The Alaskan Highway

5/28/218 Monday Kiskatinaw PP. BC and 5/29/18 Triple G Campground, Ft Nelson, BC

We left Whitecourt heading ever North and reached Dawson Creek and the beginning of the Alaskan Highway in the early afternoon.  It took us two weeks to get to Mile 0, that same as in 2016.

We stayed about 17 miles out of town in the Kiskatinaw Provincial Park, next to a rushing muddy river, surrounded by trees.  The provincial parks in Canada are outstanding! Reasonably priced, with picnic tables and fire pits, pit toilets and big well-forested spaces.  It was a quiet evening.  The park is next to a surviving wooden bridge from the original Alaskan Highway route.

campsite by the river

wooden bridge on old Alaskan Highway

We traveled on Tuesday, through Pink Mountain.  On our trip last year, we were forced to stop there because of the snow.  Today was beautiful and sunny the whole way.  We're staying in Ft Nelson tonight and heading to Laird Hot Springs for a couple of days tomorrow.

Here's a great pic Mike got of the glacier along the Icefields Parkway and just for fun, a picture of the world's largest beaver at Beaverlodge, AB!

Mike in front of the largest beaver statue

glacier along Icefields Parkway, on the way to Jasper

Let me know if you are getting the emails of our trip!

Jasper NP and on to B.C.

5/26/2018 Saturday through 5/27/2018 Sunday Banff to Jasper NP then to Whitecourt BC

We are so lucky this trip, the weather has been beautiful, sunny, clear days and cool nights. We went on to Jasper N.P. via the Icefields Parkway, stopping by the Albathers (?) glacier for lunch. Once again, stunning scenery.  We spent the night at the Whistler Campground in Jasper National Park and left in the morning for Whitecourt, British Columbia.  Here's some views from the Icefields Parkway:

We did a short hike in Maligne Canyon.  It's a narrow slot canyon formed by a glacier with multiple waterfalls thundering just off 6 different bridges spanning the gap.  

We plan to make it to Dawson Creek and the beginning of the Alaskan highway Monday.  

Oh, Canada! Banff National Park

5/22/18 Tuesday through 5/25/18 Friday Oldman River PP to Banff NP

After hanging out in Great Falls, MT for two nights, we headed north again a few hundred miles and crossed into Canada.  We spent Wednesday evening on Oldman River Provincial Park outside of Fort McLeod, Alberta, Canada, a solitary place near the highway.

We drove on Thursday to Banff National Park.  The mountains here are beyond description!  Carved by glaciers, they tower over the Bow River Valley, tipped with snow and ice.  We spent two nights in Banff, soaking up the tourist spots for a little bit the first day and had lunch downtown.  We stayed at Tunnel Mountain Trailer Park Campground.  Canadian parks are the best I've been to!  Clean, spacious, friendly and beautiful settings.  We hiked to a waterfall in Johnson Canyon and soaked up the mountains.

As I write this, we're planning on going to Whistler campground in Jasper National Park, taking the Ice fields Parkway.  I'm having trouble uploading pictures to the blog, I'll add them when I get a faster internet connection.    Connectivity, yeah, here's some pics of Banff and Johnson Canyon and Banff:

Mountains of Montana

5/20/18 Sunday thru 5/21 Monday Twin Falls, ID to Malmstrom AFB, MT

We left Twin Falls and took the backroads to Craters of the Moon National Monument.  It's a giant lava field, thousands of years old, that stretches for miles in the sagebrush plains.  We drove through the 7 mile park road loop, stopping to walk a couple of the trails and have lunch.  Unlike two years ago when it was cloudy and rained, the weather has been clear and sunny. 

hole in the rock at Craters of the Moon

Lichen on lava

 lic

collapsed spatter cone

We went to the last national forest campground in Idaho for Sunday night and had the place to ourselves.

Targee National Forest, ID

Monday morning we headed into Montana, landing in Great Falls at Malstrom AFB for a couple nights to catch up on some housekeeping.  The mountains here are blanketed in yellow flowers and green shoots.

A hidden gem in Idaho

5/19/18 Saturday Great Basin NP to Twin Falls ID

We headed back to Ely and on north to Twin Falls, Idaho for the night.  Just outside of town, we stopped at Shoshone Falls, highly recommended by Cory.  He was right.  Tucked away a couple of blocks beyond suburban streets is a series of waterfalls on the Snake River that rival Niagara.  It's a unpretentious grassy park with overlooks all along the edge of the canyon.  We took in the view from Perrine Bridge, that spans the river just upstream from the falls.  Enjoy the pics!

A couple of days off grid

Cathedral State Park

Wheeler Peak

Lehman caves

5/17/2018 Wednesday
Start: Nellis AFB, NV   End: Great Basin National Park, NV

We left this morning and headed north toward Ely, Nevada, on the northeast side of the state.  We drove through Cathedral State Park and snapped a couple of pictures of the eroding sandstone spires.

The 275 miles to Great Basin were unbroken desert until we started gaining elevation on the approach to Wheeler Peak.  The snow covered top of the mountain stood out across the flat valley.  We settled into Upper Lehman Creek campground and then headed up the road to Mather Overlook to take in the view.

We came back and had steaks on the grill next to a campfire until it got chilly and called it a night.

Friday afternoon we toured Lehman Caves which are inside of the park.  The ranger had a few tall tales to share.  The group was limited to 20 people and the hour underground went by quickly.  We had lunch in the tiny town of Baker with enough leftovers for dinner.  We made it an early night so we can get on the road in the morning.

Rainbow at sunset from Upper Lehman campground

The trek begins...

In 2016, we visited Alaska for the first time.  We went 9,000 miles in 8 weeks.  Check out the blog archive for our adventures on that trip.

We're taking it slower this year, leaving about 8 this morning and stopping for the night in Las Vegas.  My cousins, Rick and Charlotte had us over for a scrumptious dinner, tri-tip on their egg barbecue!  It was great to catch up and I finally got to meet their son, Eric, too!

We're staying at Nellis AFB in North Las Vegas and tomorrow plan to visit the Springs Preserve.  It's a bit cooler here than Phoenix and we're looking forward to even cooler nights as we head further north. 

As the miles roll on by, it feels good to get away from the routine and enjoy the moment.  See you on down the road!