Our Arctic Adventure 2012 part5

To our blog followers... 

As usual, click this link for the Picasa  site for pictures with descriptive sub captions

This is a special update as it covers only a few hours. The ~30 hrs were really action packed and exciting, lots of miles and lots of happenings. The setting for this is on the Dempster highway in northern Yukon Territory, from Dempster Corner, near Dawson City, going toward Inuvik in the Northwest Territory.

September 9^th...

We completed our stay at Chilkoot Lake State Park and we drove the 250 miles to Whitehorse, YT. We spent the night at the Walmart.

September 10^th...

We have to restock our pantry and Whitehorse is the only place to do that. The oil needs to be changed in the Suburban. I furnished the oil and filter so the job cost $23 and about 30 minutes. Got that done early while Barbara was shopping in Walmart. We are getting everything ready for the Arctic Adventure to Inuvik, on the Dempster. This was our target for our Arctic Adventure 2012

We leave for Dawson City about 350 miles north on the Klondike highway. The Klondike has many informative kiosk along the way, but we are trying to avoid a weather problem on the Dempster so we push on. The Klondike follows Lake Laberge and the Yukon river. We stop at the intersection of the Dempster and the Klondike called the Dempster Corner, where we will store the trailer. It is about 20 miles into Dawson where we will fuel up and get information on the Dempster road conditions. We will get up early and go to Dawson tomorrow, Sept 11^th.

September 11^th... We stop at the visitor center in Dawson and the woman calls Eagle Plains, YT for a Dempster road and weather advisory. The woman tells us that they have had a blizzard like snow storm but the road is open so far as she knows. She said that a few trucks have had problems.

This is how our original plan was to work...

We would store the trailer at the intersection called the Dempster Corner. We would place our dinette cushions (mattress) in the rear of the suburban and fashion that into a comfortable bed. The Suburban would give us an 8 foot (less space for fuel and tools) quarters in the back. I had plumbing antifreeze for the trailer just in case of freezing weather. We would pack a cooler with food for 5 days and of course we had our sleeping bags and a small propane cook stove in the upper top carrier so the Suburban would be our RV for the trip. We had four 5 gal jerry cans of fuel for the long 900 mile round trip. I figured with the extra fuel I could make the 900 miles without the need to purchase fuel along the way. We would overnight when and where we needed to. We knew it might be cold, but we would be prepared for that.

But, this is what we did...

We left Dawson, got to the trailer and decided that today because of the weather related problems, we would just go up 45 miles to the Tombstone area, check it out, and come back.

I set the heat to 45* in the trailer and Barbara packed some sandwiches for the day trip. We jumped in the Suburban and headed up the Dempster and just kept going. It was exciting and inviting in every way and it was easy going until about the 150 mile mark and the going got a lot worse, but we kept going, on through Eagle Plains, on up to the Arctic Circle at about 250 mile mark. The vistas through the windshield were just so beautiful and the snow even gave it more beauty. You might call it irresistible.

We met Chris and Cynthia Wright from Prince George, BC on the road, found that they were doing the same thing, therefore we would team up at least to the Arctic Circle for safety sake.

The conditions were really bad with blowing snow, freezing temps, really bad road, and heavy truck traffic. At one point, a snow plow was helping a truck back onto the road, we would just have to wait until traffic moved again. The snow plows had not cleared a section of the road and the trucks with chains were beating a one lane path that had turned the gravel road surface into loose rock and sharp shale. We had to run fast on top of the potholes and washboard or it was really a rough ride. At times four wheel drive seemed to help on some of the steep sections.

We made it to Eagle Plains in late afternoon with about a good amount of snow on the ground. Eagle Plains was not as big as we thought, just a fuel stop with a tire shop and a hotel with a restaurant. I had about 230 miles on the tank and it was just so cold and snowing that I decided to fuel up and pay the $1.75/liter. The pump was just a motor and a pump with a liter readout sitting on a steel table. The guy comes out and zeros the readout, flips the toggle switch, and asks how many liters. I tell 50 liters (~12 gal) and he puts that in really fast from the 1 ½ inch diameter handle. We go inside and he uses a calculator to figure my amount, OUCH.

