Homer to Vancouver

The road trip from Homer, Alaska to Vancouver, BC took longer than anticipated. The daylight hours were short and road conditions were not great. We managed to stay ahead of the worst of the snow through Alaska, but, our luck ran out in Yukon and we had snow covered roads through the Territory and well into northern BC. We'd been wondering whether the winter tires we'd installed earlier, in Whitehorse, would be a waste of money, but, we were very grateful to have them...

These were typical highway conditions southbound through Yukon. Luckily, we didn't see much traffic.

Reports of more impending snow coming behind us spurred us on and we drove continuously through the daylight hours. Temperatures were also dropping. We awoke to -18C and heavy snow cover in Watson Lake, Yukon. It was crisp! We weren't sure how comfortable the van would be as it isn't insulated, but, surprisingly it was fine. Its little propane furnace, along with winter weight goose down duvets, kept us reasonably comfortable.

The weather improved the further south we went. Once we were well into BC, conditions reverted to autumn with colourful leaves and no snow.

Stunning water colour near Lillooet BC, hard to believe it' really looks like this!

Mountain lake near Lillooet BC

Looking at this picture reminds me of the beautiful pine fragrance that was along this footpath, near Lillooet BC

From autumn-like conditions in the middle of BC we then entered the rain forest area near Vancouver with its brilliantly coloured moss and lichens along with green grass, fully-leafed trees, flowers and balmy temperatures around +13C. It took about a week until we finally arrived in Vancouver. We'd seen all four seasons in one week of road travel!

The final part of the drive, down BC Highway 99 from Cache Creek, through Lillooet, Whistler and Vancouver, was also the most scenic of all the miles we traveled this year. This stretch of the 'Sea-to-Sky' highway is absolutely magnificent. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures as there were very few places to pull over (and I was hanging onto the seat for dear life). The road is narrow, twisty and in many places drops hundreds of metres, without any guard rails, to the floor of steep Fraser River gorges. It's not for the faint of heart. It runs first through desert-like Cariboo country, then the Coast Mountains and eventually you end up along the Pacific shoreline with an easy run down to Vancouver. A spectacular finale to a very long road trip.

CONTINUE READING

Dawson City to Homer

The drive from Dawson City, Yukon to Homer, Alaska was a treat. The northerly route we'd planned to take via Tok, Alaska was not possible as the Top-of-the-World Highway and its border crossing was closed for the season (on September 20 already). This meant we had to retrace our steps a bit and travel through Whitehorse. We remembered Whitehorse as a rather sleepy place that I think still had dirt streets on our last visit many years ago when we arrived by railroad. What a difference today. It's a wonderful little town with all the services you could want. Unlike other northern towns, such as Yellowknife, whose downtown is tired, rough around the edges and displays its social problems on every streetcorner, Whitehorse impressed us as clean, full of new businesses, young people and bursting with promise. Pride of ownership and community spirit was evident everywhere. We stayed a couple of nights and enjoyed our visit very much. About 70% of the entire Yukon population lives in Whitehorse. It's a little jewel surrounded by accessible wilderness.

While in Whitehorse, we also took the opportunity to install four new winter tires. This unexpected cost wasn't in the plan, but, the snow was coming right behind us and there were many mountain passes we'd have to cross on the way south with potentially treacherous driving conditions. We also learned that chains, or, snow tires are mandatory on BC highways from October 1, so, we would be breaking the law without them. We didn't want to just throw away our still-good summer tires and were in a quandary about what to do with them. Another example of great small town service was that the shop would store our summer tires for us and we can pick them up for reinstallation on our way north next spring!

Once on the road again, we passed through stunning mountain scenery. Actually, I stopped taking photographs as there were just too many wonderful vistas at every bend in the road. As you can see from the photos below, the unbelievable weather continued, just look at those clear blue skies, we could only wonder, how long can it possibly last?

Thompson Pass - on the way to Seward, AK. The poles are for snowplow orientation during heavy winter snowfalls.

