Pampering Campers

Moved Blog

2010-03-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

We have moved. Our new address is: www.pamperingcampers.wordpress.com

Blue Springs (near DeLand) to Henderson Beach (near Ft Walton Beach), Florida

2010-02-03T05:39:00.000-08:00

Well, it's time to head west again so we'll keep lolly-gagging in Florida for a little bit longer. From Blue Springs State Park, we went north on hwy 17, then headed west on hwy 40. We took state road 326 to 27 north all the way to Chiefland, FL where Manatee Springs is. This is the state park.

All the Florida State Parks we've seen are nice and well cared for - very clean restrooms, free showers, no extra charge for the dump station. Rates from $16 to $30 for electric/water at the sites. The beach campgrounds have the higher rates. This next pic is at Manatee Springs. This spring run is deeper than Blue Springs so it's harder to see the manatees. But there were none to see this day anyway. There is a great boardwalk along the run out to a large observation platform on the river.

A small herd of deer came through the woods behind our campsite in the morning.

The next day, we continued northwest on hwy 27. No views of the ocean on this route but it is a nice route, off the busy interstate, that takes you through some great horse ranches. We turned off hwy 27 around Perry, FL, continuing west on hwy 98 to Eastpoint, FL. It is the east point on the Apalachicola Bay. hhhmmm - I wonder if that smoke is anywhere near our campground? We crossed the bay to get to St George Island State Park. And, yep, they were burning the underbrush in the campground. It looked worse from here than in the campground, where we couldn't tell it was going on.
The beach was too far of a walk from the campground. So we drove to the day use area the next morning. It is advertised as a good "shelling" beach and it didn't disappoint. What I love about the beaches at the Florida State Parks are the long stretches without condos!

The dunes are protected. They have boardwalks for beach access to keep us off the dunes.

Here's a sample of some of the shells. We wondered if this guy's mustache was a small sea cucumber? We saw quite a few on the shore.

Look at this great shell! We

Again, we continued west on hwy 98. This part of the hwy follows the coast. The beautiful white sand makes the shallow water a gorgeous turquoise; not much in the way of waves though. Henderson Beach State Park is close to the town of Ft Walton Beach. I kept hoping that a "beach" campground was actually "on" the beach - but, NnOOOoooooo. There is a pretty walkway through the campground...

...to the boardwalk that goes over the dunes....

... and out to the beautiful sugar-white sand beach, with a long stretch of no condos! Actually, there weren't even any shells on this beach.

Just me and the snowy plovers!

Manatee Hunting in Florida

2010-01-27T19:16:00.000-08:00

Rumor had it that Blue Springs was the place to go to see manatees. So, off we went! Blue Springs is just outside of DeLand, FL on Hwy 17, north of Orlando. Blue Springs empties into St John's River, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. A week or so ago, freezing temp brought the manatees up into the springs. The count was around 300! We saw about 15 in the morning.

Manatees are air breathers. Their nostrils close when under water. They come up for air at least every 20 minutes. If they are more active, they come up more often. You can hear them exhale when they surface. They sound like a whale but they don't make a spout like a whale does. Manatees are actually related to elephants. They have sparse hair on their body and 3 toenails on their front flippers. They are vegetarians.They are nicknamed "sea cows" because they graze on aquatic plants; eating 10% of their body weight per day. They have to move out into the river to eat every day. Boat propellers cause most of the injuries. They are slow moving but have very good hearing and can move out of the way of a slow moving boat. It's the fast ones they have trouble with. See the propeller marks on the one below.

This is a dock where the tour boat loads. This group of various ages of manatees are swimming back and forth under the dock.

Swimming and scuba diving is allowed in the springs except during the winter months (Nov-Mar) to protect the manatees.

I was thrilled to see this group of 5! Mom has some propeller scars. She has 4 little ones with her. Two look small enough to be this year's babies but I think they only have 1 per year? The other two are older. Babies stay close to mom for 2 years. I'm not sure if all 4 are hers but they sure stayed huddled close. Baby manatees weigh about 60 pounds at birth.

When a manatee is rescued for treatment of an illness or injury, they put a loose band around the base of it's tail. The band, called a tag, has a GPS locator on a float so they can track it for a couple years to make sure it is recovering well. If it's not doing well, they can locate it and bring it back in for more treatment. You can see the float below. It looks like a bobber (over by the log) above the wide, flat tail of the light, grey manatee.

The constant 72 degree temps of the springs causes a light layer of fog on cold mornings. This morning was in the low 50's. Manatees need water temps of 65 degrees, or over, to live. So when the river temps get below 65, the manatees move up into the springs. This season, almost 80 manatees have died due to cold water temps. Somebody needs to tell Al Gore that the Global Warming cycle is over!

The campground at Blue Springs is beautiful. Lots of vegetation provides good separation and privacy from neighboring campsites.

We also camped at Manatee Springs on the Gulf side of Florida. It is a deeper springs and harder to see the manatees. This spring empties into the Suwanee River, then into the Gulf of Mexico. This is where we heard that 77 manatees died in 1 week due to cold. We did not see any manatees at Manatee Springs. The temps are still cold so we're not sure where they all went!

North-Central Florida

2010-01-24T13:20:00.000-08:00

Like I'd want to swim in a muddy foot of water? Oh, maybe it's talking about the alligators aren't allowed to swim there?

We took I-10 east to I-75 south, down to Alexander Springs - just east of Ocala, Florida. AL&L manages these Forest Service campgrounds. Good thing we didn't get here when we'd planned because they had a tornado that twisted a few trees that night!

Alexander Springs is accessible to swimmers and scuba divers. We were told that the local alligator, Alice, doesn't bother the swimmers or divers. We didn't see her at all - maybe that's why she doesn't bother anyone? I think we met all the Hosts here - all very friendly!

There is a great boardwalk trail around the springs and you can rent a canoe to explore from the crystal, clear river. It's amazing how much water comes out of the ground here at a constant 72 degrees! It's beautiful!

Here's the swimming area at Alexander Springs.

Salt Springs is another AL&L managed campground. The springs (not the campground) were closed for a couple years for much needed maintenance. They opened last December (2009). I love these sprawling oaks with all the spanish moss hanging from them.

Here is the swimming area for the Salt Springs. (no we didn't taste it)

There is a camping area with full hook-ups that is more like an RV park (you know, sardine-style camping). But there is also a primitive area that does not have electricity or water at the sites. Those looked nice too. We talked to several of the Hosts - a great group of people!

We were so close to the Atlantic Ocean that we just had to dip our toes in it. This is Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach.

Here's our campsite. We did not have reservations but we got here at noon on Sunday and lucked out. We can see the ocean from our back door.

The difference between high and low tide, today, is only 8 inches. But look how steep the shore is and how narrow the beach is.

The sea turtles that lay their eggs on this beach, have come all the way from the Mediterranean Sea! The babies hatch, crawl out to the ocean, then swim all the way to the Mediterranean Sea (over by Italy). Then, as adults, they swim all the way back here, to the same beach, lay their eggs! Sounds like bigger bragging rights than those pacific salmon!

Sawin' Logs in Alabama

2010-01-20T17:28:00.000-08:00

We had company out in the pecan orchard. It warmed up this last week and we saw lots of eastern bluebirds.

The killdeer were plentiful from the start. They didn't care what the temps were! We also saw coyote tracks and holes, and evidence of armadillo.
Don left a wasteland behind him! Here are the stats: Out of 11 days we had 8 days of cutting (2 sundays off and 1 rain day), 565 trees down, averaged 70 trees/day. How many 60-year-olds do you know who can do that?! (or would want to?) Oh, sadly, we did have one (or more?) fatality. One of the trees had a squirrel nest. :-(

Most of the trees will be cut up and sold for firewood. Pecan is a hard wood and has a pretty grain. Gil wanted to set some aside to make something out of it. James and Darlene brought over their portable mill. As Don and Gil found 8 to 12 feet of straight trees, he'd cut them off. Gil stacked them separately to be ready for the mill.

Gil, Marian and Gerry stacked the pecan lumber after it was cut. That was quite an operation! It wasn't supposed to start raining, this day, until evening. But when the rain came around noon, everyone was grateful for the break!

There's a lot of work going on here - I think it's time to leave! Whew! Can't say that I'd want to do that again - but we were treated royally! Gil and Marian are wonderful friends!

Heading for Florida to check out the American Land & Leisure campgrounds in the Ocala area. We left during a torential downpour - not fun to drive in!

Pecan Logging - Alabama Style

2010-01-10T19:37:00.000-08:00

Why we picked this week in January, I'll never know. But here's the pecan orchard that needs to be taken out. We met Gil and Marian in Salt Lake City in 2006. They worked for us one summer in Big Cottonwood Canyon, at Spruces Campground. That was a very difficult summer because of the shortages in campground hosts. They stuck with us for the entire summer - worked their tails off too! We became good friends and have kept in touch over the years. Here is their orchard. The trees are about 15 years old and never produced. They planted 1600 trees, fed, pruned, coaxed and loved them. They already removed half of them to try to get them to produce. It is with great regret that they have to take the rest of them out.

We're all bundled up (as my niece says, "like oompa-loompa's"). The first 2 trees are cut - only 598 to go! hahahaha

When volunteered our help with this job, we thought there were less than 100 trees - hahaha. I think Gil and Marian are paying us back for the summer of 2006! They feed us VERY well and we have a place to put the camper that is out of the wind. We are well taken care of here and can't beat the company. (Workampers will do anything for a site and a meal!)

The freezing temps aren't making it easy. It took us about 3.5 hours to cut down 53 trees on Saturday. It helps that we don't have to cut them down to the ground. Gil is moving them to a burn pile with his tractor. Then he'll have a backhoe come in to take out the stump and roots.

Don makes 2 or three cuts on the side that he wants the tree to fall. Then another cut on the opposite side. Most times the tree falls where Don wants it. We had a couple "spinners" though. I had to run from one of them. My main job is as a gopher to Don keep cutting. If the chain comes off the saw, I run it back to the barn and Gil's brother puts it back on. They keep him in chainsaws - there are 4 that he can use. My other main job is to keep the truck a safe distance from the tree Don is currently cutting. - hahaha - Oh yeah, I'm also the score keeper. I have to have a current count at all times.

Tomorrow is supposed to warm up to 50 and the wind will die down. We should really make headway!

East TX to Biloxi, Mississippi

2010-01-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

Well, with the busy Christmas season over, it's time to figure out these bass! The great blue heron thinks he's figured them out but we didn't see him catch any. The bass were schooling on this day in early January. We had never seen a heron land on open water - usually they stand in the shallows. So this was a special treat.

Don, however, figured them out. Dad and Don's limits are shown below. The slot length limit for largemouth bass, here, is 14-21 inches (meaning, you can't keep anything from 14-21"). These are all under 14". He threw a few back that were over the limit. It was a fun fishing day!

We're headed back to Alabama and stopped overnight in Louisiana. We camped at Acadiana Campground. It has a nice Nature Station with lots of trails. It's pretty wet and we just made it before dark so we stuck to the boardwalk part of the trail. I like the reflection of the live oaks and cypress trees on the water. The cypress roots make steep bends in them that stick up out of the water. They're called "cypress knees".

What is really neat is how it looks when you turn the picture upside down.

Tonight we are camped at Gulf Island National Seashore near Biloxi, Mississippi. (We cannot see the seashore from the campground.) It is raining and getting colder. All electric sites are filled now (the last 4 went within 10 minutes of our arrival!) It's supposed to get down to 20 by morning. We'll make sure the roads are thawed before we head east in the morning!

Oh yeah, GO LONGHORNS! We've got Texas plates on the Dodge so we don't dare enter Alabama until that game is over. Shhhhh...

Mississippi, Alabama

2009-11-30T14:30:00.000-08:00

We were impressed by the plantation-style Rest Areas in Mississippi. This was actually a visitor's center but still very impressive. We stopped to get some info on campgrounds near the beach. The good one, Buccaneer, is still closed from hurricane Katrina damage. The one we found was not on the beach and not too spectacular but it was after dark and we were ready to stop.

We saw lots of cotton fields. Marian took me to a field for some closeup shots. Starting with the left pic: before the pod opens; next: pod is just opening; next: fully opened cotton pod; last: cotton 'modules'. They are not called cotton 'bales' anymore. Modules are larger than the old bales. They spray a defoliant on the plant before the can harvest the cotton. That is so the cotton is not colored green by a live plant; which decreases the value of the cotton. Marian remembers, as a child, having to get into the cotton containers and stomping it down to compact it. These modules are compacted by large equipment similar to the garbage trucks that compact the contents using hydraulics. I just think it is amazing that you can make clothing out of a plant!

This is our friend's, Gil and Marian's, 'nut farm'. We learned all about pecan farming...well, not 'all'. They made it look simple but they have been working at it for years and Gil is a natural when it comes to farming anything. They were very gracious hosts and we loved spending time with them, as usual! Their farm is a beautiful and peaceful place.

They treated us to all the sites in the area too. We saw Pensacola Beach. I guess this water tower is a 'must have' for the spring break picture-taking crowd. They took us to the Pensacola Naval Air Station. The lighthouse was closed but we toured the great museum. Don was interested in how those Navy guys adapt airplanes for use on the water.

They also took us on a boat tour to see dolphins! That was great fun. I couldn't believe how white the sand is on the east side of the Mississippi River! I grew up closer to Galveston and that beach sand is the color of mud (it's down-current of the Mississippi). The beach pic is at Gulf Shores, Alabama.

They fattened me up for days for the next outing; threatened to feed me to the alligators. We went to Alligator Alley. I held a 4-foot gator (after he taped his mouth shut)! One amazing fact we learned is that gators only eat about 10% of their body weight per year! This gator, on the right, is eating a chicken and that's probably the last thing he'll eat this year. How could you grow on that kind of a diet?

Gil and Marian drove us everywhere! But before we headed back west, we noticed our odometer rolled over 100,000 miles on the ole' Dodge.

Chicot State Park, Louisiana

2009-11-04T08:05:00.000-08:00

We are making our way from east Texas to the gulf coast of Alabama. We hate to take the interstates the whole way. So we're taking some back roads. That comes with it's hazards though. We were busily looking for where to turn in a small town. We quickly got into the left turn lane and didn't notice we were too close to the intersection....until that big log truck came up to us, nose-to-nose and told us to back up. After we got out of that predicament, the slightly-impatient-sherrif pointed out the white line under our rear tires. :-}

Anyway, we found a nice state park about half way between Alexandria and Lafayette, Louisiana. Some of the sites have wooden decks. I'm thinkin' that's due to high water.
All the sites have electricity and water and are well shaded. We paid $16 for camping and a $3 "transaction" fee. I'm not sure if that's because I used a credit card or just because I paid - hahaha

The south campgrounds have a good wi-fi signal.

There is a pavillion down by the cypress swamp. The water is covered by tiny green plants that make it look like algae covers the surface.

There a rental cabins available, on the lake, for $70 - $90/night. I don't know how many they sleep. They have AC, screened porch, satellite tv, fishing dock, lake front. We saw lots of trailers at the boat ramp so the fishing must be good.

We give Chicot State Park an A+

St. Louis, MO to East Texas

2009-10-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful visit with our friends in the St. Louis area. We headed south on I-55 but didn't get far when we decided to take a "road less travelled". We got off the interstate around Bloomsdale and took 67 through Poplar Bluff. Continuing on 67 into Arkansas, we travelled to the Newport area, where we camped for the night. We found the Jacksonport State Park. It is on the White River. Hardly anyone camping on this mid-week, October, day. Walnuts fall out of the trees in groups of 5 or 6. Fortunately, we didn't camp under a walnut tree!
The next day we continued down 67 through Little Rock. That wasn't a fun interchange with all the construction! But we finally found our way to I-30 which took us all the way to Texarkana. Then we took 59 south to Atlanta, TX. Although I had not been on this section of 59, this brought back old memories for me. I wore a path on 59 from Friendswood to Nacogdoches when I was attending college at SFA back in the late 70's. We stayed at Atlanta State Park on Wright Patman Lake. We had electric and water at this site and it was pretty secluded. It rained in sheets all night - sheets of water and giant acorns! Note to self: Don't park under an oak tree in the fall in the south.

Here's what we'd been travelling so fast for: Meeting my folks and brother at Lake Sam Rayburn, TX. We camped at Twin Dikes Campground (USACE). $18 for a full hookup site. The sites were overlooking the lake. It was nice camping here. I'm not sure I'd want to work here though. The gate attendants don't handle money (which is nice) but it didn't appear that the Corp person, who did, communicated enough with them. The bathrooms seemed a little neglected too.

The cool front brought lots of wind - complete with a tornado watch! We didn't see a tornado, thankfully! But the wind made for rough boating and not very fun fishing. We saw this black squirrel in the campground. We'd never seen a black one but my parents said they occasionally had. Anyway, this one was clearly working the campers for treats. He was not shy! They also had brown squirrels but this guy was the one that caught our attention.

My brother left before the wind calmed down. They weekend weather was gorgeous! The lake was like glass! Dad caught this small bass and let him go. We didn't catch anymore fish that day but we enjoyed being on the lake.

More rain is predicted so we headed to my parent's house on Houston County Lake, between Crocket and Grapeland, TX. We'll hang out here for a while and see if we can't schedule some good weather for visiting our friends in Alabama.

Hey Oregon, quit pushing the storms east! They are coming all this way!

