barney – Page 4 – Maxine and Barney’s Excellent Adventure

Destruction Bay to Gakona

We finished the Haines Highway and got on the Alaska Highway for a while, then turned on the Tok Cutoff Highway. Each road has its own character. The Tok Cutoff being the roughest ride so far. The RV park we were looking for was in the midst of some of the road work, and their sign was down. Once we discovered we had passed that park, I refused to go back and look for it as the road was too rough to repeat. So we went on to the next RV park, which turned out to be the Red Eagle Lodge. It is really a group of historic cabins, restored and set up for a “rustic” experience. The only RV site is on their meadow, and they are willing to run an extension cord from the bath house to the RV. Again this mistake resulted in a great experience.

A lake off the highway in the Copper River Valley.

One of the cabins at the lodge, inside was beautiful.

Destruction Bay

Half way up the Haines Highway is Kluane Lake. The Cottonwood RV Park lives up to its name. The Cottonwood seeds(?) blowing around in the wind drove Toby crazy. They looked like bugs, but when he caught them, there was nothing there for him to crunch. This lake is like a kaleidoscope with the lake surface constantly changing from the wind, cloud and sun reflections.

Wow

While no dump, wifi, cable or even trash cans were annoying.

Here is a healthy Cottonwood tree, so different from those in Death Valley.

These guys were surfing their way north from Redondo Beach. Thinking of trying it in Alaska.

This guy landed at my feet and I took a quick shot. I chased him around to get a better picture, but he kept moving.

Another angle with the reflection in the water and shadow on the shore of the same cloud.

Later in the evening, moon over the lake.

Haines Highway

I am way behind, and the WiFi is slow here in Cooper Landing. I will try to upload some of the images I have of the fantastic country we have been visiting.

We stopped just below the summit where the clouds were right.

Another direction from this amazing spot.

Haines

We made a mistake when we booked our ferry that we could not change. That meant we had to leave Carcross a day early and got an extra day in Haines. It turns out that was a great mistake, as Haines is much nicer than Carcross. I fished the Chilkoot River for 2 mornings. The first day was very windy, so I tried casting flies under a bobber which I cast with a spinning rod. I caught 1 fish after about 4 hours. Then I saw a kid catch 2 nice Dolly Varden in a short while. I walked over to see what he was using, and went to the sporting goods store to buy a few Pixee lures for myself. The next day, I caught 15-20 fish in about 2 hours casting the lure. It was what I thought Alaska fishing would be. The locals are only interested in Salmon, so they ignore the Dollies. But these are real fish to a Californian.

Me at the Hammer Museum. It was closed, but I sent this picture to Lloyd’s tires in Santa Cruz who gave me the shirt I am wearing.

A unique vehicle this guy brought from Switzlerland.

A cruise ship came in unexpectedly, as it could not dock in Skagway due to the wind. A boon for the local shops, but they were not prepared so it was a challenge.

A couple of eagles on posts at the harbor.

Ferry from Skagway to Haines

I love riding the ferries up here, and this short trip was a nice one. It was early in the morning, and Maxine originally scheduled it for the RV and car connected together. We did not realize that the Alaska ferries are not straight pull-throughs like the Canadian boats to Vancouver Island. Since we cannot backup the RV with the car attached, we had to disconnect and load separately. Maxine is not at her best before 6:00 AM, but she handled the car and got the car safely on the boat.

They had to split the train to clear the road to the ferry dock.

Toby patiently waiting our turn to board.

They loaded this semi-truck first. Later, the cab came out, leaving the trailer.

Once I got the RV on board, I found how tightly they pack the car deck.

Maxine got on last, and got the primo spot, right next to the door.

We passed several waterfalls on the way.

They allow tents outside the line from the solarium. This guy wanted some privacy.

A ferry passing by from our space in Haines.

Watson Lake to Skagway

Maxine has gotten ahead of me. On the way to Haines, we passed through more of the Yukon to Carcross, then down to the coast at Skagway. I had hoped to meet the train at the top of its trip, but that did not work out. We did see the White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&YR) narrow-gauge train across a deep gorge, but only ran into a bus-load of tourists.

The lake in Carcross is the best feature.

Not sure where this was, but as far as I could tell, they were more concerned about their toilet than the floor.

Sunrise in Carcross at 4:45 when I was not sleeping.

On the way to Skagway, the hiway climbs high in the mountains and this terrain.

Over the top, a view down into a deep canyon.

Bus full of tourists stopped to see the waterfall.

Beautiful falls, but with all the cameras on that side.

Nobody else noticed the train going by across a gorge on the other side.

The RV park in Skagway was along the tracks.

A garden at a restaurant that did not serve dinner. Only lunch for cruise ship passengers.

Streets of Skagway where the wooden sidewalks roll up as soon as the cruise ships blow their whistles.

The only Land Cruiser I saw in Canada, and this one is from Germany.

Lined up like cattle, boarding their cruise.

The ferry Matanuska fueling up to take us to Haines.

HAINES, ALASKA

I’m sitting here at Oceanside RV Park in Haines, Alaska and watching the trees blow in the wind. It rained like crazy early in the morning. Haines is a small town on the side of a fjord and we took a ferry at 6:45 am yesterday to reach it (I’m sure some of you know how much I liked that–NOT!– the hour, not the ferry).

Barney is out fishing on the Chilkoot River for grayling and dolly varden. I hope he’s not out in his boat because it’s very windy. He hasn’t caught many fish but he’s learned a lot of lessons — like how not to fall over in the river and how to find the launch ramp from across the lake. Miss my friends and family and nice big shower but having fun!

Hazelton to Watson Lake

Had no internet for a few days, and this one is slow. The pictures uploaded OK. We have seen some beautiful places, and are having mixed weather. Not too cold, but some real downpours. Those guys on the Harleys were huddled under the sign at the rest stop, so we put out the main slide and invited them in for coffee.

Many bridges, but this one stood out. Picture does not capture the 673 feet down to the Bulkley River.

Busy gas station at intersection and start of Cassiar Hiway.

Moose in the lodge at Totogga Lake. He offered the best service in the place.

Dutch guys on rented Harleys after rain storm. We offered coffee, and one came in. He said the RV was bigger than his apt. at home.

New power poles and the cleared path looks like poleline highway.

Shadows at 10:30 PM on longest day of the year in the Yukon.

Text-only from Iskut, BC

We are rolling along per schedule and seeing some amazing country. I have a bunch of pictures, but here they have only satellite internet access and ask that we do not upload pictures. So this will have to do for a while. We saw a couple of bears and more mosquitoes than I care to. The bears are shy and run away from cars, unlike Nat Park bears that see cars as cans of food. It is 10:30 PM, and though not as light as day, it is certainly not dark. It rained most of today, so I was able to test our new windshield wipers. They work fine, and with all the water got rid of most of the bugs off the glass.

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Hi Joan, We’re out in the wilderness, no cell and I can’t send email. I can get it. Next stop is near Watson Lake, a bigger place (and it might have a WALMART)! More pictures to come then.

Vanderhoof – geographical center of BC

We are in the self-proclaimed geographic center of British Columbia. Every restaurant in town has Chinese as well as some other food style, go figure. We went north to Fort St. James just to see the area, and saw our first moose.