Category Archives: The Alaska Highway

The journey of a lifetime. To Alaska from California, then back to Michigan, summer, 2014.

A Day-to-Day Guide to the Alaska Highway

August 23, 2018 Rob Sims 4 Comments

How to Drive it in 6 Days at a Moderate Pace

So… you are thinking seriously about going after the Road Trip of a Lifetime… and maybe you are having anxiety issues thinking about all that could happen.

I’ve said this before: Yukon Do It!

When Kaye and I made our epic journey towing our 28-foot fifth wheel, we had our copy of Mileposts and our paper maps in the truck cab and referred to them constantly… and everything went just fine. We didn’t have any problems, going or coming.

fullsizeoutput_1034 — Our first camp north of the border was at Chilliwack, BC

But it would have been so much easier if we had had the piece I am writing for you right now — a daily guide that would connect the dots from Point A to Point B each day. Well here it is.

Before You Start.

First of all, make sure your vehicles are in good condition. Have a mechanic replace any worn belts or hoses and change the oil in your tow vehicle. Tires should be in like-new condition all the way around with a good spare on hand.

Take a supply of cash along with your credit cards which may or may not work at some road houses. There are ATM’s in a few spots along the way delivering Canadian currency, of course.

Get used to navigating without your cellphone. You are not likely to have service except in a few towns. Weak wifi can be found at a few RV parks so each night you can plot your map apps for the next day (GPS may work when wifi doesn’t).

Getting to Mile Zero

The official Alaska Highway begins at Dawson Creek in northern British Columbia. When we did it we had to drive 1,900 miles from Ventura, California and it took us 8 days. Just to get to the START of the Alcan. We stayed at Northern Lights RV Park on the hill west of the town of Dawson Creek.

fullsizeoutput_82a — The official start of the Alaska Highway, mile zero.

Day 1: Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson. 282 miles.

Stock up on provisions before leaving Dawson Creek; you won’t find another good market for several days.

Fill the tank, then drive your first 101 miles to the Esso at Wonowon, BC. Fill up again.

Drive 181 miles over easy hills and through forests on wide open highway to Fort Nelson. We chose the Triple G RV park for our overnight. The power grid ends at Fort Nelson.

fullsizeoutput_95d — We passed roadhouses that had been closed, some for a very long time.

Day 2: Fort Nelson to Coal River (or Watson Lake) 225 (or 319) miles

Fill up the tank and head uphill from Fort Nelson. You will be topping a high pass a couple of hours in; remember to engine brake – downshift to second gear – on the downgrades to save your brakes. This section takes awhile if you are towing a heavy rig; your speed will be down to 35 MPH on winding mountain roads.

At 118 miles stop at Toad River for fuel… and lunch if you want.

fullsizeoutput_345 — The restaurant at Toad River Lodge has 6,800 baseball caps on the ceiling!

Drive another 107 miles to Coal River Lodge, Muncho Lake BC, a lonely outpost in the wilderness. Basic services are available including diesel fuel and at the restaurant inside, their signature buffalo burger at a ridiculous price (everything north of Dawson Creek will be expensive). There is a bare bones campground with 20-amp electricity and a laundromat – all run from a generator onsite.

fullsizeoutput_547 — We had the campground to ourselves at Coal River Lodge for the night.

fullsizeoutput_33 — The pies and the buffalo burgers were all home cooked by Donna at Coal River Lodge.

We found friendly owners and had a great time at Coal River, but not everybody will like the spartan accommodations that haven’t been upgraded since the place was built in the 1940’s. If it is not to your liking, fuel up and head for the Downtown RV Park at Watson Lake another 101 miles.

Day 3: Coal River to White Horse, Yukon Territory. 359 miles

Fuel up. This is a more ambitious jaunt, with two stops. First drive 101 miles to Watson Lake (if you didn’t go there last night). Tour the Sign Forest in the middle of town and fuel up at the Tags station at the west end of town where there is a deli with deep fried delights and a little store. You will be criss-crossing the BC/YT border a couple of times today.

fullsizeoutput_171a — We added our sign to 70,000 others at the Sign Forest at Watson Lake, YT.

Drive on through the forests and hills to Teslin where you can fuel up again at the Yukon Motel & Restaurant (ATM) or Mesutlin Trading Post. Then on to White Horse and the Pioneer RV Park where you might get wifi.

If you have any mechanical issues, you might find help in White Horse.

Alaska Mountains edit 0042 — The road mostly follows the valleys between the mountains and is a relatively easy drive.

Day 4: White Horse to White River. 249 miles

Fuel up and head west to Haines Junction. We experienced some awful roads and construction in this section, but maybe it is all fixed by now.

Fuel up again and continue to White River and the Yukon Lodgings Campground which is easy to miss on the left after a bend in the road in the middle of nowhere. There is no town (keep an eye on your mileage and watch for it). If you come out of the woods and cross a river and come to Beaver Creek, you just passed it; maybe just stay at Beaver Creek where there is a motel and an almost RV park. Basically a parking lot.

fullsizeoutput_178c — There is no end of beautiful scenery along the Alaska Highway.

Day 5: White River YT to Delta Junction AK. 249 miles

Fuel up at Beaver Creek, then head across the U.S. border and at 142 miles stop at Tok. Fuel up at Chevron or Shell or Tesoro.

Head west to Delta Junction another 107 miles and maybe camp at the Alaska RV Ranch.

