August 13th

THE WEATHER: It was a chilly 39 degree start this morning. By 11:30 it had jumped up 30 degrees and by 2:30 it was a balmy 82!! The sun has been shining all day.

THE DISTANCE: 150 miles from Lake Dease to Hyder, AK

SURPRISE!!! We’re back in Alaska! We had no idea that you could access Alaska this far south! We heard about this place from the campground owner in Skagway. He told us we had to stop there on our way through to watch the bears! It’s the southern most accessible Alaskan town by road and its claim to fame is, “It’s where the bears are!!!”

We covered another 150 miles of the 450 mile Cassiar Highway today. It was a beautifully clear day except the mountains were obscured by smoke from the wild fires. It looked like haze on a hot, humid summer day. The vegetation became thick with large trees on both sides of the road made it feel almost claustrophobic. We’re so use to the open alpine terrain! We’ve also noticed new flowering bushes we haven’t seen before. They are bright red huckleberry bushes. The stark contrast from all the green surrounding it makes it stand out as we pass them by.

When we turned the corner to drive east on Highway 37A towards Hyder, it became like Shangri-la. There were waterfalls all around us, high snow capped peaks, a glacier flowing down to the road, cliffs that we cut through but couldn’t see the tops of, because they rose so sharply. This is a town of 100 people, and the sign that was posted on the general store reads, “Hyder, a place of about 100 happy people”. I can see why. We also caught a glimpse of 3 black bear, 2 cubs and a larger one, all separately along the road. For one reason or another we were unable to photograph them. Oh, did I forget to mention the streams full of salmon, trout and bear that can be watched safely from a boardwalk built above their feeding grounds? We’ll be here a few days while Gary tries to catch a chum salmon.

We spent about an hour at the boardwalk tonight. We got into a conversation with a couple who are staying in the camper next door to us. Nice people from Virginia. We were there chatting for about 30 minutes when a big black bear was spotted under the bridge. Every one, with cameras posed, waiting and watching intently while the bear stood vigilant over the water full of salmon swimming up stream. He was almost motionless for about 20 minutes when all of a sudden he lunged into the water and came up with about a 10 pound salmon. He sauntered over to the shore but just before he got to the bank the fish wiggled just the right way and freed himself from the jaws of the hungry bear! Amazing to watch. Everyone on the boardwalk gave out a simultaneous moan, feeling bad for the bear. It was better than watching a movie… except much, much shorter.

BTW: For those who are interested, I updated a few of the posts now that I have better internet access and added some pictures to Aug. 8, 9 & 11.

August 12th

The day started out at 44 degrees and a beautiful, brilliant sun came pouring through the pines. It is amazing how being greeted by the sun rather than clouds can really make a difference in your outlook for the day! The high today was 85. The warmest temp we've seen since leaving.

We began by backtracking 12 miles to the much anticipated Cassiar Highway. We were told of its remoteness and beauty. We have looked forward to experiencing it ever since friends of ours told us about their trip 3 years ago. It also boasts of wildlife sightings. As we arrived on the highway, there was a barrier and a guy holding a sign, “STOP”! Oh no, we thought, the road has been closed again. There were 5 cars stopped ahead of us and one of the drivers informed us that there would be a 45 minute wait before a “pilot car” would take us through the burn section of the road. So we waited…. 60 minutes passed before our escort arrived. In the mean time drivers got out of their vehicles for a much needed stretch and that’s when the road stories and fish tales began to roll.

We were ushered 23 miles through mostly burned forest. There were still hot spots smoldering and some small, active burning going on around us. We could see in the distance a huge plume of smoke that indicated the fire was off to our left (east) and quite a distance from the road. There was, however, a thick smell of smoke and for miles after we passed through I could still smell it on my clothes. Someone had said that there has been a total of 50 miles of forest burned already.

This stretch of road did not disappoint us. We were hemmed in on all sides by majestic mountains as we drove thru the forested valley below. There wasn’t much wildlife to see but we did come across 2 mountain goats. There were topaz blue lakes that were so clear I could see straight down to the 40 foot bottom. I have never seen streams run so clear! It’s like looking at glass.

We are currently dry camping on pristine Dease lake in a campground that surprisingly has wifi! We drove a little over 150 miles on the Cassiar and just 6 miles north of Dease.

