Category: Travel to and from Alaska
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Day 6, Beaver Creek to Johnsons Crossing, YT
So much wildlife near the Alcan Highway today! We saw a grizzly bear, 29 dall sheep, a coyote, several pairs of swans, and lots of grouse. In the evening I walked down to the Teslin River where I saw 3 swimming muskrats and at least 70 swans! It was dusk and the largest group of…
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Day 5, Valdez to Beaver Creek, YT
We were on the Alcan Highway by mid-afternoon and are in Canada tonight. We drove in sun, snow, rain and clouds. The snow wasn’t sticking, so road conditions were much better than our March trip to Alaska. We saw a lot of swans. The white adults were always in pairs with 2 per pond. The…
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Days 3 and 4, Valdez
We are spending 3 nights in Valdez. September 23 and 24 we slept in both mornings, lovely. Two more beautiful days with sunshine and negligible rain. We watched wildlife near the fish hatchery – sea lions, black bears, sea otters, seals, and bald eagles. I hiked out Dock Point Trail and looked at the…
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Day Two, Palmer to Valdez
Beautiful day! It was shockingly sunny, barely rained at all. The scenery was gorgeous – snowcapped mountains, sparkling rivers, shimmering waterfalls. We saw various stages of fall color throughout the day, often brilliant yellow, but sometimes all green and sometimes past peak. We stopped for two glaciers. The Matanuska is a relatively stable glacier that…
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Day One, Healy to Palmer
It was snowing in Healy our last morning. The night before we saw the above bull moose in Denali National Park. What an awesome Alaskan summer we have had! Now it is time to meander back to Virginia, by way of Valdez for one last fishing trip. The mountains were beautiful with their fresh snow,…
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Day Sixteen, Delta Junction to Healy
Over 4800 miles and the travel portion of the journey is over! Our last tourist photo is at North Pole, Alaska ( a real town, but not at the real north pole). We saw 2 coyotes after leaving Delta Junction, the only wildlife today other than birds. As we approached Fairbanks it felt like we…
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Day Fifteen, Western Yukon to Delta Junction, AK
After a cold start (-14.5F, see winter boondock post), we crossed from Canada into the US. We made it to Alaska! Technically we ended today at the finish line of the Alaska Highway, Delta Junction. Five days of driving the Alcan through spectacular scenery and wildlife every day. The common, unofficial end is Fairbanks, which…
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Night Fourteen, Winter Boondock
Pickhandle Lake rest area was closed. The next rest area had beautiful views, 2 outhouses and litter bins. Yes! Then we noticed the signs “no overnight parking or camping”. The sun was low on the horizon AND we were 15 miles from the border (followed by an 18 mile no-mans land). I was getting worried,…
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Day Fourteen, Whitehorse to Pickhandle Lake
We saw a small band of free range (wild?) horses shortly after getting underway. A little further we saw a big coyote but couldn’t get a photo. The scenery has been incredible, especially after the snow cleared and visibility improved. Like so much of the trip, the photos don’t do justice. Writing from Destruction Bay…
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Day Thirteen, Whitehorse
Day started shortly after midnight with our first ever viewing of the aurora borealis. We saw beautiful wavy, curling green streaks from our 3rd floor motel room with North-facing windows. We are looking forward to more viewings (and hopefully some photos) in the coming days and months, if we can pull ourselves out of bed.…
Me & C 