Final Alaska Post
So I’m back at home for a short time after spending the
summer exploring the wilds of Alaska and Canada. My last blog post was from Anchorage around
the 18th of July so I will complete this journal with this final
post regarding what transpired following the last blog. My daughter and her family decided to spend
their last morning in Alaska by having breakfast, then going to Best Buy and
finally to spend time in downtown Anchorage before returning to the hotel to
pack and get ready to depart on the 19th. So, after dropping them downtown, I headed
back to Eagle River where I had left my trailer at Fred Meyers. Upon arrival I went to the store to get items
for my departure, filled up with gas and propane, then went to get water and
make a sanitary dump. It was now just
mid-afternoon so I decided to go ahead and start the trip back rather than
waiting until morning to depart. Not far
out of Eagle River there was some major construction which tied me up for a
period of time but once I cleared that I made good time heading south. I thought it would be nice if I could make it
to Glenallen by night but surprised myself by making it past there and within
30 miles of Tok before I pulled into a roadside rest and spent the night. I had forgotten how beautiful the drive along
the Tok Cutoff was from my earlier experience driving it. Up early the next morning I continued my
journey not exactly clear where I would end my day. After fueling up in Tok, I headed for Canada
which I reached before noon. I actually
made it all the way to Whitehorse before calling it a day and pulling into the
Walmart lot for the night.
The next morning it was raining and I added a few groceries
and moved on with a plan to reach Boya Lake Provincial Park, a park I fell in
love with in 1998. It rained off and on
most of the way making for not so pleasant a drive but reached my destination
by early afternoon. I did have a nice
surprise near the beginning of the Cassiar Highway when I spotted a group of
Northern Flickers and 3 young in a tree beside the road. After pulling over I noticed a group of birds
in the roadway ahead and these turned out to be White-winged Crossbills. I was able to get a couple of good photos of
the crossbills. I had actually reached
Boya two days ahead of my schedule but was happy to be there and found a
beautiful campsite that backed up to the lake and provided me with a great
opportunity to try out my newly purchased Advanced Elements Inflatable
Kayak. I spent 3 nights at Boya. Boya
Lake is beautiful, the water color ranges from nearly white along the shore
thru at least 4 shade of aqua to deep blue in the middle. And at one end there is a massive beaver
dam. I enjoyed my time kayaking in these
peaceful, beautiful waters. The first
evening a family from Alberta camped adjacent to my site and we visited. He was involved in the oilfield in Alberta
and we shared this in common. On the
second day I lost one of my hearing aids while walking around the camping
area. My search was assisted by about 10
volunteers, including the Alberta family, but we came up empty. While there I had make friends with the camp
host and she vowed to continue looking for it after I departed, so I gave her
my contact information. She knew I was
heading to Meziadin Provincial Park and the day after I got there she notified
me that she had found my hearing aid and would send it to Meziadin with the
next people headed that way. She did and
I was very grateful.
The drive to Meziadin was made more difficult by the
constant rain I experienced until about 25 miles from the final
destination. However, along the way I
did encounter a black bear. I spent the
next 11 days at Meziadin Provincial Park.
Arriving on a Saturday the place was very crowded and I lucked into an
open spot near the lake shore. Meziadin
is a massive lake, the second largest in British Columbia, and a very popular
fishing site for salmon. I camped at
this first spot until Monday when I decided to move up on the hill overlooking
the lake for a more permanent campsite.
Those near the lake are reservable and the upcoming weekend was a BC
holiday weekend when they would all be taken.
The site I picked required backing up a steep incline and I was assisted
in my endeavor by a camp host, Charlie, who helped me get situated in my new
campsite. This campground is located 36
miles from Hyder, Alaska where I intended to visit the viewing stand along Fish
Creek were many bears come to feed on the spawning salmon. I had made plans before leaving Texas for a
friend to join me at Meziadin for the purpose of viewing bears. She was to fly into Smithers, BC and I would
pick her up there on Saturday. I spent
the week traveling back and forth to various location nearby doing some birding
and bear watching while awaiting her arrival.
So on Saturday morning I left early and headed to Smithers
about 150 miles away. The plane was on
time and I picked her up at 9:30. While there we visited the campsite I had
reserved for the end of the week to check it out, then visited the local
farmers market where we purchased some vegetables, and made a final stop at the
grocery store to pick up some food for our stay at Meziadin. The plan was to drive up to the town of
Kipsiok to see the totem poles there, the continue up this road to check on a
cabin that her brother has along the Mittin Road, a back way to get to Highway
37 back to Meziadin. This turned out to
be a beautiful drive through the BC backcountry. We checked on the cabin and then headed up
Mitten Road, a sometimes rough, but beautiful drive. Along the way we did some birding
encountering a Spruce Grouse and several other species. We were also had the good fortune to observe
a black mama bear and two cubs crossing in front of us, an exciting event for
my companion. Besides the wildlife we
encountered, there were several spectacular vistas where we stopped to take
pictures and soak in the amazing beauty that is British Columbia. We reached camp around 6 and settled in for
our trip to see bears in Hyder on the following day.
On Sunday we did some birding nearby, then drove the road up
to Salmon Glacier. This is a drive that takes about 2 hours round trip from
Hyder and provides one with a magnificent view of a massive glacier at very
close range. Along the way we spotted a
black bear, the only one we would see this day.
On our return we visited the Fish Creek viewing stand, remaining there
until 9:30 but the bears were a no show.
Somewhat disappointed we headed back to camp and were determined to
return the following day. On Monday we
were rewarded with two grizzly bears at the stand, both very close and gave me
the opportunity to get great photo shots and videos of them. Then on the way back to camp we had two more
young black bears and a mother grizzly with two cubs just outside the car
window on the highway adding to our total of 11 so far. By the time our trip was over we had a total
of 21 bears of which 6 were cubs and the opportunity to see one young cub
scurry up and down a tree as we sat watching from the car. During the nine days she was there we were
able to add 35 life birds to her list as well as the 21 bears. She left on Sunday the 8th from
Smithers.
I had made plans to get on the road after dropping her off
at the airport around 3 PM and I headed toward Jasper, AB. I made it to within 80 miles of there before
spending the night with a number of truckers at a roadside rest. Then I continued the following morning
through Jasper National Park where I saw the largest black bear I have ever
seen alongside the road and a nice Dall Sheep ram. I had also forgotten how beautiful the
Canadian Rockies were. The drive from
Jasper to Baniff is spectacularly beautiful.
I crossed back into the US by 5 and spent the night at Walmart in Great
Falls, MT. The following day I reached
Wheatland, WY for the night before heading on to Amarillo the next day and
finally home on the 12th. I
was gone just short of 3 months, having left Georgetown on May 16. The trip was amazing. I drove 14,207 miles’ total. I saw Dall Sheep, Mountain Goats, Arctic
Squirrel, Sea Otter, Buffalo, 40 + Bear, Lynx, Steller Sea Lion, porcupine,
Harbor Seal, antelope, and I’m sure more.
As for birds the list would be too long to list. I also met some very great new friends along
the way and got to spend time with my family in Anchorage and visit my
grandchildren on Kodiak Island. It was a
wonderful summer and I would do it again.
Now it’s on to South Africa for 5 weeks in September
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