Cowichan Bay

When we met up with Greg, Terry, Jim and Phebe yesterday morning, Terry urged us to make a stop at the town of Cowichan on Vancouver Island. Since it’s situated only 7-8 miles south of the town of Duncan on Maple Bay, where we planned to reconnect with long-time friends for dinner, we made it today’s destination.

It rained hard last night, and this morning the air was warm and thick with humidity as well as smoke from almost 500 forest fires burning in the interior of British Columbia.  We made the trip south to Cowichan slowly, then settled in at Cowichan Bay Fisherman’s Wharf because it has laundry facilities and is immediately adjacent to the village.  After showers and laundry, we wandered the streets and sidewalks of Cowichan. It turns out to be a delightful little town full of restaurants, galleries and shops with none of the touristy feel of Chemainis, the town we visited two days ago via B.C. ferry.  We puttered along for several hours, buying only one item, a “Super Solar Shower 5-Gallon Black Bag” for future use when we’re tied to buoys and don’t have power to heat hot water on our boat.  We’ve seen zillions of sailboats equipped with these on this trip.  Most of the power boats we’ve run across are larger than ours and equipped with generators which can be used for heating water when anchored out.

At 5:00 we walked to the Rock Cod Cafe to meet long-time friends George and Marlene Blumel who we haven’t seen in 3 1/2 years since we got together at Whistler for skiing.  Cathryn first met George and Marlene 30 years ago when she crewed on Lightning sailboats on a racing circuit. George was an intense skipper, and Marlene was his always-cheerful sidekick.  We became fast friends and have kept in touch over the years, attending their daughter’s wedding, visiting at their home on Maple Bay, and exchanging letters, emails and photos periodically.  We had a delicious dinner, lively conversation, and caught up on each other’s family news and other major life events.  We’re very pleased to have seen in them and promised to connect again next summer when we make another boating trip to Canadian waters.

Today’s Lessons

We’re learning new things every day.  According to Chapman, the boater’s bible, that will continue even if we live long enough to collect 25 years of experience. Only minutes after we left the dock at Thetis Island this morning as Cathryn was removing covers from the GPS and marine radios, the engine suddenly cut out. We made several  attempts to re-start the engine, then because we were only 20 feet from the breakwater float, Bob tried to snag it with the boat hook so we could return to the dock for trouble-shooting.  That didn’t work either. Another boater spotted us floating aimlessly and asked if we needed help, then jumped in his tender to rescue us. His first question was “It’s not something simple like that red thingy is it?”  Though this question meant nothing to Cathryn, Bob took it to mean he was asking if the dead-man (or interrupter) switch had become disconnected. On checking he found it wasn’t completely disconnected, but apparently Cathryn had knocked it loose with her knee, so firmly re-attaching it allowed us to start the engine right up!  We were pleased our first problem turned out to be one easily solved.

En route from Thetis Island to Cowichan Bay on Vancouver Island, we heard one end of a lengthy conversation between a distressed boater near Bellingham and the US Coast Guard. The boater had apparently grounded on a rock and was quickly taking on water. We heard only the Coast Guard dispatcher’s voice, and he remained calm, thorough in his questions, and helpful.  He dispatched a rescue boat from Bellingham, called for other vessels in the area to assist, ascertained that the sinking skipper ws wearing a life vest, and suggested that he get off his boat and into his tender. Another boater arrived shortly to assist, and it quickly became apparent that once the skipper transferred to his tender, he no longer had communication capability as his marine radio was installed on the now sinking boat.  Note to self:  bring portable hand-held marine radio as back-up to the permanently installed radio.

Thetis Island, British Columbia

Yesterday we made another lengthy (!) crossing to a new location: 20 miles from Montague Harbor to Telegraph Harbor on Thetis Island. One thing we’ve learned in recent days is that Canada has very different practices from the U.S. in terms of handling boat waste.  In the U.S. almost every place you go has a pump-out station for emptying boats’ holding tanks. Not so here. In all of the Gulf Islands, there are only 3 pump out stations we’ve been able to identify.  As our holding tank is small, we need a pump-out every 2-3 days. Apparently boaters in Canada dump their waste tank at sea, employing a macerator and sea cock, two items we don’t have on our boat (Do you see a retrofit coming? We do!)  The upshot of this is that we’re limiting the amount of time we spend on buoys in more remote locations, and alternating stays in marinas where bathroom facilities are available.  Sheesh – we go round and round about bathrooms, don’t we?

