On July 26th, Darlene and I set out in the camper van for a two-month journey across western Canada with the possibility of going all the way to Alaska. The goal was to visit a bunch of their national parks like Banff and Jasper without any particular time constraints. We didn’t have any camping reservations because we didn’t want to have to decide in advance how long we would want to spend in any given area. Of course we expected that would be a bit of a challenge in the more popular parks where the campgrounds tend to fill up and you can’t just camp anywhere in the wild, but somehow we’d manage!
We ended up getting as far as the southwest corner of the Yukon territory before we had to make our way back by the end of September. It was a great trip and we saw a lot of gorgeous scenery but of course there’s still plenty more to go back for someday.
I’ve broken up the trip into separate posts and galleries for each of the national parks and other major travel sections but I created one video montage of the whole trip:
Kluane National Park and Reserve takes up the entire southwest corner of the Yukon territory and includes the Canadian portion of the Satint Elias Mountains – the highest coastal mountains in the world and the highest points in Canada.
After hitting up the visitors center and talking to a park ranger (“park wardens” in Canada), we opted to start our exploration of the park on the Alsek River Valley Road by mountain bike. We found a nice secluded wild camping spot from an offshoot of that road just outside the park boundary. The next day gave us cold and heavy winds but we set out anyway by bike. We didn’t go as far as I would’ve liked but the scenery was fantastic all the way. That afternoon we had a surprise visit from a local who was out for a walk who chatted me up for a long while.
Following the Alsek River Valley Road
We took off again the following day and explored a little further along the Alaska highway to Kluane Lake, the Ä’äy Chù (Slim’s River) trailhead and the Silver City ghost town. We walked around the ghost town for a bit trying to figure out what we’re looking at – lots of kennels for animals of different sizes apparently. (A fox farm according to this web site.)
Our next destination was Kathleen Lake. We looked for a suitable wild camping spot but eventually settled on the established campground there. The next day we took up the King’s Throne trail and it was quite the climb the entire way but ever more fantastic panoramic views. Darlene tapped out around 4100 feet but I continued for a while longer (4900 ft) before deciding it was getting late and the trail feeling more precarious on my own.
Half-way up the Kings Throne Trail above Kathleen LakeA little video of our ascent of the King’s Throne trail
That evening we headed north on the highway a little bit and turned off to follow a rough fishermans road along Quill Creek until we picked out a camp spot. The aurora watch web sites showed that good activity was expected that night so I set up cameras ready for the usual long exposure time lapse recordings and kept watch. I was using my DSLR, my iPhone and my new Insta360 X5 camera that records in all directions at once (albeit with a pair of smallish sensors). It wasn’t long before we were treated to what began as a really great aurora display. It was really nice, lots of dancing colors in many directions.
It started out as a really nice aurora display…
And then things went nuts! We got what we would later learn is called a full auroral outburst. The whole sky erupted and lit up the ground much brighter than a full moon could. The curtains and swirls of color ran the full gamut of reds and purples and greens and they were moving fast – swirling and cascading around in real time. Normally you would capture an aurora on camera using extended exposures to bring out the colors that aren’t so obvious to the naked eye and you record many frames in time lapse over dozens of minutes to speed up the motion that is typically very slow, much like slow-moving clouds. Well now the whole sky, in every direction, was animating and swirling in full color to our naked eyes. This went on for many minutes… tt was fantastic! Unfortunately, my cameras were still running with long exposures and/or in time-lapse while we were so distracted by the light show. But that’s fine, it was awesome! I’ve done what I can with the footage, slowing down and correcting exposure as much as I could:
…and then the sky went nuts!
We had already decided that we needed to start making our way back home but that aurora display was a wonderful topper for our whole Canadian road trip.
Out of Jasper, we could have chosen to go north to join the Alaska Highway (ALCON) out of Dawson Creek but we decided to go west first to get to Stewart on the coast in time to possibly see grizzlies feasting on the salmon run before then turning north on the Stewart-Cassiar Highway for the Yukon.
Along the way, we overnighted in Prince George and, after our detour to Fort St. James for the chicken races, we camped overnight near the town of Smithers and put in an afternoon ride on some of their mountain bike trails. The next day we made another detour to go south on the Cassiar Highway to visit Terrace which also had some nice biking trails. After our ride we tried to find a campsite at this little lakeside park on the shore of Kitsumkalum Lake but it was overrun with weekend revelers. Giving up the lake shore we found a crazy sweet and secluded fishing spot along the river downstream.
Eventually though we made it to Stewart, BC and then just across the border and through Hyder, Alaska to a camping area near the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site after dark. The recommended viewing times are at dusk and dawn but we showed up late the following morning and missed out on a sighting, not realizing that Hyder was an hour ahead of British Columbia time. However, we spent the day following the dirt road north to admire the massive Salmon Glacier and do some hiking.
In view of the Salmon Glacier
That night we did luck out and get to see a grizzly bear make her away along the creek apparently looking for just the right salmon to feast on. The next morning, well before sunrise, we were among the first to arrive and once again got to watch the same bear. After these two successful sessions, we decided to move on and follow the Stewart-Cassiar Highway on north to the Yukon.
Grizzly (brown bear) at Fish Creek near Hyder, Alaska
The northern part of British Columbia is seriously remote and there are few opportunities for sightseeing, at least not by any roads. We did make another multi-day detour down a very long stretch of unpaved road to see and bike along the accessible part of the “Grand Canyon of the Stikine”.
