Days 16-18: Goodbye Canada, Hello Alaska

Days 16-18:

Our drive from the off-grid cabin to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, was supposed to be pretty straightforward with just one wiggle in the route: we’d head East on the Alcan Highway when we intersected with it in order to visit Watson Lake. The town itself was quite large, possibly because of the hoopla around the Sign Post Forest. Back in the 40s when the Alcan Highway was being constructed as part of the war effort (we didn’t want the Japanese to try and take over Alaska without having a direct highway route for troops to get there to defend the territory), a homesick soldier hung up a sign to an army mile marker post that listed his hometown of Danville, Illinois and how many miles away it was. Since then, the Sign Post Forest has collected THOUSANDS of signs that people from all over the world have left behind. As of 2018, there were more than 87,500 signs. The place was extraordinary.

We didn't see Havertown (didn't look too hard), but there were lots of signs from the Keystone State!

I was dealing with a minor work fiasco while M&D scoped out the signs, but when I finally caught up with them I heard about how they had already re-connected with some folks who we had seen the day before! We were stopped at a gas station in Dease Lake and I was inside dropping off my credit card to have the gas pump turned on while Dad cleaned the windshields (the bugs up here are for real, folks). Some guy in a truck pulled up and pretty rudely asked my Dad to move the car forward so he could get gas at the pump behind ours. Dad did (and, to Mom’s telling, was pretty chill about the whole thing – miracle of miracles), as I was walking back to the car, and the guy was apparently HORRIFIED to realize he’d made a mistake. He thought Dad was just blocking up the works taking his sweet time cleaning the windows, not realizing we still needed to pump our gas, too. So when I went back inside to re-claim my credit card and turn off the pump (it’s a whole process to get gas), he apologized to Dad profusely for being a jerk, generally. So anyway, while we’re at Sign Post Forest the same guy was there! And popped over to apologize again to Dad and generally do what dudes do in awkward situations like that. All’s well that ends well.

So we leave Watson Lake and pretty much put the pedal to the metal to get to Whitehorse in time for dinner. The Stratford Motel has LOVELY laundry facilities, so we got two loads of wash done and then headed to Dirty Northerners for apps and drinks before bed. That was a win because the service was good and the food was hot AND we could walk there and back.

Next morning, I was still dealing with the minor work fiasco from the previous day so M&D scoped out the Starbucks we’d passed en route to the bar the night before and picked up breakfast, coffee, and tea. We’re pretty sure that’s the first Starbucks we’ve seen since the states, though we concede there could have been one in either Banff or Jasper that we just didn’t see. Either way, great way to use up some Starbucks giftcards and get some hot drinks for the road.

Whitehorse to Skagway was a beautiful drive. We missed a turn and ended up taking the long way down, but still had plenty of time to make our 7:15pm ferry. The mountains by the Canadian/Alaskan border were stunning. Waterfalls everywhere and landscape unlike any we’ve seen to date. The trees were all really stunted and small, and there was this greenish yellow lichen growing all over the rocks of the landscape. We traced the route of the Skagway railway that my parents took when they were here on their Alaskan cruise and saw a train making its way up to the border. Border crossing was quick and easy (once we backed out of the trucks-only lane and into the passenger cars lane): we made it to Alaska!

Welcome to Alaska waterfall

We headed straight to the Skagway ferry terminal and got our car in line to board our eventual ferry down to Haines. We had about an hour and a half to kill when we took into account having to arrive at the terminal an hour and a half before departure to get the cars loaded onto the boat, so we, naturally, sought out a bar. Initial thought had been to window shop, but I’m no good at that; I buy things. So we headed to Skagway Brewing for some light dinner and beers. The waitress carded me and said “no way, I used to live in Collingswood!” After we chatted all things Flyers (she’s a big fan of Gritty) and Philly, a couple sitting behind us chimed in “we’re from Cinnaminson!” Small world. The beer was solid and the Caesar with blackened local halibut that the waitress recommended was excellent.

