Heading Back to the Lower 48

July 25 - August 5, 2024

With doctor appointments coming up in South Dakota, we did a lot of back-to-back travel days going from Tok, AK, to Hermosa, SD. We did stop for two nights along the way about every third night in order to give ourselves a break. We retraced the AK Highway to Dawson Creek, forgoing the Cassiar Highway. From Dawson Creek, we headed along what the Milepost book calls the Eastern Access route that enters the USA in Montana.

We skipped the Jasper and Banff areas for this trip and will hopefully visit them another time. Not only were we short on time, the wildfires had been through Jasper, leaving a trail of destruction.

Our first two-day break came in Whitehorse, YT. On our day off, we slipped over to nearby Miles Canyon. It was good to stretch our legs a little. You could easily spend a day hiking the canyon area.

Our next two-day stop was in Edmonton, AB. We went to the mall on our hot day off. That may sound a bit anticlimatic, but West Edmonton Mall is one of the largest malls in North America. Mall of America in MN has more square footage, but West Edmonton has more stores, not to mention an ice rink, a waterpark, an amusement park, two mini-golf places, a dinner theater, an IMAX theater, a sea lion show, an indoor paddle boat area, and several other activities. Who knew?  

A few more overnight stops in Lethbridge, AB; Malmstrom AFB in MT; Hardin, MT, and we were "home" in Hermosa, SD, more than ready to stay in one place for awhile. 

Pedestrian suspension bridge Miles Canyon

Miles Canyon

Beaver Lodge, AB

Lego Lamborghini

Sea Lion Rock - West Edmonton Mall

West Edmonton Mall - ship

World's largest indoor amusement park - sponsored by Hasbro

World's longest and tallest steel viaduct - Lethbridge, AB

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If You Can't Spell Ptarmigan

July 24, 2024

If you can't spell ptarmigan, simply call it Chicken. That's how Chicken, AK, got its name. There were a lot of those birds with that pesky name around this remote Alaska area. The goldpanners had better things to do than to spend time thinking about how to spell. 

Westbound across Top the World Highway to the Taylor Highway, Chicken is one of the few signs of civilization once you cross from Canada to Alaska. It's primarily a couple of campgrounds, a cafe, a saloon, and an emporium. It's bragging rights.

We opted to drive our Jeep up the Taylor Highway from Tok, AK. So glad we didn't take the trip in our motorhome. That road was bouncy.  There are RV caravans that take the route though. We're just glad we didn't. 

Anyway, we took a couple of photos and met Jay from Korea. We had lunch with him at the only cafe in town and heard some of his story. He's an adventure motorcycle rider who has gone from the tip of South America (Ushuaia, Argentina) to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Then there's all the riding he has done through Europe and Asia. We wish him the best in his travels. 

FAQ's

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Valdez Snapshots

 July 21 - 23, 2024

Our drive from Seward to Valdez was beautiful. We retraced our path on the Glenn Highway through the Matanuska River Valley and the Glacier View area where the car launch was held. Then we headed south on the Richardson Highway. The Richardson Highway passes through Thompson Pass, which has some of Alaska's highest snowfall rates. How does a record of 5 ft in a 24 hour period sound? Then you go through the Keystone Canyon just before entering the Valdez area. We'd rank it as one of the prettiest drives we did.

In Valdez, we stopped by the fish hatchery. The salmon were running. The sea lions were feeding. We were told the bears would soon be showing up. So many fish! I think you could just reach in the water and pick one up with your hand had it been allowed. No fishing allowed within 300 ft of the weir.

We opted out of the popular wildlife or glacier tours since we had just taken one in Seward. We walked around town, including a short harbor area walking path. Valdez was not quite as touristy as Seward or Homer, but we were fine with that. 

So many fish!

Enjoying the feed

Sea lion clearing a path through the salmon

Beautiful even in the fog

State flower - fireweed

From the campground

Heading out

Gorgeous

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Kenai Fjords National Park

July 15, 17, 2024

We took a day to recover from our late night drive to Seward and to get a few household things done. We had a week in one place and it was nice to relax a bit. 

We started our Kenai Fjords National Park exploration with a visit to Exit Glacier, about 7 - 8 miles from our campground. We arrived about 10 minutes prior to a ranger led walk and joined in the group. We learned plant succession as a glacier retreats and how that helps scientists date the rate of retreat. 