We push on to the Arctic Circle with Chris and Cynthia following, it was getting dark quickly and the temp is dropping so it was nice to have the company. We have a photo op at Arctic Circle marker and begin to set up the Suburban for the over night stay. It is really windy and cold with snow falling, and I have to unload all the crap that I was supposed to leave in the Bigfoot at the storage site. I place all of that stuff on the snow and mud and cover it with a big blue tarp. We put down a blanket on the floor of the Suburban and spread out our sleeping bags. I get involved in a 30 minute game of “fix the zipper” on my sleeping bag. We turn in and the first thing we find out is the floor of the Suburban is really hard and the longer we are there we find out that it is not only hard, but also cold. Sure would be better if we had those cushions from the Bigfoot as we had planned... Everything is cold, the windows are freezing up inside and the snow is building up on the outside. The wind is strong and the Suburban would move at times. So much for our sub freezing temp sleeping bags and our thermal underwear plus multiple layers of clothes and socks, our feet are still cold.

One of the reasons for our adventure up the Dempster is to be sure and see the Northern Lights, so we sure don't want to miss that. We did not sleep much and one would think that we would be on the look out for the light show. We saw nothing because we dared not open the door because of the 15 degree temps. Sure weren't going to see much through the frozen and snow cover windows of the Suburban. The northern lights will be another time, hopefully soon.

When one of you readers sees Barbara, ask her what she thinks of the frozen Yukon outhouses at this pull out on the Arctic Circle.

Chris and Cynthia were better prepared as they had their Tahoe outfitted and knew what to expect. They even got up and went outside for a view of the Northern Lights and were rewarded while we got little sleep in our rig.

So we occasionally started the engine for heat and hoped the daybreak would come soon... so we could return to our Bigfoot at the storage area 250 miles away. All night long I wondered if the batteries and the propane would hold up on the Bigfoot. We had no idea how cold it was at the storage and how much the heater would have to run. Remember, we were just going 40 miles up the road and return the same day. It was important that the plumbing does not freeze on the Bigfoot because it would be a big mess with burst pipes and the water pump turned on. If everything preformed as designed, all would be just fine.

The hours passed and Barbara and I talked and laughed and continued to make plans for tomorrow if and when tomorrow came. We did get some sleep while the engine ran and warmed us up, but all told we might have slept maybe 2 hours. We decided the best thing we could do is to drive back to Eagle Plains, get hot coffee and head south to the storage.

As soon as the first light of day came, I got outside and loaded all that stuff in the back of the Suburban. Did not have to worry about snow or mud, by now it was all frozen as the outside temp was showing 15*F.

September 12^th...

As is normal for me, my mind is always more clear in the morning and this was just the case. WOW, what a lovely morning. A lovely sunrise with clouds painted with the morning sun. Along with the sun a cresent moon with a bright planet (Mars) next to it. This is breath taking and I took a few pictures. The world looks different this close to the North Pole and it is beautiful.

We leave our still sleeping friends and head to Eagle Plains. This section of the road is now frozen but otherwise in good driving shape. Eagle Plains is about an hour away so we see more of the sunrise and the beauty of the low hanging clouds.

When we arrive at Eagle Plains we are surprised at the number of trucks in the very large parking lot. Some of them are the Canadian military trucks. All north bound trucks are told not to drive north until the road is cleared near Fort McPherson. That did not bother us as we are driving south. We have about a 230 mile drive and almost perfect weather. I went in to get coffee and took my shoes off in the mud room of the hotel. Looks as if there were a hundred pairs of shoes there. That coffee was sure good. We drove the same bad road as we drove the previous day. We did encounter some stranded trucks waiting to be pulled out, but were able to pull around them.

With about a hundred miles to go I stopped to help a fellow traveler with a flat tire. He was from Spain in a rental pickup camper. The famous Dempster had eaten up his tire and he could not find a suitable jack to lift the rear axle. He had been there all night on the side of the road. I was able to assist him with the problem. It was the second flat in his 2 vehicle caravan. The Dempster is really tough on tires that are loaded heavily, as it is a gravel and shale road. It's reputation is well deserved.

