the Spruce trees were holding their share an each branch, it was quite a picture.  As we enjoyed our breakfast the snow fall got heavier. Needless to say, another photo opportunity not to be missed.

We took to the Cassiar Highway again with great appreciation of the fact that we have snow tyres fitted.

We drove for 12.5 hours today through the most magnificent mountain peaks, frozen lake after lake, rivers trickling between thick banks of snow and icing over anywhere where there was no movement, trees standing tall and proud with their burden of snow, The occasional wind gust would go past the trees and it was like a dog shaking after a swim, the tree would shed it’s snow in a puff. The Spruce seems the ideal tree with snow on it, it conjures up the traditional image of a white Christmas.

The snow continued to fall for about an hour after we hit the road, it was bleak driving, but then the sun came out and we hade a magnificent day for the rest of it.  The road was still covered with snow for some time. The Jamboree grew spikes from the wheel nuts on the front wheels and icicles formed all over the body of the RV.  We however were snug and warm in the Jamboree., The gas heater (furnace) and the generator take turns to keep us warm during the evenings.

The days are long it was still quite clear at 9.30 last night and there was no moon at the time.

We refueled and lunched at Dease Lake, there we caught up with a couple of IT guys. I asked the question about having portable internet on the laptop here, not on he said. It is possible, but not for mere minions like us, it costs a fortune to set up and then 8c/min to run. He asked were we headed North or South,  North I said, he replied, “then it’s only going to get worse.”

What about a plug in card bought in USA, forget it, was his reply.  So it looks like we are on “occasional contact only”  Lorraine’s phone has been getting no reception either.

The wildlife sighting for the day was the rear end of a black bear going off into the trees.

We tried to book in to an RV park tonight but they all looked inaccessible with the huge build up of snow around, we looked at 3 and went past them all, eventually we found a track that went down to an old road works, by Swan Lake so we were about 200m from the highway.  All of the “Rest Areas” along the highways  have notices prohibiting overnight stays, so it’s not worth the risk trying it, particularly as one is so visible with the long daylight hours. Another trap we found all the way up is the sign “Campground” follow it and you may well end up in a resort with facilities for RVs. About 30miles before meeting up with the Alaska highway we crossed the border from British Columbia into The Yukon, we did that again and again and again.  The state border between the states is a straight line, however the Alaska highway  weaves across it several times.
Photos 

The Alaska Highway
          An interesting fact about the Alaska Highway that we are traveling on now, is that it was built by the USA in 1941 in such a rush, they forgot to consult Canada about it. After Pearl Harbour, the US were fearful that Hitler, who at the time was planning to invade Russia and if successful, he would have access across the top via the Bering Strait to Alaska, The US needed to be able to supply Alaska, fearful of the Japanese Navy Submarines, they chose the inland route.  After the war Canada bought it for a fraction of the cost of building the highway.

Skagway

          At last ALASKA, we arrived in Skagway at about 5.30 after another day of great weather and unbelievable scenery, photo stops almost around every corner, I even got up onto the roof of the Jamboree to take one panorama group. It is hard to put the camera down, no sooner do you turn it off than you are reaching for it again. The drive down into Skagway through White Pass was about 20 miles of steep down hill grade, There were several truck escape run offs, should they have brake failure. In the middle of the run down  “US Customs” They inspected our fruit & vegies and asked all sorts of questions. The lass had difficulty in understanding what I was saying, must have been a bit deaf or something. We traveled on the opposite side of one great canyon to the Skagway –White Pass Tourist train.  We took photos of the railway line and how it was tacked onto the side of the mountain, bit scary.  The railway was a hangover from the Klondike Gold Rush and has been restored as a tourist feature for the town,      Photos

It is 9 days before the first cruise ship comes in and everything in town is either being repaired or repainted.  The town itself looks like a set out of Disneyland, the shopping section are all old buildings as they were in the heyday of the Klondike era (1898), as we are 2 weeks early all but the grocer, hardware and a couple of other stores are “Closed - Open Mid May” . So May to September is the operating period, during that time the population doubles from 800 to 1600.

Another interesting fact about Alaska is that it was part of Russia until 1868, USA had been pressuring Russia to pay for their share of a telegraph system that was being built across the top from USA to Europe through Russia, Russia didn’t see the value in the telegraph line and reckoned that The US would eventually take over Alaska, so they tried to pit Canada and USA in a bidding war to buy Alaska, USA paid about 5 cents per acre for the property.

Not long after we settled into the only RV park that was open , and had a heck of a job finding the owner, we rang a tour operator from Haines, a town across the inlet to book in for a flight over Glacier Bay and all its mountains. The weather prediction was not good for the next day, so he suggested that he could fly over and pick us up and go in 25mins. We thought we would drive over and leave from Haines, woops, it was 15 miles by sea but 350 miles and probably 10 hours by road. We accepted his offer to pick us up. It was 90 minutes of “pinch me, is this real”. The small plane flew at 120knots at 4000ft. We took about 300 photos between the two of us. Whilst it was looking a bit overcast when we took off it wasn’t long before the sun was shining and the viewing was awesome. We flew over many glaciers and were given a running commentary as we went. The whole experience was mind blowing, we spent the rest of the evening sorting out our photos and drooling over them on the computer.  It had been a busy day, we were on the road at 7.15am and drove about 320miles to get to Skagway. Needless to say we had a lazy day today walking the town and lounging about.   Photos

5.  Skagway to Anchorage    See Route Map

          Saturday 25^th April, that might be Anzac Day to us as Australians, but as it is the last Saturday in April it’s “Clean up Day” in Skagway.

Friday we noticed groups of school kids being shepherded around each with their yellow plastic bag, picking up what ever litter they could find, but Saturday is everyone’s day for the clean up, getting ready for the first Cruise ship, which will bring the first of the 900,000 tourists that grace their boardwalks each year.  We bade farewell to our neighbours for the past day, a couple of women each approx 50ish, they drove up in a huge 38ft “A” Class motorhome towing a big ute, and in the back of the ute was a rather large Quad Bike, inside the RV a poodle and a cat were quite a home, Our only other neighbour in the park was a woman, traveling with her 2 large dogs in a large ute with a “Slide On”.