We were probably the 5^th car to park in the loading bay when we got into town, but we were 3^rd to last to board the boat. The trip down to Haines was beautiful – Dad whipped out the binoculars and we had a grand time spotting waterfalls and looking at the scenery – and our AirBnB was only a 12 minute drive from the terminal once we landed. We stayed in a 3-bedroom luxury yurt with a hot tub overlooking the bay. It was stunning.

hot tub

View from the hot tub

I was first driver yesterday on our way back into Canada for our final leg through Yukon. It was the first trip in a while that we’ve only spotted 2 bears during the drive – most other days we’ve seen 8-12. The drive took us along the backside of the mountain range that makes up Glacier Bay National Park and I have to say: the backside was stunning, so I can only imagine what it looks like from the Bay. A whole lot of wide open space kept us company during the drive, but there weren’t many other cars. Once we re-joined the Alcan Highway (if we had continued straight west out of Whitehorse we’d have stayed on it, but the detour to Skagway/Haines took us off it) the road quality degraded pretty rapidly. The views, though, were worth it. The Alcan Hwy takes a route that edges along the outside perimeter of Klaune National Park in Canada, so we stopped at an overlook to see Lake Kathleen and learned that Klaune, along with Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska and two others whose names I can’t recall) form the largest protected landmass in the world.

We stopped for lunch by a lake with a beaver dam and could see their handiwork 

Beaver tree felling

I stopped driving after 200 miles or so and was glad to take a nap for the better part of our last two hours of drive. Woke up to squeals from the front: we’d spotted our second coyote and managed to get photos of this one. Back to sleep for me, and happy to miss out on the bumps and “alley-oops” that otherwise would have certainly made me car sick in the backseat.

Our motor lodge was very cute last night in Beaver Creek, YT. Dinner was at Buckshot Betty’s, we got Creamsicles for dessert in the Motor Inn shop, and then off to bed.

The sun was this crazy red when we left dinner

This morning was a late start (we’ve had a lot of those recently) around 11am. We just passed out of Canada for the last time (unless everything goes to shit and we miss our ferry from Whittier down to Seattle in ten-ish days) and we’re headed towards the Richardson Highway! Tonight we stay in Gakona, Alaska, just outside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.

Days 13-15: Kate falls in love with off-the-grid living

This is a long one, so prepare yourselves.

I think my last missive came from Golden, BC, so I’m writing this from that perspective. We headed out Saturday morning knowing we were saying goodbye to a lovely cabin in the woods and heading into a fairly unknown portion of the trip: the drive through British Columbia to get onto the Alaskan Highway. I had almost no idea what to expect from the towns I’d found housing in when prepping for this trip (sometimes motor lodges, sometimes AirBnBs, always with quick, easy access to the highway we’re traveling). Fortunately, the day began with at least one known: we’d be taking the Icefields Parkway through Banff and Jasper National Parks and it would be beautiful. We were right.

There was a herd of Big Horned Sheep that we saw all four times we drove past a particular stretch of highway outside Yoho (near our AirBnB in Golden). The last time we drove past there were 12 of them!

So many Big Horned Sheep and babies!

Along the Icefields Parkway

Elegance personified

This was right by Bridal Falls near the edge of Jasper/Banff

The Columbia Icefields

We didn't have time, but you could actually hike up to this Columbia Glacier and touch it!

We stopped for lunch in the town of Jasper at the end of the Parkway at a place called Earl’s. It was really tasty food (and the beer was cold), and the town itself was way more chill than Banff/Lake Louise had been. We've since learned that it's a Canadian chain of restaurants. We felt less Clampett-y than in Lake Louise, but it was still a little fou fou for M&D, I think. They’re slowly realizing how pretentious I can be about food (ie. I made note when the eggs at our Super 8 were made from powder while they commented on how moist and fluffy they were) and Dad has begun calling me a foodie anytime I offer commentary on what we’re eating and drinking. Mostly he’s mocking me, though when the beer menu comes around, he asks me what options on the craft menu he might like, so.

