Well, we “crushed it” from McCarthy AK to Vancouver B.C. One one day of rest/fun, otherwise, 8/9 days driving, covering 2,250 miles. I’ll try to cover a few highlights, but truly we were driving all day. Almost all of this was done in the rain, and two of the days were the worst roads of the trip.
The first day from McCarthy to TOK, I covered in the McCarthy post. It was a monster mostly because we drove in the jeep from McCarthy to Chitina, then had to pack up and drive the RV up to TOK. The Richardson Highway that we were on was mostly good, and very picturesque, but there was a 50 mile stretch that was battered with frost heave (think about sections of road sunken by as much as 10 inches, wide enough to drop one tire down).
Here are a few pics of the long drive day to TOK.
We spent the night in TOK after 3 stops (first park was too small for our rig, but they didn’t tell us until after we paid and had driven into the camping area), second park was too expensive and wouldn’t give us internet, third park worked great, but we were bascially by ourselves which was eerie.
The drive day from TOK to Kluane Lake (Destruction bay area), was the most intense of the trip. The Alaskan (or Alcan) highway just east of the Alaska border is by far, the worst stretch of that road. It’s littered with gravel patches, front heave, pot-holes etc. We had to deal with lots of construction, which usually means waiting as long as 15 minutes at a stoplight for a “pilot car” to come and lead you through a single lane of gravel or dirt road section. It rained most of the way. The moisture was actually really helpful though, as the pooling water helped me identify low spots in the road in advance. We drove until dusk because we wanted to stay at the “Cottonwood RV park” at Kluane Lake where Kane had the Grizzley near-miss. Unfortunately, it was closed for the season, so we had to keep going…
We drove around Kluane Lake in the dark. It turns out the RV is fine to drive in the dark, as long as there is no oncoming traffic. It was actually a pretty neat drive, but Kim was worried that we’d hit wildlife after one Grizzly Bear ran across the road right in front of us (it was large), and 5 minutes later we saw another Grizzley (a blond one ala Denali) running on the left side of the road. So we debated each “turnout” (mini gravel rest areas along side the road) as a potential place to “Boondock”. Many of the rest areas say “no overnight parking or camping”, but we eventually found one that was empty and devoid of such signs. Kim was pretty spooked about camping on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere. I have to admit it did seem strange.
The next morning, we got up, and it was snowing! The ground was still to warm (probably 42 degrees F) for accumulation, but no doubt it was snowing. Furthermore, I opened the shade in the windshield, and there was an airplane parked directly in front of us! When I went out to get the Jeep ready to go, I waved at the pilot who waved back. After the jeep was ready to go, I walked over to the plane. It was a very well maintained “piper” (I assume a cub), white with read trim. The pilot rolled down the window and we had a nice chat. “Where’d you land this thing?”… “Right over there on the road”… “Everything OK?”… “Yeah, I can’t fly in this weather, this had happened before”… He told me he was headed to Arizona from the Kenai peninsula. We commiserated about gas mileage, and determined that we had about the same range (500 miles), but his efficiency is better (48 gallons vs 80 gallons).
I got back to the RV and told Kim the story, she said, “did you offer to help him?”. “I think I did, but I’m not sure”. So I went back over for round two. “Is there anything we can do to help you?… give you a ride to Whitehorse?”. He said no thanks, and we exchanged pleasantries. A few minutes later, back in the RV, there was a knock on the door. Jim was back with a request, could we notify air traffic control when we got to the next town (Haines Junction), and let them know that he was delayed by 3 hours. No problem Kim said, and we offered him some coffee or granola bars. He said no thanks, he had plenty of stuff with him.
We stopped at Haines Junction (one intersection with a police station and 4 businesses), Kim ran into a restaurant, told the story and borrowed their phone to call air traffic control. Good Deed for the day, CHECK!
It was another long, rainy day, ending at “Junction 37” where the Cassiar Highway starts (a right turn for us off of the Alcan). Where we said goodbye to the Alcan, and hello to the Cassiar. We camped at another semi-deserted RV park, which for some reason seems so much more secure than the pull-out on the side of the hiway.
From there, we headed south on the Cassiar. It turns out these mountains produce 80% of the worlds Jade, and we stopped in “Jade City” to learn about Jade mining, and look for souveniers. Jade is expensive! Dice were interesting at $10 apiece, but they were sold out. The kids settled on tiny bears with fish in their mouths. Still, it was fun, and… free coffee!
