Weather: Sunny & Breezy early with Showers during the late evening. (6 degrees)
This morning was our lazy day morning as we didn't get up until almost 11:30am. The prior 2 longs days on the road had left everyone beat and so it was time to sleep in for a change. The morning was cool and so we turned the electric blanket on for the first time during our trip. Once everyone got up and got ready, we headed into the town of Whitehorse for lunch, to check out the town and to see how many more stamps we could get on our Yukon Gold Passport.
For lunch we stopped at the Klondike Rib, Salomon & BBQ Restaurant which was downtown. Cameron and I had Elk Burgers and Fries while Robin and Colvin shared a large order of Fish & Chips. For desert we all shared a HUGE Walnut Brownie with Ice Cream and Carmel sauce. Everyone really enjoyed lunch as it was all very good. After lunch, we went off in search of more stamps and to look around the town. We took a walk down by the river and the railway which was nice with the mountains in the background. We visited several nice shops, one of which we found winter boots for the entire family on sale. As for stamps, we were able to obtain 8 more by visiting the MacBride Museum of Yukon History, Old Log Church Museum, S.S. Klondike National Historic Site, Yukon Beringia Interpretive Center, Yukon Transportation Museum & the Yukon Visitor Center. Each location was nice but the boys really enjoyed the Beringia Center as they had a full sized Wooly Mammoth Fossil on display.
Once all of this was finished and the day was winding down, we filled up the truck and headed back to the camper for supper where we are now preparing for another long day tomorrow. A long day but one that will hopefully see us cross the border into AK. We can't wait to get there! To say there will be a feeling of excitement and of relief to see the "Welcome to Alaska" sign in a bit of an understatement. Below are a pics from our day in town. We hope to have lots more to share over the next few days.
Weather: Rain early with clearing skies later in the evening (65 degrees)
This morning we awoke from our "side of the road" camping spot in Coal River, threw on our clothes, stopped to fill up our bellies and the fuel tank on the truck and hit the road around 9:30am. Within the first 10 minutes on the road, we ran into a huge herd of 30-40 wild buffalo in the middle of the road. Once we were able to get through, we went another mile, maybe two and there was another herd of around 25-30. I had seen pictures of these large animals in the past but nothing can really prepare you for the actual size of one of these large animals. After this we continued to wind through the mountains as we did the prior day. The scenery was once again wonderful!
After about two hours we made it to Watson Lake where we stopped to see the Sign Post Forrest, where there are over 71,000 signs, to put up a few signs of our own. We also stopped in at the Visitor Center where we obtain our "Yukon Gold Explorer's Passports. This is a program that the Yukon Territory puts on each year. Within the book are the approximately 30+ different historical and educational locations throughout the Yukon Territory. The goal is to visit as many as you can and at each location they will stamp your book. If you obtain 10 stamps, you are entered into their annual drawing for 2 ounces of gold. If you register 20 stamps, then you are entered into a drawing for 5 ounces of gold. We were able to get off to a good start as we were able to obtain 2 of our stamps at Watson Lake. One at the Northern Lights Space & Science Center and another at the Yukon Visitor Center. After about an hour of wondering around town, the forrest and finding a place for our signs, we decided to grab a bite of lunch before hitting the road again on our way to Teslin Lake. After 3 hours of driving, we finally made it to our next stop, Teslin. Just prior to entering the town, there was a large pull off on a hill where we stopped and had a tremendous view of the lake, the town, a large bridge and the mountains in the background. It really was a great view! We stopped a little further down the road in town for fuel and continued on our way to Whitehorse.
On our way to this town we passed another large lake called Marsh Lake. This lake too was huge and wide open. The winds were blowing and the waves were rolling across the lake so that it looked like a small ocean. After 2 more hours of driving we finally arrived in Whitehorse where we found the Takhini Hot Springs Campground and so here we are. The Hot Springs pool was nice but a little different than anything back home. The pictures and links to videos of the day are below. We hope you enjoy!
We plan to spend tonight and tomorrow night here in Whitehorse to get some rest as all the troops are tired from 2 very long days of traveling. Once we leave here we plan to drive through Destruction Bay to Beaver Creek, then cross the border into AK and on to Tok to spend the night. To say we are excited about finally getting to AK is an understatement… We can't wait!