We FINALLY saw our first moose!

Anyway, Jasper for lunch was great, then the rest of the afternoon was a blur of driving until we got to McBride. We arrived around 6pm on Saturday and went driving around town looking for the Catholic church and IMMEDIATELY all commented on how we must certainly be at Ground 0 for the zombie apocalypse because the town was absolutely deserted. I mean, nobody was walking around. It was eerie. We find the church, it’s posted a different mass time than what Dad read online, so we call them up and find out that mass isn’t til 11 (online said 10). It’s the end of the day and I just want to get the… heck… out of the car, so we head to our motor lodge to continue the discussion about what we should do for mass the next day (rather than continue to sit in the car outside the church to discuss like M&D were doing. Can you guess how I was feeling in that moment?).

We find out upon check in that there’s a water boil advisory in effect (something about the glacial melt in the area, apparently), so I vote we drink the bottle of wine that the last AirBnB welcomed us with, Dad suggests cheese and crackers for dinner, and everyone is happy again. We had a lovely chat with Anj who laughs multiple times with glee that he was smart enough to stay home on this one and then I bail to sit outside and read. While I was out there, this happened:

Coincidence that this was day 13? I think not.

FULL ON DOUBLE RAINBOW

Dad looks kinda doofy here, but this photo most clearly shows the DOUBLE RAINBOW that was present for all 3 pics.

The new church plan involved getting up, driving two hours to Prince George, BC, and going to mass at a local parish there at 11am. En route to mass we passed SIX black bears, including a Mama and 2 cubs, so we didn’t get to mass on time. Fortunately for me (the driver), being 5 minutes late was the least of our issues. We’re hovering in the back, singing along to the “entrance” hymn, and then Father stands up and gives the final, end-of-mass blessing and mentions that this week started the parish summer schedule and any late comers can still hit 11am mass at the Cathedral down the road. Oops. Since we got to sing a hymn and a half we called it a day and went to Denny’s for breakfast.

Wouldn't you be late to church for a face like that?

Post-breakfast was pretty uneventful, except for officially starting on the Stewart/Cassiar Alaska Highway. We made it to Smithers in decent time for our stay at the Stork’s Nest Inn. It was a long day of driving (we got in around 6 maybe? After leaving at 8:30am), so I just wanted a cold beer at the Alpen-something Bistro that was walking distance from the Inn. M&D opted to come along for drinks and appetizers and we all got to enjoy the absurdly slow service together. Chomping at the bit is a phrase that comes to mind to describe me waiting to get my beer after spending 10.5 hours traveling. Some overpriced broccoli soup and cranberry-brie-pesto-thing later, we headed back to read and veg. Thank goodness.

Yesterday’s drive was pretty spectacular if only because we spotted 8 black bears over the course of the day. We got up and out early because our AirBnB hostess was providing dinner and we didn’t want to keep her up and waiting. Along the way we saw some extraordinary stretches of Queen Anne's Lace growing along the edge of the roadway... the flowers themselves were HUGE, but they grew in such abundance we couldn't stop talking about them. We waited for the rain to begin down-pouring before deciding we needed photos to document. Natch.

We arrived around 5:30 in the midst of another downpour. We had told Kristy (our hostess) we’d get there close to 7 (to allocate ample time for our slow pokieness), so we were a little unsure what to expect. There was a sticky note on the door from out hostess that said “Hi Kate! Welcome; come on in and make yourselves comfortable. I’m out on the lake fishing and should be back soon.” 

