The Drive Home: Kluane

As we left Alaska, we entered yet another nice game preserve, the Tetlin, and skirted on the edges of Kluane Park. We caught glimpses of the interior, Mt. Queen Mary was visible from the Don'Jek River.





We head southeast and stopped in Burwash landing and enjoyed the promising views offered by Kluane Lake. Kluane Lake is the largest lake in the Yukon Territories.





Destruction Bay and Sheep Mountain are some of the most scenic of the drive along the lake shore.





We were tempted to put the boats in the water, but we opted to wait and put them in at Lake Kathleen later that day.


Lake Kathleen, while very beautiful, was extremely windy and gusts were very strong. The evening paddle was not relaxing, but rather like a class II-III river expedition. We got very wet, but it was alot of fun. The new boat is better suited for white water :-)
The next morning we headed back to Whitehorse. Going through Haines Junction was spectacular. Again we were on the edge of Kluane Park. The mountains along the road act as an edge of a giant bowl, holding back the glaciers on the other side.

While beautiful, they are nothing compared to what lies just beyond them. Unfortunately access to the jewels of Kluane are not easy. There are very few trails and access points are very limited. It is best to hire a fly-in service. We agreed that another visit is mandatory.

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The Drive Home : Leaving Whitehorse

We arrived in Whitehorse hoping to fix a mechanical problem we discovered when examining our tires. Apparently the 1300 plus gravel road miles we've put on our adventure vehicle has taken a toll on her. We need a front-end alignment. Unable to get it done in Whitehorse in a timely manner we left town.

Before leaving, however, we had a nice dinner with one of our new found friends, Shawn, an avid para glider and an outdoor enthusiasts -- like us. We hope to meet up again in the future.

As we left town, the Yukon gave us a final goodbye. A beautiful rainbow and the S.S. Klondike gave us a final send off.

We had tears in our eyes as we knew our time in the Yukon was over. Our visit has been more than just a passing glance. We feel connected with the country, having tasted her mighty rivers, hiked her trails and driven her roads into the heart of the territory for nearly 3 months. It was a magical time that we will never forget.

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The Drive Home: The Northern Rockies

As we left the Yukon, we entered British Columbia excited about the new things promised to us in the travel guides. Among them was the chance to see wild Buffalo along the side of the road. We weren't disappointed.

This guy was a teddy bear, despite his intimidating glares.

Even further down the road we ran into a herd of his buddies. It was very exciting to see and we kept a vigil eye on the road so as not to hit one.

That evening we camped a the famous Liard Hot springs. We we were not disappointed. We had a nice evening dip and once again in the morning.

We did encounter disappointment as we entered Muncho Lake Provincial Park. It was raining. The forecast didn't look good. Unfortunately this photo was the best view we could muster of the lake. It was snowing on the higher peaks above us.

One of the bright spots was encountering a small herd of Mtn. Caribou at Summit Lake. Neither of us had ever seen Mtn. Caribou.

Snow was falling just a few hundred feet of elevation above us and we feared that we may be caught in some snow.

As we drove out of the mountains down to Fort Nelson our fears subsided as the sun peeked out for about 15 minutes and we got a nice picture of a fat black bear munching on the side of the road.

Even better was our drive beyond Fort Nelson as we encountered a mother with 3 cubs. A crowd of cars gathered and before long they approached within 10 feet of the camper. Yukon Johann had the camera ready and nabbed these pictures while Moose Lee had the foot on the gas for a quick getaway. The bears didn't seem to be bothered by our presence and we enjoyed about 15 minutes of extreme close viewing goodness. The cubs were soooo cute!!! Mom would grunt every now and then and look up at us to make sure we weren't threatening her and the family unit. They finally left when a big semi-truck came screaming by, scaring mom away from the road.

Satisfied, we were ready for bed. However, mother nature gave us another gift as we passed a Moose grazing in a roadside marsh.

Unfortunately, it is still raining. In talking to the locals, they say it has been a strange summer here in the terminus of the Rocky Mtns. as it has been raining almost non-stop since June with only a week of sunshine. With the early snows, the trucks are beginning to haul goods up north much sooner than normal. We were advised to be careful on the road.

Until next time, travel safely --Moose Lee & Yukon Johann

Wrangell-St Elias National Park & Preserve

It's Big!!!!!!

As we left Thompson Pass towards Wrangell-St Elias we got one more chance to view and climb on the Worthington Glacier.

Beauty.. eh!

We arrived at the cutoff to the old Edgerton highway to the Town of Chitna, along the Copper River. There are only 2 roads into the huge Wrangell-St Elias park. Both are gravel. The road to Chitna was fine, but the 60 mile drive on the McCarthy road towards the Kenicott mines was the absolute worst road we've driven to date. The road made the Dempster highway we drove to Inuvik above the Arctic circle seem like a smooth paved highway in comparison. The McCarthy road is a unique driving adventure. It's gravel and dirt surface makes for slow travel. Hazards include muddy and slippery conditions; sharp rocks can cause flat tires; narrow and one-lane bridges make maneuvering large vehicles difficult. We will never do it again in a motorhome. No fuel is available after Chitna. We experienced spectacular views, high narrow bridges, dust, bumps, and railroad spikes!! YEP, you read that right. RAILROAD SPIKES!!. We brought one back as a souvenir. Apparently they poured gravel directly over the original railbed, timbers and all. The graders sometimes reveal spikes. We drove slow and very methodically. We had many rewarding views along the way.
The Gilahana railroad trestle is something to see. It was built in 8 days, during the WINTER!