Pictures:
Pilot car through burn area on Cassiar Hwy
Burn on Cassiar Hwy
Burn area
Hot spots burning
Fire equipment on roadside
2 mountain goats on Cassiar
Gary's dream house in the Yukon
Water's Edge Campground view

August 11th

I was up early this morning so I could take a shower, do laundry and be ready to go by 11:00 am. We traveled mostly over the same road that we came in on except for the road leading into Skagway from the Alaskan Highway. Unfortunately we were unable to see much because we were driving through clouds. We had talked about taking a train ride up White’s Junction to see the trestle bridges, tunnels and high cliffs that the train snakes through. After looking at a map we realized that we were going to be driving the same road except across the ravine from the railroad tracks. I’m glad we didn’t pay $200.00 to see that white-out of clouds. I did manage to get a few shots when the clouds cleared for a short time at the top. We did pass through the Continental Divide once again and we are currently 1 hour closer to the east coast time, only 3 hours different now. Though we traveled about 300 miles today through beautiful tundra and mountains, we once again, saw no wild life.

August 10th

THE WEATHER: Low cloud cover, warm! It was 62 most of the day but gusty winds.

So we spent the day in a town that made you feel very much like you stepped back into the 1800’s and were in the west joined by gold miners, gun fights, bad men and saloons! We started the day walking to the cemetery and visiting an old grave sight. It was amazing to read how young people died back then. Ironically most died between May and September. I think the oldest person died at 42. Most were in there 20’s and many were young children. Two graves made the cemetery a popular tourist stop. Jefferson Randolph Smith, better known as; “Soapy” Smith, and Frank Reid were laid to rest here after a gun battle that left them both dead. Frank shot Soapy (the con man who ran Skagway for 9 months) through the chest and he died immediately, but Frank lingered 12 days with his mortal wound before he passed on. Later in the afternoon we went to see a one hour live show that has been running for 85 years now, depicting the events of Soapy Smith’s reign all staged in the saloon of his lover Miss Belle Davenport and her “soiled doves.” In the foyer of the theatre there was a log book of signatures of who had stayed at the hotel during 1888-89. There were two names that caught my eye, “Orion Byrd” from White Pass, Alaska, and “A.B. Bishop” on August 9th.

We had lunch in the Red Onion which was also a historic brothel in 1897. The waitresses and bartenders were all dressed in character and even acted the part when their picture was being taken. They served the best pizza I’ve ever had. The town itself is full of shops along a well maintained boardwalk and everything is kept looking very historic. The National Park service was even in the process of restoring a house around the corner from Main St. Two more cruise ships were docked when we went downtown for a total of 4 and the streets were very crowded. It was fun to spend the day browsing the shops, talking to the locals and people from the cruise ships. I have never heard so many languages all in one place! German, Russian, Italian, Indian, French, Swiss, Scottish & British accents. It was fun.

August 9th

The WEATHER: It’s been in the upper 60’s today. A steady breeze and cloudy but a good day for Alaskan standards.

THE DISTANCE: 15 nautical miles….. But it would have been 359 miles by road! Or $232.32 in gas
Since the ferry price was only $154.00..there was a net savings of $78.00 and a new road to travel and sights to see.

We got started today in the small port village of Haines, where we stayed last night. We hadn’t browsed through the town yet so we did that before having to be at the ferry. Haines doesn’t have a lot to offer in way of shops, entertainment, etc. so it didn’t take us long to get through it all. We were at the dock at 12:45 and knew they wouldn’t start boarding for an hour so I made brunch there…. Eggs, bacon & French toast with birch/maple syrup. Cheryl & Steve we’ll be bringing that down for you to try when we return! When they started to board the ship it went pretty quick. They have that down to a science! Once on board we walked all over the ship to see what it all looked like. It really was like a mini cruise ship! They had an open deck off the back that you could stand on and watch the shoreline roll by or pitch a tent on! We walked through the middle tier which is where all the cabins were located. They reminded me of a very small dorm room. A couple of bunk beds, tiny closet space and a sink. There were public bathrooms and showers and a laundry room. The next tier up had a theatre room with large plush chairs to sit in…. OR… to sleep in! Yes, this is where people sleep if they don’t have cabins, which would have been us. I thought it looked pretty comfy and quiet…. Gary just rolled his eyes. There was also a cafeteria and a formal dining room equipped with white linen tablecloths and a wall of windows overlooking the back of the boat. It was truly a pleasant experience, even though it was only a short 1 hour trip.

Once in Skagway we went immediately to settle into an RV park (we are at Garden City RV Park) and we will begin our investigation of Skagway tomorrow.

August 8th

THE WEATHER: It was 46 degrees when I woke up this morning. The high was only 65 and it dropped down to 59 when we approached the ocean.

As we left our beautiful location this morning we took one last walk down to the lake while Gary finished his coffee and took in the mountains, water, hanging clouds and ducks swimming silently by. It was such a pristine picture of beauty it almost seemed to be out of a picture book. I have noticed the change of vegetation as we drove through the Yukon. The trees are considerably more yellow than even a week ago, there are now small cotton topped blossoms clustered all along the road side, and the fireweed has blossomed all the way to the top! The pastor in Anchorage actually referred to this event in his sermon. He said, “And when the fireweed has fully blossomed….” and you could hear the congregation give out a moan. LOL! It’s a sure sign that winter is on its way.