On the way back we took the time to enjoy the sights and read all the kiosks along the way. The Suburban was really dirty and needed washing, so along Miller Creek I got out the pump and hose and Barbara and I washed the frozen mud off.

We got back to Dempster corner and the Bigfoot and all was just fine there.

Some after thoughts...

While we did not make it all the way to Inuvik, our time on the Dempster will long be remembered as exciting and inviting in every way. We thoroughly enjoyed it, even the somewhat sleepless night. If we had just carried out the preplanned configuration of the Suburban , we might have gone all the way to Inuvik.

We saw the lure of the Dempster in a wonderland of epic beauty in the snow shrouded Tombstone mountains. We pushed ourselves a little more than what we normally would, but we have no regrets, only the enthusiasm to do it again. We will be back in the near future.

One important note...

The ~ 30 hours spent on this adventure were captured on tape... our dash camera was on for most of that. I dumped the file onto the hard drive so I would have it permanently. It recorded all of the views from the windshield and the audio from inside the Suburban. It also time stamps all video for quick recall.

A few days after, Barbara and I watched on the 22 inch screen in the Bigfoot portions of the adventure and listen to our conversations while on the Dempster and during that long night at the Arctic Circle. We laughed and laughed at what we heard and saw. I may put some of that on Youtube with a link at a later date. Some of it will remain censored for good reasons.

Be sure and read the kiosk placards in my pictures about the Tintina Trench not far from the Dempster Corner. Very interesting.

That is all for this segment . Next time I will pick up on our way to Mayo and Keno. So much more to come.

Our Arctic Adventure 2012 part4

To our friends and family,

A note about the pictures that I have taken... I have taken nearly 1000 pictures and selected nearly 100 hundred for this upload. I have added sub-captions descriptions on all of these. Most are uploaded in hi res mode and you might like to enlarge for a better view. Picasa has a zoom button for this.

Click here for picture link. 

Our last update was July 16^th , and I have had several ask about where we are and what are we doing.

This update will cover our 60 day adventure in Haines Alaska. We visited Haines last year but we didn't spend enough time and put it on the list for a return visit.

Haines (pop ~2300) is in the heart of the Chilkat Valley in southeast Alaska just south of Skagway about 20 miles and 90 miles north of the capitol of Alaska, Juneau. These towns are connected by the Lynn Canal that serves as the water way for the Alaskan Marine Highway system. This is the system that connects Bellingham, WA to the intercostal water way that is so popular with the cruise ships.

Another common way of traveling to Haines is the scenic Haines Highway that starts in Haines and 155 miles to the north ends Haines Junction on the ALCAN. This highway (built 1943) is considered one of the most scenic in North America. It passes through Alaska's Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve and borders Canada's Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial park and Kluane National Park.

The town also has 2 commuter flights a day from Juneau and Whitehorse for the fly in folks.

Haines is a stop for many of the international passenger ships.

Haines economy is driven by commercial and sport fishing and tourism.

Haines is the artist location for Alaska and has had several movies filmed here. The 1991 Disney movie, “White Fang” was filmed here as well as “Gold Rush Alaska” a current running reality show on the Discovery Channel.

Haines also was one of the original gold rush towns of the 1890s and the site of Fort Seward, the first permanent Army base in Alaska built in 1903.

We arrived in the Haines area on July 10^th and camped in the Chilkoot State Park. The park is accessed from Haines by driving Lutak Rd (hwy 7) for 10 miles north along the beautiful Lynn Canal and the Chilkoot river. The drive ends at the day use area and the campground on the Chilkoot Lake. The park has 32 campsites. Five of them are along the water edge of Chilkoot Lake.

