Nabo's Adventure to Alaska 2017

[Nabo]

Leaving Ft Nelson was a very good drive for about 25-30 miles and then, reality sets in - the AlCan Hwy wins. You can see parts of the original highway. From there on it was winding roads with some grades being 8-10%. And then the narrow road with no shoulders. The pavement was just worn out. But we did get to see wildlife. Let's see - 4 black bears and baby, 1 caribou buck with a beautiful set of antlers, 2 sets of stone sheep and baby, a deer and a fox. And the landscape is something that you just wont believe - too pretty. We are now at a campground called Toad River Lodge. I would give this an A- only because of 30 amps service but full hookups - great pull thru sites, good wifi and ok restaurant.

 

[dlw930]

Following your journey with great interest. We're at Bee Lazee RV Park in Prince George BC and will be following in your tracks in our Landmark once we to get Dawson Creek tomorrow.


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[Nabo]

Cool beans David/Donna. Today we got to Watson Lake Yukon, planning to stay 2 nights. How did yall get to Prince George? The reason I'm asking is because our plans are to go from Prince George to Vancouver and was wondering the route.

 

[dlw930]

Cool beans David/Donna. Today we got to Watson Lake Yukon, planning to stay 2 nights. How did yall get to Prince George? The reason I'm asking is because our plans are to go from Prince George to Vancouver and was wondering the route.

We came across the border at Abbotsford BC and took TransCanada Hwy 1 to Cache Creek the first day, then up 97, the Cariboo Connector, to Prince George. Good highways. 97 to PG had some upgraded 4-lane sections. Several decent campgrounds around PG. Ours has the basics, full hookups but only 30A. We paid $30 Canadian a night. If you have time, there's an interesting railroad and forestry museum in PG down by the Fraser River and a big Canfor lumber mill and rail yard across the street from the museum. Also a Costco, Walmart and Save Mor grocery store.


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[Nabo]

Thanks for the info. We were talking about coming down hwy 37 out of Watson Lake, stopping at Iskut before heading on in to Vancouver.

Today was another travel day and a rainy one. We traveled from Toad River to Watson Lake, staying at Downtown RV. They do have a couple of 50 amps sites which we got one but wifi is limited. I would rate this cg as a B. No cell service until we got to Watson Lake. Drive was interesting but beautiful and saw lots of animals. The government are working on the roads which brought everyone to a halt for 20 plus minutes so everyone got out and got to know each other. Once they let us go and of course we were escorted, it was about 4-5 miles of dusty, gravel road. Ate supper at Kathy's Kitchen - very good food.

 

[dlw930]

Thanks for the info. We were talking about coming down hwy 37 out of Watson Lake, stopping at Iskut before heading on in to Vancouver.

That's the route we plan to take on our return, except we'll take 16 back to Prince George and Jasper/Banff to Glacier NP. We're signed up for the Montana HOC rally the weekend after Labor Day. Lots to see!! Love the wildlife you got to see today.


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[Nabo]

Thursday June 15th - Watson Lake. We took today as a rest day, wash day and wondered around the little community day. The big attraction in Watson Lake is the Sign Post Forest. People bring signs from their home area and post them on posts around the visitor center. Pretty amazing they have been doing this since the 1940's. No we didn't leave a sign but spent about a couple of hours wondering around reading all the different places. Even found my home town in SC and our current TN area. There is also a Northern Light Centre which we will go thru on our way back home. Tomorrow is a travel day.

 

[dlw930]

I'd heard of the sign forest, but we didn't bring one either. My sister and BIL live in Spartanburg! . We're in Dawson Creek until Saturday. We saw a moose and 2 black bear yesterday. Keep leaving tracks for us!


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[Nabo]

I'd heard of the sign forest, but we didn't bring one either. My sister and BIL live in Spartanburg! . We're in Dawson Creek until Saturday. We saw a moose and 2 black bear yesterday. Keep leaving tracks for us!


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Yeah Spartanburg As for a sign - a bunch of folks have made wooden signs, kind of like a shingle size so hunt around and you can find something to make.

 

[Nabo]

Friday's (June 16th) drive to Whitehorse started out great and sunny until we stopped for brunch, founding that the weld job that was done in Saskatchewan didn't hold. At that time we were only about 100 miles out of Whitehorse so we limped in. The campground again was great pointing us in a direction so we took the Silver Bullet down to an truck spring/welding place, came up with a plan and will take her back in Monday. This kind of an extra day to the trip but that's ok. The drive again was amazing. Rainbows were everywhere and we crossed the second longest expansion bridge on the ALCan Hwy (the Peace Bridge is the longest). Teslin Lake is a very long narrow body of water. And then we crossed the beginning of the Yukon River bridge and the control gates.

 

[travelin2]

Nabo, too bad about the mechanical failure. Lucky it happened where it did. Services very limited past Haines Junction to Beaver Creek. Safe travels.


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[dlw930]

I'm sorry about your trouble. Wish we were closer so we could help, but not sure what help we'd be. Sounds like you have a plan to get going again. Our plan today is to go from DC to Fort Nelson.


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[Nabo]

June 17th, the town of Whitehorse is a bustling little community of about 28000 people which I guess is during the wintertime cuz there are a lot of folks here now. There is a slow pitch softball tournament going on this weekend so I guess that has added to the numbers. We visited a couple of museums, an art gallery and the SS Klondike. Lunch was at a fun little restaurant called the Klondike Rib and Salmon. The owner has tried to keep the feel of the late 1890's in that the interior is fixed like an old dining tent. Great place to eat. The town also has a lot of building art. Tomorrow is another adventure day.


