Driving Back from Alaska - August 2024

Part 2 of the Last Hoorah

Aug 2

Started out from Fairbanks at 8:30 AM. (All times local) We debated staying at Deadman Lake again--the canoes were fun--but when we got there it was still quite early in the day so we drove past it. We did stop for a break at the Tetlin Visitors Center. Most of the day was spent driving without much for stops. We made it all the way to Kluane Lake and set up camp in the electric bear fence again. So we traveled in one day what took us two days on the way to Fairbanks.

That's our tent. There were over 10 sites in the fence for tents.

After we had supper, we again walked on the beach which is covered in a wide variety of 1 to 3 inch rocks of all colors.

For a while we joined an older lady who was traveling the highway by herself and we had an interesting conversation with her.

Aug 3

We took our time with making breakfast and then again walked on the beach.

Leaving the campground after 10:30 we only went a few miles down the road and stopped that the Soldiers' Summit Trailhead. It is a trail that follows the original Alcan up to where the opening ceremony for the highway was held. We continued past there to where the old road gets out of the trees with a clear view of the valley. A couple of rangers came on from the side. They were checking wildlife cameras up the side of the mountain where they had placed salt licks. The main highway is salted in the winter and the licks are placed to keep the wild mountain sheep from getting on the road. The rangers see all kinds of wildlife on the cameras.

Just past where she stands the original road colapsed in a rock slide and was taken away.
The current highway is far below close to the shore of the lake.

We stayed on the old highway until we came to a place where there was a rock slide that took the whole road right off the side of the mountain. From there we walked back to the car and had lunch since it was now 1:00.

After a stop at the Haines Junction Visitors Center, where we saw a lot of things that we had missed before, we drove on to Whitehorse. 75% of the population of the entire Yukon Territory lives in Whitehorse. We set up camp in the city campground, which is very nice. It was Saturday and there are several chuches in Whitehorse so we stopped earlier than usual so that we would be able to attend church on Sunday morning.

After fueling the car we hiked a trail across the Yukon River and upstream to a fish ladder at a dam on the river. The salmon run was over so we didn't see any fish in it.

A ways below the dam taken from the middle of the Yukon River (on a walkway bridge)

Upon returning to the camp we hiked across a different smaller bridge, close to the campground, to an island and followed a trail all the way around the large island. There were lots of rasberry bushes and people picking them.

Having another hour of daylight left we got on the riverfront paved walkway and went about a mile back to the main part of town and back. We slept well that night!

Aug 4

After packing up the tent and gear there was still a lot of time before the 10:30 church service so, with the car, we drove back across the Yukon River and to the dam we had walked to. This time we went farther to the top of the dam and saw the other side. It was a beautiful morning.

On a ridge just upstream of the dam.

The church service at Grace Community Church (EV Free) was very good. We had so much in common with these people who lived over 2,000 miles from our home. Before the service I chatted with the elder that preached the sermon. He was familiar with the CRC and said he had even spoken in some. He even mentioned some Dutch names he knew from Grand Rapids. The fellowship and the sermon was good and we both learned something new about the passage from John. Had communion too. There was pot-luck lunch after the service, but we opted to have a quick lunch of our own and then drive some more in the afternoon.

We got as far as Watson Lake and camped at the campground at the lake. It is across the lake from the airport where we camped several times when we had flown the highway.

Watson Lake (the lake and campground are a ways from the town)

Aug 5

Leaving the campground we went to the visitors center in Watson Lake (the town). A good place to visit and to clean up. They even had showers in the bathrooms. (It is shared with a recreation center)

We passed another heard of buffalo at the side of the road

Shortly after noon we arrived at Liard Hot Springs. You should never go by the springs without soaking in the hot mineral water. We ate sandwiches and then went for a soak. The springs are a long walk on a boardwalk outside of the electric bear fence that completely surrounds the picnic and campground areas, a large area. It's interesting listening to the conversations among the "soakers"--where they are from, where they are going and small talk about their lives and travels.

At Summit Lake we stopped to see if the beaver had plugged the hole we had made on our trip up. He had worked on it but the water was still running at a good rate.

We made it to Fort Nelson and camped in the Triple-G campground which is mostly RVs but they did have an area for a few tents too. They didn't allow cooking or camp stoves on the picnec tables. What?? We checked the menu at their restaurant but decided the prices were a lot better at a fast-food place, so we took the car and drove a ways in town and found one.

There was a museum next door so we strolled there and walked through the old equipment from construction days. The inside part was closed but there was plenty to see outdoors--even a wrecked military plane.

Aug 6

We packed up early and left. About noon we stopped in a small town called Taylor. They had a visitors center in a little rebuilt trapper's cabin. The attendant was very welcoming and there free fresh coffee. A good break.

Once again we stopped at the start of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek.  We made sandwiches for lunch at the car. Then a gas stop at Fox Creek and stopped for the day at Whitecourt Lions Campground.