Anyway, we settled in at the Thetis Island Marina, and after ascertaining the laundry facilities were out of commission, headed out on a walk. Thetis is a small, rural island with 350 residents, most of whom are retired folks.

They have a very unique post office consisting of  perhaps 75 locking mail boxes beneath a corrugated tin roof and posts with no walls. There is a plain wood box with hinged lid in which residents drop envelopes which appear to constitute mail from one resident to another. A resident comes along periodically and distributes said mail to the appropriate residents’ box, and a Canadian postal worker comes over on the ferry each day to pick up and deliver mail from off island!  We walked the road to the Telegraph Harbor Marina at the far end of the bay to have a look and returned to Thetis Island Marina for a beer and calamari on the deck. Bob continues to search the world over for the best ever calamari – so far “The Monsoon” on Zanzibar still holds first place honors.) 

Last night we exchanged text messages with friends Jim and Phebe Richards who  boarded “Gold Rush”, (a 60-f00t trawler owned by friends Greg and Terry with whom we all did an Inside Passage trip to Ketchikan last summer) on Monday to do a trip in the vicinity of Vancouver Island and Desolation Sound for 2-3 weeks.  Turns out they were spending last night at Ganges on Saltspring Island, so this morning they came to Thetis Island to dock near us for a visit. We gave them a tour of our new boat (takes about 60 seconds) and then settled on Gold Rush to see what work Greg his done since last summer and catch up on news. What a treat to see them all here in Canadian waters!

After Greg, Terry, Jim and Phebe departed for more northerly waters, we walked the road to a B.C. Ferry dock nearby and walked on the ferry to Chemainis on Vancouver Island. The ferry arrived at Thetis 90 minutes late, having been diverted by the Coast Guard this morning for some unstated reason. Chemainis is an artsy and very touristy town, complete with 40-foot busloads of tourists, we learned on arrival. It is famous for its some 40 large murals painted on the walls of buildings around town depicting its history over the last 200 years or so, with lots of emphasis on First Nations people, logging and fishing.  The murals really are spectacular, and we wonder what inspired the town to undertake such a project.  It appears to have paid off in terms of attracting lots of folks who walk the town and take photos, no doubt spending money at the restaurants and shops that line the streets as well.

Late afternoon found us on the deck back at the marina, eating calamari and drinking a beer again. Aren’t we easy to please?

Ganges to Montague: New Territory

While this is our first time in the Canadian Gulf Islands on our own boat, we traveled to Bedwell Harbor and Ganges last year on Gold Rush (click here). Yesterday we left Ganges about noon after visiting the gas dock and pump-out station. We had a major voyage ahead of us: a whole 8 miles to Montague Harbor on Galiano Island, new territory for us. We’re staying at the Montague Provincial Marine Park which has a 300-foot floating dock and a couple dozen mooring buoys. Unfortunately all the buoys were full, so we’re tied up at the dock. Additionally, the bay has at least 3 or 4 dozen boats at anchor, though it doesn’t feel crowded except while motoring your way through to get to the dock.

 

We’re busy, or at least as busy as we allow ourselves to be, reading our boat owner’s manual, Chapman ( the boater’s bible), and the Waggoner Cruising Guide. After our experience at Sucia Island with the sailboat that slipped its anchor and almost crashed into us, we’ve undertaken a fair amount of reading regarding the gear and technique required to successfully anchor, and will be ready to give it a try on our next trip. We’ve learned that our boat is outfitted with a suitably rated anchor, but which is at the lower end of the recommended weight and only outfitted with enough chain and line (rode) to anchor successfully in 20 feet of water and in less than 20 knot winds. We suspect the designer’s plan was that the boat would typically be anchored for “lunch” stops during which the inhabitants would be sitting there watching all the time, not sleeping below deck for the night.