Nauvoo, Illinois

2009-10-19T05:17:00.000-07:00

Nauvoo is a beautifully restored historic town. The red bricks were made in town with the local clay. The town sits beside the mighty Mississippi River. Before they built their homes they had to clear the land and drain it because it was very boggy. This is a picture of the Printing Office and Post Office. The PO shared the building with a store that sold dry goods and tools. John Taylor's home sits between them.
Here is a little log home typical of the less expensive homes of the day.
This is the Browning home and Gunsmith Shop. He also was a blacksmith. Browning has quite a history. As soon as you go into these buildings a person is there to tell you the history and answer any questions. They are dressed in period clothing and are very knowledgeable and friendly. It was really fun and interesting. Don enjoyed the gun displays in this home. Browning was quite well-off when Brigham Young led the saints west. So he had all the provisions to go as soon as Brigham said. But the prophet asked Browning to stay in Winter Quarters to make sure everyone else was equipped with guns and their wagons were in good shape. Browning ended up staying in Winter Quarters (near Omaha, Nebraska) for 5 years at the request of Brigham Young. Today Browning Arms operates in the Ogden area of Utah.
This is the Brigham Young home. These homes are not very large. It's amazing how they lived in such a small space (kinda like a camper?). His home had a "conference room", used for church business. This is where he and the other 12 apostles met to continue plans, started by Joseph Smith, for the westward migration. There is a strong spirit in this room. It was hard to leave.
We camped at Nauvoo State Park, just east of the historic town and a block or two south of the temple. $20/night for an electric site.
The Nauvoo Temple was destroyed by fire after the saints left. A couple years later a tornado knocked down 3 walls. The temple was rebuilt, to resemble as close as possible, the original building. One main difference is the angle Moroni, at the top. On the original temple, he is flying horizontally. On this one, he is standing, like on all other latter-day temples. We went to a "Sociable" where a couple, who had worked on the rebuilding, spoke. They had some interesting stories to tell.
This is a bronze statue, west of the temple, overlooking the Mississippi River. As we turned north, from Keokuk, heading towards Nauvoo, we could see the temple on the hill! This statue commemorates Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum before they were taken to Carthage and ultimately martyred.

Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Missouri

2009-10-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to come here for years! It is near the town of Gallatin, MO. The prophet, Joseph Smith, laid out a town here in 1838 to provide for the increasing number of church-member immigrants. They had to abandon the town when persecutions increased. He named the town in tribute to Adam, the patriarch of the human race.
This is a picture overlooking the valley of Adam-Ondi-Ahman. Spring Hill and Tower Hill are across the valley from this point.

Maybe you can read this information sign that is located at the Tower Hill Overlook:

This is overlooking the valley from Tower Hill. In case you can't read the sign, in the above pic, this was named Tower Hill because Joseph had found ruins of an ancient Indian tower.

Adam-Ondi-Ahman is a beautiful place with a peaceful spirit. There was a large group in the picnic area. Someone was speaking to them about the history when we were there. There is a great place for a large group to sit and overlook the valley.

North Platte, Nebraska to Junction City, Kansas

2009-10-15T18:56:00.000-07:00

We continued east on I-80 until Lexington, NB, then turned south on 283; which took us to I-70 where we turned east again. There are lots of farm reports on the radio in this neck of the woods. We tried to learn about "futures" and why agriculture does well when the dollar is weak, etc. All interesting but I'm still not sure I know how to invest in it???

Our son is stationed at Ft Riley, Kansas, near Junction City on I-70, just west of Topeka. Milford Lake is the largest lake in Kansas and is just north of J City. It is a USACE lake for controlling flood waters. We stayed at the State Park which is very nice; although I've never seen so many fees! There's a fee for entry, a fee for camping, and a fee for each utility at the site (whether you use them or not of course). The Cedar Point Campground has a laundry and showers. The laundry fees were fair. No fee for the warm showers but I would have paid for a hotter and longer one! I had to rinse with cold water! A pretty sunset at Milford Lake. This lake is an average depth of 25'. They catch walleye, black bass, striper, catfish, crappie, etc, etc. And the hatchery even raises goldfish.

The fall colors are starting to peak. I love the maples! They look almost irridescent at different stages of green, yellow and red.

Clearfield, UT to North Platte, Nebraska

2009-10-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

We were a little distracted by wonderful visits with our children and grandkid hugs and kisses. So we're a little behind on our travel blog. Here's some catching up. There were no wind warnings when we left Utah so we decided to head to Kansas via I-80 across Wyoming. Oil dereks (sp?) are a familiar sight in this state.

We were so concerned about wind that we forgot to check for a snow forecast. It wasn't too much snow for driving. It just made the scenery prettier. This is a picture of the Lincoln Hwy (I-80) in Nebraska.
We stayed one night in Rawlins, Wyoming, at an RV Park right on I-80. Well, far enough away that we couldn't hear traffic (except for a train). Western Hills RV Park is a Good Sam park and has very nice (unmetered) showers! We paid $22 for elec and wifi.
Lots of very high snow fences in both Wyoming and Nebraska. Temps were right around freezing at night but warmed up into the 50's during the day. As soon as we crossed the border into Nebraska, there were corn and hay fields. We prefer to use our electric appliances, including heat, so we look for electric hookups while doing this kind of travelling (you know, getting there, rather than lolligagging).
The pic below is of Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historic Park, where we camped in Nebraska. It is near the city of North Platte. This is a nice little campground right on the Platte River. We paid just $11 for water/elec at our site. A beaver was working hard making a nice home for his family right next to the campground.

Philomath, OR to Goose Lake State Rec. Area, OR

2009-10-02T20:06:00.001-07:00

Well, it was inevitable....we are on the road again. We had a wonderful stay at the Philomath Pharmhouse B&B and great times with Mom, Sis, Niece and soon-to-be-Nephew-in-law. But we are starving for grandkid-hugs and our newest will be 1 month old soon!

We can still take the scenic routes though! We drove south to Eugene, then east on 58 to 97 to get to Crater Lake National Park. I have never been there and it has been 40 years, or so, since Don has. Our son and daughter-in-law hiked to the bottom for the boat tour a couple years ago - but we are opting out of that park feature.

Lloa Rock is an 8,000'+ peak that we see across the Pumice Desert after we come through the North Entrance of Crater Lake National Park. It's in the 40's up here at about 7,500'+. What a beautiful day!

There is a forest fire somewhere around here. I don't think it is in the park though. But it has muted the colors of the lake today. There are still gorgeous views from the Rim Road. Notice the snow on the ground.

The road was a little scarey. It is a nice, paved, 2 lane road. But in some places, there is NO shoulder and only a steep drop-off on either side. I'm glad we're not pulling the 5th wheel! This pic is of Wizard Island in Crater Lake. It is named for it's shape of a Wizard's hat.

The trees sure get twisty up here! These two look like they are snuggling to stay warm.

The pillars you see, in this next pic, are fossil fumeroles. They were made when volcano was active. Each spire marks a spot where volcanic gas rose up through hot ash deposits, cementing the ash into solid rock.

The next pic is part of Annie Springs. See the water coming right out of a hole in the rock! That's amazing!

From Crater Lake, we headed east to Lakeview, OR. Just south of there is a lake called Goose Lake (although you can't see it from "Lakeview"). Goose Lake State Rec Area has nice, electric/water campsites for $12. And, as you can tell, we have a good Verizon broadband signal here.

Hwy 101 - Washington and Oregon, Coast Hwy

2009-09-15T09:48:00.000-07:00

We got our first glimpse of the bridge across the Columbia River. That is one long bridge!

This is the part that goes high enough for the large ships to pass under. There is no drawbridge on this one.
It was foggy, off and on, along the coast. Here is a picture of Haystack Rock.
I love these unique little islands that jutt out of the ocean all along the Oregon Coast. The next pic is at Pacific City.

Like a horse headed for the barn! I kept telling Don we could slow down - hahaha - We turned east at Newport, to head towards Philomath; back where we started this journey.

We bought $500 Canadian money, as soon as we got into the country. We used credit cards and checks where ever we could. We only needed the cash for the Provincial Parks. We ended up paying cash for groceries, at the end of the trip, just to get rid of it.

Here's the summary ($ amounts are in US):

110 days - Round Trip from Philomath, OR

Just under $16.50/night for camping (included 10 free nights)

Fuel - Total: $2560 (Diesel: $2479, Generator Gas: $32, Propane: $48)

Entertainment - Total: $1748 (Fishing Licenses: $252, Ferries: $1121, Museums/Tours: $375)

24/7 with Grizzly Adams (aka: the love of my life)....Priceless!

Olympic Penninsula, Washington

2009-09-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

I love seeing old friends! We had a wonderful visit with Roxie. We hadn't seen her and her family since 1998 when they lived in Fairbanks and we visited Alaska for the first time. It was like we'd never parted!
But alas, we've got to keep moving. So, we headed over to Hwy 101 - only our GPS can't read our minds. So it took us a different way than we wanted to go. We ended up going through Bremerton, WA. This is the bridge that crosses Puget Sound close to the Navy Shipyards.

And here are some of the aircraft carriers. They are such odd looking things - looks like they'd tip over to me.

It was another great weather day for travelling. We were a little disappointed, though, that Olympia National Park wasn't more accessible by road. There is one little section that the road goes through at the north end. This is Crescent Lake. We saw fish jumping and, yes, that water is crystal clear! Beautiful!

We camped at a little Forest Service campground called Klahowya; which means "Welcome" in the Chinook language. It is in the rainforest so there are lots of thick foliage. On this crystal clear day, you can hardly see any sunlight under the canopy of tall fir and cedar trees.

See the small slug on the leaf above and left of the pretty flowers?

Klahowya Campground is at the northern tip of the Olympic Penninsula in the state of Washington. We'll be in Oregon tomorrow!

Rockport, WA to Olympia, WA

2009-09-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary to Mandy and Eric!

We took the back way out of Rockport to I-5. We went south on 530 through Darrington. That's a pretty little town in a pretty little valley. We hit I-5 just outside of Arlington and travelled south through Seattle. This is Don's first view of the legendary Space Needle in Seattle. It was built for the 196? World's Fair.

This looks like a strange cloud formation. When I saw it I said, "What is that?" When we realized it was a mountain, we started looking on the map to see which one. We decided it is Mt. Rainier; over 14,000 feet high. It was a beautiful day to travel. However, this stretch of I-5 did the first damage to our camper in over 100 days of travel and over 11,000 miles! I feel sorry for the people who have to use this freeway daily!

We settled in for the night at Millersylvania State Park in Olympia; named for the Miller family who donated the land for use as a State Park. Normally we wouldn't stay in such a highly populated area but I have a friend in Lacey that we get to visit tomorrow! Then we're off to drive the Olympia Penninsula on Hwy 101.

Vernon, BC to Twisp, WA and onto Rockport, WA

2009-09-09T18:16:00.000-07:00

The drive in the Kelowna area, along Hwy 97 is a little on the arid side. I think I prefer arid regions. This pic is from Antler Beach, looking back towards Kelowna, on Okanagan Lake. It's one of those long skinny lakes that goes on forever. The roadsides are lined with fruit and vegetable stands and wineries.

Back in the Lower 48! We crossed the border at Osoyoos, BC into Washington around Oroville. We continued south on Hwy 97 to Okanogan and hung a right on Hwy 20 to go through the North Cascades National Park. We stayed in a little Forest Service campground, called Loup Loup. (Don't you wonder how some of these things get their names?) Anyway, it is at about 4200' elevation. It has drinking water, pit toilets, 25 sites and a host.

Continuing west, we crossed Washington Pass. We stopped to hike out to the overlook. If you are afraid of heights, this is not the place for you! Even with the railing there, my knees were a little weak. But what a gorgeous view!

There are a couple hydro dams on the Skagit River. This is Diablo Lake. I didn't think I'd see anymore glacier silt once I got back in the lower 48 states!

We stumbled onto this little county park near Rockport, not far west of the National Park. It is called Howard Miller Steelhead Park (sounds like it would be a good place to fish?) and is on the Skagit River. Don bought a 3-day license. The locals had a good day catching pinks. So he went to see if Washington Pinks like the same thing as Alaska Pinks. Last time I saw him he was working his way downriver. The fishermen are saying that silvers and chinook are also in the Skagit today.

Quesnel, BC to Vernon, BC

2009-09-07T19:17:00.001-07:00

We are anxiously waiting for the delivery of our 6th grandchild! Our daughter-in-law is in labor as I type.
The first two pics are of Dragon Lake near Quesnel; where we camped Saturday night. Every Ward/Branch we've visited on this trip has been very friendly. But Quesnel has to be the most outgoing group of people we've met so far. We felt very welcome and enjoyed the testimonies shared. This looks like a resort community of sorts. The campground was pretty full of locals who brought their families camping and fishing for Labor Day weekend.

We went south on Hwy 97 to 100 Mile House (that's the name of a town). We turned east on Hwy 24 because it is called the "Fishing Hwy" :-) Poor planning on Labor Day weekend caused us to shoot right on through to the other end without fishing. But we came down off the plateau about 1,000' and into the North Thompson River valley. We camped at a Provincial Park by the same name. It is close to Clearwater, BC; where the Clearwater river joins the North Thompson. The Clearwater River is, you guessed it, clear. The Thompson is a muddy, glacier-melt river. You can see where the water takes about a half-mile before it is completely mixed; the west side stays clear for that long. Anyway, I didn't get a picture of it due to bad weather.

Today, we went south on Hwy 5 to Kamloops, BC. As we got closer to Kamloops, the region got more arid. A lot of this area was hit by a wildfire but it didn't look like it was from this year. Just west of here, though, in the Lilooet area is where they had a big wildfire in early June that lasted for a couple weeks.

At Kamloops, we cut east on Hwy 1 to Salmon Arm (because it sounded like a good place to camp). Well, we're looking for a good cell signal and wireless internet, for tonight, so Salmon Arm didn't work out. So we kept going south towards Vernon. We ended up at the Silver Star RV Park. This area has tons of farmer's markets. We were tipped off about that. We've had fresh, delicious, sweet corn for the last two nights; not to mention nectarines and tomatoes.

We will, more than likely, be back in the states tomorrow; crossing the border at Osoyoos, BC/Oroville, WA.

Telkwa (near Smithers) to Quesnel, BC

2009-09-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

We continued east on Hwy 16 (Yellowhead Hwy) today. As we get higher in elevation (about 2400') we are seeing more fall colors. The cottonwoods are turning yellow and the fireweed leaves are turning orange and then a deep red. As we got further east, the snow-capped peaks of the Babine Mountains are giving way to farms and ranches on rolling hills. We drove farther than planned today because it was raining most of the day. We stopped in Houston, BC to see the "World's Largest Fly Rod" - woo hoo!

This is a dwarf dogwood. We saw it in early July when it had small, white flowers. Now there are red berries. We have really enjoyed seeing the different flowers that suddently appear all through the summer.

We turned south, at Prince George, on Hwy 97. We'd found a Ward in Quesnel (kwe-NEL) so we set our GPS to find it. We saw this bear way up in a fruit tree. So we did the only tourist thing to do...we flipped a U'y on the highway...we didn't it very carefully and there was no traffic coming either way. I took lots of pix of him. He kept an eye on me but he didn't look at all interested in coming down from that tree.

We weren't sure if we'd find a place with wifi tonight. When we found the church, there were people cleaning it so we went in to ask what time services start tomorrow. They told us. Then, as we left, they spoke to each other in French. Makes us wonder what language we'll hear tomorrow - could be interesting. We are at Robert's Roost Campground tonight. It is on Dragon Lake just south of Quesnel. It is known for fly fishing for it's trophy rainbow trout. 3 to 5 lbs are average; 8 - 12 lb rainbows are caught during cooler months.

Anhluut'ukwsim Laxmihl Angwinga'asanskwhl Nisga'a to Telkwa

2009-09-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

Whew! I almost didn't get that out! The first part of the title means: Nisga'a Memorial Lava Beds - but you probably knew that.
We have been learning all about totem poles this week. This first pic is of a long house at Totem Bight Historical Park in Ketchikan. A "bight" is a curved cutout on the coast that has a bay and a sandy beach. It looks like a giant took a big bite out of the land. The early natives liked those areas because they are somewhat protected from the weather. They used to build these long houses that were multi-family dwellings. Inside, it is one big room with multiple levels around the sides. The higher your status in the clan, the more privacy you got (like a screen or panel that divided your living area from the others). The hole at the bottom of the middle totem is the entryway. There is also one on the side.

Poor planning makes for a couple rough days. When we voted ourselves off the Prince of Wales Island, we didn't check on the other ferry schedule. So, we had to take a night ride (9pm to 3am) from Ketchikan to Prince Rupert, BC. We thought we'd better get some sleep and thought a room would give us a better chance than the solarium lounge chair. I'm not so sure it did. I don't think I slept at all. Don might have gotten a little. We ended up driving for a couple hours and then pulling over for a nap. We headed east on Hwy 16, back to the Terrace area. Then we turned north on Hwy 113 to go see the Lava Beds. This guy gave us directions from the side of the road - yup, we're back in BC, where we see the most bears :-) He was talking with his mouth full of berries though.

They know, now, that the volcano errupted in 1775. A spanish ship was anchored near the Portland Inlet and he recorded it in his journal. The record says when he saw, the next morning, that the water was black and all the dead fish, he pulled up anchor and left. There were about 6,000 people living in the area at the time. About 2,000 of them died from the erruption. They were either killed by the lava itself or were hit by floating debris in the rivers as they tried to escape. This area is preserved as a memorial to those who died. The sign asks visitors "not to remove any lava because it is the headstone of their ancestor". The lava flow drastically changed the terrain, lakes and rivers in the area. There are places that look like wastelands, with nothing but moss covered lava. In other places, near the streams, it is as lush as a rain forest. As trees die they decay and build up the soil on top of the lava. Water that runs over the lava beds are crystal clear. This is a pic of Vetter Creek Falls, a short walk from the roadside parking area.