Barbara and I accepted a job with the Alaska State Parks as the Chilkoot State Park volunteer camp host. We were killing some time before we traveled north for our Arctic adventure in the Northwest Territory and the Arctic ocean. The existing host had to travel back to Oregon and that left the job open. The Park Ranger put up a help wanted sign and we decided to give hosting a try. The job has been exciting and rewarding. Our job is to pull tickets from the site post in the mornings, make sure that the Iron Ranger has plenty of envelopes, check with the campers and give information about bears in the park, fill in the count sheet, service the bathrooms, pick up trash, and other small maintenance jobs. We get paid a small stipend amount and our site is free in addition. We were furnished some shirts and a windbreaker with the State Park logo on it. Our propane and generator gas is furnished as well as a shop that has showers and laundry services. They also gave me a big can of powerful bear spray that will shoot about 25 feet just in case. I have a handheld radio for communications with the ranger.

Each thursday we have a pot luck lunch with the other hosts from Chilkat State Park and the 19 mile Bald Eagle Preserve. The park ranger, Preston Kroes, and his staff are very supportive of the hosts. Preston is also a law enforcement ranger that is fully equipped with side arm and other.

The host site (our site) is site 21 on Lake Chilkoot. It is a beautiful site against the south shore of the 3 mile long lake with views of the mountains and glaciers. It is the site that everyone wants, but can't have. However, we do invite many down to have their picture taken with the back drop of the lake view.

NOTE... After taking the host job, we asked our son, Jay and his girl friend Rahel if they could join us while we were here. Jay was able to come, but Rahel was not able to work it into her schedule. Maybe another time for her. We enjoyed his five days very much.

The campers that stay here come from all around the world. Many come from Whitehorse, but many come from Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, England, Austria, Australia, France, Czech Republic, Norway, Denmark, South Africa, Greece, and all over the US and Canada.

We are to leave on Sept 9^th after spending almost 2 months here.

The one item that we don't have is cell phone service. AT&T does not have this area covered and we have to drive about 7 miles back toward Haines for service. After the initial shock, we have enjoyed being disconnected.

We try to do our shopping on Tuesday or Thursday as that is just after the barge bringing the containers of fresh products to the super markets arrives. The stores run low on some items such as bananas, produce and milk products.

Below are some of the events of the last 60 days. Many of these are explained better in picture with description sub-captions, so be sure to check out the picture link.

We have checkin over 1000 campsite registrations while here. I don't know how many individuals but it is many more than that. As of Sept 1^st everything is slowing down and occupancy is down even though it is Labor day in the US and Canada. Rain in the forecast for the next few days.

The list of loaded stuff loaned and services rendered beside camp host:

Generator loaned, Tire inflator, wood chopping ax, filet knife for fish cleaning, reset the change oil warning on 2 vehicles, scanned and canceled engine trouble code, loaned rope for various reasons, Installed two way radio in ranger truck, drinking water, lots of fire wood given away

So what is so special about Chilkoot State Park?

Chilkoot SP is the place to fish for all 5 Salmon types... the King aka chinook, Coho aka silver, Chum aka dog, Sockeye aka red, Pink aka humpy. The fish spawn in the Chilkoot lake and the small fish swim out to the ocean grow to adult and return swimming up stream to the same location in Chilkoot lake to complete the cycle of life. Another favorite is the Dolly Varden char fish. Fishing is big sport here and everyone catches fish. The anglers fish in the rain and by headlight in the night, they quit when they have to go home. Many have chest type freezers in a RV or trailer that they fill before they leave. The state maintains a sockeye counting weir and over 125 thousand have passed through into Chilkoot this summer.

Chillkoot SP is the place to watch bears... At this time Barb and I have 7 grizzly bears ranging between 20 years down to 2 year old cubs. We have learned a lot about bears. These are the small grizzly brown bear and don't display any aggressive behavior to people. We know that the bears are either foraging for berries, roots, grass, or eating fish from the lake or river. They can also be a nuisance in the campground. The trouble maker for us is the 3 year old female cub named “green tag” (because she has a green marker tag in the left ear). All these bears are shy and can be commanded to move on by clapping ones hands or shouting go bear! Green Tag comes into the campground and plays with stuff. She has knocked down 2 tents and chewed up my orange traffic cone. She likes things that are soft. Hundreds of bear watchers come out to watch the bears entertain the young and the old.

