Our First Three Days on the Alaska Highway

Leaving La Crete, we headed South (then North) to begin our great adventure to Alaska. We had no idea where we were going but were super excited to be starting this leg of the journey. 

                                          Sunset over La Crete

                                 

                                      Crossing the Peace River

Construction of the Alaska Highway (sometimes known as the Alcan- Alaska Canada Military Highway) - began on March 9, 1942 and ended on October 25, 1942. Originally built as a military necessity in response to the bombing of Pearl Harbour and the Japanese threat to Alaska and Pacific shipping lanes, it is considered one of the great achievements of the 20th century. It opened to the public in 1948. Many Alaskan businesses still use their “Historical Mile”to identify their location. As we travel the vast wilderness of this pioneer road, we also use kilometre mileposts to identify where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. 

Hope you enjoy our 3 days on the Alaska Highway!

Day 1 - Kilometre 0 - Dawson Creek

We arrived at Dawson Creek at the very end of our driving day. We were pretty tired and decided to head right for the campground. 

Kilometre 27.8 - Kiskatinaw River Bridge - This 162 meter structure is the only original timber bridge built along the Alaska Highway that is still in use today. 

Somewhere around Kilometre 233.4 - After breezing through Fort St. John, we pulled off at a roadside rest area for lunch!! 

Kilometre 454.3 - Fort Nelson - Time to stop for the night! We pull in to the Triple G Hideaway Campground for the night. The driving has been wonderful, long easy stretches of road with few cars. We have seen lots and lots of black bears and have pulled over many times to sightsee but 5 hours is certainly enough. Time to call it quits!

Day 2 Kilometre 456.4 - Nothing like a fruit and yogurt smoothie to start the day! Up and at ‘em! We are hitting the road!

Kilometre 551.4 - Testa River Campground - According to our Milepost book this was a must stop! Operated by third generation family-run hosts, they are

supposed to have world famous cinnamon buns! We stopped by to find out and, yep, they were delicious!!!! The coffee was good too!

Somewhere around Kilometre 597 - A caribou herd just hanging out!

Kilometre 668.2 - We just had to pull over and marvel at the beauty of the mountains and the valleys below. 

Kilometre 675 - Our Milepost book warned us to watch for moose in boggy areas alongside the road. Sure enough…there she was!!! I was disappointed that I didn’t have my zoom lens handy. She took off into the woods with her little calf right behind her. 

Kilometre 712.2 - Muncho Lake - The beautiful deep green and blue color and the enormity of this lake was stunning! Equally impressive was the winding drive alongside it! 

Somewhere around Kilometre 756 - Wood Bison everywhere!!!! For the next 100 kilometres we saw bison feasting on grass on the side of the road.

Kilometre 764.7 - Liard River Hotsprings - A short walk along the boardwalk and we were at a natural hot spring where water temperatures vary from 36 to 52 degrees Celsius! It was absolutely glorious and just what we needed at this time of day! 

Kilometre 905 - Welcome to the Yukon!

Kilometre 974.3 - As we approach Watson Lake, Yukon our tachometer rolls to 10 000km! Wow! Time to pull off the road for the night! Another big day tomorrow!

Day 3 - Kilometre 980 - The Signpost Forest - Designated a Yukon Historic Site in 2013, the Signpost Forest was started by US Army soldier Carl Lindley while he was working on the construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942. Travellers are still adding signs today, which numbers more than 85 000. We stopped and added ours too!

Kilometre 1242 - As we approach Teslin, we pull off for a view of Nisutlin Bay Bridge.

Kilometre 1425.3 - We arrive at Whitehorse!! A quick trip to Walmart and then we head right to the campground. There is so much to see and do! Time to rest!

North To Alaska

Our journey so far!!!

After leaving Fort McMurray we headed to La Crete....another small hamlet in Northern Alberta that we have a family connection to. Though it was a long drive South and then North again, the drive was wonderful! Highway 88 was absolutely one of the best highways we have driven on and not busy at all. All along we were treated with several black bear sightings as well as fox. 

