Mountain Meanderers

Well, we are still migrating toward Alaska.  We have seen so many wonderful things so far, and the best is yet to come.  Since the last blog post, we have traveled from Dawson Creek to Whitehorse.  Tomorrow, we head north toward Dawson City and the Top of the World Highway. The border crossing into Alaska opened yesterday morning at 8, so we will be among the first across this year. Tomorrow is one of our first "new" adventures this trip. We are looking forward to this segment, going through Dawson City to Chicken, Alaska and on toward Tok, Alaska. So, what have we done since our last post? We traveled from Dawson Creek to Liard Hot Springs.  From there, we went to Watson Lake and the Sign Forest and then through heavy snow squalls into Whitehorse, Yukon Territories. We skipped our trip to Fort Liard in the Northwest Territories because we didn't feel we would see enough to justify a several hundred mile side trip. So, here is the last segment of our journey in pictu...

We relocated from Yoho NP near Lake Louise today and drove the Icefield Parkway to Jasper. We are here for two nights, then a stop at Grande Prairie for resupply before hitting Mile 0 of the Alcan. Grande Prairie has Sam’s Club and Costco, so we can get fresh veggies, dairy and eggs. So, while at Jasper we saw bears, elk and deer. Then on the way out of Jasper we saw more Bighorn Sheep right in the middle of the rode. A black bear on the way into Maligne Lake. Athabasca Falls Columbia Icefield/Athabasca Glacier A nice elk in velvet on the way out from Maligne Lake Our campsite at Whistler Campground in Jasper Two Bighorn Sheep walking down the centerline. Walked right past our truck. Our departure from Jasper took us from the Yellowhead Highway 16 to the Bighorn Highway 40 to Grande Prairie, AB and on to Dawson Creek, the start of the Alaskan Highway.  While here, we went to the Alaskan Highway Museum and watched a movie about the making of the highway. Despite trying for years to ...

We are enjoying our time in the Lake Louise area. Yesterday we hiked over 4 miles into Johnston Canyon. This is a hike to a series of 7 waterfalls, culminating in the upper and lower falls. There was still snow hanging onto the sides of the canyon, helping to feed the glacial streams. It is a gorgeous hike if you ever get the opportunity.  This is the upper falls, and above that is another viewing area showing another small waterfall. The next two days we hope to enjoy Radium hot springs and a bike ride into Morraine Lake above Lake Louise. This portion of the trip is all about the waterfalls and getting there via foot or bicycle. Today we bicycled in (still closed to cars) 9 miles and had Takakkawa Falls to ourselves. This is one of the highest waterfalls in Canada at over 500 feet. We went up about 1200 feet in elevation. The four of us could not have done it without our e-bikes.  The pictures don’t do it justice. We finally have some clear skies. Glad to be out of the smoke...

 We left Yellowstone Country on May 10th for Billings, Montana. On the way, we stopped for lunch and the other Ron noticed we had a delamination in our sidewall of the Montana tire.  So, our first stop was Discount Tire to see how serious it was. Discovered the other side had an issue also. So, we had to decide on replacing two tires or four. After calling around, the Discount Tire Hartland tire was the only one we could get without waiting a week.  So, got new shoes for Quattro. Ready for the roads in Alaska. Staying two nights boondocking at Cabela’s. The main reason we stopped in Billings was to see a Pointing Lab breeder, Rocky Point Kennels. Chris and Jenna showed the four of us around and we got to meet some of their dogs. Left a deposit for a puppy for next year.  We are looking at a Yellow (Red) female puppy about this time next year. Then, we unexpectedly ran into Chris at Costco. Tomorrow is a Harvest Host stop at Big Sky Deli in Great Falls, followed by 3 ...