After fighting hours of dust, rain and all sorts of mean and nasty road conditions, this was view from camp. Was it worth the drive? Hmmmmm...... We are glad to say we did it... at least once. The picture below is of the Root glacier. The subsequent picture shows a panorama of our view from camp. Look closely and you can see the Kennecot mine.buildings.


Hiking trails are few and the best stuff in the park is very hard to access. This is a good thing and makes for a perfect wilderness expeditionary trip for those who wish to see the world without wheels and trails in the primitive way mother nature designed her. The road ends at McCarthy and the last five miles to the Kennecott mine require hiking, biking or taking a shuttle. Unfortunately, my chain broke on my bike and we had to take a shuttle ($20 round trip).


We did a somewhat grueling hike up to the Bonanza mine. It was an all day affair that offered incredible views of Mt Blackburn (over 16,000 ft!!!) and the moraine glaciers of the Kennicott and Root Glaciers.
In the Bonanza basin we saw many artifacts (trash?) from the mining operations. The remains of the mine and the bunkhouse looked pretty ghostly and eerie.
Up above the mine, on the upper ridge one could see into Canada (Kluane park) and we got views of 19,524 ft Mt Logan and a peek-a-boo of of 18,008 ft Mt Elias. If the clouds were gone, it would have made for perfect views of this spectacular World Heritage Park. As it was, we had no complaints.
The weather was nice and hot. The views were heavenly and Yukon Johann had a great time.



At the end of the day, we took our time and toured the mining community. Most of the buildings are in near ruins and the park service is attempting to restore many of the more impressive buildings. Mother nature has other ideas and in 2003 a normally benign creek swelled from moulins and glacier-marginal lakes to flood the town and destroyed a couple of historical buildings. The concentrator and some of the other more impressive buildings remain however. They stare out over the glacial moraines of the Kennicott and Root glaciers like sentinels against the sands of time. We left Wrangell-St Elias knowing that we had not even scratched the surface of the all the park has to offer. We vow to come back someday, loaded with cash for air drops and back country access. We wish to see what this country has to offer.

We took off towards Anchorage and that evening we were rewarded to heavenly views from our roadside camp. The GlennAllen Highway is a spectacular drive not to be missed.
Another day, another wonderful sunset. It has become a cliche for us all summer. Yet, each one is different and they offer a nice closing to the days of wonder we have experienced all summer.

We spent a night out by the Portage Glacier and then we had to make the turn to go back home.

The drive along the Glennallen hwy is wonderful.

Safe Travels,

Moose Lee and Yukon Johann

Paddling In Prince William Sound

Another Dream Come True

Paddling in Prince William Sound is a Kayaker's dream. To do it with your son is something special.

We arrived in Valdez on a cloudy rainy day. We thought it would be great if the weather cleared and the clouds disappeared revealing the glaciers just like they advertise in the travel brochures we all read. We were in luck!!! We caught a weather report at the visitor center and an unbelievable event was to occur for the next 48 hours.... CLEAR WARM WEATHER!!! We quickly arranged a water Taxi to take us out to the Shoup glacier where we planned to spend the night paddling and hiking in among the glaciers.

It was fantastic. It is a bird sancturary. We paddled amongst ice in a bird rookery complete with researchers and scientists studying the habits of these birds.

Afterwards, we paddled towards the glacier where it dumps into the bay. Yep, that is Moose Lee doing some more "Outdoor Research" during a lunch break.

The paddling was great as we were in a protected bay of mostly cold, fresh water. There was a cave carved into the rock where a pretty fast river came pouring out of the glacier. It made for great paddling as long as one avoided the ice bergs :-)

Later in the day we took a hike up the side of the glacial moraine hoping to get up to the pass and get a glimpse of the massive Columbia glacial snowfield. The view back towards the bay was impressive.

Unfortunately we came across a massive glacial moraine that had melted out in the past 5 years. This was all supposed to be glacial ice covered with dirt according to our map. Global climate change bit us in the butt on this one. We were unable to cross in a timely manner for our trip. We were luckyto see remanents of the remaining glacial mass "calve" into the moraine. It was quite a sight and we were correct and safe in not proceeding across it and up the otherside.

We did get great views of the Shoup Glacier and the upper part where it joined the Columbia ice sheet farther back.

We spent the night there and paddled back to Valdez on a cloudless day with hundreds of salmon spawning and lots and lots of marine life feeding on them. As we got closer to Valdez, we saw about 100 boats out fishing for the annual Salmon fishing derby.

The evening came to a close for us as the last sailing of the Whittier to Valdez ferry came into port. The past 2 days had been like some dream that couldn't have been imagined to be any better. Moose Lee recalled his childhood days of fishing out of Port San Luis in southern California. After spending the night below the Valdez glacier we prepared to leave. However, we decided to drive out to the terminus of the Alaska Pipeline. We weren't prepared for what we saw. We saw thousands and thousands of Salmon returning up the river to spawn. In one particular spot, hatchery fish were trying to return up river but were blocked by a weir. It was an unbelievable sight. We picked fish up bare handed as they were everywhere... so thick, it looked as if on could walk across the bay on them.Apparently the bears know that the Salmon are running as well. There were warning signs all over the place and the local police and fire departments were out patrolling the roads to remind tourists not to get out of their cars. In one case, a grizzly sow and 3 cubs were given a wide corridor and had the road closed for a spell as they had to "herd" the bears out of the way of greedy fishermen.

That night we camped at Thompson Pass and enjoyed an evening of mountain biking in among the glaciated peaks.

The day wasn't done as mother nature bid a final adieu to the day and we enjoyed another spectacular sunset.
Magic? Lucky? We think so. Times like these only happen once in a great while.

Until next time, Moose Lee & Yukon Johann