Long time no blog

Who would have thunk it?  We get back to the USA and have mega problems getting cell phone coverage and internet.  We're still in GNP trying to figure out what is going on with the bears.  Its a very interesting year with bears not being seen for over a month until just after we arrived.  The weather the other day stirred things up and the bears seem to be returning in mass.  Gotta watch all of that play out and then we should be making our way home.  More later when we have a better internet connection.

Still trucking along

Got to Dawson Creek last night and decided to keep driving to the next rest stop.  Some 135 miles later we had to improvise.  Made for a long day but we covered a lot of ground.  Just picked some things up in Edmonton, AB.  Probably still too far to make it to GNP tonight.  Will probably stay someplace near Calgary tonight and then head for Montana in the morning.  They closed the St Mary campground to tents due to bear activity today, so we're not sure what is going on.  Maybe that will cause them to keep Many Glacier campground open longer.  Sounds like the bears are down low which makes sense based on what we've heard.

Gas prices in Edmonton are under $5 a gallon.  It was close to that just past Dawson Creek.  On par with some places in Alaska.  Here are some more pics:

Out of the rain, back in civilization

It rained pretty much two days straight as we made good progress through the Yukon and northern BC.  Just arrived in Fort St. John, a town of about 18,000 people.  Just about 50 miles of the Alaskan Highway left.  We'll knock that off this evening.  Should be in Montana in a couple of days.

Last year we somehow missed seeing Muncho Lake.  Must have been in the clouds or something.  Wow, what a beautiful area. Plus we saw lots of wildlife.  Lots of buffalo, caribou, a cow moose and calf, bull elk, and a wolf.  Got a decent picture of the wolf.  Here it is unedited:

Taking the long way home

We were headed to Valdez but heard they were having some flooding there.  So, when we got to the junction, and saw a storm to the West, we turned east and eventually decided to go home by way of Glacier National Park.  It only adds 400 miles and about a day to the trip.  Plus we should find at least a few grizzlies there.  Turns out to be a good decision as it rained all day yesterday and it started raining again this morning.

We stayed the night at our now favorite Yukon rest stop in Whitehorse (the only one that lets you sleep there).  We stayed the previous night at the Deadman Lake Campground near the Canadian boarder.  What a pleasant surprise.  It is maybe the nicest free campground we have ever stayed at.  You can tell that people love this place and take good care of it.  It is in the Teslin National Wildlife Refuge which, when combined with Wrangle-St Elias National Park and Kluane National Park, makes up the largest area of protected land in the world.  Something like over 20 million acres.

The next leg of our trip has very few services for nearly 800 miles.  Then once we get to Fort St. John, all of that changes.  I'm told gas Edmonton/Calgary is under $5 a gallon.  That would help make up for some of the prices we'll be paying today and tomorrow.  I didn't bring enough gas cans for 800+ miles.  The good news is the highway is excellent the rest of the way back to the U.S.

No bears for you!

We got a lot of hiking in at the Russian River, but saw no bears.  It probably didn't help that some idiot killed one there a week before we arrived.  He had a grizzly tag, but hunting there is not allowed and pretty stupid.  It would be the equivalent to hunting in a busy public park.  Even the diehard hunters could not believe it happened.

We also took a day trip down to Seward only to find that the National Park was flooded, the town was pretty much asleep after a long tourist season, and the restaurants were charging outrageous prices for a fish dinner.  Had better luck on the short road to Whittier.  No bears, but a very beautiful area that we will return to in the future.

So we are back in Wasilla trying to figure out the best way back to Oregon.  We might go through GNP but the bear reports there haven't been great.  We heard that a sow grizzly with four second year cubs has been hanging out near Valdez and so we will probably check that out.  Kluane National Park is still an option.  Maybe we'll just play it by ear.  Might be back in a few weeks or so.

I've started editing pictures and should have some posted soon.

Had a great time in Denali

This is still hard to believe.  The night we got to Denali, just after eating at the Salmon Bake, we drove the park road a bit and the went to our campsite.  Just as we were getting there, the crazy man was running straight at us out of another site waving his arms.  It took us a while to realize it was our friend Rick from GNP and Jackson Hole.  We didn't know he was coming and he didn't know we were coming and yet we ended up only two campsites apart.  Then, as if that weren't enough, later we ran into an old ranger friend from GNP who is working in Denali now.  Small world.

Anyway, we saw lots of critters while out in the Denali wilderness including about 90 grizzly sightings of which at least 29 were different bears.  Saw a sow with three cubs that most of the regulars didn't know was there.  Got pics of those.  Not great, but good enough to prove we saw them.  Saw two sows with two, one sow with one, and lots of lone bears.  Also saw lots of Caribou and, of course, dall sheep.  Two big bull moose were fighting as we drove out yesterday.  Made a lot of new friends as well.

We are getting more and more hooked on this park.  One of the coolest things about the park is the bus system.  Many people don't like it.  But if you like to hike, the bus system, and lack of trails, pretty much guarantees few other hikers and, when you run into someone hiking, they are almost always knowledgeable about the outdoors.

I'll try to post some pics soon.  We are in Wasilla resupplying and are about to move on to Anchorage.  Plan is to be on the Kenai Peninsula tonight.