Back in the Lower 48

We Return to the lower 48 on Thursday after spending the night at dry camping at Hat Creek Ranch.The ranch is the site of an original gold rush road houses. The roadhouse was  established in the 1860's as part of earlier gold rushes in Canada. It really came into it'd glory days in the late 1890's

It has been preserved and is now used as an historical and educational site. The site addresses both the gold rush and how it affected the first nation people of the area.

One of our guides explaining the sweat lodge and how it was used for prayer by the men of the group.














Having arrive on Thursday September 12th we spent the day on friday cleaning and doing maintenance on the coach for our return trip home. Those activities took up much of the day.

That evening we had our farewell

dinner at on of the restaurants in town. Having spent two months with these people many friendships were formed and saying goodby is always difficult.
We exchanged contact information with many of our fellow travelers.

The following early morning was a goodbye continental breakfast with another chance to say goodbye.  many people including us were anxious to get on the road.

After having breakfast we were on the road a little after 8:00 AM, headed south and east on I 90 and winding up 400 miles later in Coeur d' Alene ID. Yes this is the same place we started our journey two months ago.

This time it was a one night stay and we were back on the road early on Sunday morning headed for Yellowstone.  After 425 miles and seven and a half  hours we arrived at East Yellowstone about 14 miles from the park. As long as we were in the neighborhood we would take a day and have a look around.Neither of us had been in Yellowstone for many years (1963?).

We spent a very long day on Monday seeing as many things as we possible could. Old Faithful lived up to her name a short time after we arrived. we saw geysers and hot pools, canyons and waterfalls and even a few buffalo.
We would have liked to spend more time, but we are very pleased to have the time that we did take.

Today,Tuesday the 17th, we woke up later that we expected to a cold 30 degree rain. We were on the road by 8:45 headed for the west entrance of Yellowstone with the intent to drive through the park on our way to Cody WY.

When we arrive at the entrance the rain had stopped but the cold wind was stilled blowing hard. As we were heading north and east through the park the elevation was increasing and it began to rain. As we reached the 7,500 ft level it started to snow and when we got to 8,300 ft is was a full blown snow storm.

The snow was sticking to the ground and the trees but the roads remained clear and wet. What an adventure driving a 40 ft motorhome on the tight windy roads. As we turned south and east the elevation began to decrease, when we got down to 7,000 ft the snow turned back to rain and by the time we got to fishing bridge the rain had stopped.

We had lunch in Cody, spending the night in a Ten Sleep Wy about 120 miles southeast of  there. We intent to head to Devils Tower in the morning and then on to Mt Rushmore if everything goes well.

We plan to spend one day at Mt Rushmore and then make a beeline for home expecting to be there on Sunday, Monday at the latest.

Day 56, On the Road

Since my last post we have traveled south from Whitehorse YT all the way to Prince George BC for a total of  1,018 miles. The roads have improved dramatically as we have gone south. From Whitehorse to Nugget City we were traveling on the Alaska Highway, the road were reasonable good. Leaving Nugget City we turned south on BC 37, as one guy put it was little more that a widened bicycle path. The road went up and down and round and round, it was a full time job driving the rig.

The saving grace for the drive was the scenery. The color were changing and the mountains in the background it was very beautiful.

There were many views of the changing colors, these pictures do not really show how vibrant the colors were.

Three days of driving on some difficult roads
we finally arrived to Stewart BC. it is here we will have a chance to see the Salmon Glacier and another chance to view some bears.

Both the bear viewing and the Salmon Glacier are in Alaska and the only way to get there by road is through Stewart BC. Again  crossing the US/Canada  into a US National Forest we were back in the Alaska. The 18 mile drive up the mountain to the glacier was a bit of a challenge, two lane (most of the time) dirt gravel road littered with potholes. The Fusion is not really made for these kind of conditions. It was a slow bumpy trip but very much worth the effort.

Bear viewing was much less satisfying located about halfway up the mountain the US forest service hada boardwalk constructed over a salmon stream. Here you could watch the bears come down to the river and feed on the salmon. While we were there lots of  salmon were in the stream. It was mid day the bears must have been taking a siesta. We were there for a couple of hours and did not see a bear,

   

Saw along the road on Monday

Leaving Stewart on Monday we spent the night in Telkwa BC before making our way to Prince George today. We will spend the night here and leave for Cache Creek BC in the morning where we will be dry camping (no hookups).  On Thursday we will make our 213 mile trip to Ferndale WA. and out final location.