After driving the 170 miles into Canada and then back into Alaska we arrived at the Haines Marine Terminal. Once again the alpine tundra should have been teeming with caribou, bear or bison. Nothing…. Except beautiful mountain scenery and glaciated streams running through their valleys. Unfortunately the clouds didn’t allow us any great views of the mountain tops but they were beautiful in their own way. When we were about 10 miles out from Haines we noticed fish wheels in the river. These are huge baskets that dip into the water and pick up fish and drop them into a holding tank. It is operated by Fish & Game and they were there checking their catch when we stopped. He pulled out big pinks, sockeyes & chum to measure, weigh and record. It was a fascinating process to watch.

Once at the Marine Terminal we went in and inquired about what our options were. The option to take the ferry all the way to Bellingham (just below Vancouver) would have cost $2,925.00!! Gulp! It takes about $1,318.00 to drive it plus camping fees. So that option was out. The other option was to take the ferry as far as Prince Rupert and then drive to Prince George and pick up Rte. 97. That would have been $1,149.00. That was a little more palatable considering it cost $990.00 to drive it. We were ready to book that one but they didn’t have any sleeping cabins left. She assured us that we could sleep in sleeping bags in various locations on the floor or in a chair, we could even pitch a tent out on one of the decks! Gary wasn’t too keen on those ideas considering we hadn’t brought our sleeping bags or tent! So we are left with the original plan. Take a ferry over to Skagway and continue on our route through Canada. We will check the Cassiar Hwy on our way by to determine if that route is available. We were talking to some Canadian’s this evening about it and he said they are letting a few cars through with “pilot cars” to guide them. That is a car that drives ahead of the group and determines if it is safe to pass. Stay posted!!

So after our investigation with the ferry options Gary struck up a conversation with a fisherman in the parking lot. Lots of fish stories later, the elderly man told us that the fishing is real good up the road on the Chilkoot River. We decided to take a drive up there to take a look at the river before looking for a campsite. As we drove slowly along the river bank of a beautiful Alaskan stream we noticed a lot of cars parked on the side of the road and a lot of fishermen in the river. As we got closer we noticed there were quite a few people standing in the road with cameras…. Could it be??? Our first grizzly sighting??? Yes, as we rounded a bend in the road I could just make out her hump over the tall grass next to the stream. And then I noticed more movement up stream…. 2 cubs. Wow! The curse has been reversed!! We took pictures of those 3 and then came across another one on our way out. We also saw at least 4 eagles in the trees up there. No surprise there, Haines is known as the “Valley of the Eagles”. Very interesting day. We are staying at the Haines Hitch-up RV Park in downtown Haines.

August 7

THE WEATHER: As we departed Tok it was a beautiful day in Alaska. Partly cloudy, Highs in the 60’s, dry, slight breeze.

THE DISTANCE: Left Tok around 12:30, crossed the Canadian border around 2:30 and arrived around Haines Junction at 7:30 (Keep in mind we are one hour different than when we left and we could only travel between 30 to 35 mph. due to being back in the bouncy house of the Yukon. Roads were as bad as we remembered them being.)

Gary and I sat and discussed the different options we have as we left Alaska. There was one road that we opted not to take on our way in to Alaska, but then wished we had due to what people were telling us about it. The Klondike Loop Road which takes you through Dawson City, Yukon sounded interesting. We were told there are a lot of bear and caribou sightings along that route. It would take us 50 miles out of our way but who’s counting miles at this point! BTW, we have driven a total of 7,100 miles so far. As I went to post the blog last night, using the laundromat to get out of the mosquitoes, we began talking to a woman who told us that the Klondike Loop Road has been closed! A culvert washed out a hole approximately 20 feet deep and 60 feet wide! We thanked her for the information and stuck with our original route which is the Alaska Hwy to Haines Hwy.

Before leaving Tok we took one last trip through some of their gift shops and got some gas. In talking to one of the ladies at the counter about the road closure she informed us that the Cassier Highway is also closed due to wild fires burning! Yikes! We were planning on being on the Cassier in just a few days! We may have to stay in Alaska, because there’s no way out.

Those two road closures prompted us to look at other options. We are beginning to think taking the Alaska Marine Highway would be a really cool alternative. We spent the night going over the difference between driving and the cost of taking the ferry through the Inside Passage. We estimated it will cost us an additional $600.00 and maybe 3 extra days in Alaska, but might be worth the extra money. We’ll be talking to the Marine Highway Terminal office tomorrow to see what they give us for a price. Stay tuned for more information!

August 7

from Dan:

Deb texted from the wilderness.

They dry camped in Haines Junction, Yukon Territory, then will be heading to Haines, AK today...

she will update us once they arrive...