As we drove around town to refuel before heading out we noticed family groups, little tackers in pushers and a bit older, all with their yellow bags, in some cases the bags were bigger than the kids. We blew our goodbyes to Skagway and headed up the mountain pass (White Pass) on the way, we of course we had the opportunity to stop and take some photos, We noticed a ute stopping in different places and assumed they were also playing the Kodak game, but no, father was behind the wheel, stopping for Momma to get out and pick up the litter along the roadway edges, on one occasion we noted her climb over the guardrail to retrieve some morsel of rubbish, it was almost a sheer drop off the edge and she was clinging to the rail, extending herself out to reach the rubbish.       Photos

It was a beautiful day, blue sky, the mountains looked so crisp, then as we reached White Pass it snowed, we were able to pull over and take advantage of the incredible scenery from the Jamboree window while we supped on our morning coffee.

A bit further along , over the hump as it were, we saw a group of vehicles parked where they had unloaded their Ski-Doos and took off across the valleys and up the sides of the hills leaving only an array of tell-tail tracks to show where they have been. Other sporting gear such as Snow-Boarders using kites to propel them along

We actually saw one guy put on a pair of skis and take off down the hill, (must have been an old fart). A dog sled was parked on the snow, no dogs around to be seen, other than the ones sitting in the cars. Everyone seems to have a big dog or two and they are made welcome in all the RV Parks and shops. They often occupy the font passenger seat in the car or ute. One chap driving a ute, noted that I had a camera around my neck so he stopped and chatted because the dog , a huge Siberian Malamute loves having his photo taken of course we obliged and the dog “Phoenix” dutifully posed.   A bit further on and we are through a Canadian Customs checkpoint, about 30miles from Skagway, now we are in British Columbia, but not for long, 20 kms further on and we are now in Yukon, We still are, back on the Alaska Highway and will be for another day, before we re-enter Alaska at Beaver Creek.

We got back on this highway at Whitehorse which is the capital of Yukon, the city centre was a bit off the highway, we called in for a look .

Interestingly the capital of Alaska is not Anchorage, the most populated city, nor is it Fairbanks, the next largest city, no it is Juneau, which was quite close to Skagway, but strangely you cannot drive to Juneau, there are no roads in, it’s either fly or ferry. So we could not get there without considerable expense.

We settled in off the highway for the night, as I write this it is 10.30pm and it is still quite light outside, the sun has not long dropped below the mountain range.

Sunday 26^th, was a bit of an anti-climax from the “In your face” mountain terrain that we had been through.

We traveled alongside the St Elias mountains and Lake Kluane before re-entering Alaska just past Beaver Creek. The Nutzotin Range was in the distance but the close landscape was a bit less interesting.   Photos

We turned West at Tok and then came around the back of the St. Elias mountains, where the scenery became a lot more dramatic.  The St.Elias range is a glacieral range with several glaciers formed between 12 and 26million years ago. The ice is estimated to be 700metres in depth in some parts of the glaciers.

The less interesting area mentioned previously was actually a about 150miles from Burwash Landing to Beaver Creek. The land here is “permafrost” where the soil is permanently frozen 2 ft below the surface, this has the effect of causing the trees to have stunted growth as their roots cannot penetrate the frozen ground. The surface of the ground is a permanent slushy marsh as water cannot penetrate to get away, almost impossible to walk through. The roads in the area suffer from “Frost Heaving” where the earth moves and distorts the road surface, in places quite dramatically, causing severe bumping and shaking of the RV, so it was a case of slowly riding the big dipper.

In this region we passed through Northway just over the Alaskan border, Northway has recorded temperatures of minus 70 degrees, in winter.

We finally settled on a site next to the Slana River for the night, and sit here watching great chunks of ice float down the river, when a beaver went along the opposite bank.

Caribou on the Move
          We rose to a warmer morning, on the road by 7.15, a lot of photo stops as we went along side the Wrangell National Park. At 9.30am we stopped in our tracks to allow a herd of about 250 wild Caribou cross the highway just in front of us. They are apparently on the move during their migration and moving away from the threat of Wolves. Needless to say the cameras went crazy, and out with the tripod as the herd moved a bit distant. It was a great thrill.  A local couple stopped and we chatted about the Caribou and the area, they recommended we include a side trip to Valdez on Prince William Sound. Valdez is the end of the 800 mile oil pipeline, built in 1979 which starts in Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean.  The oil is fed into a series of huge holding tanks or loaded directly into waiting tankers.

After getting our breath from the Caribou excitement we decided to take the Richardson Highway for the Valdez option and delay our arrival at Anchorage for a day.    Photos

Valdez.
          Valdez is heralded as Alaska’s equivalent to the “Swiss Alps” and whilst we have not seen the Swiss Alps, one can appreciate the comparison. 85 miles out of Valdez we started down into a wide valley which became more narrow and dramatic the further we went, we would be cautiously approaching every corner as they were all gasping for a photo. Unfortunately photos, as good as they might be do not give the full story, it really was like an “In the Round” presentation. We stopped at  Worthington’s Glacier and watched as some climbers traversed the glacier, There are frequent warnings about the inexperienced walking on the glaciers and this was emphasized again by a couple of skiers we met on Thompson Pass a few miles further on. They had just completed their day’s ski on one of the mountains, which for them was a 10 hour walk to the start of the skiing and they would break the skiing into 4 sections before reaching the bottom. They were both Ski Guides enjoying their off season. They felt that they should stop skiing now as it was getting too dangerous with the snow on top of the glaciers melting and making the opening of the crevices more of a hazard.

