New Hazelton to home

We drove from New Hazelton to home in exactly 12.5 hours to the minute uneventfully.

Kms - 1197
Total Kms for the trip - 10183

Nisga'a Lava Beds

What glorious luck that we awoke to another stunning day!

We ventured back north today after sliding slightly westward on the map. Our time in terrace was so epic that I won't overwhelm you with the details. From that northern gem we travelled north to the nisga'a lava beds for some exploring. It is mind boggling to think of the havoc that this little cone caused over two hundred years ago. In some places the lava is some 30 meters deep. Amazing. The photo ops were endless... Tomorrow we come home!

km- 351

Hyder to New Hazelton

We drove from Hyder to New Hazelton today and managed to smuggle beer across the border with a smile and a bat of the eyelashes at the border guard. We passed through 5 first nation villages to admire their totem poles and talk to the locals. Besides that it was a beautiful hot day and we got nice tans. Tomorrow we head up to the lava flows and then home on Wednesday.

Km - 330



Kispiox


'Ksan

Hyder

Well not much to say about today...

We left off in Hyder Alaska, you know, where you get hyderized. For those of you that have been with me long enough you will remember mr. Richard Simon, the capp and business teacher from brookswood. Long long ago in a high school far far away he talked about the picturesque town of hyder and their blessed grain alcohol. Last night, after years of preparations, Fiona and I got hyderized. We even have wallet sized certificates and t-shirts to prove it. Sidenote- the lovable character on the front of the shirt looks a lot like my dad.

Today we ventured back across the scary border to the great land of Canada to listen to a lecture about global warming. These types of talks are always hard to hear as I find them both sad and infuriating. Luckily we can feel slightly better about ourselves because we have low flow shower heads... But how much gas have we burned this trip? The talk was very informative and the images of the retreating glaciers were startling. The naturist from France brought interesting European perspectives as well as stunning photographs from his travels to both poles.

We spent the rest of our day scurrying up and down the glacier highway. Salmon glacier is as immense as it is amazing. Our photographs will never do its beauty justice, nor for that matter will my words. Better let the devil digital do the talking. That way you can blame it and not me. We went as far north as granduc mine to check out another glacier and capture it on stunning velvia 50/100 before washing our dusty dusty car and stopping into to Stewart's museum. Have you ever wondered where Canada's nicest woman lives? Stewart. She was so full of pleasant. Almost sickening to realize that in comparison to her, I'm the Stalin of niceness.

Tonight we change film and eat fudge from the internationally famous hungry bear fudge lady!

Km - 116

View from Hyder towards Stewart


Berendon Glacier




Salmon Glacier in the sun




Hyderized


Scary Bridge

Iskut to Stewart and Hyder

We drove further down the Stewart Cassiar highway today and arrived in Stewart a small town on the coast in between mountains and glaciers. It is a quaint town with the least helpful and most surly tourist info girl to date. She literally threw a brochure at us when we asked what there was to do and stated, “It’s all there.” We had a good laugh at this and went on to read the brochures for Abbotsford and Langley as we were curious what they had found to write about. It turns out Abbotsford looks quite fun in brochure form. We explored the town for a bit and drove on a few kms to Hyder which is in Alaska and is where we are staying. Hyder has named itself, “The happiest ghost town in Alaska” and it is. Most of the shops are closed but it has a very friendly atmosphere. We drove up a dirt road to look at the Salmon Glacier which was spectacular and I expect we will be going up again tomorrow. There is also a place to view grizzlies along a salmon spawning stream. Devon was very fearful of this option despite it being in a raised and enclosed boardwalk but I have managed to convince him that they are cute and cuddly and only maul the slow and elderly. It turns out there was only one bear because the salmon are late running this season so we will try again tomorrow and perhaps Devon will flush the bears out for me and everyone else to photograph. Tonight we get Hyderized which I expect will be pretty entertaining and convenient as it is in our hotel, not very far to stumble home.

Kms – 400
Animals – grizzly, black bear, various small things





Bear Glacier




Salmon Glacier


Me photoing Salmon Glacier


Hyder

Watson Lake to Iskut

After a restless night under the stars in Watson Lake we have motored down the Stewart Cassiar highway to Iskut. We're staying at the quaint red goat lodge which backs onto a stunning lake near some extinct volcanoes. The sun is threatening to come out and we are welcoming the peace and quiet after a couple of long driving days. A little r and r on our vacation!

Next up is the seething metropolis of Hyder home to glaciers and moonshine, if we don't update the blog you get the idea of what might have happened.