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Day 50, Haines to WhiteHorse YT ( & Bears)

 Today is Day 50 of our 60 day tour, it has been a bit of a whirlwind and a great way to see Alaska. Today we drove 255 miles from Haines AK to Whitehorse YT, it was a relatively easy drive with great scenery and smooth roads. Look back we first arrived in Whitehorse on July 31 rst. there has been a noticeable change in the foliage. Like everywhere else in the area fall has arrived. the treed are changing and the days are getting shorted.

Over the following ten days we will be moving on seven days, we have @ 1700 miles to go to get to the end of the tour in Ferndale WA. There will be time for sightseeing along way.

Yesterday 9/3 we had a free day with no Fantasy scheduled events. Beth and I had a chance to sleep in and a nice quite relaxed breakfast in the coach. Late morning we went on a self guided walking tour of  Historic Fort Seward. Let's just say it was not what is was cracked up to be. We returned to the coach for lunch and a little rest before venturing out to Chilkoot Lake State Park to see the bears.

Chilkoot Lake is a 25 to 30 minute drive   

north of  Haines, we were told that's where the bears hangout. the lake drains down the Chilkoot river to the Fjord and the salmon
returning from the sea to spawn are restricted by a weir. Seems like easy picking for the bears. We arrived at the park a little bit after two and met two couples from our tour. They had been waiting for more than an hour and not seen a bear. We parked the car and
setup out stake out position just upriver from the weir. After 15 minutes the other couple had  enough and returned to the campground. It wasn't ten minutes later when this guy came strolling up the far side of the river.

He got right to it getting his diner in short order. He seemed proud of himself showing all the observers his catch.

This was his second course.

This is what happens when the Wild Life Tour bus shows up.

Darn Tourist!







The above bear had his fill and went back   

into the forest and then this guy showed up. He wasn't interested in fishing he mostly just went swimming and splashed around in the river when bear three showed up.

We were told by a local that this bear was a sow and a regular at the weir. She slowly made her way up the river to the weir to have her dinner.

I have a video of bear #1 catching his dinner. I have not been able to get it to work here. I will post it on Facebook along with the video of the sea lions from the other day.




That's all for now.

Haines to Juneau

Labor Day Sept 2, 2019

We boarded the Fjordland, a 65 ft   catamaran with two 300 hp diesel engines for our three hour trip to Juneau. In addition to transporting
us to wildlife viewing is also part of the trip. the weather was 50 degrees with chances of rain above 50 %.

It was a three hour trip and along the way we saw a variety of seabirds, purpose and a couple of eagle perch high in the trees along the fjord.
I was a bit of a bumpy ride and smoothed out the closer to Juneau.

Catamaran Interior

Along the way we were served a light breakfast that included coffee or tea, blueberry muffin and an apple.










     

When we arrive at the dock we were met
by a bus that took us downtown. This would be a relatively short stay we we were to be back at the dock by four for the return trip.We grabbed a quick lunch at the notorious Red Dog Saloon. The saloon has the 1900 decor and feel with the waitress's and bar staff dress in period clothes.

The atmosphere was fun and the food was good but one had pause to wonder after reading this sign.

There was still some WILD LIFE going
on in the the bar. Woooo be it to the
prospector who doesn't pay his tab!


With time being at a premium we finished our lunch did a little sightseeing, shopping and then meet the bus for the half hour drive to Mendenhall Glacier.
We had visited the glacier by helicopter when we were here in 2013 but did
not get a chance to do the visitors center at the base of the glacier. by the time we got to the glacier a misty rain started and the visibility dropped.

     

In addition there was a wild life section where you could observe bears, salmon and
eagles. The problem it was very crowded.
Darn tourist!

The momma bear with cub was up in a tree and very hard to see. This guy stood out.

The visibility was poor and the glacier was hard to see but there was a noticeable difference from what we saw in 2013. The glacier had receded quite a bit.

The visitor center provided lots of information with many displays and a good 20 minute movie.

Time was up we had to return to the city to catch our boat back to Haines. Along the way back we were able to see three whales, several purposes, some harbor seals and steller sea lions.

It had been along day and we were pretty worn out. Tuesday will be an open day with no Fantacy events planned. I will sleep good tonight

Haines to Skagway

You may ask why Haines AK ?

Haines is on located on the northern part of the inside passage. It is 14 miles from Skagway by water and 310 miles by road. Juneau is 81 miles from Haines and almost impossible to get to by road and a three hour ferry ride.

Haines small boat harbor

Having arrived in Haines on Saturday 8/31 we settled in to our campsite and after exploring the town started getting ready for our visit to Skagway on Sunday.
At @ 7:30 PM I was working on the blog and Beth was reading, the coach began to shake and roll back and forth for about 15 to 20 seconds. We had just experienced a 5.2 earthquake. There was no damage and no one was hurt. We came to find out that earthquakes like this are not uncommon.