Well today we hit the road around 9am. We knew starting out it was going to be a long day as we had a lot of ground to cover. We left Ft. St. John with the ambitious hope of reaching Watson Lake which was over 500 miles away. This would have probably been doable in a normal vehicle under normal conditions but not with 4 people, including 2 kids, in a truck pulling a 35', 14,000+lb camper. As it were though we did make it to Coal River which is only about an hour and half away from Watson Lake. After leaving St. John this morning we headed north for Ft. Nelson, which we reached in around 3-4 hours. The scenery began to improve the closer to Ft. Nelson we got. We stopped offer there to eat lunch, drop some postcards in the mail and to stop at the visitor center. As luck would have it, the visitor center had internet which allowed us to check email and share an update on Facebook. It was good to hear from all of you.
After talking with a couple of different people in Ft. Nelson we realized our goal of Watson Lake probably wouldn't happen. However, both of them suggested we stop at the Liard Hot Springs to spend the evening. So, we headed out in search of the Hot Springs. It was after we left Ft. Nelson that the views and scenery began to improve once again. After about 30 minutes, we began to ascend into the mountains which were beautiful. Unlike the mountains of the prior days, these mountains were raw, with no trees of vegetation of any sort… just enormous chunks of rock and stone extending toward the heavens. Let me also take just a moment here to say, for those of you who have seen the movie "Deliverance", this is exactly where it felt like we were at. Civilization was no were to be found in between a small gas station every 100 miles or so. We climbed and climbed and climbed some more until we eventually had a breathtaking view that allowed us to look at over all the valley floor below and the numerous mountains in the distance. As we descended from one of the mountains, we came upon a large family of Mountain Goats walking around in the middle of the road. Some were even laying down on the jagged rock ledges above our truck and camper. Along the way we passed Muncho Lake and several other small lakes. The picture of the boys taken by the water was taken at Muncho. We continued on toward Liard and finally made it around the time it began to get dark (9:30PST). Unfortunately, there were no camping spots available in Liard. This was disappointing, especially for Robin, as she was really looking forward to the springs.
Unsure of what to do, given that it was getting dark quickly and we did not want to be on the road after dark with all the wildlife lurking about, we decided to travel on to the next town, Coal River. Along the way to Coal River, we saw 5 Black Bear, 1 Bison, 10-15 Moose and a Porcupine, all of witch were grazing on the side of the road. Excited to finally see animals on our trip, this made up for the disappointment of not being able to enjoy the hot springs. Also, along the way we got to see a beautiful sunset over the Liard River. Once we made it to Coal River, everything was already closed, so we pulled in at a Rock Quary along the road and that is were we are camping for the night. Below are the pictures and videos of the day. We hope you enjoy!
Today's drive made me realize just how small we all as individuals are in the world. Yes, most of us try to be somebody and strive to feel important all of our lives but when your driving through the Rocky Mountains, with 9000' mountains on one side, a huge river literally 5' from your car door on the other and no one around for hundreds of miles, it makes a person take notice. In the grand scheme of life, our footprint is very small and as the scripture says, "life is but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow." As for tomorrow, what will your day hold… will you work to make a difference in someone else's life or just your own? As for us, we are headed for Watson Lake to spend a little time and plan to visit the Sign Forrest while we are there. I have a couple of old license plates I plan to let the boys hang up there. If all goes well we hope to be in the town of Whitehorse by the end of the day. If not, then we hope to get as close as possible.
God Bless & Safe Travels!
The Moores
PS - For those of you in the states who are upset about paying $3.50 for a gallon of gas, be thankful you are not in Canada where we are having to pay between $4.50 - $7.00 a gallon depending on our location. :-(
Well we got a decent start this morning, getting back on the road around 9:00am. We took the Big Horn Highway heading northwest toward the town of Grande Cache and then on north to Grande Prairie. The views on this road were nice but nothing like those of the two prior days. I guess you could say that we were spoiled by the previous snow covered mountains and glaciers. Once in Grande Prairie, we continued west to Dawson Creek and then decided to go a little further into Ft. St. John. Once we arrived here, we decided to call it a day. We found a campground where Robin fixed supper and we caught up on laundry. There were no videos of the day and only a few pictures. Below is the link to those.
Tomorrow we hope to hit the road early once again as we have another long day. We plan to be on the road about 8-10 hours and hope to make it to Watson Lake before calling it a day. There will be more to come in the next day or so.
Traveled: Banff, AB, CAN - Jasper, AB, CAN - Hinton, AB, CAN
Interstates: 93, 16
Miles Driven: 400
Hours on Road: 8
Weather: Sunny & Breezy (55 degrees)
This morning we awoke around 8:30am and was on the road by 9:30 as we knew we had a long day ahead of us. We would be driving to Jasper which we were told was around 2.5 hours away. Little did we know that both the weather and the scenery were going to be so nice that it would end up taking us all day (literally) to get to our destination. Within the first hour we spotted our first glacier with a beautiful blue and green lake at the bottom. Bigger mountains with more snow and ice was the theme of the day. We passed so many awesome views it's hard to explain. I know I sound like a broken record in each of these last few posts but each day seems to give something just a little bit better than the last. We passed numerous mountain ranges, numerous glaciers, and numerous lakes and rivers, each of which was just a little more beautiful than the one before. I honestly can't imagine what it would have been like to visit this area and travel on foot or by horseback for the very first time ever... It must have been a tremendously breathtaking experience, I'm sure!