Things we have learned about the Yukon:
1.) If the map says the highway is paved there is a 100% chance it is not
2.) We can fit 18 Yukon beer in one wheel well
3.) No one here is in a rush to get anywhere or get anything done
4.) Wifi is only able to support one computer at a time in order not to fail miserably
5.) Growlers!
6.) Smoking is a territorial hobby
7.) People may think you are from Hollywood if you have a large camera
8.) All food comes in burger and fries form only
9.) Dust is a fact of life
10.) RVers are very scared of gravel and drive accordingly

Kms - 330

Whitehorse to Watson Lake

We drove to Watson Lake today and are spending our last night camping here. Tomorrow we head back into BC and down the Stewart Cassiar to Iskut. We found out that the Top of the World highway is still closed and there are many people who are stranded on it on bridges and under 4 feet of water. I guess we're ok about not being able to drive it.

Km- 500

Kluane National Park

When the top of the world decides to wash out, you take the bottom of the world an extra 1000km out of your way to kluane national park. Worth the drive? Yes.

After an epic drive from dawson city to destruction bay we nestled into our tent and got some delicious sleep! We went to bed to a calm and serene lake and awoke to an angry lake. The waves crashed as the winds blew and we decided that this was perfect weather for looking at stuffed animals. Burwash landing has an excellent wildlife museum, complete with cuddly bears and majestic moose. Truly "god" was smiling when he made the mighty moose. How fun would ranching be if you could go moose back riding? The answer is that it would be epic fun. Obviously it would be much better than riding camels(trust me, I've done it) and horses. After the grand display of stuffed death we ventured off to the park to walk/climb the king's throne.

Personally I think they could have been wrong in naming this a moderate walk. Round trip it was 10km. Four of those kms were on flat ground and six of them were directly up and directly down. About half way up the ascent I was wishing I was on the grouse grind. Surely my steady regiment of eating and sitting in a car had prepared me for this walk. And just when I thought that my jellied legs could take no more, Fiona found a pretty rock for me to carry... Sigh. We reached the top and spied a stunning view of Kathleen lake and the amazing valley below. It started to sprinkle and we decided that instead of walking, sorry scurry, our way to the summit of the mountain, that the devils throne was a great stopping point. Our descent was slowed slightly by my graceful Billy goat impression and eventually we made it back to the car in time to drive over to rock glacier.

Gentlemen, do you ever wonder where you are supposed to put the rocks your wives and girlfriends ask you to carry? The rock glacier! It was a fantastic pile of age old rocks.

Today we find ourselves in Whitehorse nice and dry after a windy and rainy night in the park. Tomorrow to Watson lake to cash in our passports for gold and the slow waltz down the Stewart cassiar.

Kms - 1405

View from our campsite on Kluane Lake


World's largest gold pan


The hike to King's Throne overlooking Kathleen Lake






The "trail"




We hiked to the bowl


Rock Glacier


Mountains in Kluane

Sigh new map

So we have just arrived in Whitehorse to have a bit of a driving break before continuing on. The map now depicts the new route. The red route is where we should have gone and the purple is the way we are going now. Sadly we will miss going to Beaver Creek entirely. So camping for an extra night in Kluane and no internet for the next 3 nights. The good thing is the weather is beautiful down here while it got cold and rainy overnight in Dawson.

Change of plans

So we found out at 11pm that the highway we were going to take tomorrow is washed out. How you ask me when it has been sunny? I have no idea other than I have heard that the US side of the highway isn't well maintained. So since there is only one alternative route, as the highway won't be fixed for days and the forecast is rain, we have to go back to Whitehorse the way we came and then back up the other side of the Yukon. Then we hope to go to Kluane park and camp a day earlier than planned. If they don't have any campsites well then if I have learned anything in the Yukon you can just put up a tent at the side of the road!

Dawson City a relaxing day

Last night we went to Diamond Tooth Gerties to watch the show try our hands at gambling and as luck would have it we more than doubled our money on the slots! We gambled all of our savings and won a grand total of $12.75 when we spent $5, almost paid for the entrance fee.
This morning we went to the Dawson City Museum to see what there was to see. Devon was fortunate and got to partake in the miner’s meeting, a re-enacted trial between two miners who were trying to convict Devon of attempted murder x2. Apparently he tried to poison the other miner’s beans and then shoot them after he dragged them up here from Seattle with promises of gold that never appeared. He was lucky as he had a sympathetic audience as I was one of the only ones who wanted to convict him but alas he walked free, this time at least. Besides that we went and walked around some old cemeteries, drank coffee, and perused the shops, basically another relaxing day. Tomorrow we are heading over the Top of the World Highway and through Alaska.