We checked out a few of the First Nation villages in this area. The one below is in the town of New Aiyansh. The town got moved after the volcano destroyed the first one. Paintings on the front of the long house is as common as the totems. They use the same symbols for painting as carving. It looks like they mostly use the long houses for government administration and community gatherings now.
We went out to this village to see the fish wheel on the Nass River. We couldn't get very close to it but we could see that it was in operation. The fish wheel captures the fish and holds them live. I'm not sure if they just use the fish to feed the community or if they also harvest the eggs. This town sign has symbols of all four clans in the area: Raven, Bear, Whale and Wolf They each have a specific meaning in their stories. I can't remember them all. The whale is an orca and represents food or feeding the people. The raven represents the creator. He created the sun and people and he melted the ice to end the ice age. I don't know what a lizard represents but a frog is lucky. Sometimes they'll put a frog on a totem at the front of the house to keep it from tipping over.

The next pic shows a girl riding an orca because that represents the story. The girl was sitting on the beach one day and the whale came up to her and said, "If you go with me, I will make sure your family is always fed." So she rode off with him.

Totems were used for different purposes. Some totems are reminders for telling important stories. Some are memorial totems, used to honor a dead person (usually only one carving at the top of the pole and very little, if anything, carved below it). The clans respected each other. They had a complex social structure. People could only marry someone from a different clan.

We are in Telkwa tonight. All the rivers around here are world class steelhead fisheries. Ft Telkwa is on the Bulkley River. It has the nicest showers I have ever used in an RV park! (very roomy, private, unmetered, hot water, piped-in music - talk about luxury!)

Silvers!

2009-09-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

Don kept a couple Jo-sized meals - a dolly varden (top) and a jack (immature silver).

He got into some pretty good lookin' silvers in the Harris River yesterday evening. Our last day fishing on Prince of Wales Island. He caught a couple cohos, couple pinks and I don't know what else.

It was a beautiful day for a ferry ride! We drove to the north end of Ketchikan to Settler's Cove Campground. This is our view!
There is a waterfall on Luck Creek where the pink salmon are spawning. The trail starts at the campground. We walked up to the bridge and saw this kitty kat watching the fish. I think his eyes are bigger than his stomach. He didn't try to catch any but he sure looked curious.

Don is now catching sea bass from the rocky shoreline.

Prince of Wales Island, Alaska

2009-08-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well, we've decided to vote ourselves off the island. We are leaving, tomorrow morning, on the ferry to Ketchikan. We have seen a lot of the island and are starting to recognize vehicles and people... and, worse, the state troopers recognize us. We visited the Craig Branch twice. It is a very nice, young Branch. I think there are more children than adults when the visitors aren't in town. We have been spiritually fed both weeks.
Here are some generalities of the island:
This is a pic of a typical, good, paved road. Roads like this will get you to Klawock, Craig, Hydaburg and Thorne Bay.
Here is a pic of a typical, good, gravel road. There are other gravel roads that are not as good but this one will get you to Coffman Cove and Whale Pass.

Here is a typical, beautiful, stream. I don't think there are any that are not beautiful but some are smaller and you can't see the salmon jumping in them.

The wildlife viewing has been a little slow these last couple days. This little guy, and his buddies, greeted us at the Log Cabin Lodge & RV Park in Klawock (kluh-WOK). The owners must have visited the rabbit-man in Whale Pass?

Every rain forest has to have some of these. Just when we were wondering where the banana slugs were, we slipped on one - hahaha

Oh yeah, one more thing. Nobody has mailboxes at their homes. (Well, we saw one, but it must be a decoration.) That may be why they don't understand the reason for addresses. Business cards don't have street addresses on them. They only have PO Boxes. I guess it doesn't take too long to drive every road in town to find what you are looking for though. We eventually found the 'other' RV park in Klawock.

A Sunny Day in the Rain Forest

2009-08-28T21:06:00.000-07:00

Travel Log - Day 93:
- 10:45am - leave Horseshoe Hole Campsite
- 10:51am - stop to fish at Staney Creek
hahaha - that was a short day! Actually, we did get further but we fished until 1:30 or so, ate and then left. We saw these bear tracks on the river bank. You can get an idea of the size compared to my cell phone - not too big - but it kept us alert!
This is the first day without rain on Prince of Wales Island. It is gorgeous! Don is standing in the river fishing. I'm watching for bears and taking pix. This deer shows up across the river from Don and eats without worrying about either of us; then decides to cross the river right next to me! An eagle flies over us. No bear attacks. Don is catching fish. What more could you ask for? Well, I did wish I'd brought the video camera out there with me. I could have used it to video the eagle or the deer or Don whacking himself in the back of the head when he tried to fly-cast with a sinker on :-)
Don's first coho!!! Grand Slam of fishing - he caught coho, pinks and dolly varden. We had dolly for dinner tonight - very tasty!
We were feeling adventurous so we tried to find Silver Salmon Falls. It is on our Alaska Atlas. We stopped a couple Forest Service employees who happened by and they had never heard of it. But they confirmed where we were on the map and directed us to where the falls were supposed to be. It looked like a jeep trail so we didn't get all the way to the falls. The employees told us to enjoy the weather because tomorrow is supposed to be stormy.
We turned the corner as we were headed back to Coffman Cove for the night and saw these snow-capped peaks across the Clarence Strait. We're not sure if they are the Etolin or Wrangell mountains. As the sun set the few clouds in the sky turned pink. Hey, "red at night, sailor's delight"! What do those Forest Service employees know about the weather? We should have another good day tomorrow!
HHhhmmm - it rained most of the night and is overcast with off-and-on rain. I always thought that saying was true! Oh well, laundry, showers and we're off to find a grocery store. HA - that's funny - in Coffman Cove? We'll try Thorne Bay.
Anyway, we found another fish ladder. This is the Big Lake Fish Pass. We didn't see any fish in the ladder but we saw some trying to jump the falls. I guess they have to try what instinct tells them first. Maybe they try the easier way when they get tired?
These cruise ships look so eerie, gliding along in the mist. It's surprising how big they are.
We stopped back by Sandy Beach at low tide. And, what do you know, there IS sand! See Don standing on the drift wood - or should I say, drift "trees"?

We found another little out of the way campsite as we were leaving Thorne Bay. This is Lake Number 3. We don't know where Lake Numbers 1 or 2 are. It's Friday night and there is not one man-made sound. We still haven't seen any squirrels here. That's weird. There also seems to be a shortage of small birds. Well, we saw 5 sandpipers on the beach.

Anyway, we're enjoying the solitude - and the beauty that so much rain creates!

N55 48' 32.7", W133 07' 28.8"

2009-08-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

The Chamber of Commerce did a great job of selling this place! I don't know how long ago the "brochure" was published, but I hope those people were paid well! We stopped to see Sarkar Rapids. Sarkar Lake is the terminus of a lot of connected lakes for a canoe route. The lake empties into the ocean via these rapids. Yeah, I know, that doesn't look like rapids to us either. So, it must be high tide! The water is flowing into the lake in the first pic.

We came back at low tide. Now we can see the rapids! And, yes, there ARE salmon in here but we couldn't find a good way down to it.

Beach camping...the brochure says there is beach camping at Exchange Cove...let's GO! The gravel road is a good one and we made good time on it. We came to Neck Lake. It is a 3-mile lake that stretches across a narrow neck of the island. I think the neck is only 5 or 6 miles across at this point and 3 of those miles is this lake. This is a pic of the coho hatchery. They plant them and then harvest the fish at the falls before they go up to the lake. We also looked for a good way to get down to the hole below the falls but no luck.

The gravel road got a little narrower and rougher after Whale Pass but it was still pretty good - if you don't mind going 10 mph for 10 miles.

Hokie Dokie - here's the beach camping - where's the beach? Maybe it will show up when the tide goes down? Well, it was sort of a beach :-) lots of gravel and we didn't see any clams. It was a quiet evening and quiet sleeping. We were above the high tide line.

I think that's enough touring around the north end of the island for this week. We didn't go to the extreme north end. We ran into a local, who gave us LOTS of information. He said the road up to Point Baker is a good one; freshly grated. The residents up there don't use it so it should be good until next summer. They all use boats. The local was from the town of Whale Pass. Apparently the Whale Pass town council didn't want too many tourists coming through town so they didn't pay to have their roads grated this year. According to him, the worst roads around are in Whale Pass. (Maybe the Chamber doesn't exist anymore - they must be frustrated.) We talked to another Whale Pass resident when we asked for directions to Exchange Cove. He tried not to show a strange reaction when he asked, "Why do you want to go there?" Don came up with something other than, "Because the brochure says there is 'beach camping' there." He told us, in his Elko-NV-Basque accent, to "turn right before the broken-down bus." He SURE likes bunnies! They are ALL over town.

We've seen lots of Sitka Blacktail deer on the island; does and fawns. We found a new berry today. It is a "frosty-blue currant"; according to the local who told us about the roads. He also called it a "stinky currant" because of the smell of the leaf. We didn't think it smelled bad. Maybe he was just makin' stuff up? They are sweet but have a lot of pulp. Apparently they make a good jelly but not jam. We overheard a conversation, on the ferry ride, about good places to eat on the island. The first one he suggested was a little hot dog stand near Whale Pass. When the couple gave him a blank stare he suggested the only restaurant, which is in Craig.
I'm not sure where we are....oh, yes I do, we are at N55 48' 32.7", W133 07' 28.8" Dinner tonight will be thimble berry pancakes and rabbit (just kidding about the rabbit).

Prince of Wales Island - Fish Tails

2009-08-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

We stopped in Klawock to see the Totem Village. These are totems from this area that were gathered and replicated, in the 1930's, by the CCC. We need to go back to see if there is a description of the totems because they usually tell a story. We're not sure what a bear with a humpback whale overhead might tell; other than those two animals are pretty prevalent around here.
You don't have to go far to find salmon on this island. We drove to Hydaburg, a little Haida village on the south end of the main part of the island. It's as far south as a paved road will take us. We watched a bunch of local kids and a couple men (tourists) fish off the bridge. It is a road bridge that crosses a river right at the mouth to the ocean. The fish were scattering and jumping like crazy. The older kids were real animated anytime someone would catch a fish; cheering them on, etc. The 8 year-old was out fishing them all. One of the tourists broke his pole while landing one. There was a collective 'OOOOOooooooo!!!' as we heard the snap of the pole. The residents were very friendly. Everyone asked us, "Aren't you going to fish?" One even offered his pole. A lady told us they are subsistence fishing for silvers (coho) and they keep the pinks (humpies), mostly, for bait right now. Isn't THAT amazing? That's the stuff they sell to us in the lower 48 in cans! hahaha

On our way back to Craig, we stopped to look at the Harris River. I was debating getting out, AGAIN, when Don turned around and said, "I have NEVER seen anything like this!" These next 2 pix are of a river with a light-colored sandy bottom. ALL the dark color that you see are SALMON! Maybe 20,000 - 30,000? ...in this hole!

I think you can see the individual fish in this next pic.

And I like to watch the fish jump. We think these, in the Harris River, are mostly pinks and chum (or dog or keta) salmon.We also stopped at Cable Creek Fish Pass (ladder). The ladder was built in the 80's to help the salmon get further up the river. The sign says it opens 55 acres of new habitat for Coho and will potentially produce 5,000 mature adults. Considering that a salmon lays around 30,000 eggs and only 2 mature ones make it back to spawn; that's a LOT of fish that go up this ladder! Can you see the rectangular-shaped concrete walls (below) that hold the pools of water?

This is a pretty steep waterfall for the fish to climb. The height they can jump is relative to the depth of the pool and the amount of water falling into it. As the water plunges down into the pool, the water is forced up as it hits the bottom. The salmon use this upward force of the water to help them jump up to the next pool. So, these walls make deeper holes. We watched about a dozen fish attempt to jump the lowest level but none were successful. It's no wonder they look so beat up when they get to their spawning grounds! They were smacking into the rocks on either side. But we caught one as he flew by.

THEN, as if we hadn't had enough, we stopped at an overlook between Klawock and Craig and watched a humpback feeding. I know you can't see it here. But that little white spot, in front of the island, is not a boat. He was jumping up out of the water and making a BIG splash!

Prince of Wales Island - Alaska

2009-08-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

This huge log claw is displayed outside Thorne Bay on the east side of the island. The only logging, now, is done by the Native Americans. I don't know when the other logging stopped but you can see the harvested areas all over the island. Most of it has regrown but we saw some today that looked fairly recent; like within the last couple of years.

We decided to see what a Prince of Wales gravel road was like. So we went from Thorne Bay to Coffman Cove, both on the east side, on Sandy Beach Road. This is Sandy Beach Picnic area. We decided it should be renamed to Driftwood Beach. Pick out a piece of driftwood and we'll use that big log claw to get it for you.
We saw some great creeks along the way, full of salmon, of course!

We stayed at Oceanview RV Park & Campground, in Coffman Cove, last night. Don decided to take the rake out to the beach, at low tide, to see what he could find. It was raining and I took this pic with our phone - that's my excuse for the blur. These are cockles. We didn't eat any because we couldn't find an 'r' in August. We asked the manager, later, and she said they haven't had any red tides so they should be okay. She said if you taste them and your tongue tingles, don't eat them. The way he found them was, he noticed a squirt of water come out of the ground and that's where he dug with the rake. We also saw small sand piles with a single hole in the top. But those must have been down really deep because we didn't find anything when he dug there. It was funny to watch the ground squirt all over the place.

This is a pretty good sized black bear crossing the Yakut River. I guess he didn't want to get his paws wet? Although, he walked down the edge of the river (in the water), up to the log, crossed on the log and then kept walking through the water along the other side. I don't know how a bear thinks. We were standing on a bridge, maybe 40 above the river, to watch him. He made his way up river by crossing under the bridge (thankfully). We could see his trail so we were pretty sure where he was going to walk. He's probably walked that same trail all his life. We didn't see him catch any fish but he did eat some berries and sit down and scratch a little bit.

Here's a collection of berries that we've been eating (just so you know what to report to the doctor if they call you about us being too sick to talk - just kidding!) We ask a local before we eat too many :-). The berries on the left are Thimble berries. I took one off and laid it upside down on the leaf. When it comes off, it leaves the seed pod on the stem; leaving a bowl-shaped cluster of berries to eat. The middle branch is a red huckleberry. And the branch on the right has been called a blueberry. But, from the tart taste, I think it is also a huckleberry. I like the Thimble berries the best.

This is part of Ball's Lake. It has a nice boardwalk trail for about 1/2 mile around it. There are lilly pads growing in it and it looks like maybe beavers or muskrats are working in it. We are camped at Eagle's Nest Campground (Forest Service). The trail from the campground goes to the lake but we can't really see the lake from the campground (unless you look through the trees and squint a little).

This is our campsite in Eagle's Nest Campground ($8/night). It looks, and smells, like old-growth forest. I found some mushrooms but they are not the kind to eat. Today has been mostly cloudy with just a little rain. It was probably in the 60's today. We ran the heater all night, last night because it was cold (we had electricity). It doesn't feel as cold here tonight though.

Ketchikan to Prince of Wales Island

2009-08-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

Don thinks that, if the ratio stays true, he should start using about a 4 foot lure to catch the really big ones.

This is the ferry that we took to Prince of Wales Island. It is operated by the Inter-Island Ferry Association and is a lot smaller than the other ferry. It makes only one trip per day. The weather was partly cloudy - a lot clearer than the trip to Ketchikan.

Hhmm...so THAT's what Ketchikan looks like? It's described as 10 miles long and 3 blocks wide. There is still a section of road in town that is made of wood planks. We didn't see everything there was to see here because we are coming back in September.

The ferry ride was 3 hours long. We saw lots of little islands, like this, along the way. This was the only one with a lighthouse on it though. We also saw a couple humpback whales along the way.

Look a the angle on that ramp! It's about low tide when we come up to the island. There are minus tides this week. The high at 1am was about +18 and low tide, at 7:15am, was -3.6 (over 21 feet of change!). Today and tomorrow are the biggest tide changes.

Getting around the main part of Alaska takes a lot more time than you think it's going to. It takes some getting use to because it is so huge but the Atlas has it all on about 2 pages. Prince of Wales Island is just the opposite. We were in Craig before we knew it. The Ferry docked just outside of Hollis. We drove across the island to Klawock and then along the coast to Craig. We saw our first bear in the creek under the bridge as we came into Craig. We are staying in the True Value RV park. :-) I don't think that's the name of it but that's who manages it. Maybe it's called the 'No Wake Zone RV Park'?

Prince Rupert, BC to Ketchikan, AK via Ferry

2009-08-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, we still don't know what time sunrise is. We sat in line for the ferry from 4:45am - 6:30am. It is so foggy that we couldn't really tell when the sun came up. Sure can tell we're back on the coast! This is the scene as we left the port at Prince Rupert.
This is the scene (below) as we pulled into port at Ketchikan. If you squint, and look real hard, you can see the white cruise liner to the right of the darker boats on the left. It only got more foggy as we went north. The seas were pretty calm. I guess because we were not travelling in the open ocean. We did see a couple pods of whales on the way. They were headed south. The first pod had maybe 8 or 10 whales in it. We could usually see 3 or 4 spouts at a time and a couple times we saw them breach the surface (no jumping, just their backs).
The pic below is a salmon berry. They also come in bright or dark red. I don't know if the color is an indication of the ripeness, maybe our Oregon family will enlighten me?
Ketchikan is a neat little town; lots of totem poles. There were 4 cruise ships in port when we got in. There is a downtown section, full of tourist shops, that were bustling! We drove from one end of town to the other, checked out the Walmart (way out here!) and the campgrounds and RV park. We chose to stay at Ward Lake Rec. Area, in Signal Creek Campground. The hemlock, cedar and huge spruce trees are beautiful. It looks like trees grow right back up even after the tree has fallen down and left it's roots. This is considered a rain forest.
All types of salmon, except the chinook, are in this lake and the creek next to our campsite. The spawning pink and chum salmon are making more noise than the running water. I don't know who that is standing at the mouth of Ward Creek, catching pink salmon with every cast (fly or spin). There are also dolly varden, sea-run cut-throat and raibow trout.
This isn't our campsite but it is similar. I woke up early this morning. It stopped raining last night but was still overcast. I took the camera outside to take some pics of the salmon. When I was finished, I took a few steps back towards the camper, when a small black bear caught my eye on the trail next to our campsite. We exchanged glances. Then he went on down the trail to fish and I went on up to the camper to change my underwear. hahaha - just kidding! But I sure thought about it! He was only about 3 feet high at his back. But still, that's too big to want to pet. I think I was in his fishing spot. He walked down the trail and I could see him in the creek but I was too flustered to get any pix. He chased some salmon up on the bank. He didn't eat any and most of them made their way back into the water. One was stranded. I wonder if he'll come back and eat it later tonight or tomorrow morning?