Leftmost photo is Kluane National Park, rightmost is Thompson Pass,

Sea otters are very endearing creatures.  We'd never seen one before coming to Alaska. They lay mostly on their backs. Once in a while they'll roll over and dive to the bottom to pick up a fresh crab which they then audibly crunch with long rodent-like teeth.

Exit Glacier, Seward Alaska.  It was an easy walk to the glacier snout, but, the weather was no longer ideal.

Mile 0 of the historic Iditarod Trail, Seward. Alaska. In our posting about Nome, you may recall seeing the photo of the end of the Iditarod Trail sled dog race held every year.

We're now back in Homer finishing up Gjoa's winterization and collecting a few things prior to heading south. Homer is a great little town also. At first, we didn't like its totally decentralized structure, but, now that we have a vehicle it's much easier to get around. The scenery is spectacular. Kachemak Bay is currently full of whales. You can go to the end of the Spit and see humpbacks, minkes and even orcas blowing and breaching. It's actually kind of late for the whales to be here, nobody knows why they're still around this year, but, we're enjoying them while we can. It's been another few days of wonderful weather and we got our bikes out for a tour along the Spit's paved bike path.

We recently saw an interesting bumper sticker on a car that brought a laugh:

"Homer, AK, a quaint fishing town with a Subaru problem."

It's true! The first thing we noticed about Homer is that every second car is a Subaru Outback. Haven't a clue why...

CONTINUE READING

Fort Simpson to Dawson City

Many years ago we were caught by 'The Spell of the Yukon'. It wasn't gold that drew us as in Robert Service's poem of the same name, but, the amazing history of that gold rush of 1898 and how it opened up Canada's North.

From Robert Service's poem, the Spell of the Yukon, as seen on the side of a building in Dawson City.

Back then, we traveled to Yukon by government ferry, sleeping on deck, up the Inside Passage to Skagway and then hiked the thirty-three miles from Dyea to Lake Bennett with tent and sleeping bags on our back.

Yes, we climbed over the summit as shown in this famous photo. It wasn't as thickly snow-covered when we did it, but, that probably made it harder because we had to climb over slippery, car-sized boulders and steep scree to get to the top. At least we only had to do it once. The fortune hunters had to do it many times to carry their supplies over the top.

It was so long ago that you didn't need to have a reservation and a permit like you do now. There was no road through the White Pass then either. We picked up the narrow gauge railway at Lake Bennett and rode it into Whitehorse. Due to work commitments we had to fly out from there. It always felt like unfinished business that we didn't get to do the entire trip to Dawson City. In the interim period, the dream was kept alive with our very own dog sled and Alaskan Malamutes named 'Klondike' and 'Grey Cloud'. Now, finally, we were determined to finish the entire Trail of '98 and see Dawson city for ourselves.

This time we were doing the trip in comparative luxury with our camper van. We chose to drive the less-traveled roads, one of which was the Robert Campbell Highway from Watson lake to Carmacks. There was so little traffic that we only saw one other car in two and a half hours of driving! It was single lane in places and mostly gravel and mud. We thought we'd see lots of wildlife, but, were disappointed, our vehicle was probably making too much noise.

Driving into Dawson City, we were immediately taken with the ambience. The whole town is a National Historic Site and strict regulations have kept the buildings in the style of the period.

Some of the buildings are still in their original condition, these two are badly tilted due to permafrost issues.

And some of the buildings are beautifully restored, this is the Palace Grand Theatre.

This is the building that has the 'Spell of the Yukon' painted on the outside wall.

Although most attractions were closed 'two weeks ago' and a lot of the town was actually boarded up for the winter, we still enjoyed walking around and visiting sites both in and out of town.

We drove out to the site of the original gold claim on Bonanza Creek and to see this Dredge, what an incredible machine, wooden-hulled, it basically moved itself along on a self-dug pond, digging up gravel at the front, running it through a sluice box inside to extract the gold and spitting out gravel in huge worm-like castings out the back. The landscape has basically been destroyed with these huge casting trails still intact.

