If there’s a National Park that all visitors to Alaska want to visit, it must be the much revered Denali National Park (formerly known as Mount McKinley National Park). The centre-piece of the park is the 6,190m high Denali. Denali means “the High One” to the Athabascan Indians who have called this area along the... Continue Reading →
When we first began our planning for this journey, we thought that driving from Ushuaia, Argentina to Anchorage, Alaska was a crazy idea - but now we've done it! What was not much more than a thought bubble on a camping trip across the Simpson Desert 7 years ago, has become a reality. Anyway, on... Continue Reading →
A couple of days drive from Valdez and we were in Seward (pronounced soo-word) on the east coast of the Kenai Peninsula, just a couple of hours south of Anchorage. It really is beautiful. Seward has a history as an essential rail-head and is unique in Alaska as Alaska's only deep-water, ice-free port with rail,... Continue Reading →
The main road south from the Wrangell-St Elias National Park turn-off to Valdez is one of the most spectacular roads we have travelled in North America. If you enjoy glaciers, this is the road you’ve been waiting to drive. The road provides views of huge valleys, snow capped mountains, big waterfalls and glaciers along most... Continue Reading →
A pleasant drive the next morning with the hope of seeing moose –(no luck) saw us pass the turnoff to Anchorage and head south towards Valdez. Along this road is the opportunity to take the 100km detour into the Wrangell-St Elias National Park. Given that this is the largest unit in the National Parks system... Continue Reading →
Having ‘done Dawson’ we drove away from the mighty Yukon River under still grey and heavy skies across the ‘Top of the World Highway'. Heavily promoted for its magnificent views, this road follows the route of what was an old pack trail out of Dawson City after the gold rush. Once also known as the... Continue Reading →
Dawson City is situated at the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers. TheTr’ondëk Hwëch’in (People of the River) were the First Nation people of the area known to have used this place as their summer fishing camp for thousands of years. It is possible that the name Klondike is derived from the word Tr’ondëk.... Continue Reading →
Forty kilometres before getting to Dawson City, the Klondike Highway intersects with a gravel road, heading off to the north-east. This is the Dempster Highway to the town of Inuvik, 734 kms north. Construction of the road began in 1959 and was completed in 1978 – needless to say they had a few challenges along... Continue Reading →
The Cassiar highway intersects with the Alaskan Highway not far west of Watson Lake which is a major intersection and service centre. It also has the greatest collection of sign posts from all over the world, but we will tell you more about that when we pass back through here on our way south in... Continue Reading →
Taking the Cassiar Highway is an alternative to part of the Alaska Highway(AH) north. It heads north to the west of the AH, from the community of Kitwanga on the Yellowhead Highway, to a point just west of Watson Lake on the Alaska Highway. The smooth bitumen road meanders alongside rivers and lakes and through... Continue Reading →
Notes from somewhere else... 