Alaska Trip 2019

We left Dawson Creek at 0730, and took 5 hours and 50 minutes to get to the RV park in Fort Nelson.  One stop for fuel, and one rest stop.  We did not see any wildlife along the way, but others in our group saw up to three bears on the side of the road.  We did see a drunk moose passed out on the side of the road...  Wait, no, his eyes were open and his limbs were stiff.  I think he must be road kill.  Poor thing! Had our drivers meeting for the following day, and then sat around the campfire with a person not in our group, but he played the guitar and our group sang!  How cool is that?  The group heard me practicing the bagpipes earlier, so they insist on a concert tomorrow.  Wow, not sure I am ready for that, but I will give it a shot!

It was a nice few days off from traveling.  Collected supplies, and visited all the tourist areas, including the Visitor Center, Historic Downtown, and the Kiskatinaw Bridge, the last original bridge from the building of the Alaska Highway in 1942. Played a round of Golf at the Dawson Creek Golf and Country Club, an 18 hole course which was relatively flat, compared to those in the Sierra Foothills.  Finished in two and a quarter hours, and with my lowest net score ever!   Need more of that action! After golf, a little shopping with Dianne, tossing the ball for Clancy, and lunch, I rode my bike to the Kiskatinaw Bridge and back, 39 miles round trip.  Headwind for the first 19 miles, and a tailwind all the way back!  The low point was a bit of rain, but it wasn't bad, and didn't hurt too much!  (wind speed) Took a group photo at the Milepost 0 cairn, which is separate from the Milepost 0 marker in downtown, which is in the middle of the street.  ...

What a day!  Whew!  Light rain when we left Grande Cache, but that was okay.   Passed a very large coal mine and power plant, but couldn't take in the scenery due to the rain and road. A while later, it started snowing.  That was okay, there was no snow on the ground!   Oh, but wait.... As we continued, the snow was sticking to the trees, and before we knew it, a couple inches on the road.   I put the truck in four wheel drive, kept both hands on the wheel at 10 and 2 o'clock, and pressed on, albeit slowly, praying that it would not get worse, and that we would get through safely.   I definitely did not expect snow, was not prepared for snow (towing a 40'+ 5th wheel),  and certainly did not like driving in it with the trailer.  At home in a blizzard, without the trailer, is fine.  With the trailer, in unfamiliar territory, and on roads with no shoulders, made for quite an unnerving trip. Finally in Dawson Creek, we pulled into a truc...

Left Jasper this morning in the rain, after having some problems with battery power.  Remember, we had no hook-ups for the past two nights - boondocking, in a sense.  So, it seems that with yesterday's cloud cover, the solar panels did not do a good job of charging the batteries.  Or..., maybe it was because I had the living room lights on until midnight, so I could read.  In any case, we made our coffee in the new French press, packed up, and could not get the slideouts to come in due to lack of battery power.  I hooked up the truck electrical to the trailer, and was finally able to coax the slideouts in.  Next problem was the hydraulic levelling jacks, getting them to retract once I hitched up the truck.  Same problem.  They would come up a bit, then trip out.  Wait for the batteries to charge some more, raise the jacks a bit, then repeat.   Finally on our way, but had to dry off before we got rolling.    Saw one moose cros...

Scheduled a massage in the town of Jasper for this morning.  Oh, what a joy.  I have full range of motion now!   Actually, I get a massage once a month, so this was needed!  And I learned a few things that I need to relay to my routine therapist! After lunch, we headed out for some short hikes and sightseeing.  First, to Edith Cavell, a 14 km road near our camp, leading up to what appears to be the highest peak in the region.  We arrived at the parking lot, and took a hike to the glacier below the mountain.  How beautiful!  Photos below. Next, a couple short drives to Marmot, a closed ski area (nothing to see here), and to Whistlers, where the sky tram goes to the top of the mountain. We opted out, since we did that in Banff. Lastly, we went to the Maligne Canyon Overlook.  Not too impressed, until we went to the Maligne Canyon itself.  Wow, how the water eroded through the limestone, down about 60 feet in narrow slot canyons that ...

Wonderful drive up Canada Highway 1 to Lake Louise, where we had visited a couple days earlier, then north on Highway 93, the Icefield Parkway, to Jasper.  One bear sighting, and one antelope paced us on the right side of the highway, then darted across the highway in front of us.  Fortunately, I saw it, and slowed down enough so that it would make it across without incident. Columbia Icefield was beautiful, but we opted not to take the hike out to the Athabasca Glacier, nor did we take the snowcat tour.   We will see more glaciers in Alaska, and we had more travelling to do.   It was a nice break from driving, to walk around the visitor center area and have some lunch. Driving from the Icefields to Jasper was quite depressing, as almost 60% of the forest has been killed by the pine bark beetle.  Lots of brown trees, ripe for a forest fire.  This problem has increased exponentially in Jasper in the last three to four years, having spread from British Co...

Took a few days to relax, hike, and bicycle, as well as walk through Downtown Banff.  Wonderful place, great scenery, but I'm afraid the town is too crowded for me.  That's why I moved to the Sierra Foothills!  But, it was a nice experience, all in all.  On arrival day, we decided just to walk the downtown area, which was a lot of fun, except for the crowds.  There truly is no parking available, but we got lucky.   June 14 we drove to Louise Lake, parked at the local park-n-ride, and took the shuttle up to the lake.  We then took a 5 km round trip hike to the glacial source of the lake.  The glaciers form a glacial flour through the grinding of the rocks, and the melting water carries the glacial flour to the lake.  The four is suspended in the water, and causes the water to absorb all colors but turquoise, which is reflected back.  The photos do not do it justice! June 15 we took the gondola up Sulphur Mountain.  Great views f...