Alaskan Adventures 2014 with Rich & Mary

Aug. 9 & 10:     There have been some pretty neat places we have stopped at along the roads that have so much history to them. On our way from Dawson City down the Klondike Hwy. there is an old roadhouse that used to be so important to many travelers. It is the Montague Roadhouse. It was built in the early 1900s and was used as a stop for the winter mail delivery.  The roadhouse partially stands yet today.  

We also met some cute little critters along the roads when we would make a stop. This little guy was so busy he really didn't have much time to spend chatting with us. We met him when we were headed back to Whitehorse where we made another night's stay at Hi-Country Campground. 

Rancheria Falls

Moss & lichens 

We couldn't possibly stop at all the waterfalls we went by, but this particular waterfall we made sure to stop at. It is called Rancheria Falls which is located south of Whitehorse. It was so nice to take a walk on a great trail through the woods to see the falls. The Alaska and Yukon mountain sides have a constant cascade of falls down them all summer long. The forest floor was covered with this awesome carpet of moss and lichens that were fun to step on; it was like a spongy carpet.

Along the way down to Watson Lake, we stopped to get a pop from out of the trailer. Rich waited for me in the truck while I went to the trailer. When I stepped back out of the trailer I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. When I looked, here was a black bear running from the woods in back of the trailer. I yelled to Rich, "There's a bear out here!" Then I thought I should get in the truck to get my camera. By the time I did that the bear was across the road and into the woods on the other side of the road. Boy, he sure didn't waste any time and he sure didn't care about me. Whew!  No, I didn't get a picture.

Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake

Aug. 11     We stayed just outside of Watson Lake last night.  We wanted to check out a very popular place in Watson Lake called "The Sign Post Forest". We tried to find the Scholma's sign that they had posted a few years ago. After spending probably 1-1/2 to 2 hours searching, we just plain gave up.  There are over 78,000 signs that through the years people have put up. At least is was fun looking.

We are headed for Liard River Hot Springs today. After spending some time in Watson Lake, we headed down the road, which was such a beautiful drive.  What really made it fun was that we saw 3 black bears and a herd of bison. They think they own the road!  

Liard River Hot Springs 

We got to Liard River Hot Springs late in the afternoon and found a very nice spot to camp in the provincial park there.  After having some supper we took our towels and headed for the hot springs. It was like sitting in a very hot hot tub!  It smells of sulfur from the minerals in the water that come from the bottom of the springs. We slept good that night after relaxing in the steamy water.  It was a fun day.


Aug. 12:     The area we were going through today had so many different types of landscape.  A lot of it was extremely rocky. We had some pretty steep mountain roads to go over and many places along the way looked as if the mountains had a stone fight with each other!  There were places that had what looked like stone avalanches. One area is called Stone Mountain where you usually will see stone sheep.  We were lucky to see three of them. Isn't she pretty? She is real even if she does look like stone!

We spotted two more black bears and also got pretty close to a moose along the road. We have seen quite a few different animals during our trip. It's always a thrill to all of a sudden see an animal just enjoying themselves eating and not caring too much about all those crazy tourists stopping to take their picture.





Another special place to get a terrific picture is by the Muncho Lake area.  The water has so many different colors.  This is a favorite of many people to stop and stay awhile.  

Muncho Lake

One of the oil trucks

Aug. 13     We had heard so many stories of all the oil field workers and the problems with the trucks from Ft. Nelson down to Dawson Creek.  We were amazed at all the trucks connected with the oil fields for miles and miles. We never had a problem with them or their trucks.  We stayed last night in a campground along the Sikanni River where some of the workers were staying. I was concerned that it might be a party bunch at night, but they were all in bed before we were :) One of the things that I noticed in this whole area was that is seemed to be very dry and the dust was terrible.  Things just seemed so dirty because of all the dust flying from the trucks.

Aug. 14      Another issue we started to notice before we left the Sikanni area was the haze as we looked out at the mountains. It soon became apparent that it wasn't fog or haze, but it was smoke from forest fires that have been burning in the Yukon. The different people we talked to said that there were so many fires burning and many fires had started from lightning strikes. Along with the dry conditions, it was starting to be a big problem. We had plans to stay in the Dawson Creek area, but the smoke was so bad, we decided to continue driving to try to get away from the heavy smoke.  We ended up driving to Grande Prairie, Alberta.  There still was some smoke, but not that it caused us any problems.

Smoke in Dawson City

Before getting to Grande Prairie, we did stop in Dawson Creek because we had to have our picture taken by the Mile 0 sign. We found a nice couple who was more than happy to snap a picture of us by the sign.





Aug. 15:     It was a longer day of travel today from Grande Prairie to Vermilion, Alberta.  The mountains are in our rear view mirror now and the countryside is mostly on the flatter side in this part of the country.  The stone and water falls have now become fields of wheat and other crops.  We still are seeing a lot of oil field related machinery and trucks. The oil sure has taken over this part of the country. The roads are responding to the heavy traffic of the trucks by arching their backs and providing a VERY bumpy ride.  We got to travel through Edmonton, Alberta, which really wasn't very difficult at all. It would have been fun to go see the big Edmonton Mall, but we decided to just boogie through and just wave at Edmonton.

Aug. 16:     Saskatchewan, we have you in our sites!  We can tell we are aiming our route towards home the last couple of days.  Saskatchewan is like the upper northern route through the states. The land is quite flat with some very interesting areas of hills and valleys. It really is pleasant to ride along and see the miles of wheat fields and canola blossoming out in its yellow flowers.  The colors of the crops are a delight to the eyes.

Tonight we are staying in the capital of Saskatchewan, which is Regina. Tomorrow we will be continuing on Canada Hwy 1. We decided to take this road instead of following Hwy. 16, because after Saskatoon, Hwy 16 becomes a two-lane road. We thought we would enjoy traveling on a divided highway instead.  We will probably be in Canada one more day before we get to the International Peace Gardens on the border of Canada and the U.S.  We hope to take a little time enjoying the gardens and then drop down into the U.S. and taking Hwy. 2 all the way through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and then on home.  I'll try to make one more post before we get home. Here are a couple of pictures I thought you might enjoy.

Old barn along the road in Saskatchewan

Rich's new way of wearing his hat!

Mary enjoying her outdoor kitchen