This afternoon we went on two walks: one beach walk to explore the park, and another down the road to the local marina to check it out, and of course stay long enough for a beer on the terrace. This cruising life is tough!

Ganges, Saltspring Island, Canada

We left Sucia Island yesterday under cloudy skies with 15mph winds and 2-foot seas. The crossing to Bedwell Harbor on South Pender Island was no fun, if also uneventful. We did note how much better the new boat handles in somewhat rough water compared to our former boat. Canadian Customs at Bedwell went smoothly, and shortly we continued northwest to Ganges on Saltspring Island, a busy harbor teeming with boats coming and going, and where the sun soon came out.

Ganges is a bustling seaside village with shops, restaurants, galleries, interesting public art, an excellent grocery and hardware store and well-developed waterfront sidewalks, pocket parks and wharfs on which to walk. It’s nicely done and somehow manages to avoid the overly-touristy feel of many such villages. We took mid-day and evening walks to town and cooked dinner in the marina on our barbecue.  We were last here one day short of a year ago, on our first day of cruising the Inside Passage aboard the trawler Gold Rush, you can read about it here. (click on the word “here”)

Today we move on to Montague Harbor on Galiano Island, a spot recommended by several folks we’ve met.

Early Morning Excitement

After a calm, pleasant, mostly sunny day yesterday during which we puttered on the boat, read our books and went for a 2-mile “hike” on Sucia Island, we started today with a bang. Literally! Cathryn woke at 5:30am because the boat was tossing around in the wind which had come up substantially during the night. She lit the catalytic heater to warm the cockpit area and settled onto the chaise with her book.

Shortly Bob came above deck, and almost immediately yelled “Look at this sailboat!” just as a bump was heard at the bow of our boat! Cathryn jumped up to see what he was yelling about, saw two feet off our bow a 32-foot sailboat banging on the buoy to which we were tied, hopped onto the bow of our boat and began yelling “Hey!” and banging with her hand on the side of the sailboat. Moments later the occupants of the sailboat emerged from below deck, bleary eyed and a bit confused, obviously roused from deep sleep. They acknowledged their anchor had slipped and scrambled to get their engine started and back away. No harm was done to either boat, but the adrenaline rush it produced certainly woke us up, and we suspect our visitors, faster than any cup of coffee!

Assuming the wind and weather settle, we’re off to the Canadian Gulf Islands today with plans to clear customs on South Pender Island followed by grocery shopping at Ganges on Saltspring Island. No telling where we’ll spend the night.

Fossil Bay Sucia lsland

Fisherman’s Bay to Fossil Bay

We woke to thick fog in Fisherman’s Bay on Lopez Island so opted for a slow start to the day. After lounging around on the boat drinking coffee until 9:30, we finally went for a run around the bay and out the spit, then got showers at the Island Marina. By noon the sun was shining brightly, and we headed toward our weekend destination: Sucia Island a couple of miles north of Orcas Island and the northernmost of the San Juan islands.

As we cruised up the east side of Orcas, we had a wonderful view of Mt. Baker to the east. Twenty-five miles and 90 minutes later we pulled into Fossil Bay on Sucia Island, one of our favorite destinations on our annual trip to the San Juans.

This year for the first time we’re on a mooring buoy rather than tied up at the dock, thanks to our new bathroom facilities. We’ve spent the whole afternoon gloating over our good fortune as we’ve watched boats fight for limited space on the dock, even rafting in one case. We’ve also observed a large volume of smoke spilling from the multiple BBQs spread across the dock. We’ve never been here on a weekend before and are amazed how busy it is. It’s 8PM and boats are still pulling in, though at this point they have to anchor, as the buoys and docks were full by 3PM.

