We traveled the "Top of the World Highway" and made it

To My Blog reading friends

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Another chapter in our big Alaskan adventure. We have met so many friends from all parts of North America and also many from Europe also. Lots of young people visiting this part of the world. In our campground on the Yukon we meet a young couple from Liverpool England.
They traveled down the Yukon from Whitehorse in a canoe. They have been traveling the US and Canada for 4 years and are on the last leg before flying back to England.

While taking pictures at the Bonanza creek gold claim, I dropped my camera in the creek. I retrieved it quickly and removed the battery and card. When we returned to camp that evening, I used the hair dryer to warm it so as to drive any moisture out. To my delight, it worked fine this morning. I'll not want to do that again.

My last entry was my disappointment over leaving Dawson, YT. Dawson was a neat place with all the history about gold mining and the early day of the engines that drove some of the equipment. These old pieces of big iron are still there. I guess we have to move on.

This morning we left Dawson and drove west on the famous "Top of the World Highway" state road #9 that will take us back to the Alcan highway. We will cover 185 miles today and that will take all day long. We left our campground turned west and immediately started an uphill steep accent for about 10 miles. The road is in two parts, Yukon #9 and then a section of the Alaskan Taylor highway #5. The first 65 miles (Yukon) is pavement with a lot of gravel breaks, I guess it to be about one half gravel. The last stretch is very bad, all gravel, potholed, washboarded, very narrow in spots, switchback turns, steep inclines, no guard rails, and only one sometimes working gas station, makes this road a challenge. Most of the way it was second or 3rd but sometimes 1st gear in a few spots. This road will wear you out, and we were worn out when we pulled into Tok, Alaska. The evening before, I had covered the frontal area of the trailer and
car with protective covers. This road known for for broken windows and rock slinging. I wanted to be prepared, so I had packed all the necessary covers with me. It is also known for flat tires not because of speed or heat, it because of the sharp rocks and gravel.. One nice thing about this road is the top of the world panoramic view, we could see hundreds of miles in any direction. It is also is fairly close to the Arctic circle and is built along the peaks of these mountains and not in the valley near the rivers. The road starts at the ferry at Dawson, Yukon Territory and 64 miles later crosses the border into Alaska at a place called Junction. Junction has a population of 2, at least one of them is a border crossing guard. We got through customs and back into the US without any trouble, just had to show the passports and answer a couple of questions. As we left
the boarder we saw two caribou. The leg from the boarder takes us to the town of Chicken, Alaska, and old almost ghost town that was a gold mining boom town in the early 1900s. The population of Chicken stated on the town sign is 37 people. There is an RV campground and a store selling Chicken tee shirts. They will loan you a pan and let you pan for gold in the creek. The store attendant showed off his little amount of gold he had found. The area has no power from a grid, so small diesel generator sets were supplying the RV park and store.We finally arrived at Tok, AK and gassed up at an old station that advertised in the Milepost, "with a fill-up" get free use of their car/RV wash facility and a dump station. We washed the Bigfoot and
the Suburban and dumped the tanks. We were tired so we pulled to the side and spent the night. Gas prices are in the low $3 range. Today's gas mileage was an all time low of 7.4 over 190 miles.

We now have cell phone service, at least in this location. It has been 28 days without a cell phone. We have done just fine with Skype. I gave my buddy Tim, in Lubbock, a call and caught up on some of the news around the old office. At the time I was waiting on Barbara to finish her shopping at the North Pole Santa Store. Yes, we were in North Pole, AK at Santa's workshop.
Google Northpole, AK.

Our stop over tonight will be the WM campground in Fairbanks, AK. We called ahead for reservations. They will keep the light on for us.

We stopped at the Sams here in Fairbanks and purchased groceries. I'm going back to them tomorrow for a tire rotation and balance.

We plan to stay for a few days. Just one more item. The Merrymaid tag team of John and Barbara had to be called. Living in a 10 X 20 for a month makes a lot of mess. We also traveled some very dirty roads and it showed. I took the throw rugs out and mopped the floors. Got everything back together late.

FYI, we woke up to smoke in the air this morning that blocked the sunrise. Lot of forest fires here in Alaska. I am not sure where they are located.

And we have passed into the Alaskan Time Zone, 3 hours different from Lubbock.

John

Gold mining adventure for us on day 26, 27 and new picture link

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Today we continued our adventure around the Dawson City, Yukon
Territory area. We have found that there is more to see around here
than we thought. We will have to spend an extra day or maybe two.
Took another ride across the big Yukon on the ferry, I think they are
getting to know us. Back to the Visitors center for Wifi connection
and more information. We can park and leave our car there as we walk
the town for the different attractions. We went to the Palace Grand
Theater, were we saw a movie of the return of the stern wheeler, Keno,
a boat that worked the river in the early days. The Palace Grand is
mostly original and has served the town for over a 100 years. It is a
theater and ballroom. It still has the movable wooden chairs with a
large operational stage.
We walked the town and looked at more of the the historic store fronts
and read about the early days of gold mining. That gave us the bug to
maybe stake our own gold mine and do some panning for gold on the
historic Bonanza Creek. First we visited the Dredge #4, largest of
the wooden hull dredge in the world. It is a Canadian Parks site now
and they preserve it as a preserved but non working site. It was used
until the early 1960s', than abandoned in place. We enjoyed the guided
1 hour tour with the guide and just Barbara and me. Unbelievable the
amount of engineering and "big iron" that went into the building and
use of this monster. Google dredge #4

Then off to stake our gold claim... Now you will have to use your
imagination and ride along with us. We are driving on a gravel road
along the Bonanza creek, the same spot as the "big find" in 1897.
There are huge mountains of rock large and small. We are thinking
that these are just large rock formations, and then we see the pattern
to them, these are the worm like telltale dredge tailing from long
ago. They big dredge would eat through the creek and river beds and
then deposit these tailings in a woven wormlike formation. The last
of the big dredges operated till the 1960s.