Chilkoot is the place to watch The American Bald eagles... and they watch you watch them and hope you drop your fish, because they just might pickup your fish before you can. We have seen many American Bald Eagles, seagulls, Steller Jays, the Common merganser duck, a few bats at night and the ever present raven. At this time the Canadian geese are flying on their migration routes toward the lower 48.

Chilkoot is the place the Yukoners (Whitehorse) come... By the highway it is about 250 miles, but can be shorteded up by taking the Alaska Marine Ferry from Skagway. They come to fish and play in big numbers. Many have come here for their entire life. About 75% of the folks in the park are from the Yukon Territory.

Chilkoot has good weather... Cool weather in the 50s and 60s and on a few occasions into the 70s. Almost no wind. It has rain, but doesn't seem to bother anyone.

Chilkoot is a boating lake... pleasure boating or sight seeing and fishing. Canoeing and kayaking is popular.

Chilkoot is a wild flower and berry park … Wild flower adorn the entire as well as every wild berry you can image. Folks come from all around to photograph the flowers and pick the berries.

For some of the surprises and highlights during our stay.

• July 19^th... We became volunteer camp hosts at Chillkoot State Park in Haines. Had to fill out a volunteer service application.

• July 22^nd... Our friends Marv and Vicki Muller from Canyon Lake TX just happened to come through the campground and spent a few days with us. We have socialized with them in Bandera and Quartzite. Somewhat strange to have friends drive into the park. Of course we had a few campfires and food prepared on the fire ring grill. We bid them farewell as they caught the ferry to Juneau and points beyond.
• We got to know Mike Cooper and his Siberian Husky, Pretty Girl. Mike is very knowledgeable and has traveled Alaska and Canada extensively for many years. We spend many hours around the campfire with Mike and his well mannered dog. Mike even helped out with the information for other campers about hiking and things to do in the area. Mike is a retired US Navy vet and calls Cutbank, MT his home.
• Had a cookout at Ranger Kroes new home with all the other hosts and support people.
• July 28... Our friends Duke Armendariz and Beverlee showed up in the park and spent the week with us. These are friends from Bandera that we met and socialized with for a few years. Duke is a highly decorated US Army Airborne retired living in San Antonio but traveling most of the year. We spent many hours with them sharing stories of mutual interest. Always had a campfire going and food and drink to pass the time. While sitting around the fire, Aug 1^st, a boater in the lake warned us that a bear was at out camp site. The bear was about 20 feet away so using caution, we took pictures and let the bear wander on by.  We bid them farewell on the 6th as they caught the ferry to Juneau to spend time in Juneau at the Mendenhall Glacier.

• July 26^th …. We attended Southeastern Alaska State Fair here in Haines. It is a small town fair, but draws from Juneau, Skagway, and the rest of southeast Alaska. We had a lot of fun there. We have attended 3 Alaskan fairs starting in 2009 we attended the Kenai peninsula in Nelnilick and the Alaskan State Fair in Palmer.
• July 31^th... Pot luck with the other staff
• August 2nd... Invited Ron Zell down to our site to have some moose sausage he had let us have early in the week. Ron has south Dakota domicile address and is retired military and retired US park ranger. He moves between Mexico and Washington state. He has come Chilkoot Lake Stater Park for the last 23 years missing only last year because of open heart surgery. Ron attended several cookouts with us. Hope our trails meet again someday.
• August 6^th... Jean Boekman and her sister, Jane, showed up in the park unanounced, another just by chance meeting. Jean and her husband Tony are good friends that we know from the Bluebonnet Rally in Bandera. Jean and Tony were part of our trip to Quartzite, California, and the Grand Canyon last January. They live in Medford OK. It was nice to meet Jean sister Jane. On a side note they also know Duke and Beverlee, therefore we had a small reunion here at Chilkoot SP. This trip for Jean was a sister trip with here identical twin, Jane. They were returning from several weeks in the Kenai and Denali NP, so we had a lot to catch up on.