Because we just bought the boat and outfitted it in a hurry for this trip, we’ve had a few “learnings”. One of them is that things lashed to the swim-step jiggle a lot. Our tender, an 8-foot rigid inflatable boat (RIB), is not yet connected by a davit, so it jiggled one of its’ oars off the boat which was then lost at sea! We bought a couple of cheap replacement oars on Lopez and spent time this afternoon modifying the oars to fit the tender. Here’s Cathryn hard at work. She did the planning, while Bob handled the execution (drilling).

Tomorrow we plan to hang out here on our buoy, reading or possibly going ashore for a walk; we ARE having lots of fun!

Underway Northbound

Yesterday afternoon we left the Narrows Marina in Tacoma under warm, sunny skies and headed to Seattle, where 90 minutes later we tied up at Bell Harbor Marina downtown. Shortly our daughter Mackenzie arrived via her new commute vehicle, “Scoot” (see photo) quickly followed by her husband Matt. After a quick tour of the new boat, we headed offshore from Alki Beach, cut the engine and floated for a couple hours while we ate a picnic dinner. It was warm, calm and oh so pleasant!

We slept on the king-size bed in the salon, much better than last week as we’ve added a Tempur-Pedic pad to soften things a bit. This morning we left Bell Harbor at 8am and arrived at Lopez Island at 1pm following a fuel stop in Edmonds and a route through Deception Pass instead of our usual Strait of Juan de Fuca crossing. Though we might go via Juan de Fuca again in the future, we’ll likely only do so under completely calm, clear, balmy skies as we found Deception Pass much preferable, though it’s a few miles out of the way, and the Pass itself can be tricky depending on tides and currents. Today it was a little adrenaline producing only because we’d never done it before, and it’s narrow with a lot of traffic and fast water.

We met our good friends Mary and Agnes, who own a house at Swift’s Bay here on Lopez, at the always fabulous Bay Café for appetizers and drinks. They have FIFTY relatives here for the week to celebrate Agnes’s mother’s 90^th birthday, so couldn’t stay for dinner, but we did, and enjoyed delicious Calamari Steak (a new variant for us), Golden Beets with Gorgonzola, Mussels and Pork Tenderloin.

Back at the boat Bob is figuring out how to tether Cathryn’s netbook to his Android so we can have wi-fi on the boat and deal with photos, blog writing, email and reading the newspaper anywhere we have a cell signal. The lengths we go to in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms – from our Internet Addictive Disorder, that is! It’s a sunny, mild evening, and we’re enjoying sitting in the cockpit reading and blogging. Ah, the Good Life!

We remain comfortable and happy with the new boat and are still working to finalize a Name, so anyone who wishes to participate in the Boat Naming Contest, feel free to post a comment . . .please!

Oh, and we just sent a SPOT satellite message which has astonishing detail in the photo (down to the exact marina slip at which we’re parked) so check it out in the top right hand corner on the Tab that reads “Spot US” to see our location.

Maiden Voyage

As part of our ongoing and ever-evolving quest for a near perfect existence since retirement 3 ½ years ago (“set no small goals”, we say!) we’ve sought to balance our various interests. During the winter we’ve adopted travel to Baja in our 21-foot 5^th wheel trailer as the ideal way to spend time. During the late spring and summers here in the Northwest we’ve enjoyed road trips like the recent one to Alaska, and staying at home on Puget Sound. Here at home we’ve kept an older 23-foot power boat which we’ve used mostly for day cruises and to take the kids wakeboarding, with an occasional overnight trip, staying at state park docks or marinas with our camping gear.

One year ago we upgraded from our 72-square-foot Chalet A-frame Trailer for Baja travel to our “giant” 160-square-foot 5^th wheel trailer. Last week we upgraded our boat from the23-foot cuddy cabin to a 27-foot pocket cruiser. This week we took the new boat out for her three-day maiden voyage. Our purpose, other than to just get out on the water, was to familiarize ourselves with the boat and figure out what we need to bring or buy to stock the boat for longer cruises.

