DAY 13: HAINES JUNCTION

Day 13. The wind howled all night long in Skagway last night. Fortunately it was a south wind, so the temperature stayed in the mid 40's. The tent withstood the 20-30 mph winds and we rested well. We broke camp early, splurged on a Starbucks coffee, and set off for Whitehorse. We had our second bear sighting a little way out of Skagway. It was eating grass along the side of the road. We pulled up practically beside it, got some great pictures, and went on our way. The bear didn't seem to mind us a bit. We reprovisioned in Whitehorse around 1 p.m. and then set off for Haines Junction, from which this blog is being generated. Our destination tonight will be about 30 miles up the road in Kluane National Park. We are surrounded by lofty mountains, all of which are at least half covered with snow. It is, in a word, beautiful. We've been playing some Enya music, soaking up the surroundings, and feeling some real peace in the soul. The mountains first article (Apostles Creed) images, as they remind me of the majesty and awesome nature of God. Tomorrow we press on toward Destruction Bay, where the road is supposed to be quite hazardous. We may make few miles tomorrow. We press on in high spirits and full of anticipation.

Mileage for the day: 231 miles
Mileage for the trip: 3,536 miles

DAYS 11 AND 12

Day 11. We broke camp and headed for Skagway around 10 a.m. The trip down from over a mile elevation to sea level was spectacular. Snow covered mountain peaks that reached for the sky, the world's smallest desert at Carcross, a road that hugged the mountainside much of the time, snowpack everywhere as winter is reluctant to release its grip to spring. Skagway is nestled on a fjord in a mountain valley. It has 800 residents but at any given time might have as many as 10,000 trourists coming ashore from up to five cruise ships. Tourism is geared to the well heeled as there are more jewelry shops than any other in town. The day was clear, the sun warm, and we have a wonderful campsite just off downtown.

Mileage for the day: 128 miles
Mileage for the trip: 3,305 miles

Day 12. We woke up today to completely changed weather. We closed our eyes last night to clear skies and moderate temperatures. We woke to overcast skies, a low cloud deck, and as the day progressed, a stiffening north wind. The tent could be cold tonight! After some morning shopping, we took the White Pass & Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad up the While Pass to Frazer. By the time we reached the summit the snow was over 10 feet high and it looked like the middle of winter. The tour guide said all the snow would be gone in a couple of weeks which is hard to imagine. It was a breaktaking ride and quite an engineering feat. The topper was that we were able to book our rail trip with one of the two historic steam engines that they still use. (Most--20--of the engines are diesel.) It was like a trip back in history to the time of the gold rush of 1898. The line actually was not completed until 1900, but it secured Skayway's future while Dyea and the Chilcoot Trail became a ghost town and trail. Today the rail line runs five months a year when cruise ships dock. The rest of the time it is dormant, as I'm sure the town of Skagway is as well. We plan to eat at the Red Onion Bar for supper, which was a notorious brothel during the gold stampede (but is totally toned down now!). Tomorrow we head back to Whitehorse and Haines Junction. Originally we wanted to take the ferry across the bay to Haines, but unfortunately the ferry doesn't run on Saturday, and not until late in the evening ono Sunday. Hopefully we'll drive out of this cold weather and back into spring. We plan to be in Fairbanks next Wednesday.

DAY 10: WHITEHORSE, CONTINUED

Day 10. Well we had a bit of a bump along the way. We stayed at the Takhini Hotsprings Campground last night. AAA gave it a "better" rating so we felt pretty safe. It turned out to have no running water (read pit toilets), only one running water restroom for the entire campground, and no private showers. The "hotspring" was indeed a thermal spring, but it was directed into a swimming pool which filled every day and was drained every night. It was not a good evening. Thanksfully it didn't rain. We broke camp this morning, returned for sightseeing in Whitehorse today, and are looking for another campground tonight. We did take the tour of the S.S. Klondike, a paddlewheel steamboat that plied the waters of the Yukon river until 1955. It could carry 300 tons of cargo, much of which was silver and gold take out of the country downstream like Dawson City. We walked the downtown area, have visited with a number of the locals, did laundry, and plan on visiting a local haunt--the Klondike Rib and Salmon BBQ--for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we head for Skagway. Despite our camping setback last night, we have been blessed with much better than average weather--thanks for your prayers--and no mishaps (car, health, etc.). It is beautiful country and the people are generally quite genial. All goes well...

