July 24, 2016 Now that’s more like it! 4 miles of dirt road back to the highway to be greeted by a great view of the mountains. A blue sunny morning. What fun we had in the former goldrush town of Atlin – another off the beaten path jewel.. It is home to the Atlin Arts and Music Festival. Loved the benches that have been created each year The town itself was full of goldrush history. This tiny town became a goldrush Mecca and a vacation destination in 1910. Like so many towns in the Yukon, it now has only 500 residents. They have a done an amazing job of preservingand restoring buildings and machinery. We Drove south of Atlin along Discovery Road to Pine Creek Falls where we stopped for lunch. Drove a bit further south to check out a primitive campground that we decided to skip. If you have nothing better to do in mining country, you can drive your excavator to a” mine just up the road” Coming back up the road we had to pull over to let a local guy put down his plywood on the bridge and drive his machine to his second mine just up the road. On our way back up Discovery Road we stopped to read about a cabin built in 1910 with no insulation. The family moved there in the late summer of 1947 with no clue of the winters. Once they ‘escaped’ during a break in the weather the wife never returned again. I have a picture in my mind of her swinging a skillet while shouting “You’re an idiot.” Campground etiquette failed today. We found a campsite, pulled in and were about to get out to walk to pay when someone told us the site was taken. Oops for them. They hadn’t left anything at the site to mark i9t as taken, but I wasn’t interested in a battle so we drove away. There were other sites to use and sometimes it’s best to concede.
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July 23, 2016 On the way to Carcross a lake came into view that was the most unusual shades of green – from mint to emerald – sitting in the foothills Carcross was just as I remembered. My favorite is the boat that was found – only the front and metal from the paddle. A clever architect designed a site to showcase the boat using timbers to construct an observation platform within the boat Baby Beluga was so excited to see a friend More driving though the rain. Boy does the rain make the drive seem long. We finally turned off onto the road to Atalin. We struck out at the first campground Snafu Lake – I kid you not.. Took a wrong turn at the second but Mark was able to maneuver a turnaround and we found a nice site at Tarfu Lake. Near the lake USA bat nursery Some hamburger lasagna in a pot for dinner and we all snuggled in for the night. The skies are clearing so here’s hoping tomorrow is a better weather day.
July 21, 2016 A rest day in Haines, Alaska with drives out to places that most tourists wouldn’t frequent. Tonight as we searched for bears we saw 5 bald eagles. One held a fish it had caught in its talons and another was a juvenile that Mark recognized by its call. Can you find him? A ride down a dead end road led us nearly to a beautiful waterfall and past some different homes with greenhouses, solar panels, satellite and dishes. My favorite was the old stone root cellar clearly visit visible from the side of the road. It's hard to beat a view with TWO glaciers in one with a waterfall It's the end of week 5. 9000 miles. I'm keeping a spreadsheet of expenses and how we're spending money as we go. Funny how expensive a hotel seems when a campsite is $10-$15. Funny how expensive a restaurant seems when the grocery store is available. Funny how much fun I had buying some new clothes as a treat :-). A shower seems precious. The views are breathtaking time after time after time.
The trip of a lifetime. July 20, 2016 A morning walk back down the to the campground Lake for photos of the cairns/sculptures Mark and Bono discovered. We’re retracing our steps today from some of our 40th anniversary trip in 2014 as we head down the Haines Highway. A stop at the Bakery in Haines Junction Bakery (the only bakery with bear spray for sale) for scones and chai tea for breakfast.followed by a stop at the Visitor’s Center for a look at the local terrain and Mount Logan – the highest mountain in Canada. Of course, we had to resort to the relief map because today is a VERY cloudy day. But wait! Isn’t that the pull out from last trip’s rafting company. You remember, the guys who dumped us into the river by going through a class 4 rapid. Lots of discussion about what really happened. In hindsight a bit more adventurous that we really wanted so next time we raft it will be in a more gentle set of rapids. Whew! Staying tonight at the Chikoot State Park. A mama grizzly and two cubs in the campsite when we came back tonight. No citing by us since we were at the ferry trying to get a reservation for Friday --Bad information from the ihformation desk. So I'm not planning on exciting our steel tent tonight. Real campers know how to solve that problem. July 27, 2016 We left at the crack of dawn – for real – this morning to drive back out of Telegraph Creek on the 60 mile dirt road. We wanted to be sure to beat any showers that might be coming. Mark had an interesting talk with a local elder last night about the fishing season. The conversation involved the effect of global warming on the fish population with thoughts that warming waters are changing spawning habits. He spoke of mountains he remembered having had snow all summer that were now bare of their glaciers. He warned us not to drive the road in the rain. Mark really enjoyed the chat and the hospitality of the Tahltan people who let us camp on their land last night. I caught a glimpse of both their home and their smokehouse on the way out. More spectacular views on our way out of the Stakine River Canyon. I kept thinking about how tough it must be to live here in the winter. How do people get food – air drops? What’s it like to live 50 miles away from everyone else? We saw our first grizzly of the trip today. He was eating on the side of the road next to the Fireweed and didn’t stir at all as we drove by. Tonight was the first time we are close enough in the Meziadan Lake Campgound to other vans to need to use our curtains and windshield covering. Generators are running like crazy – until 8:00pm – and I am even more grateful for the quiet and solace we have enjoyed over the past 6 weeks by choosing to go off the beaten bath. We’re back in the Yukon after breezing through immigration with an OK for our bear spray. It’s a good thing because tonight’s campground is closed to tents because of potential bear activity in late July and August. It seems they love the soap berries in this park. We’re not the only crazy people here. In fact the lakeside sites we are taken. Sometimes when I looked out the window today it looked as if the valley went on forever. It’s hard to believe that their area was once covered in ice. We stopped at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. A quick hike along an interpretive trail -- “no bears, go away bears” the call of the day—gave another interesting historical look at the boom that his the area as the Alaska Highway was being built. The people that came here had real guts and real dreams. Working on the mystery of the brown balls on the black spruce We stopped at the visitor’s center and saw a brief film about the park. We haven’t done that much this trip and I realized how much I love these short peeks into the park.