So for our first trip, we cruised into the familiar territory of south Puget Sound. Leaving the marina near the Tacoma Narrows bridge where the boat is temporarily moored, we headed south around Fox Island, then past the south end of the Key Peninsula, and continued to the north end of Harstene Island to Jarrell Cove State Park. There we hooked on to a mooring buoy in the middle of the cove. This is the sort of thing we’ve always wanted to do, but the lack of “facilities” on the old boat always kept us tied up at a dock where we could access the park’s or marina’s facilities.

We were joined a few hours later by our friends and neighbors George and Josi, who moored just fifty yards away. We spent two nights at Jarrell Cove and took turns preparing dinner onboard our boats. During our stay we took our tender to shore so we could run on the roads, or walk in the forest, and took a day cruise on Case Inlet and Fair Harbor marina.

It was a great first trip, and the new boat lived up to all our hopes. Next week we leave for a 12-day trip to the San Juan Islands, and possibly further north into the Canadian Gulf Islands if the weather cooperates. We’re getting closer to our goal: a near perfect existence!

7,818 Miles

We’re home!  We can hardly fathom that we covered 7,818 miles in only 5 weeks.  British Columbia, The Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories and Alaska are VERY big places!  We totaled more miles than if we’d driven from Seattle to the Florida Keys and back. Quite a few more.  As we’ve written more than once, we have a new appreciation for what the word “vast” means.

A trip such as the one we’ve just completed is well worth taking.  Other than our 2008 trip to Africa in which we went on safari, we’ve never seen such an amazing collection of wildlife.  It simply doesn’t exist anymore in the lower 48, Europe and other places we’ve traveled.  Seeing animals in their natural habitat is a very moving experience, nothing like seeing them in photos or a zoo.

Additionally, experiencing a chunk of the planet in its much more natural state further heightens our appreciation for the environment, and our concern for the abuse we people are heaping upon it. Trees, glaciers and animals are all in serious jeopardy.  Why we humans think we can continue to survive if everything else on the planet continues to decline completely eludes us.  We’re not oblivious to the irony in noting that we burned 600 gallons of fuel, and that each gallon burned produces 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, to make this trip. Bob is feeling guilty enough that he’s researching ways to buy carbon offsets.

So, to our family and friends: we hope to see you soon! To our fellow travelers and blog readers we’ve never met: we hope you’ve enjoyed traveling with us through this blog, and we hope we may enjoy reading your blog, or even meeting you somewhere along the road.  Happy travels!

Chainsaw Carving and Horses

Chetwynd, where we spent last night, calls itself the “Chainsaw Capital of the World”.  And for good reason perhaps.  Chetwynd is not a large city, or town, but it appears to have as many chainsaw sculptures as residents. Maybe more. We had no idea just how creative and interesting chainsaw carvings could be!  Check out the display at the southern entrance into the town. Then imagine the rest of the town with scatterings of sculptures, as well as many individual homes displaying their own carving.

“The Horse” (that would be us) is now galloping back to the barn.  We’re on our way to Penticton where we’ll visit friends, then cross the border back into the U.S. the following morning, then to our home4-5 hours later.  We’ve loved this trip, and we’re eager to return to our own bed, bathroom and home, and looking forward to re-connecting with family and friends.  What a journey . . . a little under 8,000 miles in one month plus one day!

No Excuse: Highway Robbery

We drove from Fort Nelson to Chetwynd, B.C. via the Hudson Hope Highway today. Wildlife sightings totaled one fox and one black bear. The Alaska Highway between Fort Nelson and Fort St. John was the best piece of highway (in terms of quality of the surface) we’ve traveled on the whole trip, and it was fun looking off to the north side of the road and seeing several stretches of the “old highway” winding back and forth through the woods. The Hudson Hope Highway travels through the Peace River Valley which was absolutely gorgeous! Signs along the highway suggest there’s a new dam being proposed, which is far from universally popular (there are already two on this stretch of the river). We don’t know the details, but ceding any portion of the Peace River Valley would be quite a loss.

Now on to the topic which produced the headline for today’s post. Since we don’t have much to report on today’s journey, and because we know several people are following our blog as they prepare for their trip north, let us report on what we think was the biggest rip-off we experienced on the entire trip.