There are only 3 or 4 Ski Fields with lifts in Alaska, much to the disgust of the two boys, although  another is planned for Anchorage.  Thompson Pass has a reputation for receiving the most amount of snow each year, an incredible 1000 inches (25metres) . From Thompson’s Pass into Valdez  was through narrow gorges all  very awe inspiring.  We made it to Valdez , parked and walked the floating marina docks. They are quite complicated as they have 16 ft tides here that they have to contend with.  The snow on Thompson Pass was looking rather grey, which the boys advised us was ash from the recent volcano activity.

Our first peer into the water and we are greeted by a Sea Otter laying, floating on his back with his front paws tucked up under his chin, obviously dozing. We walked the town replenished our larder, refueled then drove around to the other side of the bay and took up residence for the night overlooking the water and the town. Chatting to a couple of locals pointed us in the direction of Allison Point, the pipeline terminal and a good view of the sound. That all proved  good advice and in fact we were able to stay in a park on the water’s edge overlooking the town, which is  nestled in at the base of a huge mountain.  The drive out the next morning was equally as interesting as the drive in, part of the drive is through  Keystone Canyon, a very tall cold canyon just wide enough for the road and the Lowe River. We stopped in the middle of the canyon to inspect an old 1880s railroad tunnel cut through the solid rock mountain, at 7.30 in the morning, we were never so cold as the wind through the canyon made us.      Photos

130 miles back to the junction and we were again on track for Anchorage. The Glenn Highway, lined with spruce and obviously suffering from more “Frost Heaves” eventually rose to 3000ft, where we stopped for lunch. A couple of guys pulled up with a trailer loaded with Ski-Doos  and a couple of tow sleds. Father and son from Wasilla, they had driven a couple of hours to this point to unload and set up their gear then drive their Ski-Doos 13 miles across the snow and a lake to get to their hunting lodge that they have been building for the past 3 years, they need to retrieve some equipment before the snow goes and they can’t get their ski-doos in. We watched as they took off at great speed, dad was not sure whether he needed a jacket or a swim suit for the journey, as the snow has receded so much over the past fortnight. Craig and his Dad have invited us to call in at their shop at Wasilla on our way past to Fairbanks. (we tried, but couldn’t find the shop)     Photos

Anchorage
          On to Anchorage and the highway again ran along side a magnificent range of mountains, this time the Chugach Mountains, which was clearly displaying the long run of glaciers and we tried to observe them at every vantage point.

We have finally reached Anchorage and booked in to the Gold Nugget RV Park for 2 nights.

6.  Anchorage to Fairbanks  See Route Map

          A day in Anchorage, shopping for bits & pieces was a pain in the butt, the City is very flat, seemed to give off little character, the road system seems difficult to follow, multi lane roads where they forget to mark the lanes, we tried on several occasions to go “Downtown” , eventually we got there.

One interesting piece of history here is Captain Cook, yes “Our” Captain Cook, he discovered the area here, which is aptly named Cook Inlet, whilst he was searching for the “North West Passage”  A large statue overlooks the inlet. We had found the same in Victoria on Vancouver Island.  He was a busy boy, was our Captain Cook.

One aspect of our trip is the timing, great for some things and not so good for others, It certainly did not put Anchorage in it’s best light, the city has mainly Birch and Aspen trees throughout, and of course they are deciduous and all are bare at this time. Apparently we just missed the thaw, which is a particularly ugly period of Anchorage’s year. When all is slush. Even though there is snow and road gravel around the edges of some areas the city was quite dusty.

This is the place for boys and their toys.  There are a lot small planes in airfields dotted all around the place, Alaska is said to have the highest ownership of small planes in the world. The snow season sees the utes and motorhomes towing a trailer with 2 or more Ski-Doos, as the snow melts the Ski-Doos get covered up and the ATV’s (All Terrain Vehicles or Quad bikes as we know them ) come out and take their place, The sides of the highways are as you get near a town  become like a race track along each side of the highway.  They are getting to be a problem with soil erosion. Also seen being towed around are the swamp boats, the ones with a huge fan to propel them across the shallow swamps, and boats of all sizes are being moved around. It is Sunday today and obviously the first fine weekend for the year has got everyone on the move.

Alaska like every country has it’s quirky tournaments , like rolling cheese down a hill in England,  racing up a mountain with a bag of wheat over the shoulder in the Mallee, Victoria. A couple of Alaska’s famous one’s are “The Arctic Man”, where a skier a snow machine and driver,  The skier starts at 5,800 ft elevation and drops 1,700 ft in less than 2 miles to the bottom of a canyon. The skier then catches a tow rope from his partner on the ski machine, who tows him 2 ½ miles uphill at speeds of up to 86 mph  before they separate and the skier finishes the race by going over the side of a second mountain and dropping 1200 feet to the finish line.

Their other big one is the Iditarod . A 1000 mile dog sled race from Anchorage, apparently the same guy has won it for the past 3 years. Last year he entered another 1000 mile dog sled race a week after winning the Iditarod with the same team of dogs and won that one as well.

There appears to be very little farming, but what could you farm in the climate here. An area just north of Anchorage was set aside and President Roosevelt sent farmers from the Mid-West into this area to try to make Alaska self sufficient with food, similar to our Soldiers Settlement  Scheme     Photos

The Kenai Peninsular.
          After leaving Anchorage we headed South to Seward, another very photo demanding trip with glaciers  and snow covered mountains, we tried for a diversion into Whittier and the Portage glacier, but alas the tunnel was closed due to a rock slide. We thought we would try again on the return trip, figured that as Whittier was the port where the Alaska Sea Ferries pull in they would not have the road closed for long. It appears that up until not long ago there was only train and air access to Whittier, then they put this 1 mile tunnel through a mountain and built the road, we find it has been closed for over a week and the train is now being subsidized to transport passengers for free to and from the town.

