SE Ky to Alaska & return, ALH Vanagon pulling a PopUp Camper

Day 20! ... wow

You guessed it.... raining again this morning! Scruff and I took a hike in the rain at about 6:30. It looks as if it may rain all day.

So, no doubt we have to break camp and head out!

Andy, head SOUTH.... super sunshine here around Vancouver and so on... Middle of the week it will be + 30 (around 90F and higher).

Just another Question? Did you try that famous Drink in Dawson: Dead mans Toe Drink. Is it even still around in Dawson?

TDI smile said:

Just another Question? Did you try that famous Drink in Dawson: Dead mans Toe Drink. Is it even still around in Dawson?

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No, I never heard mention of the drink. But, we only went in one saloon. My guess, considering the area and history, the drink is a tradition and will never go away.

Glad to get out of the rain ...........

Okay, we are just south of Whitehorse near the junction to Skagway. So, tentatively, our plan is to head down to Skagway in the morning but not spend a night there.

We are considering the Cassiar Highway and then do a side excursion to Hyder, Alaska ... they have a drink there that will Hyderize you in short order The road over to Hyder has lots of bears and bears as well as the Hyder area!

Andy, the Drink is called "Sour Toe Cocktail". When an American swallowed that toe, it was even a CNN newsclip!! Around 65,000 people tried that Drink!

Hi Andy great write up. We are in Inuvik it is cold and wet here. Rain most of the time it's been down to 1,2 degrees at times. The locals think it's fall and winter is coming. It is a great trip so far but the cold is horrible. At least there have been no flat tires. We will leave here tomorrow. If you are heading south to Whitehorse we may not meet as we are on our way to Alaska.
Arnie

Day - 21, July 28, 2014

TDI smile said:

Andy, the Drink is called "Sour Toe Cocktail". When an American swallowed that toe, it was even a CNN newsclip!! Around 65,000 people tried that Drink!

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Ah, my wife said she had read about the drink but could not remember the details! Anyway, we missed it!....LOL I'm glad someone else swallowed the toe because at a time of having a "weak" moment (17 drinks and still on my feet , [inside joke to some close friends who are lurking]), I might have tried it !

j29 said:

Hi Andy great write up. We are in Inuvik it is cold and wet here. Rain most of the time it's been down to 1,2 degrees at times. The locals think it's fall and winter is coming. It is a great trip so far but the cold is horrible. At least there have been no flat tires. We will leave here tomorrow. If you are heading south to Whitehorse we may not meet as we are on our way to Alaska.
Arnie

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Arnie, we are just south of Whitehorse at the Caribou Campground. We are spending two nights/days here. It is cool and rainy here as well, but nothing like 1 or 2c degrees.... ouch! Well, maybe it was best we didn't go up the Dempster. When we stopped at the beginning of the road, east of Dawson City, it was raining and the road was very muddy!

Well, anyway, on Day - 21 (Monday, July 28, 2014) we headed for Skagway. First we spent a couple hours in Carcross. Seems the local natives were celebrating the erection of a new huge totem pole. There was a lot of festivities and story telling going on. Then, we headed on down to Skagway...drove into a lot of rain but it made the snow capped mountains look awesome with the added fog. ............ Then, we hopped the ferry over to Haines and took in a few things there! We never spent much time in Haines as it was getting late and we wanted to see the mountains coming out of there back up to Haines Junction on the Alaskan Highway.

The entire trip was about 375 miles and we didn't get back until 12:30 a.m.

We plan to head toward Watson Lake tomorrow with the thought of going down the Cassiar as I mentioned previously....

Andy it looks like you are having a great trip. Good to here the van is holding up very well. Yes that hitch was weak,now you have killer one.

Day - 22, Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Yes, MosterTDI09, the hitch was very iffy and we are lucky the situation didn't turn out worse.

Well, due to getting back so late from the Skagway-Haines trip, everything was closed last night. So, we had to drive back to Whitehorse (about 10 miles) for fuel and breakfast. When we filled up the odometer and GPS were showing over 400 miles on the tank of fuel..... 34.459 MPGs bobtailing that trip which also included some local travel.

Okay, we left Whitehorse around 11:00 am and headed for Watson Lake. When we got to Watson Lake it was raining cats and dogs. So, we headed down the Cassiar Highway (highway 37) to Dease Lake.. We got here about 9:30 pm after lots of stops for pics, shopping and dealing with more rain. Seems the rain is gone now.