Kim had picked out a sweet place to camp called “Waters Edge RV Park”, and we drove all day to get there. Unfortunately, they were closed for the season, so we went another 60 miles to “Mountain Shadow RV Park”. It’s for sale, BTW… 1.2 Million. Really nice place, great view of the mountains, access to a nice lake, with a private hiking trail down to the lake. We stayed 2 nights to recharge the batteries. The kids had a great time down by the lake. Biking was tough because of the gravel they used in the campsite area, but it was nice to chill out for a full day and not do much.
From there, we continued south. Some nice folks from MO we had met in Homer (Dempsey was his name), had told us about the bear watching in Hyder Alaska. Demp suggested that camping was better in Stewart B.C., and Hyder was a short drive over. It also happened that the Chiefs were playing the Eagles on Thursday Night Football this night. After some debate (and begging by me), we decided to camp in Stewart B.C. Thur night, so I could watch the Chiefs, and we could pop over to Hyder to see the bears.
Thankfully, there is at least one “sports” bar in Stewart, and Sportsnet broadcasts the Thur Night Football games in Canada. I found a spot to watch: “Casey’s Pub” adjacent to the “King George” hotel in Stewart. Got there 20 minutes till kick off, enough time to get the bartender to turn on the game, and settle in for some pregame. I ordered a Sleeman Honey Brown, and a Denver sandwich. Think ham, green pepper, onion, cheese, and scrambled eggs served on toast (with fries too). It was great. The Chiefs won handily, and the first half was full of big plays by the Chiefs defense and special teams. I got to know some of the regulars at Caseys… mostly guys there for the last 4 months working on a new bridge. I told them they needed to work on their grading on the west end of the temporary bridge, because I almost tipped over coming up.
The next morning, we got up “early”, and went to Hyder AK to look for bears. Quickly as we pulled into town, Kim spotted a black bear on the left side of the road, so we pulled over. Kim asked me to kill the engine, because our clutch is screeching. We got a pretty good look at him (20 seconds), before he went into the bushes and disappeared. We found the “wildlife viewing platform” west of town, and it was amazing. It’s like a boardwalk that juts out between the river and a little pool that is fed by another river. There were tons of fish (dead and alive) around there, and many birds hanging out (and some eating). We waited for maybe 30 minutes or so, but didn’t see any bears. The forest was really nice at 7:30, there was a light rain, and we enjoyed watching the birds and the fish. I guess the bear watching is best there when the salmon are spawning heavy. We should have gone to the dump (but we didn’t learn of this until we crossed the border and the Canadian border agent told us). We went home and rested, then later that day when we left town, I noticed that my pub buddies had corrected the problem that I complained about the night before! I honked to one of them, operating the heavy equipment on my way by, and he waved. It was weird.
So from there, we continued south and reached Vanderhoof B.C. We stayed at “Dave’s RV Park”. Nice enough place. While there, Kim received texts informing us of a friend’s suicide and another friends need for further brain surgery. We’ve been praying for them and their families regularly.
Some of these RV parks really try to nickel and dime you to death! WiFi: 3 dollars, Cable TV: 5 dollars, Shower: 75 cents, Sewer Hookups, charges for the 2 kids, etc etc. Drives me nuts sometimes!
The next day, we drove to Cache Creek. This part of the drive really surprised me, as we started back into the mountains, and the scenery was quite nice. We got there after dark, and it was tight. I’ve decided I don’t like driving the RV at night, because I can’t see 100 feet in front of me when there is oncoming traffic. It’s scary.
The kids played outside all morning at Cache Creek, the campground was “Brookside”, and as the name implies has a creek. It also had a nice playground (that was free!). The kids played, and we explored the creek looking for fish. It was a glorious morning.
The drive from Cache Creek to Vancouver was a bit rougher than I expected. Lots of it was coming across a mountain pass, lots of elevation changes, and some quick, windy sections that will sneak up on you. All two lanes to this point. Once we got close to Vancouver, we got a 4 lane road and thought we were in heaven! That ended when the heavy rain hit, and we got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic in the tunnel. I had to go to the bathroom so badly, that I asked Kim to drive, she swapped in, and I went. It was her second chance to drive, and thankfully she only had to pull forward and stop 2/3 times. Worked like a champ!
Vancouver looks amazing so far. Coming in, I was reminded of San Francisco with the hills and the houses up on the hills overlooking the bay. Downtown has a Seattle vibe, but it seems a tad bit more diverse, and I’d say a healthy amount of “grit”. To me, it seems like a sweet spot between the two cities (San Fran and Seattle). But that’s a 3 day assessment. There is a ton going on, it’s very clean, and tons of residential stuff downtown. Seems to be thriving to me. They say forest fires are vital to renew the forests. I wonder if the same is true for cities? They evidently had a doozy in the late 1800’s. I Love this city! And Stanley Park is my new favorite city park!