Yesterday after we left Liard Hot Springs and drove south, we passed a couple of gas stations, but because we still had more than half a tank, we kept on driving, thinking we’d fill up somewhere further down the road. By the time we got to Muncho Lake Provincial Park we needed fuel to make it to Fort Nelson. So we pulled into the Northern Rockies Lodge which advertises itself as the “only full service resort between Watson Lake and Fort Nelson”. We pulled up at the pump and did a double take: could the pump really say $1.72 per liter ($6.47/gallon U.S.) for regular gasoline? We had only paid $1.42 a liter ($5.34/gallon U. S.) in Inuvick, 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Yep, that was the price. We bought the absolute minimum it took to get to Fort Nelson.

We know it costs more to get fuel into these remote areas, but we saw prices $0.50/liter less within 50 miles on each side of this resort. So there is no excuse for this price; it is nothing more than greed. If you’re passing this way, we encourage you to plan ahead and make sure you drive right by this rip-off. OK, we got that off our chests.

Down time at the Hot Springs; Bison not Buffalo

We left our boon dock location this morning and drove 50 miles to Liard Hot Springs. This is a provincial park and quite popular. The main hot springs are half a mile from the parking lot via a boardwalk, and have restrooms and changing rooms at the pools. If you go here, consider walking 5 minutes beyond the main pool to the Beta Pool.

This pool is deeper and cooler than the lower springs, but when we walked there after getting out of the main pool, no one else was there! The lower pools were quite warm depending on where you sat, up to 110 degrees, but with other spots that were closer to bath temperature.

While there were perhaps 25 people in the pool, it’s large enough that it didn’t seem crowded and we weren’t forced to converse with other people as we relaxed. Worth the stop.

After the hot springs we traveled mostly east, just south of the Yukon Territory/British Columbia border to Fort Nelson, BC where we’re spending the night. There has been a clear change in the landscape since we left Whitehorse. We don’t know the terminology, but the northern spruce forests and permafrost landscape has changed to pine and birch forests and a more Rocky Mountain/Cascades environment. One other change we noticed: Bob got up briefly about 2am last night and . . . . drum roll . . . . it was ALMOST DARK!

As we drove along today, another change occurred. The signs which before always warned to be on the lookout for moose, have changed to be on the lookout for buffalo, and we saw LOTS!!

One editorial comment: Despite the official Government of Canada signs warning us to be on the lookout for buffalo, a Google search convinces us we were actually seeing bison. We’ll let you do your own research if you want to find out the difference. And one final note about wildlife and highways living in close proximity: at several points along the Alaska Highway we’ve seen signs announcing “245 moose-vehicle collisions so far this winter – slow down!” Today we noticed a truck off in the ditch, trees and bushes on the south side of the highway (no person inside) and a dead bison on the adjacent north side. We didn’t take photographs, but took this to be a more graphic warning of the consequences if one fails to take seriously the warnings to keep alert for wildlife near the highway.

Somewhere North of Liard Hot Springs

We left Whitehorse at 9:30 after our wonderful socialized medicine experience with a couple of options available to us: 1) stop about 100 miles east at Teslin Lake to go kayaking if the weather looked good, or 2) continue on to Watson Lake. Option one didn’t work out due to clouds, cold and wind, so we went with option two. When we arrived at Watson Lake at 3pm it was still rainy and cool, and we couldn’t divine any real reason to stop as we’d been here on our northbound journey and already seen the sights. So again, we continued on, east by southeast and re-entered British Columbia. As we drove, we saw pairs of buffalo in two locations (our first of this trip) and a young grizzly bear, all immediately adjacent to the road.

Around 4:30 we tired of driving but weren’t near any destination. The Liard River paralleled the road, so it occurred to us perhaps we could find a spot to boon dock. And did we ever! We spied a dirt road on the south side of the highway and pulled over to investigate. What we found was a camping spot 200 yards off and invisible from the highway, with a view of the river surrounded by a dense grove of birch trees. We checked it out, Bob did a little tight maneuvering and parked in the perfect spot. And the sun was out! Bob began work outside the trailer dropping the stabilizer legs, pulling out the camp chairs and planning to have a beer while gazing at the river.

