Hyder, Alaska

We are not at Lake Kinaskan any longer – we are back in Alaska again! We are in the tiny town of Hyder which is located about as far south in Alaska as you can get. It is next to the town of Stewart, British Columbia.

We had a small shower during the night and awoke to a band of low clouds over the lake, but directly overhead we could see patches of blue. It was going to work out after all. We got on the road early for us at 10 AM and the road improved dramatically from what we had been experiencing. I was able to drive 45 to 50 most of the time. In some sections the pavement was new this year and it was so smooth. We did pass through a couple minor showers but for the most part the sun was shining and the white clouds stayed over the mountains.

If you look carefully at this photo of Lake Kinaskan I took this morning you can see the snow on the mountains just where the clouds are lifting. I wish we could have seen them without the clouds.

By the time we reached the junction where we turned off the main route toward Stewart we felt like we were back in civilization. The highway actually had yellow stripes down the center, with dotted lines to show you where you could pass. It even had white lines along the sides showing you where the edge of the road was. Amazing!

The road through the coastal mountains was like our other trips up north. Some of the most beautiful scenery has been in these locations because of the steepness of the mountains and the heavy snow fall they receive. It makes for spectacular waterfalls and many glaciers. We stopped to take a picture of Bear Glacier, just one of many we saw.

We soon entered the town of Stewart and drove through and across the border into Hyder, Alaska. There is no customs or immigration stop requited since you can’t go anywhere else. The pavement immediately ended. Welcome back to Alaska.

Hyder is a tiny place, population 83, that mostly exists because of Fish Creek. It is a place salmon return to spawn each year and is visited by many grizzly and black bears. The forest service has built a walkway for tourists to safely watch from. The bears are so fat from eating salmon, they could care less about people. We were told that the best time to view them is between 6 and 9 in the morning and 6 and 9 at night.

After dinner we drove up to the site, about three miles up a dirt road, and before we even got to the main viewing area we watched a big grizzly chasing fish in a small stream that flows into Fish Creek. A little while later we watched a momma grizzly bring her three cubs to Fish Creek and all of them had dinner. This was something we have seen in movies and nature shows, but we had never seen it in real life. It was a special treat.

Lake Kinaskan, Day 3

It rained off and on all night and into the morning. By about 10 AM we could see that it was going to clear off soon, but the clouds still obscured all the mountains and there were still scattered rain showers so we decided to stay put for one more day. Since this may be the only time we ever go through this area it would be nice to actually see it.

By about noon it had started to clear off with even some patches of sunshine interspersed with showers. I took advantage of the opportunity to clean the windows and back end of the trailer with lake water. Now we can see out our windows again, and people behind us can see that we are not just a dirt covered box going down the road.

By 2 PM the sun was shining so we decided to drive down the highway about five miles where a trail leads to another lake and Cascade Falls. It sounded pretty so off we went. In the five miles from the campground to the trail head we drove through two showers and it was raining hard when we got there. Scratch that idea. We returned to our camp site. The sun was out and we could see snow on all the mountains surrounding us when the clouds lifted just a little. If it clears off tomorrow morning it should be beautiful.

We had more of our halibut for dinner. Afterwards we talked to the campground host about the falls we tried to go to this afternoon. She said it is good we did not try since it requires a boat to cross the lake to the trail on the other side. She agrees that it is not well marked and should be addressed. There is a trail from the end of our campground that goes along the lake side. She said it was OK for a while, but did not think we could get all the way to the river that flows out. She was right. It was a muddy mess that could better be called a path than a trail. Ok well, we got a little exercise.

Dianna figures we have now experienced all four seasons on our trip. She considers the snowfall last night and the below freezing temperatures to be winter, so as we head south we will probably get to experience fall all over again. We have seen the foliage changing at different rates as we have gone south. A trip like this really gives you a perspective on how plants and animals react to the changes in climate. By now on the North Slope it is not getting above freezing during the day and winter has already set in. All the animals everywhere are migrating south, as so are we.

Lake Kinaskan,Day 2

It rained all night and was still raining this morning when we got up. We took a vote and decided to stay put until the weather clears up some. There is no reason we have to be anywhere at any specific time, and driving these slippery, rough roads in wet and foggy conditions is not the safest thing to do. Besides, with all the low clouds we would not see any of the beautiful scenery around us.

