Alaska Trip Part 2

If you click on a photograph, it will enlarge and should place a row of thumbnails on the bottom of your screen that you can navigate.

To go back to Lake Louise for a minute - The campground had a tent camping area. It had bear proof food lockers to store your food in. But the tent camping area was also surrounded by bear fence. Basically the same type of electric fence used to keep livestock contained, only built a little tougher. The fence carries 7,000 volts, low amperage. Where the fence needs to cross a road, they use a "Texas Gate" which is a cattle guard with the wires running in the "grooves." These same fences are also used around the Ski Resorts (see below). 

Bear Fencing

On June 12 we were off to the City of Jasper, Alb. After dumping the waste tanks and filling the fresh water tank we were on the way. A missed turn caused us to visit the small town of Fielding, about 15 miles west of Lake Louise and road construction.

Beautiful Scenery - even in construction zones

We made a U-Turn in the parking lot of the YooHoo Brothers fueling station and Convenience store. Back on the road toward Lake Louise we made the exit to Canada 93 and onward to Jasper, Alb. The road was a good two lane road with lots of traffic. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. No matter which way the road turned, or which way your head turned the view was spectacular. This is called the Ice Field Parkway as it passes through at least one glacier.

So, I have scoured all the photos that we took and I will now include them. Many are not captioned as they are just the view through the windshield -We think that you will enjoy them - these are all along the Icefield Parkway.

Proof that I was keeping my eyes on the road

Visitor Center is the structure  in the lower right of the photo

The only real problem was the other tourists on the road. If there was a very great view or an animal sighting, people would turn off the road willy-nilly to see what it was. At one point, we thought we had come across a multi-vehicle accident, only to discover that someone had spotted a bear.

Accident? - Nope - Wildlife

Upon arriving at Jasper, we pulled into the Wapiti Trailer Park, only to find that they were full. They directed us to the Over-Flow camping area about seven miles east of Jasper. A U-Turn was made in the Sanitary dump area, with the Jeep going over the corner of a curb. Not bad, could have been the side of the Motor Home on one of the barrier posts. The Over-Flow camping area is a large gravel area with more than a hundred back in parking spots with picnic tables.

Jasper - Overflow Campground

This is totally dry camping, no electric and water only at two tanks located at each end of the camping area. The water is for people to put the water into jugs to take to the RV.

Water - fill your jug

When we arrived there were probably a dozen people in the camping area. By 8PM, there were probably forty vehicles in the camping area. It was quiet, even though there was a train track on the far side of the camping area.

We decided that we would change the schedule and not spend two nights in Jasper, Alb. But just one. We did get a picture of a rainbow -

Rainbow tops it off

The next morning we were off to Grande Cache and Grand Prairie, but first a stop in Hinton to get fuel and to make a resupply stop at Wal-Mart. We arrived at the Wal-Mart in Hinton and since we were in the Motor Home, parked at the very edge of the parking area. As we were disembarking to go into the store, it started to rain. Between umbrella and hat we made it to the store without a major soaking.

We found that this was a very compact Wal-Mart. They did not have everything a “full size” store does, but enough for us to get what we needed.

After braving the rain on the way back out to the Motor Home, it was off to find the Flying J listed on the app. After several wrong turns, we found the Flying J only to find it closed and abandon. OK, Plan B, Back to Highway 16 and see if we can find a station that we will fit into. The first up was a Petro Canada. Lots of room, but it would not take credit cards.

The next location was a Husky Fuel station. We pulled up to the pump island and I saw a yellow pump handle and the familiar green handle. So, I pulled up to the green handle. I put my credit card in and allowed a $200 pre authorization be allowed, then stared at the screen as it listed three options for fuel. Two with 10% ethanol and one with no ethanol. OK, 10% ethanol. Must be what they call biodiesel up in Canada. I stuck the nozzle in and started dispensing, then something did not seem right. I stopped fueling and smelled the product. Something was not right, this smelled like gasoline. I shut off the pump and walked to the Convenience store and asked if the green handle was diesel – No, in Canada diesel is dispensed on the yellow handle pump. Well shoot – They directed me over to the truck island and again I allowed a pre authorization for $200 to fill the tank with DIESEL. In checking, I found that I had only dispensed 1.4 liters of gasoline into a diesel tank with a capacity of about 361 liters – I figured that I was safe and needed to be more careful in the future.