Note, The term "placer" is a Spanish word, meaning "a place where gold
can be recovered from gravel." As this suggests, placer mining is the
technique of recovering gold from gravel. Placer deposits occur in
several areas in the Yukon, though historically, most of the mining
has taken place near Dawson City. This area is particularly favorable
for placer deposits because it is in the unglaciated part of the
Yukon.

This is an area that look much like a gravel pit with bulldozers,
tractors, and drag buckets. In addition there are long trailer
mounted trommel. A trommel is composed of a slightly-inclined
rotating metal tube (the 'scrubber section') with a screen at its
discharge end. Lifter bars, sometimes in the form of bolted in angle
iron, are attached to the interior of the scrubber section. The ore is
fed into the elevated end of the trommel. Water (often under pressure)
is provided to the scrubber and screen sections and the combination of
water and mechanical action frees the valuable minerals from the ore.
The mineral containing ore that passes through the screen is then
further concentrated in smaller devices such as sluices and jigs. The
larger pieces of ore that do not pass through the screen can be
carried to a waste stack by a conveyor.
Each persons claim is marked with a bare tree or post standing 4 feet
or more. It is tagged with The claim name, the owners name, and the
date. The owner takes this information to the "mining recorder" for
records search and approval. All the land along these creeks and other
places that are property of the "Crown" are for open claiming, but the
big problem is that ALL that land is claimed. To maintain your claim
that is valid only for one year , one has to work or spend money to
the tune of $1000 per square mile supported by affidavit. The cost of
the lease is $25 and and the renewal is also $25. Claims can be
bought and sold with the permission of the Commissioner. Just as in
the early days, claim jumpers are still a problem. One claim holder
told me yesterday that the claim he was working, was the scene of a
murder a few years back.
I have written about the big mine operators, but the small time pick,
shovel, and pan operator is still here in big numbers. And yes, they
are finding gold, enough that many of them keep the claim for life an
come each year during the warm months. The population doubles during
the summer and most of the increase are miners. Last year, over 44
million dollars came from this area in gold.
Tomorrow, the 28the will be our last day in the Dawson area. My
travel guide and navigator, Barbara thinks that we need to move on.
Yesterday was another action packed adventure into Dawson history and
the exciting world of the early days when gold was king. In 1898,
60000 people lived in Dawson and in 2006 the population was only
1,800.

We've had a good time in Dawson so it is somewhat hard to say goodbye.

John

Jay's weekend in Calgary - July 17th-20th

Well, I promised to write about Calgary, so I am.  It seems a little late now, with my parents already near the Alaska border, but I'll give it a shot.  So, if you are curious about the city, current life or its history, order a copy of the recent Calgary Book of Everything: Amazon.com: Calgary Book of Everything (9780973806359): Roberta McDonald It's a city of just over a million people, with a big downtown (but much of the city is subdivision-style single-family housing).  Oil and gas industries help fuel the boom, and construction is still booming the city center.  For more than one reason, Denver and Calgary are considered sister cities.  I mostly ran around on foot near downtown, but ventured out to the Wild Rose Brewery by the farmers' market, and to a fun place called the Priddis Valley Gardens, where the owner throws occasional parties. Calgarians are grounded and nice, but will still give you a good-natured hard time when given a chance (probably more so if you happen to be from Texas).  For a young person, it seems pretty accessable and interesting, but a bit expensive compared to the southern US.  July is nice, but in January I'd think twice. I stayed in the old (but trendy) Kensington neighborhood, in the 'Garden Cottage' at the  River Wynde B&B  (great place with a great owner), just a short walk across the Bow River from downtown.  Prince's Island Park sits between the river and the tall, contrasting skyline.  It was busy with families and all types on the sunny Sunday I was there.  Crews were setting up for their annual Folk Fest.  Many walkers and cyclists, with good pedestrian bridges and paths.  Free CTrain (lightrail) service on 7th Ave through downtown, buses on 6th Ave.   I had some good food (from breakfasts to burgers to sushi), and some good ales (especially the Cannery Brewing India Pale Ale and the Tree Brewing Hophead IPA, both from BC.  btw, I never found the Central City Red Racer IPA (BC) or Pump House Dementia Double IPA (SK), so if anyone has a spare bottle, let us know--my parents might still have a bottle of Odell IPA from Colorado that they can trade you :).  I liked Calgary, and I'm sure I'll go back sometime--same goes for many of the places I saw.  I was especially happy to spend that time with my mom & dad. Cheers, Jay

WOW, Big time in Dawson and the Land of the midnight sun and new picture link

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Our drive from Whitehorse was fairly uneventful. We left Whitehorse
going west on the Alcan and a few miles out of town, the road forked
and we went north on highway 2, the Klondike highway. I think the
distance to Dawson is 330 miles. There were a few sections of gravel,
but most of the road was good. This road is not as wide as the Alcan,
but there is not as much traffic on it. Much of the road parallels
the big Yukon River. This is the waterway that was used in the late
1880s to bring the mining equipment and everything else to Dawson. The
stern wheelers were up to 300 feet long with a flat bottom, using
steam as power. Many also pushed a barge in front. These boats could
only run about 4 months out of the year because ice conditions in the
river. In some area the boats would get stuck on sand and have to be
cable winched using the trees on the shores. For a few years it was
the only way to get to Dawson. The Yukon river has a lot of water and
flows nicely.

