A Forest Unlike Any Other

Heading back into the Yukon from our short stay in Skagway, Alaska, we made our way to Watson Lake in the south-east corner of the Territory. The Alaska Highway goes right through the centre of the town and to one of our pre-trip destinations, the Signpost Forest. The 'forest' was started back in 1942 when a homesick U.S. Army soldier, working on the construction of the Alaska Highway, put up a sign indicating the direction and distance to his hometown. Since then visitors have been adding their own signs in the same spot, resulting in an expanding area that has since become known as the Signpost Forest. It now hosts 90,000 signs, with several thousand more being added every year, with the town erecting new posts all the time to accommodate the growth. I managed to find an old barrel nearby to assist me in attaching the sign we brought with us in a prominent spot higher up on a post. Good luck trying to find it in the forest though!

After a night in Watson Lake we drove into northern B.C. to the popular Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park. The campground was 'full' but we found a nearby site, allowing us to spend some time in the park at the lovely hot springs, which were in a natural river. Several of us attempted to get close to the underground source but the increased heat drove us further back where most people still found it very hot. We slept well that night. Following an overnight stay at another provincial park, near Fort Nelson (Charlie Lake PP), we will able to observe an interesting new dam being built on the very wide Peace River. It was in the early stages but signboards displayed all the phases of the project, with telescopes set up to observe the progress and the large trailer village set up to house the 1,600 workers.

Dawson Creek was our next stop, the official start of the Alaska Highway. The Alaska Highway House had an excellent museum and film, describing the construction of the highway in 1942, and the challenges faced along the way (Canadian Rockies passage, thick forests and abundant rivers, and -40C temperatures). The need for the U.S. to secure an inland route to protect Alaska from potential Japanese attacks at the outset of WWII drove the urgency and the task was completed in an amazing 8 months. Almost all of the highway's 2,237 km's resides in Canada (B.C. and Yukon) but the U.S. agreed to provide the army staffing and the necessary supplies in return for the land access. It was a good deal for Canada, allowing for a future transportation route through a challenging part of our country.

We are now in Grande Prairie, a return trip for Pocahontas from 40 years ago when there were no paved roads in the city. The population has doubled in the past 20 years thanks to the oil and gas industry. They also have an impressive, award winning Dinosaur Museum showcasing the numerous deposits of bones found in the area, but the museum is having trouble making ends meet due to it's remote location.

We will drive to Jasper in the morning where we will partake in a full day's worth of Canada Day celebrations going on there.

The Signpost Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon. A friend of mine put up a sign here several years ago but I had no luck finding it amongst the 90,000 signs already posted. Now our sign is embedded in the 'forest' for others to seek out. It was entertaining to walk around and observe the various signs from around the world.

While driving between Watson Lake and Fort Nelson we were warned to watch out for wild Bison along the roadway. This beast would incur significant damage to any vehicle that got in it's way. I have a humourous video of another bison wallowing in the dirt which is apparently either an attempt to ward off insects, or in mating season to advertise their physical condition to other males. He convinced me to move on.

The Liard River Hot Springs in the provincial park by the same name, the second largest natural hot springs in Canada. The park made it easy to enter the river with the decking and stairs. The left side of the picture is close to underground source so most people migrated to the right side which was a bit cooler but still hot tub hot.

Rock Sheep also made a deliberate display of their ownership along this section of the Alaska Highway. This mom had a lamb following behind, also right down the centre of the highway.....a training session I suppose..... forcing vehicles going in both directions to pull over to the side of the road while they sauntered by.

The picturesque Muncho Lake which we passed by on our way to Fort Nelson. With the wildlife, mountains and rivers / lakes, this was one of the scenic stretches along the Alaska Highway.

We made a quick stop into the Toad River Lodge after reading in our Milepost guide that they had a large collection of hats. Passers-by keep adding to the collection which now numbers 11,204 hats. The up-to-date count is written on a chalkboard and updated every time a customer adds a hat to the assemblage.

The Kiskatinaw Bridge, the only original Alaska Highway timber bridge still in use today. An asterisk must be attached though, since this one exists on the old highway.....requiring a short loop diversion from the current route. We doubt it will be in use much longer since it already has weight restrictions for vehicles. It was still an impressive accomplishment and sight.

The beginning of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, B.C. The Visitor Centre, attached to the grain elevator, issued Mile 0 certificates, but for us it was Km 2,237 since we drove the Alaska Highway in reverse order, from Delta Junction, Alaska to Dawson Creek.

