Dunfey Alaska Journey

On Saturday, we went about 7 miles on the other side of Haines to Chilkoot State Park to paddle of the mountain lake there by the same name.  The scenary very beautiful. The campground there was excellent. There were a few sites on the water. They did seem to have a lot of bugs there. It was rustic camping similar to were we stayed in Chilkat.

After our paddle we attended Sacred Heart Church for Saturday evening Mass. The OMI Priest there remembered Fr Ron. He said he liked him a lot.

Here are the pictures we took on this paddle and on the drive there:

 Best Kayaking of the year!

On Sunday morning, we put our kayaks into Chilkat Inlet from the boat ramp right at the campground. We went into the bay and around the island. We spent about two hours on this wonderful paddle. It was unbelievable. We passed two Glaciers. We saw several porpoises and a seal, who really checked us out. We got a picture of one of the porpoises but not the seal.

Here are the pictures taken during the paddle:

On Thursday August 20th, we drove from Dawson City to Whitehorse. It was a fairly long drive in rainy/cloudy weather.  We noticed that our camper battery wasn’t charging when hooked to AC. This meant losing lights, heater and toilets when battery dies since these all operate on 12 v. Fred traced the problem to camper power converter box. We took camper to RV Repair shop. They told us that the Power Converter Box needed to be replaced but it would take 10 days to get the replacement to Whitehorse. They suggested getting at battery charger which we bought at Canadian Tire. 

On August 21 after RV Repair Shop visit, we drove down to Skagway, Alaska. It usually is a very scenic drive but it was raining most of the way. It got very foggy also as we came thru passes into Skagway. We stayed two nights in Skagway. The weather was so bad we passed on riding the White Pass Railroad. We would have stayed a 3rd night if the weather was going to change.

While in Skagway, we drove to Dyea, strolled the old town site and hiked up part of the chilkoot trail. We also attended a musical play,”The Days of 98 Show”. The male lead was Jonathan Baldwin who is married to Tegan  Towle from Grantham, NH. Tegan is daughter of Cynthia Towle, Grantham Deputy Town Clerk/Tax Collector. We introduced ourselves to Jonathan before the performance.

On Sunday August 23rd, we drove to Watson Lake, Yukon to the top of Cassiar Highway, which we plan on taking to Hyder/Stewart on way down to Vancouver. We attended a showing of Northern Lights at their planetarium. In the morning, it stopped raining and some blue sky showed. We decided to stay another day to dry out and enjoy the good weather. We took a hike around the local lakes. That night it started raining again.

We didn’t get any pictures in Skagway at all. We forgot our camera for trip to Dyea. Our next stop in Hyder, Alaska will be our goodbye to Alaska.

We drove all day down the Cassiar Highway from Watson Lake to Stewart-Hyder. We started and ended in the rain with periods of partly blue sky in between. This highway has many beautiful spots to stay overnight and relax. The whole trip was scenic with the last 40 miles down canyons to Stewart, BC  being especially spectacular. The canyons were narrow with craggy rough mountains raising up on both sides as the road wound down to sea level. We passed Bear Glacier as close to the highway as any glacier we had seen.

We woke up on morning of 8/26/2009 to find the rain had gone and the day was beautiful.  Since the rain returned the next morning,  this would be our last day in Alaska. It would rank among our best days on our trip.

Who would have thought that Stewart, BC – Hyder had so much to offer.

We came here to see Fish Creek Salmon Observation area in Hyder, Alaska. This is where Black Bears and Grizzlies  come to feast on Salmon. We did see many, many Salmon spawning in 2 miles long creek. There were many people and photographers waiting for the bears to show. We came twice to find them and never saw them at the creek. We did spot a couple of teenage bears as we found our way back to Hyder from our trip the the Salmon Glacier.

The 20 mile mountian gravel road trip to the top of the Salmon Glacier was stupendous! Fred was white knuckling most of the drive. The mountain/canyon views were outstanding. We were able to see the Salmon Glacier from its toe all the way up to the ice field at the top.  We looked down to the glacier from the road. This is the only trip like it anywhere we had been. It also came as a complete surprise. We didn’t know about it until we arrived here.

We would classify Stewart-Hyder as a must see. It appears to be not highly recommended and out of the way. This are presented us with a fond farewell from Alaska.

The Bear River RV campground was woodsy, full service, a Good Sam and inexpensive. We had lunch at  The “Bus” in Hyder as recommended at the campground. The seafood was outstanding. The owner’s husband does the fishing, she does the cooking. Her seafood chowder was the best Fred has had in along, long time.

When we left the Stewart-Hyder area on 8/27/2009, a black bear was eating at the side of the road as if saying goodbye for our Alaska visit. 

We pulled into Tyhee Lake Provincial Campground just south of Smithers, BC. We bought a stack of firewood and enjoyed a campfire after dinner.  In the morning, we got the oil changed for the car and shopped for groceries in Smithers. Then we paddled on Tyhee lake. A float plane came in for a landing right over our heads. A little while later another one took off just before reaching us. 

On Saturday 8/29/2009, we were planning on going to a provincial campground between Prince George and Whistler, BC. It was sunny all day with the temperature getting to 84. After passing through William Lake BC, the right trailer tire blew up. This was our first tire problem of the trip. It took us about 2 hours to change the tire. We had to figure how to do this. It is a good thing we decided to buy a bottle jack in Watson Lake, Yukon a week ago. It came in handy.

When we pulled into an RV Park. it was pitch black. We put on beans and franks for a 10 PM dinner.

In the morning, we will depart for Whistler for a couple of days before going to visit Vancouver.