Stikine River Canyon
Continuing north along the Cassiar Highway, we eventually joined the Alaska Highway (or ALCAN) to head further west towards the Yukon and Alaska. Then we took a detour south again into British Columbia to visit Atlin Lake and found a really nice wild camping spot alongside an unnamed lake on Fourth of July Creek near the McDonald Lake Recreation Site. We stayed two nights, did a little hike towards the nearby mountains but didn’t go very far and had a nice little auroral display one night.
Returning to the Alaska Highway, we decided to make an extended side trip down to Skagway. After that we eventually reached Whitehorse where we stayed in a hotel for a couple of nights, checked out some local museums and exhibits (particularly on the Klondike Gold Rush), ventured out on some local mountain biking trails (there’s tons around Whitehorse) and went to see Miles Canyon.
Miles Canyon outside Whitehorse
After Whitehorse, we continued west on the Alaska Highway towards Kluane National Park.
I joined Glenn and Michele last week on another segment of their extended, six-month travels (Glenn and Michele’s Most Excellent Adventure™) – this time flying up to Churchill, Canada, to stay at a small remote lodge along the Hudson Bay and go out on guided walks to see and hug polar bears! Well, not so much hugging really. (But they do look so huggable!)
A video montage of our polar bear encounters and other activities near Churchill.
We stayed three nights at Dymond Lake Lodge, one of three small “eco-lodges” operated by Churchill Wild, looking for polar bears and other wildlife during the day and enjoying the wonderful meals and the stars and the aurora borealis at night. We lucked out with weather. At this time of year we should have encountered daytime highs no greater than the teens or single digits (in Fahrenheit) even before any wind chill (as in seriously cold, the primary reason Darlene didn’t join us), but we lucked out with temps way up in the mid-20’s! Yes, below freezing, but really relatively balmy! Just ask the polar bears!
Speaking of which, we were able to see lots of bears and even watch an unusual encounter between two different mama bears and their cubs. The guides are very good at approaching and reading the bears’ behavior and working to keep the experience safe for everyone, including the bears.
After several amazing days of walking out amongst the bears, we returned to Churchill for an afternoon of dog-sledding with Bluesky Expeditions and then a full day on an arctic tundra safari with Frontiers North Adventures in one of their massive custom-built “tundra buggies”.
For Darlene’s birthday last week (mid-April), I took her on a ski trip to a surprise destination: Banff, in the Canadian Rockies! We stayed for five nights and skied at Sunshine Village and Lake Louise. We also spent a little time exploring the national park: hiking in Johnston Canyon to see the ice falls, up to Lake Louise to walk out on the mostly frozen lake and out to Lake Minnewanka. We were super lucky to decide to go revisit Lake Minnewanka after dinner on our first night because not only were the skies clear but the aurora borealis made a pretty good showing that night. It also happened to be the first time either of us had ever seen an aurora in person!
Aurora Borealis over Lake Minnewanka, near Banff, Canada.
Click through to see the full gallery and video montage:
I was worried about the snow conditions when we arrived because there was no hint of snow in the valley around Banff (and the previous times I was there in the winter there was tons of snow everywhere). There wasn’t even any snow on the drive up to Sunshine on our first day. However, Sunshine is actually up pretty high and you take a gondola to get to the runs from the parking area. And, even before the weekend snow, it was great conditions and good coverage.
We went to the lower elevation resort at Lake Louise after the storm came through and I’m glad we waited because there were plenty of clues of how nasty and frozen the snow was on some parts of the mountain underneath the new snow. It definitely gets warmer there than in Sunshine. This was mid-April of course.
Compared to Whistler/Blackcomb, Sunshine (Banff) and Lake Louise certainly have a better chance of snow and cold weather, but they’re not as convenient. Sunshine is like 15 minutes from Banff and Lake Louise like 40 minutes or so. You don’t have to drive as there are free shuttles (with resort passes) to/from Banff and the drives are very pleasant. And there are other things to see and do if people want to take a day or two off from skiing.
Short video montage of our trip.
Sunshine and Lake Louise are both fairly large resorts, with plenty of terrain to explore. Their trail ranking is pretty strange at both resorts: lots of green runs and black diamond runs which would be rated blues in Tahoe. At times it seemed pretty arbitrary how the runs were ranked. You had to just go and check it out. You couldn’t trust the ranking at all. (Didn’t try any of the double-blacks: just assumed they were super steep chutes.)
One negative is that Sunshine has a few large portions (maybe a third) of completely open terrain above the tree line. Not only are these areas open to a storm but they also don’t let you feel like you have anything to explore in those areas. It’s just one big open expanse that feels the same all over, rather than many runs to check out. This certainly isn’t true all over the park, it’s just a couple chunks of it. Also a couple of sections of their acreage are special, restricted areas where you have to partner up and carry avalanche gear.
Similarly, as big as Lake Louise is, most of the backside terrain is double-black diamond: presumably chutes which Darlene and I didn’t try. But there are lots of other fun blue and black runs. Unfortunately, we found our favorite run after lifts closed on our last day!! D’oh!
I think it would be easy to enjoy five days skiing between the two resorts. There’s also little Mt. Norquay but we didn’t bother. It looks much smaller than Sugar Bowl (here in California) and I like Sugar Bowl.
