That long awaited time is finally here, arrived in Alaska!
Taking just over 3 weeks to cross Canada nortward, I am thrilled to be here! I have had this trip on my bucket list for all my life and now it's happening!
Last summer I had visited the Canadian Maritimes and learned at the border crossing not to say I live full time in the RV, they searched my RV quite well then. So this time I said home is in Florida and this crossing was totally uneventful.
The last stretch of road 200 miles was under allot of construction and the rest was poor causing 20 mph at times and average speed was 40 mph. A very long day indeed! So we spent an extra day resting in Tok, AK before moving on.
Our RV's were covered in road grime and there was an car wash with high water poles so we combined efforts and while one person used the water wand the others used brushes. Cleaning 4 RV's went fast. A summer rain shower also helped rinse as we were washing the RV's, hahaha.
Taking the Tok cutoff to Valdez with an overnight in GlenAllen, AK. We stopped at Wrangell-St Ellias National Park & Preserve. There are only 2 roads into this immense park and most of it dirt roads. We primarily only spent time in 2 of the visitor center and learned how immense this park is.
We had met some locals who were kind enough to share some boondocking areas with us and tonight we spent the night hidden behind the airport at GlenAllen. Very nice quiet place.
The drive to Valdez with views of distant snow capped mountains, waterfalls and just awesome wilderness reminded me how lucky I am to be here.
Worthington glacier stop along the way was a very short walk
The mountain pass had waterfalls and were beautiful!
Staying at a Lodge in downtown Valdez we get the bicycle out for some much needed exercise. As much as we are outdoors we seem to ride in the RV much more than hiking or biking.
Not a very large town but pleasurable to ride around.
The second night we camped across the bay from Valdez near the fish hatchery. There is often seals here when the salmon are in. Unfortunately about 2 weeks too early.
Moving on toward Anchorage, great view of another glacier, we boondocked along the glacial river. The glacier grinds rocks into powder and the water is the color of a Navy ship "haze grey" similar to the newer cars without the gloss
My travel route so far this year
Tanya has arrived in Anchorage, AK to join us for 2 weeks! Yay!
We decided to split our time in Anchorage and with the 4th of July holidays go to Kenai Peninsula. Tanya drove of course (she loves driving the RV).
Seward Alaska is beautiful,
Murals too
We took a boat tour to see wildlife. Wow, otters, sea lions, whales, mountain goat with baby being chased by a black bear!
4 July in Homer, AK this small town parade is fun and amusing.
Back in Anchorage we toured the Anchorage Museum, and had moose in the campground!
The entire group of WINs travelers together in Anchorage, AK
Staying overnight at a rest stop then on to Denali we have nice campsite inside the park. We are so lucky that the fire nearby has been controlled and they opened the campground the day before we were scheduled to arrive.
Touring Denali the only way is using the Park service bus, and can only go 43 miles because the bridge replacement will not be completed until 2027. We did see wildlife:
Tanya and I had only 2 days because of her flight back to home. So we did get to tour a little of Faibanks before she left
Alaska University museum
Fairbanks is quite away from many places.
We met some other campers who had discovered a rare opportunity to see herds of Caribou! Driving 100 miles north of Fairbanks, AK we stayed overnight.
Each of us had opinions of the herd size ranging from 500 to 1200 animals! Photos are hard to get for you cannot get very close to them without them running away.
Each one of us said that this is exactly what we came to Alaska for!
Walking on the Tundra is a unique experience. Soft and spongy feel under your feet. Posted signs on the trail described what each plant was and which the Caribou preferred.
The traveler who told us about this had used a drone to capture video of the herd. He will email it to us after compressing it.
Ok, it's here, highlight the link and an option to view on YouTube will show and select it! Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/ormZVIL7Rck?si=ZDSo1V9gXXrqVnaP
This is the first sunrise I've seen in Alaska. The sun had been up the entire time since we've been here.
Another bucket list item was to walk on a glacier. This trip I have seen several glacier yet today was the first one I could touch. Castner Glacier Ice Cave, it was a short 1 mile hike from the road, the cave had collapsed based on pictures and a new smaller cave is there now.
The front was constantly melting and dropping soil and rocks in the cave face.
North Pole, AK really just a shop with good pictures.
Not so much to do here in Chicken, the few buildings were interesting. The highlight of this stop is take "ladies panties" and place over a cannon and shoot through them "blow up ladies panties"! Look inside the bar for panties and hats hung on every surface including the ceiling.
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