Category: Northbound

Our first leg of the trip, Colorado Springs to the Arctic Ocean

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20250927 – Dinosaur National Monument

We slept in a bit and then drove the rest of the way to dinosaur national monument. We decided the first town we stopped at to get some showers at the KOA, fill up the propane and the water tank, and dump the other tanks. It took us about an hour, but we were definitely clean and ready for the next 90 minutes of driving.

As we entered the park, we noticed a huge herd of elk that had taken over a huge alfalfa field. We pulled out the binoculars and watch them for a little while. We continued on into the park and visited the visitor center, that our stamps and stickers and had a nice conversation with the park. Ranger at the counter. She suggested based on Kathy’s interest in historical characters, that we visit the homestead of Josie Bassett. The area was really nice, so we decided just to get a camp spot in the national monument before heading out on the tour.

the national park had an audio tour of this portion of dinosaur national monument, so we listen to the narrator as we drove the path through a bunch of petroglyphs and beautiful canyons. At one point we got out and did a little hike to try to find some more petroglyphs and the cabin, but realize that we were in the wrong spot for the cabin.

There are multiple sites of petroglyphs on the way to the cabin, and we stopped and looked at the thousand year-old chisel paintings on the wall. Kathy and I both chuckled because back then they definitely were not confused about gender.

Male

Female

Josie Bassett settled in cub Creek around 1930. She planted an orchard, a garden, built a pond to catch the springwater, a chicken coop, and a cabin that you later moved and expanded. She also had pigs and cows that she conveniently panned up in the box Canyon behind her Homestead. She has an interesting story in that she was successful farmer and rancher until at some point she tried to expand her ranching business, and ended up losing the title to most of her land. She was married five times in her life, and had a fling with Butch Cassidy as a teenager. Kathy bought the book, and will have more to report later.

We actually did not see any of the dinosaurs in the monument other than the stegosaurus out front because the huge amphitheater was closed for remodeling. We headed back, set up camp and had leftovers for dinner. It actually rained a little bit on us that night. Here are some additional photos from the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250927-dinosaur-national-monument

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20250914 – Fort Vancouver and Eagle Creek.

We had about 350 miles to cover for the next two days, with Fort Vancouver being closed on the first day. So we wanted to get to the fort in hopes that it would actually have the stamps outside, and then work our way outside of Portland to find a campground between there and John Day fossil beds. The drive into Portland was uneventful, and we stopped along the way to get some very reasonably priced gas at $4.39 a gallon. There was also a Bath and body Works in a shopping center nearby, so I took the dogs for a walk while Kathy got some of her retail therapy completed.

We made it to Fort Vancouver, and it’s actually a pretty open area with a bunch of bike pads and walking pass throughout. We were able to get to the visitor center, and of course it was closed, but I zoomed in and took some pictures of the stamps for evidence that we were there. We’re gonna try to hit up some friends of ours that may be going through that area to stop by and get some stamps and pick up a coin for Kathy’s collection.

We turned the truck south and east and headed out of town because Portland is worse than Seattle when it comes to trying to find a place to camp. Any good open places are already occupied by homeless or permanent van lifers. We drove the scenic route along the Columbia river passed the airport and caught interstate 84. About 20 miles out of town there is a campground called Eagle Creek Campground that was the first available, and since it was late in the evening, it was time to find a place to camp.

Eagle Creek Campground is kind of a unique spot. We found out that this was the first campground that was ever publicly developed in the national forest in the United States. It’s built several hundred feet above the Columbia river Valley and actually set up pretty nicely. There’s a bunch of warnings everywhere that the noise is loud Because the camp was developed before the freeway and the train tracks had been put in. The fact that we have a truck camper with hard sides, the noise was not that big of an issue. We did find that leveling the truck was probably the biggest challenge as we had to stack six of the stackable pads up on the back end just to get it level. It turned out there was a trail right behind the campsite that worked out perfectly for walking the dogs. There was a sign at the bottom of the hill that there was a 20 foot trailer limit coming up, because two of the turns were extremely tight. The Campos, however, had a 30 or 40 foot long 1960s version of an airstream parked, semi permanently in the spot. Overall, they had running water, some drop toilets, and there were only three campers in the campground. We had leftovers for dinner and a great night sleep.

