A Record of our 10,000 mile road trip to the Arctic Circle

Here is a sketchy record of how we spent July in 2010. It was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure - a really great road trip (no airline security checks!).

Summary Journal of our Arctic Trip

1. July 1, 2010
a. To Kanab – I found out that it is pronounced as kaNAB (accent on last syllable) via Jacob Lake and Fredonia
b. Beautiful red rock country

2. July 2
a. Pipe Springs National Monument
i. Winsor Castle was built at direction of B. Young by Anson P. Winsor in 1869-1870 to handle the LDS Church tithing herds,
ii. Winsor Castle became the first telegraph station in Arizona in 1871.
iii. The spring is still used to support all living, farming and animals at the monument.
b. Colorado City (formerly Short Creek)
i. Center of FLDS community. Houses are quite large to accommodate multiple wives and large families
c. On to Idaho

3. July 3
a. Getting in the mood for a vacation
i. Think: 2 hippies in a VW bus (actually a Chevy Tahoe)
b. Traveling through Idaho & Montana
i. Helena was full of construction detours
ii. Other towns were easily missed/bypassed (e.g., Great Falls) – we finally stopped at Conrad, MT, for gas & to organize for Canadian customs
iii. At the Sweetgrass/Coutts Custom Station we had to wait for a half-hour and were wondering if they would search the Tahoe – they didn’t.
He did ask if I owned any firearms – curious. I expected him to ask if I had any in the car.
c. Arrived at Lethbridge, Alberta. Motel not great but adequate – had to walk over to the Super 8 next door to get ice.

4. July 4
a. Drove through Calgary to Canmore – near Banff. For some reason we could not find a sign for the connecting highway in Calgary and spent about an hour finding the right highway.
i. Canada’s signage is very limited and sparse
ii. We used the Garmin GPS to get redirected, but it took us down a lot of side streets as opposed to the freeways.
b. Went to Lake Louise, Moraine Lake and the Columbia Icefields
i. It was cold and drizzly.
ii. Drove to Jasper, Alberta, for the night.

5. July 5
a. Went to Columbia Ice Fields, Alberta, Canada,
i. Lots of steps to get to the tour bus ticket office – a good test for Carey’s knee. No problem.
ii. Walked on the Athabascan Glacier where it snowed on us
iii. Carey used her walking stick, just in case.
iv. Very overcast
b. Went to
i. Stanley Falls
ii. Sunwapta Falls
iii. Athabasca Falls
c. From Hinton to Grande Prairie, Alberta
i. The only deer photo we have
ii. Motel was in an industrial area

6. July 6
a. Entered the ALCAN Highway at Dawson Creek, BC
b. Drove through the Peace River Valley – as I remember it, this was an icon of anti-war protestors in the 1960s and 1970s.

7. July 7
a. Celebrated Carey’s birthday in Fort Nelson, British Columbia
b. Saw lots of wildlife
i. Stone Sheep
ii. Moose
iii. Bison
iv. Black Bear
c. Toad River Lodge – good food, but apparently the lodging was pretty basic.
d. Muncho Lake
e. Into Yukon Territory
f. Entered Watson Lake, Yukon Territory

8. July 8
a. Stayed at Air Force Lodge – barracks-like facility
i. Built in 1942 to house troops building the ALCAN Highway
ii. Communal showers and bathrooms - barracks-like
b. Restaurants in Watson Lake were really minimal.
c. Met a couple at a rest stop who had just bought a winter home in Surprise, AZ. They were from Kamloops, BC, and her maiden name was Penner – Mennonite people – they knew many Friesens.
d. George Johnston Museum in Teslin
i. He was a Tlingit
ii. Bought a new Chevrolet in 1928 – no roads to drive on – drove on ice in winter when Teslin River and lake froze over
iii. Painted it white so he could hunt animals on the ice without alerting them
iv. Repaired flat tires with moose hide
v. Original car is in the museum – has been restored – is on loan from somewhere?
vi. Spent night at Hi Country Inn in Whitehorse.

9. July 9
a. From Whitehorse to Dawson City on the Klondike Hwy
b. Girl by the roadside with a broken bike – said she was OK and would wait for a pickup – the bike would not have fit in our Tahoe.
c. Saw another moose near Stewart River.
d. Got to Dawson City.
i. Created during the Klondike gold rush in 1890s
ii. Still a semi-wild town
iii. The Downtown Hotel where we stayed had signs saying “rowdy behavior” would not be tolerated - but they didn’t kick us out!

10. July 10
a. Onto the Dempster Highway from Dawson to Eagle Plains.
b. Beautiful vistas and scenery
c. Stayed at Eagle Plains – halfway to Inuvik
d. Very comfortable and good food for being in the middle of nowhere.

11. July 11
a. From Eagle Plains to Inuvik
i. Marker for the Mad Trapper of the Rat River
ii. Crossed Arctic Circle at Lat 66 degrees 33 minutes North and the rain started
1. There is nothing like Yukon mud
iii. There are 3 designated airstrips on this part of the Dempster
iv. Got my first flat tire near Rock River Campground, about 50 miles out
1. Fix-A-Flat kept the tire pressure at 21 psi
2. See Part 1 of my Tire Saga
v. Crossed the Peel River on a ferry
vi. Could not find a service station at Fort McPherson
vii. Crossed the Mackenzie River on a larger ferry
b. Arrived at Inuvik on Sunday evening
i. Decided to have the tire fixed in the morning

12. July 12
a. The Great Northern Arts Festival – held annually
i. Spent a lot of time (and some money here) – purchased an
1. Inukshuk
2. Ookpik
3. Sedna wall hanging
4. Tea cozy
b. Community Center was very impressive – restaurant, swimming pool, curling rink, etc.
c. Saw the Western Arctic Visitor Center
d. Decided to check my new Garmin GPS to see when sunset and sunrise occurs in Inuvik, but it only displayed some dashes instead of times. I figured I must be doing something wrong. Later I discovered that the sun never did set during our stay in Inuvik.
It does not set for about 30 days around the summer solstice.
e. Fixed our flat tire
f. Discovered a slow leak in the spare tire (this was suspected before we left Phoenix) – took the spare tire to the tire shop to be fixed the next morning.