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I'm sorry about your trouble. Wish we were closer so we could help, but not sure what help we'd be. Sounds like you have a plan to get going again. Our plan today is to go from DC to Fort Nelson.


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WOW - ya'll are catching up with us. We will be in Whitehorse until Tuesday morning which is when we are pulling out for to Dawson City. The Silver Bullet goes to the welding shop Monday afternoon. We are currently in Hi Country RV.

 

[Nabo]

Sunday June 18th - Blue skies, Sunshine. WOW what the sun can do for your mood. We are still wandering around Whitehorse. Saw some people of the First Nation building a boat, went to the fish ladder even tho it's too early for the salmon in this area to be running, watched float planes, to the transportation museum which also had a car show going on, saw the world's largest weather vane made from an airplane, an old copper mine museum and a museum about the pre-historic animals of this area. As we were also driving around, found this dome made out of bicycle rims. So odd.

 

[dlw930]

Cool pics! Glad you enjoyed Whitehorse! Hope the repair goes as planned today. Good luck on the drive to Dawson City! We made Watson Lake yesterday and will try for Whitehorse Tuesday.


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[Nabo]

Monday June 19th - the day to get the camper into the welding shop in the afternoon - yeah. Until it was time to go, we decided to go up Miles Canyon. This is a must do place that isn't talked about much. We also found some interesting stuff along the way.
And the welding was done with an added support piece.

 

[Nabo]

Tuesday June 20th - travel day. It was a long, rough ride of about 330 miles from Whitehorse to Dawson City Yukon. Even tho there isn't a lot of traffic, a lot of the time you have to go about 30 miles an hour because of the patch jobs Canada has done on the road as well as the dips and frost heaves. It took us over 8 hours but we made it safely. The good thing is the drive was absolutely beautiful and we got to see a lot of animals - 4 rabbits, 2 black bears, 1 grizzly and so many of what I call mini bears (some kind of prairie dog that are fearless), we couldn't count them all. And the flowers.

 

[dlw930]

Great pics and info, as usual. We've gotten glimpses of two grizzlies but can't seem to get a pic. We made it to Whitehorse today. We may take 2 days going to Dawson City...1 long day or 2 short ones.


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[Nabo]

Wednesday June 21st - the longest day of the year. Here in Dawson City Yukon, sunrise was at 3:47 am, sunset 12;51 am. Now that's a day!! Our day started with making some reservations for the next 10 days so we are set in Alaska in and around Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage, Palmer and Homer. Lots more to book later. Then we headed up to the Midnight Dome. This is one of the ridge tops that surrounds Dawson but I'm not sure what the elevation is, just that it's high. Look at the dredge tailing from long ago. What a view of the town below but also the Klondike River and the Yukon River both upstream and down. Then we headed over to the dredge #4 which was in operations until 1959. What an impressive machine that was built in 1912 and went into operations in May 1913. Other than a couple of hiccups, this dredge ran 24 hours a day for about 8 months out of the year. In a single day, it could bring up 800 ounces of gold which in todays dollars would be over $1M. We came back to the Silver Bullet just before a rain/hail storm so Nathan pulled the truck underneath the big awning.
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dlw930 - after driving the route from Whitehorse to Dawson City and if you are up for it, I would drive it in one day but be prepared for a roller coaster ride. There was only 1-2 campgrounds along this route but not bthat could take a big rig. We left WH about 7 am and got to DC about 3:30 pm. Word of caution, there are a couple of bridge contraction that are real tight

 

[dlw930]

Wednesday June 21st - the longest day of the year. Here in Dawson City Yukon, sunrise was at 3:47 am, sunset 12;51 am. Now that's a day!! Our day started with making some reservations for the next 10 days so we are set in Alaska in and around Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage, Palmer and Homer. Lots more to book later. Then we headed up to the Midnight Dome. This is one of the ridge tops that surrounds Dawson but I'm not sure what the elevation is, just that it's high. Look
dlw930 - after driving the route from Whitehorse to Dawson City and if you are up for it, I would drive it in one day but be prepared for a roller coaster ride. There was only 1-2 campgrounds along this route but not bthat could take a big rig. We left WH about 7 am and got to DC about 3:30 pm. Word of caution, there are a couple of bridge contraction that are real tight

Thanks for the info! Ordinarily, we would have taken your advice to drive WH to D.C. In one day. Sunday, we ran into a Foretravel MH caravan in Dawson Creek headed to WH and D.C. Then, ran into a Newmar caravan in WH. Both are headed to Dawson City today for two days. Since we didn't have reservations in DC, we stopped in Carmacks this afternoon. They have 3 spots we could squeeze into with our Landmark, so we're here for 2 nights, letting the caravans get ahead of us, with 50A full hookups, satellite TV, 5 bars of cell service, internet, the Yukon River out our front (only) door, and mountains all around us. Oh, and the sun is shining! An oil tanker overturned on the Alaska Highway between WH and the Klondike Highway early this morning, shutting down the Alaska down in both directions until 3:15 PM today. Since we stayed at the Hot Springs north of WH, it didn't affect us. All is good!


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