Both of us often still feel the urge to keep moving on, which is a feeling that we understand from other retired full timers takes a year or two to overcome. When we were traveling on vacation or moving from one work location to another, we always had deadlines and time limits on when we needed to be somewhere. Early this summer when we had the grandkids with us, we had the same kind of time restraints since we had airline reservations and wanted to show the kids as much as we could in the time available. Now, we have no such constraints. But it still takes some doing to really get your head around the concept. It is harder for Dianna than for me, partly because she is not fond of the weather we have had up here. I am in my element, but she is a warm weather girl and wishes we were out of the cold and rain. I reminded her that just about everyone in the lower 48 would gladly trade places with us right now, sitting on a pristine lake, gentle rain falling, snug and warm in our RV and looking at a thermometer that reads 45 degrees at 11 AM.

Many retired full timers follow the 2-2-2 rule. That means they never travel more than 200 miles in one day, always stop by 2 PM and always stay for at least 2 days in each place. We are not at that point yet, but it is a goal and we are close. Maybe we need to modify the stopping by 2 PM rule since we often don’t get on the road until close to noon, but if we travel no more than four hours that should do it. So far our trip this summer has taken us just about 10,000 miles in 86 days. That averages only 116 miles per day.

One of the blogs I follow is Tioga George. The link to his site is in my links. He is a single full timer whose goal is to average no more than 30 miles per day. He does pretty close to that and still covers a lot of ground during the year. He usually winters in Baja California and spends his summers traveling to cooler country in the Rocky Mountain States. His blog is fun to follow.

It is now 9 PM and the rain has not stopped. It has rained for over 24 hours straight. We obviously did not do much today. We played computer games, worked on crafts and I cleaned out the receipt tray, a project that has needed doing for some time. I had to run the generator for a couple hours to replenish the electricity we have used since there is no sun for the solar panels. That is the first time in a couple weeks we have even started the generator. We did take a walk in the rain late this afternoon, with raincoats on, but that was the only time we were outside all day. The campground host said the rain is supposed to stop late tomorrow so we will be ready to move south when it does.

Lake Kinaskan, Day 1

It was such a pretty place that we felt in no hurry to get going this morning, so we did not leave the campground until about 11. By then all the rest of the campers were long gone.

The road did not improve much and we continued to drive about 30 to 40 MPH, slowing suddenly when we saw dips and frost heaves, or when we saw a sign warning of one. Unfortunately, those two do not always go together. We have found that all through our trip not all the signs should be where they are, and there are many places where more signs or flags should be located. It is really up to every driver to be vigilant. Many people on this highway are driving up to and beyond the 50 MPH speed limit. If I was driving a car or pickup I would be going much faster also, but I have no desire to tear up my trailer and our truck is not the smoothest riding rig on rough roads either.

We encountered a stretch of gravel road again and it was very rutted and potholed. It made us slow even more for that 20 miles or so. We then stopped in the town of Dease Lake to use the free wi-fi available at the college. We just had to sign a sign in sheet and then they gave us the public user ID and password. We checked our email but nothing else. I did not want to use their generosity to post blogs and upload pictures.

Another few miles down the road we came upon more construction. They are working on completing the paving of the entire Cassiar Highway and this was one of the short sections they were still missing. We had to wait for a pilot car to take us through, then we stopped for lunch at a pullout before continuing on again. A little later on we saw definite signs of buffalo on the road, but we never did see the herd. It was very wooded in the area so they could have been anywhere.

We finally stopped for the night at a British Columbia Provincial Park. It is a very pretty place right on Kinaskan Lake and we got a campsite backed up to the lake again. Unfortunately, the weather is not so nice tonight. In fact, it rained during the night last night and we encountered several showers today. It began raining here shortly after we got set up and looks like it will continue for quite a while. It is only about 50 degrees out, the clouds are low on the mountain sides, and there is fog forming on the lake. It’s a good night to hunker down and stay snug in our home on wheels.

We only traveled about 120 miles today, although we were on the road until about 4 PM. It is still about 175 miles to Hyder, AK where we plan to spend a couple days, so who knows if we will get there tomorrow or not.

Winter!

Winter came overnight! At 3:30 AM I heard the furnace running and it was set to 62. I got up to set it lower so we would not burn too much propane overnight and saw that it was 35 outside. This morning when we got up the temperature was 32! It is definitely time to head south.

The day warmed quickly and turned out to be beautiful. We saw no reason to go into Watson Lake so we made the turn onto the Cassiar Highway as planned. The first thing you see is a sign telling you that there is no fuel for about 150 miles. Then the road deteriorates immediately and we drove at about 30 to 35 MPH. Although the road is paved, it is very primitive pavement. Most likely it is a chip seal type of paving where they just put down alternating layers of hot oil and gravel. There must not have been much road bed preparation because the road had terrible frost heaves and dips everywhere. It continued that way for about 75 miles until we reached Jade City.