Terrace, BC to Prince Rupert, BC

2009-08-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

We travelled west on the Yellowhead Hwy (16) from Terrace, BC to Prince Rupert, BC. It was pretty windy in spots and reminded us of Hood River on the Columbia River Gorge - only smaller (a 2-lane highway between the railroad tracks and the overhanging cliffs).
We stopped at this little rest area on the Skeena River. The pic below is looking back up the river. It is amazing to see the trees that cover these steep-sided mountains. Occasionally you can see where a rock slide has cut a swath and more are growing back in.

Although overcast, this drive is gorgeous!

The RV park, where we stayed, is only about 5 minutes from the Ferry Terminal. We are actually on an island in the ocean. But it wasn't obvious when we drove here. Our only 2 options for the ferry ride to Ketchikan were 6:30pm and 7:15am. We wanted to see the scenery so we chose the morning departure. As the clerk was handing us our tickets she said, "You need to have your truck in line by 4:15am." She said it with a straight face too! She cut us some slack when we asked, "really?", and told us "no later than 5am".

Iskut, BC to Hyder, AK (Bear Viewing) to Kitimat, BC

2009-08-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

Hhhmm...how do I get Don to drive 100 miles, out of our way, to see a bear in the wild??? Whining works...I've been talking about this since...hhmm...June?
It's a beautiful drive from Hwy 37 (Cassiar Hwy) out to Stewart, BC. This is Bear Canyon, just a short part of the road that has steep walls next to the river. The rest of the drive has glaciers and hundreds of waterfalls.
This is Bear Glacier. The info says it used to extend to the side of the canyon we are driving on. It doesn't say when that was but you can see the old road way up on the side of the canyon above us. Glaciers have a pretty blue/green color because of the air that is compacted inside of them.
Just past Stewart (Canada) you can cross the border, on a gravel road, into Hyder, Alaska. Hyder actually looks like a ghost town to me. Lots of tiny tourist-trap shops line the street as you enter. Most of them were closed. We got there around 3:30pm so I don't think it was just closed for the day. Anyway, as we got into town, we turned right and followed it past a few opened businesses; Visitor Center, Camp-Run-a-Muck, Guided Tours, etc. We noticed all the campgrounds, from Stewart to Hyder, had signs reading "24-hour Security". We figured it must mean 'bear' security.
Okay, so here's the "money shot". Apparently, early morning is the best time for bear-viewing. They said there were several active bears this morning; 'best day this summer', said the ranger. They said a couple were arguing over the salmon. We were here for a couple hours, watching chum and pink salmon spawning, until the grizzly showed up. People who are familiar with the bears said they recognized this sow from the mark on her side. They also said she looks fatter than the last time they saw her. She really wasn't doing a lot of fishing of live salmon. She was mostly looking at all the dead ones. She'd step on the dead fish, if something squirted out, she knew it was 'fresher' than others and she'd eat it. You can tell she a grizzly by the hump at her shoulders.
There is a boardwalk, with a gate and railings, to use all the way from the outer parking lot. It didn't seem like it would be enough to keep bears out but I'm guessing the bears really aren't here to eat people. They're here for the fish. You can see how high the railings are in the pic below. You've heard of 'combat fishing'? Well, this is 'combat bear-viewing' - hahaha That's Don's hand, in the upper right, with the video camera. Cameras ranged from our-size "sport" cameras to the huge lenses on tripods. It was almost as entertaining to watch the people as the bears. This pic is at the end of the boardwalk. It extends maybe 100 yards, from the entrance, along the river. The one bear we saw (above), politely, entered the river close the bridge, which is next to the entrance of the boardwalk. She, slowly, walked downstream, a few hundred feet past the end, then slowly back again. We were standing at the end of the boardwalk when she first appeared at the other end. We saw the commotion of people; picking up their cameras and calling out (in loud whispers) to their friends who had wandered off. The people were all huddled in one spot to get the best photos. As she walked further, you'd hear the pitter-patter of rubber-soled tourist feet on the boardwalk. They'd all pile up in front of her again, then the random clicking of shutters. The only talking, even before the bear showed up, was at a whisper or very quiet. I thought that was neat. We were in the bear's house and we didn't want to disturb them; if/when they came back. This boardwalk is high enough for the bears to walk under to get to the other creek behind us. There are a couple spots, on the boardwalk, where you can step up to see over the crowd. That's where we are to take the below pic (we aren't standing on the railing). I'm sure the crowds are bigger at different times. It wasn't too big to be a problem for us today.

But, alas, it's time to leave the bears. We didn't want to be too far off-course for tomorrow's drive, so we drove back out to the Cassiar Hwy to camp. So, this little trip off-the-beaten-path was about 90 miles round-trip. But it was worth it!

We camped at Meziadin (Mezy-AD-in) Lake Provincial Park for $15 (dry camping). Although we got in a little late, we could have had a site on the lake.

As we continued south, on Saturday, we stopped to look at a couple creeks known for salmon spawning areas. These are the sockeyes (red salmon). I think I, mistakenly, identified the 'red ones with the green heads' as chinook in an earlier post.

The spectacular scenery just doesn't stop! We are now driving on Hwy 16 (Yellowhead Hwy). This is the Skeena River. Apparently it is world famous for steelhead fishing! The silvers are in, right now, and there are fishermen where they can get to it.

We turned left at Terrace, to go to the end of Hwy 37; just to say we'd travelled the whole thing! It goes to a little port town called Kitimat. This whole area of BC (not just Kitimat) is known for the rare Kermodei bear. This is a symbol of it at the Visitor's Center in Kitimat. The Kermodei bear is actually a Black bear but it has white fur. It is not a polar bear. They also call it the Spirit bear. How cool would THAT be to see in the wild!?

There are not too many (appealing) campgrounds in Kitimat, but that's where we are staying tonight.

Yukon to BC - Down the Cassiar Hwy

2009-08-13T16:54:00.001-07:00

We didn't have internet last night so I'll just combine the last two days. The first 45 miles down the Cassiar were not spectacular. Trees lined the roadside so not much to see. The first 10 miles of this road is alternating pavement and gravel as they are smoothing out the rough spots. It is a wide, 2-lane road without lines. We took it at about 45 mph but the gravel trucks, etc., were going lots faster.

We stopped at Boya Lake Provincial Park and it is just as nice as all the other BC parks we've stayed in: big, level gravel sites, a big rock to guard the picnic table which is mounted on a cement pad. We got a great spot on this quiet lake. It is a beautiful blue/green. It is fairly shallow, and therefore, fairly warm. We thought about renting a canoe but then we couldn't decide what the weather was going to do. So Don fished and I took pix of the grebes and looked for the loons that we could hear in the distance.

It was fun to watch the grebes. I counted 19 babies! Mom would dive and then you'd hear the quiet bubble-splash as each one of them dove under also. Then they'd all disappear. Then you'd hear them bubble back up on the surface, a couple at a time. We are also back in the insects! I think Canada has more insects than Alaska does!
We are seeing some spectacular scenery along the Cassiar Highway (37).
Today we saw this young bull moose! This is using the telephoto lense across a river and meadow. Don grunted at him to get him to turn around and look. Can you see his spikes? I don't think he has enough time to grow them very big this year.
The road, today, is mostly paved. There are 2 construction projects where the road is gravel for 5 - 10 miles. There are lots of pull-outs along this highway but very few rest areas. Good thing we carry our potty with us! We stopped at this "rest" area. But, with a name like 'Rabid Grizzly', how can we rest?!
We sure can tell we're back in BC by the gas and grocery prices! $1.11/liter (Can) for diesel; $6.89 for a gallon of milk. We pulled into Mountain Shadow RV Park at about 2:30. We are just above Iskut, BC on the Cassiar Hwy.

Headed South on Alcan: Destruction Bay to Teslin, Yukon

2009-08-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

The road from Destruction Bay to Whitehorse were much better than yesterday's roads! There were still some pretty good frost heaves though. Canada does a pretty good job at marking the rough spots with orange flags. We stopped in Whitehorse to fuel up and see some of the historical sites. We stopped at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Center. We learned about mastodons and woolly mammoths, giant beavers, and lots of other things that lived on the land mass between Russia and the Yukon during the Ice Age. They said a lot of bones have been discovered by gold miners. The native canadians (aboriginals, as they are called here) have also passed down legends to archaelogists to help them find fossils in the area.

This is the longest wooden fish ladder in the world. It helps the chinook (king) salmon get around the Yukon Energy Corp. hydroelectric dam on the Yukon River. We didn't see any in it but the count for yesterday was 30. So it is just gearing up. They had a chart that compared this year to previous years and the numbers are down this year so far.

The SS Klondike, built in 1929, was the largest vessel on the Yukon River. It could carry over 300 tons. She carried mail, general supplies, passengers and silver lead ore along the 460-mile route between Whitehorse and Dawson City until 1955.

This is the world's largest weathervane. It is a Douglas DC-3. It was originally a C-47, built in 1942, and flew transport missions to Asia during the war. Converted to civilian life as a DC-3 after the war. (according to historian Bob Cameron)

So, here we are, Dawson Peaks Resort. It is on the edge of Teslin Lake, Yukon Territory. It has wi-fi. As we have found with these places who advertise 'free wi-fi' though, we can't get the signal from inside our camper. SO, we are sitting at the picnic table along with millions of mosquitos and bees **SMAK** ##SWAT## @&*$%___

Tomorrow, our goal is back to British Columbia as we turn down the Cassiar Highway. Don still has a fishing license in BC.

Tok, AK to Destruction Bay, Yukon Ter.

2009-08-10T18:59:00.001-07:00

What, do we have "Camp Host" written across our foreheads or something? Both, Don and I, have been asked if we were the Camp Hosts; several times this summer. Aside from the Hawaiian shirt that Don wears, his beard and shorts might make him look like a local. But I've worn this sweatshirt ALL summer. One guy told me he saw the logo on it and that's why he thought I was the Host. I told him, "I know this feels like Disney World for adults. But I'm not your Camp Host." hahaha
Boy the skies cleared off last night in Tok! Don turned on the electric heater in the middle of the night! See, extreme temps out here away from the ocean. The pic below is the White River. The Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains are in the background. See the dusting of new snow on top! OOoooohhhh NNOOOooooooo! Hurry!

The Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge has lots of waterfowl. These are either Tundra or Trumpeter Swans. I can't tell the difference. There were 4 on the pond; probably Mom and Dad and 2 children. They are fattening up and building up their strength for the flight south.

This is our least favorite section of the Alaska Highway. Frost heaves, potholes and resurfacing attempts plague the pavement from the Canadian border to Burwash Landing on Kluane (Klu-ah-nee) Lake. We are revisiting a park just south of Burwash Landing. There are a couple state campgrounds on the lake too but we'll use the microwave to cook lasagna tonight.

We arrived at Cottonwood RV Park around 5pm ($30 Can). It's a little chilly but the sun is out. There are Dall Sheep on the mountain. Don counted 23 with the scope. The biggest group is 16.

North Pole to Tok, AK

2009-08-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

Alas, we must leave the North Pole. There's no snow here yet. All the elves are still busy though!

I'm not sure if this is Dancer, Prancer or Vixen. Did you know that you can hear the reindeer's hooves click when they walk? Maybe that's what the clicking on the rooftop was when Santa lands his sleigh?

Here's the bridge over the Tanana (Tan-uh-naw) River. The Alaska Pipeline crosses here too. You can see it suspended in the background. Oil is piped all the way from Prudoe Bay to Valdez. (Someone correct me, if I'm wrong, please?) Then they load it onto ships to bring to the lower 48.

This is Moon Lake Campground. I think we got the Host Site. I wonder if flight lessons come with it? We thought about staying here but pressed on to Tok for the night.
We got out of the smoke as we headed east from the North Pole. But it rained most of the day. It's clearing up tonight. Here, in the interior of Alaska, the temps are more extreme. I don't know what the temp was but it's the first time, in a while, that I was comfortable without my sweatshirt. We didn't need the second blanket either.

Houston, AK to the North Pole!

2009-08-09T00:28:00.000-07:00

The Fireweed blooms from bottom to top. When all the blooms are gone, the seeds start releasing from the bottom to top. We've been told, "If you're still in Alaska when the seeds get to the top, you've stayed too long - you'll soon see snow!" So, we're outta here!
We saw people picking berries along the Parks Highway so we decided to look too. We collected half a baggie full. The ripe ones just fall off into your hand.

We are heading towards Fairbanks and the further north we go, the smokier it gets. They are still fighting a huge wildfire in the Nenana area - about 60 miles south of Fairbanks. Needless to say, we did not see Mt. McKinley. So, I took a picture of where it is supposed to be seen.

We arrived at the North Pole. We will visit Santa tomorrow. If anyone has any specific requests, email us quickly. We are planning on giving him the naughty-nice list. You can also email us if you think you might be on the wrong one.

Animals - wild and not-so-wild

2009-08-07T00:11:00.000-07:00

We finally got to go to the Alaska Wildlife Conservancy Center today! This is an Alaska Brown Bear. Brown bears are the same species as grizzlies. She has been trained to entertain visitors and will never be released into the wild. She was orphaned as an infant cub. So she was never able to learn how to be wild from her mom.

These are Musk Oxen. I remember trying to sleep in my curlers too!

There were 4 little moose calves that were rescued from various places. They will be able to be released into the wild after they grow up a little more.

These Dall Sheep were up above the highway.

Russian River to Portage, AK

2009-08-06T23:41:00.001-07:00

Okay, one more bear hunt before we leave the Russian River. 50 steps down, walk a section of fisherman's path along the river (including narrow path over a hill with bear poop on top, leaving me to wonder which way I could go) and 50 steps back up. There, I've done my "stairs" for the day!
Hey, how did this get broken? It takes something pretty significant to break one of these 2x6 boards on the stairway.

A little detective work reveals a tuft of bear hair under the break. Some fat guy slipped off the trail and snapped that little 2x6. Serves him right for using the human boardwalk! I hope that taught him a lesson! Maybe they should consider installing anti-skid strips on the boardwalk though? (I took one of the bear hairs for a souvenir. I bet no one else has a BEAR HAIR FROM ALASKA! Where'd that go? What do you mean, you vacuumed?)

I have to tell you, though, the scariest thing we saw along the Russian River was when we passed 2 guys on the path, one carrying the fishing gear and the other carrying a high powered rifle (no lie - I've never seen such a thing). Everyone who passed us on the fisherman's trail, gave us an update on the 'bears up ahead' - probably because we were carrying cameras, not fishing gear. We heard lots of, 'Hang around long enough and you'll see some bears.' These guys said the same thing but with a lot more, shall we say, 'excitement'? We saw lots of people carrying hand guns, either strapped to their hip or chest or in their backpack with the butt sticking out. One guy had a sawed-off shotgun sticking out of his backpack. But I wish I'd gotten a picture of these two....we laugh everytime we think of them. We could just see them standing in the stream, one fishing and the other guarding. I wouldn't want to be ANYWHERE near them in the stream!

Well, it's time to move on. Heading east on the Sterling Hwy, almost to the junction of the Seward Hwy, is Tern Lake. There is a salmon spawning viewing area, there, where Dave's Creek comes out. They are working on the river banks and it was closed the last couple times we drove by; but is open now. There are 3 red King salmon within sight of the bridge. Looks like two are guarding a redd (nest). Another 6 or 8 down below the bridge. The fish have white spots on them; starting to decay. We could see small trout too and the salmon were chasing them away from their nest. Trout will eat the salmon eggs as soon as they are laid.

The two bright red ones, below, have green heads. They are in better shape than the ones in the above picture. These are also Chinook (or Kings - They all seem to have 2 names; one is from the Native American name for them.) The Kings get really large but these are 2' to 3' in length. There are different runs of Kings. The difference in how they look, here, depends on when they entered the river and how hard a time they had getting here. The bigger fish have a harder time getting up through the shallow streams to their goal.

I wanted to get a picture of the berries on the Devil's Club plant (below). These are the plants that grow to about 4 1/2' - 5' tall and the stem is thick with stickers. Apparently bears like the berries. It's a good thing, because a squirrel could not climb those thorny stems! All the berries are starting to get ripe. I ate a, small, wild raspberry. Bear poop has berry seeds in it....unless the berries aren't ripe yet, then you see the whole berries :-)

We drove out to Hope again, since we had time. It's a nice drive, about 17.5 miles off the highway; paved. We wanted to check out Resurrection Creek. It is still thick with Humpies. Turns out, this is their spawning area! You could see pairs of them guarding their redds. They are starting to look pretty beat up too. We saw a couple fisherman with a couple nice red salmon. Don asked them how long it took them to get through all the pinks. They said they fished for 4 hours.