• August 9^th... Pot luck at the shop and laundry day.
• August 10^th... Ryan, a state wildlife biologist came from Juneau and is experimenting with using a high power Tazer to try to train Green Tag behavior with pain. He thinks that if he can catch GT doing something wrong and use the Tazer on her, it might help. He doesn't want to relocate or at worst kill the young bear. GT has been hazed with bean bag and rubber bullets from a 12 auge and sprayed with caspian pepper spray. He also thinks that if GT lives another year, that might help also. They call it the terrible 3s... Time will tell..
• August 13^th... At 0200 hours we got a knock on the door. A very young girl and a young boy were standing outside the door and asked if I were Bob. She said she knew Bob the host last year. After I asked some prying questions, she told they had car problems on the bridge about a 1.5 miles away. She wanted to call a phone in town but I offered to help with the car. Our phone only works after we drive 6 miles toward town. We moved the car from the bridge to a safe spot and I took them to town. GT tore up a tent and in the next site some dog started to bark. I watched GT climb a tree and when he came down, I shot pepper spray at him... Too far away to be effective, but he sure did run fast. Also took the trailer to town to the dump station.

• August 14^th... I installed a Motorola two way radio in a new ranger truck. I installed it quite easily remembering some skills from an earlier lifetime. Barbara picked a bunch of ripe blueberries from the many thickets in the campground. Great for pancakes or on ice cream.
• August 16^th... another potluck
• August 17^th... Jay arrive on the Alaska Marine Ferry about 4 miles from the park. He will be here for 5 days. We are so glad to see him and he is glad to have a break from his hectic work schedule. Rahel tried to come with him, but just could not work it into her schedule.
• August 18^th... Speedy the sow bear comes by our camp site for a face to face with Jay and his camera. Speedy wears a radio collar that is scheduled to drop off this fall. Three years of data collection are in the collar. It has a GPS that will give all of Speedys locations. We were sitting by the camp fire and we heard a rumbling and that turned into a big rumble as if a train was coming across the lake. It was a rock slide on the other side of the lake. A little scarey for sure..

• August 19^th... Jay and I hike the Battery Point trail. It is a 1.5 mile trail from Portage Cove to Battery Point. It was tough because it is in a rain forest with lots of roots on the top of the ground to slow down the travel. Near Kelgaya Point Jay spotted a bull moose run into the water of Lynn Canal being chased by a black dog about 100 feet behine. The dog chased the moose for about 20 minutes in the ocean, loosing ground to the faster moose. The moose made it to land about 500 feet in front. We got picture so be sure and click the picture link.
• August 20^th... Barbara, Jay and I went to 19 mile Bald Eagle Preserve to visit Roger the host there. We spent the day doing some back road and 4 wheel drive areas. Roger comes from San Francisco area and has experience in the solar power industry. Jay and Roger really hit it off together. We ended up at the 33 mile roadhouse for hamburgers. Saw a pair of trumpeter swans along the Haines highway. Really a exciting day.
• August 21^st... Jay and Barbara spent time in Haines shopping and I showered at the shop. Then we at at the Bamboo room . Today we had to take Jay to the ferry for his ride back to Juneau and then to Dallas for the work stuff. We were happy for the 5 days he spent with us but sad to see him leave.
• August 23^rd... Preston introduced Dane a new State Park Ranger assigned to Chena river State Rec Area near Fairbanks. Dane is 25 and just married and was just graduated. He will get his final evaluation from Preston after a week in Haines area. He is so young and we wish him all the best. I asked him if they gave him just one bullet (Barney from Mayberry) and he replied they gave him a rubber gun during his training.
• August 24^th... I changed the fuel filter on the Suburban. The fuel filter dashboard reminder had dropped down to 14% life left and I figured this was a good opportunity. It was easy. I'll have Walmart change the engine oil in Whitehorse on the 10^th. Also got some great photos of Green Tag the bear, be sure to check the photo link.
• August 28^th... Barbara's birthday... Happy Birthday Barbara and thanks for the 43 years............. I went to Dane's farewell party at the Fireweed Restaurant and Barbara did the wash at the shop.. what a deal. I did ask if she wanted to go and she turned me down, she thought it was a guy thing, and she was correct.
• August 29^th... Beautiful day with blue skies Late that evening we sat around the fire and watched the bats as they flew around. I would point my infer red thermometer with the laser light at them to take their temperature.
• August 30^th... Did a little auto service on a German couple rented RV. Used my scanner to turn out a service related light and also reset the oil life monitor on the dash. Loose fuel cap had set a service light.  I did an oil change on the Honda generator and replaced a flaky start relay.