DAY 9: WHITEHORSE

Day 9. Today we travelled from Watson lake to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. A partly sunny day but with warmer than usual temperatures. The car read 59 degrees earlier this afternoon, which is 2 degrees above their average high summer temperature. We have had several firsts. We spotted our first bear yesterday along the side of the road and got some great up close (Gail would say too close!) pictures. We saw our first wolf today, but it had been hit by a car/truck and was along the side of the highway. I pelted Gail with a snowball yesterday at our campground, and she returned the favor today while we were doing a short hike to a waterfall. The lakes still have quite a bit of ice on them and there is snow wherever there is shade. We will camp at Tahini Hotsprings tonight and hope to get a nice soak there. Tomorrow we plan to stay in Whitehorse and see the sights including the old paddlewheeler S.S. Klondike. We may even pan for gold if we have the oppportunity. As it stands now on Thursday we will head for Skagway for a three day stay. But stay tuned; those plans may change! We have been thinking about taking the Alaska Maritime Highway home rather than returning via the Alaska Highway. If we do we would hopefull take the ferry (car and us) from Seward to Seattle and drive home via the upper tier of states. We will research that further when we get to Skagway. But there is much that will happen before we exercise that plan. Keep praying for warm weather. We've been fortunate to have relatively balmly(!) weather so far.

Mileage for the day: 272 miles
Mileage of the trip: 3,177 miles

DAYS 7/8

Days 7 & 8. We were without cell or internet service yesterday (May 24) so today is a combined blog. We travelled from Fort Nelson to Liard Hotsprings yesterday, a distance of 199 miles. The weather was cool all day, from a low of 33 degrees at Summit Lake (highest point on the Alaska Highway) to 44 degrees at Fort Nelson when we got up yesterday morning and broke camp. The days drive was spectacular. Got many fantastic photos of mountain vistas, the ribbon of road winding through primeval forests, and many wildlife. Summit Lake was still ice covered as was Muncho Lake. Spring comes late in these parts! There is also quite a bit of snow along the shaded side of the road. Yesterday we saw one moose, two deer and two cariboo, four rock sheep, and seven bison. Not bad for a days drive! We concluded the day with a soak in Liard Hotsprings. The temperatature at the time was cool (mid 40's) but the water was 105 degrees to as hot as you could take it by approaching the place where it bubbled up from the ground. It felt glorious on an otherwise raw day. Since yesterday was our 34th wedding anniversary, I spurged and Gail and I spend the night at the Liard Hotsprings Lodge. Am I a romantic or what?

Mileage for the day: 199 miles
Mileage for the trip: 2,777 miles

Today we travelled to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. The sun came out mid morning and it has been a glorious day. We saw the signpost forest in Watson Lake, a park-like setting with post after post of signs from all over the world. People come and nail signs from their hometowns. It began by a serviceman in 1942 who was lonely for his hometown of Danville, Illinois. Today there are over 55,000 signs in the signpost forest. We also saw a movie on the aurora borialis--the northern lights--that paint the night sky in the far north from fall to spring. Unfortunately, we are a little too late in the spring to see them. Tonight we head for Nugget City outside Watson Lake to find a campsite and soak in the beauty of the land. First its off to the grocery for some provisions. FYI we paid $1.02 (Canadian) for a liter of gasoline in Watson Lake, or about $3.60 US a gallon. God bless the USA! Thanks for your prayers and good wishes. We are following your comments and are encouraged by your words. We press on toward Whitehorse tomorrow.

Mileage for the day: 128 miles
Mileage for the trip: 2,905

DAY 6

Day 6. Today we travelled from Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson, British Columbia. We broke camp around 9:30 a.m., visited the farmers market in Dawson Creek, and set out. The day was a mixture of sun and rain, but the temperatures are mild for which we are thankful. The Alaska Highway stretches out in front of us for miles and miles. It has been cut out of the forest, so the road looks like a ribbon through the wilderness. Beautiful. He had our first moose sightings today. We saw a pair of adolescent moose (mooses?) grazing off to the side of the Alaska Highway. We slowed down to not hit them which was good because they immediately darted in front of the Jeep. Later on Gail spotted another moose (with small antlers) running along the side of the highway. We slowed just a bit and it was keeping pace with us. After a short distance it also ran in front of the Jeep and into the woods on the other side. We see the mountains off to the west, which will be our destination tomorrow (Muncho Lake). There were pockets of snow along the shaded side of the road indicating that spring is just arriving in the north. We arrived in Fort Nelson around 4:15 p.m., went to the Visitor Center, and am generating this blog from there. Next up we find our campsite and then a good place to eat supper. All in all a good day.

