Hello again everybody!
As I’m sitting here thinking about what to write in this post, I can’t belive we are already done with our time in Alaska, driven back down the Alcan and the Cassiar highways, and have already been in Washington 2 weeks. How time flies! Today is the last day of September…how did that happen???
We truly loved our time in Alaska and also the drive to and from there. It all was an experience we will always remember. Even though the weather was not great, especially the last few weeks, it was spectacularly beautiful and unlike anywhere else we have been. We try to capture it in our pictures, but I know they do not begin to convey the vastness and beauty we experienced. The hiking we did there was exhilarating…I imagine all our pictures (and there’s more in the links below!) of mountains, hiking trails, and glaciers must look a lot alike. “Oh, there’s another giant mountain with glaciers on it they are hiking again…” but it does not feel that way when we are hiking. Each hike and trail has it’s own unique beauty and our experiences on each hike were all different. We did 2 hikes twice – Portage Pass (Whittier) and Mt. Marathon (Seward), taking visitors back to favorite hikes. I think the hiking, challenging ourselves and experiencing the vast outdoors was good for our souls. It makes us happy 🙂
We retraced some of the Alcan highway on our way out, then picked up the Cassiar highway, a 450 mile long stretch of road that goes further west than the Alcan. It took us down near the southeast Alaskan panhandle, where Jueanu, Ketchikan, Sitka and the inside passage are, where a lot of cruise ships go. There are no roads into those areas, only boats and planes can take you there, so we did not get to see that part of the state. We did stop in Stewart, BC, which shares the boarder with Hyder, Alaska and there’s one road that you can take into Hyder. They both are very small towns, surrounded by mountains, waterfalls and glaciers. Hyder Alaska is on the Prince William Sound, on the opposite side of the sound from Whittier.
We met a nice couple, Vince and Vickie, who are from Louisiana, at one of the campgrounds along the Alcan. We traveled with them for a couple of days, and they joined us in Stewart/Hyder. We had fun going to see Salmon Glacier together and also watching for bears at the river where they come to feed on salmon before hibernating for the winter. Salmon Glacier was at the end of a VERY rough, pot hole filled, gravel road, about 12 or 15 miles long. It took us over an hour (each way) to drive those 12 or 15 miles to get to the glacier. But wow! The biggest glacier we saw on the entire trip, other than the one we landed on in the helicopter. It was amazing. Lots of pictures in the attached link. We saw LOTS of bears while in Stewart/Hyder also. One in the RV camp, right by our RV, 2 or 3 in town on the streets in the evening, and 2 at the bear viewing area I mentioned above. They all were black bears.
Choosing Alaska as our first destination on this journey was ideal for us. It pushed us to figure out the whole RV thing. We are still learning, but boy do we know so much more now than we did at the beginning of this trip! It also took us to a whole new environment to explore together and that is good.
I’ve put together several albums of pictures from our last days in Alaska as well as driving along the Alcan and Cassiar highways. Hope you enjoy!
On the road again: https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pknoM4F3tXVoUjR8Y
Salmon Glacier: https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pkxa7KFeg4ADNIX8_
Stewart BC/Hyder Alaska: https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pkzLGKFgC_-C6AIGF
Crow Pass hike: https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pk1wWBGX2CjUlwIlK
Turnagain Arm Drive and Portage RV Park: we stayed at this RV park twice, for about 3 – 4 weeks total, it is near Girdwood. We were here for both Bill’s and Samantha’s visits. We loved this RV park, we had fantastic views right our our door, and it was close to Whittier, Girdwood and only a little over an hour to Anchorage. We drove the Turnagain Arm each time we went to Anchorage or Girdwood, which was dozens of times. The Turnagain Arm goes along the Cook Inlet. It was one of the most beautiful drives we have done on this trip and we stopped many times at the turnouts along the road to take pictures. Here’s a round up of pictures from that drive and RV park: https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0plFbuzrTXneTOLmm0