• August 31^st... Low in the high thirties... starting to see the change of seasons. Some new snow on the high mountains. Haines got a record of 360 inches of snow last year so there is still some snow in the mountains near town.
• September 1^st... The story of the 3 cub bears and the sow. Late in the evening, Preston, the park ranger gave us a radio call with the information that the sow bear and 3 cubs were down near the counting weir. We had not seen the cub bears so we jumped in the Suburban and drove to the river. They were there and put on a fishing show for us. They would use there paws to feel for the fish, and often they would have one. It was a thrill to watch all 4 of them in the water fishing.
• September 2^nd... very few campers in the campground... We watched the Alamo movie from the hard drive library.
• September 3^rd... Jay, Phyllis, and Rio (his well mannered Golden Retriever) stop by to say good bye on a cloudy afternoon on Chilkoot lake. Cheered us up on a rather gray day. Jay was a camper at Chilkoot on several occasions. Phyllis joined him after flying in. Jay and Phyllis are from Colorado and spend the summer months in Alaska. After visiting with him, we found out we had worked for the same company, just different locations, truly a small world. an almost empty campground tonight...
• September 9^th... we leave Chilkoot and travel toward to Whitehorse, Dawson City, then torward Inuvick in the Northwest Territory.
  
  
  Stay tuned for more updates

Arctic Adventure 2012 Part 3

To the blog followers,

Many have told me they want to see pics, so here they are.

 

I am putting up these two links to our picture hosting site.  The first has 18 pics and the second has 58 pics.  Read the captions below the pics and use the enlarge button for better viewing.  Most of them are taken at high resolution.

The first 18 pics link.

The next 58 pics link

Since our last update we have covered a lot of ground.  We left the Salt Lake City area north bound on I-15 headed for Butte Montana. That would be our stopping place for the night.  Purchased a few item at the store and turn in early.  

June 29th 30th

Barbara and I wanted to check out northern Idaho because we had never been through there.   We looked around the Kellogg and the Coeur d'Alene area and settled in at Cabelas for the night.  They have a nice store very near the border of Idaho and Washington. The next day we traveled toward Spokane Washington and on up toward Osoyoos where we would enter Canada .

July 1st and 2nd

This route would allow us to visit the Grand Coulee Dam and spend a night at the Spring Canyon campground.  We spent 3 hours at the visitor center at Grand Coulee and then did a guided tour of the left generator station the next day.  We had done this in 1982 but it was still very interesting.  They do a laser show on the water over the dam so we stayed for that. We spent an extra day  at Spring Canyon Campground on Lake Roosevelt. 

July 3rd and 4th

Travel day into Canada and a nice drive up the Frazer Valley.  We spent the night in Kamloops on the 3 and Prince George on the 4th.  This is a very scenic drive with many oppuritunies to see the orchards for apples and the big Bing cherries.  This is a big supplier for cherries.

July 5th and 6

 More travel along highway 16 with New Hazelton being our stop for the night.  They have a nice visitor center that has WIFI when it is open.  We were too late for the WIFI, bu we stayed the night there. At Kitawango we turned north on highway 37, the Cassiar that would take up to the Alcan junction.  The Cassiar is a very scenic road that we have in the past used when we would travel south going to the states.  This year we did the reverse seeing it from a different direction going north.  The night of the 6th we stopped at the Dease Lake Rotary Tanzilla Campground.  We would do the Telegraph Creek adventure the next day.  That would take most of the day as it is 150 miles round trip.  Had fun with that road.  Use the 4X4 many time on the switch backs.   Got back in time to wash the Suburban next to the river and to make a few more miles toward the highway junction.

July 7th 

We chose the Beaver Dam rest area for the night.  That was a test of our will as the mosquito population inside the camper and outside was terrible. Never seen anything as bad. We killed them with the zapper swatter until that was not fun anymore.  Left early and hoped they would not follow us. 