Our stay here was wonderful! With a population of

around 3500 people, the community spirit and beauty of the land certainly made up for the remoteness of the region.While there we had an opportunity  to tour the area and eat at some of the local establishments. Being a primarily Mennonite community, we also had

an opportunity to try some of the local foods such as Varsch - Mennonite sausage. Our down time, gave us an opportunity to recharge - clean the RV inside out, polish the motorcycle, and tighten everything up in preparation for our next big adventure - Alaska!

                   East Meets West

         We had a wonderful barbeque with                           Uncle Randy!

         Alberta beef and scallops from the                     North Atlantic!

         Who could resist cheesecake smothered
         with Labrador bakeapples?

The Alaskan portion of our trip has probably been the part that has been most well planned. We started way back in the Spring of this year by first purchasing The Milepost. This extensive guide book covering Alaska, the Yukon, Northwest Territories and British Columbia was first published in 1949. It contains up to date mile-by-mile information on over 15 000 miles of roads in the North. It is considered the Bible for destination planning for this region. Based on this book, we are planning to do the inbound route of Basic Itinerary #2, picking up the route at Dawson Creek, once we leave La Crete. 

We are super excited to begin this next adventure which will be something totally different from anything we have yet experienced. Stay tuned....

Just motoring along!
Thanks, Trevor, for the great graphics!

I Can See For Miles

We are now back in Canada…..our home and native land! The drive north from Montana and on into Alberta was just filled with vast amounts of grassland, extending miles in every direction. We were in awe during our three days of driving with how extensive and untouched the land really is. 

As we approached Drumheller, Alberta it was clear we were in the Canadian Badlands. Similar, yet very different from the South Dakota Badlands, it was

easy for us to see how this place was rich in history dating back to the Prehistoric era. Our visit to the Royal Tyrrell Museum allowed us to go back in time as we read and learned about the many many dinosaurs that roamed the land and eventually became extinct. It was definitely a time of harsh climate and survival of the fittest. It

also reminded us that the earth is constantly engaged in a process of change where species and plant life are constantly becoming extinct and/or evolving. The earth is truly fascinating!

On our way to Fort MacMurray to visit our son, Mark, we took advantage of doing some boondocking on the Walmart

Walmart, Drumheller, Ab.

parking lots. In Drumheller, Alberta we had a wonderful night with 11 other campers from Manitoba, British Columbia and Ontario but our night at a Walmart outside Edmonton wasn’t so enjoyable causing several campers, including us, to have to leave in the middle of the night. A VERY busy parking lot left us with having to re-evaluate our selection criteria when choosing which Walmart would be getting our business. Clearly, the ones where a 24 Hour McDonald’s right on the lot is not at the top of the list!

As I write this, we are now in Fort MacMurray visiting with our son. We have

Old Dragline at SynCrude Display

heard so much about Fort MacMurray as just about everyone in Newfoundland either knows someone working here or is related to someone here. Mark has been a gracious host, showing us around the town and cooking meals for us. We have had a chance to wash our clothes and use HIS bathroom to shower in. It certainly seems like a nice little working town and we are content knowing that he is happy and making

Mark and Steve standing in "the Clam" of a Dragline

a good living for himself. We will leave again in a few days and head on to La Crete, Alberta to spend time with my Uncle before heading North. I know that we will also have a wonderful visit there in that community as well.

Until the next time…..

Home On The Range

So sorry Manitoba and Saskatchewan! Our original plans were to leave South Dakota and head north to drive across the prairies but the lure of Yellowstone

National Park was just too great after chatting with fellow RVers who insisted that we just must go there. When we looked it all up on the map, it became our next destination and boy are we glad we made it there!!!

What can we say about Yellowstone???  Certainly another gem in the crown of America! We camped out in Cody, Wyoming about an hour outside the East entrance of the park. The scenery, mountains and rolling hills on the way to the park were absolutely amazing and breathtaking to say the least. As we entered the park we could see plumes of smoke billowing from the ground. A peculiar smell of sulphur

One of many geysers in the area

permeated the air. We came to realize that Yellowstone is a geological wonder containing over half of the world’s geysers! From Old Faithful which erupts “faithfully” every 91 minutes to the Grand Prismatic Spring, a football field-sized geyser of magnificent beauty, these springs reached temperatures of over 200 degrees Fahrenheit and could certainly be fatal to those who come into contact with them. In many parts of the park, such as West Thumb Geyser basin, the land was very fragile and we were repeatedly reminded to stay on the boardwalk. Stepping off the boardwalk could literally land you in some pretty hot water!! Nature is amazing!