Congratulation! You have just completed the official Alaska Highway, approximately 1,365 miles!

However, you are still in the middle of nowhere. So…

Day 6: Delta Junction to Denali National Park. 244 miles (through Fairbanks AK)

If you go southwest through Anchorage, add another 100 or so miles.

fullsizeoutput_509f — The Alaska Range escorts you toward Fairbanks. You don’t have to drive over those mountains.

At Fairbanks or Anchorage, stock up on provisions at the Fred Meyer store, because everything at Glitter Gulch (the tourist village a mile from the entrance of Denali National Park) will cost at least TWICE the price and many items will not be available at all!

Congrats again, and check this off your bucket list! You have covered the Alaska Highway – and beyond, a distance of 1,580 miles (by way of Fairbanks).

fullsizeoutput_a34 — Two dozen shops, outfitters and eateries line the boardwalk at “Glitter Gulch”.

We stayed at Rainbow Village RV Park behind the row of log cabin shops on the east side of the highway in Glitter Gulch (affectionately called “the Canyon” by the locals). It is not actually an incorporated municipality so your map app won’t find it. Try searching for Healy, a small town north of the Canyon a few miles, or try Denali National Park; you’ll only be off by a mile.

We stayed about six weeks, hiking and biking around the area and venturing into Denali National Park for hiking and sightseeing. Then we took 11 days to make the return trip down to Lincoln Nebraska, then home to Michigan a few days later. We covered about 7,500 miles over all.

Now you only have to make it back down!

So are you going to do it?

I would love to know what you are thinking. Let me know in the comments below.

Denali edit _0006 — Denali – the mountain – is still 90 miles away. Take the park bus for a closer look.

Disclaimer: Though I have done my best to update and verify this information since our own trip, things can change from season to season along the Alaska Highway. (We found that even the Mileposts resource was inaccurate at a couple of points.) You are responsible for your safety and accommodations on this road trip of a lifetime!

Have fun!

The Alaska Highway

An Extravagance of Space

November 15, 2014 Rob Sims 3 Comments

I have lived in North America for most of my life and have only been vaguely aware of the luxurious space in which we live. I became more aware of it while traveling the Alaska Highway last summer. Many times when I was ready to pull back onto the road after a fuel stop or an overnight campground stay, I would look both ways for an opening in traffic… and not see another vehicle in either direction. Really. As far as the eye could see. Nobody.

I was repeatedly surprised — and a bit unnerved — at the vastness of it all.

Not another vehicle in sight, as far as the eye can see. — The Alaska Highway across the Yukon. Not another vehicle in sight, for miles and miles.

Canada has a population density of 9 people per square mile (the US has 48). That amounts to a lot of uninhabited space. I have had anxiety issues in traffic before, usually in the middle of a 5-lane-wide traffic jam in some inner city. But out in the vast and lonely stretches of the Alaska Highway I almost had anxiety issues of another sort imagining what it would take (and what it would cost) to acquire help in case of a breakdown when the nearest town was hundreds of miles away — and there was no cellular service anyway.

The reality of our isolation was profound. We were quite truly and utterly alone.

_______________________

And now there’s another sort of space situation that we are facing, but it has more to do with elbow room than the availability of roadside services.

After four years of downsizing, first from a 10-room house to a one-room log cabin, we have finally sold both the house and the log cabin on our 30-acre property of 42 years and are hitting the road in a 29-foot fifth wheel. Fortunately, we have already tried it out for awhile, traveling the country for the last year, but we still had the Michigan property and plenty of storage space for our stuff.

We have started moving the last of our stuff into the storage unit. — We have started moving the last of our stuff into storage.

We were able to be extravagant about what we kept while sorting through our lifetime accumulated stash, because we had enough room to store everything.

But that is no longer true.

We just brought home our new home-away-from-home... in a snowstorm. — We are moving from the log cabin into the RV for the next few years – and leaving snow behind.

So we are moving the last of our keepsakes into one of those self-storage units and will inhabit a tiny mobile space for the next few years. They say that that sort of close co-habitation will either cause two people to bond inseparably… or make them kill each other!

Our salvation from cabin fever has always been the great outdoors. We have lived in rural Michigan for most of our adult lives and could safely walk or bike the side roads or the pathways and lanes on the property. Shoot, I had a private route mapped out — and mowed — for jogging a mile without even leaving the property.

But part of our reason for selling the place is the brutality of the Michigan winters. The cold and ice and snow brought about a virtual house arrest as it were, trapping us inside for a third of every year.

For two active retirees who like to get out and walk several miles every day, that’s not good. And we are doing something about it. We are heading south during the wintertime. Now we’ll be looking for new open spaces, new bike lanes and boardwalks and walking trails in every new place we live over the next years, hopefully in places where we need not worry about slipping and falling on icy roads or sidewalks.

We’ll be looking for other extravagant spaces. Nature trails and wildlife areas and rail trails and beaches. Especially beaches.

The beach at Seacliff. — I loved the beach at Seacliff, California last winter — entirely unaffected by the Polar Vortex.

Because Americans really do enjoy an extravagance of space. Even RV-ers living in their highly efficient but tiny mobile spaces.

(Just think, you could have been born in Macau, the most heavily populated country in the world, with a population density of more than 73,000 people per square mile.)