Eventually we made it to the Columbia Ice Fields, where we had tickets to take one of the Terarover Buses up to the Columbia Glacier. Along the way we learned several pieces of information. For example, there are only 21 of the Terarover Buses in existence today. 20 of the 21 are in use at the Columbia Ice fields with one other being used by a team of US scientist in the Antarctic. Each of the large buses cost between 1.2 and 1.4 million dollars to build. If you can imagine a cross between a School Bus and a Greyhound Bus… then take that and add a touch of Monster Truck and you have yourself a TeraRover. These things were incredible. We arrived at the ice fields and ate lunch in the camper before walking up to the Visitor Center. Once there we boarded a Greyhound bus which took us up to the base of the glacier. Once we arrived there we exited the Greyhound and boarded the TeraRover Bus, which took us up on the Glacier…. This was around 7500' above sea level. This was breathtaking as we were walking around on a piece of ice that had been there for thousands of years. On one side there was and "Ice Fall", which is similar to a water fall but made of ice… go figure. We walked around and took tons of pics and videos while the boys played. After about 30 minutes we loaded the TeraRover and returned to the base of the glacier. On the way down, the driver informed us that the mountain peak to our left was the only "tri-contenential divide" in the world. This basically meant if you were standing on the peak of that mountain and poured a bottle of water out there, that water would run down 3 different sides and into all 3 of the different oceans bordering North America. Once we returned to the base, we loaded back in the Greyhounds which took us back to the Welcome Center. Once there we looked around the gift shop and then continued on our way toward Jasper.
Again, the views continued to amaze as we had to make several more stops for pictures before arriving at the Athabasca Falls. These falls were beautiful and the park they had created around them was fascinating as well. We toured this area for about an hour, looking at the falls from several different angles and the varying rock formations all around the area. Of course we took tons of photos here as well. Once we finished up here, we were back on the road. We contemplated continuing past Jasper and trying to make it to Grand Prairie, but decided to stop off and stay in Hinton instead. So here we sit, camping in the parking lot of the WalMart in Hinton, AB, CAN. Surprisingly enough, we are not the only one, as there are probably 30 or so more campers around us here. Apparently "Dry Camping" as they call it, is more popular than we had thought. Be sure to check out all of our pics and videos using the links below. I will warn you in advance, we took over 450 photos today and shot numerous videos, so you may want to have a little time available when you start. :-) Hope you enjoy!
Tomorrow we plan to head out on the Big Horn Highway and travel to at least Grand Prairie, hopefully much further though. At this point the stops and the sites have been tremendous but we are ready to head to AK! We'll be traveling long hours the next several days until we reach AK.
Well today got started around 9:30am for us. We awoke, ate breakfast and were on our way to find the Sulfur Mountain Gondola. On our way we came upon several more beautiful views. one of which was a large castle type building on the river which had been converted to a hotel. At the base of the hotel on the river were the Bow Falls. This was another fantastic site to see. The large castle with the mountains in the background on one side and then the waterfall with another set of mountains in the background on the other side. After that we continued on our way to try and find the Gondola but ended up getting a little lost. Once we found our way, we drove through the entire town. For those back home, imagine an upscale bigger version of Gatlinburg with large 7000'+ rocky mountains and flowing rivers all around.
After the drive through town, we made our way over to the Gondola where the crowds were beginning to grow. We finally found a spot to park after about 20-30 minutes. Once we did, we made our way to the ticket booth line where we were approached by a gentlemen we did not know. He asked if we were in line to get tickets for the Gondola, to which we responded "yes". He then said he had bought to many tickets and handed us a ticket for the Gondola for free. After that we went to the loading dock, where there were numerous families from all different countries. We finally boarded the gondola and began our 6.5 minute journey up the side of the mountain. This was a great ride as it gave us the opportunity to see some of the best views of the area… even better than those from the day before. We spent several hours at the top of the mountain taking pics and seeing the different sites. We then at lunch in the restaurant they had available there. After this we headed back down the mountain which gave us another opportunity to see everything from the gondola. Once at the bottom we loaded up and headed back down to town. On the way we saw an elk grazing on the side of the road. Once we made it back down to town, we stopped to walk around for a bit and see the different shops. There were lots of these, restaurants and other attractions to see here. After a couple of hours of walking, we loaded up and headed to Lake Minniwanka. This was rather large lake at the base of a mountain which had crystal clear/blue water. On our way across the earth dam, there was an entire family of Mountain Goats in the middle of the road, which included two babies. They seemed to be use to the tourists and would move out of the way of passing traffic. Once we were across the dam, we stopped to take some photos. While we were there, a couple of scuba divers came up out of the water in front of where we were standing. This caught everyone off guard at first but after looking around, there appeared to be a lot of divers in the water. After a few minutes by the river, we made our way back to town to fill up the truck and then back to the campground for the evening. Below are the pics and videos of the day, we hope you enjoy them.