After driving for around 5 hours we found a nice campsite on the banks
of the Stewart River near mile post 222. This is a big river that
flows into the Yukon. Our front door is about 30 feet from the river.
The nice thing is that it's free. We are about 100 miles from
Dawson. All along the highways are large turn out rest stops. They
are made for the traveler to overnight if necessary. These are not
fancy. They are gravel and have a trash barrel and outhouse. Often
they have a historical marker describing the point of interest.
Travelers can stop for a few hours or a whole night. Many times if
there is one RV stopped, there will be others shortly.

At mile post 212, you can take the Silver Trail highway to a mining
town called Mayo and on to Keno, the dead end of that road. We chose
not to take this road.

At mile post 298 is the junction of the Dempster Highway. This
highway will take you to Inuvik, inside the Artic Circle. That is as
far north as you can travel on land. It is a near 500 mile of gravel
road that is considered good in some parts and because of weather
conditions (rain) it can become impassable. Long strethes between gas
stops are also a problem. We will travel this road for maybe 30 miles
to view some of the attractions.

Now, on to Dawson... July 25th, our 25th day on the road

We chose to camp at the Yukon Government campground called Yukon
River. Over a 100 sites with many of them placed on the west bank of
the river. We choose #48, very close to the bank. The town is on the
east bank, therefore it is necessary to take the ferry across the
Yukon. I would guess the distance to be about 1/4 mile. It operates
on demand 24/7 and is free of charge. The longest time we have had to
wait was about 5 minutes. It is large enough to carry a semi truck
along with some cars and trucks. It also carries passengers and
bikers.

Dawson City is a throw back to the 1890s. It has everything, history,
shopping, sightseeing, gambling, fine dining, and no paved streets
with all wooden sidewalks. The first place we visited was the town
visitors center on Front Street. It is housed in the old 1897 Alaska
Commercial Co store and staffed by men and women dressed in 1890
dress. These people also do organized walking tours of the downtown
area several times a day. Videos of the old town and the mining
operations are shown nob stop in the theater room. Hundreds of old
still shots are hanging on the walls. The Dawson City was Yukon
Territory first capitol city, but was later moved to Whitehorse. Some
of the town's buildings are original, with the others being restored
or replicated to near likeness of the original. All are wooden framed
with clap board painted siding. To control the dust, the street dept
runs a water truck up and down the streets. I noticed that the town
has a power station, but it is not used except when needed. The town
is on a 115KV radial transmission line from Whitehorse.
Some of the attractions date back to the early 1900. One that we
attended was Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall. We attended the 8pm
show and it was sold out with every seat filled. We sat in choice
seating with a very good view, in the balcony. We spent about 11/2
hrs there and Barbara walked away with a little more money than we
came with. That's a good thing!
Our next attraction was the cemetery area where many of the founding
pioneers are buried. The state has installed replacement markers, and
restored it the grounds. Many markers were made of 2 X 12 wooden
planks with the names painted on them. These had rotted away and now
are standing tall with the names painted clearly on them.
The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) has a cemetery across the
road. The headstones reflected most died in their 20s to 30s with a
few living into their 50s. I think Sgt Preston may be working
"undercover", in that area of town.
Our next adventure was the Midnight Dome, a drive to the high point of
the area, called the dome. We celebrated a beautiful near sunset that
occurred 2342hrs PST, just as 150 towns people did on last June 21st
110 years ago. This is truly the land of the midnight sun. Very neat
and a little hard to get used to for Barbara and me… We were joined
at the top by two German couples camping out at the viewing area.
They have been traveling the US for 9 months and are on their way to
Alaska. They had their RVs sent over on a ship and then they flew to
the US. I chatted with him for a while. This adventure kept us busy
well into the next day.
On our way back to the campsite we drove through the town that was
still buzzing with activities. We stopped and took pictures on second
street of the store fronts at 1202 AM PST. These pictures were taken
with no lighting other than the skylight, unbelievable and hard to get
used to. I've said it before, you don't run out of daylight, just
energy.

bnj

Day 23 Whitehorse, Yukon Territory mile post 884 with new link

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A little to add to yesterday the 22nd. 
Found hotspot at a Watson Lake service station and made some Skype calls to my cousin Dick and Rena from Hague NY.  We also talked to Lowell and Vicki from Mission, TX .  Lowell and Vicki have spent a month in the boundary waters campgrounds in the Minnesota north country on the shores of Lake Superior.  They have been without any form of communications for a month, they found out they did just fine. 

We slowly made our way from the Liard River Springs Provincial campground, mile post 477 to the Teslin River Provincial campground.  It is a park on the shore of Teslin Lake, one of the Yukon chain lakes.  This was the last leg to Whitehorse, YT. 
 
July 23^rd our 23 day

Our next point of interest was in Watson  Lake, Yukon Territory,  It is a interesting and historical point of interest called the  " Watson Lake Sign Post Forest" and is reported to have 55000 signs from all around the world.  Of course we got our wooden sign from the RV and Barbara and I displayed it along with all the others.  We did not leave it as some do.  It was a photo op that I will post up later.  Please goggle Watson Lake Sign Post Forest for more information.

We pushed on to Whitehorse, YT and got into town just afternoon.  Stopped at the visitor center, picked up information, and watched  a presentation about the Yukon area.  The gold rush days brought many thousands to this area in the 1890's and 1900's, and many made a fortune.  We walked around this historic town some and purchased gasoline.  This is a busy town that is also the capital city of the Yukon Territory.  We also had a couple of items to pickup at the Walmart. 

Wow, we were surprised to find around 60 RVer's parked in the parking lot. In the past, I have seen about a dozen before, but this is unbelievable.  About the Walmart Lurkers...  It is the Walmart corp policy to allow RVers' to rest stop on the parking lots.  These lurkers spend a few hours and also a lot of money with Walmart.  Some cities have enacted/enforced local laws to stop this and try and force the RVers' to patronize the local privately  owned campgrounds.
 
