The long journey back

It's about 4,500 miles from Anchorage to Hilton Head using the shortest possible road connections, but I chose a route that took me along the Canadian Rockies and into Idaho and western Montana, where I haven't been before. So, all in all it was close to 5,300 miles (8.500 km) that I drove in 4 weeks.
The first two weeks I was accompanied by my daughter Beate, how arrived in Anchorage from Germany the same day when Silke and Benjamin had to fly home (because school started for Ben). Going south from Alaska, we took the Cassiar Highway as an alternative route to the Alaska Highway, going through Prince George instead of Dawson Creek. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't always cooperating the way it did on our trip up north, but it was nice enough for Beate to enjoy the great nature of the Northern Rockies.


Wrangell Mountain Range, Wrangell-St.Elias National Park in Alaska



Autumn starts early in Alaska...

On the Cassiar Hwy, I had to deal with refueling issues for the first (and last) time.




Overnight stop at beautiful Boya Lake, Cassiar Hwy.

From the Cassiar Highway, we drove east, via Prince George, across the backbone of the Canadian Rockies into Jasper and Banff national parks.



Pyramid Lake in Jasper National Park



 

Elk resting near the town of Jasper

 

 

Athabasca glacier, right next to the Icefield Parkway between Jasper and Banff

 

Beate with Lake Louise as backdrop

 

Lake Minnewanka in Banff NP

 

After two weeks, Beate flew back from Calgary to Germany and I started my long haul back to Hilton Head. Through British Columbia (again) to Idaho and Montana on beautiful mountain roads, then I-90 across Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota, then I-80 across Iowa and Illinois to Indiana, and from there via I-65, I-75 and I-40 through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina finally to South Carolina. Here are some impressions:

 

Lake Kookanusa in western Montana

 

On I-90 east in Montana -  notice the fresh snow!

One of the ultimate highlights of the back trip was Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Looks like Utah or Arizona, but it isn't!

 

 

Once on I-80, the scenery didn't change for almost 1000 miles and 4 states: Cornfields, cornfields, and cornfields.

 

 

 

Until, finally, North Carolina tells me

 I am close to home...

 

 

 

 

 

All those who have made that trip say, it's the trip of a lifetime. And we couldn't agree more. It's a unique, mind-boggling experience, almost impossible to describe why. At the end of this blog, here is one of the many images we will never forget:

 



 

 

 

 

 





Alaska is more than Denali

I know I didn't post for more than 5 weeks - primarily because we almost never ever stayed in campgrounds with a sufficiently fast and reliable internet connection; after all, we've been close the end of the world. But it's also true that I never found the time again to work through thousands of photos for blog selection and editing.
While Denali National Park has been the top highlight of the journey for all of us, there is so much more to see outside the park. We spent 10 more days in Alaska, mainly in Fairbanks and on the Kenai Peninsula, with days of travelling in between, of course. We travelled together with my son Oliver and his family in their Motorhome that they rented in Anchorage.

Family dinner in a Fairbanks restaurant

From Fairbanks, we drove south on the Richardson Highway and west on the Glenn highway back to Anchorage.


Across the Alaska Range on the Richardson Hwy.

 

 

 

The Alaska oil pipeline runs along the Richardson highway all the way down to the port of Valdez. Here is one of numerous service stations along the pipeline.

The Glenn Hwy. offers spectacular views of the Chugach mountain range

 

 

From Anchorage, we drove south to Kenai Peninsula where we spent a few days.

 

Spectacular views across the Turnagain arm of the Cook Inlet that connects Anchorage to the Pacific Ocean.



 

Family dinner in our RV

I really don't recall what had been so funny here...

 

 

View across the Cook Inlet from Kenai's west coast

The Cook Inlet is full of oil platforms

 

 

Cooper Lake in the center of Kenai

 

On our way back to Anchorage ... a great view onto the Chugach mountain range

 

Back in downtown Anchorage, we are reminded how far away from everywhere we are...

Had you known that from here it's closer to Tokyo than to New York, and to London than to Miami?

 

Denali National Park

Denali National Park was the top destination of the whole trip. After picking up my son Oliver and his family at the Anchorage airport and joining us in their rental RV for the next 14 days,  we drove straight to Denali.
The park is larger than Switzerland and is basically a vast wilderness area, comprising tundra, boreal forests and a part of the Alaska Range with North America's highest mountain, Mt. McKinley. There is only one road leading into the park, 95 miles long and mainly with a gravel surface. Only the first 15 miles are paved and open for the public; the next 14 miles are limited for vehicles using the last RV campground on this road (Teklanika River Campground), and the remainder of the road is accessible only by using buses operated by the National Park Service or by concessionaires.
At first we considered that a major disadvantage for exploring the national park, but we quickly learned that otherwise there would hardly be any wildlife to view because of the nuisance caused by extensive traffic. We also learned (by experiencing it!) that there is only one chance to have a close-up encounter with grizzlies: through the windows of a bus. See yourself:

We encountered this grizzly sow with her two about 18 months old cubs walking at the side of the road while passing by in the bus. I don't think we would have seen them from that distance outside a vehicle - and survived it!

We stayed in Teklanika River campground for 4 nights (and an additional two nights at the Riley Creek CG, close to the park entrance).

Dam building in a side arm of Tek River

 

One of the things to do in this national park is joining a ranger guided hiking trip. That's what we did on the second day.

Mt. McKinley is free of clouds only 30 days a year - almost never in summer. We never got an unobstructed view on the mountain; this one was as good as it gets in summer

 

Mt. McKinley as seen from the north. The previous photo shows the west side of the mountain



Caribou

There are 5 "large" animals every visitor wants to see in the park: bear, moose, wolf, caribou, and dall sheep. We were lucky to be able to see all of them, albeit the dall sheep from too a large distance for picture taking.


At one of the bus stops along the 95-mile park road

Part of the park road

Only bears and caribous are relatively easy to spot. Moose are much shyer and a rare view, therefore.

A grizzly walking near the road in search of a cooling bath..

... and found it!

 



 

Golden Eagle



An extremely rare view - a wolf; seen from a distance of about 500 ft. The collar is for wildlife monitoring purposes



Sunset over our last evening in Teklanika River. Photo taken at about 11:30 p.m.

 

 

In Alaska

Finally, after 4 weeks of driving from Hilton Head, we arrived in Alaska. Crossing the border on the Alaska Highway, we were greeted by the mighty Wrangell mountain ranges, with peaks soaring over 16,000 ft (4.800 m). From Tok, the first noteworthy Alaskan town on the Highway, we took the so-called Tok-Cutoff and Glenn Highways towards Anchorage, thereby crossing through a part of the Alaska Range. It is a wild and untamed landscape, mesmerizing us again with its vast emptiness.

Mt. Drum in the Wrangell mountain range

The Glenn Highway traverses through a Boreal forest, also called Taiga, a pristine landscape that is typical for northern climate zones.

Highest point in the Glenn Highway

Doesn't this look like an erupting volcano?



A Grizzly bear, seen right from the highway





The Nelchina glacier, seen from the Glenn Highway

 

Coming from Anchorage on the Parks Highway, we drove to Denali National Park. Mt. McKinley, with 20,320 ft (6.193 m) North America's highest mountain, is located within the park.



The Alaska Range from the south. Mt. McKinley is hidden in the clouds.

 



 



A rare exception to the usually nice weather, but isn't this beautiful too?