These gals were hanging out at the RV dump station. They were there both days.
We started out the day by switching campgrounds. Last night we had the luxury of a full service campground in the park. But that spot was only available for the day so we had to switch to a dry spot for the second night. Temperatures are supposed to be in the high 30’s so it will test the cold weather adaptation of Noi and Dang.
After getting settled for the day we took the bus out to Hermits Rest and worked our way back to the village. A lot of the smoke had blown out of the park, and it was as clear as any of our visits there. Of course everyone, (but Ron) took a lot of pictures.
The Colorado River.
As the day wore on we split up, Dang and Noi went for sunset. Ron and Ton opted to head back to the village for a while, and went back to the truck early to prepare for dinner.
These flowers are all over the desert this time of the year. Ton really likes them.
It was a very long day but worth the time and effort.
Today Jeap had to return to Thailand so the morning was spent sending her off to the airport in Page AZ and picking up some groceries at Safeway. After that we headed to the Grand Canyon.
Though it is late in the season the park is still pretty packed. We were able to get the last spot in the full service park so tonight we have electricity and water. Tomorrow night Dang and Noi will experience their first night of dry camping, and the low is supposed to be around freezing so it should be an experience.
Spectacular as always.
There is a controlled burn going on in the national forest so it looks like conditions for pictures are going to be less than optimal unless we get some wind overnight. Ron and Ton decided to take it easy, while Dang and Noi went out to take pictures.
While Elephant did not move today, we all did. When planning the trip Ron was very skeptical about visiting Bryce Canyon this time of year. But, the weather the last 10 days has been spectacular, so we decided to take a 300 mile roundtrip to Bryce in a rental car.
Posing with Smokey the Bear.
Bryce is Ron’s second favorite National Park. Because of the time crunch we limited ourselves to the Navajo trail, and sunrise and sunset point areas. We also stopped in the Red Canyon as we entered the park. As the weather was almost perfect it was another great day in Bryce Canyon.
The Hoodoos are spectacular at Bryce any time of the year.
Glen Canyon was also very beautiful even though we did not spend any appreciable time there. Ton said that we need to come back and spend some more time in the future.
Today we visited Antelope Valley which is a poor mans The Wave. Antelope Valley is a wash where at two points water is funneled into very narrow canyons that are almost caves. These flash floods make for an incredible variety of shapes and the light from the very narrow opening at the top adds spectacular colors. It is mandatory to use a Navajo tour guide to enter the wash where the canyons are.
Ron rode up front with our guide, and he gave him the history of the valley. Up to 1997 it was virtually unknown and little visited. Two things happened around then that changed it to a heavily visited attraction under control of the Navajo. In a great bit of marketing the Navajo invited National Geographic to do a photo shoot around then and when it was featured in the magazine the interest spiked considerably. Then later in the year a guide entered the wash with 10 customers despite the gates being closed. It turns out that while it was not raining in Page at the time, it was storming up in the mountains, and while they were in the canyon a flash flood swept thru and the only one that survived was the guide.
A shot of the entrance to the canyon at Antelope Valley.
Today they allow up to 70 people into the wash per hour, and it is run with military precision, as all of the tours are booked months in advance. While they keep you moving and it is a little bit of a cattle call, it is very much worth doing if you are in the area.
Today was spent exploring some more around Sedona. This time we did some drives out into the Red Rock Country. Besides spending some time taking pictures of red rocks we drove out to an ancient Sinagua Indian site. Unfortunately we arrived just as they were closing and were only able to catch the end of the petroglyph tour. The short tour was fascinating and the Ranger from the Forest Service was knowledgeable.
Typical Red Rock formation around Sedona.
We also visited Red Rock State Park. We joined onto a tour that was in progress and it was ok. Our impression of Arizona State Parks is that they are quite expensive and a little underwhelming given the cost. I think we are spoiled with the Oregon State Park System that is relatively well funded by the State.
Dang mentioned that she wanted to see Saguaro cactuses. Ton and I were trying to figure out the best way to make that happen when we mentioned it to a couple of older gentlemen in the lobby they recommended we head to Signal Rd, near Wikeup AZ. It was a bit farther than Ron wanted to drive but they were very enthusiastic.
The road sign pointing to Signal population 0.
While the drive was long it was worth it. Signal road was a well maintained dirt road with tons of Yucca and Saguaro cactuses. Dang and Ton were really happy yelling stop every mile or so to shoot some more pictures of cactuses. Ton was able to show off the cactus identification skills she has honed in the last year. The cactus were flowering after the rain so she was very happy.
