Day 16: Valdez, AK to Haines Junction, YT

568 miles

7 AM – 6:30 local time (5:30 Alaska time)

Thank you, Lord, list:

Same driving in rain

Gorgeous sights despite the rain

No significant construction delays

Yummy tuna sandwiches

Clearing skies

Great Chinese supper

Comfortable beds

This was our longest day. Mom was up by six so we were out the door before 7. (She has left her watch on Seattle time so for her it was almost 7, but that is still early for her.)

There is only one road out of town so it wasn't hard to find. It was raining, but the climb up the Coastal Range was fabulous anyway. If I could have stepped back a little farther, I could have gotten a couple more waterfalls in this picture.

We came around the corner to see this unidentified glacier. There was fresh snow on the higher peaks.

Tunes from "Sound of Music" kept running through my head. On road trips when we were kids, my sister and I would sing through the album from the starting orchestral notes to the final "'Til you find your dream!" I did not do that this time. Just snatches. Over and over.

We have now left Alaska behind with lots of promises to return. There was so much more to see. So many byways left unexplored, even ones marked "scenic" on the map! As of Tok, we are retracing our steps from the trip north. I had this fear that after Denali, the return trip that we had enjoyed so much on the way north would be a disappointment. Not to fear. It still took our breath away--even in places that were not marked "scenic" on the map. It was so North--wild flowers by the road, blue pools on the tundra with mountains in the background and snow-capped peaks beyond. The only thing it lacked was a grazing moose by one of those pools. But Mom did spot a grizzly by the road! 

We are back to wilderness. Alaska is the destination. The roads were much more crowded there with tour buses and RVs. There were more resorts, billboards and tourist attractions. Yukon and northern British Columbia are simply pass-through areas, the end of the world for Canada. As Steve said at one point, "You know you are near civilization when the side roads are paved."

We loved the Kluane Lake region on the way up. As we approached this time we wondered why the mist rising from the water. I even hoped I would catch a rainbow when I stopped for this photo. 

But no. The "mist" turned out to be dust from this dry flood plain at the south end of the lake.

 So just pretend that's mist not dust in this picture with the flowers.



Lots of wind. Hard driving for Steve, not to mention the distance and construction. Actually, the construction areas where the pavement had been taken up and the road was gravel were a LOT better than the heaving asphalt areas they replace. But "What's a road trip to Alaska," Steve asks, "without a few bad roads." You can tell you're getting near civilization when the side roads are asphalt.

Dinner for two at the Chinese restaurant connected with our motel was more than enough for three.

Tomorrow we continue southeast. At Watson Lake we will stay on the Al-Can for the eastern route instead of turning south for Seattle. It will be another long driving day.

Afghan update: I ended yesterday discovering a major error, made worse by an earlier attempt to "adjust". After sleeping on it, I came up with a solution, not to fix the mistake, but merely to get myself back on track. "There goes your chance of a State Fair ribbon," says Steve. Not my goal for the first thing I have knit in 20 years.

Day 10: Haines Junction, YT, to Delta Junction, AK

432 miles

8:40 AM – 4:30 PM Alaska time (which is 5:30 by the time we got up)

Thank you, Lord, list:

We reached Alaska safely!

The privilege of making this trip

Morning light

Breakfast in the woods

No bears on the trail

Today was a low mileage day, so by 6:30 AM I was on the trail by Dezadeash River on the edge of Haines Junction, YT. By the cobwebs in my face, I was the first person through. It was not a very demanding trail—level along the river—but a great chance to stretch my legs. A little more than one and a half hours including devotions and a leisurely breakfast of granola bars and dried fruit with my thermos of tea on the steps of an overlook. This was my view.

The lady at the visitors’ center said that you just need to be noisy so bears hear a human coming and get out of the way.

“Especially when you come around a bend,” she said.

So I called out “Here I come ready or not!” a few times. That seemed a bit boring, so I sang a couple praise songs. I even tried the “Hallelujah Chorus,” but that doesn’t work real well solo when you are out of breath from walking. I did see a couple footprints that I have not yet identified.

It was a glorious morning, and even if it wasn’t a taxing climb like the ones in Korea, I WAS HIKING IN THE YUKON!

