AL-CAN part II

This is part two of a three part series photo essay of driving north along the historic Alaska Canadian Highway, aka ALCAN.  Last week, I took you are far north as Jasper National Forest in Alberta Canada.  Today we pick up where we left off in Banff and head to Whitehorse, Yukon.

Jasper National Park, AB

From Jasper, I took route 40, a small two lane highway north bypassing Edmonton.  I heard later on the news that there was a four and half hour ice storm in Edmonton that shut the city down for hours!  I saw pictures, too.  They had front end loaders schleping that shite around.  Not bummed I missed that!

Highway 40 took me to Route 1, I think it is, in Grande Prairie, Alberta.  I felt like such a cliche at the intersection waiting for the light to turn green to make my left hand turn.  Even though I was still days  away from the border, let alone who knows how many miles, there was a sign that said "ALASKA".  So there I was, my little white car with my practically neon yellow "Alaska" plates, all loaded down to the gills, turning left towards Alaska.

Though I avoided the ice storms, I wasn't entirely out of the woods.  I still had a few inches of snow to deal with.  Not a show stopper, but enough to notice after about six or eight hours of driving.

the ALCAN

the ALCAN

Another important turn

Especially this time of year, there isn't much between here and there, gas stations are sparse, open gas stations, that is.  More specifically, open gas stations with gas. 

note the out of gas sign on the pump

the sign forest near buried in snow

a welcomed open gas station

They sure are sticklers up here!

Wild buffalo of BC

Wild buffalo of BC

Wild buffalo of BC

Baby its cold outside

wild ponies near Whitehorse, Yukon

We are  two-thirds the way there!  Tune in next week and we'll finish the trip!

ALCAN 2012

Last you heard, I was stuck in Valdez due to flooding. After a 5 day wait (due to bad weather) to get out of Cordova I finally got out only to be now stuck in Valdez.  I couldn't help but begin to notice my bad luck.

A series of storms kept hammering the coast of Alaska causing flooding all over that part of the state and washed out some roads.  Like the one and only road out of Valdez.

I arrived via ferry from Cordova into Valdez at 10 in the morning the road was due to be closed until 3 in the afternoon.  I hung out at the Valdez Public Library for 5 hours then headed north out the road.   Only to find out that is was still closed.  Standby to standby until the next announcement at 6 PM.  It started to feel like waiting for a herring opening.  6 PM came and went with no word.  Finally about 7:30 PM, after waiting patiently all day, I heard on the radio that the road was now, finally open.

There wasn't much daylight left then, but given that the road was open despite the fact that it never stopped raining and wasn't forecasted to stop raining, the writing was on the wall.  I took off out of Valdez.  I didn't get far that night, but I was out.  And heard that that next morning, the road had closed again. 

The view from the ferry, though not much of one

Flooding along the road out of Valdez

Waterfalls along the road that are usually a trickle

Once out of Valdez and over Thompson pass, it was clear skies, amazing fall colors of gold, orange, and reds.  Heck, there were even stars, something I hadn't seen in weeks!  I could go on and on trying to describe Alaska's fall time beauty and the beauty of the ALCAN, the Alaska Canadian Highway,  but instead, I'll let my pictures speak for themselves.

Moose in the morning

Fall colors

Alaska morning

Fall colors in the morning

Early morning

Colors in the morning

Caribou in  the Yukon

British Columbia, Canada

Black bear in the Yukon

Bison in the Yukon