We drove up to the Midnight Dome overlooking the town and the Yukon River. Note the snow cover and the beautiful mountain view in the background.

View of Dawson City and the Yukon River from the Midnight Dome which overlooks the town.

It was great to see Pierre Berton's childhood home where he lived until the age of twelve. Unfortunately, it's not open to the public. It was interesting to find out that Berton had a dog, also named 'Grey Cloud', just like ours.

A riverboat being restored.

Yukon River ferry crossing.

CONTINUE READING

Yellowknife to Fort Simpson

We picked up the van in Yellowknife and as all the campgrounds were closed 'two weeks ago' we decided to 'boondock' (in sailing we'd call it 'gunkholing', in RV-speak it's called 'boondocking') for the first night. We drove out about twenty-five miles along the Ingraham Trail and found a quiet spot overlooking a lake. All was well and we enjoyed this beautiful sunset.

Boondocking along the Ingraham Trail - Yellowknife, NT

After the sun set, it then got very dark and we were surprised when a van pulled into the lot in front of us and quickly switched off their headlights. A few people got out, they lit up cigarettes and hung around beside the van. We couldn't figure out why they would be here and were getting a little nervous when they kept hanging around. It got more mysterious when suddenly a few of them tiptoed by our van and headed down to the beach. As they went by we heard whispering, in Japanese! It was a tour group looking for the Aurora Borealis and they'd been driven out to this remote spot for a prime view. Guess they were as surprised as us to find the spot occupied. They spent an hour or two by the water, we identified their location by the little red lights shining brightly from each camera phone. It was a fairly cloudy evening and I doubt they saw anything and they left after a few hours. Yellowknife and environs really push Aurora tours. We often wonder how many tourists actually get to see the Aurora as it's really a matter of luck and being in the right place at the right time.

Next day we headed out on the highway towards Fort Simpson. We were really hoping we weren't 'two weeks too late' to miss an opportunity to visit Nahanni National Park, another dream destination for us. Fort Simpson is located on an island at the junction of the Mackenzie and Liard Rivers. It was fun taking the car ferry across the Liard and watching the skill of the captain as he docked against the fierce current. 'Docking' isn't really the right word as there is no dock. He basically lined the ferry up sideways to a gravel/sand beach area, slammed sideways into the shore and then pivoted around. Once perpendicular to the shore the engine was revved to hold us in place long enough so that they could drop the ramp and we could drive off.

We made our way directly to Simpson Air to enquire about a floatplane trip into the park. The only access to the South Nahanni is by airplane. They were still open and available and the weather looked great for the next day. With just the two of us, we opted for the cheapest option which was the flyover of Virginia Falls. After we'd booked and settled into our van for the evening, the owner of Simpson Air came by (it's not a big place). He had a third person for tomorrow and would we be interested in the longer trip option where we could land above the falls and do a walking tour for the same price? Would we be interested? Of course!

Virginia Falls, Nahanni National Park. Our floatplane landed on the river above the falls, look closely and you can see the dock at the upper left.

A closer view, the rock in the middle has been named Mason's Rock after Bill Mason (the canoeing icon) who worked for the establishment of the park.

The trusty little Cessna that got us there, note the snow patch. It was a beautiful clear, cold day with fresh snow on the walking trail to the falls.

On the way back.

We also landed on Little Doctor Lake in the park. Our descent took us very low and we flew right through that notch in the cliffs which was exciting. We met up with another Simpson Air plane already there.

CONTINUE READING

On the road again

Now that Gjoa is safely ashore until probably next May when we relaunch, we won't be writing about sailing travel for a while. Although we won't be sailing, we hope to still do some interesting things over the winter and will continue to post on occasion.

It's been just over two weeks since Gjoa's liftout and we have been on another whirlwind road trip since then. As I wrote earlier in the year, we acquired a camper van in the spring and drove it from Toronto, ON (Ontario) to Yellowknife, NT (Northwest Territories) and left it there while we completed the Northwest Passage by sailboat. The plan was to continue the road trip west in the fall, rendezvous with Gjoa in Homer to pick up a few things and then continue down towards Vancouver for the winter. 

