Another funky little Alaska town, shots fired, and fishing stories.....

Heading south from Denali on the Parks Highway, there is another funky little Alaska town called Talkeetna.  This small town began as a trading post in 1896 and is now the jumping off point for  most climbing expeditions to Mt. McKinley (Denali).  Also, many sight seeing flights to see Denali leave from here and if you ever wanted to land on a glacier, this is the place for that.  Also, the Alaska Railroad stops here on its way from Anchorage to Fairbanks.

The general store

Mostly Moose gift shop

Looks like a nice place to eat

The Alaska Railroad stops here

A few nights later we had an event happen that I would just as soon forget about.  We set up camp at along side the Knik River, along with a few other campers.  Sometime after we went to bed, a group of kids set up camp in the area, and at 2:30 in the morning, after drinking enough beer, got out their guns and started shooting.  This went on for over a hour and was quite  uncomfortable not knowing if those bullets might hit the trailer.  The truck was still hooked up to the trailer, so we quietly put things away, and left at 3:30am.  I guess I should have expected this after watching the Alaska State Troopers on TV.  Seems like every car they pull over has not one, but several guns in it.

From Talkeetna we drove to Seward and spent two days sitting in the rain.  This is on the coast and the cruise ships make a stop here.  Not only do these  huge ships dock themselves, but I saw one turn around and back into his slip!!  What a show off!!

Next we drove to Homer and stayed on the famous Homer Spit.  This sand spit goes out into Kachemak Bay several miles and has lots of camp grounds, fishing charters, and gift shops. I was lucky enough to be invited to go halibut fishing with a semi retired charter boat captain and two other guys.  We caught seven halibut total. There is also a small lagoon where they have released young salmon, who go out to sea for up to four years, then return to this spot when its time to spawn.  This is done just for the folks to have something to catch.  Also, the TV show Alaska The Last Frontier is filmed a short distance from here.

Salmon fishing in the lagoon

Fish and chips on the boardwalk

Camped right along the shore in Homer

On the way back up the Kenai Penensula, we stopped in Soldotna at a campground along the world famous Kenai River, and I caught my first ever sockeye salmon.

Kenai River sockeye salmon

Denali National Park and Reserve

Denali is the tallest mountain in North America

Saturday May 30,2015……   Today we had the pleasure of visiting a very special place.  We had no idea that Denali National Park was so beautiful.  The park road goes back into the 6 million acre park a distance of 92 miles.  The public can only drive in the first 15 miles, so if you want to see the good stuff you need to ride a shuttle bus or tour bus. The reason for the buses is to keep the impact of all the visitors to a minimum.   We boarded our bus at 7:00 am for the 53 mile, 6 1/2 hour  trek to see the sights.  And we really saw some sights.

Not exactly a luxury coach

 We had perfect weather and Denali showed itself all day long.  The road follows the mountain side most of the way, gravel, and  just barely enough room for the buses to pass each other.  We were  so close to the side and so high up that I had to look away several times.

North face of Denali

A tourist checking out the view

A much different look further back into the park

We saw:  moose, caribou, wolf, grizzly bears, big horn sheep, ptarmigan, and arctic squirrels.  Everyone needs to put this on their bucket list of places to see.  I hope these pictures can do it justice.

Give these big boys lots of room!!

We saw lots of caribou on this trip

Update on the arctic circle trip:  We started out to drive to the arctic circle but aborted the trip only after 25 miles.  The road was the worst we have seen to date.  We weren't even off the paved portion and the pot holes and frost heaves were terrible.  Several times we had to cross clear over to the opposite lane to miss the bigger pot holes.  It just wasn't worth the wear and tear on the equipment.

Mother moose

We stayed at a campground in Denali Park where a mother moose with two calves has taken up residence.   She was extremely defensive and sent one woman to the hospital and another woman she knocked down while we were there.  These can be very dangerous animals.

Gold Panning in Fairbanks

Wednesday, May 20th
Today we went on one of "those" guided tours and learned about the Alaska Pipe Line and some of the history of early gold mining in Fairbanks.  The tour started off right next to the pipe line.  This pipeline starts in Prudhoe Bay and runs 800 miles south to Valdez, where the oil is loaded aboard tankers and sent to places like Anacortes for refining.  The pipe is 48" in diameter, spans three mountain ranges and more than 30 major rivers and streams. It cost over $8 billion and required over 515 federal and 832 state permits.

Pat and a miner standing under the pipeline

This is the reason Alaska has no sales tax

After that we boarded a small train and rode it out to the old gold dredge #8. Along the way there were guys reenacting  different gold mining jobs.  When we got to the dredge we got a quick lesson in gold panning, and everyone got off and were given a small bag of dirt ( a poke) and a gold pan.  We sat down at some large water troughs, poured the dirt into the pan, and swirled water around in the pan  until all that was left was some fine sand and a few gold flakes.  Pat and I combined ours together and we watched as they made them into a necklace.

A reenactment of the old days

Which way do we go??

Gold dredge #8

We actually really enjoyed the whole thing and they did a very good job, as we learned a lot.