After getting fuel it was off to Grande Cache and then Grande Prairie via Canada 70, billed as the scenic route to Alaska. This has to be one of the the worst road in Canada. We were no longer in the National Park and it appeared that is where they spend the money on road maintenance. This road was potholed and rough. It was narrow lanes with no shoulders and the travel was slow. Compared to the roads we had been on, this was the cow path. The scenery was not what we had become used to, this was nice forest and hills, but no fantastic rugged snow capped ridges and the like. There were climbs and down hills and there was rain.

We passed through Grand Cache and continued on to Grande Prairie, Alb. Our RV Park was the Rotary Club RV Park in Grande Prairie. We did not have reservations, but found that there was plenty of room, in this manicured and paved RV Park. The park is located right next to, if not on the Grande Prairie Regional College campus. The Rotary Club owns and maintains the park and all proceeds go back to the Rotary Club for the great work that they do.

Rotary RV Park - Grand Prairie

Grande Prairie appears to be a great city. They have all the major stores, fuel stations, repair outlets and the like. It is in a pretty setting and probably worth more time to explore.

June 14, off to Dawson Creek, BC – Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway. After fueling at Flying J (yes, we found it and it was open) it was off on Highway 43, westward HO! This section of the drive starts out four lane divided going through mostly farmland, as it progresses through Beaverlodge, Hythe and other small villages and towns. The road goes back to a nice two-lane road and remains in farmland the entire distance to Dawson Creek. Along the way, the road number changes to Canada Highway 2, also known as Dawson Creek Tupper Highway. Once into Dawson Creek, we followed the Highway to the Round-About that is the official location of Mile Post 0 of the Alaska Highway. 

Mile Post 0 Alaska Highway - also known as the ALCAN

We circled the Round-about to Highway 97 which is the number for the Alaska Highway.

We continued out this for a few miles, taking a turn onto the John Hart Highway to the Northern Lights RV Park.

Entrance to Northern Lights RV Park

The Northern Lights RV Park is a nice little park. It is gravel roads and spots, 30 Amp service with water, sewer and cable TV at all the sites. We had a gravel pull through for three nights.

Site at Northern Lights RV Park

After getting setup, we decided that we would start the laundry process. This normally takes a couple hours to wash and dry the clothes, hang them, fold them and of course transport to and from the Motor Home. We had been told that no outdoor shoes were allowed in the Laundry Room, or in the individual shower rooms that they had, which occupy the same building. We brought the laundry into a small entry room, that had a chair to sit in to take off your shoes, and then into the interior of the building and into the cleanest laundry area that we have ever seen. When we arrived, the front desk person was vacuuming and mopping the floors of this front section of the building. There were six washers and six dryers. There were four or five individual shower rooms opposite of the laundry area. Each of them were immaculate, and shining. This made up for the gravel area outside. Plus the people were friendly.

Dawson Creek is famous for being Milepost 0, being the start of the Alaska Highway.

History tells us that Ft. Nelson was the original Mile Post 0, as there was already a “winter road” between Dawson Creek and Ft. Nelson. After the construction was complete, they decided that Mile 0 really was in Dawson Creek. A monument was constructed at the location and a Round-About was constructed. However, the symbolic Mile 0 marker was moved to a new location a couple blocks away, as people were endangering themselves trying to cross traffic in the Round-About to get a picture next to the marker.

Now, along the road adjacent to the Round-About is a rock cairn with bronze plaques commemorating the start of the Alaskan Highway. There is also a large sign over it. Across the parking lot is both an art gallery in an old wooden grain storage building and the Visitor Center which is located in an old train station building

When we visited on a Sunday, the visitor center had two people around the rock cairn offering to take pictures, with the visitor’s camera, of people standing under the sign with the art gallery in the background. This is a very nice service.

We again noticed that beer, wine and other liquors were sold in stand-a-lone stores and not in the main stores. We have also noticed a difference in the naming of things. Like I go into the store and I want sour cream or cream cheese, I would go to the Dairy cabinet. Not here, you would go to the "Cultures" section.

One thing we did see in the RV park was a lot of RVs that we had seen in other places along the route. I was under the Motor Home working on the steps and a man and woman in a golf cart stopped and said, “hey I told you we would see you again.” As best as I could remember we saw these folks in Great falls. MT.