Yellowknife to Homer, via Dawson City (we didn't complete the planned leg to Inuvik)

It's been a fabulous trip so far, except for the recurring theme of the trip which was: we're just two weeks too late. We'd planned to head west mid-September, but, due to losing a week to the crane operator fiasco in Cambridge Bay and a week lost waiting for the tide to haulout in Homer, we didn't get underway until October. We tried to arrange transit from Homer to Whitehorse where we could get a flight to Yellowknife. The bus service stopped running 'two weeks ago'. We then thought maybe we could get a ferry from Homer to Skagway and somehow from there to Whitehorse. The last service was 'two weeks ago'.  We ended up having to fly Homer>Anchorage>Seattle>Calgary>Yellowknife. It was a marathon four-airplane day, but, we got there.

During the drive back to Homer, all the campgrounds, parks, attractions and visitor centres were closed 'two weeks ago'. Luckily, nature was still open and the scenery was truly spectacular. The weather cooperated and we continued to get incredibly sunny, clear and warm days ideal for traveling through the mountains. The fall colour was muted and mostly past its prime (two weeks ago would have been better!), but, it was still very beautiful and probably much more interesting than a summer trip when everything is just green.

Winter weather was never very far behind. Many times we'd leave a place only to learn that snow had arrived the next day. In Dawson City we soon realized we'd have to abandon our plans to drive the Dempster Highway from Dawson City to Inuvik. This was going to be the highlight of the trip, but, common sense prevailed. We had snow while in Dawson City and rivers and lakes were starting to freeze over. The day we'd planned to start the Dempster it was winter driving conditions north of Ft. McPherson and 100 km hour winds through the Richardson Mountains. We had visions of taking the ferry to Inuvik and getting trapped by a partial freezeup. We'd then have to wait about three weeks for the winter ice road to form before we could cross back over. So, we were very disappointed, but, as we were not prepared to drive in such harsh conditions we had to reluctantly give the Dempster a miss. Maybe another time....

The border crossing into Alaska on the Top of the World highway, the highway itself and the Denali highway were also closed 'two weeks ago' which meant we had to drive the long way back from Dawson City to Whitehorse and cross into Alaska there instead. 

In the next couple of posts we'll share some of the incredible sights we've seen along the way so far. We should be back in Homer tomorrow and will be there a couple of weeks before starting out once again for the journey south to Vancouver. 

CONTINUE READING

Liftout

While waiting for a big enough tide to lift Gjoa we were blessed with an entire week of fabulous fall weather in Homer, Alaska. Day after day of sunshine, clear skies and warm temperatures. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, on Friday, liftout day, the skies were cloudy and the rain soon started. We made our way from the harbour over to the boatyard travelift. At least it was still reasonably warm. We arrived with numerous other boats and the boatyard called us in one by one. High tide came and went and we were starting to get a little worried. The tide was eighteen feet, but, we weren't sure how much that translated to at the shoreline. We were the deepest draft boat and we thought they would take us in just before high tide. Ten minutes after high tide, they called us. It's a bit daunting driving your boat directly towards the shore, but, we nailed the approach and were lined up perfectly to enter the travelift area. We got over the first strap and then stopped dead. We were aground! With the tide now dropping very rapidly there was nothing to do but reverse away quickly otherwise we wouldn't get out at all. With our hopes dashed, we dejectedly made our way back to the harbour, soaking wet and miserable. The yard said "you told us you needed six feet and we had six feet of water." We replied, yes six feet is our draft, but, we also need at least an additional six inches or so to float! They probably should have realized this, but, we probably should have been more specific as well. With eighteen feet of tide we assumed that there would be plenty of water. Luckily, the yard was able to fit us in the next day when the tide was going to be a foot and a half higher. With enough water, it all went very smoothly. The yard was professional and efficient and before we knew it Gjoa was in her winter home, safe and sound.

The lift.