A couple of days later we took a boat tour to the northwestern glaciers. The sounds the glacier makes as the ice is ready to break off is impressive. The cracking sounds a bit like thunder, only a deeper rumble, deeper to the point where you can feel it. Regrettably, we were unable to capture the sound on video. 

The ice was really blue the day we were there since the sky was a bit cloudy. We thoroughly enjoyed the harbor seals in front of the glaciers too. One little guy seemed rather curious about our boat.

As we started the journey back to Seward, we were treated to the sight of a pod of whales bubble-net feeding. They worked together and formed a bubble circle around the herring and surfaced the water with mouths open. Amazing! 

As the captain of the boat said, "There are whale sighting tours and there are NatGeo tours." What a privilege to see these mighty creatures. Not only did we see the whales hunting, we saw three different species of whales - humpback, killer, and finback Then there were all the otters, sea lions, puffins, and eagles. NatGeo does indeed describe the day, and we've had two such days within the past week at both Katmai and Kenai Fjords National Parks. We are truly humbled by God's creation.

Exit Glacier

Approaching the northwestern glaciers

Can you hear the ice thunking against the hull?

Lots of otters

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Katmai National Park - Brooks Falls Wow

July 13, 2024

We hadn't really planned on taking a bear viewing day tour to Katmai National Park. The expense and no guarantees nature of the tour had put the idea on a back burner. However, when we saw the live bear cam at the Homer visitor center, we decided to give it a try. A cancellation had us scheduled to fly the next day. Weather postponed us by three days, the next space available flight. Weather delayed us, first by two hours, which was announced the day prior, then an additional hour when we arrived. At this point, I was ready to call the excursion off. It was a travel day for us. We had a three plus hour drive to our next campground following the tour return. 

I am so glad we went. The hour and fifteen minute flight was uncomfortable. The weather was cold, barely in the 50's, and rainy. Many of the tours for the day had been cancelled. That worked to our favor. 

The Brooks Falls platform to view the bears typically has a waiting list. You walk 1.25 miles to get to the waiting list. The ranger informed us that some people have had to wait 2.5 hours. If you're in the porta-potty and miss your name being called three times, start over. Only 40 people are allowed at a time, and the time limit is for 30 minutes. We were able to go out to the platform twice with essentially no waiting. While waiting for the Brooks Falls platform, you can view bears from the Riffles platform, but it too can be crowded. 

We personally counted over 25 bears, with others counting over 30 bears. Even the park rangers were impressed with how many bears were on the river that day. Some days there are only 4 bears. Because we saw so many bears and the crowd was small, the experience was a huge win for us. 

Hey, we even made our next campground just after sunset...11:08 pm!

Our transportation

All aboard

Looks like the right trail

Brooks Falls Platform

Feeding time

Looking downstream

Looking upstream

Looking upstream

Siblings on a rock

Mom and cub

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Homer Area

July 9- 13, 2024

We had heard how scenic the Homer area was, and it didn't disappoint. It's definitely a fishing mecca, especially Halibut. Harold couldn't wait to get some fish and chips.

We had talked about flying over to Katmai or Lake Clark National Parks for bear viewing. However, with the cost and uncertain nature of the bear viewing, we hadn't made any plans. When we saw the bear cam at the Homer visitor center, we quickly changed our minds and started calling around. You never know. Sure enough, we stumbled onto a cancellation and quickly booked it. However, when we showed up early for the flight, Mary Jo at Bald Mountain Air informed us that the pilot had just declared the afternoon run a no-go due to high cross winds at the landing site. She worked with us to get another flight during our short stay here. We'll share that experience in the next blog entry. She also gave us some sightseeing tips for our days in Homer.

Thanks to her and the photos she shared, we opted to take a water taxi to Grewingk Glacier and hike to the glacial lake. The hike wasn't difficult for the most part, only the last stretch had us glad we were going down instead of up. We enjoyed the hike, going out of the way to ride the hand-operated tram, before lunching at the lake. The water taxi over and back was part of the experience. The whole day felt like one of those only-in-Alaska things.

Coming in for the day

Using a tractor to launch/bring in boats

Anchor Point, North America's most westerly highway point

River otter in the harbor

Water taxi arriving at trailhead

Tropical-like vegetation

Hand tram across the river

Working hard to get us to shore

Lunch spot

Grewingk Glacier

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