Gone State-Side.

Haines Jct. Supposedly the most photographed monument on the AK-HWY.

And on the seventh day the Lord rested.  Well…we’re not going to do that today.  After bacon, eggs and books in the warm sun, Alison has already started off the day with a mid morning 100k ride, no bigs.   

On another note, it’s official, we’ve entered the realm of the Alaskan’s!  After the bumpy ride between Haines Junction and Beaver Creek our excitement began to grow as we continued towards the border, unfortunately however our excitement turned into a feeling of anti-climax rather quickly.  Instead of entering into a land of cascading mountains, grizzly bears and caribou we were met with more mosquito’s, low lying rain clouds and forest fire smog, “heck, it was better on the other side!”  In all fairness the Alaskan wilderness is still a very exciting and diverse experience.   

What we have been able to see is a vast expanse of skinny little trees poking out of the muskeg like millions of toothpicks, and mountains like giants looming behind the thin veil of smog.  The word on the street is that there are a number of forest fires around the Denali mountain range, Chicken (mmm…smoked Chicken…) and a few other towns.  Pilot cars are being used on the Denali highway to get motorists safely through the smoke.  My hopes are that the smoke has moved on when we make our way through the mountain range.

Our stay last night at Cathedral Creek B&B and Campgrounds was indeed a pleasant stay.  Our host was a German woman by the name of Kris who 31 years ago became stranded in Tok, AK when hitchhiking and never left.  We both enjoyed the company of Chessa a 5year old yellow lab that had exceptional table manners and was awarded with the job of prewashing our dishes.  Maybe I should have done some more convincing of Alison that dog’s mouths are more sterile than ours before I handed the dishes to Chessa.

 Now in Fairbanks we refuel, restock and wait patiently to commence our journey on the Dalton Highway!

Adventure on!

A 2fer in Whitehorse

Family and friends, did you miss us?   

We took two brilliant days in Whitehorse to stay with friends (who really feel like family) and decided to sum up the experience all together.
 

Gosh! The friggen’ mosquitoes were so bad at our campsite in Nugget City!  Thankfully Alex had brought along a bad smell that kept the mosquitoes somewhat at bay (a butane mosquito incense – Alex doesn’t smell bad even when camping!).

Early the next morning I spread all the breakfast stuff out and then escaped camp on my bicycle!  Sleepy Alex was left to clean up, pack up, and meet me 100km later.  And it was a BEAUTIFUL day for a cycle and a drive into Whitehorse, YK.

Whitehorse is a clean, organic and culturally rich city.  The native influence encourages all kinds of traditional and new art and recipes from the land.  Cyclists, runners, paddlers and dog walkers are everywhere!  Whitehorse: a rich city of culture, coffee, beer and activity!

What we experienced here were three amazing hosts (Hector, Miche and their wise dog Bella) who delighted us with wilderness stories, history, a fluffy bed and fluffy milk, moose ribs, Hector-blend-granola, and exciting travel suggestions.   

After one particular consultation with our hosts, Alex and I took our second day to explore the city of Whitehorse and spend time outdoors hiking and swimming.  We put our four wheels to good use as we drove far up Grey Mountain before beginning our hike.  Afterwards a cool swim was necessary so we found ourselves jumping into the middle of Long Lake (which was surprisingly warmer than freezing cold).

Our wonderful hosts in Whitehorse!

 Saturday morning has now come and gone, but we are fully rested and excited to…

Adventure on!!

Yukon Nuggets

Upon waking early wed morning we were greeted by the drip drip drip of rain which had accompanied us to sleep the evening previous.  Unfortunately for us as we wrapped up posting our Day Two blog our campsite was hit with a torrential down pour.  Our mad dash of 200m to our tent from the office balcony left us thoroughly soaked.  This morning we quickly washed dishes, packed and then hit the road (I’m not a fan of putting away a wet tent).  We had agreed that we needed to cover a little more ground than the days previous to keep on schedule; our goal was to arrive somewhere between Ft. Nelson and Whitehorse.

Day three met us with some breath-taking vistas and fun roads.  About midday Alison began to get antsy, bored and a little malcontent with the amount of wildlife we had seen, which had been a solid zero.  As if on cue we came over a rise in the road and there, standing on the edge of the road, was a huge bull MOOSE MOOSE MOOSE!  An impressive sight indeed.  We shot as much footage of the beast as we could until it literally disappeared into the forest.  Not long after that we saw a family of mountain sheep, then a herd of wild bison and…a bunch of bear spottings! 

Proof that our MOOSE friend does in fact exist. Picture taken mid lunge by athletic Alison herself!

