Day 16 Tok, AK to Valdez, AK

Day 16 - Wednesday, July 15/2009
Starting Location: Tok, AK
Ending Location: Valdez, AK
Distance Travelled: 268 miles or 434 km
Distance Travelled to date: 5320 miles or 8946 km

Drive from Tok to Valdez started off in a heavy rain. Once the rain stopped, the temperature rose from 12 degrees up to 20 degrees. Much of the day was overcast and the horizon was foggy and hazy. The ride from Tok to Glennallen was non-descript and the scenery involved stubby trees along a very straight highway. As we got closer to Glennallen, more lakes were in view. The scenery picked up as we drove Highway 4 to Valdez. Within 40 miles of Valdez, huge white-capped mountains appeared from behind the clouds and hazy sky.
The trip into Valdez became utterly amazing as there are snow-caps after snow caps. We stopped and walked up to a glacier and took photos and rummaged thru the glacier rock deposits. As the haze over the mountians continues, there were few opportunities to take photos that represented the sheer beauty of the area.
Tommorrow, we are taking a 9.5 hour ocean cruise into the fiords to view glaciers and wildlife from a cruise ship. Should be fun.

Gas:
Tok, AK $3.329/gal 2.7 gal $9.00 total US
Glennallen, AK $3.409/gal 7.84 gal $26.73 total US

Eagles Nest RV Park, Valdez, AK $27/night plus $8/person extra
Hwy 1, the Alaska Highway is paved and was in excellent condition from Tok to lennallen. Highway 4 to Valdex is paved and was in very good condition

Day 15 Skagway, AK to Tok, AK

Day 15 - Tuesday, July 14/2009
Starting Location: Skagway, AK
Ending Location: Tok, AK
Distance Travelled: 472 miles or 765 km
Distance Travelled to date: 5252 miles or 8512 km

Like yesterday, we would experience some of the worst road conditions and also some beautiful scenery as We started off by ferry from Skayway, AK on the Alaska Marine Highway to the Haines AK. The ferry ride was a nice change as we went up a fiord, seeing waterfalls and a distant view of a whale. Got to Haines and Geordon went to a hammer museum while I cleaned up my bike and checked oil. tire pressure, etc. Upon leaving Haines, saw magnificent mountins and glacier as we drove along the Haines Highway on our way to Tok. The road was impeccable with nice curves and grat road surface. As we got to Haines Junction, the landscape really changed and as the mountains were in the background, we were in a large plain of treed forests. Once we left Haines Junction, the roads really deteriorated and the temperature started to climb to about 28 Celcius. Roads were paved, then hit sections of loose and hard packed gravel and then areas damaged by permafrost that causes the road surface to heave and become very bumpy. Gravel areas were extremely dusty. Not a vey pleasant ride as all the poor road conditions were here. We want to get to Tok as it will make tomorrows ride more relaxing and there is absoultely nothing in this area except for strungy trees (out of fairness, our visibility of the area was reduced by a haze from forest fires, but there still is not much to see). Reached Tok and had supper at Fast Eddys. a place recommended earlier. Stayed at the Snowshoe Fine Arts Motel as we really needed a place to rest after getting up so early and driving thru some terrible roads.

Gas:
Haines, AK $2.969/gal 4.7 gal $12.09 total US
Haines Junction, YT $1.199/li 13.01 litres $15.60 total
No Where, YT, $1.239/li 6.06 litres $7.51 total
Beaver Creek, YT $1.199/li 9.28 litres $11.12 total

Snowshoe Fine Arts Motel, Tok, AK, $105 US with wifi

Haines Hwy was impeccable for riding. Excellent surface, nice curves, beautiful scenery. Alaksa Highway from Haines Junction was hard packed gravel with spots of loose gravel and very dusty. On small stretches that were paved, permafrost heaved the road causing very bumpy, rolling conditions. A lot of patches of pavement. Once in Alaska, the conditions greatly improved and the road conditions from Beaver Creek to Tok was excellent, nicely paved with very few permafrost issues.

Temperature was cool on the ferry, but from Haines, it was on it's way to 28 C.