The Alaska Highway

The Denali Back Alley

September 2, 2014 Rob Sims Leave a comment

Milepost 9-2-14

“And where are you from?” It is usually the first thing that comes out of anybody’s mouth as they are meeting someone new in Alaska, and all along the Alaska Highway, for that matter. It seems that everybody there is from somewhere else.

Oklahoma, Ontario, Florida, Washington, California, Ukraine, Bulgaria. We met people from all over the world. But we only saw a few native Americans – or First Nation – as they are called in Alaska.

Wendi is a shift manager at the popular Black Bear Coffee House on the boardwalk.

Our destination in Alaska was the Denali area because our daughter and son-in-law have lived and worked there every summer for the last nine years. Wendi is a barista and shift manager at the popular Black Bear Coffee House, and Scott runs their adventure outfitter, Denali Adventure Tours. The two shops are located on the boardwalk in McKinley Park about 200 feet apart with about ten shops between the two.

Scott and Wendi own Denali Adventure Tours and supply the tourists with adventure trips from whitewater rafting to fly-overs of McKinley.

Rainbow Village, the RV park where we stayed, was right behind the row of shops, a virtual parking lot with utility hookups. It was really handy to the back doors of the shops and helped us to see the back story of the lives of the seasonal workers, an intriguing sub-culture.

These young seasonal workers at the coffee house are all from somewhere in the lower 48 states.

The village completely shuts down in the wintertime, so everybody has to go somewhere else. Many of the workers get seasonal jobs elsewhere in the country, or like Scott, they are students or teachers at universities. Wendi gets a temp job where they live in California during the winter. One of the pilots at Denali Air flies shuttles in the Philippines every winter, so he works the tourist industry in two hemispheres.

Pilot Bob flies tourists over Denali in the summer - and over the ocean in the Philippines during the winter. — Pilot Bob flies tourists over Denali in the summer – and over the ocean in the Philippines during the winter.

It was fun for us to stay at Denali for more than five weeks so we had time to get acquainted with Scott and Wendi’s friends and learn a bit about their lives at both ends, the summer at Denali and the other three seasons somewhere else in the world.

Kaye talks with Michelle, a shop owner from Toronto, about how she ended up in Alaska. — Kaye talks with Michelle, a shop owner from Ontario, about how she ended up in Alaska.

It’s a transient life for those guys, and I think we understand it a lot more now that we have lived on the road for the last seven months, covering 10,000 miles of contrasting geography from the Great Plains to the deserts of the Southwest to mountains of the west coast and western Canada.

Waking up every morning we have to look around and see where we are to get a sense of location. The seasonal workers must have to often think about where they are at the dawn of every new day. It’s an interesting way to live. We loved getting behind the scenes while we were there.

Scott and Wendi live in a 10'x12' dry cabin during their summers up north. — Scott and Wendi live in a 10’x12′ dry cabin in the forest during their summers in Alaska.

Head space and elbow room are limited in the little cabins.

The workers come to the "cook shack" for their meals which are prepared by a hired chef. — The workers come to the “cook shack” for their meals which are prepared by a hired chef.

"Cooky" makes sure everybody is well-fed with bountiful balanced meals — Bijan makes sure everybody is well-fed with bountiful balanced meals.

Keith is a performer at one of the dinner theaters... and a salesman at a gift shop during the day. He's from Washington D.C. — Keith is a performer at one of the dinner theaters (the beard is part of his stage persona)… and he’s a salesman at a gift shop during the day. He’s from Washington D.C.

These performers stayed in small bunk rooms with common restrooms... down the hall or out in back. — These performers share small bunk rooms with common restrooms… down the hall or out in back.

Shop owners Andrea and Brandon are from Anchorage and Michigan but now spend their winters in Arizona.

Scott enjoys the view of McKinley Park and Mt. Healy from the front door of Denali Adventure Tours. — Kaye and Scott enjoy the view of McKinley Park and Mt. Healy from the front door of Denali Adventure Tours.

Get your adventure fix from Scott when you are in the Denali area.

So everybody’s from somewhere. Kaye and I had a great time this summer discovering the back stories on our kids’ friends and fellow workers at McKinley Park near Denali National Park and Preserve.

The Alaska Highway

Yukon Do It!

August 2, 2014 Rob Sims 2 Comments

Alaska Highway Milepost 3,678 Lincoln, Nebraska

Having completed the Alaska Highway – both out and back – there are some tips that I would share with the next would-be adventurer to help you survive the ordeal. And yes, like any other challenge, there is both good and bad that awaits you. Thoughtful preparation will minimize the negatives and ensure an enjoyable experience.

The Alaska Highway skirts Kluane Lake in the Yukon. — The Alaska Highway skirts Kluane Lake in the Yukon Territory. Most of it is paved.

First of all, it will streamline the entire venture if you do your homework before leaving your house. Study the route and know where you are going, which attractions you want to stop and explore, where you plan to stop each night, and where you can stock up on provisions. The most comprehensive help that most travelers get comes from the famous Mileposts publication. We ordered one from Amazon.com along with an Alaska atlas of maps. We kept both in the pickup cab and referred to them constantly.

This RV park at Coal River, Yukon, was more than 100 miles from the nearest power grid and was operating on its own generator. We had the campground to ourselves for the night.
Another thing to do before heading north is to prepare your vehicle. Your tires need to be in good condition along with a solid spare for both the RV and the tow vehicle. Make sure you are able to change a tire if necessary. Replace worn belts and hoses and change the oil.