Our wildlife count thus far:

Moose: 1

Mountain sheep: 3

Bison: ugh…a lot

Bears: 6

We also spotted multiple signs for a cinnamon bun stop on the highway and HAD to stop.  It was really fun!  Old man Andrews, with his long white beard and polite jovial nature served us a fresh out of the oven sticky bun while we made acquaintances with a couple of Alaskan gold-miners, a French hitchhiker, another travelling couple and a friendly Australian cattle puppy.

Our adventures remain drug and gun free.

We made a quick stop in at Liard River Hot Springs to enjoy, you guessed it, natural hot springs.  Very HOT!!! After that we made a break for the BC/Yukon border and arrived at Watson Lake where we visited the sign post forest, had an unfortunate run in with the owner of a local campsite and consequently moved further down the road to Nugget City, YT which ended up being a way nicer campsite – and sold beer.  We ate, we drank, we prayed, we slept – happy.

Made it to the Yukon baby!!

                                                                     

                                                                        Adventure on!

Ain’t no valley low enough…

 

We find ourselves at the end of day two parked in a quaint little campsite situated right beside the Sikanni River, the perpetual sound of icy cold water is broken only by the occasional passing vehicle on the Alaska Highway to our right.  It’s been a wonderful day of travel, learning and adventure.  Thus far the Alaska Highway has served us only a few low-lying mountains and two or three deep valleys to pass through, no major challenges for our little 2.7L quite yet.  We were quick enough to spot the sign for the Old Alaska highway (not realizing it was at mile 21 just outside of Dawson Creek) and got some footage of our little red truck crossing the historic Kiskatinaw Bridge, a 531ft curved timber bridge, the only one of its kind still in use on the AK-HWY.  Before we departed from Mile 0 we stopped in at the Alaska Highway House to see what this highway thing is all about and learn what it actually means to build a 1523 mile highway in 9 months, pretty incredible to say the least.

 

Alaska Highway House

Currently I (Alex, the other writer on this blog) sit here surrounded by hovering mosquitos, hoping the repellent that I’m drenched in will not give out.  Alison has pulled her Hoodini act again and left me with tent setup and dinner duty (she’s gone off to ride up the 9% grade hill on the other side of the river that we descended earlier).

 

Still no wildlife to be seen. We were shied off of going for a hike at Pink Mountain by the locals when they started asking us questions like, “do you have a dog?”, “do you have bear spray?”, “do you have a gun?” Some advice from an oil worker was spoken like this, “drive to the top then walk around above the tree line, then you can see the bears.  I wouldn’t go into the bush without a rifle.” OK! FINE! We won’t go for a hike…jeeeeeze!

Tomorrow we go for a long haul, hopefully pass Muncho Lake and Liard River Hot Springs and arrive somewhere between Fort Nelson and Whitehorse.

Adventure on!

E --> D

Rainbow Valley Campground, Edmonton

Yesterday marked our first day of road travel from Edmonton, AB to Dawson Creek, B.C.  We were blessed with a sun-shiny-day, good tuneage, and a few good stories!   

Before leaving Edmonton we met up with a guy to buy his used RODE shotgun microphone because our lapel mics didn’t come in time – and we need good sound for our doco film.  He ended up being a really cool young guy who just got off the boat (so to speak) from India where he was for 6 months shooting an adventure documentary!!  Ooo! There was lots of stuff for Alex and I to talk with him about.  So here is a shout out to Grand Trunk Road (his film).  You can watch the trailer for the film at grandtrunkfilm.com.

mmm...healthy salmon salad!

After a quick CanTire stop we headed west and had salmon salad lunch on the road on our fun camping plates.

Ah ha!  We spotted mountains on this day, and then a ginormous evil beaver in Beaverlodge, AB.

We pulled into Dawson Creek around 7:30pm, grabbed some groceries, and then settled into Mile 0 Campground for the night.  Our neighbor was a potato farmer from Idaho (classic) who is taking a few months to travel on his Enduro Bike up through the Yukon and Alaska.  Neat guy.

That’s all for today!

        Adventure on!!!

B.A.T. sandwich

 

  Alex: And now the adventures can begin!
Alison: Alex! The adventures have been rolling before this blog started!
  Alex: Wait...what?  My truck has been sitting in the shop for the last three weeks...
Alison: Umm...marriage...B.C. hikes...bike rides...Alberta farming...life...it's ALL an adventure!!
  Alex: Ooohh

Hello!

Let us start by introducing ourselves.  Alex and Alison Jackson married August 13th, 2011.  We love the outdoors, travel, our Lord and savior and each other (Alison: 'AND other things!). We have an addiction to rolling around on wheels (Alison: 'Yeah, but I like to pedal two wheels).  Our desire is to play in God's incredible creation and to seek the adventure that can be had in it.

First...we start with Alaska!

                The Couple.

   
      The Transportation.