Seattle to Alaska and back
- Thread starter Stitebunny
- Start date
Stitebunny
Adventurer
Okay! Finishing it for sure now! Glad you guys are checking it out! Thanks!
It will probably be a few more days until we get to the end though!
The Denali Highway ends in Paxon. And as sad as we were to be out of the area, the smooth, well relatively smooth paved roads were somewhat of a relief! The frost heaves can be pretty bad and we were still bouncing around quite a bit!
The next leg was up the Richardson Highway to Delta Junction! The official end of the Alaska Highway for northbound traveler's and our starting point to head south!
These 2 little ones (hard to see) could not have been very old! They could hardly stand up it seemed and it was almost as if they were stranded out on a sandbar in the middle of the river. We watched for a while, but they didn't seem to be trying to go anywhere. Hope they made it okay!
I think the pipeline has a certain beauty to it.
Made it up to Delta Junction and took in some more tourist sights!
These were almost as big as some of the ones we have, and will have encountered!
We grabbed some food for the road, although I forget the name of the place, but I'm sure it's the only pizza place in town. It was delicious! Also hit the grocery store to resupply and they have a good selection of everything.
We stopped for the night at Cathedral Creek Bed and Breakfast a ways down the road. It was a nice spot with great people! Highly recommended! We were nearly the only people there. Nice big, hot showers, washer and dryer use included as well as free firewood! And we took advantage of it all! They also let us wash our dishes in the sink in the main house before we hit the road the next day!
Woke up at 5 am and saw this! A pretty good start to the day!
It will probably be a few more days until we get to the end though!
The Denali Highway ends in Paxon. And as sad as we were to be out of the area, the smooth, well relatively smooth paved roads were somewhat of a relief! The frost heaves can be pretty bad and we were still bouncing around quite a bit!
The next leg was up the Richardson Highway to Delta Junction! The official end of the Alaska Highway for northbound traveler's and our starting point to head south!
These 2 little ones (hard to see) could not have been very old! They could hardly stand up it seemed and it was almost as if they were stranded out on a sandbar in the middle of the river. We watched for a while, but they didn't seem to be trying to go anywhere. Hope they made it okay!
I think the pipeline has a certain beauty to it.
Made it up to Delta Junction and took in some more tourist sights!
These were almost as big as some of the ones we have, and will have encountered!
We grabbed some food for the road, although I forget the name of the place, but I'm sure it's the only pizza place in town. It was delicious! Also hit the grocery store to resupply and they have a good selection of everything.
We stopped for the night at Cathedral Creek Bed and Breakfast a ways down the road. It was a nice spot with great people! Highly recommended! We were nearly the only people there. Nice big, hot showers, washer and dryer use included as well as free firewood! And we took advantage of it all! They also let us wash our dishes in the sink in the main house before we hit the road the next day!
Woke up at 5 am and saw this! A pretty good start to the day!
Cereal_Killer
New member
Great report. I got to drive from Dover, DE all the way to Anchorage, AK back in 98. Took the Alaska Highway up. Amazing drive. Brought back a lot of memories. Would love to do it again. And you're right, pictures don't justice.
Stitebunny
Adventurer
Thanks for all of the comments! I hope you all get to go on the trips you want to take as well!!
From Cathedral Creek it was down the road to Tok, Ak. We stopped at some gift shops there and found some dogs and sleds with Iditarod experience! The dogs were super high energy and ready to get out and run! It's too bad they were stuck in the kennel.
From there it was some easy cruising and and a little stopping for construction around the border of Alaska and Yukon.
One cheek in each country!
Needed some coffee and found this place on the side of the highway. Another highly recommended stop! The Rock Shop! Jim and Dorothy were very entertaining and a blast to talk to!
From my wife's blog of the trip:
"The Canadian border crossing went great, and we were excited to see the Yukon! We spent the entire day on the road and saw lots of cool things, but my favorite of this day was the Rock Shop just South of the border, where we met Dorothy and Jim and their dog Buddy. Dorothy regaled us with tales of Grizzly Bears and Secret Service Agents; driving lessons and dogs; and I'm pretty certain I learned a lot about marriage in the half hour or so we spent with them! She also made the world's best cowboy coffee--so stop in and say hello if you are ever passing through!"
