Posts tagged #Summer Adventures 2

The Ultimate Roadtrip pt.5

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It’s like Alaska on Steroids

DAY 5, 05/25/16: Saskatoon Island Provincial Park to Pocahontas Campground

Before I moved to Alaska a Swedish friend who lives there told me that Alaska is like Northern Sweden on Steroids. Well here we were, our fifth day of driving, and I could never have imagined that the views would get even better than what they had been. At one point I looked out the window and told W, I am saturated, saturated of mountains. I said, I can’t take it any longer as I put down the camera on my lap and just stared at all these magnificent views. If Alaska is like northern Sweden on steroids, Western Canada is like Alaska on Steroids. These two coming days we were going to drive fairly long stretches, but we also wanted to explore the national parks a little bit.

We were on the road before 8 am and I think we started to get tired by now. Day five, on our roadtrip. Last time we showered was at Liard Hotsprings, but that didn’t bother us as much as sitting still in a car. Luckily we were on our way to two incredible national parks in Canada, Jasper and Banff. Our drive was going to be short today (well, everything is relative right?), because we were finally gonna stretch our legs and conquer a mountain! After about 4 hrs of driving through a wide open landscape that slowly took us closer and closer to the mountains we were now entering Jasper National Park. As you enter Jasper the road immediately takes you into the mountains, and the views are just out of this world. I don’t know of any other place like Jasper and Banff. When you cross the Athabascan river, driving south on the Yellowhead Highway the views are just out of this world. I know I keep using the same adjectives, spectacular, incredible, out of this world, but if you have ever been here I am sure you would have a hard time not to overuse all of these describing words too.

Driving through Maligne Canyon

The views of deep forest, lakes and mountains could be seen in all four directions. It was hard to know where to look at times, and I wanted to stop at every pullout, which we of course did not do. We would probably still be there if I could have gotten it my way. But, we were finally going to hike, so I was super excited about that. We drove towards Maligne Lake because that is where the trail head to Bald Hills is located. We passed the Medicine Lake and drove along fire scarred forests and majestic mountains. Bald Hills summit is a 13.2 km out and back hike, that offers spectacular views. Again the weather was sunny now, but there were clouds on the horizon. I really do not know how we always manage to pick a hike where we see absolutely no other people.

Bald Hills Summit Trail

This trail first takes you through the deep forest, crossing streams and slowly going up in elevation. When you are so far up in elevation that mountains and lakes start appear through the gaps between the large trees that surrounds you. Eventually you break out from the forest and step out into the alpine vegetation, because now you are more than 2,000 meters above sea level.

Up above the treeline

Eventually we broke through the treeline and ended up in a field of snow. It was indeed late May, which in the mountains still mean snow. And the mountains, those mountains wherever you turned your eyes. The last part of the trail is fairly steep, and we were walking through some very deep snow. From the top of the Bald Hills summit you have 360 degree panorama views of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. From the top you can also see Maligne lake, the lake we could spot through the trees earlier. Of course with the rain constantly haunting us we managed to see a wonderful full rainbow over the mountains.

Of course we had to take a few selfies in the mountains too! On the way down we played around in the snow a bit until we reach the trees and the forest again. We had such a good luck with the weather, but as always the dark clouds were coming towards us, and we got in a hurry to get off the mountains before the rain came.

When we were done with the hike we went and got a camping spot. We didn’t want to drive too far after the hike so we had picked out a campground fairly close to the hiking trail, Pocahontas Campground. We had been worried about finding a spot, since it seemed like there were so many tourists around, well on the road, and not on the hike of course. But when we finally got to the campground, it was completely empty, of course. I immediately realized that we had reach civilization when I saw the soda vending machine by the bathrooms at the campground.

Day 5 trip Details - Gas, Camping, and gas mileage:

  • Canada: Shell Canada Grande Praire AB. 18.5 miles from Saskatoon Island Provincial Park. Mileage 25 miles/gallon

  • Canada: Petro Canada Jasper AB. 250.8. Mileage 24.49 miles/gallon

  • Total driving on day 5, about 269.3+ 29.9 miles from gas station to Pocahontas Campground (299.2).

  • The grand total of the whole trip: 1702.3 miles

  • Campground: Pocahontas Campground, AB

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, The great wide open, The Ultimate Roadtrip and tagged Mountain Range Moving South Moving roadtrip Boreal Forest Camping car camping Elsewhere Summer days Mountain Summer Adventures 2 2019 Alberta Mountains Adventurer Adventuring Adventure Summer Adventures National Parks.

The Most Beautiful Drive in America

Photocredit: My dad!

Photocredit: My dad!