We plan to head on down the Cassiar and then over to Hyder, Alaska tomorrow.

Our tentative plans are to swing back through the mountains, etc., to Dawson Creek and then back track toward home from there!

Day - 23, July 30, 2014

Ah, Sunshine .......... lots of Sunshine this morning! ... not a cloud in the sky! But, it is cold here in the mountains of west central British Columbia! And, last night, mosquitos were attacking from all sides!

Okay, we will be heading to Hyder, Alaska. Assuming this nice sunny day holds we should be able to see the Salmon Glacier at Hyder as well as lots of bears, including brown bear!

AndyBees said:

Our tentative plans are to swing back through the mountains, etc., to Dawson Creek and then back track toward home from there!

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Why not stay on 16 to Jasper, AB then take 93 down toward Banff? From Banff you can take 1 to Moose Jaw, SK then 39 back to ND.

romad said:

Why not stay on 16 to Jasper, AB then take 93 down toward Banff? From Banff you can take 1 to Moose Jaw, SK then 39 back to ND.

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That route is an alternative we are considering. We did visit Jasper years ago........ would be nice to return!

Well, it's time to break camp and go grab some breakfast at a local restaurant! .... sample some pancakes!

romad said:

Why not stay on 16 to Jasper, AB then take 93 down toward Banff? From Banff you can take 1 to Moose Jaw, SK then 39 back to ND.

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That's the way to go. Check out the Hotsprings in Moose Jaw and Al Capone's Tunnel in Moose Jaw too.
It's a few miles from Chicago!!!

If you have time to make the side trip from Dease Lake into Telegraph Creek it is well worthwhile in my opinion. Some lovely views along the grand canyon of the Stikine. And if you could let me know when you will arrive in Telegraph I could likely give you a bit of a tour on the river in my tdi powered jetboat.

shakescreek said:

If you have time to make the side trip from Dease Lake into Telegraph Creek it is well worthwhile in my opinion. Some lovely views along the grand canyon of the Stikine. And if you could let me know when you will arrive in Telegraph I could likely give you a bit of a tour on the river in my tdi powered jetboat.

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Shakescreek is this an open offer I had planed on seeing telegraph in a week or two on our way back from Alaska.

Absolutely j29, if I am around when you make it to Telegraph I'll be happy to take you out for a cruise. The only issue will be timing. I work commercial salmon fishing on the river just above the Alaskan border, so I head down river each sunday for the opening, but we never know how many days we will get until they close us. The runs have not been real strong this year, so most weeks DFO has been giving us 2 days fishing which gets me home Tuesday evening. However I never really know for sure which day I'll be home ahead of time. When you're sure when you'll arrive in Telegraph just let me know with a pm or email(shakescreekacres@hotmail.com) and if I am home I'll arrange to meet you for a cruise on the river.

shakescreek said:

If you have time to make the side trip from Dease Lake into Telegraph Creek it is well worthwhile in my opinion. Some lovely views along the grand canyon of the Stikine. And if you could let me know when you will arrive in Telegraph I could likely give you a bit of a tour on the river in my tdi powered jetboat.

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Dang! I last checked the Internet about 11:00 am, so, I missed your offer! Gees!

Well, we considered the side excursion to Telegraph back in 1986 but didn't take it. So, apparently we've missed some great scenery!

We made it to Hyder about 4:00 pm. At Fish Creek, we only saw one black bear. Seems the tourist were a little unhappy with the turnout of bears!

We are in the Ripley Hotel in downtown Stewart, BC just over from Hyder, Alaska. Hyder never had a room available for Scruff the schnauzer! Scruff wanted a bath and shave... Since, we felt it was time for some serious R&R, there was no objection!

We gave a biker a 100 mile lift to Meziadin Junction today. He was running behind schedule to catch a ferry at Prince Rupert.

The weather was awesome ... and, no rain in Hyder/Stewart!

Okay, we still haven't settled on a route for tomorrow (July 31, 2014).

Yes unfortunate I didn't post last night when I first read your post that you were coming down 37, but I had just gotten home from fishing and was tired so thought I'd wait till morning to post. Too bad your not seeing any bears there. We were just watching a sow grizzly with 3 cubs catching salmon in the creek from our living room window earlier this evening.