We were on the road a little after 8:30. The valley was wide; the mountains distant; foliage was mostly scrubby black spruce. Not a remarkable day after yesterday’s road to Skagway, except for the stretch around Kluane Lake.

The road on the Canadian side was not fun. The freezing and thawing of winter had made the same mess as Highway 70 in Minnesota—some really crazy dippsydoodles. Somewhat better in the US. Lots of this fireweed along the road sides, so called because it is the first vegetation to return after a fire.

Border crossings have all been simple. They want to know about drugs, alcohol and firearms. Canada wanted to know about fruit, but apples with stickers on them are fine. Mom could have gotten through with a birth certificate, but she didn’t have that with her either.

“Facilities” along the road are mostly long drops, but generally not bad smelling. Sometimes there is graffiti. Once Steve saw where someone had written “Never again.” That makes me sad. We are fantasizing out army family being stationed here, giving us an excuse to come at least once a year!

And we continued our tradition of one bear per day. This one was brown--a grizzly, I'm told--and much less quick to escape into the brush at the side of the road. As a matter of fact, when we looked back, he was cavorting in the middle of the asphalt.

After last night’s simple but comfortable accommodation, tonight is a luxury cabin outside Delta Junction when the Alaska Hwy officially ends. Tomorrow is on to Fairbanks to pick up Mom.

Afghan update: Not as much progress because of the bad road, but it felt good on my cold hands this morning. BTW, this picture was taken at 8PM. It won’t get dark here tonight at all.

Lodging: Garden B&B

Day 9: Watson Lake to Haines Junction, YT, via Skagway, Alaska

The plan for the day was the Alaska Highway, route 1 through the Yukon. It could be Minnesota Iron Range except for the mountains up ahead. And the lack of roadkill. Whether the lack of roadkill is because there are not enough cars to hit anything or that there isn’t anything to hit (our game sightings today consisted of one bear), I couldn’t say.

We stopped at Rancheria Falls to stretch our legs and play with the pano feature on my phone.

The highway dipped back into British Columbia (Super Natural!) and then returned to Yukon (Larger than Life).

About then Steve got this super idea. He accuses me of always wanting to know what is around the next corner, but today he was the one eager to leave the main road. Route 8 led south to a town called Carcross (short for Cariboo Crossing, but we didn’t see any). Here's their hundred-year-old Anglican church.

Another road angles back toward Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon, but the road that interested us was the one to Skagway, Alaska.

At the suggestion of the woman in the tourist information office, we picnicked at the boat launch at Tutshi Lake (pronounced Too Shy).

We thought that was fabulous and then we climbed to the snowfields and water meadows at the top of the pass, passing tour buses from Skagway as we did.

If any of you have cruised Alaska, you have no doubt been to Skagway, a tourist town if there ever was one, lined with 19^th century-style shops with a gold rush theme. When we were last here, I did the nine-hour hike to a glacier and back while Steve and Mom took the train we had taken the first time we were here. Today we drove and (while our brakes cooled!) looked across the valley at the train we had ridden before.

When brakes are smoking, they take about fifteen minutes to cool so there was plenty of time to explore.

My daughters will remember that feeling when you mingle with the clean and neat tourists who have taken the cable car to the top of Table Mountain while you have sweated your way up the trail. The feeling was very similar as we parked our dusty car on a street with a couple hundred pedestrians for every vehicle and went in for ice cream. (I have not mastered the art of the selfie or you would see my chocolate cone as well as Steve’s butter brickle.)

We oo-ed and ah-ed our way back over the mountains The scenes we had enjoyed on the way in looked pretty blah on the way out. The day could not have been more perfect, and we made sure the Lord knew how much we appreciated it.

Tonight we are in a simple but clean motel in Haines Junction. It would have been neat to take the ferry from Skagway to Haines and come over the Coastal Range at ta different point, but the next ferry didn’t leave until 2:30 tomorrow. Next time …

Afghan update: No ripping out! Just a few … um … adjustments.