Tomorrow we plan to travel from Banff up to Jasper where we will spend the night. Once there we plan to take the Terarover out on to the Columbia Ice fields. We are all looking forward to this! We'll be sure to share pics and vids of this trip as well.
Apologies that we have been offline for so long. But we are just now able to get a decent internet connection. We'll be posting more updates from the past few weeks over the next few days. Hope you enjoy!
Day #10
Date: 07/30/11
Traveled: Conrad, MT, USA - Banff, AB, CAN
Interstates: NA
Miles Driven: 350
Hours on Road: 8
Weather: Sunny & Breezy (75 degrees)
There is no doubt the past several days have been an incredible experience. While traveling across the US, we have seen lots of sites and attractions that have been great. We've enjoyed every second of it and can say that without a doubt we have been blessed to be able to do what we have done. For this we are very thankful.
Today we started out on our journey through Canada. To say we were a little nervous about crossing the border for our very first time would be an understatement. We spent the night prior, preparing all of our documentation, talking to the kids about how to answer, should they be asked questions and so on. We awoke early this morning because we knew we had a long day. We pulled out of Conrad around 9am and headed north toward Sweet Grass to cross the border. As we traveled that way for the next hour, we reviewed the items we needed to pass and made sure we had them all one more time. When we finally arrived at the border crossing, I approached the terminal slowly and handed the lady our information. She asked where we were from, where we were headed and if we had any alcohol, tobacco or firearms. I answered them all directly and she told us to have a nice day and just like that, our 24 hours of worry/nervousness had come to an end in a little less than 4 minutes.
Excited that we had made it across without incident, we traveled north just a few miles before stopping at the Alberta Visitor Center. This location had a large life-sized T-Rex outside and of course the boys had to get their picture made in front of it. They also had several rock formations the boys climbed on. Once we went inside, there was a plethora of information available. The ladies behind the counter were extremely helpful and provided us with a ton of information, once I explained where we were headed. We continued north on Interstate 4 to Leatherbridge and then on over to Fort Macleod. From there we took Interstate 2 to Nanton where we exited and went over to Highway 22 so we could avoid Calgary and it's traffic. We continued North on Highway 22, and really all I can say about from this point all the way to Banff (where we are now) is WOW!!! I've been blessed to call TN home for 35 years and no doubt TN is some of the most scenic and beautiful country on the Eastern side of the US but I must say that I have never before in my entire life seen anything as awe inspiring as the trip we made today though the Canadian Rockies. Road after road, turn after turn, we were met with more and more beautiful mountains, some of them snow covered while others had beautiful blue rivers flowing at their bases.
We are now in Banff at one of their campgrounds, where we were very fortunate to find a camping spot. Little did we know that this coming Monday is a Canadian holiday and all the parks and campgrounds are packed. This evening we pulled up to the entrance, asked if they had any spots left to accommodate us and they said yes, but only a few and we would have to share hook-ups with another camper. After a little searching we found our spot and were set-up in about 20-30 minutes. Now get this, literally standing outside the front door of our camper, I have a huge 8000+' snow capped Rocky Mountain directly in front of me, another one in the distance to my right and two more mountain ranges to my left and directly behind me. It really is incredible! The temp this afternoon was around 65-70 with a nice constant breeze. I grilled burgers in front of the camper while passing football with the boys and looking around at all of God's handy work. Really I don't know what more to say other than WOW… God is so good! Be sure to check out the pics and video of today's journey. Honestly, I don't think either will do this trip justice but at least you will have something to view.
Tomorrow we plan to explore the town and take the Gondola up the mountain to see even more spectacular views. Then on Monday, we plan to continue north to the Columbia Ice fields where we will take the Terra Bus out onto an actual glacier for an hour and a half long tour. From here we will continue on to Jasper where we hope to camp again. I'll be sure to post a separate update on these experiences as well as I am sure they will all hold more fascinating views and experiences.