Here are some additional photos of the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250914-ft-vancouver-and-eagle-creek

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20250821-22 – Kluane Lake to Whitehorse and on to Skagway

I got a call from a guy I met the last time I was in Alaska and he lives in Whitehorse. We had planned on heading to Haines, then catch the ferry to Juneau/Gustavus/skagway for a few days. After looking at the ferry routes, considering the pups on this, and the extra costs, wedecided to reroute a to visit and catch up instead. We got to Whitehorse and tried to meet up. We waited at the local Canadian Tyre parking lot, I walked 3+ miles through the old town, visited a farmers market, and saw some sites. Unfortunately for some reason the meet up did not work out, so we got a sub at Quiznos, drove out of town and found camp just above the Yukon River outside of town and settled down for the night.

One of the things I love about Alaska and Northern Canada is the boreal forests. They have small to medium trees and an always beautiful carpet of moss, lichens, bushes, etc on the forest floor. Wher I grew up in Arizona, the forests are ponderosa pines, some scrub oak, and maybe junipers trees, but the forest floor is generally covered in pine needles or scarce grasses. They don’t have the diversity of life I see here. It is absolutely due to the difference in moisture, and I really enjoy that here. Well, we camped in the boreal forest and it’s so beautiful.

Ok, still not hearing a single response from the guy from the past, we headed towards Skagway. Along the way we stopped at a historic site called Conrad along a glacial valley and lake. Conrad was an old mining village in the early 1900s. A couple of the cabins were being restored, but most had been moved and repurposed to the nearby town of Carnack. I was excited to hike the trails as there were reports of a black bear in the area, but Kathy was not too keen on it.

The drive through this area I believe is more beautiful than the one found to Valdez along the Richardson Highway. In this area there are mirror surfaced lakes, pools, glacial rivers and streams, along a glacier cut mountain top valley. This is berry season and tons of folks are out with their buckets scouring the roadside.

We crossed into the USA and were inspected by US customs who wanted to go through our fridge. We had purchased everything in Fairbanks so the contraband Canadian eggs, meats, or dog food was not present. The last US entry did not seem to care. It may be because we can catch a boat to the lower 48 here, but it seemed odd. Anyway, we continued down the beautiful valley into Skagway.

The valley is famous for the White trail (and the Kilkoot trail in the adjacent valley) during the Klondike Gold rush. In two years over 100,000 people from all over the world traveled through here to get to Dawson City to stake claims. Most turned around once they got there and went home due to finding nothing or not even being able to dig on a claim. These people from 125 years ago were much harder than people from today. I can’t imagine anyone trekking this far in this day and age.

We arrived in Skagway and walked the pups then browsed around town with the cruise ship tourists. They get up to 4 ships a day here and it is crowded. We had a nice dinner at the Red Onion Saloon and Brothel and then headed over tho the Dyea area to camp. I balked at the one lane bridge at the first pass because it showed a 11’5” limit and we are about that. But after testing, it was this at the sides, so we drove right through. We found a campsite and set up quickly. I set out on a hike to the ocean and found lots of salmon, dead and alive, along the stream. It was a warmer evening than recent places.

We don’t seem to be taking as many photos as when we first started. Anyway, we may stay a couple of nights here.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250821-22-whitehorse-and-skagway

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20250813 – Dalton Highway Day 4 – Deadhorse

This post is the last for our journey North. Today we arrived at Deadhorse and the end of the Dalton Highway. Tomorrow we will set foot in Prudhoe Bay, touch the Beaufort Sea, and swim in the Arctic Ocean. We have been traveling now for 72 days and have covered 10,700 miles to this point. It seems like yesterday that we started, yet we have done and seen much up to this point. And today is the end of this portion of the trip.

We drove around Deadhorse for a bit and stopped at the general store to get some stickers and mail some postcards at the post office. We did finally see some beautiful caribou (there is no hunting in this oil town).