Day 14 - Dease Lake to Skagway, AK

Day 14 - Monday, July 13/2009
Starting Location: Dease Lake, BC

Ending Location: Skagway, AK
Distance Travelled: 509 miles or 828 km
Distance Travelled to date: 4780 miles or 7747 km

Today, we would experience the worst road conditions and one of the most beautiful rides. We started off at the Dease Lake on the worst ection of the Stewart-Cassiar Hwy. Road was hard packed gravel most of the way. Good that it wasn't wet or slippery. Took about 3 hours to get to the Alaska Highway. At the end of the Stewart-Cassair highway, it is the border of the Yukon and B.C. Met a couple at the Yukon sign from Smithers. The woman was from a farm in Niagara-on-the-Lake, just miles from where I live. Small world.
Went into Watson Lake, about 14 km east to get gas & someting to eat. Took a photo and added our names to the place of signs where, during WWll, someone stationed in Watson Lake was homesick and put up a sign showing how far it was from his home, and it caught on and now there are over 600.000 signs from people showing their hometowns. Now it's 600,000 +1 more.
Scenery from Dease Lake to Watson Lake and west was uninspiring, with a lot of flat landscape with trees. I guess we were spoiled by the Bell ll area.
But as we went west, around Tagish, the landscape once again became amazing. High hills with lakes. Saw people fishing. Older gent with his grand=daughter caught huge trout. They were from the Parry Sound, On area.
We went south to get to Skayway. I was in Skagway on a cruise, but getting to Skagway by ship pales in comparison to riding there by bike or car. The scenery makes you want to stop every corner of the road. High mountains, ddep valleys, glaciers, lakes, everything in one area. This was the area of the gold rush and makes you wonder how they could ever manange to get here by foot or mule. Got to Skagway late and had little chance to walk around the town. It's a very old rustic town kept to appear like the goldrush days with boarded sidewalks, saloons, and general stores and old-time looking banks, It's amazing how they kept the appearance of the old town, but its for tourism and the cruise ship sightseeers.
Stayed at a hotel that night as we must get up for a 5:30 a.m. for a ferry to Haines, AK (the ferry only runs once a day and leaves at 7:00). We wanted to spend the day in Juneau, the the ferry schedule did not work into our plans. Off to Tok, AK tomorrow.

Gas:
Dease Lake, BC $1.209/li 13.4 litres $16.22 total
Watson Lake, YT $1.189/li 14.24 litres $17.06 total
Tagish, YT, $1.099/li 13.92 litres $15.30 total

Motel, Skagway, AK, $150 US less $20 CAA with computer access

Stewart-Cassiar Hwy was very rough with a hard packed gravel surface for most of the final 250 km. Gravel was not heavy, so could travel at 80km/hr

Temperature was cool to start until the afternoon when it reached a high of 25 degrees Celcius. Started off cloudy but cleared up by afternoon.

Day 13 More Photos near Bell ll, B.C.

Here are a few more photos of the Bell ll area along the Stewart Cassiar Hwy. Pictures cannot show how lush the mountains are with vegetation and how high and steep they are. Saw a few black bears along the way.

Day 13 along Stewart=Cassiar Hwy

Day 13 - Sunday, July 12/2009
Starting Location: Houston, West of Smithers, BC

Ending Location: Dease Lake, BC
Distance Travelled: 511 miles or 828 km
Distance Travelled to date: 4271 miles or 6919 km

Today, we started off at the Houston, just east of Smithers, BC. The weather was perfect. Smithers is a very quaint skiing town and home of cattle raising. Magnificant mountains in the area and huge foothills for cattle.
From Smithers, we drove along Hwy 16 to Kitwanga, BC, at the junction of Hwy 37 or the Stewart-Cassiar Hwy. The ride was one of my best rides ever, It was warm, no wind, blue sky and the roads were excellent. Perfect surface and little traffic. Cruised at 100mph while really enjoying the moment. Filled up at since there is very little service along the Stewart-Cassiar Hwy and the area is very remote. Heard a lot of bad things of the highways condition, but for the first 375 km, it was perfect,

Little traffic and the road surface was extremely good, alleviating concerns for the time being. The scenery was excellent as we drove between the Rocky ranges. Huge,
huge wooded mountains would all of a sudden become snow patched and rise high into the sky. Very impressive sights. Only problem, was that it was about 28 degrees C and the mountains had a constant haze, not good for photo taking.
Took a side trip to Stuart which is right on the B.C. /Alaska border. Huge ountains and glaciers everywhere. Some glaciers are right at the road side. They were huge and you can see how they were breaking apart. Due to the time of day and the constant haze, could ot take photos that truly represented the view. From Stuart we decided to try and make it to Dease Lake for the day as there is supposed to be gravel sections and construction. We went thru Bells 2 and were mezmerized by the scenery. Snow covered mountains that looked like zebra colours were everywhere and the vegetation was extremely lush.
Amazing how much greener could exist so far north. From this area, we proceeded to Dease Lake. Hit about a 5km stretch of gravel road. The surface was hard packed but had a gravel base. It also started to rain for about 5 minutes. Once we got past the gravel section, the road into Dease Lake was great. We learned that there are gravelly sections ahead of us as we try to make it to Skagway, AK tomorrow

Gas:
Smithers, BC $1.099/li 15.2 litres $16.75 total
Kitwanga, BC $1.099/li 5.545 litres $6.09 total
Stewart, BC $1.139/li 11.89 litres $13.66 total
Bells ll, BC $1.25/li 8.399 litres $10.50 total