Your vehicle needs to be ready for just about anything, especially if you plan to go into the backcountry for fishing, hiking, four-wheeling and the like.
It is important to inform your bank and credit card company that you will be traveling internationally so your cards won’t be flagged and leave you stranded at the gas pump. Carry multiple sources of revenue and keep a reserve of funds on hand for inflated costs and emergencies. Assume that you will see an expensive souvenir that you just have to have for the grandkids. We found ATM’s located in far-away places and carried cash for those times when the bankcard wouldn’t fly at the gas stop. It happened several times.

Many of the roadhouses have closed, some many years ago, some last year. Even Mileposts magazine listed some that we found no longer in service. We filled our tank often to avoid being stranded.

Also in the planning stages, set aside as much time for this trip as you possibly can; there is a whole lot to see and it is spread out over a vast area. We spent about 2 weeks on the road each way, and more than 5 weeks at the Denali area. Still we did not see everything we could have.

A side trip to the old Independence Gold Mine in the mountains above Anchorage, was a hike that I was able to take in after parking the rig at the RV park for the night.

The Alaska Highway is in a state of constant reconstruction and should be approached with a realistic sensibility. Backup plans need to be in place for those days when you don’t reach your destination because you’ve been caught in a construction zone for a couple of hours. Flexibility and a good attitude will help.

Traffic across this bridge was narrowed to one lane while workers maintained the superstructure beneath.

Don’t count on internet and iPhone service anywhere beyond the Canadian border. Our cell phones worked for calls (big roaming charges) when we were in towns and RV parks, but not out in the boonies, and our mobile wifi didn’t work anywhere in Canada or Alaska. There are hundreds-of-mile stretches with no service, so make sure you still know how to navigate the old fashioned way. Fortunately, we were able to get (weak) internet service at some of the RV parks where we stayed, so we were able to keep up with our online banking, email and Facebook updates, and so on, but the bandwidth was never sufficient enough for Skype, FaceTime, or uploading photos to the blog. Bummer.

For most people, driving the Alaska Highway is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. It will be memorable either way, but if things go well, it will be a positive memory rather than a disaster. If it’s on your bucket list, I hope you plan ahead and have a great time. Be safe!

The Alaska Highway

On and On and On… On the Open Road

July 31, 2014 Rob Sims Leave a comment

We finally made it to the lower 48! It took 11 days to cover 3,678 miles from Denali to Lincoln, Nebraska, where we are visiting with friends for a few days before finishing the trek to the log cabin in Michigan.

Of course, the terrain changed with every passing state or province. We finally left the northern Rocky Mountains in British Columbia and spent several days crossing the northern plains. Our photos captured the corresponding changes.

The first several days we spent inching our way through the high mountains. — The first several days we spent inching our way through the high mountains…

... and the last several days we flew across the open prairie. — … and the last several days we flew across the open prairie.

Kaye and I are currently resting up, restocking the fridge, and enjoying the return of decent internet services. We’re pretty worn out but basking in the accomplishment of driving the Alaska Highway… both ways! We’ll be writing lots more about our experiences as we get rested up and ready to return to a more normal flow of life.

The Alaska Highway

Heading Home

July 21, 2014 Rob Sims Leave a comment

Milepost 260 Palmer Alaska

Alaskans are only half civilized… and proud of it. The call of the wild includes the lure of wild wide-open spaces, but it brings a lot of inconvenience for the outsiders from the lower 48 who are used to their perks. While camped at Denali for the last five weeks Kaye and I have had to accept that we won’t have a good internet link, and for me that has meant a long silence with regard to my travel blog. I haven’t posted because I simply couldn’t get online for much of the time.

Anyway, we departed Denali yesterday for the 4,000 miles trek back across the Alaska Highway to Michigan and plan to take about three weeks doing it. Our first stop near Anchorage provided a good internet connection, so I’m logging a quick post to let everyone know we are on the road again and will likely not be posting very often while heading across through the Yukon and northern Canada.

I am planning to write some more extensive reviews after arriving back in civilization.

Bob and Kaye at the entrance to the 6 million acre Denali National Park and Preserve.

The Alaska Highway

Go Climb a Mountain

July 8, 2014 Rob Sims 2 Comments

Milepost 7-7-14 McKinley Park, Alaska

“Climbing a mountain” is a figurative expression that is used to acknowledge the presence of a monumental challenge, something that we know will be difficult. It could be something like pursuing a college degree or quitting smoking or any of a thousand other tough quests.
For us three years ago, it was the process of downsizing and moving out of our house of 40 years so we could move into an RV and pursue life on the road. It was truly monumental.

This was the climb of a lifetime for me, the summit of the Mt. Healy Overlook.

But yesterday, “climbing a mountain” was not figurative language for me but an actual event. After a couple weeks of consideration and a practice run at it, I took on the challenge of the difficult hiking trail to the Mt. Healy Overlook. A week before, I had hiked the first half of it then turned back, deciding it was too strenuous. Finally, I was able to view the first attempt as conditioning for yesterday’s ultimate climb. And it worked; I made it to the top, a vertical climb of 1,700 feet over 2.3 miles! In fact, I cut a bit of time off the predicted duration of 4 to 5 hours for the round trip.

At higher elevations this trail didn't appear to be much more than a mountain goat path. — At higher elevations this trail didn’t appear to be much more than a mountain goat path.