Barb and I visited with a fellow travel from Ontario. Orval and Ellen have traveled Alaska before and were able to answer questions we asked and also pass along all kinds of helpful information about the area. He is a retired pipeline construction welder that has traveled to many locations around the world for the Brown and Root corp. They are on their way back to Ontario.

I asked at the visitor center where Sgt Preston was and they indicated that he was at Dawson City area checking on a gold mine claim jumper.  I guess we will head that direction tomorrow.  It is about 330 miles to Klondike and Dawson, which will be a two day drive at least.  Dawson is a town on the Klondike Loop that at the height of the gold rush ballooned to around 300k population. There is still a lot of gold being mined in the area.  We are equipped with pick, shovel, and pan, therefore I am sure we will be successful.  Anyone wanting to purchase shares, just email me. In the above picture, you will notice that I already have a start on the gold mining.  I think we will spend two to three days there before starting the second part of the Loop known as the "Top of the World Highway" that will take us to Chicken, AK.  It however is not known for being a good road.  At the Alaskan border going west, it turns to gravel and becomes a test of nerve and skills.  

John and a little bit of Barbara

Another big day on the Alcan highway... day 20 and 21 of our exciting adventure and new link

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Just a recap of of yesterdays travels, day number 20.  We started the historic Mile "0" of the Alcan Highway in the middle of Dawson Creek.  There is a mile post in the downtown area of Dawson Creek.  We got a late start because of the oil change on the Suburban.  I chose Walmart to do the oil change.  I had the oil but not the filter.  Their rate for changing oil, checking other fluids, and lube job was $18 Canadian.  I furnished the oil that I had brought from Lubbock.  They didn't have the correct oil filter on the shelf, so I had to go the Canadian Tire store that didn't open til 1000hrs.  We left town about 1100hrs and drove to Buckinghorse Provisional Campground at mile post 175 where we had a picnic lunch.  We stopped at the visitor center in Fort Saint John and talk to Barbara Sister Kim via skype. We also got more road information. The Alcan was good all the way to Fort Nelson.  We drove through mile after mile of bright yellow canola fields contrasted with the dark forrest. The visitor center had a free Wifi hotspot, so we checked email and made some important calls on Skype. The day light was still good so we  pushed on 60 miles west of Fort Nelson to the Tetsa River Provisional Park campground at mile post 344.  Our campsite was directly on the noisey river.  We spent the night with a large number of mosquitoes, but otherwise a very nice campground.

Day 21 began a rough day on the Alcan Highway.  Within a few miles of the Tetsa river campground, we discovered the Alcan highway can really be a bad road.  We had to stop several time for the flagman and that meant one lane and very slow travel.  The work crews were ripping up the old frost heaved surface and were putting down new gravel.  To their credit they do a good job of the repairs. The unrepaired rough places are clearly marked, therefore we slow down.  Then we found ourselves in the worst dust conditions that I have ever experienced.  The dust is caused from the very fine material mixed with the gravel.  The trucks and RV's kick it up to form big clouds of dust. We ran about 20 miles with visibility less than 15 to 20 feet at times and heavy traffic front and rear.  Hazard flashers and headlites on and driving very slowly, we made it to Toad River (mile post 406)  where the road got a lot better.  Toad River is a historic work camp site built in the early 1940's.  Not much of a town, just a restaurant, motel, airplane runway, and gas station.  It did have a free hotspot, so I checked email. The gasoline was $1.24 C money per liter. That is the highest we have seen to that time.  The next gas stop was at Mucho Lake and was a whopping $1.50 C money per liter.  We passed them up hoping for better prices down the road.

Just a note about the gas stops alone the Alcan.  These are old time stations.  They have a (1)unleaded, (1)diesel pump, water, and air that is about all.  The storage tanks are above ground in most cases. The pumps are the old mechanical registers with no card reader slots.  One has to think long and hard about passing up a gas stop.  The distance can vary because even at best it is a hundred mile stretch to the next one, if it is open.  The long mountainous grades can cause a big difference in fuel consumption, therefore we have to be careful.  Some travelers carry extra fuel cans.  I carry 2 five gallon containers but both are sitll empty. I suspect some carry the containers to Tok, AK, where fuel is about 50% less.
The Alcan Highway is a beautiful drive with a wide maintained and mowed area on each side of the road.  I am sure that this is to keep down the road kill problem. The road is a non-divided and carries a lot of traffic.  There are many trucks moving fast and many RV's moving slowly that stop often to take pictures.  Many of grades are 7% with some marked as high as 10%.  You have to be careful.  So far we have not had any problem of any kind.  We did get a really dirty car and trailer.  Words can't describe just how dirty.  We saw buffalo, bear, elk, rabbit, stone sheep and others.   I can say that we have not been disappointed with any part of the trip.  Every mile of this road is exciting with the wildlife, historical markers, beautiful landscape and mountains, and the many people we meet. Remember that this is open range for these animals, therefore they graze within just a few feet of the trucks on the road and don't seem to be bothered in the least.  At these one-lane closers we can get out and talk to other travelers, sometimes for 10 to 15 minutes before we can move on. 