The back of the Alaska Highway House museum in Dawson Creek was painted to make it look like it would have been in the 1940's. The museum inside did a wonderful job sharing the construction and history of the highway.

Land of the Midnight Sun

As we continue to roll through Alaska and the Yukon, we are gifted with very long days, a blessing for travellers. For the past 10 days, leading up to today's Summer Solstice, we still had enough light outside to play baseball until midnight....if we had a bat and a baseball. And it never really got dark so by 3 am in the morning, the games could be back on again. At our furthest points north, in Fairbanks and Dawson City, the days we even longer. The downside to all of this however is that it is the worst time of the year to see the Northern Lights so we have had to settle for a few museum films and art work displaying the magnificent sky views that occur during the winter season.

When we last left you, we were in Fairbanks, Alaska, a city we enjoyed even more than Anchorage. A definite highlight was the U of A Fairbanks Museum of the North, filled with historical, ecological and native heritage information, presented in an easy to follow system. I suppose that is what learning institutes are intended to do! From there we made short stops at the North Pole (Alaska version), Delta Junction (end point of the Alaska Highway) before eventually landing in Dawson City, Yukon. The city built it's fame on the late 1890's gold rush and a self-guided walking tour of the downtown area showcased many of the restored buildings. We also took in an amusing show depicting several of the gold rush characters that I somewhat reluctantly made a cameo appearance in, much to the delight of Pocahontas. Then we made our way to Whitehorse, which like most capitol cities seemed to have more money spent making the city beautiful than in other populated areas of the province.The downtown 5 km Millennium Loop Trail along the mighty Yukon River was a pleasure to walk and seemed popular with the locals as well. Miles Canyon, just outside the city was another treat, with the River rushing through the narrow canyon below us and nice trails that continued 10 km's back into the city.

We are now back in Alaska, in the small and interesting, but touristy town of Skagway, where we have been for the past 3 days. Every day two to four large cruise ships show up in the harbour next to our campground, and unleash their passengers on the town between 8 am and 7 pm. The shopkeepers receive a monthly schedule indicating which ships are arriving each day along with the total number of passengers so that they staff up accordingly. That number ranges from 5,000 (w/e's) to 11,000 (weekdays), so this town of 1100, mostly comprised of people in the service industry, comes alive during the cruise ship season. In 2019 there were 1.9 million visitors to Skagway and almost 1.8 million of them were on cruise ships. They likely get this information from the Border Patrol staff since the only road to Skagway comes from a short stretch of British Columbia, which somehow gained ownership of  the land from the Yukon, just like the U.S. did to Canada along the west coast. Check out a map and you too will wonder how this came about. In any event, Skagway has been a delight to visit. The harbour access brought the Klondike gold rush seekers here by ship and they then trekked through the mountainous and challenging Chilkoot and White Pass trails to reach lakes and rivers that could carry them on to Dawson City and other gold fields. There is plenty of history to tell and we really enjoyed our walking tours, a Soapy Smith (quite a character) show, the Gold Rush Cemetery, along with several short hikes (Reid Falls, Smugglers Cove - geocache find!). A special highlight was a trip on the narrow gauge, cliff side hanging, Yukon Railway to White Pass Summit and back with a narrator pointing out historical landmarks. Being close to the ocean for the last time on this trip, we took advantage of fresh seafood, enjoying meals of Alaskan King Crab, Halibut and Sockeye Salmon.

Tomorrow we will head back to the Yukon, this time to Watson Lake. We are looking forward to our return trip north along the incredibly scenic #2 Highway towards Whitehorse where we will rejoin the Alaska Highway.

The entertaining Museum of the North, stationed on the grounds of the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. We got excited about visiting the museum as soon as we saw it from the outside.

This picture (no flash) was taken from our camper van at 1:30 am, the midpoint on that day between sunset and sunrise. We have dark curtains inside so the night light was blocked.......and to be clear, we were not up partying at that time, one of us had to get up to use our tiny bathroom!

The small village of Chicken, Alaska, which we stopped into just before crossing the border into the Yukon. Their population ranges from 7 (winter) to 50 (summer) but this crowd attended an annual music festival and we sadly arrived the morning after it finished. We observed a lot of people who looked like they had a very, very good time the evening before. The directional sign listed places around the world with poultry related names. The original village was named Ptarmigan, reflecting the vast numbers in the area but the villagers had trouble pronouncing and spelling the word so they made the change to Chicken.

