Valdez waterfront










Worthington Glacier

On from Anchorage

After Anchorage we took a day trip to Seward and then headed up the Glen Hwy to Glenellen. Took a day trip to Valdez. both these are impressive drives thru high ranges and glacier sightings. Particularly to Valdez where you can walk right up to the Worthington glacier and then drop 3000 feet down from the pass to Valdez.
Then on to the alcan and back down to Whitehorse and eventually turning off to Chetwyn near the Waccy Bennett dam on the Peace River. After a night in the Prince George area, down the Fraser Canyon in blistering 39 degrees to Vancouver. That,s quite a drive with towering peakes and winding road all the way to Hope.

Dawson on

Polychrome Pass in Denali
View from Reindeer Mtn nr Cantwell, AK
Mr & Mrs Klaus at north Pole AK
Iditerod HQ, Nr Knik, AK

Dawson on

Top of the World Hwy, Yukon
Goldfield dredge nr Dawson City
Welcome to Alaska, Top of the World Hwy

From Dawson City to Top of the World

From Anchorage, AK

We left Dawson City and took the Top of the World Highway to the Alaska border and then on to Tok, AK. We did this with some trepidation as we had been warned that this was a rough highway and had at least 40 miles of rough gravel on the US side to a town called Chicken! We heard views from all kinds of Knowledgeable people and then decided to risk it. It was a beautiful ride, the views superb. Gigantic valleys from high elevations and the road was rough in parts. The worst being about 10 miles after crossing the border. That was certainly the most casual crossing weve taken into the USA for some time!
We camped at Tok, in existance only as it was a fuel depot on the Alaska Hwy during construction. Found, as usual, friendly people and ran into a fellow we had camped beside further back. You keep running into people you have met somewhere else as we are all heading in the same direction up the same road.
From Tok to Fairbanks where we stayed in the suburbs at North Pole and met Mr & Mrs Klaus!
There is a really good museum at the university, worth the visit.
On then to Denali area. We camped just south of the park and did a great hike up Reindeer mountain with great views. Took a bus tour into the park - the only way you can tour there - 8 hours. This is impressive scenery and they take great care to keep it that way! The drive over Polychrome Pass in a bus is something else - not for those that fear heights. Unfortunately, Mt Denali, a notoriously shy mountain, was not visible. But we got glimpses of it while we were in the area.
Then on to an area south of Anchorage, Portage Valley. The town of Portage was destroyed in the 1964 earthquake. We took a day trip drive down to Seward through very mountainous country. A great drive.
Yesterday we drove into Whittier, a strange little port accessible only thru the longest tunnel in N. america and shared by the railway, and took a 5 hour cruise of 28 glaciers in Prince William sound. What a trip! We were lucky to see some calving on one of the biggest ones.
We are now in Anchorage for a couple of days and will be heading back to the Alcan from here.

Dawson City

Pierre Bertons childhood home in Dawson

Dawson City

Our Parks Canada guide
Mounties from the parade
Dawson City from The Dome- quite a hike
The trail up to the Dome

Dawson City photos

Canada Day in the park Dawson City
Dawson City ruins

Dawson City

We are now in Anchorage, alaska, and are well behind with the blog. Just do not have the time with all there is to see and do. Anyhow, here is the latest up to Dawson City.
We took the Klondike loop to get to Dawson and this follows the Yukon River up to the hotbed of the gold rush era. An interesting city, as you enter the ouskirts of town you see the huge piles of gravel left behind by commercial mining using the huge dredges that literally scooped the earth up and gleaned its gold. The city itself is quite picturesque and very friendly. The main, if only, industry, is tourism, but there are still gold mines in them thar hills and they mine quite a few millions of dollars worth even today. We were lucky enough to meet a placer miner at a presentation at the library and he has 30 claims on the richest of the creeks, Bonanza and Eldorado. These are the ones that really struck it rich back in the gold rush days. we enjoyed a great walking tour of the city, conducted by a Parks Canada gal and she was quite a character. The towns tourism is largely run by Parks Canada but there are many independent operators also. We also hiked up to the Dome above the city, this is the view you always see on postcards etc. Then took a different way down and an old trail that goes out to an Indian village down river and then back to town via the slide that is also seen in many pictures.
We were lucky enough to be there for Canada Day and took in the festivities all day, even got cake in the park! There was a small, but energetic parade and the Yukon gold panning championships. Our placer miner was in that also.

Whitehorse for us

The SS Klondike, now a Nat.l Historic site at Whitehorse
Whitehorse from Grey Mountain
We had a great campground in Whitehorse, about 6 km outside. We did the usual tourist bit, sightseeing and went to a funny review, Frantic Follies. Very funny. We climbed a local mountain, Grey Mtn and got some great shots of the city and strenuous exercise to boot.

Whitehorse, gateway to the Klondike

Shore of Lk Bennett at Carcross
White Pass. Old rail trestle, but no rail for the early prospectors
Mountains near Whitehorse
The gold rush brought 30,000 prospectors to the klodike, over 100,000 had set out. The shipped to Skaguay and then had to cross the mountains to Lake Bennett at Carcross. The route was either the Chilkoot, famous for its shots of the line of men carrying their required 1 ton of supplies, or White Pass. At lake Bennett they built boats and sailed to the Yukon River and then to Whitehorse. They had to negotiate ferocious rapids at Miles Canyon just before Whitehorse. From white horse they could sail the Yukon or take a paddle steamer to Dawson City.

Enroute Whitehorse


Huge valley in Yukon

Signpost City
The first landfall in the Yukon is Watson Lake. Really a whistle stop on the
Alcan, with gas stations and one grocery store, all with prices that cause you to catch your breath. This is also the home of the signpost city where travellers over the years have placed the name of their home town and other strange notices, on a piece of land that has become a major tourist attraction. Actually, the only one they have!
From Watson Lake its on to Whitehorse and the Klondike. The land continues to be reaonably flat, with glimpses of mountains off to one side or the other and occasional views across vast valleys.

Boulder Canyon explorer

Boulder Canyon, nr Munch lake
Munch Lake

Around Stone Mountain, Munch Lake

Stone Mountain area
Stone Mountain area

The Trip Across More Than Half of Canada

When you look at the 6500 km that leads from Elliot Lake to Anchorage, you soon realise that, with stops along the way, it is probably going to take 2 weeks just to get there. At the same time, you think you will be in the mountains some time in Alberta, probably just north of Edmonton- well....Wrong!, You actually follow the Rocky Mountain Trench and this goes on until you are north or north west of Fort Nelson. Similarly, you think the Alcan (Alaska Hwy) will be a rough track and in effect it is a smooth paved road with the odd area under repair. Fuel gradually gets more expensive as you get more to the north, until in Dawson City, actually on the klondike Hwy, it is $1.25 per litre.
You certainly get to see the diverse make up of our great land, from the PreCam Shield of Ontario - takes 2.5 days to get west of that - to the magnificent Prairies, another 2 days minimum, and then the mountains, at last!
There are interesting places enroute and signs of various industries that keep our economy humming. Tourism has become a big factor, and then the potash and grain of Sakatchewan. Oil and Gas in Alberta, and you can smell this as you pass by Dawson Creek and Fort St. John.
The first mountain area you reach is the Stone mountain area north of Fort Nelson. The Alaska Hwy goes through an area called Steamboat, and there is a small settlement there by that name.
These latest photos are of that area and Munch Lake, where we stayed the night with our back door looking over the lake. there is a lodge here and millions have been invested in a beautiful log building and cabins. they even have a Dash 8 that is used to fly customers up from Vancouver. not a cheap spot!