We stopped for the night at Takhini Hot Springs. We rolled in when they were shutting it down, 11pm, so we didn't make it into the hot springs. Set up camp and found too many mosquitoes for us. So it was a hang out in the van kind of night!
Up at 9 the next morning and made a quick getaway for Whitehorse.
Finally saw a "real" expedition vehicle!
This MAN was BIG!!
From Cathedral Creek it was down the road to Tok, Ak. We stopped at some gift shops there and found some dogs and sleds with Iditarod experience! The dogs were super high energy and ready to get out and run! It's too bad they were stuck in the kennel.
From there it was some easy cruising and and a little stopping for construction around the border of Alaska and Yukon.
One cheek in each country!
Needed some coffee and found this place on the side of the highway. Another highly recommended stop! The Rock Shop! Jim and Dorothy were very entertaining and a blast to talk to!
From my wife's blog of the trip:
"The Canadian border crossing went great, and we were excited to see the Yukon! We spent the entire day on the road and saw lots of cool things, but my favorite of this day was the Rock Shop just South of the border, where we met Dorothy and Jim and their dog Buddy. Dorothy regaled us with tales of Grizzly Bears and Secret Service Agents; driving lessons and dogs; and I'm pretty certain I learned a lot about marriage in the half hour or so we spent with them! She also made the world's best cowboy coffee--so stop in and say hello if you are ever passing through!"
We stopped for the night at Takhini Hot Springs. We rolled in when they were shutting it down, 11pm, so we didn't make it into the hot springs. Set up camp and found too many mosquitoes for us. So it was a hang out in the van kind of night!
Up at 9 the next morning and made a quick getaway for Whitehorse.
Finally saw a "real" expedition vehicle!
This MAN was BIG!!
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JCMatthews
Tour Guide
I love the story and the van. I have also driven part of the Denali Highway. We had an awesome encounter with a wolf. It posed in the road in our head lights for almost five minutes and looked as if it was going to come look into our open widow but my wife freaked and kept the wolf at bay.
team-oomizumi
Observer
keep it coming. enjoying the trip report!
NEexplorer
New member
awesome trip! keep it coming 
Pacific Northwest yetti
Expedition Medic
Love it so far thanks!! I'm thinking of a similar trip, and including the Washington back country discovery route. I'm loving living in the pacific Northwest so far, 12 years and counting
Stitebunny
Adventurer
Sorry for the slow progress! I wish I was still in relaxed vacation mode and had more free time!!
Glad you are enjoying the trip though! Thanks for the comments!
Out of Whitehorse it was through the sign post forest!
Something like 100,000 signs!
Someone was real excited to see their first wild bison in person!
Another rest stop, and more steam to burn off!
Different rest stop! A bbq break this time!
Once we got into BC we really started seeing lots of wildlife!
Saw at least a couple of herds of these guys. Lots of little ones.
Glad you are enjoying the trip though! Thanks for the comments!
Out of Whitehorse it was through the sign post forest!
Something like 100,000 signs!
Someone was real excited to see their first wild bison in person!
Another rest stop, and more steam to burn off!
Different rest stop! A bbq break this time!
Once we got into BC we really started seeing lots of wildlife!
Saw at least a couple of herds of these guys. Lots of little ones.
Stitebunny
Adventurer
Wild horses maybe? No fences around anyway.
Stone sheep! These guys have wild looking eyes! They weren't too excited we were imposing on their road either!
Liard Hot Springs for the night! And we made it in time for an evening swim!
The campsites were full so they let us park in a gravel lot! Didn't need anything more than that!
Stone sheep! These guys have wild looking eyes! They weren't too excited we were imposing on their road either!
Liard Hot Springs for the night! And we made it in time for an evening swim!
The campsites were full so they let us park in a gravel lot! Didn't need anything more than that!