The famous Downtown Hotel in Dawson City (dirt streets only, embracing their past) where we stopped into in order to watch the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament. It was also the home of the Sourtoe Cocktail with almost 90,000 people receiving a certificate for drinking the cocktail. Besides lots of alcohol, it includes a a severed big toe (not pretty) which is supposed to touch your lips but not be swallowed. It used to be a $500 fine for swallowing the toe but after a patron decided it would be a story telling move to do so, the fine was raised to $2500. Almost 50 years later, they are now on their 15th toe! The cocktail is only served in the evenings, well after we were leaving, so I don't have a certificate.......but i have a friend who does!

A view of Dawson City and the Yukon River from the Midnight Dome. We decided to have a van lunch up there, gazing at the view around us all the time.

The Best Klondiker show in Dawson City, Yukon, where I was randomly selected to be a participant. I later found myself explaining why a non-hunter or police officer was holding a shotgun in his hands.

The out-of-service SS Klondiker in Whitehorse, beside the Yukon River. We saw several of these sternwheelers while travelling along the Yukon River. They were used to carry both passengers and supplies up to Dawson City

The  picturesque Emerald Lake (Yukon) beside the #2 Highway on the way to Skagway from Whitehorse. The colours are a result of the white sediment (marl) at the bottom of the lake.

A bit further south along #2 we stopped into the small town of Carcross which is proud of it's First Nations history. Various shops displayed lovely native art and products. We made several purchases to bring back home.

The main street of Skagway, Alaska. This picture was taken later in the day when most of the passengers had returned to their ships prior to departure.

Our train trip to White Pass Junction. The narrow gauge rail line was built in the early 1900's.......and hopefully reinforced since then...........to get people and supplies to the Canadian Klondike, avoiding the many deaths (people and horses) that suffered from the mountainous trail journey.

The Days of 98 show in Skagway. The colourful and notorious con man, "Soapy" Smith is in the background behind the can-can ladies (of the night). 

Almost Daily Sightings of Moose and Bears in Alaska

We arrived today in Fairbanks, Alaska, the furthest point north in our driving trip. The temperatures here are summer-like, mid-20's celsius, even though it is not officially summer yet. The days are long, with the sunset after midnight, and sunrise at 3 am......so it is difficult to know when to go to bed and get up!

When we last left you we were back on the ferry headed to Whittier, Alaska from Juneau. It was a little less exciting than our first ferry trip (with land on both sides) since the ship left the inland passage heading NW into the Pacific towards the Kenai Peninsula. There were still plenty of whale sightings along the way and we arrived on the mainland two days later. After waiting 20 minutes to enter the one-way, 4 km. long Whittier Tunnel (vehicle and train traffic access flips every half hour) we had a quick stop at the receding Portage Glacier before driving south to the lovely seaside town of Seward. We found an RV site close to the water, exploring the impressive Exit Glacier (with signs showing the recession of the glacier since the 1800's, not seemingly much worse than recently) on the first day and taking a National Park Ranger led boat tour on the second, increasing our (short term!) knowledge of the surrounding area while getting the opportunity to view Orca's for the first time on this trip along with plenty of other sea life (including humpbacks and sea otters).

From Seaward we drove along a very scenic highway north to Anchorage. It was a bit early for the King Salmon full run but their spawning journey had definitely started as we spotted many fisherman standing in Ship Creek hoping to catch the early arrivals. We visited a large hatchery further up the creek where the surviving salmon laid their eggs and they were helped along until they became fingerlings and even larger before re-releasing them back into the creek to head back to the ocean. We also took advantage of the lovely weather to golf at the 2015 Alaska Golf Course of the Year, Moose Run. Unfortunately, since then they seem to have sat on their laurels with regards to maintenance and we found it in sad shape. The highlight of the day was being held up at the par 3 3rd green when we saw an enormous bull moose, with a huge rack, on the green and walking around very slowly. When he finally decided to leave 5 minutes later we watched as the terrified group in front of us reclaimed their golf clubs and balls, while a marshal tamped down the foot marks with a special instrument that let us know this happened often. We had also been warned of a bear on the 11th hole so it reminded us of golfing in Kananaskis back home.