Not long after we started down the highway from Anchorage along the edge of  “Turnaround Arm” a 40 mile arm off  Cook’s Inlet, so named by Cook because he found there was no Eastern outlet.  We pulled over to clean the windshield as we were heading into the sun, Before the cleaning  I took a couple of photos of the extensive mud flats, the water’s edge was way out. After cleaning the windscreen we noticed that the water’s edge had come in a long way.  Lorraine put the kettle on and we sat for the next 15 minutes and watched the tide completely cover the mud flats.  You could actually see a small wave advancing across the mud as the tide came in. Later we found a small point of land called Bird Point where it explained the whole phenomenon of the tide movement here. It is called  “The Bore”. From Bird point where the Arm narrows, at the start of the flow in the bore can be a wave up to 600mm high advancing across the mud flats. We were not fortunate to time the main “Bore” and as we were watching earlier it was on a very wide stretch of the inlet

Seward.
          At the end of the drive we found Seward, a similarly attractive fishing port as Valdez, with the extensive floating moorings and the same high rise & fall of the tide.  Halibut is the fish of the area, it is so popular that they have great competitions when the season is on.  We decided to buy some fresh Halibut for a meal, we located a store attached to a fishing fleet.  Sorry we only have frozen Halibut, but it was caught fresh (now there’s a statement) We said ok and he retrieved a package from the freezer, a bit under a kilo. After paying for it I waited around for a while, expecting him to draw up a certificate of part ownership in the trawler that caught the fish, but no such luck.  We thought we should keep it for a while before offering it to the frypan,  to savor the moment.

Homer.
          From Seward we drove another 200 mile to Homer,  another part of the Kenai  Peninsular, on the way we called at Kenai and Nikishi from where we could see three volcanoes 50 mile across the inlet, Mt Redoubt was the one that threw a lot of ash in the air three weeks ago and it is still puffing a little white smoke from time to time. The other two Mt Iliamna and Mt Augustine have been dormant for a while, they are all located on the “Pacific Ring of Fire” a list of volcanoes skirting the Pacific.

Homer was an interesting fishing town and claim to be “The Halibut Capital of the World”, whilst the town is spread out on a hillside overlooking Kachemak Bay, the actual business end of the town is built on a Spit of land that looks as though several small islands have been connected with a built up roadway, all heavily walled with rock.  The spit is about 2 miles long and a few hundred feet in width. There, the fishing fleet and harbour for the smaller craft are moored to the now familiar floating docks and a number of Charter Companies waiting for the tourist season to kick in. The Spit is also home to many RV parks, all of which were empty at this time.  We stayed in the first one we came to as it had been a long day, so we were on the beach before the main spit started.

We watched as another camper was picking up something from the sand along the beach, curiosity got the better of us and we went off to find answers. Coal, he was collecting coal from the beach, he had read about local people gathering coal from this beach, for some reason it keeps working it’s way up through the sand and there is always some to gather.

It was 11.00 at night and freezing cold,  he thought he would have a fire to see if it burns, the following day. We woke the next day to a cloud that hung 20 ft off the ground so there was not much we could do if we hung around. We toured the Spit, spoke to a few locals and headed back, to see if we could get through to Whittier on the way home.

No such luck we are still too early, but we could get as far as Portage Glacier, so off we went, we took advantage of the closed facility there to use it as a camp for the night. The glacier and surrounds were pristine, the tour boat to take tourists to the edge of the glacier is still frozen in the ice, so it will be a while before it gets going.          Photos

Denali National Park.
          Our next overnight was at Denali NP on the way to Fairbanks. Were fortunate that the park had not yet opened officially and they were training bus drivers for the opening.  Normally you park at the front and get bused in to the camp sites (tents only). The road was open and we had been told by a guy at  portage glacier that they were allowing cars in for the full 30 mile drive and not worrying if they stayed over night, we took full advantage and parked for the night on a ridge 20 miles in and watched Caribou grazing in the valley below. In the distance we could see Mt. McKinley (also known as Mt Denali)  the tallest mountain in Alaska. They have also reasoned that it is in fact the tallest in the world, when measured from it’s base. Everest has a start by being on the Himalayas.  A very chilly night in the park, up early to drive the extra 10 mile and catch the wildlife while they still had sleep in their eyes..     Photos

Nenana.
         Nenana, a sleepy little town, about 60 miles south west of Fairbanks is home to the Annual “Nenana Ice Classic” Wher each year the local residents erect a huge timber tripod on the frozen Tanana River, the tripod is connected to a time clock, when the ice melts and the tripod collapses into the river, it trips the clock and records the exact time. A lottery is conducted, with people from all over the world placing bets, on the time and date that the tripod collapses. This lottery has been an annual event since 1917.  The dates have ranged between 20^th April and 20^th May.  Lottery Tickets are $2.50 each and the winning prize can up to $300,000.00.      Photos

Fairbanks.
          On to Fairbanks, we didn’t hang around much, it was Sunday, Again the city was very flat and dusty, they had been having temperatures up to 80 degrees, there was still snow built up that had been cleared off the edges of the roads. We drove on to the next town (more like a suburb) called “North Pole”  There are no prizes for guessing what the main business is in this town. The Santa Claus Shop on  St. Nicholas Drive, where all things can be arranged. Letters posted from here are of course postmarked “North Pole”. A must call in for a look.     Photos

7.   Fairbanks to Jasper and The Rockies   See Route Map

          
          We moved on to Delta Junction and decided to take a side trip to Summit Lake and Isobel Pass which, at 3280ft is the highest road pass in Alaska, it was a 120 mile detour but well worth the effort, the mountain scenery was up to what we have become to expect here. We were able to drive in, almost to the base of the “Gulkana Glacier” set up and have lunch, looking at the glacier through the picture window in our traveling restaurant / hotel.  This was also a great place to see the Oil Pipeline.      Photos
Back on the highway we moved on to Tok for the night by the river.

An hour before crossing back into Yukon a wolf presented itself for photographing on the side of the road and Lorraine obliged.

We had wanted to make the return trip via Chicken and Dawson over the “Top of the World Highway” to complete the “Klondike Loop” however that was not to be, as the US Customs was not due to open the border crossing there, for another week.