Mileage for the day: 298
Mileage for the trip: 2,578

DAYS 4 & 5

Days 4 & 5. This blog covers two days, May 21 & 22. We were unable to access the web with our laptop last night, and then again today. So this blog is being generated from the Dawson Creek Public Library. We left Edmonton at 11:00 a.m. Thursday (5/21) after a leisure morning and shopping for provisions. We arrived at Dawson Creek at 5:30 p.m. after driving 379 miles. Dawson Creek is the start of the Alcan (Alaska) Highway. The Alcan was built in eight months during 1942 by the military as a supply route to Alaska for the defense of North America. We have watched two movies on the construction of the highway today. Gail and I are amazed at the effort that was necessary to accomplish this task. It has been deemed one of the sixteen engineering wonders in the world. Tomorrow we will see it first hand. Our destination tomorrow is Fort Nelson. Regarding our accomodations here in Dawson Creek, we pitched our tent are now in our camping mode. We slept fine last night, although the temperature was cold (I suspect upper 30's or lower 40's). Fortunately the sky is clear with no rain. The high approaches 60 today which is downright balmy for this far north. Our spirits remain high and we are full of anticipation. God did a pretty good job of creation and we're going to get some experience of it first hand tomorrow. Best wishes to all back home. Continue praying for good weather.

Mileage for the day (to Dawson Creek): 379
Mileage for the trip: 2,280

DAY 3

Day 3. Today was a long travel day. We left Winnipeg, Manitoba, at 6:00 a.m. and drove 836 miles to Edmonton, Alberta! We essentially travelled the entire width of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and half of Alberta. We did this to leave a relatively short drive to Dawson Creek (the start of the Alcan Highway) for tomorrow. The weather today was rainy off and on with temperatures between the higher 30's and lower 40's. At one point we were concerned that the rain might be freezing! In Saskatoon a clerk at the bank (helping us with some currency exchange) said this was unusually cold. We're hoping it changes quickly as we tent camp tomorrow night for the first time. Gail is pressing for contingency plans. The topography is no longer flat and more like rolling hills. We anticipate seeing the mountains tomorrow. Pray for warm weather!

Mileage for the day: 836
Mileage for the trip: 1901

DAY 2. We left Sioux City, Iowa, at 8:20 a.m. Forecast high for the day in Sioux City is 93 degrees! We're hopeful to encounter cooler weather by midday. As it turns out, by mid-morning the temperatures start to cool. We cross the Canadian border at 4:30 p.m. with no incidents, although the border agents didn't know what a sabbatical was so it took some extra explanation. We arrived in Winnipeg at 5:30 p.m. with the temperatur at 49 degrees. The forecast low for tonight is 39 degrees. The trees in North Dakota and Canada are just budding out, about six weeks behind St. Louis. Thanksfully no snow on the ground! Tomorrow we plan to leave at 6 a.m. in hopes of reaching Edmonton, Alberta, by tomorrow night. AAA indicates it should take 14 1/2 hours! If we can do it we will have a much shorter drive on Thursday to reach Dawson Creek and more time to make camp. We'll let you know tomorrow night if we succeed with this aggressive driving plan. Overall the drive has been pleasant and the weather clear. We're looking forward to seeing mountains soon.

Mileage for the day: 539
Mileage for the trip: 1,065

DAY 1. Off and running! We left St. Louis around 8:30 a.m. with a chill in the air but full of anticipation. Lunched in Kansas City around 12:30 and arrived Sioux City, Iowa, 5:45 p.m. As we traveled north from Kansas City, instead of the air getting increasingly cooler, the air got increasingly warmer. When we arrived in Sioux City it was 88 degrees. We had dressed for cooler weather. That will teach us to check the weather forecast for the next day. Tomorrow our destination is Winnipeg, Manitoba, with a forecast high of 54 degrees. Getting closer to the Artic Circle!

Mileage for the day: 526
Mileage for the trip: 526

Mt. McKinley--Denali--beckons.

Denali--the "Great One"--beckons. Denali is the iconic image of Alaska.

Pastor Bill

Welcome to Intoafarcountry!

This blogspot has been created to chronicle the events of Bill and Gail Simmons on their Alaska sabbatical. We leave Saint Louis, Missouri, on Monday, May 18, bound for Fairbanks, Alaska and the Artic Circle. We look forward to driving the Alcan Highway, visiting Anchorage, Denali and Prudhoe Bay, and serving the people of God in Fort Yukon. We welcome your blogs and intend to post updates regularly on our progress. The theme for the sabbatical is Psalm 19: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Bill & Gail Simmons