Accomodations: Northland Motel, Dease Lake, $99 with wifi
Road Condition: Hwy 16 West was in great shape without any potholes, bumps or construction. Can cruise at 100-120 effortlessly. First 375km of Stewart-Cassiar Hwy was a perfect paved surface, with little traffic
Weather: Temperature was perfect, reaching a high of 28 degrees Celcius. Clouded over at about 9:00 p.m.,

Day 12 APhotos along Jasper Parkway, Hwy 16W

Here are a few more photos along the Jasper Parkway and Highway 16 West to Prince George

Day 12 Jasper Parkway to Smithers, BC

Day 12 - Saturday, July 11/2009
Starting Location: Sunwapta Falls, Jasper Parkway, AB

Ending Location: West of Smithers, BC
Distance Travelled: 470.7 miles or 763km
Distance Travelled to date: 3760 miles or 6091 km

Today, we started off at the Sunwapta Falls Resort. Bought some souvenirs and met another St. Catharines girl that was working at the resort. Before we left, we took a side trip to see the Sunwapta Falls, just behind the resort, for a photo shoot.
On our way to Jasper, the scenery along the parkway was once again amazing.
Stopped in Jasper to get gas and then started on Hwy 16 West to Prince George. The mountains were snow covered, but as we went along the highway, we commented how the scenery was starting to look a lot like Northern Ontario, except for the snow dotted moutains.
Saw about 6 bear (5 black and 1 brown) as well as deer, a group of elk crossing a river, a moose. Scenery was fantastic along the way. We stopped at the Mt. Robson
travel stop and had lunch and took photos of the largest moutain in the Canadian Rockies.
As the landscape became more flat, we decided to try to make up time and cover a lot of distance so we can start the Stewart-Cosair highway tomorrow.
We stopped at a RV park just east of Smithers.
Weather today was the best of the trip so far as it reached 28 degrees Celcius with blue skies. Hope it holds out for the rest of the trip up north.

Gas:
Jasper, AB $.999/li 13.0 litres $13.01 total
McBride, BC $1.139/li 7.99 litres $19.10 total
Prince George, BC $1.091/li 11.9 litres $13.00 total
Vanderhoof, BC $1.059/li 5.20 litres $5.51 total

RV Park, Smithers, $23 plus $4 electrical plus $2 wifi

Hwy 16 West is in great shape without any potholes, bumps or construction. Can cruise at 100-120 effortlessly

More of Day 11 - Lake Louise

Friday, July 10, 2009
Here are a few more photos we took while at Lake Louise. It's a great spot, but a bit too busy.

Day 11: More photos of Jasper area

Here are a few more photos of the Jasper area.

Day 11 Banff to Jasper Parkway

Day 11 - Friday, July 10/2009
Starting Location: Claresholm, AB
Ending Location: Jasper Parkway, AB,
Distance Travelled: Approx. 317 miles or 514km

Today, we said goodbye to Chris & Adrienne and were about to start off to Banff when we noticed that the truck had a flat. Good thing that I had a compressor and tire repair kit on my bike. We inflated the tire and went to Claresholm for repairs.
After a late start, we set off for Banff. We picked up some photos of the white water rafting in Lake Louise. Again, the mountain scenery is amazing.
Went into Lake Louise and walked around the lake. Saw some horseback riders and kerplunckers (climbers) scaling a mountain. Jordan walked thru the cold glacier waters for a photo op with a chunk of glacier coming down from the mountain.
After leaving Lake Louise, we started off for Jasper. Not sure how we will get out of this area as it is simply amazing and breathtaking. As it was getting late and past 9:00p.m., we decided to stop at a small resort that I had heard about from a friend and booked a cabin for the night. It's called Sunwapta Falls and employs students from Ontario, with about 4 being from St. Catharines. I know I've seen one of the student before. Again, what a small world.
We will have breakfast, tour the area and continue down the Jasper Parkway tomorrow and head towards Prince George.
Weather was a bit cool at the start of the day, being about 55 degrees, but warming up to the low 70's. In the mountains, the temperature dropped down to about 52 degrees. At least there was no rain.

Gas:
Calgary, AB $.924/li 10.6 litres $9.81 total
Lake Louise, AB $1.069/li 10.9 litres $11.65 total

Sunwapta Falls Resort: $149 for 2 double-bedded cabin less 5% for CAA member. Very clean, comfortable, wifi and flatscreen tv (getting spoiled)

More Photos of White Water Rafting

Here are a few more photos of our white water rafting adventure, just outside of Lake Louise. It was a wild ride, but so much fun, as can been seen in the photos.
That's Donna with the look of shear terror on her face.