We drove up Resurrection Creek Rd (not paved) and stopped at the footbridge (trail head). There were quite a few salmon up that far too (maybe about 4 miles up the creek). People come here to pan for gold. We saw some mining claims posted. Then we decided to drive up to see the Palmer Creek and the Coure d'lene Campground. This is a very well maintained gravel road. Spectacular views of Turnagain Arm and then this little valley (below). Lots of berry bushes and fireweed. We met a colorful local, who was killing time until the highway reopens from the traffic accident. He was one of these people who is very animated about things and he was in awe of the beautiful scenery. He could hardly sit still in his car. We got out to take pix and they passed us. When we caught up to them, he was out picking 3 flowers and catching some spring water in his DQ cup. He gave us a big smile and got back in his car. Then they saw a Ptarmagin (kind of like a pheasant) walking across the road. The guy quickly, but quietly got out of his car and grabbed a couple pebbles off the ground. With his hand cocked in the air, ready to fire, he moved, ever-so-stealthily (is that a word?) towards his prey. I was trying to get a picture when the bird flew and he threw his rocks to the ground; dejected! He jumped back in the car and hung out the window making motions like he was eating...to tell us what he'd had planned for the bird. Now THAT'S entertainment!

Okay, if you don't know anything about tides, this may not impress you. Although this is not the 'bore tide', this IS the incoming tide on Turnagain Arm (below). You just don't usually see ripples (like a flowing river) on an incoming tide. We were noticing that the normal low tide, in Homer, is higher than the above average high tide in Waldport, OR (7.5)'.

The weather is beautiful! These are the mountains as we approach Portage (at the east end of Turnagain Arm).

Goin' on a Bear Hunt!

2009-08-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

I have to laugh when I think about "Goin' on a bear hunt". I remember the chant we sang in Campfire Girl's while keeping time, in a walking rhythm, by slapping our hands on our lap:
Goin' on a bear hunt....comin' to a tree....can't go over...can't go under it...can't go through it...gotta go around it...(slapping changes slightly) Goin' on a bear hunt...comin' to a stream...can't go over it...can't go under it...can't go around it...gotta go through it...(slapping gets sloppy here) ...and so on

Anyway - apparently our navigation skills are not any better walking than they are driving! We set out, twice, to go to the Falls. I'll spare you the details. I don't know what Alaskans do to keep in shape during the winter. But if they aren't in shape by the end of the summer, they haven't FISHED! Hiking is INTENTIONALLY walking/climbing a long way. I didn't realize we'd have to walk/climb so much, here at the Russian River Campground, just to FISH! A fisherman along the path (on our first attempt to find the Falls) said there are a couple bears by the river in the direction we were heading. He said, 'Your little bell will tell them right where you are.' As long as he doesn't think it's the 'dinner bell', we'll be okay! Don's got the bear pepper spray, the video camera, cell phone and walking stick. I'm wearing the bell, and have the bottle of water, snacks and camera. I thought about leaving a 'flight plan' in case we didn't return - hahaha.

There ain't no stinkin' bears out here!
Can you see what he almost stepped in (above)?

Well, at least there aren't any BIG bears:

But, seriously, look at the size of that poop! That's Don's foot, not mine! ...men's size 12... wide. At least there aren't any bells in it and it doesn't smell like pepper! The disconcerting part of finding this...we found it after we had turned around when we realized we weren't on the right trail. We either walked right past it the first time, or the bears were following the dinner bell. Well, it wasn't steaming...so, maybe it was older? For such big animals, they can be really quiet.

Okay, not one bear today. We were looking too hard in all the wrong places because we heard lots of reports. Here's a picture of a little red-headed grebe family. Aren't they cute! See how the one out in front has his eyes under water to look for food.

Looks like the grebe family has found a place to roost for the night. Seems a little precarious to me...glad I'm not a duck!

Chasing Silvers and Bears on the Kenai Penninsula

2009-08-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

We were sorely disappointed about the lack of Silvers in Homer and Anchor Point. But we didn't want to drive all the way back to Morgan's Landing today. So we stayed at one of our favorite beach campgrounds (Deep Creek). Mt. Redoubt was visible for a change!

This young eagle must have stolen a really great meal from the seagull. That seagull hounded him for 20 minutes or more; diving at him. Even after he left, we could still hear the seagull crying over it, all the way from our campsite.

After a couple, unproductive, days at Morgan's Landing again, we decided to go up the Kenai River to the Russian River Campground. USFS campground, $18/night, dry camping. It is on the Russian River and has stairs and boardwalks to and along the riverbank; all the way down to the confluence with the Kenai. You can also walk downstream from there to the Russian River Ferry, which takes people across to the parking lot next to the Sterling Hwy. This area is known for it's combat fishing during the red salmon run. It is also known for bear activity. We saw this guy, enjoying his sushi, on our walk to the confluence. We were on the boardwalk and he didn't seem worried about the people taking his picture. He was probably about 40 - 50 feet away from us. He seemed more annoyed by the seagulls than us. This was the second one we saw on our 'walk'. We heard of 2 grizzly cubs that were out earlier.

I know you can't really make out individual birds in the water. But there were about 15 grebes fishing in the slack water here. They float along with their eyes under water until they see something delicious. Then they dive after it. One came up with a small fish and the chase was on! They all went chasing after him until he could catch his breath and swallow. It was a riot!

The next picture is taken from the confluence of the Russian into the Kenai River; looking down towards the ferry; (the ferry is not in the picture). People are still catching reds.

Coming back up the boardwalk, we encountered this guy. He could be the one we watched eating earlier. So, boardwalks are for people...what to do?...1st: push Don out in front and hide behind him, 2nd: turn on camera and take pic. Don just talked to him and told him we were coming through and he'd better move. Some people were on the other side of him so he couldn't go back. Fortunately, he decided to leave the boardwalk and let us pass.

This little 'walk' kicked our butts!

Tourist Time in Alaska

2009-08-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

We've had our annual dose of Omega 3 over the last week! We had 2 nights of sockeye before Don insisted on something else. So we found this Heavenly barbeque dinner along the Sterling Hwy; the kind you find along the Texas back roads! Some people in front of us asked them for a sample to taste. I didn't have to taste it. I could SMELL that it was going to be GOOOOD. The cook was from Oklahoma - so I knew it was authentic. We had ribs, pulled pork, brisket and sausage. They also had bologna - that must be the Okie part because I've never seen that barbequed before :-)

Anyway, it's been raining in the mornings and clearing up in the afternoons. The Kenai is still rising (or staying high) and we heard there were silvers starting to come into Homer and Anchor Pt. Soooo...
We stopped at Anchor Pt. There were people fishing and we saw the young eagles sitting up in their nest. I don't think it will be long now before they fledge. The above pic is of Mt Iliama, looking across a meadow of Fireweed (pinkish purple) and Cow Parsnip. The Fireweed is in full bloom now. You can see it covering the meadows on the hillsides.

We went down to Homer to see about the silvers there. But we were pretty disappointed - not much activity. Lots of people are still fishing the end of the Spit for halibut, pollock and whatever. Maybe a couple of them were fishing for silvers but we didn't see any being caught. This eagle landed on a light pole right next to us. Their eyes are yellow - cool, huh?

Yesterday, we decided to take a road trip to see what is on the Swanson River Road. It is a 17.5 mile, well maintained, gravel road from Sterling to the Swanson River Canoe Trail. It has a couple small campgrounds along the road and small lakes like this one. (No fish were biting at this lake.) Despite the Milepost's lack of info about the campground at Swanson River, there are 4 (level) sites and a restroom. We left the camper at Morgan's Landing - we were just scouting out the possibilities. If you like to canoe, this is a beautiful area for it!

We are at Deep Creek tonight. There are hardly any boats out fishing from Deep Creek! I don't know if it is the tide or if most the halibut tourists have left Alaska?

Fishing the Kenai River

2009-07-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

So, I've figured out how to type between the pix but I haven't figured out how to put them in the order I want. Oh well!

We found this great campground called Morgan's Landing. It is in the Milepost. But it is a little off the beaten path so we didn't really consider it the first couple times through Sterling/Soldotna. But it is really pretty, big sites, good river access and only $10/night (no elec). Don's first day of flippin' for Reds (Sockeye Salmon). He is the 'watch, listen and learn' kind of guy. The cast used for Reds is unique. You just kind of drift the fly in front of them and then give it a tug to see if one has it in their mouth. You're only flipping the line out about 10' - 15' so you don't even reel it in unless there is a fish on and he takes off with your line. The hook has to be large (larger than he is used to) so it will hook over their lip (not getting too technical here-I'm not the fisherman). He caught about a dozen this afternoon and landed 2; one on a medium to light weight spinning rod and one on a fly rod (ugly stick). We didn't have the right kind of a net so he picked a spot where he could get down to the bank to land it. The guy fishing beside him didn't have a net when he caught his either but someone helped him land his. So he helped Don with his.

This is one of the fisherman access platforms on the Kenai River. The river is at flood stage and is off color. There is quite a bit of debris floating down it too. Trying to keep the fish out of the bushes is a trick in itself.

Have you ever tried to take a picture of a randomly jumping fish?! I thought Don would call "naptime" when he got back. But he filleted the fish, cut 3 steaks off of it and grilled it for dinner. He is exhausted but we went back out fishing after dinner. :-) That's when he caught the one on the fly rod. So, this is how that one happened: It was determined, earlier, that black was the color to use, along with a bright color yarn. So, he lost the only one he had to a salmon. But he had a permanent marker with him. So he hands me the marker and a yellow piece of yarn and asks me to color it black. I'm getting more on my fingers than the yarn when he gets a fish on! So I'm trying to turn on the video camera while holding the wet yarn and trying not to get the camera black. There are only a couple black spots on the camera. Oh well, I got the shot, he landed the fish and released it. Guess who will sleep good tonight!

Oh yeah, we also saw a couple chinook (king salmon) jump in front of us! I thought it was a WHALE! (just kidding - but they are big!)

Deep Creek, AK

2009-07-27T23:08:00.000-07:00

We left Homer this afternoon since we got our fill of pollock. Stopped in at Anchor Point to see how the fishing is and how our eagles are doing (see below). There were fishermen at Anchor Point - seemed to be fishing for trout. We didn't see a lot happening. We went back to Deep Creek to camp on the inlet - see how close we are at high tide! Overcast with scattered rain. There are still pinks in the creek but the silvers have not shown up here yet.

The young eagles are getting stronger. You can see one sitting on the edge of the nest. The parent is sitting on the bare branch to the left of the nest. They fledge sometime in August.

Homer Spit, AK

2009-07-26T22:44:00.001-07:00

The Homer Ward parking lot had a few campers in it this morning - along with ours. We heard great talks about reverence and charity. This is the third time we've visited the Homer Ward. Yesterday, we just happened to find the Ward picnic at Anchor Point when we stopped to watch the eagles. They were just wrapping up though, so we didn't crash the party.
Here are a couple Walleye Pollocks that sacrificed their life for our dinner tonight. They were very tasty. Don caught others, (after) that were bigger, but turned them loose. We actually kept another one too because he swallowed the hook too far to get out safely. I fried some of them in a little oil with salt and pepper. I dredged the others in milk and egg then dry bread crumbs. All were good, tender and moist. (Tums for dessert.)

This is what the end of Homer Spit can look like at any given moment. You fish right next to the Alaska Marine (ferry) terminal. Sometimes it gets a little busy out there! Oddly enough, the smaller boats make a bigger wake; they're the ones speeding in and out of port. It's been cloudy/rainy for the past few days but today cleared up - still lots of clouds with the blue sky but no rain and it warmed up to about 60.

This is Dudiak Lake. It's a tide-fed lake on the Spit where they plant salmon. The salmon come back when they are adults. It's a tourist attraction but a LOT of locals come out too. Because the lake is not good habitat for spawning, the fish won't spawn. So, if all the fish aren't caught "leagally" (meaning, hooked in the mouth), they will open it up for snagging later in the season.

More Walleye Pollock - He was bringing them in 2 at a time! Some people were catching small flounder. Don (and others) actually caught a starfish. That was weird. I told him he was reeling too slow.

Lower Kenai - Ninilchik to Homer, AK

2009-07-25T19:30:00.000-07:00

Everyone was catching pollocks like crazy at the end of the Homer Spit this afternoon. Most were using bait but Don likes to use lures - so, guess what - he caught just as many. He caught salmon in fresh water this morning then turned to salt water this afternoon. Fun day of fishing! Pollocks are what they use to make fish sticks and imitation crab meat and lots of other commercial fish products. We didn't keep any.

In between fishing, we stopped for lunch where we'd seen an eagle's nest a few weeks ago. The only activity we saw, then, were adults. Today we saw 2 young ones! This is on the Anchor Point River at Slide Hole Campground.

The adult was feeding the young eagles at first but I think they are just nibbling on what she brought now. She (or he, both parents tend to their young until they fledge) is sitting on a branch to the left of the young one. You can see the young one stretching his wings in this pic - or maybe he's saying 'thank you' for the meal?

Resurrection Creek - near Hope, AK

2009-07-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

This is a male pink salmon (humpy); you can see a hump starting to form on his back and his mouth is getting more deformed. Don is holding his mouth open.
This is a female pink; fresh from the ocean - you can see the sea lice still on her (dark grey spots about where Don right hand is.

Next photo: Don's competition. I guess I was whining so loud, about not seeing a bear since Canada, that they had to send out the tourist bear. He's just a little one. He didn't stick around long. I don't think he saw me but he saw Don. When I first saw the bear, he was across the river from me. He stood up and looked at Don while I was waving frantically at Don and pointing at the bear. Needless to say, I missed that photo. After that, I was poised with my finger on the button and camera pointed in the general direction. He came back out a little further upstream, looked at the river and ducked back into the woods. We didn't see him again. I was a little nervous. I would really rather be inside the truck or camper when I see the next one.

Don kept one of the pinks that he caught last night and we had it for dinner tonight - very good! We fished off and on all day today. Thought we would surprise family when they showed up but we didn't see them.

Portage, Whittier, Palmer and back again

2009-07-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

We spent a rainy/windy weekend in Portage, AK. Portage is at the mouth of a canyon. If we learned anything from living in Utah, along the Wasatch front, we learned that the windiest places are at the mouth of a canyon. It rained steady with gusting winds all day Saturday and Sunday. The first pic is our site at Williwaw Campground ($18/no hookups). It's a beautiful campground; all paved roads. Access to lots of trails (from gravel paths to boardwalks) to ponds and streams for salmon spawning areas (no salmon there yet) and the Trail of Blue Ice. When we pulled into this site, we could see the overhanging glacier above. It is a beautiful blue color.

On Saturday, we decided to go to Whittier; because it is there. We left the camper in the campground. It cost $12 to go through the tunnel. This tunnel is unique because the cars and trains share the same road. They let one or the other through every half hour or so. Whittier was really nothing to see although it might have been better if the weather was better. We thought we'd find a place to have lunch but nothing looked good. We should have brought a picnic and ate at Shotgun Cove picnic area.On Sunday, we attended church in Girdwood. The website only listed a PO Box for the address but we drove around looking for the meeting house - doesn't always look the same but always has a sign on it. We called the Branch President after we couldn't find it. Turns out they rent the 'Our Lady of the Snows' Catholic Church. It's a beautiful log chapel (great big logs). It reminded us of the Brighton, UT, LDS chapel with the view of the mountains from inside. It had long wooden benches (we didn't use the knee pads). A young woman sat at the back to operate the CD player since they didn't have a pianist. The congregation was probably only about 30 people and they were grateful for so many visitors :-). They are a warm and friendly group; great talks from the High Councilmen about choices we make being 'good, better or best'. The Branch President was definitely Alaskan; pony tail to the middle of his back. We enjoyed the Spirit.

We stopped at Bird Creek (see below) to see if any fishing was going on and boy was there! One guy was catching almost every cast - frankly, he looked a little bored. He had a large one on his stringer and was releasing the rest. They are fishing at low tide. Watching the fishermen cross the mud slick to get to the gravel riverbed was almost as fun as watching the fishing. Everyone stayed on their feet though. We didn't fish, we kept going north - want to get to Fairbanks and back before the silvers complete their run!

We spent Monday night with family in Palmer. We always enjoy visiting with my sister and brother-in-law and they have our nephew with them this month so it was fun to visit with him. We left their house on Tuesday morning, headed for Fairbanks until I changed our minds :-). The worst wildfire in the state is up by Fairbanks and there are health advisories from Denali north. So, we turned south.

Dollies and Humpies

2009-07-17T22:15:00.001-07:00

We drove 45 miles today but it took us 5 hours. Don got into some salmon until his arms were sore. He fished in Resurrection Creek, off of Turnagain Arm. There was a little bit of combat fishing going on but not too bad around us. Fly fishermen clear away combat fishermen - LOL. Most were hooked in the mouth, a few were snagged. All were released. He regretted not keeping one of the Dolly Vardens (top fish). You can tell the male Humpies (pink salmon) by the pronounced hump on their back (bottom fish). I'm not sure what the middle fish is. As we stood on the bridge, we could see, literally, hundreds of salmon. It was like an aquarium!

We are camped in a nice little RV park (Portage RV Park - $29/night) on the Portage/Whittier road. We will get our showers (unmetered!) and charge up our batteries here and then move to one of the FS campgrounds ($14-$18/night) tomorrow. There are some great hiking trails from there to a close glacier. The mountain is full of waterfalls. We've got a little creek behind us in our campsite. We paid $3.43 for diesel today.

Whale Watching - Kenai Fjiord Tour

2009-07-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to say! You know you are having a rare day when the captain joins you on deck with HIS camera! Our boat tour was out of Seward - Major Marine Tours. We had a prime rib and salmon dinner that was excellent too (no sea sickness for either of us). The weather seemed too good to be true. We hit one fog bank but came out the other side of it - sunny, beautiful!

We saw a pod of Orcas (top photo - dorsal fins showing; largest is the male). They said they haven't seen Orcas in over 2 weeks.
We had 3 separate humpback whale sightings (including 2 of a mother with a calf). The 2nd photo is the young one laying on his side with his pectoral fin and tail above the water. He was splashing and rolling while his mom was diving. I managed to capture one tail shot as one of them dove. We watched a single humpback fishing. He would dive and blow a cloud of bubbles to scare his prey. So we'd see him come to the surface before his bubbles reached the surface 30 feet away. They were close enough to the boat that you could hear them blow on the surface. We will try to post a video later in the week (when we get an electric site and have time to edit it).