The seat was like a recliner with the peddles out in front of him.

A man at the site next to us had a 3-wheeled bike(?) pulling a cart with a large array of solar panels. He was from Switzerland and had toured eastern Europe with it, across the Czech Republic and to the west coast of Asia. He then shipped it across the ocean to Vancouver and had taken it all the way up to Dawson City and Alaska and was heading back south.

Aug 7

We intended an early start thinking we were behind schedule but with time changes we slept late. Then, since the visitor center across the road from the campground was opening just as we came to the entrance, we decided to check it out. Good thing! Lots of interesting museum stuff. The big thing about it... (Providence) I asked if she had an Alberta map. She did and unfolded it. I showed her where we were headed for the day and in doing so I saw a city named Drumheller. In our flying days, when talking with another plane, they said they were going to Drumheller to see some famous dinosaur place there. Well now it was on our way so we changed our route and decided to go there for the day's destination.

We left the visitors center by 9:30 and after some time we passed the solar guy peddleing on the shoulder of the 4-lane highway.

We drove around the outside of Edmonton but when we headed south the traffic was still heavy so we opted to get off the main highway. (Providence) While driving on a secondary road and not near any town we passed about 30 acres of horse trailers and people leading horses around. U-turn! (my bride likes horses) So we go in through the gate and find a nice arena with 4-H barrell races in progress. We learned it was 5 day event and involved an estimated 1000 entries. They pay out over $260,000 Canadian, the top individual payouts are over $14,000 Canadian! 2 days of group A qualification followed by 2 days of group B. Then a day of the finals. They were going through the entries rapidly... no time to get bored. We watched for a while, had lunch from a food truck and then back on the road.

We arrived at Drumheller after 3:00 and went to an info place. We were told that motels were nearly full. They keep a running update of the local motels as to how many rooms are available. Most were full but one motel that was close by was not answering their phone. Since it was only a block or two away we went there to check first. One room left! (Providence)

We walked back to the info place and asked what they'd recommend if we only had one day. She drew out a loop with a bunch of things circled and it sounded good to me.

The big museum was the first stop and was open until 9 pm so we figured we'd do that and the rest the following morning. We drove to the museum. It had a LOT of fossils and displays, but its approach to it all was 100% atheistic. We spent hours there, went through the whole thing and we were the very last ones to exit a few minutes before 9. No problem finding our car! The parking lot was empty.

There were trails from the museum so we took a very short one and then called it a day.

Aug 8

After breakfast at the motel we drove back to the museum and hiked a longer loop trail into the badlands.

We visited a tiny church called "The Little Church". It seats 6.

From there to a scenic spot overlooking Horsethief Canyon and the river valley.

A free ferry ride across the Red Deer river

and a quick visit to the Hoodoos (eroded rock formations) before leaving the Drumheller area and heading south.

We arrived at our granddaughter's home somewhere between Lethbridge and Medicine Hat at 4:00. They are involved in a family farm there. She gave us tour of various places, visited a sow that had just delivered 9 piglets (they do their own butchering, sausage and bacon making.) and we spent an hour or two riding along in combines (they had 3 going) harvesting lentils.

The field was a mile and a half long! Then a supper and visiting until bedtime.

They live in an RV until they can move into a house so we set up our tent on the grass. Little did we realize that during the night the automatic sprinkler system kicks on. Oh well, we stayed dry.

Aug 9

We said good-bye at 8:30 and crossed the border at Sweetgrass, MT. Our cell phones started working again! Through Canda we just used them on WiFi at visitor centers.

We worked our way east to I-94 at Glendive, MT and continued East. Somewhere along the way we realized we would be going right by Theodore Roosevelt Nation Park! (Providence) We got a campsite at Medora, ND.

It was a city of RVs parked side-by-side with little space between but the tent area was spacious with lots of elbow room. And, for once, the showers were free! It was dark by the time we cooked our meal and had showers so that was it for the day.

Aug 10

The loop in the park was closed at one point for construction so we drove most of it and then backtracked. We did stop at one of the trailheads and do a hike. We saw a few buffalo (ho hum) and lots and lots of prairrie dogs.

After that it was drive and drive and drive and arrived home about 6:30 pm.

There was much, much more that is not recorded here. And, of course, a highlight was speding a week with kids and grandkids! We have over 500 pictures! We spent 29 days together non-stop and we're still married! Actually it was a pleasure for me (my bride will have to speak for herself.)

We put 6,945 miles on the car in the 29 days. AVERAGE gas mileage for the entire time was 31.9 mpg!  Speed limits of 56 mph and sometimes 62 mph on the AK highway and a tail wind on I-94 contributed a lot to that number. We had planned on using motels over 50% of the time but ended up with only 2 nights in motels. With a few exeptions, campgrounds were around $20 in US dollars. Gas was our biggest expense at about $950 US dollars, over 50% our total cost.

It was GREAT second honeymoon!!!