The cabin was on top of a hill overlooking Vines Lake and was gorgeous. We quickly realized it had no electricity or running water. I had vaguely remembered there was a place with an outhouse somewhere along our journey and it looked like we’d arrived. I was investigating the outdoor shower (two walls, to hide you from view of the cabin and outhouse, and an otherwise wide open view of the trees and lake) and the outhouse (fully equipped with scented candle, battery-powered light fixture, and framed art) when Kristy arrived. You’ll have to read Dad’s daily report to get his full musings, but the short version is that she’s this total outdoors-woman (she lives in a canvas-walled tent in the summers, an off-grid cabin - with actual walls - in the winter) but is as warm and friendly as your average suburbanite. None of the mountain-man gruffness, just warm hospitality inside an off-the-grid-living exterior. She’s my new hero.

From left: the cabin, trees, the outhouse, trees, the weird white blob on the right is one wall of the shower. 

Vines & Puppies cabin in Jade City, BC

The cabin from my loft bed at "sunset" (have I mentioned that the sun doesn't really set? We're too far north and it's too close to the solstice! We're actually in the Land of the Midnight Sun up here, y'all)

Kristy made us fajitas for dinner, showed us how to use the outdoor shower (gravity-fed from the creek a half mile up the mountain so it had lovely water pressure), told us to make ourselves at home, and scooted. I decided quickly that I wanted to get out on the lake and spend some time kayaking since it was there and still sunny. Short version: it was glorious and I met a beaver.

View from the island in the middle of Vines Lake

Needle Mountain from Vines Lake

Initial assumption when I saw this spash thing was obviously that BC has a Loch Ness Monster. Fortunately, I remembered that beavers exist and changed theories pretty fast. 

Mom saw this fellow up close on the dock, but she didn't have her camera at hand.

Again, I’ll let my Dad’s daily report speak for itself, but I think it’s safe to say that I was the one who was most excited to be staying in an off-grid cabin with an outhouse, outdoor wide-open shower, and a bed up in a loft accessible only by a very steep ladder. Mom was into the shower, too, but I think she would have liked to not have to take a stroll out to the outhouse with temps in the 40s overnight.

Hauling water for our morning dishes

Reality had to set in eventually, and that came in the form of a noon check out today. We saw Kristy again before departing (she answered some of our questions about the property that had arisen in the course of our explorations), but the drive to Whitehorse had to come eventually. One upside was that all three of us finally saw a Grizzly Bear (I saw one in Yellowstone, but it was FARRR away)! And our first sighting was of TWO cubs!

Over the drive today we saw two more Grizzlies (adults) and four more black bears! So if you've ever wanted to see bears roaming around at the side of the road, may I please recommend to you a drive along British Columbia's highways. 

We took a slight detour on our drive to visit the Signpost Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. It started in '42 when the original Alaska Highway was being built during WWII and a lonely soldier hung up a sign with his hometown on an army outpost road sign. Now it's got over 85,000 signs from all over the world.

After Watson Lake we still had a 5 hour drive to do. Dad drove the whole day, so by the time we arrived in Whitehorse he was getting cranky. And I had to leave my dream cabin in the woods this morning, so I was kinda cranky. And Mom is perfect in every way, so she wasn't cranky. But we did some laundry when we arrived which was, to illustrate how weird we are, a huge win because we didn't expect to be able to do laundry until tomorrow when we arrive in Haines, Alaska! So I did the laundry to get away from all the cranky and then announced that I was getting a drink at a bar nearby and that they were only invited to join me if they weren't pissy. Worked surprisingly well and the beer at the bar (Dirty Northerners here in Whitehorse) was cold. 

It's 12:07 am here and still light out. It's weird. But because I'm kinda wonky tired, I'm also going to take this moment to say that Whitehorse seems like a cool-ass town and I hope to visit again sometime (when I fly back to stay at the Vines & Puppies hideaway) because there's a great looking used bookshop just across the street from our motel...

M&D around 10:30 pm ("why are we taking this photo?" "to show them how light it still is outside")

Tomorrow is a sleep late day, but then we're driving to Skagway to catch a ferry into ALASKA! We've nearly made it!