The last photo is of the dall porpoises (look like a miniature Orca). You can see one in the foreground but the other splashes in the background are his buddies. At one point there was a school of them rushing the side of the boat!

How exciting!!! Oh, and, yah, yah, we saw stellar sea lions, sea otters, puffins, mures, glacier calving; you know, the regular stuff - LOL. WHAT AN EXCELLENT DAY!

The Mountains are Back!

2009-07-14T22:08:00.001-07:00

My sister's kids must have gone back home to Idaho and Nevada because we can see mountains again! I don't know if it's because we moved to a different area or that they are getting the fires under control?

We moved from Capt Cook Rec Area to Cooper Creek Campground on the Sterling Highway, towards the Seward Highway. We stopped by the Russian River to watch some combat fishing but it's between runs so it wasn't crowded. Cooper Creek is close to Cooper's Landing, between Skilak and Kenai Lakes. We were right on the Kenai River. Rainbow fishing was great (catch-n-release)! We had a National Geographic moment this morning. As we were sitting by the river, enjoying the morning, we noticed a red-necked grebe with her chicks. They were swimming right next to the bank so I jumped up to take a picture of them with my phone (the only thing I had on me at the time). Well I startled her and instead of swimming quickly past us, she drifted back in the current. Then her only option was to cross the river to get away from us. The Kenai is a big river with fast water. It took her a couple minutes to get across. Those poor little chicks were paddling as fast as they could! She didn't lose one though. We had trouble counting them - there had to be about a dozen.

This is our Cooper Creek-North campsite.

The Kenai is a beautiful river!

This morning we packed up and headed to Seward. If we can't see a whale on our own, we'll have to pay to see them, just like everyone else does. Don took the great photo of the bald eagle on Trail Lake. We went to the Alaska Sealife Aquarium in Seward, today, and made reservations for a full day tour to the Kenai Fjords on a tour boat - complete with buffet dinner of salmon and prime rib (side dish of dramamine and tums?)

Dip Netters Rodeo!

2009-07-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

The Kenai River opened to dip netting yesterday. We tried to get a closer look but had to be satisfied with putting on the zoom lense and using the spotting scope to watch. It was fun to watch them as they pulled in the reds (sockeye salmon). People had different techniques and different net setups and different "get-ups". Please excuse the fuzzy pix. It's the best I could do at this distance.

If you are fishing for reds, you are either "flippin" or "dippin". These guys are dippin. Some had waders, some had wetsuits, some had neither. Some waded in to their knees, most to their waist, but some up to their chest or neck! The deeper ones would walk out into the current and let it take them down river 50 - 100 yards. They would get out when they caught a fish, or just at the end of their playing field. Then they'd walk back to start all over. They usually had family or friends on the beach who would fillet the fish. There seemed to be a lot of unwritten rules - all being courteous, making sure everyone had a spot and plenty of room. This is subsistence fishing and they have a lot of fun with it. We saw a few pictures being taken but mostly they had a rhythm to get the job done. We talked to a guy who caught his limit (25) last year in about an hour and a half.

We also found an unusual rock on the beach, yesterday. We went into a little museum in Kenai and found out that it is one that was used by the early natives to weight their nets down in the current. There are wear marks where the rope was tied to it.

Captain Cook SRA - Discovery Campground

2009-07-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

But first, I have a retraction to make: Don DID catch fish at Deep Creek, he just didn't LAND any.

Okay, now, we headed north on the Kalifornsky Beach Road to the Kenai Spur Hwy and turned left. We ended up at Discovery Campground. We've been here before, eleven years ago with my parents. Don's parents told us about it when they took their trip to Alaska. It is still as beautiful as ever. This is on the southwest side of Turnagain Arm, which has the fast tides. One picture is at low tide (-1.6), the other is high tide (around +19). Campsite 7 is a great one with just a short walk over to the cliff that overlooks the bay. We'll stay here for a few days!

Johnson Lake and Kasilof River

2009-07-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

The wildfires are causing some great sunsets. This sunset is from Deep Creek, looking across Cook Inlet. Mt Redoubt is over there somewhere! The fishing in the creek was fun (no catching) and we saw an Eagle sitting on the nest. We left Deep Creek without talking to Don's cousin who is working on the tractors that launch boats on the beach - our timing was bad :-(

We spent a night on Johnson Lake, which is just south of Soldotna. It is a shallow lake that warms up enough for swimming. Lots of families come here. The picture with the duck family is of Johnson Lake. There were ducks, loons and the lake is stocked. We watched tons of 3"-4" fish from the bank. One family was catching those and keeping them. So, "popcorn" fish? I can't imagine how they'd eat them? The purple flower is lupine. They are all over the place! The white ones just started showing up. This is the first day I've been warm since...Idaho? We figured out it was because we aren't right on the bay, where the wind blows over that cold water. DUH! It was been upper 40's - upper 50's, but here it might have gotten up to 80. We thought we might spend more than one night but it had been too long since we've had showers.

I think we set a record, yesterday, on the shortest driving day: 7 miles! We are on the Kasilof, where the Crooked River comes in. The Kasilof is the pretty, light, green color that comes from the glacial silt. As we watched the fishing, last night, two kings were caught out of 2 different drift boats. There were plenty of fishermen on the bank but I wouldn't call it "combat" fishing. There was plenty of room between them. They use an odd style of casting and it seems like a lot of snagging goes on (intentional?). We paid $31.50 for trees, firepit, showers (12 minutes!) and full hookups.

4th of July at Anchor Point, Alaska

2009-07-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

Instead of kitty prints, we have crows making tracks on our truck. They wake us up in the morning by jumping around and pecking on our roof.

It's hard to see Mt. Redoubt (right of the sun) from this pic. But the sun is setting between it and Mt. Iliamna (sp?), both active volcanos across the Cook Inlet from Anchor Point. You can see the dark streak that is the cloud plume from Mt. Redoubt. We tried to wait up for the fireworks but we finally got too cold; playing Rummikub out on the picnic table until 11pm. After we got in bed the fireworks started :-) outside and lasted for about 15-20 minutes. They must have waited until the sun went behind the mountains - I know it wasn't dark though.
We were here for the salmon run. Yep, that salmon ran right past Don, then right past me, up that river and we never saw him again! Don says he enjoys watching the fish just as much as fishing for them. They are interesting to watch. I think Don is really trying to get into their heads. He's starting to look a little like a salmon. Speaking of fish, we had some pretty good seafood this week. I've had a deep fried halibut sandwich at Sal's Klondike Diner in Soldotna. We shared a red king crab melt sandwich and a halibut taco at Captain Pattie's on the Homer Spit. There's nothin' like FRESH seafood!
We enjoyed another visit to the Homer Ward today. We heard lots of beautiful testimonies of Jesus Christ and, given the Independence Day weekend, of how God led the fathers of this country to establish the freedoms that we still enjoy today; of which we add our 'amen'. We are still enjoying beautiful weather, scenery and wildlife on the lower Kenai Penninsula. We still don't see as many out of state license plates as we do Alaska's. Maybe it's still too early in the season. But when the hosts see our TX plates, they usually have some comment about seeing a lot of Texans up here. Colorado residents can relate to that. You have to understand that Texans are "scenery deprived". In church today, one young missionary, who is new to this area, quoted someone as saying, "Once you see Alaska, everything else will just look like Texas." I know, settle down you Texans, Texas DOES have a mountain, but it's almost closer to drive to Colorado.

Homer Spit to Anchor Point

2009-06-29T21:52:00.001-07:00

We stopped at Anchor Point on the way down to the Spit. We wanted to be in Homer so we could go to church there though. We did enjoy church. I love the patriotic hymns that we always sing around patriotic holidays! It moves me to think about the wonderful, free, country that I am so privileged to live in! Thanks to all the military familes who sacrifice for our freedom daily (especially to our son, Lucas).

So, today we drove 20 miles! That's my kinda drivin' day! Getting out of our campsite was a little tricky but we had 3 men standing around ready to help whoever was leaving that day. The sand was a little soft. It was no trouble getting in because we had the weight of the camper on the truck. But we off-loaded the camper when we got there. We put a couple boards under the rear tires and the men pushed on the side of the camper to move it an inch or so and Don lined it right up! One more stop, before we left Homer, at the tire shop for 2 new rear tires and we were on our way :-} We knew we were getting close (I thought it was closer than Don did) to needing new tires. One tire was going flat.

With that out of the way, we are set up here, at Halibut Campground, to wait for the July 1st opening of the rivers for the Red (sockeye) salmon. The local guides throw their fish carcasses out on the beach for the seagulls and eagles. I counted a dozen eagles on the beach - I don't try to count the seagulls. The young eagles don't get a white head until they are about 2 years old. They look funny when they walk. I don't know if they are trying to scare the seagulls away or if that's just how they walk. But they spread their wings about half way and sorta jump from foot to foot.

Homer Spit - Kachemak Bay

2009-06-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

See what the "spit" is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Spit

The top pic: trinkets we found on the beach at low tide (the penny is for size reference) - counter clockwise: clam shell, glass, small agate, small and smaller tanner crab shell (tanners are similar to the king crabs with very long legs), small dungeness crab shell, hermit crab shell; also lots of seaweed that we didn't pick up

Middle pic: view towards end of Homer Spit. Lots of travellers here but it will get a lot busier (we've seen it!)

Bottom pic: moose calf - We took a drive around the north end of the Kachemak Bay. There were twin moose calves in the road with no sign of mom. She was sure to be back in the bushes though. We quickly snapped this picture before this one figured out where to go. The other one found his way into the bushes right off.

Ninilchik to Homer, Alaska

2009-06-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

Shoot! I tried to load the pics in the opposite order. Oh well, from bottom to top: Since we visited the furthest point west in the lower 48, we thought we'd better visit the furthest point west on a North American highway - Anchor Point, AK. The things in the water behind the sign are a tractor and boat. The tractor has taken the boat owner's trailer out to pick him up. It's amazing how fast launch and take out happens. It's like those guys have been doing it 24/7 for years. They probably have! Don says we fished the Anchor River with Dad 11 years ago. I think this is the river that had so many people fishing and Don handed me the fly rod and told me to go clear a spot for him. :-} This area has really been improved since then. There are 5 state campgrounds along the road between the Old Sterling Highway and the beach. I think there were also a couple private parks. Fishing in this river opens July 1st.

The next 2 pictures are of our campsite at the (10 site) Castaway RV Park on the Homer Spit. We have electricity for $20; no other amenities are available. Across the road we can get EVERYTHING (FHU, phone, cable, internet, showers, club house, laundromat) for a mere $78.
The middle photo was taken when we first got here around 12:30 (low tide). The second was taken at ALMOST high tide. We're wondering if the camper will float! We walked across the street to watch people fishing in the little cove where they plant silver salmon. We watched 3 get caught. The fish return to it but they never spawn because there is no place for them to lay their eggs. Actually, the fish DO look a little confused. We saw one of them give a fisherman the raspberries though. He swam right between the fisherman and his bobber then leaped out of the water!

Earthquake to Volcano

2009-06-26T23:23:00.000-07:00

Seriously, where else, but Alaska, can you have this much fun in one day? We felt the earthquake this morning in Houston, AK; both accusing the other of shaking the camper. There were no bears outside so we checked the news. Sure enough, at 8:48am, a 4.1 earthquake with epicenter just northwest of us.

We set out to find Beluga whales in Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet. Our timing was bad but we did see 4 Dall Sheep on the rocky ridge above Beluga Point on Hwy 1 south of Anchorage. As we kept going south, on the Seward Hwy, thousands of other weekenders joined us. They all beat us to the campgrounds we were headed for around Hope. Palmer, Wasilla, Houston and Willow are all in the Mat-Su Valley. It's this big, flat valley that the Matanuska and Susitna Rivers made as they drained out of the surrounding mountains that seem to shoot straight up. Anchorage is also in a flat area but I'm not sure it is considered in the Mat-Su Valley. Anyway, as we headed south, around Turnagain Arm, we got back into the mountains. With reports of the King (Chinook) salmon starting to show up, the fishermen are headed for combat fishing. We saw some of it going on when we passed the Russian River, headed towards Soldotna. Although, they announced an emergency closure of the Ship Creek (runs through Anchorage) due to the low numbers of chinook. They counted around 250 when they expected around 700.

We ended up staying at Deep Creek State Park on the Cook Inlet. It is on the Ninilchik River. We can see Mt Redoubt across the bay from us. We got lucky with the weather. They say they haven't been able to see the plume of steam for a week or so. I wanted to get a good sunset pic with Redoubt. We stayed up until midnight to do it. There are tons of Bald Eagles here. They are adults raising their young. The picture is of 2 young ones fighting over a dead fish. They land on the sand bars in the river and out by the bay when the tide goes out. When we first got in, we noticed all these fish jumping just about 10' offshore. We found out they are the Reds (salmon) getting ready to come up the river. Fishing is closed right here at the mouth of the river but it's incredible to watch them. They come way out of the water. Maybe they are trying to knock off the sea lice? The beach is all rocks; no sand. People ride their ATV's on it and the boats are launched with, either 2 ATV's or one tractor.

Palmer to Houston, AK

2009-06-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

On our way into Palmer, yesterday, we found this perfect little house on a lake! I wonder if they'd sell it to us? LOL

Well, after a wonderful visit and incredible meals at the Crabapple Court B&B, we headed out to find out where the salmon are. We saw these geese before we got back to the highway. They look like they are at vacation bible school by the ratio of adults to goslings. We couldn't get close enough to identify them but they aren't Canada Geese.

We went out to the Little Susitna (Little Su, as the locals call it) Public Access. We drove via the Knik-Goose Bay road (KGB). Boy that Little Su area sure has been improved since we were here in '98! There is even a guardshack. They are just starting to catch some Kings (chinook) there. We don't have a chinook tag, we just wanted to see someone catch them. We saw some pix taken with their catch. We drove back via Burma road - that was a 10 mile gravel road to Big Lake. Lots more off road driving than on the way out there. We looked at several campgrounds around Big Lake, then Nancy Lake out by Willow and Willow Creek. Willow Creek is closed to all fishing right now. It opens again on Friday at midnight. It is so heavily fished that, I guess, they need to give the fish a break for a few days. We are anxious to see the famous "combat fishing" and Willow is, supposedly, the 4th heaviest fished. We didn't want to hang around there for 2 days though. We drove up to the Willow-Fishhook Rd to see what was up there but Hatcher Pass is closed (not sure why). So, we came back down the highway to Houston to camp at the Riverside RV Park. This is only the 2nd Good Sam park we've camped in. We camped here in '98 with Mom and Dad. It is on the Little Su. Don caught his first pink (humpy) salmon here in '98. They tell us the salmon are all running late this year. We don't see any here now. Don is looking forward to the silvers later in the summer.

Palmer, Alaska

2009-06-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

There is so much to do here, it is hard to choose! We found the best camping place at my sister's house! The view is incredible and the company can't be beat! There is a muskox farm, a reindeer farm and, of course, fishing! We posted new photos in our photo album although they are still not up to date: www.pamperingcampers.com/photo_album.html

Fairbanks or Sunshine?

2009-06-23T18:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it started raining yesterday afternoon and it was cold. So we had a warm dinner, played Yahtzee and went to bed early. Got up early, it was still raining and cold (mid 40's), and hit the road. The further north we drove, the more dismal the weather looked. We could see blue sky in our rearview mirror. That's the beauty of NOT having a schedule! We flipped a U'y. Yep! Right there on the Highway! Head for that sucker hole Don! We drove out of the rain and it was only partly cloudy the rest of today.

We drove out to Lake Louise (Alaska, not Alberta Canada). That's a really big lake! We hit some really good frost heaves on the way out to it too. I think that's where we heard the hitch hit the ground. The lake wasn't appealing to the fisherman, so we kept going. This is a picture of one of 2 glaciers we saw today. It is Matanuska Glacier, which heads in the Chugach Mtns and trends northwest 27 miles. We are camped at King Mtn State Rec. Campground ($15). It is only about 45 minutes from my sister's back door. Last they heard from us, we were headed to Fairbanks first - tee hee hee.

Valdez to Sourdough Campground - BLM

2009-06-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

We drove around to the other side of the bay at Valdez and saw this eagle perched by the road. I'm sure he works for the tourism bureau because he posed nicely while we took his picture. It was overcast but not raining in the morning. So we set out towards Fairbanks. We heard about the 5+ earthquake near Anchorage this morning but we were already driving on the frost heaves so we didn't notice. The clouds were high enough that we were actually able to see more of the Wrangell-St Elias range today. Lots of fishermen were out on the Gulkana River. We thought about camping there for the night. After looking at the river and wondering how anyone ever lands a salmon out of that raging river, we decided to keep going. We looked at Sailor's Pit, which is a BLM easement on some private (Ahtna Inc.) property. The Milepost says it is $20 for camping but the sign at the campground says $40. There were people camped there and it was right on the Gulkana River but it didn't look worth it to us. We didn't even see any services (restrooms, water). We ended up at Sourdough Campground. It's a BLM campground about 15 miles north of the Tok cutoff on Hwy 4 (Richardson Hwy). It is a nice, well cared for, campground and only $8! We were surrounded by black spruce trees. They are the only spruce that will grow in the mushy, wet tundra. Their growth is stunted and the tops are curvy due to the winter weather mashing them down. I've heard the areas of black spruce called a "drunken forest" because they have such shallow roots that they easily tip.

Valdez, Alaska

2009-06-21T21:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day!

When we go to the ocean, by George, we're going to camp AT the ocean. We are as close as we can get at the port of Valdez. Don saw a whale spout. We've seen seals and sea otters and an eagle being chased by a seagull. They have some huge tides up here! This week, in Homer, there is a 26' tide change! July has a 27' change! It's been drizzling rain all afternoon and it is thick fog, now, so we can't even see the mountains in this picture. We are right across the bay from the oil tanks. We watched a tanker fill up yesterday at the terminal. A couple tug boats pulled/pushed him out this morning. It was amazing to watch that huge ship sink lower and lower in the water as he filled. He emptied out water as he took on more oil.