The Alaska Highway.
          The return trip along the Alaska Highway was a bit ho-hum, as we had traveled this way before. However the scenery was very different, as the sides of the roads are now mostly bare of snow and the water ways and lakes are thawing, some rivers can be seen running with the ice still along the banks, great chunks of ice float down causing all sorts of clogging. We took some photos of places we had taken on the way up, to compare the difference.

It was a long day, slow because of the “Frost Heaves” in the highway, about 200 miles is badly effected. Even so we managed to cover over 400 miles that day We finally got an internet connection in Whitehorse as we passed through, hence the last email.  Eventually we set up camp on the banks of the Yukon River.

Wed 6^th  was another repeat of the drive up, it was however topped off by the sighting of  Bison along the road side,  first there was 5 of them, we stopped the van and just sat there, cameras snapping as the small herd slowly walked past us , the herd split 4 went down one side and one the other.  Shortly afterwards we encountered another two walking along, we stopped again as they passed.  Again we found a site on the banks of the Laird River and settled down for the night, we had gone down a side track and when we heard it start to rain well after we had gone to bed, it was decision time, shift now or risk getting stuck. Sense prevailed, albeit driving in jocks, backing up onto the highway then finding another spot.

The Northern Rockies.
          Today we have gone into new territory and the Alaska Highway took us through, up and over the “Northern Rockies” past Munch Lake, which is famous for it’s Jade green colour, whilst still mostly frozen there were parts where the colour was quite visible. We were greeted along the way with a herd of about 40 Bison, obviously grazing the “Long Paddock” along the road sides. The other wildlife that we were fortunate to see today were 4Elk, 10 Caribou, a  Fox, and 2 Black bears and a Badger (we think it was anyway) have a photo so we can check it out.

Speaking of photographs, I thing I am traveling with Cecilia B DeMille, Lorraine has take over 2000 photos so far and does not nook like letting up, even caught two bison having a bit of a head butt type play on the movie section of her camera.

The Alaska Highway, as we mentioned before was built by the US in 1941 The whole highway was built at a rate of 6 miles per day, building from both ends and finished in  8 months and 12 days,.  When you look at the terrain that was encountered over the 1500 miles and the bridges needed, it was a remarkable feat. We will have traveled the entire length when we reach Dawson Creek tomorrow.

The daylight seems to be getting back to normal (our normal that is) It is 8.00pm and the sun is low in the sky.

We are currently at Sasquatch Crossing (not on the map)  about 240km NE of  Dawson Creek BC.

Well, now that was yesterday, today, we have been to the 0 milepost of the Alaska Highway in all it’s glory in the middle of an intersection of the town.  We have now moved on into the State of Alberta, in an RV park on the outskirts of Grande Prairie on our way to Jasper and the start of our Rocky Mountains section.  We are looking forward to that.

Today we added a black bear and a deer to out wild life list, other than that it was pretty mundane farmland, paddocks being ploughed for sowing, small oil wells pumping away, putting extra dollars in the farmers’ pockets. We actually saw some green grass for the first time in weeks.

The trees are getting noticeably taller as we come South from the Arctic areas. Spruce trees are like a carpet, throughout  Alaska, Yukon and Northern  British Columbia. But the size of the trees in their diameter of the trunks, makes one wonder how they could use them for milling. A large tree would be no more than 300mm diameter and that would not mill much useful timber.        

8.  Jasper to Banff     See Route Map

           Well our GPS sent us on a bit of a tour, we seemed to go East instead of South, it was starting to rain and the shock of the traffic in Dawson’s Creek left us follow the GPS blindly.  We were well out of town before we realized and by then it was easier to go along with the computer voice of the Tom Tom, than turn back, it was going to get us to the right place, but not the way we expected. 

We had filled with petrol after shopping at Safeway and were pleased with the 7c per litre discount we got by using the Safeway Card.  No sooner had we left town we also left BC and ventured into the state of Alberta , the first servo we saw had petrol at 12c litre cheaper than Dawson Creek.

We sussed out an RV park on the outskirts of Grande Prairie, it was advertised as full year operation and it must be as they have quite a few permanents there. We obviously were one of the first travelers for the season, many of the bits weren’t working properly.  They tried to make things all homey, and it was nice.  A small plaque inscribed  “Some days you step in it, Some days you don’t” was  displayed neatly on the wall.  The following morning when we were packing up we had to empty the sullage tanks and top up with fresh water for the next week.  You got it , we experienced our first frozen pipe “blowback”. Not a pretty sight, you don’t know what to grab first, shut off the valve or shove the pipe back into the dump pipe, you can’t reach both and there is going to be a mess which ever one you choose. I began to appreciate the little motto on the plaque.         Photos

Jasper.
           All fresh and ready for the road we traveled down the Bighorn Highway and finally to Jasper, for the last 70kms we were headed toward a huge mountain range, snow covered peaks crisp green trees lining the sides of the lower slopes and gullies,  It became noticeable that the tree line in Alaska was a lot lower than down here, (That is the height of the mountain that sustains tree growth).  We were approaching the Jasper National Park which is at the Northern end of the Rocky Mountains,  They continue 285 kms South East to just past Banff, We intend to explore this area before we leave.

 Sunday 10^th May (Mother’s Day) and what a day. We programmed to be up at the Gondola first thing and have a relax before the trip up Mt Whistlers.  It is referred to as the Jasper Tramway which gives a non-stop Gondola ride to the upper terminal at 2,270m.  