Arriving back in the canyon in the late afternoon, I went to see Scott at Denali Adventure Tours to update him on the details of the climb (Yes, I decided that the steep trail would be more accurately described as a “climb” rather than a hike). That’s when I discovered that my first information ranking the difficulty of the climb as “moderate” was bad intel. Sure enough, Scott’s vast encyclopedia of adventure knowledge pegged that trail as “strenuous”. Now I could believe that!
As I had been scrambling over large boulders on the upper slopes I had heard myself grumbling under my breath about the guy who must have ranked the trail without ever climbing it. “Only a 16-year-old athlete would call this a “moderate” hike!” I fumed.

Having brought along their camp stove, these climbers rewarded themselves with a hot meal at the summit.

In terms of “Climbing a mountain”, this one was the real thing! The truth is, I would definitely not have taken on that climb if I had known up front what a grueling challenge I was in for. But now that I’ve done it, I’m happy about it… and happy to still be alive!

Here are more photos of my adventure:

The climbers swapped cameras to photographically document their accomplishment. — The climbers swapped cameras to document their climbing accomplishment with photographs.

Wow, the trail on the ridge leads into the distance. I'd love to follow it, but not this time. — Wow, the trail on the ridge leads into the distance. I’d love to follow it, but don’t have any strength left… and there’s still the descent ahead of me.

Mt. Healy beckons from across the canyon from Denali Adventure Tours where owner and answer man, Scott, takes it all in. — Mt. Healy beckons from across the canyon where Denali Adventure Tours owner and answer man, Scott, enjoys the panorama.

What is your next mountain that needs climbing?

The Alaska Highway

Rock and Snow – Mt. McKinley Fly-By

July 1, 2014 Rob Sims Leave a comment

Milepost 7-1-14 Mt. McKinley, Alaska

“Tree line is at 3,000 feet,” said our pilot, Dan. “Above 7,000 feet there’s just rock and snow.” We had just taken off in a little 8-seater plane for a fly-by of Mt. McKinley, the highest point on the North American continent, and Dan was already sharing his comprehensive knowledge of the mountain geography, naming rivers, glaciers and mountains as we skimmed over snow-capped peaks on a bee-line for Denali.

An aerial view of the Polychrome Mountains also reveals a distance glimpse of the Parks Highway on the other side of the valley. — An aerial view of the Polychrome Mountains also reveals a distant glimpse of the Parks Highway skirting the other side of the valley.

At first there was a lot of color as we climbed out of the dark green forest, but before long there was only snow and rocky cliffs, sure enough. There were glaciers by the dozen, some of them perched in hanging valleys, others stretching into the distance like long wide rivers of ice.

Our flight took us delightfully close to the jagged peaks as Dan zig-zagged his way between spires and pinnacles all along the way. We soon reached Mount McKinley itself, a huge, disorganized heap of rock with all sorts of cliffs and mounds facing in all directions and several glaciers oozing from its high canyons and valleys.Pretty soon we made a wide banking turn over a massive glacier and headed back through the dizzying maze of peaks as Dan pointed out a trail across a snow field left by the last team of climbers on the mountain. I wondered how they knew where it was safe to cross; I was seeing dozens of crevasses from the air.

Eldridge glacier is 35 miles long and hundred of feet thick. — Eldridge glacier is 35 miles long and hundreds of feet thick.

This flight to the Mountain was certainly the pinnacle of my Alaska experience. We are just about halfway through our summer in the land of the midnight sun and realizing that it is such a vast area that we will not get to see everything; there is just no way.

Seeing it from the air certainly covers a lot of territory in a short time. Maybe I’ll get to catch another flight around the Mountain before my time is up here. What a natural high!

Dan was my pilot on Denali Air. — Dan does a great job as pilot and owner of the flight-seeing company, Denali Air.

My flight was arranged by my son-in-law, Scott, the owner of Denali Adventure Tours. It’s just one of many adventure trips they provide.

(Click on any of the photos in this post to see a larger view.)

The Alaska Highway

The Alaska Vibe

June 23, 2014 Rob Sims 2 Comments

Milepost 6-23-14 Denali Park, Alaska

We have been at Denali for a few days now and are enjoying the international flavor of the tourist scene. Not only are the tourists from every place you can imagine, so are the seasonal workers. We are camped right behind the ice cream shop where several Bulgarians are working this summer. It’s one store in a long line-up of services offered along the boardwalk, from souvenirs to adventure trips to salmon bakes and pizza.

My daughter has worked 9 years as a barista and manager at the Black Bear Coffee House on the boardwalk at Denali. — My daughter has worked for 9 years as a barista and manager at the Black Bear Coffee House on the boardwalk at Denali.

Any day on the boardwalk or the campground we may hear an assortment of languages spoken, from German to Japanese to Russian.

Not only are the inhabitants of this community a very diverse bunch, so are the sights and surroundings of the area.

This morning I went for a bike ride through the canyon where the whitewater rafters and kayakers venture, while on the high bluff above a train went by loaded with sightseers, and a helicopter took off to fly over the ridge to a glacier landing in the next valley.

Bikers, kayakers, bus and train and plane sightseers may all be seen in the same panorama. — I biked through the canyon of the Nenana River where the whitewater rafters do their stuff.

It is a delightfully eclectic mix of sights and scenes here, that makes every day interesting in its own way. It is very much unlike our environment in Michigan. Even the wildlife is foreign to us. We haven’t seen a whitetail deer in months, but yesterday were up close and personal to the caribou in the Denali high country. Weird.