We decided to stay in the Flagstaff area for a few days as Dang has never seen the area and the Air Force recreation center is an incredible bargain. Today we ran down Oak Canyon to Sedona. Sedona was really bustling compared to the last time we had visited. It is still a nice setting but seems to be getting more and more commercial. We got our fill after a few hours and headed back towards Flagstaff. We stopped at Slide Rock State Park. It is an interesting stretch of river (creek) with a natural waterslide for about 100 yards. It was not getting much use as the water in the creek was 58 degrees. Just as we were leaving about 100 middle schoolers arrived and put the slide to use.
Woke up to no snow so Ton and Dang were trying to come up with a strategy to get in without trashing their hiking shoes. When Ron stepped outside in his already trashed boots he realized the vehicles moving around and people walking had turned the ground into mush.
This mess got worst as the day wore on and people tried to leave.
We decided to bail out of there while the getting was good. It was quite a drive out it was the first time we used 4WD low and it was touch and go for a moment. By the time we covered the 1/4 mile to the paved road the truck was completely covered in mud. After attending a couple of talks and walking around in the less muddy expo area we headed to Flagstaff. The first order of day was to knock some of the mud off the truck. After about $40 in the coin slot we managed to knock about 200lbs of mud off the truck and headed in for the night.
Today was highlighted by a trip to Saguaro National Park near Tucson. We left El Paso and the dust storms the day before and ran into a couple of rain showers in the desert. This was the warmest night of the trip with overnight temperatures in the 50’s, it was actually disconcerting to not hear the heater going all night as we have been at or below freezing every night on the trip. The Malayan is very well insulated and despite the cold temperatures has been comfortable at night. It is really living up to Provan’s promise of being a 4 season camper.
The Saguaro NP is located on both the east and west side of Tucson. We have been looking forward to visiting it for many years. We choose the east side as it is the most photogenic. We got an early start as both of us woke up early due to the change of time zones and arrived at the park around noon. It is an interesting place to visit as Tucson has sprawled out right to the edge of the park. We were questioning the accuracy of the GPS as we were in a typical suburban neighborhood right up to the park entrance. The park lived up to our expectation and Ton ran the camera out of power taking pictures of all of the various types of cactus in the park.
A variety of cactus at Saguaro NP.
We have given up on our backroads plan for this trip and are back on the interstates. Our plan for the day was to spend the night in Tucson. As we were looking for a place to stay, Ton pointed out we could watch the Superbowl in Las Vegas with our son, so we decided to press on towards Las Vegas. So that’s how we ended up in Wickenburg Arizona for the night. Seems like a nice town that will be worth visiting again in the future.
We toured Alaska in 2017 as part of our trip along the Alaska Highway. It was one of our most memorable trips and I highly recommend it to anyone. Most of the trip can be easily accomplished with any RV with some common sense. A couple of the side trips we took require a vehicle like Scout, but we saw Class A RV’s on the Top of the World Highway.
Last night we had quite a rain storm, and even though we were sheltered in a forest the noise of the rain hitting the roof was quite loud. By morning it wasn’t raining, and even though it was cloudy it was pretty warm.
On our way to town to take care of some business with our estimated taxes we decided to go to a bridge across the Chilkot river to take some pictures of the river. While we were up there this girl showed up for her breakfast.
Out for breakfast.
Initially there were only three of us on the bridge, but that would change quickly. The bear spent about 45 minutes working up and down the river looking for fish. By the end there were about 40 people on the bridge. We were fortunate to speak to the Bear Monitor for the Alaska State Parks and she gave us a history of the bear. The bear is 2 years old and her mother also still feeds from the river. She had a brother there, but he has not been seen in a while.
Another shot of her looking for fish. She put on quite a show.
Today we took the ferry to Skagway. Last time we took the ferry it took about 3 hours to go from Haines to Skagway. This time it was a high speed ferry that traveled about 40mph (36 knots). It was a short but pleasant trip, and saved us about 450 miles of driving.
Our ferry to Skagway.
When we pulled into Skagway there were three cruise ships in port, but it was surprisingly quiet downtown. We picked up a few groceries, and some souvenirs for friends and headed back to Scout.
Today we relaxed and enjoyed Haines. While yesterday was one of the prettiest days of the trip, today was back to rain. The first half of the day was just cloudy, but around noon the rain came in and it was pretty nasty.
A nice view near the fish packing facility.
We visited a working fish packaging facility, and got to see the process from purchase to packaging. It was quite interesting, and based on Ron’s experience in manufacturing he was amazed that we were able to pretty much wander around the facility unsupervised.