From Anchorage we headed further north to the magnificent Denali National Park, with a brief stop along the way in the unique town of Talkeetna, where Mt. Denali (over 20,000 feet) trekkers assemble for permits and certification before the difficult climb to conquer North America's highest mountain. The locals, liking their town the way it was, successfully lobbied the government to prevent the northbound highway from getting close to their village. We spent two cold and full days exploring Denali NP, using NP tours and buses to get almost 100 km's into the park where vehicle traffic is wisely prohibited. The bus driver-guides were excellent at spotting wildlife along the way but also encouraged the passengers to shout out "STOP" whenever they noticed something moving so the bus would stop very often allowing everyone to get photographs. Our Ranger guide on the first bus had an impressive zoom camera hooked up to the bus monitor system so when she locked into the wildlife we observed it was displayed on the many bus screens, even closer than our cameras or binoculars could emulate, so many of the passengers ended up taking photos of the video screens! We saw plenty of bears (mostly grizzly's), moose, caribou, dall sheep, fox (red and silver) and even a golden eagle, along with plenty more. We managed to see the elusive peak of Mt. Denali (30% visibility daily, formerly Mt. McKinley, but recently changed to the Athabaskan native name of the "big one"). Would-be climbers have a 60% success rate due to both altitude sickness and -40C temperatures, even during the summer climbing season. For a brief moment I was sure I could beat those odds, having climbed Kili 5 yeas ago, but when I heard about the average 3 week climbing schedule and the frigid temperatures, not to mention I would need a lot more more equipment than I brought, and a drive back to Talkeetna to get my permit, I sacrificed another milestone rather than ask my bride to hang around for a month wondering if she would have to drive all the way back home on her own.

On our way to Fairbanks we dropped into the small town Nenana which hosts the annual Ice Classic Contest. They place a tripod in the middle of the very wide Nenana River once it freezes and then run a state-wide lottery to guess when the ice will break in the spring. Tickets are $2.50 and participants need to guess the day, hour, and minute when the ice will break causing the tripod to drop, all of which is monitored by a camera and clock. This year's winner took home $311,000 for projecting the exact time.

Fairbanks, from our first afternoon, seems more appealing than Anchorage. More details to follow!

After driving through the Whittier Tunnel, where a train was waiting to go in the opposite direction through the tunnel, we wandered over to Portage Lake and took this photo. The Portage Glacier has now receded behind the darker mountain on the right so we passed on a boat ride out to the base, knowing that we had plenty of more visible glaciers ahead of us on this trip.

The Exit Glacier in Kenai National Park. We hiked further up the path to catch a glimpse of the bottom end of the glacier but the overall view was not as good. The NP had places along the road and hike indicating where the glacier was in earlier years which was quite remarkable.

A morning stroll along the seaside path beside our waterfront RV park.

The Seward harbour area which is frequently visited by cruise ships.

While in Anchorage we visited the Ship Creek Hatchery. This room contained salmon fingerlings, with thousands in each tank. They also had rooms for Arctic Char and Rainbow Trout, releasing all of the young fish into Ship Creek when they could cope for themselves (without their mothers who die naturally after laying their eggs in the same place they were born).

The main street of Talkeetna, an old mining town established in the late 1800's. The small unique town was formerly led by Mayer Stubbs, a cat, who passed away two years ago, after 20 years on the job.

While driving our van into Denali National Park we came across this moose very close to the road.

Mike the Moose, attempting to hold a 25 pound half rack on my head. 

A grizzly sow and her cub on the bus monitor. The pair where approximately 300 metres away from the bus (further away than others we saw), but our driver-guide was able to zoom in on them for all the passengers to see.

A typical view within Denali NP. The 6 million acre park was carved by glaciers that melted over time to create wide rivers that are now a fraction of what they used to be, It did however provide a lot more space for the abundant wildlife that now populates the NP.

Getting Great Mileage on the Alaska Marine Highway

This post finds us in Juneau, Alaska, following a 2 night ferry ride from Prince Rupert along the Inside Passage, also known as the Alaska Marine Highway. With island protection on the west side, the waters were quite calm, making for a smooth ride all the way. Passengers are not allowed to sleep in their vehicles so we booked a berth (room) on the ship rather than opting for an airplane type seat recliner in the lounge area........and with the gentle rocking motion of the ship we both slept well. Our ferry made several stops at small villages along the way to satisfy the needs of other passengers, providing a 30 minute opportunity to set foot on land once again which I took advantage of, mostly for the exercise. While on the deck, or in the lounge areas, we saw humpback whales, dolphins, sea lions and a bald eagle.