As we had not adjusted our clocks after entering  Alberta, we had no time to spare and were shuffled on to the next car. Amongst the attendants here there are many Australians, young, fresh and keen, they come to work for the season and seem to love it.  The ride up was great and the view was breathtaking , The driver in full Aussie accent gave us the names of all of the ranges in view and the names of many of the mountains and their history.  Mt Robson was pointed out , it is 80kms from the gondola and today was only the third day for the season that it has been visible. Two days back the visitors to the top saw nothing and were virtually snowed in. So the weather is certainly holding on for us, I must remember not to complain when it breaks. When we got to the top, the panorama of the Rockies  was awesome. There is a 1.5km hike from the upper terminal to the top of  Whistlers a rise of 1,100 meters.  We decided to have a go, we got three quarters of the way up and sanity prevailed, we could see others having difficulties coming down so we called it a day and rested set up the tripod, took the mandatory photo with the appropriate background and headed down the slope.  We headed out to Maligne Lake for lunch, on the way we stopped at Medicine Lake, which was all but dry, reading the info sheets on the lake it is a mystery as to why , but the lake is always full to a depth of  20 ft and although there is no visible outlet to the lake it always dries up in the Autumn, just leaving a few small streams across it’s very flat bottom, The lake is quite large 5km x 1km so there is a lot of water coming and going.  Maligne lake is in the same valley , it is 15km long and keeps it’s water year round, albeit frozen at this time.   Photos

We headed out to catch up with Mt Robson , camping on the way at a small lakeside park.

The following day Mt Robson had it’s usual cloud hanging to it, so the top wasn’t visible, we went to a couple of falls in the Robson NP one of them “Rearguard Falls” is the last hurdle for the Salmon when they fight their way back 800 miles from the sea up the Fraser River to their spawning grounds. It is apparently quite a spectacle each August as they try to swim up the falls.    Photos

We returned the Jasper to refuel and raid an ATM  Shock , Horror, all the ATM’s we tried would only accept
Mastercard, they rejected my Visa Card (the preferred card for the Olympics).  Finally a bank had a machine that was Visa friendly.       

The Glacier Parkway.
          We traveled along the Glacier Parkway, the road between Jasper and Banff, the scenery was fantastic, it seemed to take forever as we were continually stopping for photos or call in and check out a couple of falls, after many more photos we arrived at Columbia Icefield at 8.30 pm. there we propped for the night, A little snow fall welcomed us. We spent the evening sorting out our cold weather gear for tomorrow. We have arranged for a trip out on the Columbia Glacier in a huge “Ice Explorer Bus”.    Photos

We woke to the ground covered in snow, there was about 50mm that fell overnight, it put a pretty effect to the Chalet and  the area.  We were first in line for the Glacier Trip and the first trip had only 10 passengers, It was great, the fresh snow on the glacier, undisturbed, the sky cleared , sun came out and we really didn’t need the several layers of clothing that we had squeezed into. An exciting experience, they have an area cleared on the glacier where they take the groups to and you spend 25 -30 minutes out of the special snow transporter on the glacier, the tour guide was saying that in the peak of the season they would have 8 transporters and 400 tourists in that same area which we shared between 10.  As we returned to the Chalet we passed two full busloads going up to the glacier.  Tour buses had started to arrive from Banff for their day excursion.    Photos

We moved on along the Glacier Parkway gazing in awe at the mountains on either side, it was another day of slow going and lots of photos. We had been recommended the walk in to Peyto Lake and Bow Summit by the bus driver.

On turning in to the lower carpark at the lake we found that the 15min walk to the lake view was through snow , probably 3-400mm deep but if you keep to the trodden tracks it is compressed and ok to walk on, what hadn’t been considered was that we were 2 old farts not used to trudging through snow, veer off the track and it’s down down down, so the 15 min walk blew out to 45 each way. Not very far in and it was felt that the new “Black Diamond” trekking poles would be useful,  they almost turned mother into a mountain goat. It was like watching a movie of Scott crossing the Antarctic, trudging one foot after the other. But we got there (and back)  It was about 1.5kms round trip and snow was falling for most of the return.  A very exhausted but satisfied mother was ready for a cuppa.  

Lake Louise.
          We continued along the Parkway to Lake Louise. It seems to be quite an up-market resort area, but as it was snowing pretty solidly for the last 30 mins of the drive we had a quick look around tried to get a glimpse of the lake, but the snow was falling fairly heavily, it all looked like a wonderland and so we headed for the campground. Hopefully the weather will clear overnight and we will see it tomorrow.

We are encountering a lot of other motorhomes on the road now, the rental season must have kicked in.  A lot of Aussies too.

Went back the 6k to have a look at the Lake at 8.30am, it was still snowing heavily , so we donned the warm gear and braved the short walk, it was a magnificent sight, this huge hotel / resort the frozen lake the trees all hanging heavy with snow, couldn’t see the mountains, or more than 20m out onto the lake but it looked fantastic, (more photos).       Photos

Banff.
          We headed off to Banff, the snowing eased as we went along the 1A scenic route, saw 2 Moose, 2 Deer and a Grey Wolf on the way.  A pretty drive but for the first part we couldn’t see the mountains for the low cloud.  Banff, we found to be a very commercial town, up-market stores with upper market prices. The town seems to have been built around the very large Banff Springs Hotel which was opened in 1898, the then owner ( the boss of the newly built Canadian Pacific Railroad) was so impressed with the area he decided that as they could not export the scenery they would import the tourists. This they have done very successfully, when built it aimed at the upper crust of society and still plays that role.  It was soon to be part of a chain of Luxury hotels in the Railway Tourism line, Lake Louise  Hotel is on the same list.  Both are still very much the luxury side of the Canadian Rocky Mountaineer train extravaganza tour.     Photos

We had intended to stay the night in the RV park there, but we drove past it and decided to return to Lake Louise to camp, as we had to back through there anyway.

A stop off at Johnson’s Canyon on the way back was the highlight of the day, we only went to the lower falls, 1km in but a lot of the walkway was on a platform fastened to the sheer side of the canyon wall, quite scary in places and we were almost on our own due to the time of day. All sensible tourists were tucked up getting warm.. The lower falls were a thunderous roar of water plummeting down into the canyon. We gingerly crept our way back along the catwalks to the warmth of the Jamboree, and back to Lake Louise.

The snow had all cleared from the roadways and the clouds had cleared when we arrived and we decided to take another look at the lake.  The comparison to the morning was amazing, what looked like a Winter Wonderland this morning was completely changed, we could see the mountains and the whole lake which were a picture, but the whole scene from the morning visit is the one that will remain with us as Lake Louise.