This is where our salmon come from.
Our next stop was a Tinglit Indian cultural facility. The facility was really well done and the people operating the facility did an excellent job presenting the history of their people. They were obviously quite proud of the culture of their ancestors. The museum has some antique “Totems”, and we were quite lucky to have one of the elders tell us the story behind each totem. It was very fascinating, pictures were not allowed but we really recommend a visit.
We are currently sitting in the Haines library using their internet. Later we will decide whether to go back to the commercial campground in town to take advantage of 30 cable channels and unlimited electricity, or to an Alaska State Park where Scout is more in her element.
We started the day with a chance encounter with another Tiger in Haines Junction. As we were looking for fuel in Haines Junction Ron spotted another Tiger parked in front of one of the gas stations and pulled in to say hello. They were a French Canadian couple who were on a two year trip with their son and daughter in law. We spent about an hour discussing our trips and comparing notes on our Tigers both good and bad. After a while we decided to head out for Haines but it was nice finding out how others are making their Tiger work and learning that our issues are not unique.
The drive over to Haines was very relaxing, the scenery was beautiful and the road was the best we have seen for quite a while. When we arrived in Haines we checked on the ferry schedule and bought a spot on the ferry to Skagway on September 7.
It was blue skies and nearly 70 degrees in Haines when we arrived. When we checked in at the commercial park we asked if the weather was like this tomorrow, unfortunately rain is supposed to come in overnight so we decided to take advantage of the mild weather.
The harbor at Haines including a giant cruise ship.
We went to a river that is supposed to have a lot of bears, but they weren’t out while we were there. When we got back into town we took a nice evening stroll around town, and of course checked out the local brewery.
Tonight we took care of laundry and got in nice long showers. While we were waiting on our laundry, an incredible full moon came out over the harbor, just as the large cruise ship in town pulled out.
A beautiful full moon over the harbor.
It was a really nice end to the day, the last few days have hit our stride and are starting to get a nice rhythm to the trip, we hope it continues.
We woke up early in order to get some more photos of the glacier. I know Ton was excited because she got up and braved 32 degree temperatures for well over an hour shooting pictures in all directions. While it was cold it was the clearest day we have had on the trip.
Gulkana Glacier.
In addition to the glacier we were parked under there was a large mountain range in the distance that Ron thinks is Denali, and Ton does not. There is a picture below for others to judge.
Mt. Denali in the background.
Mid-morning we pulled ourselves away from the glacier and headed out on the Richardson. Along the way we came to long sections of the Alaska Pipeline. It is an impressive engineering feat, and has largely delivered the oil safely to Valdez. The problems have been after delivery.
The giant Alaska Pipeline.
We ended the day in a nice campground in the Teslin National Wildlife Refuge. It is on a large lake. Right after we settled in a float plane made a couple of landings and takeoffs to entertain us and the other campers at the site.
This float plane entertained us for a while doing touch and go’s.A bonus picture of the Gulkana Glacier.
Today we began to point back towards home. A lot of the businesses that cater to travelers close up after labor day weekend, so I guess that it is a hint that we should begin to head home.
But there are still things to see so we did not make it that far today. We had originally planned to head into Valdez for the night, but when we woke up the weather forecast for Valdez was lousy. Instead of heading into bad weather we decided to head North a bit towards the Denali Highway.
I have not mentioned the Milepost book since we took off, but do not come to Alaska without a copy. It is an incredibly detailed guide of all of the roads in Alaska, Northern BC, and the Yukon. It basically tells you everything about the road you are traveling on down to pullouts, and warnings of bad sections of road. The Milepost said that the first twenty miles of the Denali highway from Paxson were not to be missed, so we decided that would be our focus for today.
The views are often spectacular.
We made what should have been a 10 mile detour to go to the visitors center for the Elias-Wrangel National Park, but somehow we both missed the large sign on the highway telling us to turn, after about 15 miles we figured it out and turned around and headed back. Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest park in the US, but it only has two dirt roads that go into it, so it is largely wilderness. The visitors center is very well done and informative about the park.
We headed north on the Richardson Highway, and it was a long stretch of frost heave, and pot holes. We were averaging about 45 mph, even though the speed limit was posted at 65. There were plenty of people who did travel at 65 though so we were constantly watching our rear for fast approaching cars and semi’s.
The Milepost was right the Denali Highway was worth the trip. Ton nearly killed the battery on her camera taking pictures. At the top where the pavement ends was a BLM campground that had 100 spots. We decided we would stay there for the night, but it is labor day weekend, and despite being remote, it had a sign at the entrance saying that it was full. It turned out to be good luck.