The place reminded me of my time in Iraq and Afghanistan at the bases there. Connexes everywhere, industrial yards, big equipment. It was dusty, industrial, and was there for one thing, extracting oil. It was calculated that there were over 3 billion barrels of oil in the reserves up here and about half has been extracted. Initially the oil reserves 6-8k down were at 4000 psi, making extraction easier as it spewed from the Christmas trees (well valves at the top) and into an extensive piping structure that collected in the pump house where it was separated from water and debris and pumped into the Alaska pipeline for the 600 mile journey to Valdez. Today about half is left and the pressures are around 2k psi and fracking and other methods are being used to squeeze the oil from the wells. There is still another reserve a hundred miles to the east, but that is in a preserve and has not been exploited yet.

There are two places to eat in Deadhorse, Brooks Camp hotel and The Aurora Hotel. Both are cafeteria style with a planned buffet and salad bar. They were serving steaks and seafood and we decided it was a night to celebrate our final mile and the beginning of the first mile of our Pan American Highway. Dinner started at 4:30 so we found a place to park and cleaned up, took a nap, and relaxed in the 55 degree weather.

Brooks Camp Restaurant did not disappoint. Again, this reminded me of those years I was deployed where the work was long and hard for 12-14 hours per day and the highlights were the meal breaks where we could get good food and feel a bit normal life. We shared a huge steak (the size of a whole plate), ate a fresh salad, some huge fried shrimp, chicken cordon blue, and potatoes and mushrooms. We spent an hour in there, eating at a table, reminiscing of the journey so far, and planning for the next day.

Back at camp, we settled in for the night. We spotted a red fox running around camp. He was cautious of us, but while I was outside he got within 25 feet of the truck. Here are some additional photos for the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250813-deadhorse-and-the-dalton-day-4

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20250812 – Dalton Highway day 3

We hiked a trail at Marion Creek Campground but only made it in about a mile. We were a bit unprepared with our shoes. The trail headed up from the cheek to a beautiful forest filled with blueberries, cranberries, and dozens of types of mushrooms and then started to get a bit mushy. Generally hiking in the boreal forest is like hiking on a mattress, but it got a bit boggy. There was a trail crew we passed working on a multi-year project to create a boardwalk over the mushy sections, and it was in its early stages. There was still a mile or so to go and we had not brought our waders. We were about an hour in, our shoes were soaked, and we hadn’t brought the pups (fortunately for Maggie especially). We hiked back out and cleaned up and got on the road.

Marion Creek is at the southern end of the Brooks Range and the mountains there were lower. As we drove the range grew in height with towering granite mountains 6-8k in height. We followed a river and the pipeline for a hundred miles until a rest stop before Antigun Pass made a note we were moving into Arctic Tundra, where no longer trees were present because the temperature and sunlight are neither high/long enough for trees to photosynthesize enough to create wood or bark. The pass and mountains are gorgeous.

We continued onward down the other side to the northern slope for an hour or so. We started looking for a campground about 100 miles north of Deadhorse, but things were scarce and what was available was filled with people decked out in camo and hunting gear. It turns out it was Caribou season.

We did find a huge pull out with space and I talked with a couple of hunters who had gotten a large bull. They said that 0-5 miles from the road is Archery tags only and ride was 5+ miles in. They were hunting with rifle and had hiked over 5 miles to get theirs. We talked for a bit and I found out one was from Palmer and the other was from Valdez. They educated me on the harvesting and pack out of the meat and rack. Pretty cool. We hadn’t seen caribou yet out here on the Dalton, and the hunting explained it.

Camp was nice and I enjoyed fighting the mosquitos and watching the sun make its way nearly horizontally across the tundra. One cool thing I found the next morning while out looking for a place to dig a hole was an already set up outhouse with a view. Bonus (shout out to Carl).

Here are some additional photos from the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250812-dalton-highway-day-3

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20250811 – Dalton Highway – Day 2

We camped in a huge gravel pit recommended by iOverlander. There was no one around and it was about a mile off of the Dalton Highway, around a hill, and you could barely any traffic from the trucks. It was one of those places that has utter silence with the exception of birds and ground hogs chirping. I took the pups for a good long hike around the quarry and we found some other great camp spots way up on top with 360 degree views. Off to the edge was a huge red raspberry patch so I picked a handful for Kathy.

We got off to an early start and followed a section of the old highway for a couple of miles before rejoining the main route. Not sure why a new road was cut around this section, but I’m sure there were reasons.