Continuing on north.......

As we continue north on the Cassier Highway, the terrain keeps changing all the time. We go from rolling hills to steep cliffs, from snow on the ground to sandy soil that looks like the desert.  It was sad to go thru miles and miles of land that was burned in recent years from forest fires.  It will probably take a hundred years to erase the damage.

The wild life is getting more and more real all the time.  Check out this sign at the entrance to a place we stayed at.

Keep aware of your surroundings

The dogs are actually turning out to be a good alarm system for bears.  They could sense something in the woods before I could see anything.  They started barking and I heard sticks breaking out in the brush.  Sometimes when we are on a walk, they will refuse to go any farther, so we turn around.

A few days go we were in Tok where we left the trailer for a few hours and drove to Chicken, Alaska.  This place is really a hoot!  It was once a gold rush town.  There is a gift shop, a saloon, and a cafe.  There had just been a film crew there from the Discovery Channel filming.  There is a real possibility there will be a Alaska reality show about Chicken next season.

Chicken Alaska

The saloon will seat about 20 people and there are baseball caps and panties covering all the walls and ceiling.  Kind of hard to walk around because the floor has about a 20 degree slope to it.






Why is it called Chicken you ask??  When it was founded, the miners wanted to name it ptarmigan, but none of them could spell it.  So they just settled for Chicken.

The road to Chicken Alaska



This morning we saw six moose along the road to Fairbanks.  If we slow down they run off into the bush.  It just keeps getting warmer the further north we go.  It will be 76 here today and in the 80's later in the week.  Who would have guessed.  Oh , and the mosquitoes are getting bad!!!

If it's written in the travel guide, it don't make it so.......

A short way up the highway we turned off and wound our way downhill for 40 miles to Steward BC.  We picked a RV park that had all the amenities we wanted and set up camp.  Then we find out the Wi-Fi is not working, the hot water in the laundry room is not working, the RV wash down is new and not completed yet, and to top everything off, the road to a glacier we wanted to see has not been plowed yet, so can’t go there!!!

This is Bear Glacier on the way to Steward

Because we are kind of early in the season, several of the campgrounds have not been opened yet, and many of the lakes still have ice on them.
Shortly after continuing on our way, we saw a mother black bear along the road and her cub up a tree.  We also saw our first caribou.  They are much larger than I realized.  Haven’t been able to get real close before they run off into the woods.  Still looking for our first moose.
Today we are staying at Boya Lake Provincial Park. We are the only people here so far.  A short while ago a very large black bear strolled thru camp.  I will definitely keep my bear spray on me when walking the dogs.

Russell! Russell!  There is a bear in camp....

As you can see by the picture the bear was as tall as the picnic table he is standing beside.  This was about 4 camp spots from the one we were in.

Travel tip for today:  This one has to do with showers again.  When using the showers that the campground provides, be sure to take a towel with you.  It takes awhile to drip dry!!!  Yes, this is the voice of experience speaking.

What a view

Tonight we are in Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon.  One third of the population of this province lives here.

I have updated the map so click on it to enlarge and you can see where we are.

Snow, rock dings, flat tires, and way ahead of schedule…….

Yesterday morning we awoke to find a dusting of snow on everything.  It rained hard all night but must have turned cold just before daylight and it snowed.

It's springtime!!!

Later in the morning a truck kicked up a rock as it passed us and we got our first of probably many dings in the windshield.  I kind of expected this so I brought a rock chip repair kit with me and fixed it in camp.

Shortly after leaving the campground on Tuesday, the low tire warning light came on so we pulled over at a rest stop.  When I got out of the truck I could hear a hissing sound from the driver side rear tire.  There was a small rock wedged in between the tread and it had penetrated the tire.  Once again I had planned for this and had with me a tire plug repair kit and a small portable compressor.  After digging out everything, it only took about 20 minutes to fix.   Didn't even need to remove the tire.

First flat tire of the trip

We have gotten way ahead of schedule.  Some of the campgrounds I had picked out were not open yet
(even though the travel guides said they opened May 1st) and the free camp grounds are either to small for us to maneuver into, to muddy, or to far off the beaten path on questionable gravel roads.  As a result we had to continue north until we found a suitable campground or RV park.  Monday we drove 11 hours and yesterday we traveled twice as far as planned, so now we need to slow down so not to get to Alaska to early in the year..
We are now on the Cassiar Highway.  The travel guides say this is one on the most scenic roads in BC and has the best possibility of spotting wild life.  We have traveled on it just a short way and it looks really promising.  Saw two black bear yesterday, a grouse, an owl, and Pat thinks she may have got a glimpse of a moose.  Today we are at Mezidain Lake Provincial Campground, camped right on the shore of the lake.  There is still some snow piled up along the roads and last night there was frost. We are now far enough north that I carry my bear spray  with me when walking the dogs. Especially this park as it’s noted for bears.