All right Shakescreek I will let you know as our schedule works it's way down to you, right now we are in Fairbanks for supplies and site seeing then on to Denali.

Andy did you go up to the Salmon Glacier. It is magnificent on a sunny day.
We had a few sunny days great view on the top of the world hwy today and back into the rain here in Fairbanks.

j29 said:

All right Shakescreek I will let you know as our schedule works it's way down to you, right now we are in Fairbanks for supplies and site seeing then on to Denali.

Andy did you go up to the Salmon Glacier. It is magnificent on a sunny day.
We had a few sunny days great view on the top of the world hwy today and back into the rain here in Fairbanks.

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Yes we did go to Salmon Glacier (7/31/14)......... and on back to Bear Glacier for a total of 50 miles round trip.

I am about to post pics!

Day 23 - July 31, 2014

Okay, Scruff liked the luxuries of the Hotel so well, we find ourselves in another tonight!

This morning (7/31/14) the weather was awesome with just a few clouds here and there. So, after breakfast we headed up the mountain to look "down" on Salmon Glacier and on to the end of the road (25 miles gravel) to see Bear Glacier.

Here is a very small sample of pics I snapped on the trek (yes, Deanna was afraid of the heights ... I made a lot of promises to get her to go with me..LOL)

Below is a pic of the road low on the mountain..



Below is a look at the road coming back out and down...



Below is another example of the road ... off to the right is about 500 feet down



Below is a shot of Salmon Glacier .. this was taken about 12 miles up the mountain..



Another shot of Salmon Glacier farther up the mountain..



Below, looking west at Salmon Glacier above the turn as seen in the pic above..



Below, is a pic of Salmon Glacier looking back toward the turn as seen in the second pic above...



Below, Bear Glacier (7 miles beyond Salmon Glacier) can be seen in the background....





Below, is basically the end of the road ... .. 24.9 miles in





After returning from the Glacier viewing, we filled-up in Stewart, British Columbia (no fuel in Hyder) and drove out to the main drag and headed for Smither, BC (200 miles) and grabbed a motel room for the night.

We will be heading to Jasper tomorrow....(8/1/2014)

Wow nice day. Raining here in Fairbanks. We are moving south now. We may need to bypass Denali to make use of the nicer weather in souther Alaska.

Day 24 - August 1, 2014

Well, we only made it to McBride, British Columbia which is just over two hours from Jasper, Alberta. The weather was awesome all day!

We are at the Bearview RV Resort and Campground.....nice place!

Yes, we had a great time in the Stewart - Hyder area yesterday and the day before!... Although we've been there previously, this was the first time it was not raining, as I may have already stated!

The plan for tomorrow is to swiftly move thru Jasper and Banff and hopefully make it to Canmore, AB west of Calgary! Then, on Sunday, August 3rd we'll drop down into Montana with no plans as where or what to do!

Kinda late for this, but head east to Drumheller AB and check out the Royal Terrell Museum and Dinosaur Provincial Park a bit south east
. mind blowing places. Also, head smashed in buffalo jump.

Palouse said:

Kinda late for this, but head east to Drumheller AB and check out the Royal Terrell Museum and Dinosaur Provincial Park a bit south east
. mind blowing places. Also, head smashed in buffalo jump.

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We can do that as there is no set plan other than to be home before the 16th. However, we are leaning toward getting home well be before that date. We have no desire to do Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, etc., but have considered swinging by Devil's Tower, Wyoming!

We just want to stay away from the Williston, ND area due to the oil field development and population explosion there! As we have been advised, lots of traffic in an area not prepared for it!

From Jasper on you are connected to the rest of the world again.... Enjoy the sunshine

Yep, we are also considering a quick look at Sturgis, South Dakota as part of the return................. 74th annual bikers gathering!.... 4th thru the 10th!

Once you get into Montana, you can take I-15 to Great Falls then decide how to get to Billings. From Billings take I-90 past the Custer Battlefield, east through Wyoming, hit Devil's Tower (watch out for the mothership), and on to Sturgis and the Black Hills area (Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial).

I've heard there could be as many as 400,000 bikers in Sturgis, South Dakota, could be a real traffic mess.

You might have to sell your Trailer.... Bikers like something like that for a sleepover.