Crossing the road.

An unorthodox cradling method, quick and efficient, hopefully it works!

CONTINUE READING

Homer Arrival

Friday, September 18, 2015
Homer, Alaska
59°36.3'N 151°25.6'W

We made it! We are tied up in Homer Harbour, a snug little haven. The passage from Unimak Strait was fairly uneventful, just one short, vicious weather front that rolled through the night after we passed by Unimak. Why do fifty knot gusts always occur at 2 a.m.? The last night crossing Cook Inlet from Shelikof Strait was a little rocky too with wind in the low 30's and tide to deal with, but, overall not too bad.

We saw a large pod of whales around the Shumagin Islands and one surfaced fairly close to us just an hour out of Homer. Weather was mostly the usual, foggy and grey. The nights were very long and very black. It was dismal coming into Homer with fog and pouring rain, but, now that we're here, the sun is out and it is very beautiful. There was fresh snow on the mountains last night. There are trees! There is grass! There are flowers! You don't realize how much you miss them until you haven't had them while in the Arctic for the past year. The fall colours are probably still about two weeks from their peak. The grocery store was a revelation, stuffed with fresh produce and everything else you could want. Paved roads are also a welcome change from Arctic mud and dust.

We're still making arrangements for haulout here. There is only one boatyard that can do it and we hadn't realized they were tide dependent. There won't be enough water until next Friday, at the earliest, until they can handle our two metre draft. So, we are 'stuck' here for at least a week waiting for haulout. It will delay our plans to get over to Yellowknife to pick up the van, but, we can start making headway on winterization activities here, so, not a bad thing. Maybe we can fit in a bit of touring as well. Lots of possibilities, but, it's boring, and very necessary, showers and laundry first today...

Bishop's Beach, Homer, Alaska

East End, Homer, Alaska

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

CONTINUE READING

Nome to Unimak

Sunday, September 13, 2015
Unimak Strait, Alaska
54°21.1'N 164°58.4'W

As planned, we departed Nome on Monday for a straight run across the Bering Sea to Unimak Strait. Unimak Strait is the first ship passage SW of the Alaska Peninsula into the Bering Sea. It would allow us to pass through to the south side of that iconic string of islands known as the Aleutians. The Coast Pilot doesn't mince words when it talks about Bering Sea weather. It says "the weather over the Bering Sea is generally bad and very changeable. Good weather is the exception and it does not last long when it does occur." It continues with more along the same lines, but, that probably gives you an idea of what it can be like. We left with a good forecast for four days of strong northerlies. We were looking forward to a fast passage over this desolate stretch of water. The passage, about six hundred miles, took six days, two of which ended up having gale force winds. When you're offshore, there's no safe harbour to run to when the weather forecast changes unexpectedly. Our weapon of choice for these gales was to just keep sailing, fast! We were going in the right direction and Gjoa just took it in her stride. We were treated to a fine display of Aurora Borealis one night, so, that was a plus.

We didn't hear a single voice on the VHF, or, see any other ships, even on the AIS, for the whole six days. That all changed when we got near to Unimak. We were then surrounded by many fishing boats and multiple freighters transiting the Pass. There is a significant tide through the Strait (2-6 knots) and we tried to time our passage accordingly. We missed our window by about two hours and as night was falling, decided to wait the twelve hours for the next one, in daylight. So, we jogged along, dodging boats all night and lined up for the morning. We were in the right place at the right time, the conditions were calm and we just coasted through. In retrospect, we didn't get the tide boost we'd hoped for and we probably could have gone through at any time as there didn't seem to be much current.

Now in the North Pacific Ocean, we are about five hundred miles from Homer (but who's counting?) and hope to get in, all things considered, by the end of the week.