We did not make but 140 miles today, because of the road and the many construction stops we made.  However, we made it Liard Hotsprings Provincial Park at mile post 477.  What a nice place to stop, with a beautiful campground and with 50 sites.  The well kept sites have very thick wooden picnic tables and a fire ring with grill.  It even features a natural hotsprings that is not a concrete swimming pool.  The distance is walkable (about 1/2 mile), and with no extra fee,  all you have to do is put your swim suit on and get in.  It is a wide spot in the river and has attracted folks from all around the world.  This bonus causes this campground to completely fill most every night.  I stayed in for about 30 minutes.  I felt so good when I got out, that when I got back to the campsite, I bucket washed that really dirty suburban and trailer, while Barbara cooked over the campfire. The only water here is a hand pump just across the road from our site.  It works just fine with a little effort after I lubed the dry mechanism.   We had a good meal cooked on the campfire. It is almost midnight (local time PST) and finally dark, so I will turn in after a little blogging.   Just to remind everyone, we don't run out of daylight here, we just run out of clock. I fully except the rig to get dirty again tomorrow, but at least it is clean at the moment. 

Our plans for tomorrow call for a short drive (about 130 miles) to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory,  located in the Yukon territory.  I wonder if I will find Sgt Preston and King there? He was featured in a life sized cardboard cutout at one of the visitor centers, so we know he is around.  I think I will play some of the radio series this morning.  I have them on MP3 thanks to Brad Cottingham.  I am sure there is still gold in the Yukon and I came prepared with pick and shovel.  I'll have to get Barb to pick and shovel as I will be too busy staking the claim and taking the nugguts to the bank.

Another exciting day tomorrow.  new bear sighting

John and Barbara

 

We are at Mile 0 of the Alcan Highway... Dawson Creek BC July 20

Our 20th day starts in Dawson Creek BC.  We are now in the Pacific time zone, 2 hours earlier than Lubbock.  Still had a hotspot from the Days Inn across from Walmart.  I am going to get the oil changed at this Walmart in a few minutes when they open.  First time that the oil has been changed by anyone other than myself.
We will leave on the highway 97, the Alcan to Fort Saint John and then to Fort Nelson.  Then to the Yukon Territory  where we will meet up with Sgt Preston and his dog King.

John and Barbara

July 19, our 19th day on the road and more picture links

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Yesterday we left the Jasper Park.  Very nice park, one of the one we called home for 8 nights.  We spent some time in the town of Jasper.  The town of Jasper is a well kept and beautiful tourist town in the north east corner of Jasper Park.  We drove east toward Edmonton on highway 16 to where it intersects with 40. Highway 40 takes us north to Alaska.  This highway is a constant up the mountain and then back down the other side.  Very steep accents and then the old 7% grade descents for 175 miles made for a long day.    We were accompanied by logging trucks and other RV going north and south.  The last part of the way we had stiff head winds and rain to add to the mix. We pulled into Grande Prairie, AB, in the rain and wind about 1930hrs local and made one right turn that found us in a Walmart parking lot.  The computer popped up and indicated that "one or more wireless found" and in just a minute we were hooked up.  Nice how things just work out.  That is how it has been this whole trip, everything works out just fine.  I did some email, surfing the web, and calling with Skype.  Skype has been a life saver because our cell phone does not work here.

In the morning, it was still raining when we woke up.  Walmart opened for business at 0800, so we did our shopping and ate at the McDonalds inside.  We spent around $100 Canadian dollars, but we needed to stock up.  The wunderground indicates wind and rain ahead and if we hang around this town for a while, the weather might get better.  This is a place of 50,000 and has a lot of attractions, so we will spend some time here.

Here are  a few select pictures that Jay took.
http://picasaweb.google.com/bnjontheroad/AlaskaTrip2ndAlbum#5360245191762525522

John

north to Jasper and photo link

http://picasaweb.google.com/bnjontheroad/AlaskaTrip1stAlbum?authkey=Gv1sRgCMDziY6IjdGNag#

With a sunny morning on Wednesday, we drove about 2 hours up to Jasper from our Rampart campsite.  The small town is a lot more quaint than the more-touristy Banff.  From the top of The Whistlers (the mountain named after the Hoary Marmot, which makes a whistling sound), we could see some of the tallest peaks in the Canadian Rockies, several rivers & lakes of differing colors, and the village itself.  The 25-passenger tram took us about a kilometer up to a point on the mountain (about 2300 meters elev), and we then hiked about 1.5 km further up on a meandering rocky trail.  Above the tree line, when not enjoying the wider view, you start to notice the details of the mosses and small alpine flowers.  Snow drifts still existed on the shaded north/east sides and it was about 20 degrees cooler than at the base.  Good thing this boy scout brought an extra jacket for dad.  After we made it to the broze monument on top, the downhill portion went pretty quickly.  A cold India Pale Ale awaited me at the upper Alpine Cafe, where we had a snack before taking the 7 min ride back down to the valley (I think mom finished her Bacardi Breeze first though :).   Our first pitstop was Petro Canada, where we updated the blog (after 3 days) and checked email, courtesy of someone's generous open internet.  We rested our tired feet at a nice dinner in a crowded upstairs joint in Jasper, then made the twilight trip back to camp.  South of town, we came across a small herd of elk, then saw a few shaggy white mountain goats wandering near the roadside about an hour later.   And as we turned into our primitive campground, a medium-sized black bear greeted us about 5 meters away from the car (it was not nearly as photogenic as the one we saw the other day).  Another nice, full day.

Today, Thursday, has been a restful time in camp.  Dad and I sawed a fallen Doug Fir tree which had been blocking the short trail from our site to the river, and somehow managed to drag the upper part over the bank and let it go into the swift, cold  N. Saskatckewan.  We all three took about an hour hike north along the river, enjoying the warm sunny day, skipping rocks, and looking at the many different flowers (mom picked one--don't tell anyone).  Back to camp for hobos on the fire and some good ale.    It will be my last evening in the Rockies with the folks.  The week has passed amazingly fast and I wish I had another with them.  

We leave for Lake Louise in the early morn, where I'll catch the 8 am Greyhound back to Calgary (where I stay until Monday).   Talk to you later!