Flashback Friday

Beartooth Pass and Beartooth Highway

I had never heard of beartooth pass before the summer of 2017. The field crew had driven through the beartooth pass on the way to Yellowstone, and W drove through the beartooth pass back to Wisconsin at the end of his field season. W told me how amazing this place was. He’d gone there when he was younger of course, but forgotten about it. Since my dad was gonna come that summer for the wedding, I planned our trip to go through the beartooth pass and on the beartooth highway.

Endless mountains

The Beartooth Pass is exactly what it sounds like. A pass through the mountains, the Beartooth Mountains. You drive up in elevation and then you drive back down again. The Beartooth Highway is one of the most scenic highways in the US, 68 miles of unbelievable landscape. I know there are quite a few of them, but if you are into mountains, alpine lakes and camping this is the route to choose. If you are lucky enough to backcountry hike too, by all means you have to. This part of the US is so beautiful. I was driving the whole way so I didn’t get that many photos of the actual drive, but my dad took plenty. We camped near the top of the pass so I have plenty of photos from there. Most of the campgrounds on the Beartooth Plateau are first come first serve and cost between 10-15$. Beartooth highway runs through Shoshone National Forest. As with most National Forests in the US you can do dispersed camping, which is free but comes with some restrictions you’ll have to read up on. Additionally, you will have no amenities, which mean no running water or toilettes. Obviously they don’t take card at most places and you have to pay the fee by adding the exact amount to an envelope, so we always had cash, dollar bills and larger bills to be able to pay the camping. When you get to a campground in the US you drive in, search for a spot, park the car and then walk back to the fee station. There you grab an envelope and fee slip, add the fee and put in all information of the car and camping spot on the slip, and then you take one part of the slip for your car and leave the other in the envelope with the fee. Usually there is a permanent groundskeeper at most popular campgrounds, they can usually be found in a large RV somewhere close to the fee station. Their job is to answer questions and to empty trash, clean toilettes etc.

Top of the World

Since we had been driving all the way from Madison, WI, this was our second camping night. The night before we had stayed at a free campground in Badlands National Park. The drive between Badlands and Beartooth Highway was fairly short, compared to the one we had done the day before. I had picked out a couple of campgrounds to choose from, close to the “top of the world”, which is the highest point of the pass. I had written down the campgrounds I was interested in based on photos I could see on google maps, plus I really wanted to be next to a lake. We rolled into the first campground on my list around 3 pm (Island Lake campground, which is an all first come first serve camping ground) and managed to snag the second to last camping spot. Success. The campground sits at a whooping 9,500 feet, and the highest point along the Beartooth highway is 10,974 feet! The first thing we did was to set up camp, we had two tents which created a lot of space for us. Then I handed my dad the bear spray and taught him how to use it if need be. You are in bear country now, even though the highway is high up in elevation the bears are around.

Camping in Bear Country

When you camp in bear country there are a couple of things you need to think about. First, smell. Had we been in the backcountry we would have chosen more carefully what we would cook, and in a campground with a lot of other people around I tend to feel more “safe”. You also can’t control what other people cook so, I feel like it doesn’t really matter what you cook at a campground. At the campgrounds in bear country you have to store your food in a bear proof locker, which they provide you with at the campground. In most areas the car counts as a bear proof locker, but in some areas like Colorado this is not always the case, because the bears have learned to open and break into cars. In northern Wisconsin and Minnesota they recommend you to cover your cooler if you keep it in the car, since bears have learned to associate coolers with food and will break into your car if they spot a cooler. When I first moved to Alaska I got accustomed to sleeping with a knife by my hand in the tent. I had heard stories about bear encounters in tents, and also during field safety classes and outdoor classes they talk about the importance of being able to cut yourself out of a tent. Obviously these things don’t happen, maybe once in a blue moon, but if it does, at least you are prepared. Somewhere during the years in Alaska I started to forget about this and it wasn’t until a couple of summers ago, when 2 people in two different locations were killed by two different bears within a couple of days, I remembered the importance of a knife. That summer I forced W to buy a knife for his upcoming field season. W and I have car camped a lot by now, and a fair bit in bear country, we spent a week or so car camping in Yukon and British Columbia during my move from Fairbanks to Madison. We have a pretty good system going now, and we are pretty used to our car camping kitchen set up, even though it sometimes fails if we haven’t done it in a while.

And the we Marveled about this Beautiful World

After dinner we took a walk down to the water. It was such a beautiful evening, calm, pretty warm, plenty of mosquitos, but a little DEET usually takes care of that. I am always so amazed about how beautiful the world can be. I mean just look at it. We spent quite a while down there, by the lake. Watching the colors of the sky change, talking about the roadtrip and everything we had seen. As I look at these photos now, I can’t believe how beautiful it was. And the fact that it is so easily accessible, well, once you are in Montana and Wyoming.