We are now about to make the 2000 mile run down to Los Angeles hopefully in time to catch the plane home.

There is of course a few more sights to visit on the way. 

9.   Banff to Mt. St Helens   See Route Map

          We left Lake Louise after another morning of light snow when we awoke. It was just as well we took the effort last night to see the lake while it was clear.  We called at an internet café  to send off the last emails then headed out towards Fields near where there is a spectacle of engineering with the railway line. To make the climb the trains go through the Spiral Tunnels. If a train comes, you can see it go into a tunnel in the mountain, then before the Caboose has gone into the tunnel, you can see the engine come out  of another tunnel on another level, The trail then winds around goes under the road and into another Spiral Tunnel to get it to another level and get over “Kicking Horse Pass”,  the effect of the spirals is to double the length of track required to get to the level required this means that the incline of the track can be kept to an angle that the locos can cope with.  We were fortunate in that while we were there a goods train entered the tunnel, we got photographs of the Caboose going in and the loco and the body of the train spread over three levels. The train was obviously very long, we did count one yesterday, 2 locos in front and one at the rear with 114 carriages in between, this one must have been the same.

Emerald Lake was our next stop, a very pretty little lake with a charming set of 2 story log cabins grouped in a resort complex,  A store with rental canoes, rowboats and whatever else they would use, all a bit lost at the moment as the lake is still 80% frozen.  A local attraction near the lake is a natural bridge, where the water which formerly went over falls eventually cut its way through the rock and formed an arch.

Rogers Pass in the Glacier National Park was the peak of the railroad problems when it was put through in the 1880s. The  mountains are so steep either side of the pass the avalanches are commonplace, Canadian Parks are proud of their efforts in keeping the road open for the past 10 winters, They call on the army to set up and fire some pretty hefty artillery into the mountains at different times to cause small avalanches, before they become major ones. The Trans Canada Highway (No 1) goes through several tunnels that are built as avalanche protection, they do not go through the mountain but are built over the road in places where avalanches can and do occur.  The rail goes through several others as well as a long tunnel through the mountain. The rail line, the river and the highway all vie for space along the narrow valley, at times it was difficult to know which was on which side as we criss crossed our way along.

Whilst the mountains were huge on both sides and dramatic with their snow covered sections, it was not pleasant driving as Highway #1 seems to have every road train and truck west of the Rockies traveling on it. Most daunting when they are looming in the rear view mirror. The weather was very patchy with periods of rain, sleet and sunshine.

We made it to Salmon Arm and settled in to an RV park for the night.

Kamloops.
          We traveled on through to Kamloops, where we were able to have the wheels rotated and pressures set, from there we followed the Thompson River, most of the time we were high above the river and we stopped from time to time to watch the goods trains wind their way around the cliffs on the other side of the canyon.  2 diesel locos in front then 69 freight trucks another loco in the middle, 69 more trucks and fourth loco at the rear. As we proceeded the canyon got more narrow, the cliffs steeper and the road more winding, eventually the clean waters of the Thompson river flowed into the muddy waters of the Fraser River at Lytton The waters remained separate for some time before they merged into one muddy raging river. There are two railway companies competing for business and they have tracks one on each side of the canyon, We camped on the cliff above the railway and river just out of Lytton and were surprised at the number of trains that went through during the night.

Friday 15^th May, it seemed that all of Canada has been waiting for it, a long weekend “Victoria Day” well the Monday is the holiday but it kicks off the start of the camping, fishing outdoorsy things after the long cold winter, so we had to do battle with them on the roads as we moved along.

Hell's Gate.
          We had planed to visit “Hell’s Gate” just South of Lytton the next morning, even then we arrived an hour and half before opening. So we waited.

Hell’s Gate is the narrowest section of the Fraser Canyon and it is here where they built a series of fish ladders to assist the Salmon in their upstream  drive to get to their spawning grounds. Apparently when they were blasting to build the railway the rock slides that resulted almost blocked the river, the narrower neck that was left caused the river to pass through with such force that the salmon were unable to fight against it. The numbers of salmon reduced as a result and action was taken to build the ladders, the fish numbers have returned to the prior levels as a result of the ladders.

Of the 3500 eggs laid by the female salmon it is estimated that only 7 survive to become adult fish. Those fish that do make it to the spawning grounds exhaust all of their energy getting there, they die after laying their eggs.

The drive down through the Fraser valley included the road going through several tunnels, quite a spectacular drive.

We crossed the border into USA at Abbotsford and moved on to Burlington for the night.

The jamboree was due for a service, after all we have driven 8500 miles to date and wanted to have it done before putting it to rest for a few months. Called at Camping World in Burlington but they were unable to fit us in, we stayed there the night and we moved on in the morning and managed to get a booking with Camping World in Fyfe for the Monday at 11.      Photos

Mt Rainier.
          This gave us the opportunity to have a look at Mt Rainier a very impressive snow covered volcano type mountain not far away, after a very narrow winding road we found a campsite on the banks of the Carbon River, the river was fed by the glaciers around Mt Rainier and was running quite swiftly, although by the size of the trees, stumps and other debris that was spread over the rocky river bed, it has a lot more stories to tell at the height of the flow.

Alongside our campsite was a rainforest with all the hanging vines and moss, this gave us the opportunity to get the daily exercise we need.

The servicing of the Jamboree was not without the inevitable delays but we were on the road again by 3.30 and after a few arguments with Tom Tom we found our way to nice RV Park at Mt. St.Helens. With internet connection there we were able to make some hotel arrangements in LA before the flight home and have a bit of contact with home, catch up on some laundry and generally tidy up. Raining again, we called here on the way up but could not see the mountain for the rain. At least we got a chance to see it this time before the rain started.     Photos

10.   Mt. St. Helens to LA    See Route Map

          On our last  visit to St Helens we called at the Visitor Centre, the mountain was not visible due to the rain, for this visit the rain was on and off, low cloud restricted view again. We headed in towards  Coldwater Lake nearer the mountain but stopped at the next visitor centre The Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Centre , this one concentrated more on the disaster and it’s ramifications and of course offered helicopter flights over the mountain and a host of souvenirs and a restaurant. It was still too cloudy to see the mountain so we had to make do with a postcard and make our way southward.