Jay

To all,
This morning we woke up at 0530 so that we could get Jay to the Greyhound bus at Lake Louise, about 75 miles south of the campsite.  We arrived early enough to venture up to Lake Louise and take some early morning pictures of the Lake.  It was smooth as glass and the reflection in the water of the mountain and the glacier was perfect.  After taking Jay to the bus, Barbara and I took a short trip to Moraine Lake.  It is another pretty spot with a glass smooth lake.  
This will be our last night at Rampart Creek campground.  We have for the last four nights had a great place to enjoy.  We have used it as a base camp and traveled to these different places.  In the evening we would just sit around the campfire, listen to music, and talk about the day's events.  The Canadian Rockies will always be a special place to us.  The week spent with our son, Jay, made it very nice.  We remember when he was young and we would travel to Yellowstone.  This time he was a guide for us, he did the navigating and much of the planning.
Tomorrow we travel to Jasper, Ab, and then to a highway junction just west of  Hinton on highway 16 for the trip toward Alaska.

for Vickie and Lowell,  we got your voice message and will try to give you a call.

John

Next two days in Banff

Hello blog,
Folks, it doesn't get much better than what we experienced during our daily outings in the Banff area.  We left and did a short hike on the Bankhead trail, then went into downtown Banff and enjoyed lunch, and on to the historic Banff Springs Hotel.  It was built in the 1880's and has served the well to do from around the world.  The CPN railroad and this hotel brought visitors to the Rockies for over 120 years.  Nice place to visit. On our way back to the camp, we drove the Lake Minneiwanka loop which we shared with a herd of Bighorn sheep.   

John

Monday started with our first big rainstorm in the Rockies.  Much better to be in the RV than trying to take down a tent in cold rain.  We took the older Bow River Parkway to Johnson Creek, where a few waterfalls are within easy hiking distance.  Which would have been nice if the rain hadn't set in for the whole morning.  So we made Lake Louise village the next stop, in order to check on Greyhound bus options back to Calgary (for my return on Friday).  Rain, rain, rain.  Checked a few campsites along the Icefields Parkway to feel out the next spot to call home.  Valleys on the tall mountain on either side of the drive are covered with large glaciers.  For this eve, we'd had a few recommendations, but nobody had mentioned this little spot called Rampart Campground, but we were pretty impressed with a site right down on the noisy, silty Saskatchewan River.   One of the nicer places I've ever camped.  And luckily, the rain tapered off within an hour of setting up.  Wet wood makes a tough fire, but we succeeded.  It's roaring and keeping us warm at this moment (49 degrees at late twilight, 11 pm).  If we get tired of looking at the mountain, we can turn the chairs and look at the river. :)   With a little more luck, we'll have sun in morning for a drive up to Jasper, and a tram ride up to the top of Marmott Mountain. 

Jay

Big day on the Icefields Parkway

The 200 square km Columbia Icefield is about 40 km north of our Rampart campsite, with many visible upland glaciers in the rocky valleys.  We left site #46 with the hope of some clearing weather (more rain fell this morning).   Seems like my folks are adjusting to my lazy A.M. tendencies, and we got lucky with clearing clouds again.  The off-the-grid Icefield Center visitor center is busy with tourists from all over, and the starting point for the big buses which would take us up to the Ice Explorer outpost, overlooking the Athabaska Glacier.  From there, we hopped on a big-tired ice cat bus which drove us about a mile out onto the middle of the bluish ice.  Rocky peaks and slowly sliding glaciers surrounded us on the south and north.  I happened to have a few drinking bottles with me, so I filled them with clean melt water for another day.  20 minutes of running around on the craggy ice went pretty quickly.   Back down to the base, we walked around the rocky moraine for a bit before driving back down south.  Stopped at Wilcox Creek to fill the four water cans to put into the camper tank later (it had been a few days since we showered).   It was only about 20 km north of camp when we saw a few cars rubbernecking on the right side.  Something moving in the brush about 200 meters out there....what is it?  Could it be?  It was a large male grizzly bear!  A bit far off to photo, and it started moving out of sight.  But then it popped out of the trees closer to the road and I ran on down to get a better view.  It paid no attention to the cars and strolled right across the road, with one vehicle having to brake hard to stop in time.  Up the hill and on to green meadows.  I didn't expect to ever see such a big bear up close.  We were still talking about it when we spotted a small black bear about 5 minutes later, munching on flowering plants and enjoying the cool sunny day.   Dad and I both got some good photos of the bears.  I'm quickly killing my 2GB flash card--which is good.    We will trek north again tomorrow, 2 hours to the village of Jasper.  If the weather is good again, we'll take the tram up the mountain.

Jay

Yesterday we got a late start to the Icefields, but that is OK because the days are long with sunlight.  We often are enjoying a nice campfire at 2300 local time with the last rays of daylight.  The evening fires are really nice.  The campsite comes with all the wood you can burn.  Each campsite has a fire ring and a large.  We can have a enjoyable evening even with the temp in the 50's because there is no wind and we have that campfire.  The smoke just winds itself up into the tall trees. Today we stopped at Wilcox campground to fill our water cans with about 20 gallons. This is necessary because there is no water at this camp.  The camp host stopped by and spent about 20 minutes talking to us about his many different volunteer hosting locations.  He is a nice guy from Calgary that has been hosing since 1992.  He had answers to our many questions.

We came back from the Icefield with the selected rock for our backyard. We may have to put a little more air in the tires.  We have completed about 2200 miles so far and are at the jumping off point to Alaska.  After we take Jay to the bus in Lake Louise on Friday, we will take highway 16 east toward Hinton.  At Hinton we join the Alcan Highway #1 for the rest of our journey. 