The Grand Prismatic Spring
People on the boardwalk in the background

                                    Old Faithful did not disappoint!

Yellowstone is also famous for its wildlife! Along with deer, elk and coyotes which we saw quite frequently we were always reminded of the presence of Grizzly bears in the park. We didn’t get a chance to see a bear but we did see the hundreds and hundreds of bison grazing in the Lamar Valley.

It was amazing to sit, watch and listen to these gigantic animals in their natural environment during their mating season, male bison vying for the females attention. Of course, a scattered fuss would ensue. They may be big but boy, can they move!

Bison roaming everywhere!

Feeling like cowboys, we mounted our iron horse each day and had the most amazing rides through Yellowstone. The Beartooth Highway, voted as one of America’s most scenic highways, is a must-do for any vacationer in the Wyoming area! As we corkscrewed to the summit of Bear Tooth, the cliff faces and vertical drops to the valleys below were both jaw dropping and exhilarating. It truly was a feat of engineering excellence that simply cannot be captured in pictures! The Chief Joseph Pass was also another exceptionally scenic byway with great historical significance. While travelling this highway we were reminded once again of how Mother Nature can pack a mean punch when she wants. The sky grew quickly dark and before we knew it we were in the middle of a thunder and lightening storm. Though it might have been dangerous, we DID stop for just a second to listen to the thunder rumble through the mountains but before we knew it we were driving into sunshine again. 

                         Thank-you, Yellowstone, for an unforgettable 3 days!

The Wild West

We’ve all heard the legends of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane! Or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid! Crazy Horse and General Custer! As a child growing up in Newfoundland these were often just made up stories about wayward cowboys but as we drove west through South Dakota and on into Wyoming, we quickly discovered these were real live people. It was so cool to walk in their shoes and see the towns where they lived and died.

Deadwood, South Dakota is a quaint little western town outside Sturgis where Wild Bill Hickok frequented along with Calamity Jane. It was here at Saloon #10

where Jack McCall shot and killed Wild Bill during a poker game. To the floor fell 2 pair; two black aces and two black eights which later became known as the Deadman’s Hand. Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are both buried in Deadwood at a cemetery called Mt. Moriah. The town has done a fabulous job at retaining it’s old western feel, complete with gun fights in the street. 

West of Deadwood, where we camped out, is Sundance, Wyoming. With a population of just over 1100 people it was

Statue of the Sundance Kid
Sundance, Wy

where Harry A. Longabaugh, otherwise known as the Sundance Kid, was captured and jailed for stealing a horse, saddle and gun in 1887. It is believed that Butch Cassidy acted as his accomplice in helping him to escape. The “Kid" was captured again, sentenced to 18 months in jail and then later pardoned because he was under the age of 21. We really enjoyed the Crook County Museum which has done a fabulous job at preserving the rich history of the area.

Crook County Museum

. 

A motorcycle ride South through the Black Hills National Forest took us to Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monuments. It was pretty cool to see something we’ve always heard about and definitely a great feat of engineering. A cool fact that we learned is that there is a secret archival vault in the

frontal lobe of Abraham Lincoln’s head that was intended to hold important papers and documents of American history. The drive north, back to our campsite, was equally impressive as we rode through the plains and grasslands of South Dakota and Wyoming. Around every turn we could see rolling fields dotted with cattle and horses and, for a moment, we felt like the old time cowboys out on the range. 

Our last stop in Wyoming was a town called Cody. Little did we know but we were walking in the footsteps of Buffalo Bill! We visited Buffalo Bill’s original

hotel, Irma, and had our very first Bison Burger! On our last night there, we went to a cowboy hoedown at the Cody Cattle Company We had a great buffet meal, cowboy style; beans, applesauce, cornbread, brisket, BBQ chicken,

coleslaw and enough lemonade and iced tea to quench anyone's thirst! The cowboy entertainment was also excellent. We finished out the night at our very first rodeo! 


The cowboy lifestyle is certainly in the blood of the people in South Dakota and Wyoming!

Enjoyed a great night with these cowboys!