The view from our campsite. The glacier in the background is Gulkana Glacier.
Consulting the Milepost, there was a State Park about 45 miles from where we were, and it also mentioned a BLM remote camping area with great views of Gulkana Glacier. We had decided on the State Park, but as we were driving down the Richardson we saw some RV’s parked in an area with incredible views. We have joined them for the night parked at the end of an old emergency airstrip with incredible 360 degree views.
Today was primarily a travel day. The forecast called for rain (again), but when we started out the first 100 miles were not that bad. We were able to enjoy what we suspect is pretty close to the peak colors around Denali.
After spending 12 hours chasing critters yesterday, this moose was on the road 100 yards from our campsite.Scout waiting in line to dump the tanks.
About 60 miles from the park we took a short detour down the Denali Highway to look at some mountains we saw in that direction. The Denali Highway is a “short cut” of 100 miles over what our navigation had picked out, the catch it was 23 miles of pavement and 100 miles of gravel. Ron was tempted and Ton was skeptical and said that if we lost another tire she would be very unhappy. About 6 miles in we ran into a pretty nasty stretch of washboard and Ron decided to retreat back to our old friend the Parks Highway.
One of the many spectacular views on the Glenn Highway.
After driving thru a pretty good rainstorm for 150 miles we popped out into blue skies and morale picked up. We turned onto the Glenn Highway just hoping to get some miles in towards Valdez. We had not done any research on the Glenn Highway as we only saw it as a way to get from Wasilla to Glenallen on our way to Valdez. Well the Glenn Highway was another version of spectacular. The colors had not changed this far south. But the Glenn has draw dropping views of glaciers, rivers, and mountains that caught us by surprise. It really got us back into a good mood and ready to take on some more road.
Today was a long but very fulfilling day. As I said earlier we had some debate about whether to retrace our steps to Denali National Park. Today we are glad we did. We signed up for the 12 hour shuttle bus ride to the very end of the road in the park, and while it was a long day it was worth the trip and the sore butts.
Fall colors on the Tundra.
We had done this trip seven years ago in late July and had a partial view of the mountain. Today we had low expectations as the forecast called for clouds with a good chance of rain. We were hoping to see some critters and those hopes were fulfilled, with multiple grizzlies, a couple of moose, and a few caribou. The front of the bus saw a lynx, but we were in the back so we missed it.
A couple of grizzly cubs.
The highlight of the trip though was Denali, and the landscape in the park. Much to our surprise and the bus drivers Denali came out in full, and stayed out for several hours. Also the fall colors had set in and were surprisingly colorful with a nice mix of reds, yellows, and greens. Ton who as I have said is a fall colors snob, gave Denali a thumbs up.
Denali coming out of the clouds.A view of the mountain from the visitors center.
We did not get back to Scout until nearly 9pm so we had a quick bowl of instant noodles and turned in tired but happy we made the 600 mile detour to come back.
After a lot of debate we decided to backtrack to Denali for a couple of days. The weather was supposed to be good, meaning not raining. When we woke up this morning it was not raining and there was a little blue in the sky, but as we drove towards Denali we first encountered fog, and for the last 100 miles heavy rain.
The end of the road for private vehicles.
Ron was a little down about the rain, but as we pulled into the park the rain lifted. We signed up for the all day drive into the park tomorrow so we will have to get up a little early and head over to catch our ride. We drove into the park as far as we were allowed, had a nice siting of a moose, and took a short hike. While still a little gray we enjoyed the hike. The tundra is starting to get its fall colors which is pretty. Ton is a fall colors snob (nothing beats New England), but she thought these colors were worth the trip.
We woke up to a pouring rain. The bad news is that the weather is still bad and gray, the good news is today is simply a drive to Anchorage and shopping so the weather is not that important. After a visit to Costco for fuel and food, and the PX and Commissary for more food we camped up at Ft. Richardson, and towards the end of the day enjoyed a little bit of sunshine with our rain.
Well it was another gray day. The forecast was clouds and occasional showers, and they were right. Because of the weather forecast we decided to buy tickets to the Alaska Sea Life Center. It is a very nice aquarium with a focus on Alaska’s marine wildlife. The highlight of the visit today was a 3 month old orphaned walrus. We were able to watch a feeding and like all babies he was very cute.
The orphan walrus.
The rest of the day was a leisurely walk around town. Of course we visited the local brewery which was fair. The rain held off for most of the day but we called it a day pretty early and went back and gave Scout a bit of scrubbing.