Yesterday, after arriving in Juneau, we drove out to the massive Mendenhall Glacier (22 km's in length) where we did 3 short hikes, including one to Nugget Falls where the spring water was pounding down the cliff side into Mendenhall Lake which is growing larger each year due to the receding glacier. Today we went to the McCauley Salmon Hatchery where they are doing an excellent job of increasing the survival rate of the Salmon fry and then releasing them back into the sea water when they are a bit larger. The young salmon still use their astonishing memory to return to this spot for spawning several years later. It would be a special time to be here later in the summer when the salmon climb the man-made fish ladders at the hatchery to spawn. We also found time to enjoy Alaska King Crab at a popular restaurant down by the harbour. Juneau can only be accessed by boat or plane due to the rugged terrain surrounding the city, but it is filled with colourful homes that are well taken care of, reflecting the pride that it's citizens have for their 'island-like' home. It is also popular with the cruise ship industry as we spotted 4 new, incredibly large, ships in the harbour both days. Apparently this will continue for the rest of the cruise season (May - September), depositing 10,000 - 15,000 new visitors every day.......to the delight of the restaurants, tour groups and shop owners in the city. The temperatures have been a bit cooler (15C) with some light rain the past few days but still comfortable for outdoor touring.

Prior to boarding the ferry in Prince Rupert we spent several days in the lovely towns of Smithers and Terrace. They both reminded us of Canmore before it's growth spurt 20-25 years ago, surrounded by mountains and not filled with tourists. The drive from Prince George to Prince Rupert was spectacular, with the wide and fast flowing Skeena River right beside the highway, and mountains on both sides. It was hard to focus on our audio-book with scenic views one after the other. Some highlights along the way included the Moricetown Canyon, Twin Falls, Lakelse Lake Provincial Park and a visit to the North Pacific Cannery near Prince Rupert. Thirty to fifty canneries of this type operated on B.C.'s west coast from the mid-1800s to the early 1930's which were then shut down immediately by changes in government regulations lobbied for by a wealthy business (who then scooped up all the licences). Politicians could be bought then too!

Tomorrow we board another two day ferry that will take us further north to Whittier, Alaska (south of Anchorage)  where we will start to add some miles back on to our odometer.

Our weather had been so good on our way through B.C. that we had to find time for a round of golf and some exercise at the Smithers Golf Course. Hudson Bay Mountain in the background reflects the company's presence in the area many years ago when the fur trade business was flourishing.

The Moricetown Canyon, north of Smithers, where the Bulkley River was raging at the narrows. When it is spawning season for the salmon run, the local indigenous men strap themselves to the side of the canyon walls below and net the salmon as they try to navigate the rapids.

A giant Sitka Spruce that we encountered while walking around Giant Spruce Park in Kitimat, a highway diversion south of Terrace. We found a 500 year old Sitka Spruce in the same park, with a much larger base, but no longer 50 metres tall because it lost it's top section in a windstorm 10 years ago.

The Moore Creek Falls near Kitimat. It was a short walk in from the road where we parked. Across the road was the massive Rio Tinto operation housing one of the largest aluminum smelters in the world. The smelter was originally built by Alcan, Canada's largest aluminum producer, in the 1950's but later bought out by Australian giant Rio Tinto in 2007 (friendly takeover) who recently spent over $3 billion to modernize the smelter and make it more environmentally efficient.

The Northern Pacific Cannery near Prince Rupert where we had an excellent tour of the former cannery. It had English roots with the canned salmon products being sent back to Europe even before the Panama Canal was built, requiring a ship to go around the tip of South America. The return ships often delivered gold rush minors to California and British Columbia.

The Sunken Gardens in Prince George. The area will become even more beautiful this summer.

The Malaspina ferry ship that took us from Prince Rupert to Juneau with a handful of other stops along the way. 

Our berth (room) on the ferry which we had to ourselves for the 2 night trip. The sitting room at the back was a bonus that most of the berths do not have. Our berth on our next ferry will be smaller with only one bunk bed.......an upcoming card game will likely decide who gets the lower bunk.

Our first view of the Mendenhall Glacier as we approach Juneau. The 22 km long glacier has a wavy flow between various mountain valleys, so only a portion of it was ever within view.

A closer view of the Mendenhall Glacier from Photo Point within the National Park Mendenhall Lake in the foreground never existed until the glacier started receding hundreds of years ago.

Our NP walk along the Steep Creek Trail. The moss and lichen have taken over in the rain forest providing an eerie view when keeping an eye out for wildlife, including bears.

Glacier Gardens in Juneau. The gardens were developed unintentionally when the owner upended a tree when clearing land and plants started growing out of the tree roots which were above ground. He then started turning trees upside down and placing colourful plants in the root system. Juneau, being in a temperate rainforest, had many beautiful gardens and yardscapes.