Alaska Highway

Tue July 24- Complimentary hotel breakfast at Denny's! Pretty good actually...and one meal is plenty for two! After packing up our laundry and getting groceries we drove north to Dawson Creek. At Dawson Creek the Alaska Highway starts and continues for 2288 km (1422 miles) to Delta Junction, Alaska. The entire Alaska Highway was built in just 8 months in 1942 by the US army to better supply and defend Alaska... since Sarah Palin could see the Russians, Pearl Harbor had just been attacked, etc... We dont think the road made much of a difference in the outcome of World War II, but along the road the people seem to think differently. All in all, a very scenic and remote drive. This first night we stayed at a campsite at Charlie Lake, just north of Fort St. John. Very pleasant evening, relaxed at camp and worked on the previous blog entry.

The Alaska Highway at Muncho Lake

Wed July 25- We drove and drove, and then drove some more. The landscape changing from high peaks to drier prairie back to high peaks again. Scattered all around many lakes and endless boreal/pine forests. A couple of weeks ago, we met a woman at a ranger station in Yellowstone who asked the ranger a rather random question: "what is the definition of wilderness?" This must be it... While passing many rundown 'towns' that we will not remember the names of, we did see tons of wildlife. Our theory that wildlife is best viewed from the car is holding up nicely. We passed caribou, bison, deer, sheep, moose (unfortunately he did not pose) and many more bears. We especially enjoyed the two BIG black bears crossing the road in front of us (looked like they were chasing each other) and the black and grizzly bear cubs. After entering the Yukon Territory, we stayed at a campsite near Watson Lake.

Sheep

Thu July 26- We continued on to Whitehorse, quite a nice town! All the towns in this area were once gold mining settlements established during the Yukon, Klondike and Alaska gold rushes. In Whitehorse we did groceries and had shower at an interesting hippie campsite. A couple of hours later we arrive in Haines Junction, gateway to Kluane National Park. Checked-in with the visitor center, enjoyed some nice pastries at the Village Bakery and setup camp at Pine Lake just outside of the town. Now that we are 60 degrees North daylight is abundant. At 1030pm we were enjoying the evening sun at our campsite. At midnight it is still light out and many children are still up, running and screaming. At 8am however, the campsite is very quiet.

Grizzly cub

Fri July 27- After three days in the car it was nice to go for a hike. We hiked King's Throne, 30 km south of Haines Junction. A steep hike with excellent views. The sky was cloudy, but still beautiful views. We tried to get all the way to the summit, but the trail was rather steep and the shale made it very slippery. Halfway up we decided to turn around (LB was too scared!) since going down would be treacherous. This turned out to be excellent timing. As soon as we got back to the car it started pouring! On the way back to camp we stopped at the visitor center to see a video about Kluane National Park. Three quarters of the park is covered in ice and only accessible by air. It is basically ice left-over from the last ice age- just like Wrangell St Elias (Alaska) where we will go in a couple of weeks. The park also houses Mount Logan, Canada's highest peak just short of 6000 meters. If the weather is nice and you have money to spare, you should go on a scenic flight and land on a glacier... (maybe next time for us:-) ) We spent the evening under our tarp and made Canadian fajitas.

Kathleen Lake, Kluane National Park (LB bottom right)

Sat July 28- Packed up the wet tent and enjoyed a morning coffee at the Village Bakery (THE place in Haines Junction- really - since the local trading post closed there is no other place to buy most food). Did a little research on where to stay when we are in Maui... given the rain a nice prospect! The weather cleared just enough for us to do a hike at Sheep Mountain. Very pretty hike going up the side of a mountain with excellent views of valley, glacier and nearby mountains. Apparently the area has the largest heard of Dall Sheep, but we did not see any.. We stayed our last night in Canada at Snag Junction, just South of Beaver Creek, Canada's most western settlement.

The mountains in Kluane

Sun July 29- We spent our last Canadian Dollars on expensive gas, 1.50 Canadian Dollar per liter ($6 per gallon!). Compared to The Netherlands still cheap of course.. After a short drive we made it to Alaska! Woohoo!! At the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge visitor center we picked up some maps, watched a video and almost sold our car to a park ranger. We passed Delta Junction, the end of the Alaska Highway, before arriving in Fairbanks. We executed the usual routine; visitor center, setup camp, shower, groceries, etc. After dinner we went to the movies and saw The Dark Knight Rises. Great fun! And when we exited the theater at 1130pm we were just in time to see the sun set...

ALASKA!!

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