About 75 percent of the worlds jade is mined here in the Cassiar Mountains of British Columbia. At Jade City there is a jade shop with more jade in it than you can count. Unfortunately, they are very proud of their jade and it is all priced accordingly. We looked but did not buy.

The road did improve after we left Jade City so we could drive about 45 MPH. We did see a couple mountain goats near the road but failed to get their picture. Down the road at the Dease River Crossing we found a rustic private campground. They only charged $15 per night and we felt the view alone was worth the cost.

We rented their pedal boat for an hour and pedaled all the way around the lake. We chased some small ducks who were very confused by us, and we stopped when we heard a waterfall. We could not see it from the lake but could hear it and see where the stream entered the lake. A short hike took us to a beautiful scene that very few people see.

   

We grilled pork chops for dinner and spent a quiet evening looking at the lake, reading, working on cross stitch and relaxing.

South from Whitehorse

Realizing that we would not be near a decent sized store for a couple of weeks, we made another trip to WalMart to buy some staples.

Next was a stop at the bank to get some cash from an ATM. I have discovered that MasterCard is charging 2.07 per transaction in addition to the exchange rate for my credit card use. That is not too bad on a decent sized purchase, like $400 in fuel, but horrible on a small purchase. I decided it was less expensive to get some cash and use it for the small stuff. The exchange rate right now is about 94 cents to one Canadian dollar. I had always heard that using a credit card was the best way to handle foreign cash transactions since you would get a decent exchange rate. Maybe the fee I am being charged is something I can get them to waive. I will try when we get phone service again.

We left Whitehorse about 12:30 and drove until around 4. We stopped in exactly the same place we parked when we were headed north on June 14. Tomorrow we will continue south and make the turnoff onto the Cassiar Highway just before we get to Watson Lake. We have been over this section of highway before, but it looks completely different from this direction.

What a difference two months makes. Heading north we saw snow capped mountains, beautiful waterfalls, abundant wildflowers and hordes of mosquitoes. Now there is almost no snow left on the mountains, the waterfalls have dried up and the foliage is changing color so you can tell that fall is coming fast in the North Country. In place of the mosquitoes are tiny Black Flies. They can entirely encapsulate a weak animal in order to kill it and get into every open orifice on the human body if you happen to be where they are swarming. Fortunately that’s not everywhere though we have experienced them.

We had tentatively planned to stop earlier at a well known restaurant and free RV park back up the road called Mukluk Annie’s, but they were closed for the season already. I know that sounds strange to all of you roasting your tushies off in the lower 48, but winter’s a comin’. You better get your heavy coats ready!

Five Finger Rapids

Shortly after leaving our campsite this morning we stopped at Five Finger Rapids. It is an area on the Yukon River where there are four huge pillars of rock standing in the river forming five channels. The local Indians named it. Early paddle wheelers had a real challenge getting up by these rapids and navigating the channel. They even attached cables and used them to winch themselves through.

We took the one mile hike to the observation platform above the rapids. It was good exercise for so early in the day.

Our next stop was at a place our Guidepost told us about where you can buy huge cinnamon buns. We bought one which we had ¼ of for desert after lunch, and the rest will probably disappear tomorrow sometime. It is huge, about the size of a pie only 3 inches high, and very good.

We arrived in Whitehorse late in the afternoon, did some shopping at WalMart and checked into the Pioneer RV Park where we stayed on our way up. We now have to retrace our route down to Watson Lake where we will take the Cassiar Highway instead of the Alaska Highway on the way south.

One of the reasons for stopping at WalMart was to try to fill a prescription. When I got my annual prescription for my thyroid medication late last year my Dr. wrote it for 90 tablets with three refills. WalMart pharmacy misread it and set it up for only two refills. I noticed it right away and had my Dr. call them to correct it. He did, but they didn’t which I did not find out until I tried to refill it in California. So, I was three months short of my years supply. I knew I would run out so had my Dr. send me another prescription. I received it in Tok but learned there was no pharmacy there. I figured I would get it filled in Whitehorse, but when I took it in today they told me they cannot fill a prescription written by a US Dr. The way the internet pharmacies do it is they have a Canadian Dr. sign off on all prescriptions they get.

Anyway, the long and short of it is I will run out of my medication in a few days, so I will once again have a medical excuse for being fat, lazy and stupid – at least until I get back to the US and can get the prescription refilled.