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

I drove through the Yukon and all I got was this lousy metal shard in my tire

Metal shard in my tire

 Lucky for me, I stopped and got it fixed before I had a flat tire in the middle of the Yukon in the middle of the near blizzard I was driving in.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Yukon, near the AK border, May 7, 2012

Fishing season is upon us!  It starts next week actually, we got a 12 hour opener May 17th for the Copper River.  Fish on!  The fish buzz is in the air as we all gear up for yet another season.

It was time to make my way back up to Alaska after visiting family in Ohio.  I packed up the car and headed north.  Well, west first, around Chicago then north. 

I entered Canada from North Dakota, drove across the plains with their lovely old wooden grain elevators and their old farm equipment turned into statues and endless fields.  And, of course, their larger than life statues of Paul Bunyan and a disturbingly large beaver statue about 25 feet tall.

Once I hit Edmonton, the road goes more north again and skirts the mountains.  The landscape become more rustic along with the buildings.

Camp ground in Fort Nelson where it costs $37.00 to pitch a tent.  Showers are extra.

Who knew they even allowed guns in Canada

Rustic justice. 

 I also saw a picture of a revolver that said "we don't call 911". 

 Soon, if you are not shot first, you are passing more wildlife of the roads than cars.

Stone Sheep in BC & Yukon

Caribou, aka Boo

Stone sheep 

Ewe

Wild bison littered along the highway

Boo

Moo

Little black bear in the Yukon

More boo outside my window

In between dodging wild animals on the road, snow storms and metal shards, I did get to enjoy some local R&R at Liard Hot Springs in BC and local sign post forests like this one outside of Whitehorse.

Sign Post Forest of the Yukon

Liard Hot Springs

Some of the drive was just breath-taking, like this lake the just disappears into the mountains and the road, that goes right through it.

BC

After 4000 miles and about 8 straight days of driving, I made it to Alaska.  Ah, it was good to be home where there are glaciers along the side of the road.  And planes parked at rest stops, also along side of the road.  How did it get there?

plane parked on turn-out along the Glenn Highway

Matanuska glacier

Tune in next week to hear all about the Copper River's first opener of the season.

Until then, eat fish, live longer.