This morning (July 15 wednesday) we see blue sky, therefore we are off to the town of Jasper.  We are going to the Jasper Tramway for a tram ride of 973 (almost 3000 feet) vertical height. We will spend most of the day in Jasper as we need to stock up on some items. Maybe I can put up a link for the pictures that we have taken.  Wifi access is not all that hard to find, but uploading a bunch of pictures is difficult at times.

John

July 9th-11th: Our 9th-11th days on the road

Hello Blog,

We are still in Calgary, but scheduled to leave toward Banff in the morning.  We drove into downtown Calgary today and did some sight seeing.  This is a very nice place, clean and well kept.  Of course we went to Walmart and did some shopping.  Prices for food are higher than in the states. Just about everything is higher. We are planing to go into town later in the evening and see the lights of downtown.  65 degrees here today and 105 in Lubbock.  I think Lubbock has had 2 days of record breaking temps.  We had a little rain here  this morning. We decided to spend and extra day in Calgary so we could get a full day for Banff.

Friday the 10th
We left for Banff park  about 1100 hrs and traveled about and hour to the park entrance.  We purchased the Canadian National park pass for access to all the national parks. Cost was 136 Canadian dollars. We figured that with the 3 of us, we come out to the better than paying at every park. We decided to spend the night at the Two Jack campground near the town of  Banff with 185 sites. We have met many fellow travelers here and the campground is live with campers. 
The time is 1045hrs and I am sitting with Jay and Barbara at the campfire typing on the computer.  It is still late twilight and it is near 1100 hours local time.  All the campsites are lit with campfires. The park is forested with Lodgepole pines that are 100 foot tall. Low temps for the evening are dipping into the mid to low 40 tonite.

John

Saturday the 11th - Guest blogger Saturday
The Harris clan met the camping neighbors, consulted the maps, and decided to stay two nights here at Two Jack lake.  We got a late start (by dad's standards), so we hit a traffic jam on Hwy 1, just before Lake Louise.  Road construction can only occur in the summer, which is when all the tourists are here so...   After about an hour, we split from most of the traffic and headed west into British Columbia.  First stop, the lower portion of the spiral tunnel of the Canadian Pacific railroad, just east of Field, BC.   In the early 1900's, runaway trains on the downslope became a problem around there, so a corkscrew tunnel was devised.  Too bad we didn't have time to sit around and wait for a train,   We went west to BC because one of my Calgary contacts recommended visiting Yoho Nat'l Park, including Field, and taking a hike at (the less touristy) Emerald Lake.  The gourmet Bison Burger at the Truffle Pigs roadhouse in Field was excellent.  Even better with a pint of ale.  After our late lunch, we headed out to nearby Emerald Lake.  Glacial silt makes the water a translucent green/blue, and the day was sunny and warm (which was very nice compared to the wet, cool summer they've been having).  We hiked the 5.4km lake loop trail (mom got chastized for picking a few flowers..haha) and got a great feel for the place.   Then headed back down the road to Natural Bridge, which is an odd rock formation along the Emerald River.   Since it was still afternoon, we had time to drive up to Takakkaw Falls.  Maybe a mile off the road, you can hike right up to the base of this 400FT waterfall, which is one of the more beautiful spots I've seen in a long time.  Photos will be served later.   Funny thing about the time up here: your internal clock is pretty worthless.  When the sun angle feels like about 6pm, it's probably about 10.  Hungry, and behind schedule, we cruised through the village of Lake Louise and spent some nice time at the big lake right before sunset.  Then back through Banff to our campsite.  More than a full day by my standards.  But I'm pretty sure we'll have energy for a few more days like this. 

Jay

Hello blog... day 8 and July 8th

Good morning to all.
We went to the St Mary Lodge to try the Wifi thing and as usual it isn't working.  We asked about other access and were told the Exxon station had service for pay.  The cost was $3 for 15 minutes.  I took my computer in and connected and updated email sent and received.  AT&T has no bars in this area, so we purchased a calling card and called Jay and others. 
With all my new found freedom (time) on my hands, we decided to come back to the camp and do nothing.   I checked the oil and the water on the Suburban (ok) and did some other maintenance items on the trailer.  I picked up some of the outdoor stuff in preparation for the short trip to Calgary.  We did a hike of loop B and check the other campsites.  It was about 60% occupied.  We made a campfire, cooked hamburger meat and had soft tacos. The temps are down into the mid 50 during the night and the mid to upper 70's during the day.  Perfect weather so far.
Broke camp about noon today and headed north.  At the Piegan Port of  Entry we were asked why we were traveling in Canada and then waved on through.  We not even asked for passports or ID of any kind.  Gasoline has been costing us around $2.59-$2.79 in the US and so far maybe about $2.90 in Canada. We weighted our rig on a scale in Cardston, AB and found it to weigh total of 14441lbs, trailer and Suburban. We are going to have to keep the rock collecting down as we are already on the heavy side.  Nice set of electronic scales along side of the road. On board, 20 gals of fresh, no gray, no black and about 25 gals of gasoline.

We are now in a campground just on the east side of Calgary.  This place is really busy with the Calgary Stampede going on.  The place has good Wifi, so we can catch up on email and phone calls using Skype. Prices go up during the Calgary Stampede, $31 and no hookups. Maybe sometime tomorrow, I will post some pictures. 

Hello blog..... Day #7

This entry starts with a short recap of day 6.  Our planned trip was was to Many Glacier, about 20 minutes north of St Mary.  It is another entry into the park, of course our Golden age Pass allows us free entry into all parts and a nice 50% discount on the camping fee.  St Mary is the highest price at $23.50 but with 50% off it is a good deal.  The Many Glacier is a nice campground with shaded areas featuring Lodgepole pine, Subalpine fir, and Engelmann spruce.  These forests were a result of the restoration effort after a 1936 lightning caused fire.  The Lodgepole were introduced into the area at that time.
We ate a picnic lunch at the trail head of Swiftcurrent Nature Trail and then tackled the almost level 2.6 mile walking trail.  The trail offers a wide variety of beauty, that includes glaciers, small glass smooth lakes, rushing streams, wild flowers, wild animals, and a little rain to freshen and heighten the experience. This  trail is to some "The Crown of the Continent"...George Bird Grinnell, September, 1901.