The hiking trails in the area offer close-up encounters with caribou, mountain sheep, moose, bears and more.

Summer solstice was a new experience for us, with a beautiful sunset after midnight that didn’t turn into nighttime… the sun skimmed along sidewise just behind the mountain ridge and then came back up at around 3 am!

Nighttime never came at our little town at Denali on summer solstice.

Every morning when I wake up I have to remind myself where I am… or just look out a window and let the mountains above the RV park do it for me.

I finally got to photograph Mt. McKinley yesterday – from 75 miles away with a telephoto lens! I’m hoping to get closer on a flight-seeing trip sometime in the next few weeks.

Mt. McKinley (Denali) from a distance of 75 miles on the Parks Road.

So the Alaska vibe is a very eclectic one. I’d say that if variety is the spice of life, the flavor of Denali is seasoned to perfection. Great fun!

The Alaska Highway

The Alaska Highway – The Adventuring Persona

June 15, 2014 Rob Sims Leave a comment

Milepost 3395 Dawson City, BC, to Delta Junction, Alaska.

Everywhere we stopped along the Alaska Highway we met people, and here’s the thing: They were all originally from somewhere else. Texas, Utah, Ohio, Ontario, Ireland or parts farther removed, they gave varying answers to the first question that we all asked each other at every new stop: “Where are you from?” Not until we reached the most remote settlements in the Yukon did we encounter the First Nation folks who would answer, “Here. Always been here.”

Donna at Coal River Lodge at Milepost 533, was the owner and chief cook. Her lodge is up for sale. — Donna at Coal River Lodge at Milepost 533, was the owner and chief cook for 14 years. Now her lodge is up for sale.

The other unique trait of these immigrants to the great north was their eccentricity. It seems that the sort of people who would answer the call of the wild are the sort that are essentially non-conformists. Undaunted by solitude and the lack of conveniences, they had settled into the most unwelcoming locations this side of the border where services were limited and dangers were high.

Paul has spent his life servicing the heavy equipment at the lodges along the Alcan Highway. — Paul has spent his life servicing the heavy equipment at the lodges along the Alaska Highway.

Alfred, born in Texas, was perpetually cycling the Alaska Highway, at 71 years old sometimes pedaling all night to reach the next outpost. — Homeless Alfred, born in Texas, is perpetually cycling the Alaska Highway, at 71 years old the constant wanderer sometimes pedaling all night to reach the next outpost.

Every roadhouse and lodge was operated by displaced or re-placed – or maybe mis-placed wanderers. We met RV park owners who had come out from the city to start a new life, we met university students working a summer job in the tourist industry, and there were cooks and heavy equipment repairmen helping to keep the outposts operating for one more season.

Toad River Lodge has 7,000 hats attached to the ceilings. — Toad River Lodge has a collection of 7,000 hats attached to the ceilings.

The other thing that was unusual about these unusual business owners was the quirky attempts they made at competing for the diminishing tourist dollars. Chainsaw carvings were popular, Old West themed RV parks, the “world’s largest weathervane (a DC-3 airplane mounted on a post)”, a museum of stuffed trophies from musk-ox to moose, or left-behind WWII vehicles (the troop transport still operating for bear tours through the forests out in back).

The western saloon-themed RV park at Fort Nelson, BC, had chainsaw-carved benches and rifles for door pulls.

So, one of the off-handed delights of the Road Trip of a Lifetime along the Alaska Highway is the quirky and tenacious proprieters of the entire 1,500-mile-long complex who are keeping it all going.

Or not. Perhaps two-thirds of the lodges we passed were closed and boarded up, some a long time ago, some last year. It’s a rough life up here, and it’s a rougher job trying to keep the outposts open when the tourist revenue is diminishing year by year.

We developed a deep appreciation for these tough folks who serve the would-be adventurers like us, keeping us safe for the night and fueling us up for the next stretch of highway. Mighty good folks there, all along the way, and we enjoyed meeting them!

The Signpost Forest was started by Carl Lindley, a US soldier who was helped construct the Highway. We added our sign to the 72,000+ collection. — The Signpost Forest at Watson Lake, Yukon, was started by a US soldier who helped construct the Alaska Highway. We added our sign to the 72,000+ collection.

Can you find our sign at the Sign Forest? (Just left of and slightly below center.) — Can you find our sign at the Sign Forest? (It’s just about in the center. Click on photo to enlarge.)

Here are a few more photos that we captured along our transit of the official 1,488 miles of the Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek BC to Delta Junction, Alaska:

The second log bridge at Canyon Creek was designed to carry military vehicles and civilian traffic alike. It would have easily supported our pickup and RV but we crossed a newer one.

Canyon Creek bridge 2 — Kaye studied the ingenious log engineering of the early bridge builders.

I explored the ruins of Silver City, Yukon, a once-thriving mining town of 3,000 residents. — I explored the ruins of Silver City in theYukon Territory, a once-thriving mining town of 3,000 residents, now empty.

The roadhouses were built to service the traffic along the Alaska Highway in 1942-1943. The one at Prophet River closed many years ago. — The roadhouses were built to service the traffic along the Alaska Highway in 1942-1943. This one at Prophet River BC, closed many years ago.

“Lum and Abner’s, Since 1942” says the sign on the truck door. It’s part of highway history now.