We were up early and waiting at the commercial dock for the Fast Ferry to Skagway. The picture shows a low tide of @ 25 feet. It was impressive and made for a steep walk down the ramp to board the ferry.

Fast Ferry

The Fast Ferry runs between Haines and Skagway on a regular schedule. It's a 40 to 45  minute trip that leaves on the hour. On this day there was no breeze. it was a very smooth trip.

 It is interesting how different history is depending on who is telling the story. We did a short walking tour led by a National park Ranger. The Gold Rush story is told from a whole different perspective
in Skagway than in Dawson City. Each held the position that they were at the center of the gold rush and it wouldn't have happened without their contribution, I guess  in the grand scheme both may be true.

At 1:00 PM we boarded the White Pass Yukon Railroad train for an excursion to the top of the pass. The white pass was one of only two ways to get to the Whitehorse and Dawson City. This pass was supposed to be the easiest of the two which make me think how crazy or desparate these people had to be.
The Chilkoot pass was shorter but much steeper.

I wonder about Thomas O'Brien and what he must have been thinking. There were only two ways to get to the Yukon and neither was easy. The guide on the train said the nicknames for these trails were Hell or Damnation.

 At the top of the pass was the Canadian border. The
Royal Canadian Mounties had a checkpoint there, If the stampeders did not have the required 1000 lbs of supplies they were turned back to Skagway.

The train ride was a lot of fun and we learned a  great deal. The information filled in some gaps in the history of the gold rush that were new to us.The challenges the stampeders heading to the
gold fields became more real. After all the struggle to get to the Yukon most were unsuccessful by the time they got there most of the good claims had been staked out by the local people.

When the train returned to Skagway we had about an 1 1/2 hours before we had
to catch the fast ferry back to Haines. We did some shopping and grabbed a
snack and it was time to leave.

Fairbanks to Tok to Destruction Bay Lodge, Yukon Territory to Haines AK

On Wednesday 8/28th we made the turn and started heading south our tour is starting to wind down. The 202 mile drive from Fairbanks to Tok AK was uneventful except for the bad roads. There was construction, frost heaves and whoop T do's that made the driving a real challenge.

We spent the night in Tok AK in the same RV park we stayed at after coming off the Top of the World Highway. Nice park with full hookups.

The next morning we were up and at it early nextstop 225 miles to Destruction Bay YT. Side note it was 32 degrees F when we left Tok.The roads out of Alaska headed for the Yukon were much the same as the day before.

We arrived at the Canadian border @ 10:30 AM and entered the Yukon. The roads in the Yukon were much the same as Alaska. We were traveling through a valley sothe was much up and down and around and around the mountains. We arrived at the Destruction Bay Lodge @ 3:30 in the afternoon. Calling it a lodge might be a bit of an exaggeration. That being said the scenery was spectacular.

The RV park was little more than a parking lot with 30 amp electrical hookups and water. Our spigot was broken, we had plenty of water on board, no worries.

The owner was a little quirky and quite
a character, he admitted to being OCD
and wanted thing just a certain way.
In addition to running the lodge and RV park he was the chief and the bartender.

He made a wonderful diner for us that included a beef roast, potato salad, baked beans, rolls and a green salad.

We were all little surprised and very pleased. 

Northern Lights

There were reports that the Northern  Lights would be active in the area. The Fantasy group has been using family radios to communicate when leaving and entering the RV parks.
The plan was if you wanted to see the lights leave your radio on next to your bed and if someone was up during the night, check for the lights and make a call on the radio.

Northern lights

Now remember 95% of these traveler are senior citizens, there is a good chance someone will be up. It was around 2:30 AM when the radio went off, both Beth and I got up and went outside. These pictures in no way represent what we saw.  Aurora Borealis was spectacular, swirling and changing and swooping never staying the same. It was worth the whole trip just to see these lights.

Sunrise Destruction Bay YT

 After the night before it was a very early morning we we arose to begin our daily adventure.

On  too Haines Alaska!









The 213 mile trip too Haines was remarkable for two reasons, The first were the roads, for the majority of the trip the roads were relatively smooth and free from construction and frost heaves. Occasionally we would come along to a frost heave but for the most part they were well marked and we were able to run at the 90 km/h speed limit.

The second reason was the scenery. fall has come to the Yukon we between 3500 and 4000 ft above sea level and the colors were about 50% changed. This picture does not fully represent the color changes, your just going to have to take my word for it.

Except for the roads and the scenery the trip to Haines was uneventful.