Day 8: New Hazelton, BC to Watson Lake, Yukon

512 miles
6:50 AM to 4:10 PM

Thank you, Lord:
Moose sighting!
Incredible views
privilege of making this trip

We made our way up route 16 and turned north on 37, the Stewart-Alaska Hwy. In the entire length of this road there is one turn off (to Stewart on the Alaska border) other than logging roads. Kind of hard to get lost. I was amazed at the school buses. Where do the kids live? But occasionally we passed a First Nations settlement. Besides the signs that reminded us not to pass school buses when the lights are flashing, there were signs with an odd picture. When I finally was able to read the words underneath, they said, "Do not pass snowplow on the right." Hard to imagine who would even consider passing a snowplow on the right, but you never can tell.

We are north woods people. Yesterday and this morning we kept seeing bits that reminded us of Wisconsin up near Ashland or the upper peninsula of Michigan. But soon it was like nothing in the upper midwest. Snowy mountain calendar pictures everywhere we looked.

And this was BEFORE we got to the scenic route marked on the map. I kept pinching myself. I can't believe we actually get to make this incredible trip.

The scenic part on the map was less scenic for us because it was about then that the clouds closed in and blocked the view. It rained for several hours. I tend to dress for the weather the day before and today was no exception. Day before yesterday I was cold, so yesterday I wore a long sleeved top and my comfy stretch pants. With the sun coming through the glass and no fan, I was hot, so today I wore shorts and sandals. Dumb. We were heading north. I soon added a sweater and mid-morning pulled out my stretch pants to change. Tomorrow I will add socks and closed shoes instead of flip-flops. (BTW immediately after Steve asked God's blessing on today's travel we noticed that the fan had come on. It hadn't even occurred to us to ask.)

Steve raved that Route 37 was everything the road to Alaska should be. Although it started with occasional passing lanes, it narrowed to two lanes without shoulders, but seeing as how we averaged meeting one car every ten minutes or so, it didn't matter. Mostly it was well-paved although one section deteriorated to the level of Burnett County Road A. Gas stations were few and far between. At half tank we filled up to be sure we could make it here to Watson Lake. As we approached steeper sections of the road, we always saw gates like these that could be closed in winter.

Watson Lake where we are staying tonight is on the main Alaska Hwy. Very disappointing. At least in this section it is just like a normal state road back home. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

But this morning was a three-bear morning--all meandering along the side of the road or crossing. Given how quickly they disappeared into the underbrush, I can't imagine that we will ever see one that isn't on the road. I was beginning to think that a bear a day keeps the moose away when Steve almost walloped me in the face. He was pointing to the moose standing at the side of the road, and I would forgive him if he had hit me. A cow, I think, but at this time of year the bulls don't have much in the way of antlers, and the glimpse was brief. No time for photo. Also saw a porcupine, just sitting on the edge of the road watching us. Steve thought he might have seen a wolverine earlier, but I missed it and can't confirm one way or the other.

Talked to Mom via Skype. She has her reservation. We will pick her up Saturday morning in Fairbanks. The passport has been sent, but did not arrive today. Praying it comes tomorrow. The place we are staying tonight would not have worked well for her--a WW2 with barracks with bathrooms down the hall. Simple and clean, but not convenient for those who have to get up in the night.

Supper at Bee Jays, a truck stop where the locals eat. Looks like a dump from the outside, but the guy who runs the hotel said the kitchen was clean and good. Yummy Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes, salad and veges. We followed it up with a hike around Wye Lake and racked up 4000 steps on the Mayo Clinic app on our phones. I  caught my breath when I realized I was hiking in the legendary Yukon.

The tourist attraction in Watson Lake is this sign forest. It seems one of the workers on the Alaska Hwy in 1942 put up a sign from his home town. Others have followed suit. This is only a tiny corner of the "forest" that has grown up. Some were business signs; some were town signs; some were the sort of sign people put up by their lake cottage. My favorite was the one for the sign company.

Afghan update: First time on the pattern row I realized something was off in the first pattern set and had to pick out two pattern repetitions. Sigh. I tend to do a six-stitch section of pattern and then look around at the spectacular scenery before I start the next six-stich section of a different pattern, but I failed to change patterns and had two of the same in a row. Had to pick out two complete patterns (2x12). I was congratulating myself that I had now undoubtedly made all the mistakes possible to make and would henceforth be alert to them and make no more errors when I discovered two dropped stitches that were unraveling. Sigh. HOWEVER, the last row before arriving at Air Force Lodge in Watson Lake I did not have to pick out anything and it came out even with no adjustments necessary--the first such perfect pattern row of this entire afghan!