We finally reached Denali, a day’s travel past the end of the Alaska Highway, beyond Fairbanks. We have found a campsite right behind The Black Bear Coffee House where our daughter, Wendi, works every summer. I’ll be writing about their transient lives next.

We caught our first glimpse of Mt. McKinley (Denali) from 150 miles away before we reached Fairbanks. — The Alaska Range looks majestic from the highway east of Fairbanks.

The Alaska Highway

Miles and Miles of Mountains

June 13, 2014 Rob Sims Leave a comment

Milepost 3395 Fort Nelson, Yukon, to Delta Junction Alaska

Well, we have traveled the official distance of the Alaska Highway which covers 1,488 miles between Dawson Creek, BC and Delta Junction in Alaska. But nobody stops and stays in Delta Junction; it’s just an intersection on the way to several other more distant destinations. We are heading on to Fairbanks tomorrow and then to our final goal, Denali Park where our kids live and work every summer.

I have made few blog posts along the way because I didn’t have access to the internet. Further, several of the RV parks we stayed at were so far from the electrical grid that they were operating on their own power plants, so we could hear the faint hum of the generator all night. Every village and lodge north of Fort Nelson has to generate its own electricity. I guess wifi is a bit much to ask for when there isn’t even an electrical power grid in place.

For hundreds of miles we traveled along the foot of the Canadian mountain ranges. That is, when we weren’t working our way over some steep high pass or through a narrow canyon. We developed a new respect for the Rockies here. No, call it what it is: fear. These mountains are beautiful from a distance, but up close they are intimidating. Our adventure threshold was crossed several times into the area of anxiety.

It seemed we spent an entire day in second gear as the pickup labored up the steep climbs to Summit Pass only to be followed closely by the decline that required many miles of engine braking in order to save the brakes. Scary stuff, man.

Our trek through the Yukon was an episode that deserves its own coverage, but let me quickly say that the roads there are terrible. The Canadian engineers either haven’t learned yet how to design roads that will not be heaved by the permafrost every winter and summer, or they don’t have the money to do it right. I suspect that funding is the big problem as there was a marked difference in the quality when we crossed into Alaska which is a rich petroleum state.

Anyway, the frost heaves have rendered the pavement a mess of dips and ridges and mounds that have turned the highway into an off-roader’s dream. But for the RV-er it’s a nightmare. 35 mph was too fast for a lot of it. We entered the RV with caution at every rest stop to push things back into their places in the cupboards and re-organize the stuff in the fridge.

I’ll be writing much more about this epic adventure in subsequent posts, but I want to say right here that, even though I didn’t entirely know what I was getting into, I do not regret my decision to assault the Alaska Highway with a pickup and an RV. It assaulted me back, but I have lived to tell about it, and tell about it I will.

Watch for it in subsequent posts. With photos. I’ll add photos as soon as I return to digital civilization.

The Alaska Highway

We Have Arrived at the Beginning

June 8, 2014 Rob Sims 1 Comment

Milepost 2040 Cache Creek to Dawson Creek, British Columbia

Today we made it to the official start of the Alaska Highway, Mile Zero, at Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada. That is after driving 2,000 miles northward from where we spent the winter and spring near Los Angeles, California. We’ve been on the road for eleven days, covering 1,300 miles up the west coast and another 700 after crossing the border into Canada.

This is just the beginning of the next stretch of the road trip of a lifetime!

We celebrated our arrival at the beginning by treating ourselves to a pizza in downtown Dawson Creek. Then we hit the Safeway market to stock the fridge and cupboards for the big stretch across the mountains and tundra to Alaska. It will take another week or more, and the outposts and fuel stops are few and far between.

A panorama of the Rocky Mountains we drove around today.

The scenery has been beautiful, an ever-changing panorama from narrow rocky river canyons to hilly forested highlands to snow-capped mountain ranges. We have churned our way up steep climbs, over passes, and then descended carefully down the other side. We have passed through tunnels and crossed countless high bridges, marveling at the engineering feats pulled off by the early trail blazers.

Tomorrow we are hoping to put a bit more west in our northwest; it’s been heavy on the north so far. In fact, the compass on the dash seemed confused today as we managed a twisting stretch around a mountain range and drove east instead of west; it was dizzying.

Tomorrows’ route is more straightforward, so we’re hoping to cover a lot of ground. Denali is waiting for us.

The Alaska Highway

Life on the Road has its Ups and Downs

June 6, 2014 Rob Sims Leave a comment

Milepost 1518: Chilliwack to Cache Creek, British Columbia

We crossed the border into British Columbia yesterday and the border guard wanted to know where we were going.

“Alaska, where our kids live and work every summer,” I said.

“Do you know how far it is to Alaska?”

“Yes,” I said.

“And how long will it take you to get there?”

“We are allowing two weeks,” I replied.

“So you’re taking it nice and slow.” He seemed satisfied that we knew what we were up against and waved us through.

Today I wasn’t so sure I knew what we were doing up here.

We are traveling northward through the rugged Rocky Mountains, and our winding route today took us through seven tunnels and over several passes. There’s no easy way around it for the RV-er. The easy way would have been to fly to Alaska, but it’s too late for that, and where’s the challenge in that anyway? We must keep going.

One tunnel leads to another on the road through the mountains.

It seems to be slow going for us with the formidable terrain we are facing these days. We only covered about 150 miles today before we tired out and headed for a reprieve at a wayside RV park at Cache Creek, an old gold rush supply town that continues its service to wayfarers 100 years later.