13. July 13
a. Fixed our spare tire.
b. Took off from Inuvik for Eagle Plains
c. Checked out the Tire Repair Shop at Fort McPherson – that we had been unable to find on the way up - that was owned by the same person who owned the shop in Inuvik.
d. Saw some Arctic Cotton in the tundra beside the road
e. Crossed Mackenzie and Peel Rivers on 2 Ferries
f. Passed Rock River Campground – site of first flat tire
i. No problem this time
g. Leaving NW Territories
h. Leaving Arctic Circle

14. July 14
a. Eagle Plains to Dawson City
b. Raining most of the day
c. No photos today
d. 2 more flat tires
i. See Part 2 of my Tire Saga
e. Kid at tire shop in Dawson City
i. Put on my spare and would fix my flat in the morning
ii. Told us how wild the town gets when they have festivals
iii. Told us that 4-ply tires are not adequate on the Dempster
f. Washed the Tahoe – Yukon mud is incredible! We washed the Tahoe five times on this trip.
g. Found out that the Top-of-the-World hwy to Alaska was washed out in 3 places (I believe on the Alaska side only)
i. About 30 people stranded between washouts
ii. We had originally planned to take that road tomorrow morning
iii. Instead we will double back to Whitehorse and enter Alaska from there

15. July 15
a. Bought a Bear Mask wood carving by Chester Joseph
b. Leaving Dawson for Whitehorse, Yukon Territory
16. July 16
a. Traveling from Whitehorse to Tok, Alaska
b. Very bumpy road – probably from frost heaves
c. Kluane Lake
d. Stopped for a French-like ham sandwich at a place near Beaver Creek Crossing
i. Can’t remember if the place had a name

17. July 17
a. At Tok, Alaska
b. Discovered another slow leak in one of the rear tires.
i. See Part 3 of my Tire Saga
ii. Bought 2 new tires in Fairbanks and the people replaced the tire sensor as well.
c. Drove through an unbelievable downpour just past Fairbanks on the way to Healy (which is right by Denali National Park)
d. Arrived at Motel Nord Haven in Healy

18. July 18
a. Drove through 15 mile road into the Park in Denali

19. July 19
a. Took Bus Tour
i. Tundra Wilderness Tour (TWT 17)
ii. Went 66 miles into the Park just past Toklat River
b. Animal sightings
i. Moose
ii. Ptarmigan family
iii. Marmot
iv. Wolves
v. Caribou
vi. Golden Eagle
vii. Magpie
viii. Dall Sheep
ix. Grizzly Bears

20. July 20
a. Started back home
b. Saw experimental herds of reindeer kept by University of Alaska at Fairbanks
c. Stopped at North Pole, Alaska, and later our motel, the Westmark at Tok, Alaska, celebrated Christmas in July.
i. For the people who work here only in the summer and don’t get a chance to experience the winter holidays.
ii. Carey had a full course Christmas Dinner here.

21. July 21
a. Stayed at Whitehorse
b. Not a very good motel - it was our 3^rd or 4^th choice – all others were full

22. July 22
a. Tried to avoid staying at Watson Lake
b. Found a gem called Northern Rockies Lodge on Muncho Lake, BC
c. Fantastic views and food and float planes (but we didn’t try one)
d. Restaurant served German food
i. The beef stew was really as good as any beef bourguignon that we have had at Paris restaurants.

23. July 23
a. Went to Dawson Creek, which is apparently populated by a lot of Friesens
i. Saw a Friesen suburb there

24. July 24
a. Went to Williams Lake, BC. – beautiful lake
b. Weather was warm – in the 80s (Fahrenheit)
c. Washed the Tahoe again.

25. July 25
a. Drove past Kamloops and Merritt, BC
b. Reached Okanagan Lake – temperatures in the 90s
c. Lots of people “tubing” along the rivers and canals beside the Lake
d. People were selling fruit by the roadside, especially cherries
e. Crossed the border into the U.S.
f. Contrast in wealth was striking
i. Compared to Canada, northern Washington looked very, very poor
g. Stayed in Omak, a very poor town
h. Stayed at a very old motel – Carey says the motel should be demolished!
i. Room was bad
ii. Blinds were broken - could not raise them or open them
iii. Toilet seat was broken
iv. Beds were very creaky
v. Walls were very thin - could hear the dog barking in room above us and people walking on the walkway on the 2nd floor sounded like storm troopers
vi. Ice machine was broken
vii. Exposed wiring outside near the transformer made loud buzzing/humming noises – sounded like the transformer was ready to explode

26. July 26
a. Drove by Spokane and Coeur d'Alene
b. Beautiful forest country
c. Stayed at Dillon, Montana

27. July 27
a. Drove through a lot of construction around Salt Lake City
i. Not the most beautiful part of Utah
b. Stayed at the same Comfort Inn in Richfield, Utah, that we stayed in with our kids many years ago. It was new then and we watched prairie dogs outside our window. The country still looked like it could be full of prairie dogs.

28. July 28
a. Drove through some pretty heavy rain between Richfield and Panguitch, Utah
b. Saw Big Rock Candy Mountain.
c. Drove through Kanab, drove by Page and had some more heavy rain north of Flagstaff.
d. Arrived at home around 5 p.m.