Smell of Fire

The next morning we woke up to the smell of fire and a bloodred sun. Just as in Alaska, Montana and Wyoming have fires too, and this summer was no exception. Just like our wedding day we could see the haze in the distance this morning. We started the drive fairly early, but first, we had coffee and breakfast. Our next stop was Bozeman, and to get there we were going to drive through Yellowstone. The roads along Beartooth Highway was actually fairly empty, which surprised me. There are always motorbikes and even bikes along this road, so keep an eye out for them. I can’t remember what the speed limit is here, but it is very low, maybe because it’s so windy and narrow? We took it slow as we drove the rest of the way, watching the beautiful landscape go by, all the mountains, the forest and the random animals along the way.

What is the most beautiful highway you have driven?

SUMMER ADVENTURES:
When we Hiked through Lamar Valley - Summertime in Yellowstone National Park
Adventure Tuesday, Yellowstone, Montana, Nature, The great wide open
When we Hiked through Lamar Valley - Summertime in Yellowstone National Park
Adventure Tuesday, Yellowstone, Montana, Nature, The great wide open
Adventure Tuesday, Yellowstone, Montana, Nature, The great wide open
It all Started Here
Sweden, The great wide open, Nature
It all Started Here
Sweden, The great wide open, Nature
Sweden, The great wide open, Nature
The Ultimate Roadtrip pt.5
Flashback Friday, The great wide open, The Ultimate Roadtrip
The Ultimate Roadtrip pt.5
Flashback Friday, The great wide open, The Ultimate Roadtrip
Flashback Friday, The great wide open, The Ultimate Roadtrip
The Ultimate Roadtrip pt.4
Flashback Friday, The great wide open, The Ultimate Roadtrip
The Ultimate Roadtrip pt.4
Flashback Friday, The great wide open, The Ultimate Roadtrip
Flashback Friday, The great wide open, The Ultimate Roadtrip
A Tale of Fires and Ghost Logs - Fieldwork in Yellowstone Pt. 3
Adventure Tuesday, The great wide open, Yellowstone, Science
A Tale of Fires and Ghost Logs - Fieldwork in Yellowstone Pt. 3
Adventure Tuesday, The great wide open, Yellowstone, Science
Adventure Tuesday, The great wide open, Yellowstone, Science
Forgotten Memories
Flashback Friday, Alaska, The great wide open
Forgotten Memories
Flashback Friday, Alaska, The great wide open
Flashback Friday, Alaska, The great wide open
Longing for the Boreal Forest
One Photo Per Day, Nature, The great wide open
Longing for the Boreal Forest
One Photo Per Day, Nature, The great wide open
One Photo Per Day, Nature, The great wide open
Camping in Chequamegon National Forest
Adventure Tuesday, Wisconsin
Camping in Chequamegon National Forest
Adventure Tuesday, Wisconsin
Adventure Tuesday, Wisconsin
Those Summer Nights in Alaska
Alaska, The great wide open
Those Summer Nights in Alaska
Alaska, The great wide open
Alaska, The great wide open
My Summer Bucket List and my Summer Plans
Alaska, Madison Life, The great wide open, Yellowstone
My Summer Bucket List and my Summer Plans
Alaska, Madison Life, The great wide open, Yellowstone
Alaska, Madison Life, The great wide open, Yellowstone
Posted on February 22, 2019 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under The great wide open, Nature, Flashback Friday and tagged Scenery Scenic highway Shoshone National Forest National Forest roadtrip road trip camping Beartooth Pass Beartooth Highway elsewhere Summer Summer Adventures 2 Shoshone Elsewhere Mountain Mountains 2019 Camping.

The Ultimate Roadtrip pt.3

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The Spell of the Yukon

“There’s a land where the mountains are nameless,
And the rivers all run God knows where;
There are lives that are erring and aimless,
And deaths that just hang by a hair;
There are hardships that nobody reckons;
There are valleys unpeopled and still;
There’s a land — oh, it beckons and beckons,
And I want to go back — and I will. - Robert Service”

DAY 3, 05/23/16: Wolf Creek Campground to Liard River Hot Springs Campground - 408.5 miles