We turned off the #5 to bypass Portland and decided to stay off and run down through the smaller towns like Oregon City, Silverton etc.  Sublimity and Stayton were two towns that impressed with the neatness of the gardens, style and quality of housing and the general  feel of the area.  It was actually a shock, as we had come to accept the general untidiness of many of the houses and in particular the quantity of old cars that seem to be a “Must Have” feature to clutter their building sites.  The standard of housing seems a bit of a quandary, most new houses seem very well built and look very good. However the older houses often show signs of unwanted movement, dips in roof lines, uneven footings etc.  Portable housing, often in the form of a 30 x 10 relocateable are often sat on very temporary supports and look very temporary.  It almost seems as though if the building is a relocateable then there are no rules to obey.  This was also noticed in Alaska and Canada where we thought perhaps the short time between the end and start of Winter would cause great difficulties in building in our “normal” way.. Or perhaps the “Permafrost” permanently frozen earth may have contributed.

Crater Lake National Park.
          We decided to head towards Crater Lake National Park. Called at Silver Falls State Park and on past Big Cliff Dam. Solid rain but managed to gear up and walk out on the wall for a look and a photo, the highway took us over a snow covered mountain pass (ski area) and down to Sisters a town similar to Bright (Vic) obviously geared for the snow season,. Just past Sisters we found ourselves in a much different climate, dry, horsey farms, a prairie they call it. After passing through Bend, we found a campsite in a forest just out of Sun River, a property development site. Saw a coyote run across in front of us but not quick enough to get a photo.

Crater Lake is an amazing place. It has the highest snowfall in USA  a yearly average of 44ft .  The lake was formed when the volcano erupted  8,000 years ago and blew so much mass from below that the mountain could not support itself and collapsed forming the lake (official theory) With the annual rainfall of 66inches and 44 ft of snow the lake was filled and stays that way. It is a beautiful dark blue lake with an imposing snow capped rim. There is a rim drive on 30 miles around, but that is only open in July. It was certainly worth a few panorama photos, so we hope they work out.          Photos

Mt Shasta.
          From Crater Lake the drive was down toward Mt Shasta an impressive snow covered cone shape peak and at 14,162 ft is the tallest in USA on the west coast. The mountain was in your face as you drive down highway #97 and a great photo opportunity, we were warned about it and as we approached we noted that the sky was becoming hazy and as it was late we looked for a camp site before the mountain as it would most likely be clearer in the morning. This proved to be the case.  Mt Shasta is apparently a volcano preparing to erupt but when, who knows. Climbers to the summit report of tell tale odors and steam rising from vents in the surface, Sophisticated monitors have been set up to keep an eye on it, but when you see the towns nearby, and read about the other volcanoes that have blown and the devastation they caused, the town of Weed does not seem a healthy place to live.      Photo
A little further down we went in to Mt Lassen Volcanic Park, and saw the results of the 1915 eruption there.  All part of “The Pacific Ring of Fire” An interesting map which highlights all of the known volcanoes circling the Pacific Ocean, There are hundreds of them.

From Redding we entered the Central Californian Valley which is 400 miles long and 80 to 100 miles wide. The area is as flat as a billiard table and is the food bowl of much of America.  For miles we passed fields of Olives, then it was rice, mile after mile of lasered fields irrigated and sectioned off with the rice crops just planted.  The next day we went through the orchards of peaches, tomatoes and cherries. As we ventured further down the valley the crops changed and almonds, walnuts and grapes came in huge quantities.  Cotton, we were told was a big crop south of Bakersfield, although our only sighting was the telltale bits of cotton along some of the roadsides, blown out of the transport trucks.

Fresno.
          We called at Fresno and had a good look around there, I might add that most of the moving around was trying to find a particular store using Tom Tom, It ended in many drives around the block, and eventually Tom Tom found our store on a freeway. If that GPS was a chook it would be in the pot by the time we finished.

We had found a gem of an RV Service centre  “Best RV Centre” in Turlock CA, where we stopped and had the Jamboree “Washed and Waxed” for a $75. which was to save us a few headaches later. Also managed to pick up a couple of good draw locks that solved the opening draw saga, that has been an ongoing issue. Ain’t no more.

Bakersfield was our overnight stop, we tried for a Wal-Mart camping spot but it was like Christmas Eve in the carpark so we moved on to an “Official” RV ground.

This left us 110miles to get to Anaheim (LA) RV Park where we had booked in for a couple of nights to calm and settle before the flight home.

The drive was to take us through Tejon Pass at 4100 ft in the Sierra Madre mountains,70 miles North of LA. The freeway system through the mountains was 4 lanes each way and the scenery was so different to what we have been accustomed, treeless hills and canyons, slight scrub The Tejon Ranch a State Government acquired ranch ex 1853 surrounds the freeway and is a “Saving California’s Heritage” project.  

We tried to choose a soft option, rather than go into LA and out to Anaheim we got Tom Tom to take us around, missing the “Busy” part.  It was Saturday morning .  Big mistake, we sat for an hour doing about 2 miles, the only reason appeared to the merging of 2 freeways.  The mistake was, in assuming that some freeways are quieter than others. They are all the same, so it would have been a better option to go all the way on the #5.     Photos

After 49 days on the road we covered 10,200 miles (16,415km), used 1096 gallons (4148 litres) of petrol. Fuel and camp costs averaged out at US$73.50 per day, our food and side trips etc. were extra. We had 15 nights at RV parks, 12 nights at State or Fed Parks and 23 nights free camping at sites of our choosing.

We will sit outside tonight and watch the weekly fireworks display put on by Disney ant Disneyland , which is about 1 mile away from our Anaheim RV Park on Ball St. and contemplate our next venture into the wilds of the USA     Photos