June 17-18-19, 2010 Haines Highway

We left Haines, Alaska, heading north on the Haines Highway to Haines Junction. Stopped and camped at Million Dollar Falls Park again. There, we met two very nice people, Dee and Cal, who are touring Alaska on trikes. They toured last year from Witchita, Kansas to Alaska, and are back this year to finish seeing Alaska. We have become friends now, and have met with them several times along our travel route.

We rode the north half of the Haines Highway on Thursday, June 17. The Kluane Chilkoot International Bike Race is Saturday, June 19, and will follow the entire highway from Haines Junction to Haines - 148 miles, 250 kilometers. The route is beautiful. On Friday, June 18, we rode the first leg of the route to warm up and check for hazards. See the photos of the hazards - at the first checkpoint, there were two big black grizzly bears waiting for us! We took photos and waited for them to go back into the woods before we rode on!

Saturday, race day, was the most beautiful day in our trip so far. The sun was gleaming, the mountains covered with snow, the lakes sparkling. But the wind was strong and it was cold in the mountains. We rode the race with our partners Kevin and Heidi from Whitehorse, Yukon. They rode the first half, then Christian rode the mountains and plateau, and I rode the anchor leg into Haines. It was a looooooong day!

En route nous rencontrons souvent des gens qui accomplissent des choses incroyables. Voici Cal et Dee, deux retraites qui font le tour de l'Alaska en tricycle etant parti du Kansas. Nous avons participe a un relai cycliste de 250 kms avec un autre couple canadien. Chacun avait un troncon a parcourir. Lemien etait tres raide et balaye par un vent de 40km/h. En faisant la reconnaissance du parcours, deux ours nous ont barre le chemin. On a attendu quelques minutes, puis on a continue tranquillement.

June 9 - 16, 2010 Haines, Skagway, Juneau Alaska

We are a little early in our travel, so we spent ten days in Haines, Alaska. A very nice small fishing village on the beautiful Lynn Canal, part of the inner passage. There are glaciers all around, snow topped mountains, eagles, bears and lots of mosquitos! The eagles live on the river where we camped, so we saw lots of them and took wonderful pictures. We took two ferry trips, one to Skagway, Alaska where we met friends Bob and Jacquie who arrived on a cruise ship and rode the Whitepass narrow gauge railroad up the mountain. Beautiful views and steep drop offs! Then, we took a ferry ride to Juneau, the capital of Alaska. There are no roads to Juneau, so you can only get there by plane or ferry. On the ferry ride, we saw humpback and beluga whales, seals and sea lions. Sorry - no pictures - they are FAST! In Juneau, we went to a salmon bake, rode the tramway up the mountain, saw another bear, and visited the Mendenhall glacier with its blue ice and icebergs.

Nous avons passe 10 jours a Haynes un petit village cotier entoure de magnifiques glaciers qui tombent dans la mer. Beaucoup d'animaux sauvages, des ours qui frequentaient regulierement le camping ou nous restions, des aigles mais surtout des moustiques qui vous "bouffent" en 10 secondes. Nous avons pris un ferry jusqu'a Skagway, un autre petit village ou nous avons rencontre des amis canadiens de Floride. On en a profite pour prendre un train de montagne, le parcours etait impressionant. Un autre ferry nous a emmene a Juneau, la capitale de l'Alaska, ville isolee car seulement approchable par bateau ou avion. Du bateau, nous avons vu des baleines qui nous taquinaient en plongeant devant nous, mais impossible de prendre des photos car elles sont plus rapides que nous. Le glacier Mendenhall etait de meme impressionant.

June 8, 2010 Frank Turner's MukLuk Sled Dog Ranch

This was a wonderful day for me! 140 dogs to pet and hug! This man runs sleddogs in the Yukon Quest dog race, like the Iditarod. They were very nice people, and all the dogs were wonderful. When a dog is too old to race any more, he retires to the ranch and lives a leisurely life greeting visitors and sleeping in the sun on the deck. We also saw a wonderful bald eagle there, who swooped down to pick up a fish the ranch hand put out for him.

Connie a passe une journee inoubliable au chenil du legendaire Frank Turner, le Lance Armstrong de la course de traineau. la, elle etait entouree de 140 chiens qui voulaient tous une petite caresse. Un aigle nous a survole et a finalement saisi une carcasse de poisson qu'on avait place comme appat.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Hi all. Sorry for the delay. We've been busy and seeing many things. We posted our sign in the Watson Lake, Yukon sign forest (see photo). Then, on to Whitehorse, a very nice city. Went to a Gold Rush Review show and ate barbeque salmon and ribs. We visited museums, fish hatcheries and ladders and other sights along the way. We spent a night soaking in the Takhini Hot Springs - wonderful, especially because it is so cold here! Stopped for a visit at Frank Turner's MukTuk sled dog ranch, then on to Million Dollar Falls Park along the Haines Highway between Haines Junction, Yukon and Haines, Alaska. This is the route we will ride on the KCIBR bike race Sat June 19. What a beautiful drive!