Scotch Cap - Unimak Pass, Alaska

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

CONTINUE READING

Nome Arrival

Saturday, September 5, 2015
Nome, Alaska
64°30.0'N 165°25.2'W

We arrived at Nome, Alaska around midnight last night after a gentle, fast day of sailing down from the Bering Strait. This morning we tied up in the small boat harbour, the only sailboat, on a dock lined with gold dredgers. After twenty-five days aboard to get here, we're enjoying some time in 'quiet' mode where the world stops moving for a while. It won't last for long though as we plan to get underway again on Monday for the last leg of this journey. We have a busy day tomorrow refueling and reprovisioning etc. It was a drizzly day here today, but, the temperature was 55°F and that felt like quite a treat.

Every boat in the small boat harbour is aluminum, Gjoa fits right in.

For those of you who don't know Nome, it was founded as a gold rush town around 1901. There is still gold mining going on here today. It's mostly small scale with individuals, or, small companies, working dredges along the shorelines in town. The people working the dredges are of the northern 'type': fiercely independent, stubborn, hard-working, dreamers who've come together at a frontier looking for the good life. Some find it, most don't, just like in 1901.

In our continuing series of Norwegian links and coincidences there are also many Roald Amundsen links with Nome. There is a bust of Amundsen here on Front St. with an identical one installed at Ny Alesund, Spitsbergen, Norway. We saw the bust at Ny Alesund while there in 2011 and now we have seen its twin here in Nome. The busts were installed to commemorate Amundsen's airship flight over the North Pole in 1926. The flight started in Ny Alesund and ended at Teller, Alaska, a community close to Nome. Nome is also the place where Amundsen's 'Maud' was seized by bailiffs, prior to being sold.

Roald Amundsen

The town's name is a tourism marketer's dream come true. Some of the cheesy phrases encountered so far are:

Nome, sweet Nome
What's in a Nome
Nome at Last
There's no place like Nome

I'm sure there must be others, have a go...

Another claim to fame for Nome, is that it is the end of the Iditarod sled dog race which runs from Anchorage to Nome and follows a historic trail route once used as an overland winter supply route.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

CONTINUE READING

Arctic Circle

Thursday, September 3, 2015
Bering Strait
65°N 168°W

Map of Arctic Circle (Image: Wiki)

It's been a long, slow, slog to get here to the Bering Strait from Point Barrow. One day's really great sailing (yesterday) averaging over six knots all day and four days of no wind requiring the motor to be on 24/7. However, we're glad to be here as it's another milestone for Gjoa. Continuing on our southbound journey, we just passed the Arctic Circle, at latitude 66°N. The Arctic Circle is a line that defines seasons of total dark and total light in the north. Above this line, twenty-four hour sunlight/darkness is experienced for some period of the year. The length of the period varies by location. Crossing the Arctic Circle also 'officially' defines the end of a North West Passage transit, so, for whatever it's worth, I guess we've completed it now.

The Bering Strait, forty-four miles between Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska (USA) and Cape Dezhneva, Siberia (Russia), is the gateway between the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea in the Pacific Ocean. So, we are now sailing in our third ocean having been in the Atlantic, Arctic and now the Pacific. Heading due south now, the whole of the Pacific and all its promise, lies in front of our bow.

The Strait is narrow and has a couple of islands in the middle (Diomedes) that, I'm sure on a clear day it is very scenic with Russia to starboard and the USA to port. Today, in the fog, we can see nothing, we have to conjure up the images in our mind's eye. Voices speaking Russian on the VHF do add to the ambience though. There are so few boats around here, everybody is very friendly and we keep crossing paths with the same boats over and over again. We had a nice chat last night with a passing supertug complete with barge and their support vessel, about Alaskan waters. We first saw them in Prudhoe Bay and we reminisced about both of us having to dodge ice there. They said that the ice there is even worse now, glad that's behind us.

Bering Strait sunrise, the fog rolled in soon after.

Nome is about 140 miles away and we should arrive by Saturday. We plan to stop for a couple of days to check in with the officials, refuel and reprovision before quickly getting underway to the Aleutians for the last leg of this season's journey. We're into September now and the first Alaskan September storm marks the start of winter weather patterns. Hopefully, we're still early enough to miss it, but, it's a race against time.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

CONTINUE READING