We went to church this morning at the Valdez Branch. The Branch President said they took a tally and there were more unfamiliar faces than familiar ones today. After Sacrament Meeting, they passed out treats to the Dad's and had enough even for all the visitors. There were 3 great talks on Fathers and the important role they have in families and in society. We are fortunate to have great fathers in our family; our own, Don and our sons. I think being a parent gives us a little taste of the love our Heavenly Father has for us; and where that "unconditional" love came from.

Glen Hwy, Richardson Hwy to Valdez

2009-06-20T20:56:00.001-07:00

The clouds parted today! We saw sunshine for most of the day. But if I had to describe this part of the road in one word it would be "whoop-d-doos". That is moto-cross "speak" for the Alaskan "frost heave". I can't imagine travelling this part in a Class A or even a long trailer! I was feeling a little sea-sick in our truck.

The clouds were too low to see the Wrangell-St. Elias mountain tops. But we saw the Worthington Glacier that comes down almost to the highway. There were lots of waterfalls all through this canyon down to the ocean. We dropped about 2600' from Thompson Pass down to sea level in 7.5 miles. But that was on good pavement!

Wildlife: We saw 2 bunnies who still had their snow shoes on. And there was one, very confused, little duckling, running down the highway on his tippy-webs with his neck stretched out quacking for mom. We saw him as we zoomed over him. I hope mom figured out he was missing and came back for him!

I'm not sure where we are, other than in a campground on the waterfront in Valdez, AK.

Haines Jct to Tok - Worst part of Alaskan Hwy so far

2009-06-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

Between unpaved portions and frost heave having it's way with the pavement, this was by far the worst stretch of road we've travelled. As much as I'd like to avoid it on our trip back, the only way around it is to take the ferry. That's too expensive for this trip. It was cloudy all day and rained most of it. We made it to the Alaska border - they don't frisk us when we're coming back into the US, just when we are entering Canada. Maybe it's the Texas plates? This guy DID have to tell us a "fun-fact" that the Texas plates inspired. He said, "If you cut Alaska in half, Texas would still only be the 3rd largest state in the Union." He said most Texans are amazed and don't believe it. We told him that Texas transplants get that in the debriefing material when they leave whatever state they are moving from. :-) I'll tell you a secret though, if there is any other state with more "pride" than Texas, it's Oregon. I'm waiting to see what happens the first time someone calls Don 'Tex'. LOL The hardest question we've had to answer, either at the border, getting fishing licenses, registering for campgrounds or casual conversation, is "Where are you from?" We won't be able to get Texas driver's licenses until this fall.

Anyway, back to the trip... We stopped to take a picture in front of the "Welcome to Alaska" sign. It's a requirement. We stopped for lunch at a small campground on Yarger Lake. It is in a wetlands area. There were a few birds making a terrible racket when we got out of the truck. We thought they were mad at us for invading their privacy. Then Don spotted the eagle at the top of the tree. There were just 2 shorebirds yelling at him to go away. They were persistent and didn't stop the whole time we were there. He was pretty patient too - he didn't move other than to look at us. I don't know if he is a Golden or a young Bald Eagle. Okay, back on the road...We pulled into a little state campground, before Tok, to take a cat nap because we wanted to make it to Valdez tomorrow and not have a really long drive. The construction crew woke us up when they started loading their equipment onto the flatbed right next to our truck. So, into Tok, gas up and head south. It is easy to see, even in the rain, why the Glen Hwy is a designated scenic route. They must not have a problem with getting enough rain because the roadsides are green and lots of wildflowers are out. We saw couples of trumpeter swans on the plentiful ponds in this area. We also saw 3 moose and even a weasel crossed the road in front of us. We think we've figured out why we can't sneak up on the wildlife. We think our deer whistles really do work. We passed an RV park that was close to the road. A gentleman was down on his knee working on his truck and he turned around and intently watched us go by. We figured it was either because we were making a weird sound or all our stuff was hanging off the camper and flapping in the wind. No flapping goin' on so it must be the whistle. We pulled into Porcupine State Campground, about 65 miles south of Tok. There are 12 sites and 11 of them were open. We were glad there was at least one other person camping there. If no one is in the campground, we wonder if there was a bear alert that we didn't hear about. Before we got set up, though, there were 9 campers in for the night; 3 of them were in the same campground with us last night. They recognized us and spoke to us. We commiserated about the road and talked about where we were going next. I can see how people end up travelling together that didn't start out that way.

Oh, I forgot to mention, yesterday, about the fish wheels on the Chilkat River. They were water powered nets that catch the salmon and dump them into a tank. Then the people collect them and harvest their eggs before they put them back into the river.

Haines, AK to Haines Jct, YT

2009-06-18T22:16:00.001-07:00

It was overcast all day today, rained a little this morning but not enough to bother us. We headed north and went from the USA to British Columbia, Canada to Destruction Bay, Yukon Territory (about 50 miles past Haines Jct). We ended up at the Cottonwood RV Park. It's a pretty little private campground on Kluane Lake, the largest lake in YT. If we were in the 5th wheel, this would not have attracted me to this campground. But, since we have a tiny little bathroom/shower combination that we haven't used yet, the advertisement of "unmetered showers" sold me. I mean, I CAN and HAVE taken a 3 minute shower for a quarter. BUT it's REALLY nice to take one and not have to worry about having enough quarters to rinse the shampoo out of my hair! This campground even has grass and trees...and wifi for free. There were only 2 sites left that we could "probably" get the wifi in though. We almost took the lakefront site but the signal wasn't as strong as the mosquitos were. There are 3 yearling grizzly cubs terrorizing the campground this week. I hope we get to see them!

We saw these trumpeter swans, with their babies, on the Chilkat River today. We saw a few eagles as we drove through (and stopped at 3 viewpoints) the Chilkat Eagle Preserve. We needed a spotting scope to see them so we didn't get a picture of the eagles. The eagles nest in April and the young ones fledge in August. Apparently there are about 3,000 that nest there. But the spectacular time to see them is supposed to be November when 10,000 of them show up for the late chum salmon run. We also read that there is a wolf pack around Summit Lake but we wanted to travel further than that. We did see a couple coyotes next to the highway though.

We were told that Mosquito Lake was a pretty little lake so we dared to stop there for lunch. They actually weren't too bad but we didn't spend much time outside. I don't think they get much business at that campground - not sure why?

Chilkat State Park, Haines, Alaska

2009-06-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

We had a long travel day today - about 16 miles, I think :-) We drove south of Haines to the Chilkat State Park Campground. There are fewer mosquitos here because we have the nice breeze off the Chilkat Bay. There are lots of wildflowers out (other than dandelions). We did some fishing and watching eagles. From the Chilkat Observation Deck we saw the Davidson glacier and the Rainbow Glacier in the Chilkat range across the bay. The pic is the Rainbow Glacier with a 300'+ waterfall flowing out of it. The glaciers were a really pretty color today because the sky was overcast. There was an eagle sitting on the rocks of a sandbar. They had a spotting scope on him. She said he'd been just sitting there for a really long time. Then she found 3 mountain goats with the scope. Those are the really white ones. It is amazing how they walk effortlessly (and seemingly without fear) on the shear cliffs!

We talked to the host at the observation deck. They have been volunteering here for 4 summers. They get to live in the log cabin where the deck is. Their propane, for heat, is provided and they get a small stipend. They also watchover the campground but don't handle any money. The volunteers aren't required to clean restrooms but some of the do it anyway. They check the sites for garbage after people leave. They write down license plate numbers of sites used. Sounds like a great gig, huh?

Chilkoot State Park, Haines, AK

2009-06-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

Oh my! Maybe winter wouldn't be so bad here? Eagles, brown bear, fish, views, seafood...I just don't know what else you'd need! Oh, yeah, but we could fly the grandkids up for a visit :-)

First order of business today - get fishing license. Hello Dolly! Don caught his first, ever, dolly varden. The Host told us to watch for the 2 brown bears that walk through the campground during the day. We haven't seen them yet. And there are mountain goats visible from the campground too.

Johnson's Crossing, YT to Skagway, AK, via Whitehorse, YT

2009-06-15T06:01:00.000-07:00

Holy Cow, Don get out of the way! Here comes a boat down Main Street!

We had a great drive today. We could have taken a short cut but we decided to take a side trip to WallyWorld in Whitehorse. We wanted to do some other things but decided to postpone those until we come back through when we leave Alaska. The drive from Whitehorse to Skagway has lots of beautiful sites. We saw a black bear cross the road. There were sand dunes at Carcross, which it touts as being the smallest desert in the world. We saw a couple of turquois lakes – one called Bernard Lake (not a misspelling, Gil and Marian). Quite a few waterfalls, lots of blue wildflowers. We’d decided that BC’s state flower must the the dandelion. We haven’t seen many of those around here though. It has started to drizzle a little – what we’d expect in a coast range. By 3pm we were back in the U.S.A. We climbed to over 3,000′ where there was snow at road level and 46 degrees out. Then descended to sea level, winding along the mountainside, at an 11% grade in places. It is 57 degrees in Skagway this evening.

We got lucky with the ferry being late. We will board soon and it will leave at 11pm. It arrives in Haines, AK about midnight. At first we were concerned about finding a campground that late at night. Then we realized, “well it’s not like it will be hard to find in the dark – it doesn’t GET dark!”

Alaskan Summer - where dusk and dawn never part

2009-06-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

We had an alarm go on at 2:30 this morning. I’m surprised we didn’t hit our heads when we jumped out of a dead sleep! We were both alert, no coughing or gagging or headaches or nausea, so Don reset it and came back to bed. 5 minutes later it sounded again! So, Don disassembled it. :-} Fixed THAT! Pretty soon, he was sawing logs and I was wondering what gas was going to overtake us – LOL. I knew it wasn’t really a problem but I couldn’t get back to sleep; between thinking, being too warm and there being too much daylight shining through. So, I start playing on the internet – I wonder what time sunrise really is? Turns out it is 4:09 today. But it was daylight at 2:30 when we were so rudely woken up! So I’m thinkin’ dusk and dawn are not really separated by darkness up here in this neck of the woods. Besides, turns out that the moon rose about the time the sun”set”. At least we got on the road early! “Hey, Don, there’s a short hike to a waterfall coming up!” “And?”, he says cautiously knowing she’s had very little sleep. “And it says it’s an ‘easy’ 10 minutes ‘walk’ not a hike.” So, we read the signboard and it says, “designed for the physically challenged”. That’s US! And it really was easy. I mean, there was a tree challenge and a water challenge but neither one was more than 4 inches across. So we handled that. We saw Rancheria Falls (pronounced ‘ran-cher-REE-uh’). Very pretty and a nice walk – there was no whining.

The photo: I’m a sucker for animals so I chose the pic of this little red fox that came begging when he smelled Don’s cooking. He said it was clam chowder but I don’t know how Red would recognize that. Maybe it’s mouse chowder? We are camped at Johnson’s Crossing RV Park tonight ($21C for elec & water hookups). The provincial parks, of course, are more scenic and we’ve paid $10 – $15/night for them. The private RV parks are usually just parking lots, sometimes with trees. I guess this is still considered the early season because the only crowd we’ve encountered was in Ft Nelson when they closed the northbound road due to wildfire. We don’t see much traffic and there are plenty of places to get gas and camp. Oh yeah, the mosquitos like tender, white, feet meat.

Watson Lake Sign Forest

2009-06-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here we are at Watson Lake, Yukon , Canada.......and we only have to swing by the sign forest and find a single sign that was put up almost 20 years...........no biggy...........well 2 hours later.....and we think we have looked at them all.....but we aren't totally sure.......maybe..........

well, I will cut this short to try to see if this blog is worth moving to our web site.....maybe?

Later

Alaska Hwy - Muncho Lake, BC to Watson Lake, Yukon

2009-06-13T06:25:00.000-07:00

This guy greeted us this morning, on Muncho Lake, to say goodbye. I haven’t looked him up in our bird book yet. We heard loons while we were there. I don’t know if that’s what he is. We hit the road, still not seeing any stone sheep yet, and decided to stop at a “mineral lick”. No, that’s what we thought too, but it’s a mountain that is rich in minerals that the animals like. We walked the “short” trail out to the overlook. The notes said to be careful because the trail was slippery. It didn’t say anything about it being steep though. So, not only were there NO stone sheep or caribou or elk or ANY sign of wildlife, the mountain kicked our butts before 9am!

We saw the area where the wildfire went across the highway, at the Liard River and Smith River crossing. There were still some small patches smoldering but no fire fighters or equipment were out working today.

We made a sign for the signpost forest in Watson Lake and spent a few hours looking for the sign that Don’s parents left when they came through in the 90’s…but, no luck.

All that walking and we are pretty beat tonight! The foil on the front window really made a difference. We slept in until 7:30 this morning!!!

Alaska Hwy - Ft Nelson to Muncho Lake

2009-06-11T06:32:00.000-07:00

The RV Park we stayed in last night in Ft Nelson had a restaurant and bar. Let’s just say camping at a bar is “interesting”. This is NOT our kind of camping. But we needed a laundry and showers. By the way, a “washroom” is not a laundromat in Canada. A laundromat is a laundromat. We got up early, told everyone who asked us about the road closure that it would be open in another hour, and left. I’m stretching that a little bit. One lady asked and I’m not sure she understood that I meant the road closure was way up the road and it should be open by the time she got there. Oh well, we got to Muncho Lake by noon. What a GORGEOUS lake! If you’ve ever been to Bear Lake on the Utah/Idaho border, it’s the same turquois color as Muncho Lake. No cell signal or internet here – maybe we’ll stay a week? :-> All the literature says there are stone sheep all over the place. We haven’t seen any. We saw one moose and lots of moose droppings…even in our campsite. We found a great site where we backed up right to the lake. I told Don it was cheating when he didn’t even have to walk to go fishing. “yeah, yeah, yeah - bring me another water, would ya?” Boating etiquette leaves a lot to be desired in Canada. We noticed it on Charlie Lake. There was a guy fishing in a float tube and 2 ski boats nearly ran him over. There is no wakeless speed limit close to shore or swimming areas. Muncho Lake is no different. They speed close to shore and sometimes yell, “sorry!”, IF they see a fisherman. Usually they are just oblivious. Having trouble sleeping – must find way to darken windows – will try foil.

Fort St John to Ft Nelson, BC - The Alaska Highway!

2009-06-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

We saw our first 2 caribou today! We also saw 3 black bears and 1 deer along this long stretch of nothing but highway. It is a good travelling road – wide, 2 lane, trees cleared back so you can see wildlife coming before they are right in front of you. Now we are seeing the hordes of RV’ers heading to Alaska! Right after we checked in to the Westend RV Park in Fort Nelson, they closed the highway to northbound traffic due to a wildfire about 200 miles up the road. I think this park is full. I think every spot in town will be taken tonight! We’ll see what happens to that fire overnight. We wanted to get to Muncho Lake tomorrow (which is this side of the fire by about 50 miles) so we could spend a couple nights there.
We had a fun evening fishing on Charlie Lake at Beatton Campground last night. 3 pike and 1 walleye were caught. By the way, sunset was at 10:30 MDT. That’s not too bad – but sunrise is still way too early!

Beatton Provincial Park, BC

2009-06-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

We decided to stay at Beatton Provincial Park one more night. We put the awning up and we’re researching some insect repellant techniques – ha! Don did some fishing. The people in boats are catching “pickerels” – not sure if that is a local name for perch or walleye? We had fun watching a young woman with a friend or sister and her 4 year old son fish off the boat ramp. We made up what they were saying and thinking as we watched them. Mom was doing all the work at first. But the boy was casting pretty good by the end of the hour. Never did see them catch anything. But he had a couple big ones hit his bait – at least he was convinced! We remember those times! Tomorrow we plan to hit Ft Nelson – that’s the end of the Rocky Mountains!

Hudson's Hope to Fort St John, BC

2009-06-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

Today was a short travel day. We woke up too early again. That happens everytime we camp where there are no trees to shade us from the early sunrise. I’m thinking I took a picture of my last sunset, for the summer, a week ago in Idaho. It sets way too late up here to wait up for it! I’m kinda hoping I don’t see the sunrise either though. The mosquitos were out in force further south but they are not as bad here yet. I have some nasty black fly bites! Note to self: “I am allergic to black fly bites.” Anyway, we left the campground and drove up the road about 1/4 mile to Lynx Creek. There is a fishing spot there where the creek empties into the Peace River. We didn’t do any good there. We saw a loon though. So we headed up Hwy 29 toward Fort St John. We hit Walley World and Safeway. Bought groceries, personal mosquito netss and diesel; paid .765/ltr for diesel with our Safeway discount card. We are staying at Beatton Provincial Park tonight. It is on the shores of Charlie Lake; pike, walleye and perch. We got a lakefront site. We probably saw a dozen deer today and one coyote – didn’t get a pic of any. The Peace River Valley is a really pretty one. We stopped at an overlook and took a nice picture of the valley. But scenery pictures never really do it justice. I can buy a postcard that looks better. That rest stop had an interesting toilet. Besides having padded seats, it had a long lever from the floor that you could reach while sitting; not that I’d want to – I hate it when those automatic flushers start before I’m ready! They were vault toilets but the lever flushed it and rinsed it with cleaner. It’s weird what I find interesting these days :-)

Hudson's Hope, BC

2009-06-07T06:50:00.000-07:00

We’ve been away from a cell signal for a couple days so we hunted down a campground with electricity close to town…still looking for a fishing spot too. Even though we are early for fishing, we are right on time for the birthing season! We saw a moose with her calf today also. But the neatest National Geographic moment went like this: “Bear!” “Bear AND a CUB!” “Turn around – we gotta get pix!” “I gotta pee.” “Okay, I’ll take pix from the truck. You get out and pee.” …pregnant pause… “Okay” LOL So, we’re taking pix and mom and cub run off into the woods – then I see another cub coming down a tree! He runs into the woods to join mom and sister. “What?” There’s ANOTHER cub coming down the tree! The picture above is the FOURTH cub! He looked up when he heard Don walk around the camper. We asked a local about bears having so many cubs. She said there is a sow who has had 4 cubs for the last 3 years in a row. And, maybe the multiple birth gene is passed on to her cubs.