Diamond Tooth Gerties

In and around Dawson City

Today was the day that we decided to take it easy and stretch our legs. We began the day with Klondike Kate’s delicious muffins and an historic walking tour of the city. In the grand scheme of things 100 years is not a long period of history, but then again it really only took a fraction of the millennium to nearly destroy the aboriginal culture in the area. Personally I think that Klondike history is very interesting. Adventure, discovery, and exploration. I like it. But Dawson before the gold rush was a very serene fishing ground that was completely obliterated by the hunt for riches. Where the city itself lies used to be a moose pasture and the Klondike used to flow on the opposite side of the valley to which it runs now.

The moose are gone. The fish stocks are at such a low that the local fishing company is nearing the end of its lifespan. And the river flows in a different place. This is a quick and dirty historical overview of the city, but nonetheless interesting. When the gold rush began, Chief Isaac foresaw what would become of his people and his culture and made, what must have been a heart breaking, decision to travel to a neighbouring clan in Alaska and ask them to preserve their songs and traditions. He even went as far as to surrender significant ceremonial artefacts to them. Furthermore, he moved their traditional camps further up the river as to not mix with the 30,000 new settlers. It was only by these means that a semblance of the Tro’ndek people and traditions survived. Some 80 years later and after his death, his people held a ceremony to regain their traditions from the neighbouring clan. I think it is a remarkable piece of history.

As for the river being completely moved, it is due to dredging for gold. Imagine, moving an entire river. Mind boggling. Now imagine what that does to the fishing grounds…
After spending the day taking a tour of local history, we’re off to Diamond Tooth Gerties for a little gambling, cancan girls, and maybe a few Yukon Golds.

Kms - 40



Discovery Creek where the first gold was found starting the Klondike gold rush


Dredge #4

The Dempster Highway

The Dempster highway, the reason I wanted to do this trip. This highway runs from outside Dawson City in Inuvik NWT and spans 750 odd Kms of dirt road. I had mixed views about driving it because I had heard many different opinions about the condition of the road, so we went by the, we’ll drive until the road gets to bad route. The women at the info center said the road was in fair condition with lots of huge rocks so we wouldn’t be able to go faster than 50 km/h, this was discouraging but we ventured out at 815am to see what we could do. We drove to Tombstone park, 75km into the drive, where there are pretty amazing mountain ranges and the road was good so we decided to continue on to see if we could indeed reach the arctic circle. We drove along and the road seemed fine being able to go 80-100km/h in many spots. There was one new SUV parked by the side of the road with two flats. This was worrying because we only had two spare tires and were only 180km into the 810km trip up and back. But we proved to be stronger then that SUV and many others, although we were the only car on the road amongst SUVs, pickups, and semi trailers. The scenery was wonderful the highway drives along high plateaus through the plains and valleys and the stark arctic landscape was very interesting. We made it to the halfway mark of the highway and stopped and had a very late lunch but it was delicious and better priced then we thought since it was in the middle of nowhere. We continued on the remaining 40km and made it to THE ARCTIC CIRCLE‼‼‼ We took our photos and ended up meeting a guy from Alberta with two travellers from Switzerland. The guy from Alberta wanted to celebrate reaching the arctic circle with shots of Yukon Jack for everyone. I was very sceptical of this drink as it looked and smelled disgusting, none the less not wanting to offend we partook and it turned out not to be as bad as thought but not something I would ever drink again. We made our way back to Dawson city and the round trip took 15 hours and lots and lots of dust later. My car is disgusting. Upon reaching the end of the highway there is a gas station that has a power washer and we wanted to clean some of the mud off. We didn’t have the correct change for the machine and the gas station was closed so we asked some people that were parked there for change. Here we learned some interesting things. One chap from the NWT told us about his and a few other’s trips down the Dempster that day. He had got two flats and a bent rim in his SUV, another traveller in an SUV broke his axel on the way down his towing bill was $1000, the SUV we saw parked at the side of the road had strange sized tires and so had to wait a number of days to get the right size tires sent in. What we deduced from this is; a) we avoided the rocks better b) new tires are better than old on 810km on gravel road and c) Mazda 3s rock SUVs on the Dempster.

Animals – moose (same moose twice once up and the other time down wanted to die both times), fox, beaver
Kms - 927