Cathryn was hauling things out of the truck to put in the trailer. Suddenly Bob yelled at Cathryn: “Get in the truck, now!” For once, the unusual urgency in his voice made her scramble to respond without asking “Why?” She jumped in the passenger door, and clambered over the console into the driver’s seat so Bob could jump in behind her. With both windows open, we listened to something crashing through the woods nearby, peering around to see what it might be. A bear? A buffalo? No, finally we spotted a huge female moose, at least 9’ tall at the shoulders, about 20 feet away in the woods! We watched for several minutes while she peered at us, finally deciding we were scary, so she wandered away in the other direction. Whew!

After our heartbeats subsided, we settled by the river and had our beer, but we played some music loud enough that no bear or moose would be surprised we were around, and kept our can of wasp spray close at hand! Oh, you wonder why we have wasp spray? It’s illegal to transport mace or pepper spray into Canada, we don’t carry guns, and we’d read that wasp spray is actually better than mace or pepper spray because it’s easier to aim and the spray shoots farther, so whether you’re concerned about animals or human intruders, wasp spray is a good weapon!

Alaska, here they come!

On our northbound journey we often drove many miles between sightings of other vehicles and stayed in campgrounds which were relatively empty. Since we left the Kenai Peninsula 4 days ago, we’ve noticed a sharp up-tick in the number of RVs on the road and campers in the campgrounds. Last night was the strongest indicator yet that the summer migration of folks headed to Alaska has begun in earnest. Two weeks ago we stayed at the Hi Country RV Camp just outside Whitehorse, a large place with more than 100 sites which was perhaps 20% full.  Last night we stayed there again and found it more than 90% full. Today on the Alaska Highway there’s a steady stream of pickup trucks with campers, motor homes, and trucks pulling trailers all headed north, as we head south. Our friend Gene (the camp host at Deep Creek Beach) had told us we’d be traveling on the “shoulders” of the primary summer season of travelers, and would encounter smaller crowds as a result. The last few days confirms the accuracy of that statement as the highway now looks like a river during salmon-spawning season, only in this case the fish are RVs!

Socialized Medicine, round 2

We’ve had a second occasion to sample the offerings of that nasty Canadian “socialized medicine” we keep hearing about in the U.S. news. Cathryn developed a minor eye infection and hoped it would clear on its own, so hasn’t been wearing contact lenses for a bit. No such luck. Yesterday on arrival in Whitehorse, we asked for directions to a walk-in clinic and learned it opened at 9am Monday. As we wanted to be on the road quickly, we arrived early this morning in hopes of being patient #1 of the day. At 8:45 a.m. Cathryn found the clinic doors open, walked in, and found Dr. Bekhit there alone, as the receptionist hadn’t arrived for the day. On seeing Cathryn enter, he greeted her, had her fill out a brief information sheet and health history, and took her into an exam room.  Ten minutes later, having paid her $60, she walked out with a prescription for Tobramycin optical drops and directions to a nearby pharmacy, where the prescription was filled in 10 minutes for $15. We’re sure Canada’s medical system has its faults, as all do, but so far based on two encounters, we’re utterly charmed by the ease, cost and quality of care we’ve received.

Kluane Lake and Some Alaska Observations

We’re at Kluane Lake in Destruction Bay, Yukon Territory, 200 miles east of Tok. We plan to spend two nights here, kayaking on the lake if the weather cooperates. We thought we’d offer some initial impressions of Alaska.

In short, two words: vast and empty.

Vast: The size of Alaska is equal to 20% of the surface area of the lower 48 states (bigger, even, than Texas) and only has about 600,000 people in the entire state. The southern portion of Alaska is a lot like where we live in the Puget Sound region of Western Washington: very green, except the trees are mostly White or Black Spruce, not Douglas Fir, and there are more deciduous trees; and mountains, except the mountains are all a few thousand feet higher than ours at home.