Bear spray in the back pocket

Mezidian Lake Provincial Park

Kamloops to Williams Lake BC

We had some trip from Oliver to Kamloops.  I entered the GPS coordinates into my phone and wasn't paying any attention which route it picked to take, and as it turned out, was not the route I had planned on.  So off we went following the GPS and up over a very steep mountain pass.  Even a few snow flakes at the summit. The views were fantastic but the truck really had a workout shifting back and forth into various gears.  But I must say, the roads in BC have turned out to be excellent so far.

The campground at Kamloops Lake was not that great.  You never really know what you will find until you arrive.  The wind blew all afternoon and was a little cold.  The ground was covered with very small little stickers and the dogs had some trouble walking around the site.  But the views were great and I managed to get some nice pictures.

Our Campsite at Steelhead Park

There were several old buildings on the campgrounds that probably date back to the early 1900's.   I was really amazed at the roof on this next picture. Definitely not like the shingles you see on houses back home. These were cut approximately 4" thick, 2' wide, and 6' long.

Check out these shakes.

This one had a new roof

We continued on to Williams Lake to spend the night at the Stampede Campgrounds.  This RV park is adjacent to the rodeo grounds.  Today there is a event here so lots of horses and big horse trailers.

Williams Lake rodeo grounds.

Stampede Campgrounds RV Park

Monday we will continue on,  The plan is to spend a few days at a free campsite I found on the internet, and visit Barkerville, on old gold mine town.

Update:  The frig. is working great now.

Today's RV camping lesson:  When you store your bath towels outside the bathroom, take one in with you when it's shower time!  Otherwise it takes a long time to drip-dry!!!

Traveling to Lake Chelan and up the Okanagan Valley

The first day we traveled from Marysville to Lake Chelan State Park.  We decided to take Stevens Pass over the mountains and had a really nice ride. On arrival we found two other campers here, so we had the whole place pretty much to ourselves.

Camping at Lake Chelan State Park

As you can see it is really a primitive camp ground.  It had water, power, sewer dumps, paved site, two picnic tables, cell service, but no internet.

So we made the best of it for one night...

The next morning we were off to a free campground I found on the internet called Leader Lake.  It is located a short distance west of the town of Okanagan.  It is a BLM site with no amenities of any sort.  Just a spot to park your trailer next to a lake.  Much better, and you can't beat the price.  We spent two nights here.

Wild flowers were everywhere at leader Lake

Friday morning we  headed for the Canadian border at Osoyoos.  We are carrying with us a shotgun and that requires a permit, so we were pulled aside and told to report inside for further questioning.  They did a background check on both of us to make sure we were not felons, paid a $25.00 fee, and were on our way.  Oh yes, they checked my bear spray also!
Tonight we are at a RV park in Oliver BC, right on a lake.  If you click on the map to the right and enlarge it you can see where we are. There must be dozens of different kinds of birds here.  There are quail running all over the campground and a black bird has a nest right above our picnic table.

The only problem that has developed so far is a frig that has been to cold. There is no temperature control knob and most everything has partially frozen.  I got a chance to get on the internet today and found a solution to fix it.
Hope all is well with everyone.  Russ, Pat, Maddie, & Max.

Tonight's
 campground in Oliver BC.

Maddie chillín on the couch tonight

So how do you plan for a trip like this?

  This process has been a little intimidating.  Where do you start and how do you plan for a trip like this? We will probably travel over 5000 miles in the next 4 months. I have been thinking lately that I never planned this much for the boat trips we took.  Just today I finally realized why.  We were living on the boat so we already had everything we needed with us.  So there was no "to-do list", and "things to pack list", most of the planning involved deciding the routes we wanted to take and the places we wanted to stay. Since we have not owned a RV for several years, we also had to include a "things to buy list".  So making lists played a big roll. I would wake up in the middle of the night to add something to one of the lists.

Sources of travel information

 Travel Guides also played a big part in the planning. Find several good guides for the area you will be traveling to. Internet web sites also were important sources of information.  YouTube is really cool.  Once you find a place you want to visit, search for videos about the place.

My Map.

Make yourself your own personal travel map. Go to My Maps on google and create your own personal map. I discovered that the travel guides written by Mike and Terri Church include the GPS coordinates for the campgrounds.  If you enter these coordinates into the google map, it will place a icon at the exact spot of that campground.  Next enter the name of the campground and the coordinates in the information box for that icon.  Now enter those coordinates into your GPS navigation system and you have exact driving directions to the campground.  Here is an example of our map.  The red icons are commercial RV parks, the yellow icons are government campgrounds, and the blue icons are free campgrounds.

I took the process one step further and entered all the information from My Map onto a Excel spread sheet.  I included the following information:  Name of campground, distance from last campground, private or government campground, prices, amenities such as water, WiFi, laundry, power, dump station, and the GPS coordinates.

This is how the map and spreadsheet work together:  Pick out your next campground on the map, check the guide book or look on the spread sheet to see that it has the amenities you need for the night, enter the GPS coordinates into your navigation system, and off you go.  If you are at a campground with no internet, you can't see your map.  Look at your spreadsheet, pick out your next location, check the amenities, enter the GPS coordinates into your navigation system, and off you go.