Still no working Wifi access at the lodge and no cell phone service via ATT.

Tuesday the 7^th and our 7^th day and last full day at the St Mary campground finds us doing some clean up and starting preparations for a early morning leave toward the boarder Port of Entry at Piegan/Carway on highway 2 into Alberta.  The days run will about 160 miles to Okotoks, a town about 25 miles south of Calgary.  This town has a supercenter Walmart so we can stock up on supplies and other.  We will travel on into Calgary on Thursday to meet Jay near the airport.  Calgary is a large modern city with a population of 1.2 million.

The Honda generator is doing a great job.  It provides us with power on demand and charges our battery set for use during the quiet time.  Barbara loves it because it will run the microwave, and that gets used quiet often.

John

Hello Blog... 3rd day on the road...500 mile trip to Glacier National Park

Today is starting our third day (July 3^rd) and we are heading to the East entrance of Glacier National Park.  On our way out of Sheridan, WY, we stopped at the Holiday Inn, used their Wifi connection, sent and checked email. We followed I27/US87 and then joined I90 going west to Great Falls MT.  Recent rains have made everything green along the highways. The landscape is beautiful with the long mountain passes dotted with black cows grazing on the hill sides.  We are traveling along the north side of the Bighorn National Forest.  This day is going to be a long one, the travel is slower with the mountains and the curvy roads.  At Great Falls, MT, we joined I15 to the north to state road 44, than to US 89 into St Mary.  The last 80 mile leg of this took 2 hours as the narrow road is full of switch backs and steep grades.  It winds through the Blackfeet Indian reservation. Many little white crosses dot the   shoulders of the road indicating the location of where someone died. We arrived at Glacier east entrance around 5 PM local time and found a real nice camp spot.  Our plans are to spend 5 day here leaving on Wednesday.

Today is July the 4th, the campground is full.  We spent some time making our spot (#151) into the best one in the campground according to Barbara.  Lots of nice things about this camp site.  Out or from window we have a view of the snow covered mountains sometimes with clouds drifting by. Our spot is very private with mostly aspen trees, Doug fir, and rose thickets all around.  We went on a few hikes in the campground, visited with other travelers, went to the visitor center and saw a couple of films in the 230 seat auditorium.  The St Mary river is about a 1/4 mile walk from out campground. We drove to the St Mary Lodge and gift shop. While there I got the Wifi access code, but it didn't work.  We will try again today, maybe.  We also drove a few miles on the Going to the Sun Highway.  We plan to take a shuttle bus across the 50 mile length tomorrow.  We built a nice campfire from old fence wood that we brought from Lubbock. For supper we had a hotdog roast on the campfire.  Big fireworks show is planned at the KOA that is located about 1/2 mile to the East.  It turned out that we got a spectacular show that lasted to about midnight local time.  They fired off some of the big ones.  We have no cell phones service.  Only Verizon phones work here. We were interested in riding the old red open top scenic buses that Ford Motor Co restored and re-powered, but the price is a little high.  We'll pass on those bus rides.  However all the other buses are free and run every 15 to 30 minutes.

Today is the 5th (day 5) and we are starting early so we can get the early buses to take us across the park.  The Going-to-the-Sun-Road is a very historic and beautiful road that was opened to travel in the early '30. It is restricted to vehicles of 21 feet or less in the pass area.

We started the day with a trip to St Mary Lodge in hope to hook to the internet to send and receive email.  It is the only spot in town and it is not working very well.  We took the free bus service to Logan Pass and did a small hike in the snow.  The weather is in the 60's and nice.  We got a close look at some large Big-Horned sheep and a big black bear crossing the road.  The next bus to Avalanche Creek was a small diesel powered 12 passenger that is suited for the switchbacks and steep grades.  The distance between St Mary and Apgar is 50 miles, round trip is 100 miles.  This 100 miles and all the walking and hiking around took us just about 8 hours. 
At the campsite this evening we had a fire and had our hobos. 
All the campgrounds are without any hookups.  The generators can only be run at 2 hours intervals during the morning, noon and evening, but we do well with large battery capacity and a large 1750 watt inverter.  We have no off the air TV, but we have satellite and nearly 50 DVD movies from Don King.  We have a good amount of canned entertainment.  Water is from a common area spigot. It is also close enough to the water spigot that I can run about 120' of hose and fill the tanks.

Headed to Many Glacier tomorrow.

First and second day of travel to

We left Lubbock around 1100 hrs and had a nice trip to Colorado Springs were we stopped for the night at Camping World.  First day mileage was 495.  We had a appointment with the service dept to have the recall done on the refrigerator.  We did a little shopping in the store while the service man did the recall.  It was good timing because we walked out and he was finished.

We left Camping World and did another 500 mile day to Sheridan Wyoming.  Traveled on I 25 and then to I 90.  Ran through a big rain storm just west of Cheyenne, we made a 20 mile detour that was not necessary, wrong turn and not listening to the nav devices.  Some of the wind conditions and the mountain climbing have dropped the MPH down in the mid 9s.   Stopped at the Walmart where we shopped for a few food items.  We decided that this was a good place to stop for the night.  There is some changing of plans, so tomorrow we will head toward Glacier Nation Park.  So far, I have not snagged a good wireless connection, therefore I will save this as a draft and email later.