Empty: To give some perspective to those of you in the Puget Sound area about how empty it feels, imagine western Washington if Seattle/King County only had 237,000 residents (its population in 1910) and the rest of western Washington were proportionally reduced in population. Given the topography and vegetation of the Puget Sound region, and this reduced population, you begin to have a sense of what it feels like up here. Except Alaska is about 50 times the size of western Washington. It’s astonishing how little traffic there is, how few freeways (only one near Anchorage we’ve seen), and how few people we see anywhere we go.

We’ll add more observations later, but will start with these.

Moose, Frost Heave and Mosquitoes

Ever since we began our research for this trip, three things we were warned about, repeatedly, were moose leaping in front of vehicles, frost heave on the highway, and mosquitoes the size of bats! After a month on the road, never having a problem with any of the afore-mentioned threats, we’ve become sanguine. Well, today proved it’s never a good idea to let your guard down on a road trip to Alaska!

Just after heading down the highway east from Tok, AK this morning, Bob yelled “Moose!”  Sure enough, leaping out of  the trees and bushes on the side of the highway, not far in front of our truck, was a large female moose! Cathryn hit the brakes while Bob grabbed his camera and started clicking away, even as the moose quickly disappeared into the bushes on the opposite side of the highway. No harm, no foul, just an adrenaline rush that took some time to subside.

“Milepost” serves as the Bible for Alaska road travelers, a book which describes, literally mile-by-mile, the entire length of the various highways from the lower 48 and throughout  Alaska, telling history, what services are available, location of visitors centers and campgrounds and much more. About the stretch of road we traveled today, from Tok, AK to Destruction Bay, Yukon Territory (YT), Milepost has this to say: “According to Public Works Yukon, much of the soil along the north Alaska Highway is of glacial origin and unsuitable for road embankments. Anything that causes the permafrost to melt will cause the ice-rich soil to liquefy, and liquid soil has little strength and will settle or subside. Then if this soil refreezes during lower air temperature, it will expand or heave. This process wreaks havoc on the drivability of the road surface by creating undulations and cracking.”   Well, in our view, this is an understatement! This segment of highway is reportedly the worst the entire length of the Alaska Highway, and we found ourselves driving 30 mph much of today. On arrival at Kluane Lake at the end of the day, we found inside the trailer that two upper cabinets had popped open despite taking the extra precaution of securing them with bungee cords on the door pulls, and several items had fallen to the floor – fortunately none made of glass! No snoozing today while riding shotgun, as the road was simply too rough.

The large mosquitoes are out in droves here at Kluane Lake, despite the fact it was 49 degrees, overcast, and the wind blowing hard enough to raise white-caps on the water on our arrival.  We’d have liked to sit outside, but the weather prevented it, so the mosquitoes didn’t bother us at all tonight. And we have a spectacular campsite, (dry camping with no hook-ups) right on the shore of the beautiful lake, with no other campers in sight.  We remain happy and well!

Back at Tok AK

We’re back in Tok, Alaska, less than two weeks after entering the mainland (there must be a term for the main body of Alaska that doesn’t include the panhandle of “Southeast”, but we don’t know what it is). We’re moving faster than we thought we would for a couple of reasons. One, Bob’s back continues to bother him a bit, and as a result we haven’t been able to do the hiking and kayaking we’d intended to fill our “no drive” days with, and second we’ve had some personal reasons to want to get back to Seattle a week or so earlier than we’d planned when we left home. We’ve been moving quickly, but have gone everywhere on the itinerary, and even added a few stops. The cooler, wetter weather since we’ve been on the mainland also contributed to our moving right along. We always intended this to be our “survey trip”, much like we thought of our first trip to Baja, and we’ve accomplished our objective. Now if anyone ever asks for an opinion on whether they should go to Alaska, or where they should go, they will get an ear full!

Bob hasn’t decided if he can handle another visit to Fast Eddy’s in Tok for another Musher Omelette tomorrow. He thinks we should go and split one; Cathryn’s thinking she’ll go for a run instead.

By the way, during the winter it gets to 80 degrees BELOW O here in Tok.