We are camped at Lynx Creek RV Park, just north of Hudson’s Hope on Hwy 29. We stopped in Chetwynd to see some of the chainsaw carvings. The international carving contest starts this Thursday. They have 35 hours to carve. The carvings are on display all over town (over 70 of them) – very impressive!

To Prince George and Beyond!

2009-06-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

We travelled the Yellowhead Highway today. We saw 3 black bears and 4 moose (including a very little calf) along the highway. The first moose and calf ran quickly across the highway in front of us. The first bear was a hundred yards down the road, just laying in the grass. He looked like a dog at first. Then we started watching up by the tree line, off the road about 30 feet. We ended up seeing 3 black bear and 4 moose! They grow some big moose up here! We’ve heard that bear will feed on the dandelions next to the road. We didn’t ever see them do that. They were just sitting or laying in the shade and watching the traffic go by. What a life!
We stopped in Prince George just long enough to get diesel and a bite to eat. Now we join all the people headed north through Vancouver. The campgrounds aren’t full yet. Most of the Provincial Parks have only been partially open. The mosquitos are out in force though. This is their peak; supposedly. Of course, I’m sure there are regional “peaks” for these little buggers and we’ll probably get to experience all of them! We are armed with 3 bottles of repellent!
We ended up staying at Bear Lake Campground in Crooked River Provincial Park. All the creeks and streams are closed to fishing until June 15 but the lakes are open. The proclamation sounded promising for the lake. Our campsite is right on the lakefront. When we saw the park attendant and asked about fishing he said, “There’s no fish in here. You have to go 20 minutes this way or that way to fish.” That bubble popped so fast! I saw the deflation happen. Our legs were still sore from the steep hike we took yesterday. The trail he was talking about was under water so we would have had to walk another 10 minutes to get to the other trail head. Our camper was all set up and we didn’t want to unload it from the truck. So, we watched and listened to the red-necked grebes.

Icefields Parkway - 3 National Parks!

2009-06-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

We drove a long way today (259 miles) but it was a sightseeing day. We drove through 3 National Parks: Yoho, Banff and Jasper. From Golden, BC we took Hwy 1 to 93 in Alberta. We stopped at Lake Louise to get the requisite photo. It goes without saying that it is beautiful. It reminded us of a giant “Angel Lake”. If you’ve ever been to Angel Lake outside Wells, NV you’ll know what I’m talking about. This is the first day we’ve had any clouds - of course it was on a day where we would be as high as the clouds. I think the highest pass was about 6,700ft. We took a short, steep hike at Mistaya Canyon where the water has cut a deep gorge through the limestone. Lots of beautiful views of mountains, lakes, turquois rivers, glaciers, icefields (don’t know the difference), not much wildlife. I think the wildlife in the National Parks are on strike. We saw 3 big horn sheep - not the ones in the above photo though. Those were about a half mile from our campground before we got back to the highway. We are camped at Robson Meadows Campground on Hwy 16; back in BC tonight.

Golden, BC

2009-06-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

The sun woke us up around 5! Our door was facing sunrise. I couldn’t believe what time it was when I got up. So, nothing else to do at this campground besides hit the road. We continued up 23 to Revelstoke and headed east on Hwy 1. We are getting into the Canadian Rockies – lots of snow still on the mountain tops (none on the road) with water falls everywhere! We weren’t feeling comfortable with the lack of campgrounds shown on our maps. We knew we had to crack the code on the Alaska Milepost to go any further. So, we stopped at a high priced, ugly little campground right on the downhill slope of the highway – jake brakes and all. But, hey, we didn’t have to pay extra for the showers! So we didn’t have to do everything in 6 mintues or less.

Rhetorical Question Verified - South of Revelstoke, BC

2009-06-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

Too long in BC without a fishing license! So we went 10 miles back to the Walmart in Nelson. Then we headed back up the road. We wanted to experience a gravel road :-} Okay, we’ve done that now - we probably don't need to do that again. The worst part of the road climbed pretty high above the lake - looked like about a 1,000 ft drop! The kind that makes your stomach turn when you look over the edge - it was on Don’s side. One map said there would be a Provincial Park at our planned destination at the end of that gravel road. The other map had nothing there. There did turn out to be a little, city run, campground on Trout Lake but we decided not to stay there.

We saw 2 bears today; both on the gravel road portion of the trip. The first one was standing up, on his hind legs, so he could see what the noise was when we came around the corner. He was about 300 yards ahead of us in the road. We couldn’t tell what it was at first, until he moved. I couldn’t get the camera ready in time to take a picture - I really figured he was too far away. Once he saw that we were bigger than he was and still moving towards him, he got back down on all fours and ran into the woods. He did leave his poop on the road though, just so we knew he had been there. He was brown and very large. We were too far away to tell if he had a hump. The second one was definitely a black bear - not nearly as large as the first. I talked to him to get him to turn and look at us. We saw some pretty big piles of scat on that gravel road!

We took the Galena Bay Ferry over to Shelter Bay on Hwy 23. We are staying at Arrow Lakes Provincial Park tonight. This park only has 17 sites, strung out right along the lake; two outhouses, a boat launch, a pay station and water. It looks like some improvements were made for people who made a long trip down a gravel road that took them longer than they thought it would and were tired of driving so they pulled over to camp.

We had found a penny in Washington and put it on our back bumper to see how long it would stay there. Suffice it to say, it is somewhere on that gravel road. I am still the “navigator”. But my duties have changed. Now, instead of Don asking me which direction he needs to turn, he asks me "what's the altitude?" (which I can find from the Garmin GPS) or “what do you see on the map up ahead?” (I tell him something like: a picnic table if you turn west, 2 picnic tables if you keep south, two Provincial Parks on the southern route within about 50 kms. Then he’ll decide which way and I get to tell him from there. One time, I almost made a decision about a route to take, but he stopped to think about where I was taking him and he went a different direction. Hahaha - we are still laughing at, but not strangling each other - 24/7 in a camper!

Kootenay Lake, BC - Kokanee Creek Provincial Park

2009-06-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

We finally made it into Canada! We went north from Sandpoint, ID to Creston, BC. We were frisked at the border and they let us in anyway. Then we took 3 west to Castlegar and 6 north to Nelson. We went over a 5400 ft summit on 3. We hit 7% and 8% grades on the downhill side! Kind of exciting! it was good road, though, not overly curvy. We crossed the west arm of Kootenay Lake, over a bridge and drove up a little ways until we found this park. We meant to go to Walmart in Nelson to see if they sold fishing licenses. Even tough we’re in a much smaller rig, Don still doesn’t like the feel of driving through the towns. Anyway, we’ll figure out where to stop tomorrow for a license. There are osprey and bald eagles here. They feed on the kokanee fry coming out of the creek. The picture is looking north from our campground, across a swimming area. Don is trying to get me to think in metric – I’m resisting.

Lake Pend Oreille - pronounced Pond Oray

2009-06-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

We are in the Idaho panhandle tonight. We wanted to take a look at Sam Owen Campground, which is managed by AL&L. We knew it would not be opened due to reconstruction of the water system. So we looked a little further down the road and found Island View Trailer Resort. It’s a very cute RV park on a wildlife reserve and right on the lake. Deer wander through the park. We are also told that wild turkeys take a route through the park to the lake.

We are amazed at how big of a river the Pend Oreille is! It could easily be half of the Columbia’s volume. We took 4 hours to drive a 2.5 hour distance. We went up to see Metaline Falls – only to find out there were no “falls”. We stopped at a wildlife viewing area for lunch – only to find out the wildlife were having lunch somewhere else. It was supposed to be mountain goats. We, pretty much, followed the Pend Oreille River upstream to the lake. It goes up into Canada from where we were yesterday (Ione, WA), makes a U-turn and then empties into the Columbia, which immediately turns into FDR Lake in NE Washington.

Great weather continues to bless us!

Edgewater Campground, near Ione, WA

2009-05-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

No travelling today. We attended services at the Ione-Metaline Falls Branch today. Very friendly people with a strong spirit. One of the speakers was a young man who just got his mission call to Hawaii. Both he and the other speaker spoke about how Jesus Christ knows us intimately and using the Holy Ghost to guide us through life’s challenges.

It is wonderful to be able to enjoy the beauties of His creations. What a loving God!

Edgewater Campground, near Ione, WA on the Pend Oreille River

2009-05-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

We saw our first BEAR! We’ve worked in bear country for 2 years, not to mention 6 or 7 trips to Yellowstone, and haven’t seen a bear in the wild until today! We startled him when he started to cross the road. So we pulled over about 30 yards past him to see if he’d try again. Sure enough! He crawled under the side rail when he got to the other side….pretty animal (from 30 yards with a truck between he and I; truck running and pointed in opposite direction).

We drove up to the Lake Sullivan area today to see some of the FS campgrounds that American Land & Leisure manages and meet some of the hosts. Edgewater is the one we decided to stay in. It only has about 20 sites – all dry camping with vault toilets. It is a hidden gem. Most people go on up the road to Lake Sullivan. This one hardly gets used. It’s a beautiful campground though; right on the Pend Oreille river. The host encourages people to walk through her site to get to the good swimming area. A camper just caught a nice walleye today!

Kettle Falls Campground - Roosevelt National Park Rec Area

2009-05-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

We didn’t get very far today; only drove 130 miles. We drove up the east side of the FDR Lake towards Canada. We couldn’t resist stopping at one of the campgrounds we saw – very nice – no elec but we don’t need it today. Don is cooking steaks on the grill! We were planning on going to Sullivan Lake today but we’ll do that tomorrow. We got a lakefront site but there is about a 20 foot cliff down to the water. There are no “falls” here anymore. They were covered up when the Columbia was dammed.

Steamboat Rock State Park, Washington

2009-05-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

Steamboat Rock State Park - It is a pretty lake - unusual because of the rocks and cliffs. Not very much shade in the campground but the facilities are kept very clean - flush toilets and hot, pay, showers. There sure are a lot of discounts given in the WA State Parks but I guess we don’t qualify for any of them. We drove, from Wenatchee, up through Omak to get to Grand Coulee Dam today. We saw Sasquatch! Okay, well, it was a sculpture up on a hill amongst the trees. The Columbia River is very impressive. I can’t believe how much water comes through here this far upstream! We are still working out our navigation communication system. We’ll get the hang of it before too long! What got me in the most trouble today was when Don thought I said there was a Dairy Queen ahead but he never saw one.

White River Falls State Park, Oregon - Hwy 216 north of Maupin

2009-05-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

What a way to start the day! We drove the Deschutes River Rd from Maupin to 216. On the Deschutes we found a few netting platforms that the Native Americans use for netting salmon. Someone was there fishing but we didn’t see him catch anything. The platforms are situated right over where the river narrows to about a third it’s width and drops about 10 feet. It thought it looked to fast to be able to catch anything – shows how much I know! White River Falls State Park is just a little picnic area overlooking the falls. It’s hard to tell from, the map, what is is worth seeing but this was worth the detour…after all, that’s what this trip is all about.

We looked for more scenic routes today. We crossed the Columbia River Gorge into Washington to start our Washington “phase” of our adventure. After a little “misunderstanding” in Toppenish, WA, we got back off the interstate and followed the Yakima River to Ellensburg. We got back into the mountains and continued on 97 to 2 and on into Wenatchee Confluence State Park. This is a pretty park right on Columbia where the Yakima joins it. I am still suffering from shell-shock over the price of camping. I’ve only got an Atlas and a GPS in the cab with me when looking for campgrounds. I need the computer in the cab – although, there might be even more “misunderstandings” if I did that?

Crooked River (High) Bridge - or something like that

2009-05-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

Tonight we are in the Maupin City RV Park on the Deschutes River…nice little place but I didn’t get a great pic of it. It is kept very clean by the nice hosts. It is a popular haulout for rafts and fishing boats. ..very pleasant.

I could only pick one picture to go with the blog so I picked something scenic. We stopped at the bridge because we were looking for a place to take pix of all the snow-capped mountains in the Cascades to the West of us. We could see Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood and some others from here. I wanted to see a sign that identified them but it either didn’t exist or I just missed it. Most of the signs just warned people to not let your pets or children dive off the 300 ft cliff. Up the road a little further, before Maupin, there was a Mountain Identification sign! We could see Mt. Adams (Washington), 3 Sisters and 3 Fingered Jack (to the south) as well as Jefferson and Hood. We have had incredible weather – both for packing and for travelling.

Because we had to back track today we decided to do some quick cipherin’ to see, if we kept up this slow pace, would we make it to Alaska in time to enjoy it. We broke out the Garmin to check out some mileage. We decided that we might be taking a month getting there, spend a month there and take a month to get back. We can handle that!

Detroit Lake - Hoover Campground

2009-05-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

Nice wildlife here – we watched jays, woodpeckers, geese, mallard ducks and osprey. There are lots of osprey here! We saw one catch a fish. They are beautiful birds! There are 3 fishing docks within walking distance of the campground. One goes out into the lake from the boat launch area. The other 2 are on the nature trail. The frogs serenaded us to sleep last night. It must have been a crowded weekend because the dumpsters were overflowing. It is good to see the sanitation department here to get it cleaned up this morning.

Hoover Campground - Willamette NF, Santiam River, Detroit Lake, Central Oregon

2009-05-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

Our first stop as we lolligag through Oregon. We only drove about 3 hours today. We started in Philomath, on Hwy 34, drove out Hwy 20 to Santiam Jct then north on 22. What a beautiful site Mt Jefferson was! The snow covered mountain jumped out above the lush, green forest. The “plan” was to drive over Breitenbush Rd to the Columbia River Gorge. The plan changed when we read the sign “Road closed due to snow”. Oh well, we only have to back track about 30 miles then it’s new road again. So, we checked out these little campgrounds on Detroit Lake. Hoover Campground has paved driveways, flush restrooms and nice shade. We are right on the water with a little cove in front of us where we watch the geese and ducks get out of the wind. This campground is hosted and is $16/night. Lots of rigs on the road. We wish them well, as they return home from their Memorial Weekend, and get out of our way – tee hee hee

Get Ready, Get Set

2009-05-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day is SO early this year! We thought we’d leave for Alaska on the 22nd until we realized it is Memorial Weekend! Who wants to camp with the crowds when we can wait a few more days and go in peace. So, we’ll stay put, at this great little spot in Mom’s driveway, until Monday. Then we’ll meander through Oregon, Washington and Idaho before we leave the country. No hurry! What a Life!

Bastendorff Campground - Coos County, Oregon

2009-05-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

We are having fun being a tourist – no timeline! We sat on the bench overlooking the ocean and watched an eagle chase a hawk or an osprey. It was hard to tell from the distance. But the eagle was pretty persistent. We probably watched them for 10 – 15 minutes before he gave up. We packed up our camper and drove down along the beach to the jetty. We strolled along the jetty looking at the seastars and green anemone’s in the rocks and watching the boats go in and out of the harbor. As we were sitting on the jetty we saw a racoon stroll by on the rocks below us. We were really surprised to see him!

Oregon: Face Rock and Bastendorff Beach Campground (Coos County)

2009-05-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Face Rock – DUH!

We’ve been looking for campgrounds “on the beach” since we left Lake Almanor. A place called Sunset Beach sounded like it had promise. However, we saw a sign for Bastendorff Beach Campground on our way. After we saw that Sunset Campground didn’t really have a view of the ocean, we went back to look at Bastendorff. The view is at least closer to the campground. It’s a good size campground, paved, big sites for RV’s, separate area for tenters, very clean, playground. A lot nicer than most county campgrounds we’ve seen. The price is the same as the state park: $20 for electricity and water hookups. The campground has a sewer dump station. Hosts are very nice.

Cape Blanco, Oregon

2009-05-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

After a picnic at a Brookings overlook watching whales, we kept heading north along Hwy 101. We found the great little State Park by the Cape Blanco lighthouse. This is the farthest point west in the lower 48 states! I guess we’ll go east tomorrow! Nice campground, very clean grounds and restrooms/showers.

Redwood National Park, California

2009-05-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

What amazing trees! Some are over 700 years old. They are resistant to fire due to a water layer in their bark. We camped in a little RV Park on the harbor in Crescent City. We could hear the bouys that make a foghorn-type sound when the wave moves them. I thought it would keep me awake but it didn’t. It was called Shoreline RV Park. The managers were nice and kept the bathrooms and showers very clean. The price was very reasonable; about $21 for water and electric hookups. Not a very scenic place but it worked for what we needed. We unhooked and toured the redwoods during the day.

Cool Springs Campground, on Butt Lake, northern California

2009-05-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

Diane is back! C’mon up! The campground opens tomorrow, May 8th. Since we are not working this summer, we made a point to camp here for a couple days. We said, from the beginning, if we weren’t area managers, we’d like to work at Cool Springs. What a beautiful place! Fishing, eagles, nice campers – the ones that know how to camp – not the ones who are in such a rush that they don’t enjoy it.

Rocky Point Campground, Lake Almanor, California

2009-05-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

Campground Managers are here! The lake is a good level. The campground is looking good. Ponderosa and Cool Springs Campgrounds, on Butt Lake, along with Rocky Point Campground, are opening on Friday, May 9th. Butt Lake also has a good level of water in it. Fisherman are enjoying both lakes already. We’re supposed to have great weather for the weekend!