A close look at this photo reveals 4 railroad tunnels on the other side of the Fraser River.

Today I re-named this place “the land of 1,000 waterfalls,” because it seemed that every little stream we crossed was plunging to its death in some beautiful leap off a precipice. The melting run-off has no other way to get to the mighty river below and eventually to the ocean. Rather like us having no other way out of this canyon but to get back on the highway and head farther north tomorrow morning.

Last night we camped below Bridal Falls at Chilliwack, BC.

But at least if we are in the middle of nowhere, nowhere sure is beautiful!

The Alaska Highway

The Days Are Getting Longer

June 4, 2014 Rob Sims 2 Comments

Milepost 1160: Ashland, OR, to Olympia, WA

We have been on the road for six days now and have covered just about a fourth of our distant from Fillmore, California, to Denali, Alaska. We have slowed down a couple of times to visit with friends and family that we haven’t seen in decades. Great reunions!

The days are getting longer as we head farther north each day and it’s still almost three weeks to summer solstice. Tomorrow our goal is to cross the border into Canada near Vancouver, British Columbia.

We have been enjoying a variety of campsites, from crowded line-ups with little privacy to the big woods in the middle of nowhere like where we are tonight near Olympia, Washington.

Our campsite in the tall trees near Olympia, WA.

While we have been charging through the west coasts great cities, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, we have also blown right past some of the lower 48’s signature mountains: Mt. Shasta, Lassen Peak, Crater Lake, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helen’s and Mt. Rainier. I guess we are on a mission to get to the continent’s premier peak, Mt. McKinley (Denali).

I have hardly had the camera out yet, because I’ve got both hands on the wheel all day. And when we finally stop to find a campsite each evening, we are usually near the freeway and don’t have time or energy to venture to the nearest attractions.

We may have to return at some future point and dedicate more of our attention to the bountiful world of beauty that blankets America’s west coast. For this time, unfortunately, it’s mostly a means to an end.

We breezed right past California’s signature peak, Mt. Shasta, only stopping for a couple of photos.

The Alaska Highway, The California Quest

Steinbeck Wrote the Book on RV-ing – (Kaye)

June 1, 2014 Rob Sims 4 Comments

Milepost 613: Salinas to Redding, California

His book is called Travels With Charley, and John Steinbeck did his research for it while on an extended circle tour of the lower 48 states in a Chevy pickup camper that he called Rocinante.

Steinbeck's pickup camper, Rocinante, at the Steinbeck Center in Salinas, CA — Steinbeck’s pickup camper, Rocinante, at the Steinbeck Center in Salinas, CA

We stayed two nights at Salinas, California, so we could spend some time at the birthplace and museum of John Steinbeck. We feel a connection with the author as similar travelers a generation apart. Kaye writes about it here.

The interior of Steinbeck's pickup camper. — The interior of Steinbeck’s pickup camper.

(Kaye writes) Travels with Charley is John Steinbeck’s story of traveling the country in an early version of the pickup camper “in search of America” in the fall of 1960. I had read it several years ago, but it seemed only fitting to re-read it while on our epic journey. I carried it in the cab of our pickup truck to read while driving across the country in January, but discovered very little time to read – maybe because I was too busy observing America on my own journey.

Once we settled in at our new spot in southern California, I pulled out the book and once again appreciated Steinbeck’s writing. I did a bit of research on his life and decided to read some more of his stuff. In that process I discovered that he had grown up not too far from where we were living. When we began to plan our journey northward, we decided to drive through that area that had shaped so much of his writing. So we did that two days ago, up along the Salinas River, past the town of Soledad which provided the setting for Of Mice and Men, and then to the town of Salinas where we became tourists for a day. We took pictures of the house where Steinbeck was born, we walked the streets he walked and we ate lunch where he had eaten. And yes, we toured the National Steinbeck Museum which by the way is the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to a single author – and learned much more about his life and his writings and about the area that provided the background for so many of his stories.

I enjoyed the exhibits which are arranged according to the geographical settings of his many titles, but the culmination of my quest was to see Rocinante, this vehicle that has inspired so many of us. It was a good day, a fun day, and an educational day.

But more than the area, more than the historic sites, more than the accolades (and there were many!) even more than Rocinante, what I like best about Steinbeck and what I can carry with me are his words.

…

“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. … We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”

“I saw in their eyes something I would see over and over in every part of the nation – a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any Here. They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move about, free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something. I saw this look and heard this yearning everywhere in every state I visited. Nearly every American hungers to move.”

“I pulled Rocinante into a small picnic area… and got out my book of maps. And suddenly the United States became huge beyond belief and impossible ever to cross. … It was like starting to write a novel. When I face the desolate impossibility of writing five hundred pages a sick sense of failure falls on me and I know I can never do it. This happens every time. Then gradually I write one page and then another. One day’s work is all I can permit myslf to contemplate… So it was now, as I looked at the bright-colored projection of monster America.”

The birthplace of John Steinbeck is now a restaurant.

(Bob writes) Our epic trip to Alaska has to be advanced in small sections too, a day at a time, so that we aren’t overcome with that “sick sense of failure” that Steinbeck experienced.

Today we head north only 130 miles, to visit some of Kaye’s relatives in Ashland, Oregon, then on to Portland the next day, “gradually writing one page and then another,” like Steinbeck.

(This is our last post under the category, The California Quest, as we are leaving the state today after 5 months of west coast residency.)