July 8th and 9th

were spent in Whitehorse seeing the town and doing some catch up shopping.  Had some rain, but for the most part, the weather was good.  Whitehorse is the capitol of Yukon and has the Canadian Tire store and Walmart.

July 10th - july 16th

Travel to Haines Ak for our longterm stay at the Chilkoot State Park on Chilkoot lake.  This area has it all.  Neat town with a lot to offer.  Weather is good, a little rain, but a lot of sun.  The days have just melted away.  Sometimes we drive 3-4 miles along the Lynn Canal and watch the bear come down to feed on the fish along the edge.  The bear also come through the CG daily.

Check out some of the pictures that I have linked

 

That is all at the present... We will be traveling back to Whitehorse and then to Dawson City in the next few days.  Stay tuned...

Our Arctic Adventure 2012

Dear Blog followers,

This is a link to my pictures with descriptions

It has been some time since I put one of these update blogs up.  Maybe I will update the last of 2011 and the first of 2012 completely when I get an opportunity. We have been busy and some of those months will go into the time slots that I entered and are void of any info.

Just a little recap... We returned from out 2011 Alaskan trip  with Brad and Beverly Cottingham Oct the 1st and then in November joined with about 15 others at Davis Mountain State Park for the 3rd annual Javelina roundup. 

We are still pulling our 2006 Bigfoot 25RQ travel trailer.  It seem to fit our style well and is up to the task. This will be our 5th summer to travel with it. I would guess we have put about 50K miles on it.

We are still using the 2003 white Chevy Suburban as a daily driver and also a  tow vehicle.  I did make a change to the Suburban, in December I changed the complete drive train (engine, trans and rear end) to a 2007 GM 6.6L Duramax diesel. I also converted it from a two wheel drive to a four wheel.  All of these changes will allow us to continue to do our thing when we are on the road.  There had been numerous times when a 4X4 was needed and we just couldn't handle it with the 4X2.  The Duramax conversion give more power and much better fuel mileage.

Then to start 2012 we spent about 6 weeks on the road to the western United States with our friends Brad and Beverly Cottingham along with Tony and Jean Boekman.  We spent time in Quartzite AZ  and then to the Presidential Libraries of Ronald Regan, Richard Nixon, and many other places in the west.

26 June 2012

We are back on the road again. This time the adventure will just be the two of us, but as in the past I hope all of the blog readers will join in and ride along with us. We are headed back to the far north in Alaska, British Columbia, Yukon Territory, and the Northwest Territory.  Of course, we will also travel a new route to us through the north part of Idaho into Canada.  

The adventure of the open road and places yet to be discovered is a strong pull for both Barbara and myself.  The few months we have traveled Alaska and the northwest in 2009, 2011 were just not enough, so here we go again.

We planned this early in the year and the leave date was to be the first week in June, but that got pushed to the 26th of June.  As is often the case, things work out for the best.  The northwest had an usually wet and rainy spring, so we missed some of that.

We drive to Brad and Bevs home in Eldorado near Santa Fe for the first night.  They took us down to the old square for a dinner at the historic hotel.  We have a lovely evening and the next day we are on the road again. We are heading west as quickly as we can because of the wild fires in Colorado.

Tonight we will stop in the far northwest town of  Farmington, New Mexico.

27 June 2012

We leave Farmington and head west toward Shiprock NM, then north into Utah toward Moab and the Arches National Park.  This is a spectacular area of southwest Utah. To the north of Moab near Helper CO we run through dense smoke from a lightening started wild fire not far off of the road .   We overnight on the forth of Salt Lake City.

I have included a few pictures that we took along the way.  One each blog I will try to embed a map and a link to the Piccsa site for additional pictures.  I am using a off line editor for gmail that is not very friendly.  We only have internet access via a few hotspots that we come across.  Some of these are really slow.

Stay tuned for more

our summer travels plans

First five months of 2012

This will be updated sometime in the future...
John

Recap for the last quarter of 2012

I am making and entry that I plan to edit in the future.  I never finished out 2011.  I will post something later