July 30, 2016 We visited the lava fields this morning for an up close look at the remains from the flow in 1750. For large stretches, all that grows is lichen. As we drove closer to the source of the flow and the piles became bigger as the channel was narrower. Nestled beside the flow is a village center. I continue to be impressed by the fortitude of these people. After years of mistreatment the Canadian government appears to have finally recognized land claims of the First Nation and thus building has increased and community strengthened. An easy drive into Prince Rupert. No room at the Provicial Park put us into an RV place outside of the city on a hill. Hmmm. An ‘interesting’ alternative. Amazing art and artifacts at the NW BC Museum. Good Seafood for dinner. Stocked up on groceries. It’s all a bit anticlimactic. No big mountains nor glaciers in this huge port of a city that is not at all bustling. They’re working to preserve buildings but I’m guessing that the tourism once again is dying. This is the city for the ferry that goes to Vancouver Island. We had hoped to take it but the fares are outrageous with the van -$500 + $400 for people – so we’re driving on.
July 18, 2016 The CD was great with descriptions of milestones and stories of the road. You see, the road was part of the gold mining operations but also played an important role in WWII as it was from there that the parts were flown to the farthest defended point and helped to defend the parts of Alaska that were being invaded by the Japanese. In planning for our trip, Mark had read about the road to Nebessa. It was to be filled with interesting views and was another gravel road. We stopped at the ranger station in Salsa – one of only two entrances to Wrangell-St. Elias to check the road conditions. Ranger Kimberly Williams was a wealth of information. She told us of three creek beds that would need to be crossed and gave us some tips on how to do it – drive at an angle and don’t stop. She also gave us a Park CD to listen to along the way. My favorite scene today was the mountain that had lava flows on it. The seeping lava had been turned brown and rust when it hit the air and you can still see what looks like lava flows in that mountain. Only one of the 3 stream beds had water and we easily passed through – albeit with some nervousness. What a gentle and lovely day. July 31, 2016 Quite the weird day today. I think it was because we both felt our adventuring was over. We had an informative visit to a cannery museum in Port Edward. What a tough job even when it had been mechanized. The canners we mostly women although some machines were powered by children – ugh. It’s the first time I realized that the fish was canned with bones and skin – double ugh. It was fun to watch the 1948 arrival movie about the canning industry. Turning around from these port towns we headed inland. Objective – a campground – any campground as it’s a three day weekend. Luck was with us and we found space at Seeley Lake Provicinal Park. We decided to take a drive to see Old Hazelton and the adjoining ‘Ksan Village. Both were disappointments and we realized again how rich our experiences were several days ago at the beautiful Nigsa’a Museum. The bridge over the Buckley River was pretty cool with it’s accompanying story of the original bridge being made of posts and ropes 240 feet above the river. Leftovers for dinner left Mark pouring over the maps in search of something fun to see. Everything is closed tomorrow for BC Day so we decided to push forward. Voila. Another end of the road opportunity. Another dirt road adventure. Will we take it? Depends on the weather when we hit Prince George. Regardless, our mood has lifted!
July 16, 2016 When you visit friends, you get a chance to see what goes on in the community. Today we got a first hand view of the setting of gill nets in Cook Inlet. A conversation with Charles and Jesse first gave us some more insight into growing up in the part of Alaska and the importance of basketball to those kids. We then went down to the beach to watch them drag a boat over the stone beach and into the water using two different pickup trucks. Once in the water they drove to buoys and attached huge nets to one and then drove and attached the other end to a different buoy. As we watched from the beach they go smaller and smaller. They took some time out of there day to have lunch at the local Thai restaurant While the guys worked, Mark and I did some beachcombing. No shells here, but a huge variety of rocks will be making their way to California to add to the rockgarden. Off again to come back to Achorage for our first hotel night isn't two weeks. The laundry is washed and in the dryer. Had a tasty dinner at Bridge Seafood – good but not great.
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