We drove for about 2 hours before we reached a millennia known landmark called Finger Rock. The location was used by hunters for thousands of years to watch for game crossing the Kanuti River valley. Another 30 minutes down the road we reached the official Arctic Circle pull off. It had a nice 4/seasons display showing how people and animals survive up here. It turns out summer growing season is only 60-90 days.

The Dalton Highway has some construction and some semi truck traffic. It is not as bad as people have made it out to be. There are sections that we paved and sections that are dirt. Both have their issues but the dirt is better to drive on with a few washboards and some minor pot holes. The pavement is another matter. The potholes in the pavement are deep and must be avoided and the frost heaves are abundant. It’s like riding a mini roller coaster.

We arrived in Coldfoot, the only truck stop above the Arctic Circle. We visited a very nice multiagency visitors center (BLM, Forest service, and National park Service) that had very friendly staff and great displays. We picked a couple of stickers and postcards and looked around a bit.

And then we filled up with diesel…at $7.50 per gallon. Dang. We are headed to the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay, but the oil is piped down to Valdez, loaded into tankers, shipped to Seattle, loaded into a refinery, and then once refined, the product is loaded back onto ships or trains, sent to Anchorage, and then trucked north to almost where it originated. Crazy. It’s not an everyday thing, but I pity the folks that live here.

We found a great BLM campground at Marion Creek that has free firewood, is quiet, and has a descent amount of space in the campsites. Plus it was only $12/night before the interagency discount (NPS annual pass).

Today we will hike a trail to a waterfall and then head north another 100 miles or so. We have 240 miles left to Prudhoe Bay.

Her are some additional photos from the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250811-dalton-highway-coldfoot

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20250810 – Denali to the Dalton Highway

It rained all night, pretty hard, and we woke up to a pool behind the campsite and a wet muddy road. We packed up and headed north towards Fairbanks. We stopped along the way at a quirky bar called Skinny Dicks. We hoped they sold burgers, but nope, just drinks and some funny shirts and adult humor fun. We got a laugh.

Next stop was Fairbanks, groceries, and some gas. I was still craving a burger and tried a local place. We struck out in the first, as it was Sunday and closed. We walked to another that had good reviews called Mommas kitchen. It turns out Mommas kitchen was an offshoot to Joes bar and joes bar was a dive bar, like a cross between a VFW and and the Elks club. The food was ok, not 4.5 stars like Yelp said.

About 90 minutes later we made it to the start of the Dalton Highway. 410 Miles north to Prudhoe bay and the Arctic Ocean, and that’s Mile 0 of the Pan American Highway. To get here we just passed 10k miles of exploring the western USA, Canada, and Alaska.

We will be traveling the Dalton for the next 6-8 days. We are camped in a gravel pit on the top of a mountain about 100 miles from the Arctic Circle. We will probably camp there at the BLM campground.

Kathy found another moose.

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20250809 – Hatcher Pass and Independence mine.

We camped in a glorified parking lot that the state of Alaska charges $10 for camping just below Independence mine. There’s not a lot of pull offs here for camping and it was 10 pm when we pulled in, so it worked. There’s view was impressive. The good thing is we paid for the site so when we pulled in to the state park a mile up the road, the receipt worked for parking there too.

Independence Mine was an interesting park to visit. It was small compared to the Kennecott operation in McCarthy, but it had some interesting aspects. And kudos to the entrepreneurs, engineers, and miners of almost a century ago. The extraction process for gold removed 97% of the gold from the ore, which was pretty impressive. I did a little mile or two hike up in the high valley and enjoyed walking in the spongy trails with alpine flowers. The pass is only 3800 feet, but that’s high by AK standards

We drove over Hatcher Pass and man was it crowded up there. For all of those reviews saying the road is dangerously and narrow, obviously don’t drive off road much. The road was pretty smooth, very wide, and has spectacular views. There were a couple of side shoots where a crew of Ford Broncos was going up a side road, but we decided to let them have their fun. Further down towards Willow there is tons of camping and it appears is a play land for quads and side-by-sides. Kathy and I found a neat property for sale and decided to inquire about it. We are a bit smitten with AK, especially now now having to deal with the AZ heat.