Salut les amis. Nous voila dans le Yukon, toujours au Canada. A Watson Lake, il y a un immense parc ou les touristes mettent une pancarte afin de marquer leur passage a cet endroit. Il y a des milliers de pancartes mises par des gens qui viennent du monde entier. Alors nous avons suivi la tradition. En route nous avons vu des ours mais surtout ce beau " moose" ( je pense que c'est un "elan" en francais mais je ne suis pas certain de la traduction) animal aussi grand qu'un cheval, tres solitaire en consequence difficile a rencontrer.

Blue Glaciers, Mountains and Bears !

Here are some photos of the blue glaciers near Hyder, Alaska and some bears we saw along the Cassiar Highway. Also, we stopped along a beautiful lake for lunch and took this photo of the camper!

Voici quelques photos d'un Glacier pres de Hyder, Alaska, de quelques petits ours au bord de la route et d'un endroit charmant ou nous avons dejeune.

May 27 to June 3, 2001 Seattle to Cassiar Highway

May 27 we camped on an island in Puget Sound, Washington and took the ferry to Seattle. We had lunch and visited the famous Pike Street market and Fish Market. (Photo)

Then, we spent Memorial Day weekend (still raining) with Vicki's kids Chad and Michelle at their beautiful home on San Juan Island. We toured the island, visited the farmers market, had great food and conversation, and met the dog Baxter, who loves Christian. Chad and Michelle live in a home with a deck and glass wall overlooking the sea channel and Vancouver Island. It is a great place to live. (Photo)

From SJI, we headed north, entering Canada and picking up Rt. 1, heading north up the Cassiar Highway. Our first stop was at Hell's Gate, a narrow gorge where the same amount of water as at Niagara Falls passes through each day. Took the tramway and walked on the suspension bridge.

Our next destination was Hyder, Alaska and Stewart, BC. We got there before the bears and salmon, so it was very quiet. Hyder has about 50 people who live there. We visited both towns and saw the beautiful blue glaciers there.

Finally, we headed north on the Cassiar Highway. Stopped in a village to see the totem poles carved by the local tribe. Beautiful scenery along the way, as well as two foxes and four bears. Took lots of photos of the bears, of course! Check the next entry......enjoy!

La premiere photo est la vue que nos amis ont depuis leur balcon. Ils vivent sur l'ile de Saint Juan au large de Seattle. La deuxieme photo represente des totems au centre d'un village indien en Colombie Britannique. La troisieme photo a ete prise au marche au poisson a Seattle. En cours de route nous avons rencontre nos premiers ours mais nous sommes restes a l'interieur du vehicule. Ils sont tres beaux a voir mais attention..

May 22 to May 27, 2010

Hello, everyone. Sorry for the delay, but we have been in Canada with no phone and little internet. Many of the places we have been don't even have stop lights in the towns or electricity in the campgrounds, but it has been a beautiful trip.

We stopped by Zion National Park to see our good friends Dotty and Frenchy. They say hello to everyone. They are doing well, and almost have the park under their control. On the way there, we traveled scenic Rt 14, across a 10,000 ft pass, into snow and past frozen mountain lakes. (Photo)

From Zion, we headed up to Salt Lake City/Ogden and met up with Beth and Josh, Mary's kids. It began raining south of Salt Lake, turned to snow for the next two days, and then rain again. We had a nice breakfast and met their friend Molly and dog Boomer. On the way west, we stopped at the Golden Spike Historic Site in Promentory, Utah. (Photo) Continuing west toward Seattle, WA.

From Zion, we crossed Idaho and Oregon. Beautiful land, but not much there. In Oregon, we stopped at a historic village and saw the Oregon Trail National Monument.

On the 26th, we passed through Mt. Rainier National Park. Lots of snow - over 12 feet of it next to the roadways. Everything was still closed, and we saw a cute little baby bear next to the road. (Photo of snow)

Bonjour a tout le monde. Nous voila au Canada, a Whitehorse, une ville de 25.000 habitants, la capitale du Yukon. Nous nous rapprochons lentement de l'Alaska. Les paysages que nous traversons sont splendides mais sauvages. Absence de telephone et surtout d'acces a l'internet.