N 34°03'29''
W 84°27'44''
The odyssey home has been a little adventure on its own. The journey has actually been comparable to the excitement and passion of the being in Alaska itself. The begin and end of the transcontinental expedition is practically not worth mentioning when you taken in account of the new scenery of west Alberta, Montana, Wyoming and southwest South Dakota. This is my odyssey home…
The first thing to mention is that the original timetable for the trek quickly went out the window. On the first day, we quickly hit our goal of reaching Whitehorse, Yukon in roughly 13 hours, and we decided to stay in a campsite just outside of town at the ripe old hour of 11pm Pacific Time. Day 2 turned out to be considerably longer stretch than originally planned (this is wear we began to stray and did not stop). That morning from Whitehorse, Yukon, we awoke just after 6am broke camp with much hast. Our goal was Fort Nelson, British Columbia, but between making good time and the early start, we reached Fort Nelson just after 6pm with plenty of daylight to spare. So instead of calling an early night, we pushed on until we reached the starting point of the Alaska Highway, Dawson Creek, British Columbia. We rolled in just before midnight and stayed in a parking lot next to Mile “0” RV Campground. The morning of Day 3, we also wanted another early start. This time we were back on the road by 6am. (Note* The reason we pushed on as far as we did was to be closer to Jasper, Alberta which is widely considered in Canada to be the most beautiful part of the entire country in terms of scenic driving) From Dawson Creek, we diverted from our original course that we took north two months earlier. We went south on Alberta Highway 40 to eventually dead end into Trans Canada Highway 16 with proceeds southward through Jasper and Banff National Parks, deep in the Canadian Rockies. Even in the distance on Alberta Highway 40, the jagged peaks of the Canadian Rockies reared their rock faces for a mere preview of what our eyes were about to gaze upon. At the north entrance to Jasper National Park, we were greeted by a Canadian Park Ranger in a toll booth that informed us of the 25 Loonies we were about to fork over for a 24 hour pass through the parks encompassing the beautiful Canadian Rockies. Even at the entrance, we could already tell that these peaks at the gates of Jasper were nothing quite like the ranges of the far north we had already gotten used to. Exposed rock soared into the blue Canadian skies most reaching well over 3,000 meters (almost 10,000 feet). About 40 kilometers past the north entrance to Jasper National Park, we noticed a significant number of vehicles parked on both sides of the road. This usually indicates something worth taking another picture or at least another look at. On the opposite side of the highway, a decent sized lake of blue glass lies at the base of a mountain of commanding stature. It is here in this lake that we were witnesses to a single male caribou wading through the lake at a depth that engulfed all four of his legs. A sight like that was like living inside a photograph on the cover of National Geographic. It was truly the most majestic personal experience I have had with wildlife and nature simultaneously. After that close encounter, we only had another 20 kilometers or so until we reached the town of Jasper, Alberta, which is nestled in a valley between a handful of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. At this point, I have exhausted the oil which I got changed back when I first made it into Anchorage two months prior. So we made time for an oil change at a local garage and spent some time walking around town. Jasper is almost like a Canadian Aspen in summer time. Beautiful people everywhere with lots of money, and then there is us, a small outfit of foul smelling, rough looking guys making their way from Alaska to Georgia. We fit right in. After taking in some of the local culture and getting the oil changed, it was time to wash up by taking a dip in a near by lake. So on a public lake beach, we washed up, the quick and dirty way, with only my loofah and some biodegradable camping soap. Afterwards, we pressed on southward into Banff National Park where literally we passed high beautiful rock mountain top, ragging waterfall, glacier, ice shelf on mountain top, and so on and so forth. The cycle repeated in no particular order until we exited the Canadian Rockies, stage right.
The adventure does not stop with the departure from the Canadian Rockies. Southeast out of Banff on Trans Canada Highway 1, we went to the bustling metropolis of Calgary, Alberta. But lying on the outskirts of town was Canada Olympic Park host of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. Upon first gaze, it seemed like an overrated Centennial Olympic Park but in Canada. This turned out to not be the case at all. Their Olympic Park was beautiful with a museum of Canadian Olympic history (with the bobsled in Cool Runnings on display), a mountain bike course set up on the former slopes of the skiing competitions, and various activities to entertain anyone for hours on end assuming you can afford it. An hour or so later, we needed to make our way through Calgary, but first, we had to check out the city. In Calgary, there is a space needle much like the one in Seattle, Washington but not quite as big, and it is simply called the Calgary Tower. Still it is a worthwhile place to see if you have never been in Calgary. We parked on the street and walked a few blocks until we stumbled onto the Calgary Tower. We then each parted with the 13 Loonies it cost to take the over 500 foot elevator ride to the 360 degree observation deck of the tower. From this vantage point, we had an almost seamless view of the entire city and even some of the Canadian Rockies in southern Banff.
It was now time to out Canada to our rudder and make our way in northern Montana, back into the Lower 48. At the border crossing just east of Glacier National Park, we crossed the 49th Parallel with such ease that I wonder how much illicit contraband travels from Canada into the Lower 48 everyday by Americans. Anyways we proceed southbound parallel to Glacier National Park until we cut inside the park at Cut Throat Creek to a secluded campground just inside the park on the east side. We made camp 5 miles down the creek just by a meadow residing between a couple of mountains. That night we saw the furry of a lighting storm quickly approaching after sunset. It was more of a show than a danger to us, and we stayed up to watched the light show of north west Montana.
The next morning, we broke camp with much haste, and began the seemingly endless voyage across Montana, through north east Wyoming and just into South Dakota. Along I-90, we approached a National Monument that we could not just pass by and decided to stop to check the site of the famous slaughter of General Custer at his men at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
After staying a mere 6 hours in a small campground just south of Mount Rushmore, we caught earlier morning glimpse at the under construction of the new Crazy Horse Monument and the famous Mount Rushmore. Long story short, they we much smaller than I had expected.
Now onto the Badlands of South Dakota, we took a small detour in Wall, South Dakota, the town just outside of Badlands National Park. The badlands were nothing like I have ever seen before in my entire life. Peaks of accumulated sediment made jagged silhouette on the surrounding landscape of shallow valleys and rolling plains filled with prairie dogs and bison.
And here I am sitting in the comfort of my parents house in the Lower 48 nearly ready to pass out from the heat and humidity, still getting used to the darkness of night and spending more time thinking about Alaska than ever. It was the best summer I have ever had, and I don't know if any other experience in the foreseeable future will ever measure up to it... but this does not mean I won't try. Anyways thanks for reading, and I am sure I will see all of you soon.
By the way, total picture count: 2,316
No comments:
Post a Comment