The rest of the day we drive north and found a free camp a bit outside of Healy. We settled in since it was about 7 pm. We don’t really drive all day, we just get started later, usually 10-11 am. The next few days we will be on the Dalton and the forecast is rain, so pictures may be scarce. It’s funny because as we drive north, we took tons of pictures throughout the western states, Canada, and Alaska. Everything is beautiful. We take fewer pics now, maybe because we are just enjoying the beauty up here more than being in awe of it.

here are a few more photos from today.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250809-hatcher-pass-and-independence-mine

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20250808 – Anchorage, another Heart test, and Palmer

The camp at the Susitna River crossing was peaceful. The pups, especially Zuzu, loved the kind walk along the beaches. The sections which were sandy she would dash off in full gallop, making quick turns, and throwing sand high into the air. It’s good to see her having a great time.

We made it to Anchorage, but not before stopping by the laundromat to take a shower. It was not warm, but we did manage to get clean. My appointment was quick (heart chemical stress test) and I’m hoping all the pictures of the plumbing look normal so I can finish out the Alaska Medical Tour. We will find out on Aug 18. The Drs and Nurses up here have been nothing but spectacular. We were so surprised at the care up here and how quickly they work things in.

We spent the day picking up a new coin for Kathy, exchanging a faulty purse bag, and grabbing some snacks, and driving a bit north. We headed to the Palmer Alehouse where Kathy’s friend said a good band was playing. (The Free Creatures from Oregon). They were pretty good and the Alehouse was a neat setting. The band had come from Salmonfest, which we hear is a fantastic local event near Soldotna.

We visited for several hours and then headed up towards Hatcher pass, which I have heard is stunning. Independence mine state park is just up from the campsite and along the pass we heard there is good berry picking. Tonight we should be in or near Fairbanks and ready to start the dalton highway to the Arctic Ocean. Here’s a view from Howie at the campground below Hatcher Pass.

here are some additional photos from the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250808-anchorage-palmer

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20250706-07 – Denali day 3 and 4

We woke to true weather predictions and the sky did not have a cloud in it. We packed up for a hike and headed to the bus to catch a ride to Sable Pass where we could get a glimpse of Mt McKinley (Denali). The first bus was full and we caught the second. The high one did not disappoint and was shining in all the 20,300 ft of glory. Simply gorgeous. The day was about 65 degrees and we wanted to walk down sable pass and see what animals were out and about.

We did see some Dahl sheep, WAY WAY up on the ridge. Looked like little rice specs. And that is all we saw in the 5 mile trek down the pass. The hike was spectacular.

We caught the bus at the Igloo Creek Campground and made it to the Teklanika rest stop where the bus broke down. We thought about hiking the two miles to the campground, but figured once we started the rescue bus will show up. We ended up waiting 90 minutes for a walk we could have done in 45. But we met some really nice people who were waiting too. We finished out the night watching the fire in the campground and enjoying the beautiful night.

The 4th day I decided to bake some biscuits in the Dutch Oven over the fire. I still had two bundles of wood but since collecting was allowed here, I gathered several large loads so I could have a fire until we left. The biscuits did not turn out ton well as they were not homemade and the container had popped open sometime during the week and were not “fresh”. Oh well. They still tasted ok.

We cleaned up camp, the TC, and packed up to head back south. I had another appointment in anchorage and we didn’t want risk or rush the 5+ hour drive. We have gotten the packing down to 5-10 minutes and with the pups walked and freshly satisfied with treats, we headed out of Teklanika Campground and back out of the Denali Park Road.

We had been fortunate and had seen an Eagle, caribou, Dahl sheep, rabbits, squirrels, marmots, and ptarmigans so far, and this time the park did not disappoint. On the drive out, three brown bears were grazing doing the road and we had about 15-20 minutes to watch them. They were as close as 20-30 yards from the truck. These were the first brown bears (grizzlies) we have seen.

We finished the drive and stopped at the little village at the entrance of the park to browse the shops and get some lunch.

We continued the drive south on AK 3 (parks road) and camped at a site recommended be iOverlander at the Susitina River crossing 1hr north of Wasilla. What a neat place to camp with lots of spots, plenty of space, a 1-mile beach for walks. Very nice.

Here are some additional photos of the past two days.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250806-07-denali-day-3-4