Alaska Highway - The Alcan

    On day 3 we started to see an increase in the number of cars and RVs on the road. This was also apparent in some of the campgrounds the following days. Many people drive the Alaskan highway, aka the Alcan, every year. Dawson Creek in British Columbia is where the highway officially starts, and it ends at mile 1421 in Delta Junction, Alaska. Back in the day the Alcan was mostly gravel, and of course fewer people actually drove it. W's mom and dad drove part of the Alcan back in the day. They got a flat tire and I think they had to wait almost a full day before someone drove by and could help them. Today the whole road is asphalt, with the exception for all the road construction areas, which as always seem to multiply in the summer time, everywhere. To guide you through the 1421 mile long roadtrip you should use the Milepost aka the road bible as I like to call it. It has every single small town and attraction listed in it, even specifics about anything you could possibly want to know. Information about how long time it takes to go from point A to point B, where the gas stations are or for that matter aren't, the towns you pass through, tourist attractions and information about other highways, ferries and such. Every year the Milepost is published, with updated information. As with any other road in the less developed areas of North America, the cellservice is mostly non existent. If you drive this road you are bound to run into wild animals, grizzlies, blackies, bison, caribou and moose are some of the more frequent ones you can see. We had been driving through amazing parts of Alaska and Canada, and Canada just kept on giving and giving. You drive on Empty roads, with more black bears than what I had ever seen, all along the road. You pass large rivers and small creeks, cross bridges, and you just keep seeing more mountains and deep forests around every corner you turn.

Some of the beautiful views we saw on May 23rd:

We stop at the Signpost Forest

Wolfcreek Campground

    We woke up early at Wolfcreek Campground, the rain had stopped and for once our tent was pretty dry. We were in the outskirts of Whitehorse and had pretty mixed feelings about the campground. Being so close to Whitehorse it draws more people to it, and sometimes not the best people. About 70% of the whole population of YT lives in Whitehorse (a whopping 25,000) which makes it the largest city in the YT. Our goal for today was to drive about 260 miles, until we arrived at the Signpost Forest in Watson Lake. Watson lake is one of the larger towns in YT (well everything is relative, right..), about 1000 people live here which makes it the third largest city in YT. The Signpost Forest itself was created in 1942 by a U.S. soldier recovering from an injury. I can only imagine how boring it must be to be injured at a place like this, in the middle of nowhere. Today more than 77,000 signs can be seen here.

We enter British Columbia and drive towards Liard Hotsprings

    We leave the Yukon and its vast wilderness and lack of humans behind us and enter into British Columbia, BC. It's crazy that we spent more than one day driving through the Yukon, just like Robert Service once said, 

"There are valleys unpeopled and still;
There’s a land — oh, it beckons and beckons,
And I want to go back — and I will."

About 4.6 million people live here, quite the contrast to YT's 35,000 people. We drive into the famous Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park with that rain constantly haunting us from behind. I have actually written about Liard Hot Springs in the past, but for a completely different reason. At Liard Hot Springs Provisional park, a well known bear attack took place back in 1997. You are in bear country all through the Alcan, Alaska and most parts of Canada.  The bear attack in 1997 was a random one, which is probably why it is so famous when people talk about bear safety, but you still need to be bear aware. Liard Hot Springs is surrounded by the deep boreal forest, tall black and white spruce, but also lodgepole pine are mixed in with the deciduous vegetation like aspen and birch. We walked on a long boardwalk over these beautiful wetlands, surrounded by the beautiful boreal forest. At the end of the boardwalk we walked into the forest and came out in front of the second largest hotspring in Canada. We swam for a while until those thunderstorms that had been chasing us for days arrived again, and we quickly got out of the water to head back to the parking lot. 

Come Rain Come Shine

    Once the rain stopped we walked back towards the hot springs again and shot some pictures. It was so beautiful there. The sun, the misty air that was created once the sun broke out after the short but heavy thunderstorm, and just nature itself. A typical summer evening was forming, a pretty damp but beautiful one. Later that evening we could go to bed with a smile on our faces, a reminder of how lucky we are to get to see places like this. 

Day 3 trip Details - Gas, Camping, and gas mileage

  • Canada: Jakes Corner Whitehorse. MP 866 Alaska highway, YT, 55 miles from Wolf Creek Campground. Gas mileage: 21.42 miles/gallon

  • Canada: Rancheria Motel and Cafe. MP 710 Alaska highway Watson lake, YT, 150.5 miles. Gas mileage: 30.967 miles/gallon

  • Canada: Somewhere...171.2 miles. Mileage 25.22 miles/gallon

  • Total driving on day 3, about 276.7 + 31.8 miles from the gas station to Liard Hotsprings Campground (408.5 miles).

  • The grand total of the whole trip: 1018.4 miles

  • Campground: Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, The great wide open, The Ultimate Roadtrip and tagged Mountain Range Moving South Moving roadtrip Boreal Forest Camping car camping 2018 North Elsewhere Summer days Mountain Yukon Yukon Territory British Columbia Summer Adventures 2.